INTRODUCION:
R. Baruch haLevi Epstein
(1860-1942) is best known for his Torah commentary Torah Temima. His
father was R. Yechiel Michel Epstein of Novarodok, author of the Aruch
haShulchan. R. Baruch Epstein moved to Pinsk where he remained all his life,
besides for a short time he spent in America trying unsuccessfully to get a job
as a rabbi. He worked as a bookkeeper. R. Epstein had studied at Volozhin Yeshivah
under his uncle Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin,
known as the Netziv (who later became his brother-in-law after
being widowed and remarrying R. Epstein's sister[1]).
He died in Pinsk during the Nazi occupation of that city, while he was a
patient in the Jewish hospital which the Nazis had burned down.
Besides his Torah and other
commentaries, he also wrote an autobiography entitled Mekor Baruch. Some
of this work was translated into English under the title, My Uncle the
Netziv. Surprisingly, this book was later banned, see Kotzk
Blog: 053) Hey, Teacher Leave the Text Alone!.
This article, based extensively
on the research by Don Seaman and Rebecca Kobrin[2],
will examine one aspect of that autobiography, concerning R. Epstein’s aunt,
Rayna Batya – the first wife of the Netziv - who was denied the Torah
education she so longed for.
‘CHACHMAT NASHIM':
Towards the end of the four-volume
work is a chapter called Chachmat Nashim or Wisdom of Woman. It deals with the Rebbetzin
or Rabbanit, Rayna Batya. The Netziv married her when he was thirteen
years old. Rayna Batya was the daughter of R. Yitzchak
of Volozhin, the son of R. Chaim of Volozhin. One of Rayna Batya’s sons was the
famed R. Chaim Berlin who became the Chief Rabbi of Moscow.
Rayna Batya, thus positioned in
the heart of the Jewish world of traditional scholarship of the nineteenth
century, was not satisfied just being a wife and mother. She too sought after
scholarship, which would have been most unusual for women at that times.
R. Epstein recalls the
relationship between his uncle and aunt:
“Despite
being a ‘kosher’ and wise woman, modest and wonderfully learned, almost like
one of the whole men[3],
and despite her concern for [Rabbi Berlin’s] health and welfare, she was unable
to look to her household and its sustenance, because of her illness and weak
nerves”[4]
However, we read further that all
Rayna Batya wanted to do was to study:
“Such was
her way, to sit always near the winter oven that was in the kitchen (even
during the summer) with all sorts of books spread before her on the table;
Bible, Mishnah, Ein-Yaakov, various midrashim, Menorat ha-Maor, Kav ha-Yashar,
Tzemah David, Shevet Yehudah, and many other books of this nature, as well as
volumes of Aggadah. All of her focus and concentration…[was] in the books - her
hand hardly moved from them! But of all that concerned the maintenance of the
household, she knew little, almost nothing.”[5]
Seaman and Kobrin notice that R.
Epstein clearly is of the prevalent view that women are meant to look after the
household while men are meant to study. In this sense, Rayna Batya is out of
step on two counts; 1) she is occupying herself with study which is the
exclusive realm of men, and 2) she is not doing what women are supposed to do
which is to manage domestic affairs.
The Netziv is depicted as
physically suffering because of this. Sometimes he went without meals because
of his wife’s preoccupation with study, but interestingly, while upset about
the household affairs, he is never portrayed as being upset with Rayna Batya’s
forays into the world of study.[6]
It must be pointed out, however,
that Rayna Batya’s study curriculum is not, in fact, traditionally male
orientated at all. The titles of the books (beside the Mishnah) she is
reported to have studied indicate works that were not written exclusively for
men and sometimes referred to as ‘story books’. According to Daniel Boyarin,
however, Rayna Batya was “highly learned by any standards”.[7]
Amazingly, the references to her
studying Mishnah and Aggadah, have been omitted from recent
English translations of sections of Mekor Baruch.[8]
R. Epstein mentions scattered
examples of occasional Jewish women in the past who had engaged in scholarly
activities like Beruria in the Talmud [See Kotzk Blog:
111) THE 'BERURIA' TEXTS:] and:
“the
rabbanit from Shklov, Tzertal, daughter of Rabbi Joshua Halevi Ish Horowitz …
who is wise and distinguished in Torah and the sciences like one of the whole
men.”[9]
Seaman and Kobrin are, however, quick to point
out that this oft used strategy simply highlights exceptions that prove the
rule.
But Rayna Batya was not just
content to sit quietly and study. She is depicted as an angry and desperate activist
who wanted to perform the same mitzvot as men:
“More than
once I heard her complain and bemoan, in sorrow and pain, with unpleasant
countenance and a bitter soul, the pain of the bitter fate and narrow portion
of women in this life, because the fulfilment of positive, time
bound-commandments, such as tefillin, tzitzit, sukkah and lulav, and many
others, had been deprived them. From hidden recesses would break forth …
accusation and spiritual jealousy against men who had been given everything. As
she put it. ‘men have received 248 commandments, while oppressed and disgraced
women were only given three.’[10]
Once again, the censored versions
of the English translation for religious readership, mentioned earlier, has
omitted or reworked such statements of outrage by Rayna Batya. This censorship was
just a continuation of the attitude prevalent in much of rabbinic writing
during that time. For example, R. Baruch Epstein’s father, R. Yechiel Epstein
writes in his Aruch haShulchan that mothers should teach their daughters
all they need to know about Judaism orally, and not from books. He
writes in praise of the religious obedience of the women:
“[O]ur
women are very careful to enquire about every questionable matter, and do not
rely on their own opinion even for the smallest of things.”[11]
But Rayna Batya wouldn’t hear
about such things and she vociferously challenged such attitudes. She would
want to find and read the answers for herself.
A similar approach is found in
another parallel memoir published at the same time as Mekor Baruch, entitled
Zichron Yaakov, by R. Yaakov Lipschitz:
“With the
great affection which these women bear the Torah, whose reward is greater than
any merchandise, they are like merchant ships bringing bread to the houses of
their husbands. Their whole longing and desire is that they and their daughters
be wives of scholars, who will sit in study of the Torah and meditate upon it
day and night. Therefore they gird up their loins like men to provide for their
husbands, their sons-in-law, and their families from the labor of their own
hands and from their own effort.”[12]
Strikingly, in this instance,
woman can behave like men and provide for their families, but they cannot
behave “like one of the whole men” when it comes to studying the Torah.
R. Lipschitz continues:
“The groom
leaving his marriage canopy does not take upon his neck the yolk of the kitchen
stove, the yolk of a wife, because angels are grinding the grain provided for
him by heaven at her father’s table; he studies Torah in purity … and does not
fear the day when this manna will cease, because his wife has already preceded
him in finding a means of support…”[13]
Rayna Batya was nothing like the
“merchant ships bringing bread to the houses of their husbands” as women
were depicted in Zichron Yaakov. She found her voice and she could argue
convincingly. R, Baruch Epstein recalls one such discussion he had with his
aunt:
“She said,
‘Meanwhile, bring me the book, Avot de-Rabi Natan.’ I went and brought it – and
fell into her net! For there … it was written: ‘The House of Shammai say, ‘a
person should only teach those who are wise and humble and rich.’ The House of Hillel say. ‘Teach all people,
for there were many sinners in Israel who were brough close to the Torah, and
from them came those who were righteous…’
When she
had read these words, she turned towards me with a wrathful voice and said.
‘How crooked are your ways! Or perhaps you wanted to lead me astray, when you
based your words on the opinion of the House of Shammai, while every child who
studies Talmud … knows that when the Houses of Hillel and Shammai argue, the
halacha follows the House of Hillel. Here the School of Hillel permits teaching
everyone … [b]e careful about such things in the future!’”[14]
Rayna Batya then found a text
from a sixteenth century Italian rabbi, Shmuel Archivolti - a student of the
Maharam of Padua and the teacher of R. Leon of Modena [See Kotzk
Blog: 164) RABBI LEON OF MODENA – GAON, GAMBLER OR HERETIC?] - who
encouraged women to study Torah:
“[A]s for
those women whose hearts draw them to…the labor of G-d … the sages of the
generation should glorify them, magnify them, set them in order, strengthen
their hand and encourage their limbs: Do and succeed, and from heaven will you
be aided.”[15]
Rayna Batya made her nephew, R.
Baruch Epstein, read it and he recalls:
“When I had
finished reading, she said to me, ‘In my opinion, each and every one of these
words should be encased in a casing of gold like precious stones or pearls, and
the whole book in a silver band. What do you say about them?”[16]
R. Epstein writes that he tried
to argue that R. Shmuel Archivolti was not such a well-known rabbi and raised
some other points, but hastens to say that his words were “like a spark in a
barrel of gunpowder”, and Rayna Batya accused her nephew of being “mean-spirited
like all the men”.
Towards the end of the chapter,
R. Epstein describes how he adopted a no holds barred approach to this debate
with his aunt. He ties to show that Torah study is like warfare and woman,
therefore, have no place in that enterprise:
“[W]hen
scholars occupy themselves with Torah they are like combatants struggling
amongst themselves to clarify the law, its logic and reason …[T]he
establishment of Torah requires a person to stand fast in warfare against
himself and his own flesh. [He must] accept upon himself that which troubles
the body and wearies the soul, as the Sages said: ‘The Torah will only be
established for a person who kills himself over it’ [Berachot 63b] … They also
said: [Eruvin 22a] ‘The Torah is only established for one who makes himself
cruel towards his own children and family [by long hours of absence while
studying, or by economic hardship].’”[17]
But even after this sharp
response, R. Epstein allows his aunt the final word:
[S]he said
to me: ‘What can be done? Yes, yes, thus it is. ‘Turn to the right, turn to the
left’; in the end it is for us disgraced women to bend our heads beneath our
evil fortune … Just as everything has an end and a limit, so let there come an
end and limit to this painful matter.”[18]
Seaman and Kobrin conclude most
poignantly that this account has no real conclusion or closure:
“Rayna
Batya never makes peace with her condition in Mekor Baruch, and it is left
tantalizingly unclear whether or not Epstein intends that we, his readers,
should make peace with it.”
For some contemporary Halachic
views that may represent some of Rayna Batya's dream of a time when there will be an “end and limit to this painful matter” concerning
women and their participation in study and mitzvot, see:
Kotzk
Blog: 051) Women, Tefillin And Cars
Kotzk
Blog: 058) Please Don't Hide My Judaism From Me
Kotzk
Blog: 066) Women Studying Torah?
BUT THERE IS ANOTHER APPROACH:
Over the years I’ve spent in the
rabbinate, I've come across many women who have had a tremendous thirst for
learning. The opportunities for women to learn are better today than they
have probably ever been. However, sometimes, these women’s classes and
programs are somewhat condescending and standards do not correspond to the
opportunities provided for men. At best, scholarly women will only be regarded
as “almost like proper men”. Some women, therefore, may want to try
another angle.
My humble suggestion is to
explore religious Academic Judaism. This is a field I had absolutely no knowledge
of until just a few years ago, and I was beyond surprised to discover how vast,
broad, comprehensive and exacting it really is. It is very difficult to make
things up in this field of endeavour and one quickly learns that facts don’t lie.
I personally, have just this year embarked on a four-year PhD program and I am
loving every moment of it. I have chosen to research the relationship between
the Sabbatian movement and the emergence of the Chassidic movement.
I have come across great woman
scholars who have such depth of knowledge in Talmudic texts and know, not just
how to read them, but understand their provenance and context in relation to
other contemporaneous texts.
I have come across women who are
working on newly discovered Rashi texts and are reconstructing parts
of literature that many rabbis have never even heard of. There is an ocean out
there and you will be treated with dignity and respect – and you will be dazzled
by the array of knowledge and information available. There are, today, religious
universities and institutions where such study is available and there are
numerous online opportunities as well.
More importantly, by seriously persuing such scholarship, you could not just repeat parrot fashion what you learn, but perhaps actually make a contribution to the intriguing and expanding world of Religious Jewish Academia. Facts, learning, knowledge, information and truth are not gender dependant.
[1] Their
son, R. Meir Berlin, who became known as Meir Bar-Ilan, was to become the
founder of Bar-Ilan University.
[2] Don
Seaman and Rebecca Kobrin, “Like One of the Whole Men”: Learning, Gender and
Autobiography in R. Barukh Epstein’s Mekor Baruch.
[3] Gevarim
Sheleimim – Literally “whole or proper men”, i.e., men who know how
to learn.
[4] Mekor
Baruch p. 1949.
[5] Mekor
Baruch pp. 1949-1950.
[6] Mekor
Baruch p. 1979.
[7] See
Daniel Boyarin, 1997, Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the
Invention of the Jewish Man, University of California Press, Berkeley, 178.
[8] See
Moshe Dombey, 1988, My Uncle the Netziv, Mesorah Publications, New York,
156-168.
[9] Mekor
Baruch, p. 1954-1960.
[10] Mekor
Baruch, p. 1950.
[11]
Aruch haShulchan, Yoreh Deah, 246:19.
[12] R.
Yaakov Lipschitz, Zichron Yaakov, II, p. 158.
[13] R. Yaakov Lipschitz, Zichron Yaakov, II, pp. 158-159.
[14] Mekor
Baruch, p. 1952.
[15] See
Robert Bonfils, 1994, Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy, University of
California Press, Berkeley, 133 and 169.
[17] Mekor
Baruch, p. 1969.
[18] Mekor
Baruch, p. 1976.
Yes, Please send them towards Jewish Academia. Lord knows the scholarship over there cannot get any worse.
ReplyDelete