Vayakhel-Pekudei 5773: Women's Contributions

Sanctifying the Sensual and Spinning from the Source

This week’s double Torah portion completes the Book of Shemot (Exodus). The people generously provide materials for the Mishkan (Sanctuary) and participate in its construction. The women are credited with two special contributions: spinning material from wool, linen and goat hair; and donating copper mirrors for the water basin the Kohanim (priests) use to ritually wash their hands and feet before serving in the Mishkan.

“And every wise-hearted woman spun with her hands, and they brought spun material: blue, purple and crimson wool and linen. And all the women whose hearts uplifted them with wisdom spun the goat hair.” (Shemot 35:25-26)

“And he [Betzalel] made the washstand of copper and its base of copper from the mirrors of the women who had set up the legions, who congregated at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” (Shemot 38:8)  

Rashi explains that the women owned copper mirrors to use when they adorned themselves. Initially, Moshe (Moses) rejects the mirrors because he feels they are made “for temptation.” G-d tells Moshe to accept the mirrors “because through them the women set up many legions.” Rashi writes that “legions” refers to the children the women bore in Egypt.

Writes Rabbi Dovid Frost on ou.org: “[The women use the mirrors] to beautify themselves and entice their exhausted and demoralized husbands to have relations with them…thereby continuing the chain of generations of the Jewish people…The women, by means of the mirrors, sanctified the sensual by elevating it to serve the noblest of purposes: the preservation of the Jewish people.”

Rashi goes on to reference another use of the copper washing basin: “its purpose was to make peace between a man and wife.” The water in the basin is used to prove the guilt or innocence of a woman accused of infidelity. (See Bamidbar/Numbers 5:11-31).

Regarding the women’s unique contribution of spun materials, Rashi writes that certain women were so skilled and wise that they could spin the goat hair while it was still attached to the goat! Sforno explains that this ensured that the hair maintained its luster, because shearing the hair diminishes its shine.

Rabbi Eliyahu Hoffmann on torah.org comments as to why the task of spinning goat hair is given exclusively to women: “All the other aspects of the Mishkan’s construction involved taking raw materials and using them as the building blocks for the Tabernacle and its holy vessels…The spinning of the goat hair was the only task that required the materials to be formed, molded and infused with holiness at their very source --- straight from the backs of the goats.”

“The mother of the house is referred to in the Holy Tongue as akeret habayit, the ‘source’  of the household, for it is she who brings an aura of kedusha (holiness), love for Torah and respect for mitzvot (commandments) into the very foundation of the Jewish home. Only the women could take responsibility for such an essential and critical task.”

http://www.ou.org/torah/savannah/5759/vayakpek59.htm

http://www.torah.org/learning/olas-shabbos/5763/vayakhel.html

Ki Tisa 5773: More Precious than Gold

“Aharon (Aaron) said to them, ‘Remove the golden earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters and bring them to me. And all the men stripped themselves of the golden earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aharon.”

The second reading of this week’s Torah portion begins with an account of the making of the golden calf idol. When Moshe does not descend the mountain where he has gone to receive the Ten Commandments, according to Rashi, the people miscalculate the days and fear Moshe will never return. Torah recounts that the people demand that Aharon make them an idol to worship.  

According to MIdrash (Tanchuma 21), Aharon seeks to delay the idol-making, and assuming correctly that the women would hesitate to part with their jewelry, he requests that the men contribute the gold earrings of their wives and children. In fact, the women do refuse to contribute their gold, not because they do not want to relinquish it, but because they do not want it to be used to construct an idol. The men, however, eagerly and hastily remove their own earrings. As previously discussed in this blog (parashat Bo: January 17, 2013), for their refusal to participate, the women are rewarded with their own holiday at the beginning of each month, Rosh Chodesh.

In next week’s Torah portion, the men are given an opportunity to atone for the sin of constructing the golden calf idol: Moshe asks them to contribute the materials needed for the building of the Mishkan (Sanctuary). “They came, both men and women, as many were willing hearted, and brought clasps and pendants, rings and golden beads, all vessels of gold.”

Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in Women at the Crossroads: “The expression translated in our verse as ‘both men and women’ reads in the Hebrew ha-anashim al hanashim which literally means ‘the men on the women’. Rashi, Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachaya explain that the women took off their jewelry and brought it at once. They preceded the men in bringing [the gold]. When the men arrived, they found that the women had already brought their contribution.”

“Perhaps the word al, which literally means ‘on’, alludes to the fact that in preparing for the Mishkan, the men relied on the women. It was the merit of the righteous women that enabled the building of the Mishkan. G-d rewarded the women both in this world and in the coming world for refusing to give their jewelry to the golden calf, yet giving generously to the Mishkan, which was erected on Rosh Chodesh.”

http://rebbetzinchanabracha.blogspot.com/2010/02/parshah-ki-tisa-exodus-3011-3435.html

http://rebbetzinchanabracha.blogspot.com/2010/03/parshah-vayakhel-pekudei-exodus-351.html

T'tzaveh 5773: Women's Wisdom & Light

“V’atah t’tzaveh (And you shall command) the Children of Israel, and they shall take you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the ner tamid (lamp continually).”

The Baal HaTurim explains that the Hebrew letter taf in the beginning of the word t’tzaveh has the same gematria (alpha-numeric value of 400) as the Hebrew word for women, nashim, which is spelled nun (50), shin (300), yud (10), mem (40). The beginning of the verse, t’tzaveh, therefore correlates to “women are commanded”.

The verse ends with the words ner tamid, which has the same gematria as the words b’Shabbat (on Shabbat). Further, the verse begins with the words v’atah, which has the same gematria as the Hebrew word for home, bayit.  The Baal HaTurim concludes therefore that the entire verse hints that women are commanded to light Shabbat candles at home.

The ner referred to in the verse is the Menorah that stood in the southern part of the Mishkan (Sanctuary). (The word ner and the Hebrew word for south, darom, are equivalent in gematria.) Explains Reb Mordechai (Motti) Rosen z”l: “The Gemara [in Baba Basra 25] says if you want wisdom, go to the south. Chazal [our Sages, in Mishlei/Proverbs 14:1] also tell us that a woman with wisdom builds her home. It is accepted that wisdom is found by women.”

Reb Rosen continues: The first reference to ner (Menorah) in Torah is when Yitzchak (Isaac) brings Rivka (Rebecca) to his mother Sarah’s tent. Rashi explains that when Sarah is alive, her nerot (candles) burn all week long, from one Shabbat to the next. When she dies, the candles go out. When Rivka enters Sarah’s tent, the candles again began to burn. From this, we infer that Menorah is a reference to the matriarchs. Also, the words haMenorah (the Menorah) have the same gematria as isha, woman.

In the Mikdash, the Kohen Gadol (high priest) lights the Menorah. In her home, the mikdash me’at (miniature sanctuary), the woman has the obligation and privilege to bring light into her home and into the world by kindling the Sabbath candles.

http://modzitz.org/torah/tetzaveh.htm#torah009

Terumah 5773: Akeret HaBayit

“And they shall make Me a mikdash (sanctuary) and I will dwell within them.”

In this week’s Torah portion, G-d commands His people to build a sanctuary so He can dwell b’tocham, which is often translated as “in their midst” but literally means “within them”. Writes Marina Goodman on torah.org: “The purpose of a sanctuary is to help each of us build our own inner sanctuary where G-d can dwell.”

The purpose of a home, writes Goodman, is to be a mikdash me’at, a miniature sanctuary. “Women were given the privilege of being the makers of Jewish homes. The Hebrew word for homemaker is akeret habayit. Akeret is the feminine version of ikar, which is the central aspect, or the essence of something. Bayit usually means house or home.”

“The Temple that stood in Jerusalem was called Beit HaMikdash, where beit means ‘house of’ and mikdash [related to kadosh, kodesh and kiddush] literally means holiness. Often it is referred to simply as Habayit, the House. Thus, in Hebrew the same word is used for both a home and the Holy Temple. An akeret habayit is that central figure which transforms home into a sanctuary where each member of her family can become a dwelling place for G-d’s presence. “

Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in her book, Women at the Crossroads: “Being the chief of her home, the woman is compared to the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and the work in her home to Divine service. Just as the Kohen Gadol kindles the menorah in the Beit HaMikdash, the woman lights the Shabbat candles in her home. The bread she bakes is like the showbread in the Temple. The food she cooks is like a sacrifice, and the table she sets is an altar. Her goal is to imbue her home with spirituality and fear of G-d. In the same manner that the Kohen Gadol causes the Shechinah [G-d’s presence] to dwell in the world, the woman invites the Shechinah to enter her home.”

http://www.torah.org/features/wperspective/housewife.html

http://rebbetzinchanabracha.blogspot.com/2010/02/parshah-terumah-exodus-251-2719.html

   

Mishpatim 5773: Women's Rights

This week’s Torah portion is called Mishpatim, which means “laws”. It lays out 53 civil laws, including several designed to protect the rights of women -- the unmarried, the married and the widowed.

In Biblical times, a woman without a dowry was unmarriageable and, sadly, destined to live without a husband or children. Therefore, if a Jewish father was so poverty-stricken that he could not afford the dowry required to eventually marry off his daughter, he could sell his young daughter as a “bondmaid” to a wealthier Jewish family. The girl could work for the family, usually as a “mother’s helper” taking care of smaller children and doing household chores. When she came of age (12 and a day), she would have earned enough money to marry. Usually she would marry the purchaser/master or his son. This practice ensured that every woman, regardless of her economic status, could be in a position to marry.  

This week’s Torah portion establishes the laws concerning the bondmaid and teaches, by extension, a husband’s basic obligations to his wife -- how he must provide for her and care for her: “And if he [the master] designates her [the bondmaid] for his son, he [the son] shall deal with her according to the law of the daughters [of Israel]. If he takes another [wife] for himself, he shall not diminish her [the bondmaid’s] sustenance, her clothing or her frequency of marital relations.”

From these verses, we learn that a married man must fulfill three basic Torah obligations to his wife: he must supply 1. food, 2. clothing and 3. intimacy. Talmud (Ketubot 61b, 62b) elaborates on the third provision, which varies depending on the husband’s occupation. A sailor is required to be intimate with his wife twice a year; a camel driver, once a month; a Torah scholar, once a week, preferably on Friday evening.

The rabbis later imposed additional spousal obligations to protect a woman and ensure that she would be taken care of in the case of death (her own or her husband’s) or divorce.  The rabbis also mandated that a husband pay his wife’s medical expenses and pay ransom if she is kidnapped.

http://rabbibuchwald.njop.org/2007/02/12/mishpatim-5767-2007/

http://rabbibuchwald.njop.org/2011/01/24/mishpatim-5771-2011/