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A chat about girls studying Torah

  

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Rabbi Shlomo Chein: Welcome. I'll be with you in a moment...what's on your mind?

Sherry: ok, so an orthodox girl can study Torah, but whats the point if she can only be a mother and wife when shes older?

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: 1) what does "only" mean? Would you say "someone can ONLY be a doctor"?

Sherry: i thought that orthodox women can ONLY be mothers and wives

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: what does "ONLY" mean (a mother is no small feat!)

Sherry: they cant be anything else

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: 1) they can be whatever they want. 2) Even if they could "only" be a mother, how would that change anything - what would be the difference if one is a mother or a doctor

Sherry: well why would someone need to know torah to be a mother?

Sherry: itd make sense if a man knew torah and wanted to be a rabbi but doctors, mothers, lawyers, etc dont need to know torah

Sherry: thats just why i was wondering why a girl would learn if shes allowed?

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: ok, now I understand your question :-)

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: do you know what it says in the Torah?

Sherry: no i dont

Sherry: i dont know anything about torah. i dont even know the ten commandments

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: how old are you?

Sherry: 16

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: i have an idea

Sherry: ok

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: instead of asking about orthodox girls (whom you don't know) learning TOrah (which you don't know), let us just talk about YOU and Torah :-)

Sherry: ok

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: Ok, have you ever seen the movie Jumanji (i think that is how it was spelled)

Sherry: no

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: ok

Sherry: i just know that its about this house that has animals in it or something, but ive never seen it.. is that what its about?

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: it is about a game they find in this house, and the game comes to life - all of the things in teh game start happening for real, and they are in middle of all of it

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: so here's the exercise: see this whole world as sort of a game, there are obstacles, and there are bonuses etc. and the point is to transform the whole board to a state in which everyone and everything on it is only good, and there are no obstacles anymore

Sherry: alright

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: now, you need instructions how to get through that game - you need to know what is a good space to land on, what is a bad space, and how you get out of a bad space etc.

Sherry: correct

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: That is the Torah!

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: The Torah tells us - each individual (there is no such thing as orthodox reform conservative in the Torah)

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: The Torah tells us how to live by the rules of the game, and how to win the game

Rabbi Shlomo Chein: G-d made us, and he made the world, and he gave us a Torah to teach us -his people, how to deal with the world -his creation

All names, places, and identifying information have been changed or deleted in order to protect the privacy of the questioners. In order to preserve authenticity, the chat sessions have been posted with a minimum of editing. Please excuse typographical errors, missing punctuation, and/or grammatical mistakes which naturally occur in the course of informal chat sessions.

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COMMENTS

Orthodox women ONLY wives and mothers

Posted by: Lee, UK on Jan 11, 2006

Whilst is this a hugely important role and I dont feel it fair to have ONLY in it, I don't actually know any orthodox women with careers, but if they are fulfilled inside then so be it.
Although I feel if orthodox women do have career aspirations they are unlikely to pursue them for fear of what their community may think, and this is an attitude that needs to change!

Orthodox Women

Posted by: I'm Happy on Aug 02, 2006

I personally know many orthodox women who have careeers as psychologists, teachers, dentist, doctors, principals, people in organizations.. etc. but there also Jewish moms. to them their most important role is being a mother. and they also have careeers. i think that the frame of mind they have is that they and Orthodox women in general enjoy being mothers. but by having jobs they are doing what they lilke second best.

Orthodox Pediatrician

Posted by: Anonymous, hopatcong, nj, 07843 on Sep 26, 2007

Our pediatrician is an orthodox woman (Chabad) and mother of two (with one currently on the way). We have never had such a wonderful experience with a medical practitioner - she cares for the entire child. We love her!

RELATED CATEGORIES

Women & Judaism » Women's Mitzvot » Obligations/ Exemptions
Torah
Torah is G–d’s teaching to man. In general terms, we refer to the Five Books of Moses as “The Torah.” But in truth, all Jewish beliefs and laws are part of the Torah.
Chabad
Chabad, an acronym for Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding, is the name of a Chassidic Group founded in the 1770s. Two of the most fundamental teachings of Chabad are the intellectual pursuit of understanding the divine and the willingness to help every Jew who has a spiritual or material need.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.