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Jewess
What does Torah tell us about women and their place in society? There are many examples. Here are a few.


There is structure and order to the assembly so that everyone has a place of importance in HaShems plan. But what is a woman's place? Looking to the Torah, there are many verses which address this subject. Some people become confused by what they feel are contradictions regarding the roles of women.

An unusual number of women show up in the book of Judges so we'll take a look a few of them. The first female which is encountered there is Achsah. She persuades her husband to ask for land and she asks for the wells herself. She is resourceful... persuading her husband and petitioning her father.

She has properly taken her place as the wife of a man.  She shows respect to authoritative males (dropping down before her father to make a request of him).
She acts through men rather than independantly.

Deborah is a mature woman, wife, prophetess, and judge within Israel. Like Achsah, she is a channel for male decisions and directives with a slight differentiation. Achsah seeks the counsel and authority of her father and husband while Deborah receives the prophesies of HaShem and acts as His agent and deliverer. Through the authority of the Set-Apart Spirit, she calls men to her but she still needs Barak, a male, to fulfill her prophesies. 

She accompanies Barak to the battlefield not to battle but to draw the fighting forces of men together (4:6-7) after which HaShem works through them (4:15). 

She is used by HaShem to direct men toward HaShem's Will but she cannot carry out His Will on her own and she certainly is not in the position of teaching Torah to men in assembly.

Manoah's wife, mother-to-be of Samson receives messages from Divine messengers but the males around her are less effective than those who surrounded Deborah. She tells her husband that a man of HaShem came to her (13:6) but he remains skeptical until the acsension of the messenger in the fire. Accepting Yisraelite tradition, she knows better than to ask the Name of the Divine or His messenger. In contrast, her husband Manoah asks "What is your name so that when your words come true we may honor you?" (13:7) The question seems either ignorant or skeptical but the fact that it was skeptical and not ignorant is apparent when he fears death after the messenger disappears. He knows better than to doubt and ask the Name of Elohim from Shemot 3:13-14. His wife counters his fear saying, "If HaShem had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering or announced to us such things as these" (13:23). 

Although she is barren, there is no indication that this woman ever prayed for conception, however, her condition was recognized and a messenger sent as deemed necessary. 

She justifies this attention by her responses: belief in the divine nature of the visitor and observation of the Nazirite restrictions (13:3-5) Bemidbar (Numbers 6). 

Delilah (ch. 16) is a woman available outside the bonds of marriage overtly using her sexual attractions. 

She betrays for a price the man who loves her which proves her immorality and lack of ethics. 

The Levites' concubine is called "girl" until she is raped (ch. 19). 

She is said to have been "unfaithful like a harlot" to her husband, and she leaves him returning to her parental home assuming the male right to put away a partner. Because of this, the Levite puts her out to the Gibeahites. She is given and becomes the victim of multiple rape.

The Torah is clear about women in the assembly not teaching Torah to men or to one another and that they should learn from men in subjection to them. Women should teach one another to love their husbands and to remain under the authority of their male head.

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