More Thoughts on the Bible and Women’s Torah Study

Hello Rabbi

Last week I was asked… unfortunately, one of the women attacked and said that we (?) always say whatever we want. In spots we say whatever we want, in legumes we say whatever we want.
I didn’t quite understand the claim, and its connection to the current discussion, so I interrupted the discussion. But it raised thoughts in me – how is it possible that I’ve been teaching her for a year and a half and trying to show that there is an organized scholarly system behind the halakha, and she still claims to me that we (?) say whatever we want?

From fortune to fortune I thought to myself that maybe it had something to do with the world of Bible study.
Many of the women who entered the world of Torah began (and remained) in the world of Bible study.
Studying the Bible has several advantages over studying Iyun and Halacha. It is much easier to encompass the whole thing from end to end. And of course the Rabbi’s claims – it is enough that we learn a few tools, do the analysis, and then we can say whatever we want.
The rabbi has already raised the questions about studying the Bible, and I won’t repeat them. I’ll just say briefly – in the world of the Bible, it’s very easy to get into the right language, learn a surgical tool or two, and start running. But what’s worse than that is that even the great surgeons end up saying whatever they want (I have a beautiful example, Parashah Vaytse, which is a parashah without open and closed sections. Dividing the parashah into two according to the exact number of verses creates a beautiful chiastic structure. Okay, so what? It depends on who you ask. Elchanan Samet proved from this that Jacob sinned, and Yoni Grossman proved that God kept his promise. In other words – maybe the analysis itself is a judgment, but the conclusion that emerges – absolutely not). The meaning is that there is a feeling that if you have gone through the sources, now you can say whatever you want, as long as it is consistent with the sources. But in the literary world, there are not many limitations to this consistency.
When Malka Peterkowski’s book came out, I read half of it (I broke down in the middle), and I said to myself – wow. She collected a lot of sources. But she has no idea about scholarship, and how to draw conclusions from the sources. So I thought she simply lacked a rabbi.
Now I wonder if the world of Bible study affects two worlds –
The world of poskim (like Malka), who do not understand that halakha is not the Bible.
And the world of observers. They say to themselves – I’ve been to a few Torah classes. I understand that what happens is that you have to be “the rabbi”, you have to know the sources, and then you decide (the biblical story) according to your conscience. Why don’t the poskim do this anymore? Why when it comes to X, lentil, and spots (I haven’t yet discussed the deep connection between these three) is the feeling that they can’t say what they want, even after they know all the sources?

If this is true, it turns out that the situation is even worse than the rabbi describes. The fact that the value of studying the Bible is not understood, beyond the immense sanctity of the Bible and Talmud Torah in the context of reciting the verses, is a small problem. The problem of belittling the characters of the Bible (which the people of Mount Moriah who oppose this study focus on) is also a problem that does not seem too huge to me. But the harm to the Torah that results from this, the lack of understanding of the difference between the systems, and therefore the feeling that one can dive into the world of scholarship and halakhah in the same way, and on the other hand the treatment that the poskim and their rulings receive, seem to me to be truly problematic.

Unfortunately, I think this hurts the world of women more than the world of men. I say this with pain, as someone who invests a lot of his time and energy in trying to train women to engage in the world of halacha. I also wonder if the resistance the rabbi encountered when he publicly brought out the sad fact that their level is nothing. If they succeed in the Bible, why can’t they succeed in Jewish study and halacha?
In lesson 4, the rabbi said – sit back, listen to how you learn, and then repeat the things, we had the opportunity to do this for a few years. Only then is there an expectation that we will be able to dive in on our own. In women’s settings, this option does not exist today. It would be great if they knew that they were missing it. But the easy entry into the world of the Bible undermines the idea that there is a need to bridge this.

I hope I didn’t get too carried away.
I would love to hear the Rabbi’s thoughts.

Good Saturday!