Question

In this opinion column:  www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/347622, the writer complains that women studying Talmud in academies for women that focus on this produces rotten fruit: \”What is the purpose of women studying Jewish law from its sources, or engaging in pilpul over the discussions of Abaye and Rava, if it leads to a framework of military service for girls that does not accord with the requirements of Jewish law? What is the point of holding publicized tractate-completion celebrations for graduates of these academies when they are dressed in khaki pants?\” In her view, the reason for these dismal results is the impossible combination of Jewish law and feminism, which is a doctrine \”not given at Sinai but imported from foreign cultures.\” Jewish law thus serves in practice as a tool for realizing feminist ideas in opposition to Jewish law. The writer assumes, in a way that I can’t tell is tendentious or blind, that Jewish law is clear and unequivocal, and therefore there is no escaping conclusions of the kind described above (and similarly, for example, regarding women singing: www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/345637). But what interests me more is the principled aspect—first, can one say that there is some culture or clear set of values that we received from Sinai, such that one could say that feminism (or any other value or set of values) is not part of it? And second, do you think there is any flaw in a halakhic motivation such as the aspiration to realize feminist values, so long as the halakhic arguments hold water? Thank you