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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Gender

Woman Serving as Sandeket

abraham's servant approaching rebecca at the well in a renaissance-era painting

Was Rivka a Feminist?

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 28, 2021

That question is, of course, anachronistic. A close reading of this week’s parsha and later parashot, however, reveals that Rivka’s marriage to Yitzchak—as well as Rachel and Leah’s marriages to Yaakov, and most likely Sarah’s marriage to Avraham—brought into the Jewish family a woman’s voice and role that might otherwise have been absent.…

Men and Women Standing at Sinai

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 10, 2021

One of the last mitzvot in the Torah is that of Hakhel, the “gathering together.” On Sukkot following the Shemitah year–the year in which we find ourselves right now–the people would all come together so that, standing as one, they would be fully present as individuals and as a complete community to hear the Torah being read.…

Insiders and Outsiders

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 12, 2020

A major theme in this week’s parasha, Chayei Sarah, is the question of insiders and outsiders. How do we relate to the larger country around us? How do we relate to foreigners? This is quite relevant to the question of immigrants in a society – are their contributions to be feared or embraced?…

Androgynous Myth The Creation of Adam and Eve in Peshat and the Midrashic Tradition

by Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky
Posted on July 19, 2020

Hebrew: May Young Men Give Physical Assistance To Young Women With Physical Disabilities?

To read this teshuva in English click here. שאלה: מדי שנה אנו הנוער של מעלה גלבוע מארחים בישוב קייטנת אילן. לעתים קרובות בגלל חוסר בכוח אדם או בגלל צורך בכוח פיזי בנים מטפלים בבנות בעל מוגבלויות . איך בן יכול לטפל בבת על פי ההלכה?[1]…

Disability Right

May Young Men Give Physical Assistance To Young Women With Physical Disabilities?

To read this teshuva in Hebrew click here. Question: Each year, the Ma’ale Gilboa youth group hosts Camp Ilan, a camp for young men and women with disabilities. Due to insufficient manpower as well as the need for their physical strength, young men often take care of young women with physical disabilities.…

Iggros Moshe A to Z: G is for Gender

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 14, 2019

Episode 23 Rabbi Linzer looks at a famous teshuvah of Rav Moshe that takes on the challenge from feminism to the role of women in halakha and Jewish life. Why are women not obligated equally? Can halakha change to accommodate shifting social realities?…

May the Humra Di’R. Zeira be Relaxed in Cases of Halakhic Infertility?

Introduction “Halakhic infertility” occurs when observance of hilkhot niddah results in a woman ovulating only during the days that wife and husband are forbidden to be physically intimate. These situations result from post-biblical stringencies that lengthen the time of prohibition. This article discusses whether a couple may cease observing one such stringency, the humra di’R.…

Rachel’s Cry: Single Women and Pru U’rvu

To read this teshuva in hebrew click here: Should community resources be allocated to help an older single woman become pregnant using artificial insemination?[1] Rav Shlomo Aviner addresses this question as follows: Question: A single woman, about forty years old, who realistically doesn’t expect to marry and wishes, with all her soul, to have a child to love and devote herself  to – is she permitted halakhically to use artificial insemination to bear a child?…

May A Single Man Fulfill The Mitzvah Of Pru U’rvu (procreation)?

To read this teshuva in hebrew click here: Introduction Until the last generation, marriage and reproduction always went together. The only legitimate way of producing children was in the framework of marriage since non-marital sexual relationships are halakhically forbidden or, minimally, strongly discouraged.[1]…

May A Single Man Fulfill The Mitzvah Of Pru U’rvu (procreation)? (Hebrew)