Women and Judaism

Raised in the ultra orthodox world I was taught that women are valued and have a unique role. I was brainwashed into thinking that women had rights. As I grew older I saw the role women play and how discriminatory the Jewish religion is to women.

There is a blessing in the daily prayer which men say which translates as “thank you god that I am not a women “. This blessing says it all. A women’s version of the blessing is translated as “thank you god for making me as I am”. A women is not allowed to thank god for not making her a man. (I have always wondered what blessing a transexual would say.)

I was taught from a young age that despite this very obvious discriminatory blessing, it’s only because women are so special that the blessing is the way it is. That men have so many more commandments to keep because they need to constantly remind themselves of God.  Women however were created so much more complete that’s why they only have 3 commandments to keep.

As a child I believed what I was told, especially because it came from brainwashed older women. Now I have broken away and I can use my common sense. The reason why there is this blessing is because the prayers were written by men. Women didn’t know how to read for ages in Judaism. (Although women in judaism did learn to read prior to women in secular world) Women didn’t need to pray because that’s not their role. Women looked after the home and the children and the men made the rules.

Men were glad they were not a woman because they had authority. They were the boss. Even today when women are more equal the men in judaism are still the boss. This is shown by every  single ultra orthodox rabbi being male. A female can not be a Rabbi in the ultra orthodox world.  Only the men can make the laws. Only these male rabbis can answer questions even about women’s issues.  There is no female  voice within the ultra orthodox  rabbinical world. The Beth Din (Religious court judges) can only be male judges. This can be so traumatizing for a women who needs their help and must be judged by three male Rabbis.

So we live in a world where women can be anything they want  (even a man if they desire) yet a women can never be an ultra orthodox rabbi. The ultra orthodox world is still run by men and women voices are unfortunately not heard.