Q:
What parts of the Torah may you teach girls and which parts may you not?
A:
In general — I won’t say in particular but in general, all things of yiras Shomayim, mussar, middos tovos, and all things that they have to practice, should be taught. A great deal must be taught to girls.
I’ll give you an example. Girls must learn they can’t be mazikin – they cannot harm somebody’s property. However, there’s a difference. A boy learns the dinim of nezikin, not merely not to do harm to the property. He has to learn it for the mitzvah of learning in order to be misasek in the esek, in the business of learning Torah. So he goes into Bava Kamma with the Gemara and the Rashi and the Tosfos and so on. A girl has to know also. A girl must know she cannot let her pet cat go into the neighbor’s yard and destroy the neighbor’s flowers. She must know that too – absolutely! She must know she cannot walk on the cement when there’s wet cement and spoil the cement by stepping into it. She’s a mazik; she must know that. Everybody must learn dinim of nezikin, absolutely. Girls must learn it too. They’re chayav in all the responsibilities that men are chayav when it comes to lavin. Only men do it with the purpose of learning לעסוק בדברי תורה – that’s a different story.
So therefore, women can learn what they have to know without Gemara, Rashi and Tosfos; but they have to know, however.
And therefore, it’s very important and useful to teach girls many things they have to know; of Nezikin and also other things. Many agadatas they have to know and there’s a very large amount of information that they have to know.
Now Chumash, of course. Chumash is full of yiras Shamayim. Chumash is full of yesodos haemunah and it’s very valuable for girls to know chumash.
Exactly where the boundary line is, it’s not simple. Sometimes Chumash can become, let’s say, a matter of discussion of pilpul. Girls don’t need pilpul because women have a different function in life. Their function in life is to raise families.
The great zechus of raising a family is unequaled. Women are champions. Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave them an opportunity to gain nitzchiyus. By raising a family of children, they get such a zechus that a man could never hope for such a zechus. What is greater than bringing a frum Jew into the world, a frum Jewish boy, a frum Jewish girl into the world? Nothing greater than that! לא נברא העולם אלא בשביל פריה ורביה. Only that men have other obligations and so they should strive with all their koach to do things that will give them also a zchus.
So women don’t need the pilpul of Torah to live successfully. However they do need to know a lot of important information, many yedios, because otherwise they cannot live a normal life as a Jew without knowing. You cannot be a mazik. You cannot be oisek in ona’as devorim, hurt people’s feelings; shmiras haloshon. There are thousands of things you have to know. And therefore, they have to know how to kasher, keep a kosher home, very important to know that. And therefore, there’s a great deal of Torah for girls to learn.
But exactly the boundary I would say is לעסוק בדברי תורה; to be osek in Torah that’s a different story.
July 1998
