The issue of egalitarianism in terms of gender is one of tension in many traditional communities, especially religious communities. Judaism is no different, having patriarchal roots similar to most other ancient religions. While there have been contemporary pushes towards creating more gender equality, certain forms of Judaism remain committed to what they view as the traditionally proper roles for men and women. This is the topic that Yoel Finkelman elucidates in his essay “The Secret of Jewish Masculinity: Contemporary Haredi Gender Ideology.” Finkelman analyzes the “separate but equal” construct of gender roles that is claimed by Haredi communities, as well as the historical and contemporary realities of those roles, in order to understand how gender functions within Haredi culture.
As a woman raised in a Conservative Jewish household and amongst several egalitarian communities, traditional Judaisms such as Haredi and other forms of Orthodoxy have always confused and discomforted me. Having learned in school how to sing along with the prayer services and read Torah, I’ve felt silenced when joining an Orthodox community, relegated to the quiet side of the Mechitzah, or in a balcony left to overlook the men’s participation in the service while not given the opportunity to participate myself. Consequently, I have been curious as to how women in Haredi communities, whether by birth or as ba’alei teshuva, find happiness and contentment in system that seems to demean their power. Finkelman, in studying the construction of Haredi gender roles, attends to that question and more.
The claims made by those speaking out in support of the patriarchal Haredi system label the roles of men and women as “separate but equal,” with women taking responsibility of domestic life while men deal with the public world. There seems an imbalance in roles, as women are left with the responsibilities of creating a properly Jewish home for her husband and children, while only the men are given the obligation and opportunities of Torah study and other positive mitzvot. In objection to that supposed imbalance, Haredi ideology elevates the female role as crucial to the spiritual health of herself, her family, and her community. The Haredi home is perceived as a safe place, protected from the dangers of the secularized outside world. Thus, the domestic role assigned to women is made especially important, as she is “‘the instiller and protector of the vital, internal values of the Jew,’” (Finkelman 291). She is not simply a homemaker, but a guardian against secularization. Additionally, she is not given the obligations of Torah study and other positive mitzvot because she does not need them. She can find meaning in domestic tasks, “‘because women have a greater tendency toward spiritual growth than the men and therefore do not need those mitvos to bring that potential to fruition,’” (Finkelman 292). While some may view the opportunity to fulfill mitzvot as an advantage for the men, this assertion puts women above men, so holy that they do not need mitzvot in order to achieve spiritual success.
Finkelman points out that this ideology raises women in an abstract sense, utilizing the desire for spirituality, while continuing to confine their actual power and maintain a patriarchal social structure (292). Haredi ideology claims that women’s responsibility for the domestic sphere is just as vital a task as Torah study is for men. However, this claim is undermined by the economic reality of Haredi women having to enter the public sphere in order to take on work to financially support her family as her husband attends to his studies. This reality demonstrates that in the Haredi hierarchy, men’s Torah study takes precedence over women’s homemaking, contradicting the claims that are often made. Finkelman labels this contradiction as asymmetry, a display of the ambivalence within Haredi gender ideology that pushes and pulls members of the communities in two directions at once. In this case, there is tension between the Haredi woman’s domestic role in strengthening the nuclear family, and the wage-earning role she must take to support the preeminent male Torah study. This position gives the woman power in the form of financial control, which would threaten the patriarchal Haredi culture. Thus, the position of women in the workplace is painted as a necessary evil, a dangerous position that must be taken up. This endorses the notion that the wage-earning work that women perform is unwanted and precarious, downplaying the financial power that the women acquire by creating a distaste for it.
