You don’t have to be a brilliant sociologist to note that women’s status has changed dramatically in the last hundred years, throughout the world.  The subject of the status of women in Torah thought and society is emotionally and psychologically complex, and anxiety provoking.  There are those who try to shut down discussion about these matters because of fear of heresy.  There are others who engage in gaslighting and false apologetics that fail to capture an honest or clear picture of the various factors involved and are more interested in defending an idea of faith as opposed to helping people understand, learn and grow.  

I cannot discuss this matter anywhere close to the extensive and careful treatment it requires,but I will reflect on one part of this phenomenon as it relates to our Gemara.  

Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the halakhos of leaning when drinking the wine at the seder. The Gemara says women are not obligated to lean back, however an ”isha chashuva”, a woman of status or importance is required to lean. 

We cannot take the understanding of Isha Chashuva quite literally as status, because even a destitute person is obligated to lean (see Mishna Pesachim 10:1)

In regard to women not being obligated to lean Rashbam says two reasons

אשה אינה צריכה הסיבה - מפני אימת בעלה וכפופה לו ומפרש בשאילתות דרב אחאי לאו דרכייהו דנשי למיזגא

1. A woman feels reverence or perhaps trepidation toward her husband and is uncomfortable leaning
2. It is simply not the manner in which women express their sense of freedom, thus leaning would not signify anything.

Both of these distinctions help us understand why a woman is exempted from leaning while an impoverished person is still obligated.  Notably, the GRA (Shulkhan Arukh OH 472:4) explicitly endorses the last explanation instead of the first, which indicates that the idea that a woman should be fearful in front of her husband is not considered to be normative. 

Interestingly, the Ramah quotes the Mordechai stating that in today’s times, all women are considered women of status, (though they are not required to lean for another reason).  So regardless of reason one or two, in today’s times it is not considered normative for women to be submissive in this manner.  This is an important statement, because it refutes the idea that halakha maintains an immutable attitude toward a woman’s status in society, though how that could affect each halakha in regard to women requires extensive study because each halakhic factor and requirement may be based on different criteria. However, we do see that in this area, there is an acknowledgement that womens’ status changes in time and culture.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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