[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on Women Learning Torah

[Prof. Levine via Avodah]

The following is from pages 274 - 275 of Rav Schwab on Chumash.

Learning for the sake of learning, just to occupy one's mind with the
intricacies of the Torah, even if the practical application of the law is
already known, is limited to men.

A woman who learns Torah does not become greater in yiras Shamayim
because of it. True, she may become very learned in Torah, but this is not
the object of talmud Torah. A woman may become a great philosopher
or scientist, but Torah is not philosophy or science. Torah is the way
Hakadosh Baruch Hu communicates with us.

Only because talmud Torah is a mitzvah, a positive commandment for man,
can it be a means to connect to Hashem and thereby increase his
yiras Shamayim. Because a woman has no specific mitzvah of talmud
Torah, she cannot utilize it as a means to increase her many ways of
connection to Hashem. If a man is a great talmid chacham, having
learned the entire Talmud, and has not become a greater yerei Shamayim
this learning has not achieved its purpose. If a woman were to learn and know
Gemara just as well as a man, it still would not make her one iota
better than she is. It would have no influence on her relationship 
with Hakadosh
Baruch Hu. Shehasani kirtzono - He has made me according to his will,
means that a woman does not need talmud Torah to come close to
Hakadosh Baruch Hu. A woman can even have prophecy - the closest
possible relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu - without learning Torah.

Rav Schwab on Prayer, page 33

Women are also obligated to say Birkas ha Torah. While patur (exempt) from
talmud Torah purely for the sake of learning, women are, nevertheless.
obligated to learn the halachos of the mitzvos so they can properly fulfill
them. With the exception of the few time-bound mitzvos, women have
the same obligation as men to know and keep the vast majority of the
mitzvos of the Torah. It is therefore incumbent upon women to learn
the details of these mitzvos in order to observe them properly. How
can women keep Shabbos or Yorn Tov properly without knowing the
applicable halachos?

How can a woman conduct a business if she is not familiar with the
dinim (laws) of ribbis (interest), ona'ah (misrepresentation or price fraud),
or gezel (outright theft).  The difference is only in the goal of the learning.
For a man, in addition to the need to know the practical halachos in
order to apply them, it is also a mitzvah to occupy himself with talmud Torah
as a form of avodas Hashem, serving Hashem. This is so even if
there is no immediate need for this knowledge in practice, either because he
already knows  the dinim, or because his immediate circumstances
do not require the  application of what he is learning. However, for a
woman, the purpose of the learning is to gain the knowledge in order to
put it into practice.

Rav Schwab on Prayer,  page 78


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