[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on Women Learning Torah

Prof. Levine via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Thu Feb 4 11:53:45 PST 2016


At 01:29 PM 2/4/2016, R. Akiva Miller  wrote:


> > 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.
>
>To me, the implication here is that men are obligated in Talmud Torah, and
>therefore Talmud Torah will cause men to because greater in Yiras Shamayim.
>And in contrast, women are *not* obligated in Talmud Torah, and therefore
>Talmud Torah will *not* cause women to because greater in Yiras Shamayim.

Did you miss the following that was also in what I quoted?

"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."

Hence it is clear that your statement "Talmud Torah will cause men to 
[because]   become (?) greater in Yiras Shamayim."  is simply not 
true according to Rav Schwab.
It depends on how one learns.



>My confusion is two-fold: (1) I see growth in Yiras Shamayim as a function
>of how one relates to G-d in any of a variety of methods, Talmud Torah
>being only one of them. (2) Even if one would posit a direct
>cause-and-effect relationship between Talmud Torah Lishmah and Yiras
>Hashem, I don't know why there would be any difference between a Metzuveh
>V'Oseh and an Ayno Metzuveh V'Oseh.

Again,  Rav Schwab does *not* posit  "a direct
>cause-and-effect relationship between Talmud Torah Lishmah and Yiras
>Hashem."

YL

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