[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on Women Learning Torah

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Thu Feb 4 13:05:49 PST 2016


I realize I do not have clarity on what RSS is referring to when he says
"yir'as Shamayim".

To the Ramchal is means by default yir'as hacheit, which in turn means
fear of doing the wrong thing because it's against His Will. (In contrast
to yir'as ha'onesh, fear of the sin's punishment, which is not real
yir'as Shamayim.) According to the Ramchal, also included in yir'ah is
yir'as haromemus. But those are all feelings. How could we make a blanket
statement ike "women do not learn to fear sinning or how awe-inspiring
G-d is by learning Torah"? (Whereas men can, or in True Scotsman style:
If a man didn't gain yir'as Shamayim, it wasn't *really* learning.)

So it seems to me RSS is speaking about something more specific. Perhaps
a relationship with ol mitzvos, which is why it is only generated by
a metzuvah ve'oseh performance. But even that would be iffy, because
a person can learn an emotional stance by imagining what it would be
like if... So that by learning, if the woman could empathetically imagine
what it would be like to be a man and compelled to learn as a mitzvah
in itself, wouldn't she still learn the yir'ah behind ol mitzvos?

I am still at tzarikh iyun. I am not even sure we understand the quote
under discussion yet, never mind ready to argue if it's correct.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's never too late
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