Matot: Why More Women Should Be In Charge

This week, our Torah reading addresses the very serious issue of women not understanding the consequences of their actions. A major concern, I'm sure you agree. The first chapter 

of our parashah, chapter 30 in the Book of Numbers, talks about fathers and husbands annulling the vows of women in their households. And as I read this section - especially in the light of horrific news from around the world about women's rights - I kept asking myself what it is about women that seems so threatening? Why is the subjugation and silencing of women such a recurrent theme in human history? I find it mystifying. 

This year alone, we've heard news about hundreds of women kidnapped by terrorists in Nigeria, sexual abuse plaguing women in India, and even ludicrous issues like women in Iran forbidden to watch soccer in public spaces. Not to mention all the mind-boggling struggles in the US, 

regarding birth control, abortion, and just this past week, a FEMALE congresswoman, Renee Ellmers, urging male colleagues to bring policy issues 'down to a woman's level.' So we look at our Torah portion, and we'd like to think that it's a symptom of an ancient, patriarchal society, when really there are plenty of examples of such offensive idiocy persisting today. What I find particularly ironic about all of these cases is that the societies in question are always worse off for it. War, lack of education, food shortage, illness; they are all problems that are REDUCED when women are empowered. The Global Fund for Women's website references studies by both the World Bank and the United Nations that show that investing in women leads to an increase in education for both girls AND boys, reduces malnutrition, curbs overpopulation, and substantially increases economic growth!

And yet, all around the world, we still see women oppressed and attacked, simply because of their gender. The Torah gets a lot of things right, but this simply isn't one 

of them. The Torah takes the position that women can get emotional, hysterical even. They are ruled by feelings, and therefore cannot be trusted to make decisions over their own lives, or make choices about vows or obligations. I don't really like to criticize the Bible, but this seems like such a ridiculous argument. Why then are men, who are supposedly LESS passionate and emotional, responsible for so many wars and so much sexual violence??? 

So the elephant in the room right now might be the fact that I'm not a woman. Perhaps you weren't expecting a man to write like this. Let me offer two responses: First, as I mentioned above, empowering women helps EVERYONE in society. So it's actually a selfish argument when I say that more women should be world leaders. Men aren't doing 

a good job, for anyone! Maybe we should try letting women annul the vows of some men for a change... And second, we need to learn to take up one another's causes. We expect gay people to support marriage equality; we expect Jews to support Israel; and we expect family members of someone with a devastating illness to support that cause. But for real change to occur, more needs to happen. We need to care, even when we don't have a vested interest. We need to be sensitive to others' struggles, and see - every day - the humanity in everyone around us. We should vow to make that kind of change a reality... and then no one will be able to annul it.

Photos in this blog post:

1. CC image courtesy of Trish Steel on Wikimedia Commons

2. CC image courtesy of internets_dairy on Wikimedia Commons

3. CC image courtesy of Mimooh on Wikimedia Commons

4. CC image of the marriage equality symbol courtesy of hrc_logo.svc on Wikimedia Commons