Exemptions of Women in Jewish Law: Gender Differences in Halacha
An examination of the Jewish legal axiom that exempts women from positive time-bound commandments. Presented by Freida Brackman, Co-Director of Chabad of Oxford. Recorded at Chabad of Oxford University.
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reidy Brackman (nee Loewenthal) co-directs Chabad Oxford Society with her husband, Rabbi Eli. She studied advanced Jewish thought and Chassidic Philosophy in Tsfat, Israel, and gained experience as a teacher in an outreach Jewish school in Sweden.
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Lubavitcher Rebbe on the exemption: " "God divided the commandments. Some apply to both men and women. Then there are some commandments from which men are exempt so that they may focus more on those activities unique to their purpose. Likewise, there are commandments from which women are exempt to allow them to accomplish more in the areas entrusted to them. Now, you might think that the reward for the commandments is awarded only to those who actually perform them. But the Torah declares, as the Arizal explains: the fact that women are exempt from some commandments doesn't mean, God forbid, that they have no share in them. Rather, when the husband performs those commandments he does so on behalf of his wife as well." Lubavitcher Rebbe, Farbrengen of 26 Iyar, 5744, May 27, 1984 in "Two Halves of a Whole," Living Torah, 1657