The Rebbe’s View on Feminism

In July of 1848, three hundred people gathered in the town of Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss one of the most sweeping social changes of the modern age.

They were there to discuss, strategize, and ultimately develop a charter, for a new movement which was spreading across the country: Feminism.

Since then, the movement has spawned three more waves of feminism, countless new laws, and a change in the way society views women.

When the Jews still lived in Eastern Europe, feminism was nothing but an abstruse theory, if they even heard of it. The daily struggle to avoid persecution was much more pressing, in the face of deeply rooted anti-Semitism rising within fascism and communism. With the arrival of Jews to the U.S.A., amidst a culture of religious tolerance and progressivism, feminism took on new relevance.

Many questions might plague the observant Jewish women today: “Is it wrong for me to pursue a career? What if I’m not cut out to be a housewife? What if I cannot afford to have many children, must I still raise a large family? Why do men have more mitzvot than women? it seems that Judaism regulates women to a secondary role? What is Judaism’s take on gender equality?

Many prominent Jewish leaders labeled these questions foolish, even heretical, explaining that they are sourced in the secular notion of feminism. However, one Jewish leader took a different approach: the Rebbe. Recognizing that the role of Jewish women must be clearly defined, in 1953, the Rebbe established the Nshei U’bnos Chabad, the Chabad Jewish Women’s Organization. Directed and fully staffed by women, the organization’s mission statement is to help Jewish women lead meaningful and fulfilled lives in the modern world, through the prism of Torah and Chassidic teachings.

The Rebbe embraced the issues of today’s day and age, by highlighting the rise of feminism, and expounding upon the positive and negatives which it has produced.

The Rebbe would often quote the verse, “The glory of a Jewish daughter is found within,” with unique interpretation: The power of a woman is from her G-d-given talents which she innately possess, by using these skills she can and must become a moving force within society, not merely hiding behind a veil of modesty, rather using her modesty and virtues as a weapon, blazing a new path for women worldwide.

Rabbi Menachem of Kotzk once said: “If I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, than I am not I and you are not you.”

In simple terms: To be a Chabad Jewish woman is to discover who you truly are.

Ashreinu – Foundations in Focus.

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