(8) Hear, my son, the rebuke of thy father, And forsake not the Torah of thy mother;
(טז) ועיני לאה רכות - אמוראי דר' יוחנן תרגם קודמוי ועיני לאה הוו רכיכין. אמר לו: עינוהי דאימך הוו רכיכין?! ומהו רכות? רכות מבכיה, שהיו אומרים: כך היו התנאים, הגדולה לגדול, והקטנה לקטן, והיתה בוכה ואומרת: יהי רצון שלא אפול בגורלו של רשע. אמר רבי הונא: קשה היא התפלה, שבטלה את הגזירה, ולא עוד, אלא שקדמה לאחותה.
.And her eyes were weak - Says R' Yochanan ... Why were they weak? They were weak from crying. The rule was that the oldest child went to the oldest and the younger to the younger. And she would cry and say Please G-d please don't let my lot fall with a wicked man (Esau). Says R' Huna The request of her prayers changed the decree and therefore she was able to marry Jacob before her sister.
א"ר יוחנן משום ר"ש בן יוחי מיום: ואמר ר"י משום ר"ש בן יוחי מיום שברא הקב"ה את עולמו לא היה אדם שהודה להקב"ה עד שבאתה לאה והודתו שנאמר (בראשית כט, לה) הפעם אודה את ה':
From the day that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the Universe, nobody praised Him until Leah came and praised Him ; as it is said, "This time will I praise the Lord" (Gen. xxix. 35).
(11) And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said: ‘We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel; and do thou worthily in Ephrath, and be famous in Beth-lehem; (12) and let thy house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.’ (13) So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. (14) And the women said unto Naomi: ‘Blessed be the LORD, who hath not left thee this day without a near kinsman, and let his name be famous in Israel. (15) And he shall be unto thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.’ (16) And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. (17) And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying: ‘There is a son born to Naomi’; and they called his name Obed; he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. (18) Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; (19) and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; (20) and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; (21) and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed;
(י) ותקרבנה בנות צלפחד - אותו הדור היו הנשים גודרות, מה שאנשים פורצים, שכן את מוצא שאמר להן אהרן (שמות לב): פרקו נזמי הזהב אשר באנזי נשיכם ולא רצו הנשים ומיחו בבעליהן, שנאמר: ויתפרקו כל העם את נזמי הזהב וגו' והנשים לא נשתתפו עימהן במעשה העגל. וכן במרגלים שהוציאו דיבה (במדבר יד): וישובו וילינו עליו את כל העדה, ועליהם נגזרה גזירה שאמרו: לא נוכל לעלות, אבל הנשים לא היו עימהם בעצה, שכתוב למעלה מן הפרשה (שם כו): כי אמר ה' להם מות ימותו במדבר, ולא נותר מהם איש כי אם כלב בן יפונה. איש, ולא אשה, על מה שלא רצו ליכנס לארץ, אבל הנשים קרבו לבקש נחלה בארץ, לכך נכתבה פרשה זו סמוך למיתת דור המדבר, שמשם פרצו האנשים וגדרו הנשים:
And the Daughters of Zelophehad Approached- they were the same generation were women ______, what people have burst, as the origin said they Aharon (notice): The men ripped the nose rings from the women because the women did not want to participate in the sin of the Golden Calf. And spies spoke badly about the land (Bamidbar) and will once again complain about the whole community, and they have been decreed, said: We can not go up, but the women were not with them with advice, written over the affair: Because God said they will die in the desert, there was nothing left of them a man but Caleb. Man and woman, for what they did not want to enter to Israel, But these women approached to ask inheritance in Israel, That this episode was written near the desert to die of a generation, from which people broke into the women were defined:
A Tanna reported in the name of R. Pappias: It was a reproach to Hezekiah and his company21 that they uttered no song [to God] until the earth broke into song, as it is written, From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. Similarly we read, And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord who hath delivered you;22 whereon a Tanna taught in the name of R. Pappias: It was a reproach to Moses and the six hundred thousand [Israelites] that they did not bless [the Lord] until Jethro came and did so....
When the daughters of Tzelafchad heard that the land was being divided among the tribes but not among the women, they convened to discuss the matter. They said, “G‑d’s mercy and compassion is not like the compassion of mankind. Mankind favors men over women. G‑d is not like that. His compassion extends to men and women alike . . .” (Yalkut Shimoni, Pinchas 27; Sifri,Numbers 27:1)
The daughters of Tzelafchad were wise women, for they presented their petition at the right time. (Talmud, Bava Batra 119b; BamidbarRabbah 21:11)
The biblical source for the requirement of ten men to complete aminyan (lit., “count” or “number”) is Numbers 14:27. Moses sent spies to scout the land of Canaan. Ten of them returned and issued a report concluding that it was not a conquerable land. G‑d was extremely disappointed with their lack of faith in His abilities. He turns to Moses andAaron, telling them: "How long will this evil ‘assembly’ provoke [the Jewish nation] to complain against Me?” From here it is deduced that an “assembly” is comprised of ten men.
According to Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, the "Kli Yakar," God gave Moses a free hand to choose the spies. In so doing, he ultimately gave him the freedom to err: "'Send for yourself', says the Holy One to Moses: 'but "for yourself" – as you think, the people that you believe to be suitable, that you think will look favorably upon the land. Send men "for yourself" - because you believe it should be men, but I think it would be better to send women." Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz - Kli Yakar (16th Century - Prague)
יהי רצון מלפניך שלא יכשלו בי בני אדם קיבול שכר מאלמנה דההיא אלמנה דהואי בי כנישתא בשיבבותה כל יומא הות אתיא ומצלה בי מדרשיה דר' יוחנן אמר לה בתי לא בית הכנסת בשיבבותך אמרה ליה רבי ולא שכר פסיעות יש לי כי קאמר כגון
We shall all learn from the reward given to to the widown who would would walk every day from her town to the next town to the synagogue of R'Yochanan. He said to her - My daughter, isn't there a synagogue in your town? She said there is but I will not get the reward for the steps.
Comments From the Middles Ages: The Kabbalists
The reason the wives of the sages of our time are domineering of them is because these men are reincarnated souls of the very men who rebelled during the ancient wilderness journey, and their wives, as we know, the women were not involved in any of these acts of dissention. ( Rabbi Chayim Vital 16th Century - Kabbalist Sefer Sha'ar HaGilgulim, Ch. 20) - The Way of the Boundary Crosser - Gershon Winkler Rowman and Littlefield Publishers 2005
Each era is redeemed only in the merit of the women that of the righteous women who live in that era. It is in the merit of the righteous women that the people were redeemed from Egypt and in the time to come it will be in the merit of the women that redemption shall come again" - Rabbi Aca - 4th Century on the Yalkut Shimoni on Megillat Ruth Ch 606:4 - Gershon Winkler ibid.
THE ANSWERS TO THOSE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
Rabbi David Golinkin’s “May Women Wear Tefillin?” Conservative Judaism, Fall 1997, pp. 3-18.
The mitzva (commandment) of tefillin is mentioned four times in the Torah, including in the Shema: “And you shall bind them for a sign upon your arm and they shall be totafot between your eyes” (Deut. 6:8). Tefillinsymbolize tying our physical and mental capacities to the service of God. We say when we wrap the tefillin on our hands: “I bind myself to you forever, I bind myself to you in Righteousness, in Justice, in Kindness and in Mercy; I bind myself to you forever, and in that way I come to Know You.” When we wear tefillin we bind ourselves to ideals through which we can come to know God.
Despite the Torah’s generic language, it was understood that women are exempt from this mitzva. The Mishna (the second-century CE law compendium) records: “Women, slaves and minors are exempt from the recitation of Shema and from tefillin, but are obligated for the Amida Prayer, mezuza, and Grace after meals” (Berakhot3:3).
Although exempt, may women voluntarily perform this mitzva? The Talmud states, “Mikhal the daughter of King Saul used to wear tefillin, and the sages did not protest” (Eruvin 96a). During the period of the Rishonim (1000 to 1500 CE), some sages, including posqim such as Rashi and Rambam, say that women may perform mitzvot from which they are exempt but do so without reciting a berakha (blessing), since the berakha‘s phrase “who has commanded us” would not apply. Rambam writes: “Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from tzitzit from the Torah…Women and slaves who want to wrap themselves in tzitzit may do so without aberakha. And so too with other such mitzvot from which women are exempt: if they want to perform them without a berakha, one does not protest” (Hilkhot Tsitsit 3:9).
The largest group of sages of this period rule that women may perform such mitzvot and recite the berakha as do men. These sages include Rabbenu Tam (1100-1171) and Rabbi Zerahia haLevi (12th c. Provence) among many others. The Rashba (1235-1310 Spain) states in a teshuva (responsum): “I agree with those who say that if they desire they can do all such mitzvot and recite the blessings, on the basis of Mikhal bat Shaul who used to wear tefillin and they did not protest; indeed she did so with the approval of the sages (kirtzon hakhamim) and by the nature of the matter since she puts on tefillin she blesses” (Teshuva 123).
In addition to the endorsement of many great sages, there is some precedent for prominent women wearingtefillin. Besides Mikhal the daughter of King Saul, stories persist of Rashi’s daughters wearing tefillin. Likewise, Fazonia, the first wife of Rabbi Haim ben Attar, wore tallit and tefillin, as did Rabbi Haim’s second wife. The Maid of Ludomir (Hanna Rachel Werbermacher) in the 19th century also wore tefillin. These are prominent cases; little is known of less prominent women.
Although Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (d. 1293 Germany) and his followers opposed women wearing tefillin, it is safe to say that the vast majority of sages in the past two thousand years allowed specifically or in principle the wearing of tefillin by women.