Women in Judaism face two major issues. On the one hand, there are thousands of years of Halacha and rabbinic texts regarding the laws and practices specific to Jewish women that they must follow. On the other hand, the rabbinic discourse that leads to these laws and precedents has been dominated by men for nearly just as long, keeping women out of the discussion that dictates what laws and practices to which they must adhere.
That has changed in recent years, as more women immerse themselves in the study of Halacha. They have achieved accredited certification for their expertise and advise individuals on matters of Jewish law. Some women have sought rabbinic ordination as well.
Overall, the dark curtain that has been cast over women and Halacha has been considerably lifted, and Jewish women the world over can learn more about the details and intricacies of the laws thrust upon them.
Nechama Goldman-Barash is among those lifting this curtain. In her decades of study and teaching, she has dug deep into the dense mountain of Halacha and helped turn it into a far more manageable mine of information.
She has become a guiding light regarding the Jewish laws of gender, sexuality, marriage, and more, helping educate and advise those looking to understand the detailed chain of rabbinic literature that can be near-incomprehensible to the layperson.
She has published many writings on the subject, including a regular column in The Jerusalem Post Magazine. But nowhere is her expertise and efforts in studying Halacha more clear than in her recent book, Uncovered: Women’s Roles, Mitzvot, and Sexuality in Jewish Law.
Here, built on the women and Halacha courses that she has taught at numerous institutions, Goldman-Barash took on the monumental task of analyzing how contemporary women would understand the halachic and rabbinic laws and opinions on women’s lives and bodies written almost exclusively by men centuries ago. And in doing so, she has further added herself to the conversation of halachic discourse.
In Jerusalem spoke with Goldman-Barash about her life, work, and the importance of women learning Halacha.
Tell me about your teaching.
I teach at a number of institutions. For example, I teach at two gap year program seminaries, Midreshet Torah v’Avodah (MTVA), which is a Bnei Akiva gap year program for 18-year-old girls. We are beginning to build a second-year program, for our many girls who are staying on for Sherut Leumi [National Service], the army, and sometimes to make aliyah and go to school. I’ve also started teaching alumni in Tel Aviv.
I also teach a class at Matan, which is really my intellectual and spiritual home. I have a lot of hakarat hatov [gratitude] for Matan, which is where I studied for many years, and where I teach a class on Talmudic personalities.
I also work at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, where I teach an introduction to Talmud class and teach contemporary Halacha. I also teach at a seminary called Amudim, a very small gap year seminary for girls in Jerusalem.
In addition, I am a veteran kallah teacher [one who educates brides- and grooms-to-be on the laws of marriage and married life], I am a yoetzet halacha [a Jewish woman who has studied the halachot of family purity, in Hebrew known as taharat hamishpacha, and can help advise individuals with questions about these practices], and I’ve begun to answer questions on fertility in Halacha, which is a particular passion of mine because I love medical Halacha.
What is it like to teach at Pardes?
Teaching at Pardes is phenomenal. It is an incredible group of interesting, critical-thinking, and diverse students. It is a place that has challenged me how to teach traditional texts to non-traditional students who are eager to engage with text, with their Jewish identity and what it means to them, and where they’re going to take it.
I would say the students are lovely and welcoming, and interested in both learning and relationship-building with the faculty.
How did you get interested in studying and teaching Halacha?
It probably came from shelo lishma, ba lishma [“The act of giving itself will eventually change the way you feel about giving.” It means that your actions will end up changing your intentions].
When I was growing up in the 1980s, women were not really studying Talmud or Halacha. But [women starting to study those topics] was just getting started. I liked the idea of carrying a Gemara while I walked around Yeshiva University and shocking the YU boys, shocking the more traditional rabbis.
But it turned out that I really loved it. So I started by learning Talmud at Stern College for Women. When I made aliyah, I started studying at Matan and Nishmat.
After I finished a three-year kollel at Matan, I realized I wanted to study Halacha. I got a master’s degree in Talmud as well, and then I got ready to join the yoetzet halacha program. I felt that I had had a substantial education in Talmud and was ready to think about Halacha. So really, my entry into Halacha was through the yoetzet halacha program.
It was really transformative for me, and I have helped hundreds of women with questions regarding niddah [during menstruation] and sexuality, including women I helped from outside the Orthodox community, or couples I helped from the Pardes community who are not within the traditional framework of question-asking.
After studying to be a yoetzet, I went back to Matan and studied in a program called Hilchata for three years. I studied Shabbat and kashrut, and I studied laws of marriage. But most of the questions I deal with have to do with niddah.
I just finished a two-year fertility in Halacha program through Nishmat as an add-on for veteran yoetzot, and I have just begun to answer questions in this area.
What inspired writing your recent book, and what was it like to write it?
My new book, Uncovered: Women’s Roles, Mitzvot, and Sexuality in Jewish Law, was inspired by the last 35 years of studying texts and trying to find my voice in texts about women. I feel like I’ve always been drawn to Tractate Ketubot, Kiddushin, and Niddah.
On the one hand, it’s very alienating and jarring to read texts that are written by men about women and about women’s bodies and most intimate experiences. But as I gained fluency in learning, I felt that I was adding my own voice to the conversation.
The book spans several topics. This includes women and mitzvot observation, and the fact that there is a gap between men and women’s obligation and the impact that has had in how we have built our traditional societies.
It also discusses the revolution of women in Torah study and how it has led to women seeking ordination.
The middle of the book discusses women’s bodies and dress, such as women wearing pants and hair coverings, women’s voices and singing, and the concept of erva [nakedness] and how that plays out.
There are also two chapters on niddah.
The last chapter is on premarital sexuality. How do we begin to educate toward a value system of sexual ethic that is halachic and at the same time, how do we create a value system for those who make non-halachic decisions when it comes to sexual choices, and then the Halacha is no longer guiding them and they’re in kind of a freefall, and what is our responsibility as educators and parents?
It was inspired by my own learning, teaching, and listening to what my students were telling me.
None of this is meant to be halachic rulings, so you aren’t supposed to open it up, read it, and decide ‘This is what you’re supposed to do.’ This is a meta-halachic analysis of the halachic process in each of these topics, where it is today, and where this tension arises from people in the observant community with these halachot.
What advice do you have for women interested in studying Halacha?
Please study Halacha.
We need more young women to go into this area, to continue the work that my generation has beautifully fought for and pushed forward out of a deep love for Halacha and the rabbinic text. But we need young women to continue so that in the next generation, there are not just role models but women who are able to have the fluency to be in the rabbinic conversation.
My generation has done that to some extent. There are women who are fluent in the laws of marriage and divorce who have really pushed forward the rabbinic conversation, not without tension and not without controversy, but nonetheless have been there.
There’s room for women to go into the various areas of Halacha and add their voices, be in the conversation, to publish writings and teshuvot [halachic responsa]. I think we need more women writing and discoursing.