Women's Role In Judaism Essay

Women had a very large role in the history of Judaism and without them the religion would not be the same. They played a large hand in the religion from the very beginning. As the religion has progressed and came to present day Judaism, the role and view of women has become larger although still complementary to the role of men. Judaism is the way it is today in large part due to women. Specifically, in the exodus of Egypt. Without Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt who knows how long they would have been enslaved. The pharaoh made a law that required all of the Israelite people to drown their newborn in the Nile. Moses had an older brother but his mother could not bear to have him killed. She put him in a basket in the river so he might have a chance to live.

The covenant that was established with the Israelite people was mainly directed towards the men, however, the men were also required to make sure that their wives and children also followed the rules of the covenant. Some traditions favored the men over the women in earlier times such as responsibilities and marriage. Both men and women, however, were required to make the pilgrimage to the Temple of Jerusalem. Women in Judaism are in fact treated better than women in most other religions at this time. Although men did have some power over them, the women had very important roles in the community and were seen as separate but mostly equal. Even though the actions of women weren’t in the spotlight, women were still doing very important things. One large difference between women in biblical times and current times is that women were not encouraged to pursue education. They were not encouraged to pursue education because they were not supposed to neglect their job of being a housewife. Now this is very different and lots of Jewish women are educated and most are encouraged to pursue education and get a college