Spark of Jewish Experience

I’M A LOST CASE, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON ME!

         One should never say that there is no hope, the power of repentance is great. It seems like there were two camps, two train of thoughts, men and women, when the Jews were in the desert.

          Dr. Goldman, Psychologist at the Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, says that throughout history, men persecuted women and they took advantage of their softness. Women felt that they should be in the same arena as men. However, men are from Mars and Woman are from Venus. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, HEY! FACT IS THAT THERE’S A DIFFERENCE!

          There have been many changes in how men and women perceive each other. Like many things in life, there are pluses and minuses to everything. The feminist movement of the late 60′s and early 70′s certainly narrowed the gap on many issues pertaining to equal rights, however, some might argue that the movement has done a disservice and ultimately hurt women. Women had to deny that there were differences. The buzzword among the young women, at the University of California at Berkely in the heyday of the feminist movement, was that there was mandatory unisex, which meant it was politically incorrect even to mention sex differences.

          Women are sensitive in areas that men are not and the opposite is true as well. Unfortunately, many are ignorant on what to expect from a reaction from the opposite sex. Progress in understanding the differences has been demurred by the notion of “hey we’re equal”, which has hurt the nature of woman as well as men, and has hurt a woman’s true feminine natural desires.

          In the last few parshiot, we see a clearly the differences between men and women. We learned that the women did not give up their jewelry when it came to the sin of the golden calf, however they eagerly donated their mirrors for the Kiyor-lavor and readily gave up their jewelry to the MISHKAN -Tabernacle.

          WHAT ABOUT THE MEN? Well, initially they didn’t fair very well. They, unfortunately, were supportive of the golden calf. YEAH, THAT WAS A BIGGY!!. We see, clearly, a difference in behavior. It seems like the men were not as spiritual and were on a lower level.
However, Rabbi Baruch Dopelt points out from our great sages a very interesting and puzzling pasuk, which the Sages have a very hard time  explaining. It says that when they came to contribute to the Temple, “the men came on top of the women”(Va-yakhel,35,22). Some commentaries say that the men came with the women to donate. However, Rabbi Dopelt said that the men repented and were eager and enthusiastic to  participate and donate to an extent that they “were on top”, meaning, they surpassed the women in spirituality.

          There is a concept that “A person who repents exceeds all those who stand in front of him”. That’s the power of repentance. The men understood the gravity of the golden calf and had tremendous regret.

Although the women were consistently spiritual, the fact that men were able to overcome their faults, their demons, their depressions and weaknesses, G-d deemed it very commendable, to an extent that he put the men on a higher level. That’s the power of repentance.

          It’s important to have equal rights, however, we should try to strive and pursue and understanding the differences between the genders and their essence. This will avoid a lot of misunderstandings and confusion.