By Paul Horvath
When I heard about the Nachshon Beit Midrash program, I was not very enthusiastic. Most of my previous experience with learning in Beit Midrash settings was rather unstimulating with simple texts, unengaging teachers, and forced conversation with peers. But that could not have been farther from my experience learning in Nechama Goldman Barash’s Beit Midrash course on Women in Judaism.
In our class, eight Nachshon fellows have the opportunity to learn the history and evolution of the role of women in Judaism. We began by looking at texts that showcased the way that ancient rabbis would describe women. Some of these focused on the role of women as an integral part of society, as righteous, and as a primary figure who keeps the family together. Other texts we looked at showed the rabbis describing women as simple-minded, spiritually unclean, and lesser to men. Looking at this variety of texts set the stage for the following weeks, wherein each class we look in depth at the rules surrounding a specific commandment.
Beyond the substance of the class, which is both fascinating and extremely relevant to Jewish practice today, the class is truly made great by the other fellows and especially Nechama. We spend time each week in hevruta where we have the opportunity to grapple with these texts ourselves and learn from each other. But the best part is definitely learning from Nechama. Learning about women in Judaism from someone who is an expert in the field is incredible. She brings interesting points, teaches different perspectives, and poses challenging questions. The entire time, Nechama speaks at a breakneck pace, and yet I always hope that she’ll speak even faster so we can learn as much from her as possible. I look forward to Nechama’s course every week and I can’t wait to continue learning from her for the rest of the semester.
