Are women more spiritual than men?

When Pharaoh commands the midwives to kill the boys, he instructs them to look at the ovnayim (usually translated as birthstool).

...If it be a son, then ye shall kill him. R. Hanina said: He entrusted them with an important sign, viz., if it is a son, his face is turned downward and if a daughter, her face is turned upward (Sotah 11b, Niddah 31)

The simplest way that I venture to explain it is as the gemorah saying that women are more spiritual than men. A girl from birth is looking to Heaven but not so the boy.

This is expressed by Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik in his Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind. He states that in the beginning of Creation, God's creations became superior over time. Since woman was created after man, woman has some spiritual superiority to man. For a woman to participate in a man's obligations would be to deny her nature as a more spiritual being. This view is echoed by the Maharal, who writes that men were given mitzvot in order to overcome their innate aggression and become more spiritual. Since women had less aggression, women had more spiritual potential, and thus needed fewer mitzvot, and thus women should not perform most of the time bound mitzvot. (Hidushei Aggadot I, Kol Kitvei Maharal.) Similar views are expressed by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in his commentary on Genesis 17:14. In the English edition of this commentary he writes "The pure feminine sex, if it descends from Sarah, does not require the external sign of the covenant with Sha-dai, the God who "sets the measure". It itself bears this warning of "Dai" ["enough"] within itself, in the pure feeling of the limits set by its tzniyus with which the true Jewish women are filled. She has the tendency by itself to submit herself to all the laws of purity and godliness, and demands such submission from all that come into contact with her."

Comments

[n]

I'm wondering if there is any obstetrician out there who can tell us whether this is really so, that males come out face down, and females face up? I've always wondered about that.

[Litvak]

"The simplest way that I venture to explain it is as the gemorah saying that women are more spiritual than men. A girl from birth is looking to Heaven but not so the boy."

Why not use Rashi instead of creating a new pshat ? Perhaps there is a reason that meforshim do not give the explanation you offer ?

Rashi (in Sotah) connects this to the direction they face in tashmish. The gemara explains re that that males face down, because they face the earth from which they were created and female faces up, towards a human being, which they were created from.

I think we have been through this before.

The selective citations are misleading. The fact is that the Maharal in numerous places attributes higher spirituality to the male nature.

While Lubavitch and some others are pushing this new PC theology alleging that women are superior to men, it is problematic.

The sefer 'Male and female He created them' by Yisroel ben Reuven (Targum Press) is an excellent source to understand the traditional Jewish position here and avoid the new PC theology. However popular the pandering to feminist sensibilities might be nowadays, we are not allowed to falsify the Torah for some passing fad.

[avakesh]

I must clarify what I assumed was self understood. What Rashi brings is not how children actually come out, neither, as far as we know, has this changed in recent time. As such, the passage calls out for a non-literal interpretation.

As far as female spirituality, yes, male gives and female receives and in this way male is higher than female. However, in another sense, ability to receive puts a woman on a higher level than man vis-s-vis the Ultimate Giver. As you go higher, female position becomes higher so that on the highest levels (in Kesser), female and male spiritual elements are standing side by side. In Niddah 45 woman has more understanding than man.

'Male and female He created them' by Yisroel ben Reuven (Targum Press) is a polemical work. It does a service but does not aim to present the whole picture.

[Litvak]

"I must clarify what I assumed was self understood. What Rashi brings is not how children actually come out, neither, as far as we know, has this changed in recent time. As such, the passage calls out for a non-literal interpretation."

I don't understand. If you say that it means that females are more
'spiritual', then how would the midwives see that ?

"As far as female spirituality, yes, male gives and female receives and in this way male is higher than female. However, in another sense, ability to receive puts a woman on a higher level than man vis-s-vis the Ultimate Giver."

That (mashpia vs. mekabel) is only one aspect of a complex issue. The matter needs to be examined comprehensively, not with sound-bites.

"In Niddah 45 woman has more understanding than man."

Binah is not everything.

"'Male and female He created them' by Yisroel ben Reuven (Targum Press) is a polemical work. It does a service but does not aim to present the whole picture."

It is a much needed work. It provides a much-needed alternative to all the feminist propaganda posing as Orthodox Judaism out there. It is a lengthy and comprehensive sefer. Those interested in the inyan should look at it themselves and not let someone try to discourage them from doing so by labeling it as 'polemical'. If you want to debate the issues, fine, but to try to marginalize an excellent sefer by labelling it 'polemical' is not the way to go.

Also, perhaps it's actually the other side that is 'polemical' and Ben Reuven's sefer is just a necessary response ?

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Spirituality, in a wide variety of cultural and religious concepts, is itself often seen as incorporating a spiritual path, along which one advances to achieve a given objective, such as a higher state of awareness, outreach wisdom or communion with God or with creation. I think that women are more spiritual than men.

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[Yankel]

So what part of the picture does Male and Female He Created Them leave out? It seems comprehensive to me.

[Yankel]

The Maharal does not say that "This view is echoed by the Maharal, who writes that men were given mitzvot in order to overcome their innate aggression and become more spiritual." You are referring to Derosh Al ha Torah 27. He says there that one reason for studying Torah is to overcome male aggressiveness. He does not mention mitzvos there. He gives a reason for mitzvos in Tiferes Israel 4 and Chidushei Agados Makos 23b. In the former source he says men are the tzurah, the spiritual form, and women the chomer, the physical substance that is shaped by form. Men are obligated in positive time bound commandments because they too are tzurah or spiritual form. As for the latter source, I'll let you look that up on your own. It's not meant for the public. But it says that men are more spiritual. The Maharal says this in many places including Gur Aryeh, Parshas Tazriah, where he says the male was created after the female.