Rebbetzin Devorah Eisenbach has made it her life's work to reach out to Jewish women.

Last night I had the zchus, the great merit, to sit down and spend time with my own Rebbetzin, Rebbetzin Devorah Eisenbach of Jerusalem.  It happens that she came to Los Angeles at the same time!  Rebbetzin Eisenbach is a pioneer in outreach to less religiously observant Jewish women, breaking down the walls in women’s minds when it comes to the myriad misconceptions modern society seems to propagate about observant Judaism.

Rebbetzin Eisenbach said to us that many of the women she speaks with complain of something lacking in their lives: solid self-esteem and relationships.  She mentioned some things we’ve previously discussed on this blog, like the emphasis modern society places on ego-boosting possessions and clothing instead of true self-esteem, and also raised other issues, such as how women can improve their relationships with men in today’s crazy dating world.  Then she mentioned something else that rings very true: that many Jewish women out there simply do not know their rights.

In this week’s parsha, the daughters of Zelophehad – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah – come to Moses when he is distributing land and ask that he give them some.  Normally the land was given out based on the men in the families (since they were head of household) but poor Zelophehad had died without any sons and his daughters wanted to inherit his portion.  Hashem declared that they were right to request this and that Moses must give it to them.  Thus, in Judaism women have the right to own land, which is a fundamental right and is the foundation and start for all fundamental human rights.  Rabbi Ben likes to say these women started the feminist movement!

In America, women have the right to own land, so for many of us this doesn’t seem very revolutionary.  However, according to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), less than 1% of the women of the world own land.  One UN-HABITAT study points out that “in Africa and South-Asia especially, women are systematically denied their human rights to access, own, control or inherit land and property.”  Because they cannot own land, women, who in some of these regions produce 60-80% of the food supply by farming land that is not theirs, are unable to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.  Because they cannot own land, women have much less political power.

In Judaism, women have incredible rights.  It is only in the last century that women have been granted the right to own property on a more widespread basis (and yes, this includes America!), but under Judaism, women have always had the right to buy, sell, and own property. Women can also write their own contracts.  Women have a right to consent to marriage (a concept that still does not exist in much of the world) and have the right to relations within the marriage – a woman must always consent, or it is strictly forbidden in Jewish law.  Even US law has some catching up to do in that regard!  Plus, women have rights under the ketubah, or marriage contract, that guarantee their husband will provide for them – even in the event of a divorce.

In Nepal, only 5% of cultivated land is owned by women. Although women in these Asian countries tend to do the bulk of the agricultural work, they own very little land and often have a hard time acquiring it. Judaism, on the other hand, has alway guaranteed women's rights, including the right to own land, as we see in this week's parsha.

In our travels, we often go to countries, like those in Africa and South-East Asia, where women don’t have the same rights we do in Judaism.  It’s something we may take for granted a bit in the Western world.  It’s important for women to have these rights, so they can be productive and successful members of society and so they can have self-respect and self-confidence.  And this benefits men, too, because women are not competitors, but partners.  After all, G-d created woman to be the other half to man, and in a healthy relationship, both work together.

I hope Rebbetzin Eisenbach’s new initiative will be successful.  Each and every one of us needs to have self-esteem and be self-confident, whether we are male or female.  And we all need to know and understand that G-d loves us and has guaranteed to us rights that cannot be taken away. And for any initiative designed to help us reach this goal, I say hatzlacha raba – great success!

SHABBAT SHALOM!