Bechukosai: Why are Women Worth Less than Men?

Fact: in this week's parashah, the Torah assigns greater monetary value to men than to women. Some might be tempted to jump to conclusions. This article models an alternative route: understanding.

May 08, 2023

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Preface: I struggled with the title of this article. I wanted it to be attention-grabbing in the same way as the pesukim themselves are attention-grabbing, but I also wanted a title which will be read in one way by a reactive person (who will likely dismiss it), and in another way by someone who is more open-minded and is willing to investigate before drawing conclusions - since that is one of the major points of this aticler.

Parashas Bechukosai: Why are Women Worth Less than Men?

The Facts

The final chapter of Sefer Vayikra begins with the laws of arachin - a type of vow which allows a person to donate the monetary equivalent of the value of one's field, one's house, one's animal, or the value of a human being to the building fund of the Beis ha'Mikdash.

In the case of a pledged field, house, or animal, the Kohen evaluates the worth of the item on an individual basis. However, when it comes to pledging the value of a human being, the Torah establishes fixed amounts based solely on age and sex. This valuation of human beings doesn't take into account any other qualities: wealth, health, appearance, mental capacity, tribe, or even whether a person is a Jew or a gentile.

The Torah she'bi'Chsav explicitly states the value for each age/sex combination:

The valuation of a male shall be: for someone twenty years to sixty years of age, the valuation shall be fifty silver shekels, of the sacred shekel. If she is female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. And if from five to twenty years of age, the valuation of a male shall be twenty shekels and of a female ten shekels. And if from one month to five years of age, the valuation shall be five silver shekels; and for a female, the valuation shall be three silver shekels. And if from sixty years and up, if for a male, the valuation shall be fifteen shekels; and for a female, ten shekels (Vayikra 27:3-7)

Here is the same information in the form of a table, incorporating some modifications from Torah she'baal Peh:

The Questions

I presented these facts to some of my students today. As I anticipated, one of them reacted by exclaiming: "WHAT?! HOW CAN THE TORAH SAY THAT MEN ARE WORTH MORE THAN WOMEN? THAT IS INCREDIBLY SEXIST!"

To this student, and to anyone else who might respond in a likewise fashion, I would say the following: "Clearly, you are bothered by what the Torah says, and you have a legitimate question. Let's see if we can formulate your question in a clearer and more precise fashion."

Thankfully, the Abravanel does an excellent job of articulating the questions. He writes:

1. Why did the Torah establish the values of arachin vows for human beings? It would have been more fitting to entrust [this task] to the Kohen to evaluate each person in accordance with his or her value. For example, there might be a person who is worth 100 [shekels] and another person who isn't even worth 10. Just as the fields, and properties, and animals are evaluated by the Kohen, why aren't people evaluated in the same manner?

2. Why did the Torah differentiate between the value of a male and the value of a female, seeing as how both of them are human beings, as it is stated, "male and female He created them" (Bereishis 1:27) "and He called their name 'man'" (ibid. 5:4)? In the realm of damages we see, "If the ox shall gore a slave or a maidservant, thirty silver shekels he shall give to his master" (Shemos 21:32) - without making a differentiation between male and female. Why is the matter like this in this mitzvah?

3. Why don't these valuations have a specific set ratio between the male and the female? Between the ages of 20 and 60 the value of a female is 3/5ths the value of a male. From age 5 to 20 the value of a female is half the value of a male. From one month to 5 years the value of a female is 3/5ths the value of a male. And from 60 years and up the value of a female is 2/3rds the value of a male. It behooves us to investigate why this is the case.

Let us take a moment to appreciate the difference between my student's initial reaction and the Abravanel's questions. The student was bothered by these facts and immediately jumped to a conclusion that the Torah was being sexist (i.e. discriminating against women out of the belief that they are inferior). In contrast, the Abravanel approached the area with the objective mindset of a scientist, looking for patterns, anomalies, and clues which might lead to deeper insight. This step of formulating the questions is critical. Even if we don't end up finding satisfactory answers, we will still have moved one step forward towards understanding.

An Approach

I would like to present Rav Hirsch's explanation, which answers the Abravanel's questions. His answers might not appeal to everyone, but I believe this is a good example of a valid and fruitful type of approach or method.

Rav Hirsch begins by examining the facts in search of some foothold from which to develop a comprehensive theory. He writes:

The eirech (valuation) of a male in these stages of life is 5, 20, 50, and 15 shekels, respectively. The eirech of a female is 3, 10, 30, and 10 shekels, respectively. These fixed amounts surely were not chosen arbitrarily, without reason. Since they do not take into account the physical, spiritual, moral, and social uniqueness of each nefesh (soul/being), and they vary only according to gender and age, it must be that they represent some common factor that is equal in all the nefashos, and that varies only according to age and gender.

Rav Hirsch's first deduction is a solid one. Unlike other areas of halacha, where we factor in a person's qualities, background, or circumstances, the laws of arachin are only interested in the subject's age and gender. Whatever these numbers represent, they must somehow be tied only to gender and age. Rav Hirsch continues:

Furthermore, since we are dealing here with erkecha nefashos la'Shem, with the national valuation of persons for God and His Sanctuary, it follows that this factor - common to all the nefashos and modified only by age and gender - pertains to the relation of these nefashos to God and to His Sanctuary. If we are not mistaken, then there is no factor that is common to all the nefashos as regards their relation to God and His Sanctuary, and that varies only according to age and gender, other than the task and mission of life that are given to every nefesh. On this basis we can explain the meaning of the numbers given here by Scripture, which rise and fall according to age and gender.

This is the crux of Rav Hirsch's theory, namely, if we are evaluating eirech nefashos la'Shem ("the value of souls to Hashem"), and if this valuation is determined solely on the basis of age and gender, then these numbers must have something to do with "the task and mission of life that are given to every nefesh" - irrespective of any other personal quality. We will now see how he develops this approach:

Let us compare the numbers fixed for a male, namely, 5, 20, 50, and 15, to the numbers fixed for a female, namely 3, 10, 30, 10. Bear in mind that the full eierch amount for an adult male from the age of 20 to the age of 60 is 50 shekels, whereas the full eirech amount for an adult female is 30 shekels and that both these numbers - 30 and 50 - are 10 times the eirech of an infant girl or boy, whose eirech is 3 or 5. It appears, then, that we are not mistaken in proposing that the key to the whole scale is the numbers 3, 5, and 10. 3 is the signature of the female's life mission; 5 is the signature of the male's life mission; and 10 is a sign of completion and perfection.

Allow me to repeat this last point for emphasis: Rav Hirsch infers that 5 represents man's life mission; 3 represents woman's life mission; 10 signifies completion and perfection. How do these values make any sense? Rav Hirsch explains:

We venture to suggest that the home and the family - man, woman, and child - are represented by the number 3, whereas the society is represented by the number 2, as we often find in the Torah. Accordingly, the family and the society together would be represented by the number 5. The number 3 is the signature of woman's mission, namely, the family and the home, whereas the number 5 is the signature of man's mission, namely, the family and the society.

Rav Hirsch is working with the premise that a woman's life-mission pertains primarily to realm of the home, whereas a man is responsible for his home and his community. The number 3 represents the home, insofar as the smallest family unit is three people (man, woman, and child). I don't know where Rav Hirsch gets the idea that society is represented by the number 2, but he seems to maintain that this is a recurring theme throughout Torah, and - for the purposes of this article - we'll take his word for it. Thus, woman's number is 3 (home) whereas man's number is 5, which is the sum of home (3) + community (2).

Now Rav Hirsch explains how these numbers account for all of the different values at each stage:

The eirech of an infant boy and of an infant girl starts with these two numbers, which signify the mission of man and woman. This eirech remains fixed for them, until they reach a trainable age, at the end of their 5th year.

From the end of the 5th year to the end of the 20th year are the years of training and completion in preparation for their mission. The preparation of the woman is on one level - preparation for the home; and its signature is 10. The preparation of the man is on two levels - preparation for the home and for the society; and its signature is 20.

From the end of the 20th year to the end of the 60th year are the years of the full attainment of the male and female missions. The signature of this full attainment - as regards the woman's mission - is the product of 10 and 3: 30; whereas as regards the man's mission, it is the product of 10 and 5: 50.

From the end of the 60th year until the end of a person's life are the years of ziknah (old age) - the years of the harvest of life. As regards one's work as an individual, one can look back with satisfaction at the completed edifice of his life. As regards one's work in society, one can look back at least at a substantial contribution to the community. Hence, for the woman, whose work is in the individual realm, the signature of ziknah is a number representing completion: 10; whereas for the man, whose work is in the individual realm and also in the societal realm, the signature of ziknah is a number representing completion, plus partial completion: 10 + 5 = 15.

If one accepts Rav Hirsch's initial interpretation of the key numbers (i.e. 3, 5, and 10), then his interpretation of each of the stages fits quite nicely. To sum it up:

1 month to 5 years - pre-training: at this stage, prior to embarking on the preparation for one's life mission, we have the "base value" representing the life-task of each gender: the value of the male (5) and the value of the female (3), without any degree of completion (no 10s)
6 to 20 years - training for the mission: since 10 signifies the process of perfection, the woman's value lies in her single track of perfection (i.e. the realm of family) whereas the man's value lies in his dual-track of perfection (i.e. the realm of family and community); therefore, the woman's value at this stage is represented by a single 10, whereas the man's value reflects his dual track, and is a double-10 (i.e. 20).
21 to 60 years - full attainment of mission: the Torah signifies a completed life-task as a product of the number representing completion (10) and the number representing the life-task of that specific gender. Thus, the man's value during this time is 10 x 5 = 50, whereas the woman's is 10 x 3 = 30.
61 years and up - the harvest of life: this value reflects what has been accomplished after the prime of one's life; the woman can look back at her contribution as being totally complete; in contrast, the man can only claim total completion in his family life, but only partial completion in the realm of his societal contributions; thus, the woman's value is the number of completion (10) whereas the man's is full completion plus partial completion (10 + 5 = 15).

This answers all three of the Abravanel's questions.

1. Why did the Torah establish the values and not leave it up to the Kohen? Because the values here signify the life-missions of the age and gender to which the individual belongs - not the particular qualities of that individual, as is the case in the valuation of animals, houses, and land.

2. Why did the Torah differentiate between the valuation of men and women? Because their life-missions lie in different realms: the woman's is in the home, and the man's is in the home and in the community.

3. Why the differing ratios? Because numbers are significant for what they represent at each stage of life - not the intrinsic value of each gender.

Upon hearing Rav Hirsch's explanation, my student said, "But the man is still worth more than the woman!" I responded that Rav Hirsch isn't necessarily learning that the monetary value of the ararchin-vow is an actual appraisal of the worth of the human being in the same way that a price tag indicates the value of the item. Rather, he is learning these arachin-valuations as symbolic - using fixed numbers as symbols to reflect ideas about the respective life-tasks of men and women.

An example of this type of numerical symbolism can be seen in the common Jewish practice of making donations in multiples of 18, which represents the numerical value of חי (chai = life). Imagine if everyone who would have donated $18 would donate $20 instead. From a strictly fiscal standpoint, $20 donations are much better. Nevertheless, people often want the amount they donate to represent something, or to convey a message. Donating $18 might provide less monetary value than donating $20, but it is superior in the message it conveys through the significance of the number 18.

I believe that is how Rav Hirsch regards these arachin-valuations. Yes, it is true that a woman who pledges her eirech will, in fact, be donating less money to the Beis ha'Mikdash than her male counterpart, but I think it is a mistake to view this as indicative of women being inferior to men. This is especially true considering that this explanation comes from Rav Hirsch, who emphasizes the equality of men and women throughout his Torah commentary.

Guess what? The student who objected ended up saying that she liked Rav Hirsch's explanation, and didn't find it to be sexist. That's great, but greater yet is the value of the methodology lesson that the student gained. Things aren't always as they first appear, and if you take the time to formulate good questions, and approach your analysis in a deliberate and thoughtful manner, perhaps you'll find something you didn't expect.

An Afterthought

Upon revisiting this article, I thought of another analogy. Women have two X chromosomes whereas men have one X and one Y. Imagine if, upon first learning this fact, a student exclaimed, “THAT IS INCREDIBLY SEXIST! Why should a MAN get TWO types of chromosomes and a woman get stuck with just an extra of the same type?” We would all recognize such a question as being immature and misguided – and yet, when a person asks a question like this about the structure of a mitzvah, then it is often treated as a legitimate critique of Torah.

This double-standard reveals a difference in the way people approach the empirical sciences versus the way they approach the analysis of Torah and mitzvos. This difference can be boiled down to two points: (1) in the sciences, people accept facts as facts, and (2) they recognize that these facts are determined by chochmas ha’Borei (the wisdom of the Creator), as manifest in the lawfulness of nature. But when it comes to Torah and mitzvos, (1) some people refuse to even accept the facts as facts, and (2) they attribute the facts to social causes (e.g. “primitive beliefs about the world,” “outdated social norms,” “old, white, cisgendered rabbis upholding the patriarchy under the guise of religion in order to oppress women and rob them of their power”).

Ultimately, when analyzing Torah and mitzvos, the question is this: Do you regard the facts of Torah as being authored by the same Creator as the facts of nature? If so, then you should approach them with the same analytical objectivity, letting your investigation be guided by the facts and the nature of the subject matter, unencumbered by preexisting prejudices. If not, then on what basis do you make this distinction? If this latter question cannot be answered, then chances are it stems from some form of bias or emotional prejudice rather than from a genuine analysis of what Torah and mitzvos are.

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