Sponsored by Marc Futterman in memory of Stan Futterman on his
third yahrzeit
Since Israel is going back to the
voting booths soon, it is a good time to brush up on our knowledge of women’s
suffrage in Israel.
In Parshat Shoftim (Devarim
17:14-20) we learn about the laws of appointing of a king:
When you arrive in the
Land that Hashem, your God, is giving you, and inherit it and live in it, and
you will say, “Let me appoint a king over me, like all of the nations around
me.” Appoint are you to appoint over yourself a king (som tasim alecha melech)
whom Hashem , you God shall choose; from among your brothers shall you appoint
a king over yourself; you cannot place over yourself a foreigner who is not
your brother…
Sifre (Midrash Halacha)
comments on the words “Som tasim alecha melech”- “Melech v’lo malka”, you shall
appoint a king and not a queen.
Rambam in Mishne Torah
Hilchot Melachim 1:5, Laws of Kings, explains that from this verse we learn
that we do not appoint a woman in kingship and to all public positions
in Israel, we appoint only a man.
Radbaz, Rabbi David b. Zimra, 16th
c. Egypt, Commentary on Mishne Torah asks how Rambam can assert that a woman cannot be appointed.
Devora was a prophetess who judged Israel! This is not a challenge, for she
taught them the laws. Alternatively, it was according to God’s command.
Chidushei HaRambam, Shevuot 30a
teaches:
In the Jerusalem Talmud, they said,
a woman does not testify and does not judge. And what of Devora: “she
judged Israel”? It means that she was a leader, like a queen, and that
according to her decision and counsel they conducted their affairs with each
other. And even though we say in the Sifre, ” ‘You shall place upon you a
king,’ a king and not a queen,” they conducted themselves as if she was a
queen. Alternatively, they accepted her words voluntarily.
In light of the teachings above,
would women be forbidden to vote or be elected for a political position?
According to Rav Ben
Zion Uziel (Mishpatei Uziel 44) 1920- Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Eretz
Yirael:
It is clear that even according to the Sifre, a woman may be accepted as
judge, that is, leader, and she may make decisions just as one can accept a
relative as judge. Therefore, in appointment by election, which is the public’s
acceptance of those elected as their representatives and leaders, the law is
that they can also elect women, even according to the positions of the Sifre
and the Rambam. And in the writings of the Rishonim in general no dissenting
opinion has been found.
A woman has an absolute right of participation in elections so that she be
bound by the collective obligation to obey the elected officials who govern the
nation.
A woman may also be elected to public office by the consent and ordinance of
the community.
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, the Rishon
LeTziyon and former Chief Rabbi of Israel taught (Tehumin 7,1986 pg. 518-9):
The acceptance by Am Yisrael of Devora was due to her powers of
prophecy and as a special instruction of the time (hora’at sha’a) (following
the language of the Tosafot), but this is only in the case of leadership of an
entire people. However a “specific community, organization or town, can accept
upon them, in a majority decision, a woman as a head of a board,
administration, and so on.”
After the November 1917 Balfour Declaration, it was clear that the new
Yishuv would need to elect a political entity. That is when the question of
women’s suffrage arose. In June, 1918 the Second Constitutive Assembly passed a
compromise resolution that was gender neutral, according women full suffrage.
America only accorded women the right to vote in 1920 so Israel was at the head of the game!
As the elections in Israel are
approaching, it is important for all Israeli citizens who are eligible to
exercise their right to vote which should not be taken for granted.
Now the big question is which party
to vote for?
