Mrs. Lynn Kraft’s Advanced Jewish Studies Program 11th grade class

Juniors in Mrs. Lynn Kraft’s Advanced Jewish Studies Program (AJSP) 11th grade class are delving into Jewish thinkers’ perspective on women’s spirituality and halacha. Students have been discussing the difference between men and women’s obligations in positive time bound mitzvot (מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא), the fact that men are obligated in them and women are exempt from them, and and the reasoning behind that difference.

Drawing on their knowledge of Jewish thinkers and sources, students are debating reasons that some mitzvot such as tefillin are obligatory for men and not for women. Students are reading primary sources from the Gemara as well as contemporary voices including Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsh and Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. This week students discussed Rav Hirsh’s contention that women exist on a higher spiritual level.

To read more about ICJA’s Advanced Jewish Studies Program, click here.