Tucked midway through this article about Stern College's decision (which has since been reversed) to close down some Talmud classes for women is the following eye opening statement: "But while Kahn’s courses sometimes drew up to 20 students, lower-level Talmud classes sometimes had much smaller rosters, according to students and administrators. Many fell below Stern’s threshold to offer a class, eight students." Eight?! I live in what I think most people would describe as a modern Orthodox community and there are more nail salons here than there are students registered in these classes.
Reopening the classes will not fix the problem (assuming you think there is a problem here that needs to be fixed.) The root of the problem is that the Torah shebaal peh education for girls in the elementary and high schools, which in some schools is equal to what the boys are offered in those "subjects," fails to inspire women to want to continue learning. And let's not kid ourselves -- do you think it's just gemara they are not interested in? It's an across the board failure.
Actually, according to Dean Shoshanah Schechter, the problem WAS specific to introductory Talmud classes. Of course, she has her interests, but here's what she said, and it is all objectively measurable: "Currently, there are more students enrolled in Judaic studies classes and more Torah learning taking place in classrooms and in our beit midrash than at any time in Stern College’s history. There are a record number of Torah classes in a variety of areas on five different levels."
ReplyDeletehttps://yucommentator.org/2023/04/torah-study-at-stern-college-clarifying-misconceptions
To quote from the same article (and thank you for bringing it to my attention), it sounds like the Dean's impressions match my own: "It seems to be the trend that women are less interested in learning Gemara. This is not a Stern issue. It is a Jewish communal issue."
DeleteThat comment is followed by with what to me seems absolute nonsense. "We have been working on these plans and seeking donors who are interested in working with us to invest in the future of women’s education in our community to either contribute annually or ideally endow our programs." What good is endowing programs that no one has an interest in participating in? That's called throwing out good money after bad.
I was focused on this one particular sentence, "The root of the problem is that the Torah shebaal peh education for girls in the elementary and high schools, which in some schools is equal to what the boys are offered in those 'subjects,' fails to inspire women to want to continue learning." And, "And let's not kid ourselves -- do you think it's just gemara they are not interested in?"
DeleteIt seems they are being inspired to learn Torah in general, and likely Torah sheBe'al Peh included -- that the dean isn't only referring to the unprecedented enrollment in Tanakh classes. So according to the college's claim, the data would indicate that yes, it is "just" gemara in particular that we've failed to inspire women to learn.
And at that point, "assuming you think there is a problem here that needs to be fixed" is a significant question.