A Letter to the Women of Today

David Hamelech was a small boy, a shepherd living in the barn by the big house where his brothers lived. He was somewhat shunned and grew up this way; seemingly smaller and weaker than his brothers; an outcast. Who would’ve thought that out of that household, mashiach would come from him? His mother, the holy Nevuah Nitzeves bat Ada’el, knew this. She also knew that the greatness of David had to be subdued so as to trick the satan which would otherwise use its full force against David if it knew of his true power, according to the Chida. So his greatness had to be hidden in a disguise of being treated as a second class citizen of the household for him to be able to survive and become the greatest Jewish king, the warrior for Hashem…

To trick the Satan now, perhaps a disguise is just as necessary. We chase after falsity and confusion. We learn that Hashem is hidden (Devarim 31:18). The bad is cloaked in the good and the good disguised as the bad. This has never been more apparant than in todays Western civilisation; a civilisation that prides itself on tolerance and compassion yet responds with aggression and hate to any opposing ideology, a civilisation labelling itself as standing for equality, yet views masculinity as toxic, a civilisation that boasts a life of colour yet often faces a very dark, depressive reality within.

We are trying to find our true power, the unlocking of which would cause the coming of mashiach! The Western world tells us that as women we are free… and must act so, that our bodies needn’t (and mustnt) be hidden anymore, that genders are fluid and unimportant. A world of chaos without direction, a world where one can claim to be anything and it cannot be questioned. A world of astonishing befuddlement, where we claim freedom yet we are surrounded by anguish and chained to the ever fluid morality society imposes. Why would the satan waste anytime there, in a confused place unknowing of Hashems’ Omnipresence, surely there is no spark of holiness worthy of its time?

Or is there?

The necessary disguise of a small shepherd boy comes to mind. It is so exceedingly vital that as women we tap into our internal feminine power; for, when we’re told our bodies needn’t be hidden, they are hiding our neshama. Our holy, holy light. Our spark, our fire that soars down from heaven, illuminating the whole world.

For if one isn’t wearing anything, it is naturally harder to focus on what they have inside rather than on their body, and vice versa. By “covering” the body, we are coming out of hiding. We are allowing our true power, who we really our and what we have to give, to SHINE, to be HEARD. Little do they know our power and light is so much more, so much greater, than the physical body. We have so much to give, so much so that it is devastating to hide such infinite greatness behind the mask of a body. Your Neshama, your soul, is no less than an emanation of Hashem. You contain infinity. This is why it is almost painful for that amount of holiness to not just be confined to a body, but also be so hidden by it. In plain sight. We must tap into our true power, and allow our neshama to come out of hiding. To suppress the true power of feminity by hiding it in the shadows of its physical counterpart, is simply a tradgedy equivalent to a Queen unknowing of her royal status. A bird unknowing of its wings condemned to a life walking the earth.

Our freedom comes not because we are told we are free physically, our freedom comes from our spiritual freedom. We were free long before, in fact 3,335 years before liberalism told us we were free. Freedom from fears, limitations and anxieties of the material world, living in full faith tightly bound to our Creator. Every morning, no matter if we are even physically bound, we can say שלא עשני עבד. Because even a Jew in prison is free. Natan Sharansky talks about his arrest in Soviet Russia, being stripped of everything he owned, and put in a cage. What they couldn’t take, were his values, his people, his beliefs, “They could only change my physical appearance.” This spiritual strength is what enabled him to live 9 years in a Gulag and know that he was never alone. We aren’t bound to society, to others, to anyone other than Him. Spiritually, we can soar. Our neshama cannot and will not be contained. The Neshama is a soldier, doing the work of the limitless. We have the freedom to be. The freedom to choose. The freedom to tap into that innate Godliness within in and even if we merit it, perhaps transcend physicality. Fully, unequivocally surrendering to Hashem is the highest, most limitlessly liberating state one can possibly achieve. We chase thrill and adventure, unknowing of the limitless, insurmountable pleasure contained within our very souls waiting to be tapped into. With this, we can fly, we can light up and set on fire in everything we do, in every moment of our day.

We are told that the differences between men and women are fluid, a grey area. Unimportant and most certainly undefining. However, women were created perfect, exactly as Hashem willed it (Unlike men who are required to be circumcised). This divine, feminine energy cannot be tapped into by just anyone, it is deeper than the neshama itself. After a women gives birth to a girl, her spiritual status is תמא for double the time as of a boy, as the vacuum of space where the neshama left her body doubles in holiness than a male, leaving a profoundly deeper vacated space where kedusha once was. To be told that any man can access that feminine spirituality is being told that there is no unique power, no higher purpose of the female, nothing special or holy that elevates or differentiates us from the rest of the world. The holiness of a women, both spiritually as well as physically, is beyond our understanding. To give life, to nourish a new baby, to carry a neshama at its purest form, are deeply deeply mysteriously spiritual things. This is the highest, most prized work of Hashem, for His elite unit. It is this female unit of Hashems army that will bring the days of mashiach.

You were made שעשני כרצונו, EXACTLY how Hashem wanted to create a human being. Meaning you’re perfect. You’re holy. You’re whole. You’re complete. You don’t need tzitzit, to wear a Kippah or tefillin to achieve attachment and connection to Hashem. A women can even achieve nevuah without constant Torah study (Megillah 14a), because her attachment to Hashem is already there, not dependant on how much she studies Torah. Not just that, but you are royalty. The daughter of a King. I feel and know this so deeply, that it’s not just a lofty concept or a nice idea, but a reality as true and certain as the sky is blue. To see you and how much you are worth being seen as anything less, is simply devastating. By others but also by yourself. As perfect and beautiful as the trees, animals and universe is, as are you. Created in the image of nothing less than the King of Kings, this doesn’t leave any room to think of yourself as any less. I cannot imagine how much love Abba in heaven has for you, for even every tiny detail of yourself that you find so hard to love!

It was the on the merit of the women that as Jews we were freed from Egypt (Sotah 11b), and from here the Arizal says so too it is the women that will lead us to the final geulah.

We are told that mashiach will come into a world of confusion. Not, despair, depression, or corruption; Confusion. Perhaps he’ll be able to come about only because of the confusion. Even gold has to enter flames to be purified, and perhaps Nitzeves was aware of this when her son was growing up with suffering. Perhaps it is directly that pain which enabled him to achieve kingship. Perhaps the confusion is helping us, and as deep as the world is confused, is as deep as the good it’s going to cause when as the women of the geulah, we draw down the heavenly sparks from this chaotic world and utilise it to bring the days of mashiach.

גאולה שמח!