Are the Bible and the Torah sexist?

Man does not fulfill his destiny without woman, nor woman without man, nor the two together without the Divine Presence among them. - Midrash (ancient rabbinic commentary), Genesis Rabbah 8:9

Everything depends on the woman. - Genesis Rabbah 17:7

In mankind, the differences between the sexes go beyond the merely physical: gender changes everything.

Women, compared to men, probably constitute the higher form of life. In the Biblical worldview Creation proceeded in ascending order: from the earlier and less advanced forms to the latter and more advanced. Adam - whose name literally means "man," from a root meaning "earth" - came before Eve (in Hebrew, Hava or Chava, or literally, "life"). Men may have more size and muscle and upper-body strength, but the human male seems to belong to the lesser sex, which in some ways must also be the weaker.

The recurrent problem of society is to define the male role satisfactorily. - Margaret Mead (Male and Female, 1949, p. 160)

[More to come]

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