Why aren’t men and women obligated to do the same Mitzvahs?

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Why aren’t men and women obligated to do the same Mitzvahs?

by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

In essence, a woman has every obligation of a man, and a man every obligation of a woman.

True, man and woman are separate bodies, and appear to have different Mitzvahs. The Torah, however, doesn't know of man and woman as separate beings. They are a single whole, whether they are cognizant of one another or not. Each act is performed once through a single entity. Either a masculine body, or a feminine body, but a body that in our world may appear as two, whereas to the Torah it is seen as one.

This is actually a statement of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the greatest of the Kabbalists, known as Arizal. He explains that the man and woman are a single entity--and that is how they are considered in Halachah, as well. So, for example, a woman also puts on Tefillin--only that she puts them on with her male body. If everything is working right, that should be her husband.

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