Low Enrollment At Stern Gemara Program

From a podcast blurb: 

"Last month, it was reported that due to low enrollment, the beginners and intermediate Talmud courses for women at Yeshiva University’s Stern College would not be offered next year, meaning that the only remaining Talmud course would be the advanced class. We also learned that GPATS – the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud and Tanach Studies – would only have one Talmud track instead of two, as it did in the past; and that YU was not going to hire a new teacher to replace Rav Moshe Kahn z’l, who taught Talmud at Stern and who passed away several months ago. Although Stern has subsequently reversed course and does plan to offer those Talmud classes, the controversy raised important questions about the place of Talmud in the Torah curriculum for women.

Should Gemara learning be a mandatory part of the high school curriculum for girls, as it generally is for boys? Regardless of whether Talmud classes for young women should be optional or mandatory, should they be modeled on the standard yeshiva styles of learning, or should Gemara be taught differently with a different emphasis depending on gender? Was the fact that women were generally discouraged or even prohibited from learning for two millennia a necessary accommodation to reality or, in hindsight, a mistake? Are there still areas of scholarship that, for political or religious reasons, should remain the exclusive province of men? Do we need new methodologies of teaching Gemara to both boys and girls?

To discuss these and other questions, Scott spoke with Rabbanit Michelle Cohen Farber, the founder of Hadran, the teacher of the first online daf yomi shiur taught by a woman, and the creator of the first international Siyum HaShas for Women three years ago."

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I am no Rabbanit/Rebbetzin/Rabba and maybe that is why I was not interviewed - but I have views on this topic, too!!😊😊 I didn't listen to the podcast [I have a law practice to run!!] but I can *guess* what her opinions are. Typical Charedi-Rav-Schach'esque-right-wing-old-fashioned-hashkafa. Little doubt. What would you expect from the founder of the first on-line daf yomi shiur for women that comes up consistently on the first page of any Gemara related google search [maybe due to the tens of millions of women who avidly learn the daf - at the behest of the latest Agudas Yisrael of America campaign in conjunction with the Young Israel of Ra'anana]? 

My *humble* opinion is that indeed, men and women are different and should be educated accordingly. Chazal are clear about that and nothing has changed since the beginning of time. We have different brains, different psyches, different everything. Good Stern girls want to marry boys who are serious about learning Gemara but, by and large, harbor no such aspirations for themselves. Sitting for hours over the Rashba/Ritva/Rambam/Maggid Mishna/Mishna Lamelech etc. etc. day after day [which is how you become a Talmid Chochom] is just not appealing for the vast majority of women. 

Rebbetzin Bruria David z"l was a super example. Incredibly brilliant, learned, intellectual, broad - yet not one ounce of feminism or rebellion against Hashem, Torah and Chazal [which is what feminism is as per Rav Moshe ztz"l]. She encouraged her students to expand their spiritual and intellectual horizons - but not like men. Her graduates are filled with Yiras Shomayim and raise large families who continue the tradition faithfully.

Daf Yomi for ladies? If they already learn Gemara - why don't they learn properly as opposed to finishing a page regardless of its level of difficulty in the same standard amount of time, with little or no chazara, and little or no depth. The claim is that women learn for advanced degrees so they should also learn Gemara. OK - but why then do they learn it superficially?? Would they seriously study physics by quickly reading through a textbook with almost no retention and very little understanding? And as far as learning in depth - most are just not interested. And there is also the Halacha that discourages it... 

So how about - Tanach in depth, Halacha in depth, Mussar, philosophy and primarily - Yiras Shomayim because that is what it is all about. For men and women alike. And for women who have less of an intellectual bent - they are not inferior. They can connect to Hashem through Tfilla, chesed, raising a family, enabling the learning of their family members etc. Historically, learning was primarily a male domain and Klal Yisrael did just fine [until the pre-WW 2 assimilation].    

The real problem in the MO world is that the boys [and girls] go through 15 years of Torah education costing hundreds of thousands of dollars - and know almost nothing. THAT is an issue which doesn't receive enough attention. A student can't properly read and understand even Chumash-Rashi - not to mention Gemara Rashi Tosfos, at the age of 18. Only during their [horribly termed] "gap-year" in Israel do they have a chance to make a dent in their state of close-to-Jewish-illiteracy.

So instead of trying to produce girls who are like boys - let us try to produce boys who should be the best possible boys and girls who should be the best possible girls. 

WHAT AN IDEA!!!😀😃😄😄