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    Women’s brains – Ask the Rabbi

    Q. How can the Talmud say that women have no brains?

    A. It doesn’t. The statement you must be thinking of is nashim da’atan kalah alehen (Shab. 33b, Kidd.80b).

    I know that some people who read the words superficially think they mean that women are light-minded, but the better translation is that women are not as obstinate as men and under great pressure they will take a softer option.

    It is one of many gratuitous comments about how the human psyche works, and one can take issue with such statements.

    It does not mean that women are brainless. On the contrary; the Talmud says that women were endowed with a greater degree of understanding than men – binah yeterah natan haKadosh Baruch Hu b’ishah yoter mib’ish (Nid. 45b).

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