Many women search for what their role in the study of Torah and the fulfillment of the commandments is. As we know, women are exempt from Torah study as well as time bound positive Miswoth (commandments). As we approach the holiday of Shabu'oth, celebrating the receiving of the Torah, this topic becomes even more accentuated, especially since it is not customary for women to stay up at night for Tiqqun Shabu'oth. ( See http://www.atorahminute.com/2012-05-22 )
To make things even more confusing, when we read about the Revelation on Har Sinai, we see that G-d told Moshe Rabbenu, 'a"h, to address the women before the men: So you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell to the Children of Israel (Shemoth, 19:3). Rashi explains that the House of Jacob refers to the women, while the Children of Israel refers to the men. We see from here, that G-d is addressing the women before the men, in the matter of receiving the Torah! Why then, are we exempt from Torah study?
Hakham Mordechai Eliyahu, 'a"h, relates a story about the mother of Hakham Yosef Hayyim, 'a"h, who complained to her son, the holy Ben Ish Hai, about the fact that women receive less reward, on the account of their exemption from some of the Miswoth. The Ben Ish Hai replied that a mother, who trains her children to follow in the path of the Torah and the Miswoth gets a reward as if she herself fulfilled them. The same is true, when she assists her husband to do so.
Women's share in the study of Torah is far greater than we realize. Hakham Mordechai Eliyahu, 'a"h, states that women are the foundation of Torah study and an integral part of Torah scholars. How do we know this?
Every morning when we send our children to study Torah with words of encouragement to grow and succeed in their studies, we get a reward. Every night, when we sit and wait for our husbands and our children to come home from their learning, we become partners in Torah study. Without a caring mother, who prepares meals for her children and sends them to a Yeshiba, and a loving wife awaiting her husband to return home at night, there will be no Torah study.
This is the magnitude of the reward for women for Torah study.
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