I attended Jewish day school from the age of three.
At Jewish schools, the day is longer than at other schools, often starting at 8am and finishing after 4pm. Teachers squeeze in a double curriculum of maths, science and English in addition to Torah, Talmud and Hebrew language lessons.
To have command of Jewish texts you must be literate in Hebrew and Aramaic. These ancient languages can be difficult and the grammar is fiddly. The alphabet also reads from right to left.
When I was 11, I visited Israel for the first time. I met my Israeli cousins and the languages I was learning at school took on a new dimension.
I understood that if I wanted to be able to speak to my cousins, or to be literate in my tradition’s foundational texts, I needed to learn these languages.
Everything Jewish was deeply interesting to me: Torah, Talmud and Jewish philosophy. I devour it all. At university, I completed double degrees in arts and law. I worked in the Parliament of Victoria and for the Parliament of Australia.
My life was rich and full and yet, despite being highly literate in Jewish texts and Jewish languages, I was never asked to present my Jewish knowledge in any religious setting. None of my friends were asked either.
In Orthodox Judaism, leadership roles in religious life are mainly held by men. Women, no matter how literate they are, are used to taking a back seat.
Read the article by Nomi Kaltmann in The Age.