WOMEN-----less mitzvos

Q: my friend is concerned about the fact that men get more mitzvos than women, she thinks its not fair to women.


A: The Rambam writes that anyone in the world - including women - can be as great a Tzadik as Moshe Rabbeinu.

Women do not have as many Mitzvos as men.

Among men, Yisroelim do not have as many Mitzvos as leviim.

Levvim do not have as many Mitzvos as Kohanim.

People who were born during the times of the Bais Hamikdosh have more mitzvos than those who are born during golus.

Mamzerim have less mitzvos than non-Mamzerim.
Slaves have less Mitzvos than free men.

A man who has a son has more Mitzvos than someone who has no sons.

A first-born has more mitzvos than someone not first born.

Yet all of them can be as great a Tzadik as Moshe Rabbeinu, because your level of righteousness does not depend on how many Mitzvos you do but how well you pass the tests that are given to you.

And it is more fair, not less, that everyone should get different tests, each according to their particular strengths.

Imagine a teacher who knows which students do best with essays, which do best with multiple choice, which do best with plain questions.

The teacher also knows how much time each student had to study, and what distractions there were in his or her life.

Imagine a teacher that knew all the factors that make up each individual student, and then custom made tests for all of them, each one according to his and her own particular individual circumstances.

Some people whould have more questions, some less, some one type of questions, some others. Some students would take the test in the morning, some at night, some in a classroom, some in a garden.

But at the end, if you get a 100 on your test, whatever it may be, you get the "A".

That would me the only really, really fair way to give tests, but our teachers can't do that. After all, they're not G-d.

But G-d is G-d. And He knows what each individual needs in this world for a perfectly fair test. How many Mitzvos, how many temptations, where, when, and how. In every single detail that matters.

Those details, the custom-made best test for you, will become the different circumstances in your life, including the amount of Mitzvos you will be obligated to do, the type of Mitzvos, when, how, and with whom.

But if you get a 100% on your particular test, you get a "tzadik" degree, as valid as anyone else who got a 100% on a different test.

So tell your friend that she shouldn't be jealous of somone else's test. That if Hashem would give everyone the same test, that would be unfair. It's much more fair to give everyone their own individualized tests.

So if she wants, she can wish, foolishly, to take a test that was designed for someone else. But tell her that she hasn't the foggiest chance of doing as well, or getting as fair a deal, as if she would take the test that Hashem custom made for her.