Between Justice and Power: education, agunot, and the limits of human rights in the jewish perspective

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between Jewish tradition and human rights through two central case studies: education and the status of agunot. Although classical Jewish sources lack a term equivalent to the modern concept of “human rights,” the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature articulate ethical principles grounded in human dignity, justice, and mutual responsibility. Historical analysis, however, reveals a persistent gap between the normative ideals and the social practice. The case of education illustrates the tradition’s internal capacity for self‑reform: literary and social critiques of the traditional cheder, combined with the pressures of the Haskalah, led to significant pedagogical transformations and the gradual abolition of corporal punishment. In contrast, the problem of agunot remains structurally unresolved. The juridical architecture of rabbinic marriage, rooted in the concept of kinyan (acquisition), concentrates the power of dissolution in the hands of the husband and continues to generate systemic vulnerabilities, despite civil and halakhic attempts at mitigation. By juxtaposing these two cases, the article argues that Jewish tradition offers a rich ethical repertoire but still requires substantive reforms to align its principles with contemporary human rights standards.