Question: In the previous Halacha, you have written that women may carry a weapon when there is an essential need for them to do so. The question is: Based on what we have learned from a Torah class that when Yael came to kill Sisera, she did not want to use a weapon so as not to transgress the prohibition of “wearing a man’s vestment,” rather, she chose to kill him with a stake, it would seem that women may not carry a weapon even for an essential purpose?
Answer: Let us begin by explaining the question.
The prophet states in the book of Shoftim (Chapter 4) that Yavin, king of Canaan, would constantly oppress the Jewish people and since they did evil in Hashem’s eyes, He did not save them from him until they began repenting and mending their ways.
In those days, the general of Yavin’s army was a man named Sisera. At the time, Deborah the prophetess lead the Jewish nation since there was no man who was as wise and understanding as her in that generation (see Tosafot Niddah 50a).
She then called upon Barak, son of Avinoam, and commanded him to wage war against Sisera and his army along with ten-thousand men from the tribe of Naftali and promised him that Hashem would make Sisera fall before them. Nevertheless, Barak was afraid to go out to battle alone and he requested that Deborah come out to the battlefield along with him. Indeed, Deborah agreed, but she told him that since he had not trusted her guarantee and gone out to war alone, Hashem would take the glory away from him and make Sisera fall at the hands of a woman.
Indeed, Hashem performed great wonders for the Jewish nation by making the stars descend from their paths thus causing the weather to become unbearably hot. Sisera’s soldiers then went to cool themselves off in the river where Hashem caused a whirlpool and they all drowned. The Jewish nation won an unprecedented victory against Sisera’s forces. Sisera himself fled by foot to the home of Chever the Kennite, a friend of Yavin, king of Canaan. When Chever’s wife, Yael, saw Sisera she invited him into the tent. As he was quite thirsty, he asked her for a drink of water. However, she wisely opened a flask of milk and gave him some to drink in order to make him fall asleep.
When he fell asleep, the verse states, “Yael, wife of Chever, took the stake of the tent and she took the hammer in her hands; she came upon him secretly and rammed the stake into his temple until it was wedged in the earth and he had fallen asleep, was drowsy, and died.”
The commentary of Yonatan ben Uziel explains that Yael did not wish to use a weapon to kill Sisera because of the prohibition of “A man’s vestments shall not be on a woman” and she therefore opted to kill him with a stake of a tent. Rashi quotes this opinion in Masechet Nazir (59a). Based on this it would seem that it should be forbidden for women to carry a weapon even this is being done for an essential purpose.
However, besides for what we have written that anything regarding which the practice has changed and is now done by women as well does not constitute the prohibition of “A man’s vestments shall not be on a woman,” there is an additional explanation for this as well. Indeed, Maran zt”l discusses this in his response (Yechave Da’at, Volume 5, Chapter 54) where he writes as follows:
“This that Yael did not kill Sisera with a sword and specifically used a stake was because Sisera was already drowsy and had fallen asleep and she was easily able to kill him with a stake. However, when pressed for time and one must act at a moment’s notice, such as when lethal and planned-out terrorists arrive to carry out an attack, one must certainly act quickly with weapons equal to theirs in order to strike them down so that they not have an opportunity to carry out their plot, for ‘if one attempts to kill you, rise up and kill him first’ (Berachot 62b). It is therefore permissible for women to use weapons and there is no prohibition involved.”
Maran zt”l brings another source for this based on the Midrash Rabba Parashat Nasso (Parasha 11, Chapter 3) which states: “Behold Shlomo’s bed,” here “Shlomo” refers to Hashem to whom peace belongs, “Is surrounded by sixty mighty warriors,” referring to the six-hundred-thousand men who left Egypt, “Among the warriors of Israel,” including women and children. “They are all sword-wielding” referring to the verse, “And the Jewish nation left the land of Egypt armed.” We see that when the Jewish people left Egypt, they all wielded swords, even the women and children.
In any event, we can all learn an amazing lesson from Yael though. The righteous Yael was certainly under great stress that night (see Yevamot 103a) and she was extremely frightened by the fact that the enemy’s general was asleep in her tent and it was her responsibility to neutralize him in order to save the Jewish nation. Being a sensitive and delicate woman, her hands must have trembled as she carried out this task and her breathing barely held up.
Nevertheless, because she was so righteous, even during such a fateful time, she did not let her emotions confuse or overcome her and she was completely ready to do the will of Hashem. Thus, even during these tense moments, she had the clarity of mind to think how she would go about killing Sisera, for if she did so with a sword, that would border on a transgression and she therefore decided to kill him using a stake even if that would prove more difficult.
Hashem noticed her righteous actions and she merited being remembered among the Jewish nation for generations to come as a good and blessed heroine, as Deborah the prophetess and Barak son of Avinoam sang, “May Yael, wife of Chever the Kennite, be blessed; may she be blessed by women in the tent.”
