Ah, and how could I forget to mention some of the early Jewish and rabbinic comments and sentiments about women.

•Common Rabbinic prayer: “Blessed [be Thou, O Lord …] who did not make me a woman” (Tosefta Berakoth 6.18).

•Common Rabbinic formula: “Women and slaves and minors are exempt from reciting the Shema” (Mishnah Berakoth 3.3).

•Quotes from Josephus: “…for says the Scripture: “A woman is inferior to her husband in all things.” (Against Apion 2.200-2001). “But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex” (The Antiquities of the Jews 4.8.219).

•The writer of the Testament of Reuben declared: “For women are evil…Indeed the angel of the Lord told me that women are more easily overcome by the spirit of promiscuity than are men…” (5.1-6).

Yikes!