Women, Tefillin and Chabad don't mix

If you are a big fan of Chabad, read no further.
A while back I set up Google Alerts for "Rashi's Daughters" and "Maggie Anton," which sends me email whenever those two subjects show up on the internet. The idea, of course, is to find out who's posting about me or my books. But occasionally something else pops up, like the link below.

I could tell by the title, 'Why I Don't Put on Tefillin," that the article would probably upset me, but I read it anyway and indeed, felt quite sad when I finished. Here's this poor woman, who yearns to be closer to God, who wants to perform the mitzvot of tefillin and tzitzit, who hopes to honor her grandfather by praying in his– and she comes away condemned as egotistical, not on a high enough spiritual plane, even compared to Nadav and Abihu [sons of the high priest Aaron who were killed for offering 'strange fire' instead of the appropriate sacrifice].

It breaks my heart that this discouraged woman, who only wants to perform mitzvot from which she is exempt, for Heaven's sake, is rebuked as if she wanted to commit a sin. Nobody told her, yet I would think her rabbi knows about it, that Rabbenu Tam [Rashi's grandson] declared that any woman who, for her own nachat ruach [spiritual satisfaction], wishes to perform the men's mitzvot from which she is exempt, may certainly do them. Plus, she must also say the blessing when she does so [BT Rosh Hashanah 33a]. All Ashkenazim today follow the decisions of Rabbenu Tam, yet this woman's rabbi leaves her in ignorance and shame.

You would think that Chabad, whose purpose is supposedly to get more Jews to perform more mitzvot, would offer encouragement to women who want to take on tefillin and tzitzit. Well, I'm sorry, but nobody can convince me that God prefers for men to pray wearing these and women not. And because I've studied enough Talmud to know what Rabbenu Tam said [Talmud study is another mitzvot that Chabad women don't perform], I am well aware that women may indeed put on tefillin – provided they say the blessing.