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I end up with questions, it's okay if you laugh when you read them,

No one should laugh. How do you expect to learn if you do not ask questions?

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In Judaism, are men and women considered equals?

Not at all. There is no such thing as equality between the genders. Gender equality is a 20th century invention that is a response to the Greek culture that we still live with today. Jewish women do not need gender equality at all. What there is, is something much more important; men and women are complementary, and this is a concept that runs through Judaism. There are some commandments that are for men only. There are some that are for women only. There are some commandments that men are obligated to perform, that women are totally exempted from. But this idea means that everyone has their own part in the plan to perform. And women who decide that they want to be equal to men usually do a poor job of fulfilling their own requirements.
In the same manner, there are some commandments for men, some for women, some for cohanim (priests), some for levites, some for kings, and so on. Just as I cannot fulfill the commandments given to the High Priest, no matter hard I try, a woman cannot fulfill the commandments given to men.
But working together, we all fulfill the torah in its entirely.
Despite the popular myths, by the way, Jewish women are not these dnwrodden, sad creatures, but proud, strong, and intelligent women.

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I have recently come face to face with a group xians that believe that only men can teach the "word".

Hear that Sophiee?
Actually, let me mention my wife who is a qualified teacher, and a very good one if I do say so myself.
These are the folks that have the problem with both equality and completion of a whole. I should also remind you that while Moses "preached" (I hate that word) to the men, his sister Miriam preached to the womwn (latst I checked, the torah tells us that Miriam was nott a man.