"Yossi ben (son of) Yochanan of Jerusalem said: Let your house be open wide, let the poor be members of your household, and do not chatter excessively with women. This was said regarding one's own wife, certainly with another's wife. Based on this the Sages have said, one who chatters excessively with women causes evil to himself, wastes time from Torah study, and will eventually inherit Gehenna."

This verse is an intellectual roller coaster.  The beginning wrenches us from the message of transmission of the Torah (sitting in the dust of the sages' feet and drinking in their words) to g'milut chasidim-acts of lovingkindness.  The implication is that the teachings of Torah, and perhaps the purpose of the teachings of Torah, are to lead to acts of lovingkindness.  The other implication is that the poor have wisdom and dignity, as do the sages.

But then suddenly, the topic turns to something that seems totally unrelated, and even archaic: "...and do not chatter excessively with women."  What possible connection does this have to the previous text?  And how jarring, in this world where there are women rabbis, who wear kippot and tallitot, in synagogues where men do not!  Are we to skip this section, and dismiss it as archaic?  I prefer not to, trusting in the timeless wisdom of the text, or at least curious enough about what the text has to say to examine it further, to try to squeeze the meaning from it.  The clues to the meaning of the text are in the words "chatter excessively," which appear twice, and the phrase "wastes time from Torah study."  The text is acknowledging the power of the charm that women have over men, that can distract men from the study of Torah and the pursuit of spiritual improvement.  It is not so much a statement about women, who are revered in the texts, as it is about the weakness of men.  The words "chatter excessively" imply relating to women on the basis of their attractiveness and charm, as opposed to the more spiritual bonds between men and women.  Even the work "excessively" allows for some leeway in relating to women on the basis of their charm, as long as it is not excessive.  The bottom line is that at the end of the day, we must return to Torah, and to the primacy of the spiritual over the physical.