Joodse traditie als permanent leren

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permanent lerende mens bijna altijd een man is en het lerende kind meestal een jongen. Hoewel het aandeel van meisjes en vrouwen in de studie van de Torah historisch gezien gering is, is dit aandeel er wel. Als meisjes of vrouwen niet zouden leren, zouden moeders geen kennis kunnen overdragen en zou er nooit gezegd kunnen zijn: 'My son, keep the commandment (('mitswah')) of thy father,

And forsake not the teaching (('torah')) of thy mother '.

Dit werd echter wel gezegd. Hoewel in de tannai'tische (le en 2e eeuw n.chr. )en de amorai'tische tijden (3e t/'m 5e eeuw a ehr. jmeisjes gewoonlijk niet naar school gingen, ontvingen ze thuis toch een elementaire vorm van scholing en zelfs waren er in die tijd al enkele vrouwelijke geleerden:

'Tannaitic literature only makes learning the

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Torah obligatory for boys and not for girls. This view is also expressed in the later books of the Bible the apocryphal literature and in the works of Philo ((c. 20 B. C. E. -50 C. E. )) and Tosephus ((c. 38-after 100 C. E. )). We find a dispute in the Jabneh period among the Tannaim with Ben Azzai saying that a man is obliged to teach his daughter the Torah and R. Eliezer maintaining that teaching a girl the Torah would en-

29

courage too much intimacy between the sexes ,

and that 'there is no wisdom for a woman except 30

at the spindle'. Whether as a result of the prevailing conditions or because the decision went according to R. Eliezer, his point of view became widespread and girls did not generally attend school. Women were, however, obliged to utter blessings and recite grace after meals; and from the place they occupied in the life of the family, including the occupation with the children's education, it would appear that the girls too were given some education. We frequently find women present in the synagogue at times of

prayer and sermons, though mainly as passive 31

listeners. We know of several women from the