Talmudic Times
Classical Jewish rabbinical literature contains quotes that may be seen as both laudatory and derogatory of women. The Talmud states that:
- Greater is the reward to be given by the All-Mighty to the (righteous) women than to (righteous) men
- Ten measures of speech descended to the world; women took nine
- Women are light on raw knowledge — i.e. they possess more intuition
- A man without a wife lives without joy, blessing, and good; a man should love his wife as himself and respect her more than himself
- When Rav Joseph heard his mother's footsteps he would say: Let me arise before the approach of the divine presence
- Israel was redeemed from Egypt by virtue of its (Israel's) righteous women
- A man must be careful never to speak slightingly to his wife because women are prone to tears and sensitive to wrong
- Women have greater faith than men
- Women have greater powers of discernment
- Women are especially tenderhearted
While few women are mentioned by name in rabbinic literature, and none are known to have authored a rabbinic work, those who are mentioned are portrayed as having a strong influence on their husbands, and occasionally having a public persona. Examples are Bruriah, the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Meir; Rachel, the wife of Rabbi Akiva; and Yalta, the wife of Rabbi Nachman. Rabbi Eliezer's wife (of Mishnaic times) counselled her husband in assuming leadership over the Sanhedrin.
Read more about this topic: Women In Judaism
Famous quotes containing the word times:
“There are times when they seem so small! And then again, although they never seem large, there is a vastness behind them, a past of indefinite complexity and marvel, an amazing power of absorbing and assimilating, which forces one to suspect some power in the race so different from our own that one cannot understand that power. And ... whatever doubts or vexations one has in Japan, it is only necessary to ask oneself: “Well, who are the best people to live with?””
—Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904)