ESHET CHAYIL MI YIMTZA

VALOURculture Eshet Chayil Mi Yimtza By Janine Ellerman

The answer to this question is that in every generation, there are women of valour who are ‘like the merchant ships’, bringing in food from afar. Jewish women have run businesses since time began. After all, Chava was created as ‘Ezer Kenegdo’ – a helper for man. Whilst men and women are biologically different, G-d’s words on creating woman did not limit her potential. G-d did not place a glass ceiling on women; society did. Let’s take a look at our matriarchs: Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah. I can’t imagine that any of these women spent all of their time plaiting their hair and painting their faces. What did these women, and many like them, actually do? G-d might have appeared to Avraham, but who probably organised the packing up of the household and made sure that there was enough food for the journey to goodness knows where? Sarah was as much of a kiruv worker as Avraham. According to Rashi, he converted the men towards belief in the One G-d, and Sarah; the Ezer Knegdo, brought the women in. ‘She rises while it is still night, providing food for her household.’ The tent belonging to Avraham and Sarah was open on all four sides. Their hospitality was legendary. I envisage her running a five-star ancient world hotel, where she provides her guests with cream, milk and ‘three tongues in mustard’(Rashi). When they were visited by angels, all the foods Sarah prepared is listed. If the visitors were angels, then they did not need the food, however the point is to demonstrate Sarah’s hospitality. She made the food that guests would like, even though it involved serving meat and milk together, at a time when they kept all of the Torah laws. ‘She girds herself with strength, and braces her arms for her tasks.’ When Eliezer met Rivka, she had ‘her jug upon her shoulder’. She gave him and his camels water; no mean feat at a time when water was drawn from a well and the camels were seriously thirsty. A camel can drink about 30 gallons of water - and Eliezer had ten camels with him. You can do the maths! She was not only spiritually strong, but also physically strong - and shrewd. It was Rifka who saw that Yaakov deserved the birth right and who, using the wiles learned from the trickster Lavan, ensured the right son got it. Sometimes in life, as in business, you have to take a more circuitous route to reach the desired result!

Her daughters in law, Rachel and Leah, inherited those wiles as they were descended from Lavan. For the greater good, Rachel taught Leah the secret signs so that she would be spared embarrassment. Both women merited to become matriarchs, and both women had the responsibility of running a huge enterprise of family, shepherds, slaves, goats, sheep, camels and more. ‘She seeks wool and linen, and works with willing hands… She holds the distaff in her hand, and grasps the spindle with both hands.’ Marten Stol, a historian at Leiden University wrote a detailed history of women in the ancient Middle East. His evidence clearly shows that they were busy spinning, weaving, grinding flour and pressing oil. Cloth, garments and even carpets were woven throughout the region bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

WHO CAN FIND A WOMAN OF VALOUR? HER VALUE EXCEEDS THAT OF PEARLS.

Janine is a happily married mother and Bubba to her four children and one glorious grandson. In her ‘spare‘ time, she teaches English at Hasmonean High School and is about to embark on her 30th year of teaching.

‘She makes elegant coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple wool. She makes linen garments and sells them.’ This might have taken place in large workshops, but probably work was also carried out in the home on commission. It is obvious to the historian that women were the weavers at that time, though in later periods it was the men who did the weaving and the women who did the spinning.

‘She considers a field and buys it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sees that her business goes well.’ The laws of Hammurabi dealt with women in ‘free professions’ such as an innkeeper, a landlady, a wet-nurse, and more. The woman as a brewer or landlady, sometimes referred to as an innkeeper or an ale-wife, deserves special attention. Our matriarchs would have done all of the below and more:

‘Research conducted by Pat Knapp and Monika von Zell suggests that the work of medieval women was centred around the home. When industry began to develop outside the house and the home workshop, women's domestic duties frequently prevented them from taking a leading part in the industrial development. This did not mean that their contributions were lesser, just different. The work patterns of medieval women changed with their marital status. Interestingly, widows were frequently able to practice their husbands' trades, thus ensuring the economic survival of the family. The lower down the social scale, the greater the equality. Peasant men and women worked equally hard and were equally poor. Due to the restrictions placed on the types of work Jews could do in the Middle Ages, there would have been few Jewish peasants in Western Europe, although there is a sneaky reference in the Doomsday Book to a chap called ‘Menasses’ who held three ‘virgates of land’ in Dorset. Jewish women would have played a key role in all aspects of their families’ business enterprises, whether this was agricultural or financial.’

The wheels of technology turned slowly in the ancient and medieval world. While I am probably making a huge generalisation, it is almost safe to say that the way women contributed economically to their respective societies did not change much for millennia. Whether you were a Sarah in the ancient world, the prophetess Devorah, a refugee in Rome after the destruction of the Second Temple, a Lady Macbeth in the 11th century, or one of Rashi’s daughters in the 12th century, the daily work done by women would have been very similar.

What is clear is that women were not hidden behind the walls of society - they were an integral part of their economic and intellectual environment. Thus Eishet Chayil concludes ‘Give her the reward she has earned; let her deeds bring her praise in the gates.’

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