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| Cranach's Judith |
Sadly, a rather young American man became angry with me and told me that he would not let a woman tell him anything. He disagrees with the Jewish commentators of the Old Testament. They list several woman as teaching the Law, and the Hebrew Scriptures.
St. Solomoni, who I wrote about earlier today, and other women in the Old Testament, were honored for teaching the Torah. Susanna's mother is mentioned doing this according to Jewish texts, and Deborah did not only teach the Torah, but led her people in the Book of Judges. Deborah, by the way, is Tobit's grandmother, again according to Jewish texts. I wish I had the books I could use at Tyburn, and my notes with me. The scholars of Judaism have some great books. One is Moses' Women by Shera Aranoff Tuchman. The Jews value their women as we love the stories of Judith, Esther, Ruth and others.
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| Caravaggio's Judith |
There has been a long tradition in both Judaism and in Catholicism that the mother and grandmother pass down knowledge to their sons. In ancient times, the boys would finally leave their mothers about the age of five and start to work under their fathers, and go to school to learn and to study the Torah.
Some mystics claim that Anne and Joachim sent Mary to the temple school, but of course, that is not Church teaching Thousands of statues exist across the world which show St. Anne teaching Mary the Hebrew Scriptures. I am sure she did.
I agree that at a certain age, a boy should be taught by men, for the sake of learning to be a man. Jesus most likely worked with St. Joseph from the age of five. After the child was nursed completely, and after his time with his mother ended, the mother would walk the child to the father's place of work and hand the boy over to the father.
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| Deborah |
But, women were accepted as leaders, as we see with Deborah in the Book of Judges, and even Judith, whose orders were followed by the commanders of the Israelite army in the book named after her. Jael actually killed Sisera in Judges, but Deborah gave the commands.
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| Jael, Deborah and Barak, Salomon de Bray |
Well, one cannot please everyone and I hope this young man learns to appreciate women more before he finds a wife, if he does. In marriage, the husband and wife lead each other to God.
I skipped Esther, as I shall return to her another time. But, let us praise brave women, who did many things with the gifts of God: Deborah, Judith, Jael, Solomoni and others....