[Avodah] Position of Jewish Woman and Wife

[Prof. Levine]

Part of RSRH's essay The Jewish Woman includes his commentary on 
Aishes Chayil (Proverbs 31,10-31). He concludes his commentary with

This retrospective view of a Jewish wife gives us a most beautiful 
portrayal of one woman's work. Even if Scripture had preserved for us 
nothing more than this vignette from the history of our womanhood, 
this one hymn would be sufficient to afford us a splendid view of the 
position of women in Judaism and an eloquent rebuttal of all the 
fabrications, past and present, invented by incomprehensible 
thoughtlessness about the enslavement and degradation of Jewish women 
in days of old. What European woman of our own century would not look 
back upon this portrayal from remote Jewish antiquity as a shining 
ideal that she would be delighted to approximate in her own life?

What, then, is the position of the Jewish woman and wife? She is her 
husband's close friend and makes him happy. He feels secure with her, 
and he looks to her as the inspiration for his greatest achievements.

She enjoys full independence as the manager and supervisor of the 
home, but that is not all. She wants to do more than simply accept 
her husband's earnings and use them for the good of the home, to feed 
and otherwise provide for the members of her household. She herself 
participates in the work that needs to be done. She is eager to make 
her own economic contribution to the prosperity of her household. 
Thus, of her own free will, she has made herself an active partner in 
her husband's labors.

Constant activity is her element; good works are her delight; wisdom 
dwells upon her lips, and her every word and action is a lesson in 
selfless love and devotion.

She is the ever-watchful supervisor of the routine of her household, 
and at the same time she is her husband's quiet, wise counselor in 
matters affecting the welfare of the community in which they live.

The memory of what she meant to them will live on forever in the 
hearts of her husband and children who, for the rest of their lives, 
will rise in respectful tribute to her memory and will never cease to 
praise her. Her memory will live on also outside her immediate 
family, in the hearts of her community, as an eternal praise and a 
valiant example to be followed by future generations.

Fortunate, and also immortal. the nation that can boast of such women 
and mothers in its history.

See http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/jewish_woman.pdf for 
the entire essay.

Yitzchok Levine
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