Sitting in a Ladies’ Pirkei Avot group last week, a participant queried, “If it’s called Ethics of the Fathers, does that mean that these teachings are less relevant to women? Is there an equivalent (Torah book) for us?” The verse that immediately sprang to mind in response was from Proverbs: “ — Hear, my child, the instructions of your father and the Torah of your mother.” My reply was that all of Torah is our book.The opening verses of the Shavuot Torah portion paint a picture of our people standing at Sinai, ready to receive the Torah.
The very first words that God speaks from the mountain are: “So shall you say to the House of Jacob and tell it to the Sons of Israel” (Exodus 19:3). Our tradition understands the “House of Jacob” to refer to the women of the nation, while “Children of Israel” refers to the males. This encompassing language places females foremost on this occasion and gives us reason to believe that women are considered a primary vehicle for Torah transmission.
Traditionally some have understood this to mean that the softer, values-based education that mothers give to their malleable young, home-centred and intrinsic to Jewish way of life, is the domain of women. Only weeks ago we read about the Four Sons (Children) in the Haggadah. When it comes to the young child who hasn’t the words to ask, the Haggadah switches into a feminine grammatical form, “You (mother/female carer) open their mouth for them”, ie, you teach them how t.
