A Woman of Valor (proverbs 31:10-30)
I've been thinking about Eishet Hayil this weekend - I was at a shabbat dinner for grad students where an attempt was made to sing it. It wasn't very successful and it just seemed kind of absurd! Here we are, all equals, few of us romantically connected with each other, male and female alike we're mostly there because we're pursuing similar studies, and the *men*, our peers, are going to sing Eshet Hayil to us? To us, or to some other women that aren't like us??
The Jewish communities where I first became active dropped Eishet Hayil, and I like it that way, but I've been trying to pin down exactly why.
Some thoughts:
I wonder whether it's the very beginning, "Eshet Hayil, mi yimtza?" (A woman of valor, who(masc) can find), which does kind of imply that maybe no one will find one, possibly that this is an ideal that doesn't exist, yet it's held up for us every Friday night?
Also, it doesn't say, "mi t'hiyeh" (who will be one) so that it could actually be inspiring women.
Another line that really bothers me is, "t'nu lah m'pri yadeha" (give her from the fruit of her work/hands) That she, of all women, is going to be permitted to keep the fruit of her work because she achieves so superbly. That someone else should decide what should happen to her own work, and think she's meritorious enough to have what she has actually earned.
It's also really hard to imagine a parallel verse/psalm for men.
JPS translates the first line as "What a rare find is a capable wife!"
The Jewish communities where I first became active dropped Eishet Hayil, and I like it that way, but I've been trying to pin down exactly why.
Some thoughts:
I wonder whether it's the very beginning, "Eshet Hayil, mi yimtza?" (A woman of valor, who(masc) can find), which does kind of imply that maybe no one will find one, possibly that this is an ideal that doesn't exist, yet it's held up for us every Friday night?
Also, it doesn't say, "mi t'hiyeh" (who will be one) so that it could actually be inspiring women.
Another line that really bothers me is, "t'nu lah m'pri yadeha" (give her from the fruit of her work/hands) That she, of all women, is going to be permitted to keep the fruit of her work because she achieves so superbly. That someone else should decide what should happen to her own work, and think she's meritorious enough to have what she has actually earned.
It's also really hard to imagine a parallel verse/psalm for men.
JPS translates the first line as "What a rare find is a capable wife!"