Rachel, Wife of Akiva: Women in Ancient Israel
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Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
Akiva’s wife, Rachel, is the foundation of Rabbi Akiva’s success and greatness. Rabbi Akiva says about her, “what is yours is mine, and what is mine is hers”. Rachel is one of the only women in history that’s name is mentioned. Rachel, who was very wealthy, believed in Akiva, who was a shepherd with no Torah knowledge, and married him because of the potential she saw in him. Rachel teaches women everywhere that the woman is the foundation of the home and if she wants a Torah home, then a Torah home she’ll have, no matter how much Torah learning her husband lacks.
who are the “biographers” that ‘claim’ against chazal that it was not 24 years –
Two corrections to facts mentioned in the lecture. 1. The city of Yavne is not near Teveria but rathe some 200 Kilometers south near the city of Ashdod. 2. The Jewish rabbles did not stab the coffin of Rabbi Yochonon Ben Zakai. They wanted to do so but were persuaded by the Rabbi deciples to let the coffin out of Jerusalem without stabbing it.