Parenting

Fathers And Mothers
This material appears courtesy of Bridges for Peace
by Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.

There is no doubt that the strongest force that directed the everyday life of Israel was their religion. It was the call of God on Abraham that started the process out of which the House of Israel, or Jewish people emerged.

Every aspect of their lives was motivated by their faith and guidance from God. Their faith and practice became more codified under Moses who presented them with five books, or the Torah, with God's rules for daily living. These rules were not seen as God's demands, but a blessing. The Jews were the only people in the world who knew what God wanted and expected of them for a happy and healthy life. Other ancient people could only guess, and their lives were dictated by appeasing their gods or warding off evil spirits with charms and amulets.

The Torah was a combination of affirmations and prohibitions, codified into 613 laws - 365 prohibitions and 248 affirmations. Interestingly, the tassels on the garments of Jewish men, called tzitziot, are tied into 613 knots, one for each law. In later periods, oral traditions grew up around the laws, because circumstances dictated inquiry as to how to apply the law. The responses of learned sages of the Torah became as important to daily life as the original laws themselves.

The Israelites were called by God to be a holy people, different from the pagans. Their life and lifestyle was to reflect His glory and the evidence of their relationship to Him.

Family Roles:
The Rabbinical tractate, Aboth, "The Sayings of the Father," describes the following stages of life:

"At five years one is fit for the Scriptures, at ten years for the Mishna, at thirteen for the commandments, at fifteen for the Talmud, at eighteen for the bridechamber, at twenty for pursuing a calling, at thirty for authority, at forty for discernment, at fifty for counsel, at sixty to be an elder, at seventy for gray hairs, at eighty for special strength, at ninety for bowed back and at a hundred a man is as one that has already died and passed away and ceased from this world."

Just as we in the 20th century pass from one role to another in our life cycle, so to did the ancients. On the other hand, while the western world has worked to obscure gender roles, they were quite intact and in force in biblical times.

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