Foundations of Religion - Christianity SECTION B


Jewish Attitudes to Children Generally speaking, life was quite different for boys and girls.


A boy’s life


Jewish fathers tended to place a greater value on a male child because he was expected to carry on the family name. Boys were expected to learn their father’s trade, i.e. carpentry, farming, fishing, pottery and so on.


Once he was eight days old, a Jewish boy was formally named in a ceremony held at the local synagogue. The name chosen always had a meaning. Sometimes it said something about the kind of person the boy’s parents hoped he would grow up to be. For example, Joshua means ‘saviour’. Other times, the name showed how the family felt about God. For example, Isaiah means ‘God is salvation’.


The father had the right to choose his children’s names. However, these were usually agreed upon between the parents.


On the same day as a boy was named, he was circumcised, i.e. the top part of the loose foreskin over his penis was cut off. The Jews did this to remind themselves of the covenant (i.e. agreement) God made with the founder of their religion – Abraham.


Boys went to school at the local synagogue from the age of seven onward. They learned how to read, write and do basic mathematics. When a Jewish boy reached the age of thirteen, he was publicly examined on his knowledge of the Tenakh. Once he passed this test, he was declared Bar Mitzvah (meaning: ‘Son of the Law’). From this point on, he was recognised as an adult.


Parents with teenage son during his Bar Mitzvah.


A girl’s life


In Jewish society, girls were generally seen as being less important than boys. However, unlike the Romans, the Jews did not allow new-born female babies to be killed if they were unwanted. This was because the Jews saw all children as a gift from God.


N.B. In a Jewish family, the father had the right to choose who his children would marry.


A Jewish girl did not go to school. She remained at home with her mother. She learned the skills needed to run a home and raise a family, e.g. cooking, spinning and weaving, caring for children and so on. However, by the time of Jesus, some rabbis had started to encourage Jewish fathers to educate their daughters.


Everyday Clothing


In the first century CE, Jewish men and women both wore versions of the same simple type of clothing – a linen undergarment and a woollen tunic on top of this which covered the body from the lower neck to below the knees. Over this they draped a cloak that could serve as a coat, a blanket or a bedroll. To keep this wide tunic from billowing awkwardly, men and women tied it with a leather belt.


Even the poorest Jews thought footwear was a necessity. Most wore sandals made from camel hide and wood.


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