by D.Chazan

Created on: May 16, 2008

A mother's role in Jewish culture has a rich tradition, that goes as far back as biblical times. Starting from Eve, the first thing that a woman in Jewish culture was responsible for was to keep the commandment "be fruitful and multiply" - which of course, means having children. While this may seem terribly chauvinistic, it is still biologically sound. This also means that the mother has a role in making sure that the Jewish nation doesn't die out.

If we look elsewhere in the bible, we find another responsibility women had was to name their children. For instance, when Abraham's wife Sarah was told that she would finally have a baby, she laughed. This is the reason why she named her son Isaac, which literally means "I laughed". When Isaac's wife Rivka gave birth to her twin sons Esau and Jacob, she noticed that the second one was holding onto the elder's heel, and that is why she named him Jacob - which comes from the Hebrew word "akev" meaning heel. Throughout the bible it was always the mothers that named their children, and never the fathers.

Staying with the bible, it is interesting to note that the Ten Commandments actually appears twice. While the two places are basically the same, the commandment about a child's parents is actually differently worded in each reference. One time it says "honor thy father and mother", while the other time it says "obey thy mother and father". The differences here has often been a source of speculation, and one theory is that the order of the parents relates directly to the action mentioned. While the father is usually the more disciplinarian of the two parents, putting the mother first when telling the offspring to obey them, means that the mother should get no less respect than the father. In the other instance, because the mother is usually the more nurturing of the two, again, putting the father first when talking about honoring them, reminds the child that the father is no less a caring and loving parent.

Religiously speaking, women are actually exempt from observing many of the rituals found throughout Jewish scripture. However, they are not exempt from lighting the Sabbath candles and baking the Sabbath bread - known as Challah. While again, this may seem to be a minor thing, what it symbolizes is that the mother is the one to make sure that the family keeps the Sabbath and makes it Holy, which is again one of the Ten Commandments.

Today, the role of the mother encompasses far more than just having children, keeping

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