To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: RE: Written by Women.???
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 16:08:50 +0200
What is literate?
It would seem that in Biblical times:
writing- is the exclusive province of professional scribes
reading- known by educated men
knowledge of the Torah- universal, because of the obligation of weekly and
Festival public readings
composition/authoring [of texts, letters or business documents]- possible
to anyone who could afford the services of a scribe.
Menachem Brody
Elon Moreh
www.shechem.org
At 08:44 21/02/2001 -0500, you wrote:
The fact that there is no female scribe mentioned at
Elephantine where the women were *very* liberated,
strongly suggests that they were not literate.
<snip>
Liz