No doubt that the author of Proberbs certainly meant what he or she said; both Jewish parents have a role in the religious instruction of Jewish children. But I want to look more closely at the ´instruction of the mother´ both with regard to the content of her instruction and the particular context in which her teaching took and probably still takes place. Two points are important here. First, we must acknowledge that for countless generations, the locus of mother´s teaching was limited to the domestic arena - the Jewish home. May I point out the importance of ´the Jewish home´ in Jewish tradition: the ´Jewish home´ became - and to some extent remains as much a concept in Judaism as a physically identifable place. It is here that the essentials of Judaism are taught and where many of the essentials of Judaism, the 613 mitzvot or commandments, were inculcated and practiced.

But what we must add here is that in pre-Enlightment times, Jewish women received no formal religious education and were most often unaware of the content and meaning of Jewish classic texts. They were thus not familiar with the discussions and explanations of the rabbis regarding the mitzvot. Thus, while a woman´s contributions were undoubtedly important in that she transmitted many of what were/are thought to be the essential aspects of Judaism and Jewish life, her focus centered on her intuition as well as on the performance of the commandmants rather than on analyses and explanations of them. Her forte lay in the area of emotional attachment and expression rather than logical explanation of Judaism.

So what is the problem? In these days of increasing instances of disfunctional families as well as new types of family structures, what is wrong with a focus on the Jewish home and on the mother´s role as one who inculcates love of Judaism and/or Jewish traditions? Why do I, as a somewhat educated Jewish woman at the beginning of a new millenium, rue the lack of formal religious instruction for women? Why am I bothered by the fact that Jewish women, who were often lauded and respected for their role as both wives and mothers, were absent as teachers in the male-dominated batei midrash, the houses of study?

The ´doing' is of course no minor focus in Judaism. We need only look at the verse in Exodus 2,24 where the Jewish people are asked to accept the covenant. Their reply to God? Naaseh ve'nishma, we will do and we will listen. Note that naaseh, 'we will do/perform' - at least in traditional Judaism - is primary. ´Doing´ is clearly centered in the home. Thus, while many Jewish women function as Hebrew School or Sunday School teachers, the primary duty of Jewish women in traditional Judiasm is to be a religious educator to her own nuclear family, and only secondarily to her community.

Dominant values in Jewish religious education
I view values as that which 'provides a culture with an interpretation of its ultimate reality'. We find some indication of these visions in the first chapter of Pirke Avot, the Sayings of the Fathers (!). In verse 2, we read: On three things/words the world stands: on Torah, on worship and on the performance of good deeds. The target is the individual who is to study, to participate in communal worship and to perform deeds of kindness. Paragraph 18 in the same chapter points out that 'the world will be maintained by three things, by truth, by justice and by peace'. Some commentators see these as communal rather than individual duties. The paragraphs thus focus both on the values of the individual - the world stands on his or her daily acts, and on the system - the world continues to exist or is maintained by public acts of truth, justice and peace.

Religion as liberating or restricting
I prefer not to see these terms as opposites. Religion will be both liberating and restricting; it will/should give the individual a vision of a better future and will/should make demands on/restrict his or her behavior. An example: at the same time one performs the mitzvah of study, one says no to something else. Somehow I connect this to religious pluralism: if we accept the fact that there are several legitimate paths to God, we will have to both acknowledge our similarities and respect our differences. To only acknowledge our similarities is ultimately assimilationist and false ('we're all the same under the skin, all pray to the same God...'); to only emphasize differences re-translates them as impermeable boundaries, making a virtue as well as a necessity of maintaining a ´we´ and a ´they´.

Perspectives on continuity of tradition, religious ritual, and ceremony
In recent years, I have noted a new focus on ritual and tradition in our Jewish community. While the links within the community still seem to be characterized by an acknowledgement of shared ethnicity - an assumption or nod to vague but real shared ideas or norms ("I know that you know that I know"), there are some signs of a return to classic Jewish traditions. One example: lately I must invite guests to my Friday night dinners several weeks in advance because my proposed guests are often invited to other 'shabbas dinners'. And nowadays it's not uncommon for brides to bathe a ritual bath, mikve, before the wedding and to walk around their grooms seven times at the wedding ceremony. None of these young people are observant Jews; they seem however to acknowledge a need to practice one or another Jewish tradition to express their Jewishness. While community activities still seem to be based on need for togetherness, ´doing´ traditions seems to be defining the community a bit more.

Why we're seeing these trends is a good research question. It might have to do with one or another of the following observations: 1. there is a more intense focus on the Holocaust; 2. most Jews' are more secure and confident as citizens of their country (no longer guests, speak without accents); 3. Jews are aware of the well-advertized danger of assimilation; 4. Israel's Orthodox pressures motivate diaspora Jewry to take a stand on questions of religion; and 5. the need for community seems to be an utter necessity in today's globalized world. These trends might also have something to do with the immensely increased input of Jewish women in Jewish religious and communal life. Today, as probably never before in Jewish history, Jewish women are leading, contributing to and affecting the character and quality of Jewish life. A good example: the current president of the Jewish community of Stockholm is 44 years old, a psychologist and woman.

Judith Narrowe is an American living in Sweden and currently teaching social anthropology at Högskolan Dalarna, a small college in northcentral Sweden. She is interested in issues related to globalization, women-health-education in Ethiopia and Jewish Responsibility in promoting Christian-Jewish Dialogue.