In Rav Eliezer Papo’s masterpiece, Pele Yoetz, a chapter called Love between a Man & a Woman discusses different kinds of spouses and how to deal with them.
Toward the beginning of this chapter, Rav Papo mentions the ishah maskelet– the intelligent wife. At that point, he starts waxing lyrical about the great fortune of he who marries an ishah maskelet:
Toward the beginning of this chapter, Rav Papo mentions the ishah maskelet– the intelligent wife. At that point, he starts waxing lyrical about the great fortune of he who marries an ishah maskelet:
“…he who has an ishah maskelet from Hashem and has found a good wife because a thread of loving-kindness has certainly been draped over her and she is cherished by her husband.”
Because Rav Papo could have used the term ishah chachamah – a wise wife (as is common in Chazal), it seemed that an ishah maskelet is educated in addition to being wise.
And because Rav Papo spoke with such certainty of the pricelessness of an ishah maskelet and the profound love she engenders within her husband, it seemed like Rav Papo also spoke from personal experience.
Then Hashem led me to a great shiur by Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum (Pele Yoetz: Part 5 - Fundamental Guidelines for Chinuch) in which he confirms that Rabbanit Papo was indeed an ishah maskelet who was treasured by both her husband and children – as described within the introduction to the book Chessed L'Elefim.
Chessed L’Elefim was also written by Rav Papo (I didn’t know that!) and its introduction was written by Rav Papo’s son, wherein he states the following:
And because Rav Papo spoke with such certainty of the pricelessness of an ishah maskelet and the profound love she engenders within her husband, it seemed like Rav Papo also spoke from personal experience.
Then Hashem led me to a great shiur by Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum (Pele Yoetz: Part 5 - Fundamental Guidelines for Chinuch) in which he confirms that Rabbanit Papo was indeed an ishah maskelet who was treasured by both her husband and children – as described within the introduction to the book Chessed L'Elefim.
Chessed L’Elefim was also written by Rav Papo (I didn’t know that!) and its introduction was written by Rav Papo’s son, wherein he states the following:
“ …a good woman full of daat and yirat Hashem [fear of God], famous for chassidut [piety], she was perfect in all the good character traits and honest behaviors, and her hatmadah [diligence] in the reading of sifrei mussar [ethics books] in a non-Hebrew language, and she and my master, my father the rav, spoke together in yirat Hashem all day long. And he merited an assistant who was a helpmate to him and facilitated everything connected to holiness, a man and a woman who both merited as one to be good and bonded to holiness and purity and pure yirat Hashem – and they did not benefit at all from This World."
So there’s the ishah maskelet for ya, and now we know why Rav Papo was so excited on behalf of a man who managed to find an ishah maskelet. (And this also helps me understand even more why Rav Papo was so strongly in favor of female literacy - look at what his wife did with her ability to read!)
Note: If anyone is intimidated by the generous amount of yeshivish English at the beginning of Rabbi Oelbaum's shiur, please know that the rabbi switches to more standard English after the first 15 minutes. It’s a great shiur given over with great energy and Rabbi Oelbaum has already covered quite a few chapters of the Pele Yoetz, for anyone who’s interested in learning the Pele Yoetz via these classes.
Note: If anyone is intimidated by the generous amount of yeshivish English at the beginning of Rabbi Oelbaum's shiur, please know that the rabbi switches to more standard English after the first 15 minutes. It’s a great shiur given over with great energy and Rabbi Oelbaum has already covered quite a few chapters of the Pele Yoetz, for anyone who’s interested in learning the Pele Yoetz via these classes.
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