n the ninth of Ab will never see even a sign of
blessing. The sages say, whoso does any work on that day and does not
lament over Jerusalem will never see her joy; for it is said (Isa. lxvi.
10), "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her; rejoice for joy,
all ye that mourn for her."

_Taanith_, fol. 30, col. 2.

If there be nine shops all selling the meat of animals which have been
legally butchered, and one selling the meat of animals which have not,
and if a person who has bought meat does not know at which of these
shops he bought it, he is not entitled to the benefit of the doubt; the
meat he has purchased is prohibited.

_Kethuboth_, fol. 15, col. 1.

A woman prefers one measure of frivolity to nine measures of Pharisaic
sanctimoniousness.

_Soteh_, fol. 20, col. 1.

The Talmud has much to say, and does say a great deal, about women. And
although what it says tends rather to discountenance than to promote
their development, it is not insensible to what they might become under
refinement of culture, and occasionally enforces the duty of attending
to their higher education. In proof of both positions we appeal to the
following quotations:--

In the Mishna, from which the above quotation is taken, we are told that
Ben Azai (the son of impudence) says, a man is bound to instruct his
daughter in the law, although Rabbi Eliezer, who always assumes an
oracular air, and boasts that the Halachah is always according to his
decision (_Bava Metzia_, fol. 59, col. 2), insists, on the other hand,
that he who instructs his daughter in the law must be considered as
training her into habits of frivolity; and the saying above ascribes to
the sex such a power of frivolity as connects itself evidently with the
foregone conclusion that they are by nature incapable of being developed
into any solidity of worth or character. The Gemara, Tosephoth, and
Rashi as well all support Rabbi Eliezer in laying a veto on female
education, for fear lest, with the acquisition of knowledge, women might
become cunning, and do things on the sly which ought not to be done by
them. Literally the saying is:--For from it (i.e., the acquisition of
knowledge) she comes to understand cunning, and does things on the
quiet.

_Soteh_, fol. 21, col. 2, Rashi.

Another good reason for neglecting female education those who take the
Talmud as an authority find in these words: women are light-minded,
i.e., of shallow natural endowment, on which any