Education
Historically,
Jewish women did not receive a formal education. This stemmed largely
from the defined gender roles of the traditional Jews, with men pursuing
religious studies and women handling domestic affairs. Because of this,
a Jewish girl’s education would come from the matriarch of the home. Her
education would focus on domestic matters, including cooking, since that
was considered the woman’s domain.
In
the last 150 years, however, these circumstances have changed and Jewish
women are getting formal education. This leaves less time for domestic
education; it still does occur, though it focuses primarily on food
preparation, especially for the important religious events. Many Jews
follow the laws of kashrut, and these laws are mainly learned in the
home.
Food
preparation in the Jewish culture is significant because it provides
both the opportunity to learn about and to preserve some important
aspects of Judaism. All Jewish food is connected, somehow, to the
religion , and by learning the rules of preparing such food, the cook is
also learning an important part of her culture’s past. One good example
of this merging of tradition, religious history and food is matzah,
which is symbolic of the bread that did not rise because the Hebrews
left ancient Egypt quickly.