Women of Valor: Eshet Chayil!

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I promised on Friday to write a post about the women of valor in my life, after having read A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans.

A woman of valor, or eshet chayil in Hebrew, is a blessing you bestow upon women after an achievement great or small. It might be making something from scratch, fixing a hole in the wall, getting your kids to school on time ... Eshet Chayil!

It comes from Proverbs 31, which is a poem about a woman but told using heroic epic language (think David or Hercules). Orthodox Jewish men, according to Evans' book, memorize this to say or sing to their wife during Shabbat.

Actually, I have the perfect picture of me from an interactive play space at the art museum when there was a tapestry exhibition...

Here are the women of valor in my life in no particular order:

Kieu, for fixing my mistake in two places, eshet chayil!

Mum, for washing curtains, eshet chayil!

Clare, for her grooving for the Lord on Sundays and encouraging me to do the same, eshet chayil!

The soprano who came to choir practice even though she had the stomach flu, eshet chayil!

Robin, for cooking the turkey upside down and it still tasted delicious, eshet chayil!

Maxine, for her smile even when her back is killing her, eshet chayil!

Beth, for her passion in blogging, eshet chayil!

Mary Ann, for taking a huge leap into the unknown, eshet chayil!

 Rachel, for writing a book that opened my mind (even further!), eshet chayil!
Carolyn, for handling tantrums with calm grace, eshet chayil!

 Claudia, for her loving care of her pups, eshet chayil!

Who are the women to whom you can proudly cry eshet chayil! to?

Comments

  1. JuneNovember 30, 2012 at 6:24 PM

    A lovely post Leanne and so, so interesting! You have a beautiful blog.

    ReplyDelete

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