The Mishlei Gender Gap and Its Consequences

Shlomo Hamelech, the חכם מכל אדם (wisest of men), wrote a sefer commonly referred to as "Mishlei".

A kinnui classically used for ספר משלי is ספר החכמה (the book of wisdom).

The book of wisdom, authored by the wisest of men. Seems like quite a piece of work. Who would pass on such a great read?

Unfortunately, however, it does not get as much attention as it should, especially among some portions of the tzibbur of male lomdei Torah (of course, the men have many others things they need to learn, such as major areas of gemara, and halacha, which take up much time and energy). On the other hand, on the female side, it gets a lot of attention. The result is a major gender gap when it comes to knowledge of Mishlei among אחינו בני ישראל.

The situation has gotten so bad that some people think of Mishlei as ווייבישע תורה, something like Tzena Urena, a portion of Torah designated for women, like an ezras nashim of תורה שבכתב. Of course, why some of the greatest gedolim, such as the Vilna Gaon, and Rabbeinu Yonah, wrote extensive peirushim on Mishlei, if it was just for talmidos of Beis Yaakov and seminaries, might be somewhat of a mystery then.

In addition to a general deficit in Torah knowledge, that a lack of any cheilek in Torah would mean, Mishlei is a treasure trove of practical wisdom for living life, of various hashkafos and eitzos. Now women have already had an advantage of over men in the area of בינה, due to their innate bina yeseira. But, that is balanced by an advantage in the area of חכמה on the male side, especially חכמת התורה. However, if women will be the only ones learning Mishlei, the sefer hachochmoh, that could create a serious imbalance in gender relations, which could negatively affect things like שלום בית and שידוכים, in addition to life in general.

Therefore I was happy to recently see a report of a grand siyum on sefer Mishlei in Lakewood. According to it, a Shul there was learning the sefer slowly, בעיון, בציבור, for fifteen (!) years, before reaching its conclusion. ברוך שזכינו.

If we could correct a skewed playing field so simply, by having more men learn משלי (and quicker than in fifteen years), wouldn't it be a great thing? Besides, Mishlei is such an enjoyable limud anyway, it is a win-win-win idea.

As the old expression goes, if only the עם חכם ונבון would have א ביסעלע שכל (a little seichel). With more people, especially men, learning and internalizing Mishlei, that could be attained in greater measure. May we merit a closing, and ultimately a disappearing, of the Mishlei gap soon.