The literary education of a son (Pirki Aboth, v, 21) began with study of the Bible at five years of age, and of the Mishnah at ten; at fifteen a youth should study the Gemara or Comment on the Mishnah; at eighteen he should marry; at twenty he should study the Law; at thirty comes full strength; at forty understanding; at fifty a man may give advice; at sixty he is aged; at seventy hoary; at eighty still strong; at ninety only fit for the grave; and at an hundred already forgotten. This passage incidentally witnesses the well-known longevity of the Jews.
The trades of the Jews were very numerous and of different degrees, including the sale of silk and satin imported from the East and not yet made in Syria (Kelaim, ix, 2). Shoes and sandals were imported from abroad (ix, 7); oil was both exported and imported (Shebiith, vi, 5); glass was made by Jews in Palestine (Kelim, viii, 9), as it still continues to be made by natives at Hebron. The vessels made or sold[1] were sometimes of great value, being of gold, silver, and bronze (Baba Metzia, ii, 8) as well as of glass; vases are mentioned as worth 100 or 1,000 zuzas (iii, 4), that is to say, from £5 to £50; they were also made of bone, wood, leather and pottery (Kelim, ii, 1). A bottle of fish (perhaps shark) skin is noticed (Kelim, xxiv, 11) and plates woven of withes (Kelim, xvi, 1), and bottles covered with rushes (Kelim, x, 4) and reed crates (Kelim, xvii, 1). Many of these vessels bear Greek names, and were sold to or bought from the Gentiles. Looking glasses (Kelim, xiv, 6; xxx,]) may probably have been of metal, like those found in Phœnicia. The only wooden bowls considered clean (xii, 8) were made of a kind of cedar wood.
In this connection two interesting inscriptions may be noticed (Waddington, Nos. 1854-2295); the first from Beirut is the tombstone of Samuel, son of Samuel the "silk merchant" (Σερικαρίος), a trader who was evidently a Jew; the second is from Bashan, in memory of Isaac the goldsmith. Neither unfortunately is dated, but at Palmyra (No. 2,619) Zenobius (otherwise called Zebedee) and Samuel, sons of Levi, son of Jacob, raised a memorial in Greek and Palmyrene in 212 a.d., and evidently were members of the Jewish colony in that city, which was still thriving in the twelfth century A.D. Some proselytes in this city appear to have had Jewish mothers and pagan fathers (T. J. Yebamoth, i, 6) as early as the time when the temple was standing. {See "Derenburg," pp. 22, 224.)
Linen seems to have been also an important article of trade, coming from India and from Egypt (Yonia, viii, 5), the latter no doubt in the ships from Alexandria (Oheloth, viii, 3). It was also carried on camels (Baba Kama, vi, 6); but flax was grown in Palestine itself (Baba Metzia, iii, 7; ix, 9). Flax grown at Nazareth in the twelfth century A.D. was considered equal to that of Egypt, but the high priests' robes were of Indian and Egyptian linen. Flax was the only wick allowed for the Sabbath lamp (Sabbath, ii, 3). Linen from Galilee is also mentioned (Baba Kama, x, 9).
- ↑ Secret signs on vases are noticed (Maaser Sheni, iv, 10), in the forms of Hebrew letters.
