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Never Tell Your Wife Where the Money Is

Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha Alphabet of Ben Sira, Letter Tav

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published March 15, 2026

<p>"Acquire for yourself gold coins, and all money, but do not tell your wife where the money is, even if she is good."</p>

<p>And with that, the alphabetical proverbs of the Alphabet of Ben Sira reach their final letter, Tav (ת), and they go out with a bang. The last piece of wisdom this prodigy child offers his teacher is financial secrecy -- specifically, from your spouse.</p>

<p>It's an audacious ending. The qualifier "even if she is good" makes it even more provocative, because it removes the only reasonable justification. This isn't about a dishonest wife or a spendthrift. It's a blanket rule. No wife should know where the money is.</p>

<p>The Alphabet of Ben Sira, composed between 700 and 1000 CE, has a complicated relationship with women throughout. Some scholars read its more outrageous claims as genuine folk wisdom from the period. Others see satire -- a deliberate exaggeration of patriarchal anxieties meant to make the audience laugh or squirm. This proverb, placed as the grand finale of the entire alphabet section, might be the strongest evidence for the satirical reading. It's too blunt, too extreme, placed too prominently. It almost dares you to take it seriously.</p>

<p>Either way, the proverb captures a real anxiety about money, trust, and power within marriage that resonated across the medieval world -- and, honestly, still does today.</p>

Themes

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