<p>By the letter Hey, Ben Sira's proverbs have shifted from gentle warnings to something more direct:</p>

<p>"Blind your eyes because of the graceful woman, lest you be caught in her trap."</p>

<p>The Hebrew word for "trap" here carries real weight. It's the same kind of language the book of Proverbs uses when describing the snare of forbidden desire — not a metaphor for mild inconvenience, but for total destruction. Ben Sira isn't being subtle anymore. He's telling the educator to shut his eyes entirely.</p>

<p>The teacher's response is fascinating in its self-assurance. "My son, what trap could I be caught in?" he asks. He's not worried about moral danger at all. Instead, he pivots to an oddly specific concern: magic. He's heard that a woman's first husband might use sorcery against a second one, a belief referenced in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 100b). But the educator dismisses this threat on purely physical grounds — her first husband was thin-bearded, while he is thick-bearded, and apparently in the logic of this medieval folk tradition, that distinction matters.</p>

<p>It's a wonderfully absurd moment in the Alphabet of Ben Sira. The child is offering timeless moral instruction about guarding one's character. The teacher hears it and thinks: "Nah, I've got a better beard than her ex-husband, so I'll be fine." He hasn't grasped the proverb at all. The trap isn't magical. It's the one he's already walking into with his eyes wide open.</p>