<p>The letter Zayin brings a proverb that circles back to the teacher's earlier obsession with beards:</p>
<p>"Do not be thin-bearded or thick-bearded. Scorn these things, because you do not know what has been decreed about you."</p>
<p>It's a stunning callback. Just <a href='/texts/sefaria-alphabet-ben-sira-6.html'>two letters earlier</a>, the educator had boasted that he was safe from the neighbor woman's ex-husband because he was thick-bearded while the first husband was thin-bearded. Now Ben Sira demolishes that entire line of reasoning in a single stroke. Don't pride yourself on your beard. Don't pride yourself on anything external. You don't know what's been decreed about you.</p>
<p>That last phrase carries enormous weight in Jewish thought. The idea that God's decrees are hidden from mortals runs throughout rabbinic literature — from the Talmud's discussions of divine justice to the book of (Ecclesiastes 9:12): "Man does not know his hour." Ben Sira is telling the teacher that no amount of facial hair, no physical advantage, no superficial confidence can protect you from what Heaven has already decided.</p>
<p>The educator isn't having it. "I don't want to take your advice," he says flatly. He's done pretending to listen. He announces that he's going ahead with the marriage to the neighbor, and here's his practical justification: he has seven daughters and she has one, so together their eight daughters will run his household and provide for him in dignity. It's a financial calculation dressed up as a life plan. Ben Sira, characteristically, doesn't argue. He just asks for the next letter.</p>