<p>The letter Chet opens with Ben Sira's most provocative proverb so far:</p>

<p>"Males are dear to all, but woe to fathers of females."</p>

<p>Let's be clear about what this is. The Alphabet of Ben Sira, composed between 700 and 1000 CE, is a satirical and often deliberately outrageous text. It doesn't represent normative Jewish law or mainstream rabbinic values. Many scholars believe the work was designed to provoke, to test boundaries, even to parody the very tradition of wisdom literature it imitates. This proverb is a case in point.</p>

<p>The educator pushes back — and honestly, his defense is one of the more sympathetic moments in the entire text. "I have seven daughters," he says, "and they spin yarn and do all the chores of my household, and they are like a green olive tree or a beautiful garden in my house." Then he makes the logical point that should end the argument: "If there were no females, where would the males come from?"</p>

<p>Ben Sira isn't moved. He calls the educator a "poor one" who comforts himself with "empty comfort" and doubles down with a Talmudic citation (Pesachim 65a). Then he paints a picture of ancient social attitudes: when a daughter is born, the father announces it with a weak voice and downcast eyes. When a son is born, his voice sparkles and his eyes look upward. It's a description of how things were in the culture Ben Sira inhabits — not a prescription for how they should be. The text is holding up a mirror, and the reflection isn't pretty.</p>