It is widely recognized that healthy homes produce mature, productive members of society, while broken homes and abusive parents are more likely to produce criminals and unbalanced people. It is obvious that building a family is a role of extreme importance - a role that determines the wholesomeness or ills of our entire society. In describing the importance of the woman's role in building the home, a rabbi was once challenged by a listener. The listener was very impressed. We live in a society that evaluates the importance of everything by its price tag.
Money is the primary determinant of worth.
But measuring the importance of the woman's role with the yardstick of Western values is like evaluating the worth of a painting by computing the cost of the paint and canvas. All one gets is a one-dimensional view, which does not scratch the surface of its real content. A man was once asked by a friend if he would lend his BMW to his housekeeper. Most people don't recognize the critical importance of raising children. While we can easily calculate the worth of a car, recognizing the worth of a soul requires an entirely different perspective.