אַרְבַּע אִמָּהוֹת

ביטוי (אנגלית)

The Four Matriarchs

הגדרה (אנגלית)

The important women in the lineage of the Hebrew nation: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah (and perhaps Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah as the mothers of the ten tribes).

("We call our fathers only 'the three patriarchs', and our mothers only 'the four matriarchs'" – Minor Tractates, Tractate Semachot 1:12, and also: "The angel said to Jacob, 'Jacob, did you not give tithes from all that you have? Yet you have sons and have not given me a tithe of them.' What did Jacob do? He set apart four firstborn sons for the four matriarchs, and eight sons remained" – Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Higger), "Chorev", 36, and also: "Who knows one? I know one: Four matriarchs, three patriarchs, two tablets of the covenant, one is our God in heaven and on earth" – Piyyut 'Echad Mi Yodea')