The Rabbis set forth the stages of life of a male Jew. They recommend that schooling begin at an early age, and that marriage take place before the pursuit of a career or the assumption of authority.

5-21 He¹⁹⁵ used to say: At five years old one is fit for the study of Scripture, at ten years for the study of the Mishnah, at thirteen for the fulfilling of the commandments, at fifteen for the Talmud, at eighteen for the bride-chamber, at twenty for pursuing a calling, at thirty for authority, at forty for discernment, at fifty for counsel, at sixty to be an elder, at seventy for gray hairs, at eighty for special strength,¹⁹⁶ at ninety for a bowed back, and at a hundred a person is as one who has already died and passed away and ceased from the world.

194. Trans. Danby, The Mishnah, p. 458.

195. Scholars are in doubt as to whom to attribute this quotation.

196. Ps. 90-10.