The wife of Rabbi Akiva (Hebrew: אשת רבי עקיבא) was a late 1st-century CE Jewish resident of Judea who is cited by the Talmud and Aggadah as a paragon of the Jewish wife who encourages her husband to pursue Torah study and is willing to make personal sacrifices to achieve that goal. She was the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Akiva, who became one of the greatest Torah scholars in Jewish history. She played a significant role in encouraging Akiva to pursue Torah study, as he was uneducated when they married. Her father, the wealthy ben Kalba Savu'a, disowned her over her choice of husband, and the couple lived in dire poverty. With her blessing, Akiva left to study in a Torah academy for 24 years. He returned home a renowned scholar accompanied by 24,000 disciples. When she came out in ragged clot