Women in the Bible

This past weekend I spoke at the Al-Falah Islamic Center in Oakville as part of an Interfaith dialogue on the subject of women in holy scipture.

There are not that many female heroines in the Bible, in fact, there are not that many named women at all. And even when they are given a name, they are often flawed secondary characters. In the Book of Genesis, the very first woman identified is Eve, created from the rib of man, who first act is to seduce Adam to sin by eating of the tree of life. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, is another challenging figure, laughing at God who allows her to have a son at the age of 99, and sending off Hagar and her son Ishmael to die in the desert once she is pregnant. Leah and Rachel fight over Jacob to be the favorite bride.
But we do have Rebecca, who defied the notion that women cannot go directly to God. Rivka does not turn to Isaac to mediate between her and God. When her pregnancy distresses her, she goes directly to inquire of Elohim. The scope of female power increases when women can engage directly with the divine. (This makes more sense later in the story when Rebecca circumvents Esau to make sure Jacob gets the blessing and fulfills God’s plan). Traditional commentators skip over her plea to God, which is odd considering it is rare that anyone enjoys such an intimate communication with God. It makes sense that a religious woman experiencing gut-wrenching pain would pray to God to understand her pain. The pain is easier to endure when there is a purpose. Indeed she seems to be much better after she finds out that two nations are struggling in her, the pain is real and will result in something tangible.

The stealing of Isaac’s blessing by Jacob remains one of the most contested aspects of Rebecca’s character. Does she remain above condemnation for following God’s plan in getting the blessing for Jacob or is she vilified for being partner to the conspiracy? The argument for remaining blameless centers on the idea that Rebecca knew what she was doing was wrong, but went through with it for her son. Jacob says in Genesis 27:12 that if Isaac finds out what is happening, he will be seen as the trickster and a curse will be upon him. But Rivka declares that she will bring the curse on herself for the sake of her son. She knowingly participates in the trick, knowing it was wrong and should be punished. Midrash Tanhuma relates that God put the words in her heart. She said, "When the first Adam sinned, was he cursed? Was not his mother cursed? And now it is my turn. Fulfill your destiny and if you should be cursed, you curse will fall upon me." According to Ilana Pardes, women are powerless but despite that fact, they have an important role in teaching the weak and threatened young sons how to trick hostile oppressors, how to submit to paternal will and at the same time usurp the father's position.

In the book of Exodus we have even fewer females named. We barely hear about the mother of Moses – does anyone know her name its Yochevet. But there is a woman who stands out for her bravery and passion, one and her name is Miriam. the sister of Moses.
she watches Moses, in the basket in the nile. She arranges for his weaning by Yochevet. She leads dancing and singing at the sea – firsts of both these activites in the Bible.
The story of Miriam parallels another powerful woman named Deborah, a Prophet, leader, judge quite a unique combination of roles for anyone, let alone a woman. The Israelite army commander Barak comes to her for to prophesy on the upcoming war. Deborah tells him he will be victorious but he is unsure and demands she accompany him to battle. She decides to accompany him, but in punishment for his lack of faith, warms him that the enemy commander Sisera, will be delivered into the hands of a woman – Yael.
The text implies that this is against the natural order of things, for a woman to take an important role in battle, promoting the patriarchial nature of the text, but nevertheless it’s important to see the dual roles of powerful women. Deborah, who prophesies the victory and Yael, who is given the honor of beheading Sisera. This happens at the end of the story as Sisera stumbles into her tent thinking she is an ally, but once he falls asleep, after a tall glass of warm milk, Yael pierces his skull with a tent peg.
In rabbinical school I was assigned this passage and instructed to think of a creative way to present this text to teach to teenagers. Using the Alanis Morisette song “isn’t it ironic” my colleagues and I rewrote the lyrics to suggest the irony of Sisera dying at the hands of a woman.
“women have a funny way of sneaking upon when you’re in a big deep sleep and sticking a tent peg in your head”...“it’s a sharp pain, in the side of your head, and you can’t get up, cause you’re totally dead, that glass of milk sure didn’t help, and who would have thought it figures”

Indeed the true irony of the song is the powerful role of women in this story. Turning the bible on its head, Deborah speakers her mind, despite the discomfort for the men of the time, and even mocks them. The story even celebrates women’s violence. Perhaps there is one subtle knock against the women of the story, as Deborah’s name translates into bee and Yael’s name translates into Ibex ( a small mountain goat) while Barak’s name means lightning, a name still popular in Israel today and of course the name of the current US president, Barak Obama.

There is a powerful poem written by Merle Feld called “We all stood together”
My brother and I were at Sinai
He kept a journal
Of what he saw
Of what he heard
Of what it all meant to him

I wish I had such a record
Of what happened to me there

It seems like every time I want to write
I can’t
I’m always holding a baby
One of my own
Or one for a friend
Always holding a baby
So my hands are never free
To write things down

And then
As time passes
The particulars
The hard data
The who what when where why
Slip away from me
And all I’m left with is
The feeling

But feelings are just sounds
The vowel barking of a mute

My brother is sure of what he heard
After all he’s got a record of it
Consonant after consonant after consonant

If we remembered it together
We could recreate holy time
Sparks flying

The author’s hope is that together, brothers and sisters, need to find common ground, to see the humanity in each person and share together holy time and space. Despite the shortage of famous female personalities in our bible, they are there and we can learn a lot from them. We are reminded that our biblical ancestors, both male and female, can teach us about leadership and vision. We are reminded that we must look beyond gender or race to see the value of people as leaders, ones who inspire us, who give us hope, who push us to seek the truth and fight for justice.