Bereishit Chapter 32:4-36:43 - Women in the Torah
by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
When we read the Torah, we tend to focus on the big events and the principal characters. Rarely do we dive deep to see beneath the surface or why certain people are mentioned and others not. It is a challenge. Why are certain women mentioned and yet almost nothing is said about them or what they achieved? We hear a lot about Sarah and Hagar, Rivkah, Rachel and Lea. But there are others such as Avraham’s old age concubine Keturah, whom the Midrash heaps praise on (Bereishit 25:1) but we know nothing about them. Their pain and suffering. Although the Midrash often fills the gaps, such as Keturah’s goodness and loyalty if hers was another name for Hagar.
Why were Lemech’s wives Ada and Tzila mentioned (Bereishit 4:23)? And Tuval Cain’s daughter Naama? The Midrash says she married Noah, but we never hear her name again. The Canaanite wives of Esav are mentioned (Bereishit 25:14) and then he marries Ishmael’s daughter Machlat (Bereishit 28:9). Some like to suggest that this simply reflects the male chauvinism of the Bible. And certainly, it is true there is a male focus typical of ages thousands of years before anyone thought of giving women the vote! But there is another side.
This week begins with the reconciliation between Yaakov and Esav. But it is followed by the rape of Dinah. You would have thought that we would be told more about her. We don’t know how she felt. There is a Midrash that says that Yaacov hid her in a box so that Esav would not see her and demand her as a wife. Almost immediately after this encounter comes the story of Dinah going out into Shechem to see the local sights (the Torah says ‘to see the girls of the land’) and there she gets raped. This desire of Dinah to go out, to escape, was perhaps a reaction against her father’s excessive protectiveness. Perhaps the moral of the story is that by being too over-protective, your child, once given some freedom will go too far too quickly in trying to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere of home. Is this a story of how to treat our children and a theory about Dinah’s character?
Then we mention Devorah who was the nurse maid of Rivka (Bereishit 35:8). She dies and was buried at Alon Bachut, the oak tree of mourning. As a nameless servant she travelled with Rivkah from Padan Aram to Canaan. But surely, she must have been a crucial character to get such a mention? Perhaps she was Rivkah’s mentor and taught her to fight for what she believed was right?
We hear of Esav’s wives, but why do we hear about Timna the Concubine of Elifaz (Bereishit 36:12)? Was she important in her own right or just the mother of the arch enemy Amalek? At least the Midrash claims that she was a scorned woman who really wanted to marry into Yitzchak’s family.
Sandwiched in between is the remarkable story of how after Rachel died, Reuven slept with his father’s concubine Bilha (who was Rachel’s maid servant originally and the mother of two sons Dan and Naftali). The Midrash claims he did not sleep with her and this was to protest Yitzchak not moving in with Lea. Alternatively, it might have been an attempted coup d’etat. It was common then for a victorious king to sleep with the wives of his defeated enemies. Indeed, Avshalom slept with King David’s concubines after he thought he had defeated his father (2nd Shmuel 16:21). On his death bed Yaakov condemned Reuven and used this to explain why he should not be the next leader. But once again we hear nothing from Bilhah herself, what she felt or thought.
Next week we will read about the remarkable Tamar who stood up for her rights and bested her father-in-Law Judah (Genesis 38). The forbear of King David. And later on in the Book of Shemot the role women played in the Exodus, the midwives, Miriam and Pharaoh’s daughter.
The Torah is such a complex document with so many different facets and aspects. There's no way in which it can be expected to delve into the inner thoughts of every single character. Most of us only touch the surface of the book even in our weekly or daily reading of it. It's natural that it should present a worldview in the context of its time. But the beauty of it is that it stimulates us to think for ourselves. Each generation finds its own significances and relevance.
Shabbat Shalom
Jeremy
December 2024
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.