TEXT STUDY: WOMEN
  • Matriarchs
  • Temptresses
  • Warriors
  • Queens  

WOMEN MAKING A SCENE
IN THE BIBLE 
​“In the Bible, women are rarely born, they almost never die and when they give birth it is usually to a boy.” (Prof. Yair Zakovitch, Hebrew University). Yet from Eve to Ruth, from Sarah to Delilah, and from Queens Esther to Sheba, the women we do glimpse are endlessly intriguing.  Study the stories of famous and lesser-known Biblical women, through a selection of Biblical passages, midrashim and feminist theory.

Eve and the Problem with Paradigms

Eve: archetypal woman, wife and mother, temptress, seductress, and sinner. Interpretations of Genesis 1-3 have had a profound and lasting effect on how we perceive women, sexuality, male-female relations, and even our own mortality.  But a close reading of the text tells a story dramatically different from the religious/cultic traditions we have inherited. Together we examine Eve and the history of interpretation that has brought us veils and violence but also wisdom and wonder.
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Barren Matriarchs: Paradox and Motherhood

The challenge of infertility brings Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah (plus the mothers of Samuel and Samson) out of the shadows of Biblical narrative and onto the front lines of an increasing spiritual involvement of women in the evolution of Biblical Judaism. 
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On Camels and Character: Searching for Rebecca 

When Abraham sends his trustworthy servant to find a wife for Isaac we are led to believe that the servant has found the perfect match in Rebecca. But has he? Together we examine the text very closely looking at everything from word choice to hints of the divine agenda. Methodologically, we use Genesis 24 as a study in Biblical type scenes and as an example of how a rigorous reading can yield radical conclusions.
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Tempting, Isn't It? Seduction & Power 
(for mature audiences only!)

The Bible captures an astonishing range of human behavior. The motif of the temptress follows an observable pattern of women’s empowerment through deception and sexual transgression. The stories of Eve, Lot’s daughters, Tamar, Ruth and Esther, as well as some lesser known figures like Rahav and Yael illuminate this literary type, while Mrs. Potiphar and Delilah serve as powerful counter-types. Explore themes of seduction and power in Biblical narrative through some of its most colorful characters. 
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Doing Wrong by Dina:
​The Biblical Story Inside the Red Tent

Anita Diamant’s bestseller, The Red Tent, is a retelling of the Biblical story of Genesis 34 from Dina’s own perspective. Diamant’s book raises important questions about the world of women in the Biblical period and about the study of Biblical texts from a feminist perspective. Together we will reexamine the Biblical Dina – raped and brutally avenged – and compare her to the lovelorn heroine of Diamant’s imagination. (Participants need not have read Diamant’s book.)

​Pour Out Thy Wrath: Misunderstanding Miriam

Miriam has been portrayed as everything from the quintessential career woman to a “catty spinster,” a powerful leader, and a third wheel. Who was the real Miriam? Study the Biblical and Midrashic accounts of Miriam’s life as a way of sorting out the varied agendas that determine her place in the unfolding of the Jewish story. 
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Going Head-to-Head:
​Yael and Judith, Ancient Women Warriors

​In relaying the stories of Yael and Judith* it is easy to reduce them to archetypes (a.k.a. caricatures): the devouring mother and the femme fatale, the unlikely heroine and the woman warrior. It seems just as easy to justify the way they use their own bodies as weapons under the banner of “all’s fair in love and war.”  Yet, a close reading of these characters and their context can yield a more nuanced understanding of the role of women in ancient Israel.
 (*Note: Judith's story does not actually appear in the Hebrew Bible. She has been relegated to the Apocrypha and that, in and of itself, is worthy of attention.) 

​From Bathing Beauty to Queen Mother:
​Glimpses of Batsheva

Investigate David's kingship and character, through his relationship with Batsheva.  A woman whose life is upended when the king spies her bathing and she, in turn, changes the course of David's life and has a heavy hand in shaping the destiny of ancient Israel. 
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Of Demons, Depilatories & a Single
​Glass of Water: The Queen of Sheba 

"As a child I had absorbed the Queen of Sheba as the most exotic, luxurious, sensual, and exciting woman in the Bible; the name Sheba conveyed heat and perfume and riches.... It is in fact the brand name of a certain luxurious kind of catfood...." Many share Marina Warner’s perception of this wise, mysterious and alluring character but after studying the story through four Post-Biblical traditions: Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Ethiopic, ​you may discover a woman who is more Oprah than Cleopatra. 
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