{"id":41480,"date":"2018-03-09T16:58:27","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T22:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=41480"},"modified":"2018-03-09T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T22:59:07","slug":"dont-forget-the-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/dont-forget-the-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Forget the Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

By TED ROBERTS, the SCRIBBLER ON THE ROOF<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed in our Chumash the huge positive prejudice toward women?  It\u2019s hard to miss \u2013 and yet there\u2019s a wave of scholars and kibitzers who criticize us for our denigration of the female species.<\/p>\n

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To restate simply, the Tanach and its attitudes must be judged in its time \u2013 not by today\u2019s. You must not expect a smart young lady to crash through the ceiling, imposed by the world\u2019s culture and build the Temple or lead the Israelites into battle. Amazons they were not. And ceilings were steel, not glass.<\/p>\n

To revive an old but apt expression, generally they were mothers in Israel\u201d. And consider their role as opposed to the patriarchs. When it comes to plain ol\u2019 honesty and goodness, I\u2019d take Jacob\u2019s Rachel and Leah over Jacob any day of the week: morally, behaviorally (is that not what pleased G-d?)<\/p>\n

True, his mother Rebecca has a fleeting flirtation with deception as to Isaac\u2019s inheritance, but we can forgive that since it\u2019s motivated by maternal love.<\/p>\n

And Miriam who guided us through the wilderness, certainly must have pleased G-d over Aaron, who had his weaknesses. Remember he had a fixation on golden calves when Moses was out of town negotiating with the celestial King of Kings.<\/p>\n

And talk about Moses \u2013 our peerless leader whose morality is impeccable \u2013 the most saintly of the Pentateuchal cast.  Even Moses \u2013 if you compare him to Zipporah \u2013 has a bad day or two.  In fact, you might say that this woman \u2013 lauded by Torah \u2013 daughter of a Priest of Midian \u2013 not even a Jewess \u2013 has her moment of triumph. She saves the life of Moses when at the sight of a vengeful G-d, she abruptly circumcises their son.  This must be the most mysterious, enigmatic series of verses in our holy text.   G-d seeks to kill Moses? (Why?  Because he didn\u2019t circumcise Gershom, say most scholars.)  <\/p>\n

Remember he had a killer job.  After all, he had to satisfy our stiff-necked ancestors. Constant meetings, tense parlays with Pharaoh, and meetings with the Boss himself \u2013 you didn\u2019t want to be late for that appointment! Gershom\u2019s circumcision? Maybe next week.  Zipporah, in the midst of this encounter, grabs a sharp flint and performs the job of the Mohel and flings the foreskin at \u201chis\u201d feet.  Whose feet?  Moses?  Or an anthropomorphic G-d?  \u201cYou are a husband of blood,\u201d she shrieks.  Zipporah saves the day.  A most puzzling passage, which scholars have indigestibly chewed upon for years.  But our present concern is to point out the omnipotent role of women in our bible. And here is a significant example. Without Moses to guide them, our leaderless ancestors may have ended up in Sudan. Certainly not a land of milk and honey. And some commentators say Moses chose Zipporah because she was of a desert tribe who knew the Sinai.<\/p>\n

Throughout our canon, we have women represented.  We have the sons of Jacob and we have his single daughter \u2013 Dinah. We meet Ruth the Moabite and her unswerving loyalty to her mother-in-law, clearly a text asking for tolerance \u2013 even to Israel\u2019s enemies. And let\u2019s not forget heroines like Yael and Judith and the prophetesses like Deborah who basically judged the fledgling nation. We value our women. May it continue.<\/p>\n

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