It was Erev Shavuot on Saturday evening, June 8. Once again we were talking about two women in the Bible during the customary evening study session at Tifereth Israel Synagogue.
This time, however, the two women we discussed were not Ruth and Naomi, as is perhaps traditional. Instead, under the guidance of discussion leader Isabel Schechter, we talked about Deborah and Yael – two very powerful women indeed.
Schechter, who holds a master’s degree in divinity from the University of Chicago, had our group read from Judges 4:4 – 4:23. If you ever had the mistaken notion that the women in the Bible were dominated by men, you’ll want to read this Tanach portion again – or perhaps for the first time.
It begins with Deborah, the prophetess, summoning Barak, a general, and reminding him that God had commanded him to take 10,000 men to defeat the army of Sisera. She didn’t ask Barak to please come; she summoned him.
However great a general Barak was supposed to be, he was reluctant to do what God had commanded.
He told Deborah, “If you will go with me, I will go; if not, I will not go.”
Such a response! Schechter asked members of the group if they had been personally commanded by God to do something, and then reminded to do it by his prophetess, would they respond as Barak did?
Members of her group shook their heads “no.” If God had explicitly told them to do it, they’d do it.
Contrast “If you will go with me, I will go; if not, I will go” to Ruth’s famous words to Naomi: “For where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your God is my God…” Whose speech fills you with pride and whose fills you with shame?
Deborah, hearing Barak’s response, answered him, “Very well, I will go with you. However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for then the Lord will deliver Sisera (the enemy general) into the hands of a woman.”
Barak’s army of ten thousand rushed down Mount Tabor to the field of battle, where God had sown confusion among the ranks of Sisera’s army. All Sisera’s soldiers were slain, but Sisera was able to avoid the same fate—at least temporarily—by running away.
He ran to the home of Yael.
Greeting Sisera, she invited him into her tent, covered him with a blanket, and even gave him milk to drink.
Sleepily, he asked her to stand at the entrance of the tent and if anyone inquired if someone else was there to say “No.”
Yael waited until Sisera was fast asleep. Then she used a mallet to drive a tent pin clear through his head, killing him.
Thus, Deborah’s words came true; the glory of victory over Sisera went not to the hesitant Barak, but instead to the determined and steadfast Yael.
During our group discussion, it was suggested there are other examples of women taking prompt and decisive action in the Bible. Think of Jochabed deciding to float her baby down the river; or Miriam persuading the Pharaoh’s daughter to enlist Jochabed as Moses’ wet nurse.
Or, to get back to Ruth and Naomi, think of Naomi advising Ruth to go to Boaz while he was sleeping, then to uncover his feet, and to lie besides them, as a way of reminding Boaz that he had a responsibility under the Levirate laws to take her as his wife and to produce children with her. Accordingly, Ruth thus became one of the most honored women in Judaism as the great-grandmother of King David.
Submissive, male-dominated women in Judaism? Don’t bet on it.
Republished from San Diego Jewish World