Biblical Women

This article explores Shirley Kaufman's reading of the Bible as an elaboration on/of its feminine characters via three devices: (a) Dramatic monologues, in which the woman speaks for herself ("Rebecca" and "Leah"); (b) description of specific scenes that gives us a glimpse into the character's point of view ("His Wife", "Michal", "Abishag", "The Wife of Moses", "Yael", and "Job's Wife"); and (c) interweaving of the biblical context into contemporary reality ("Déjà Vu" and "The Death of Rachel"). Fleshing these figures out, Kaufman portrays the biblical women through contemporary lenses as a way of "coming to terms with the past" and the historical exclusion of "women's bodies" from Jewish tradition, thereby giving them a voice and "afterlife". Her treatment of the biblical texts can thus be viewed as belonging to the new midrashic-poetry tradition by Jewish-American women that has emerged as part of the Jewish feminist wave. Herein, Kaufman follows Adrienne Rich and Alicia Ostriker's "re-visioning" of the Bible and in particularly its women, empowering them by making use of her/their own words.

Resumen: El objetivo que persigue el presente artículo es analizar cómo la figura de Lilith, considerada aquí como una de las primeras mujeres que se convirtieron en la causa de los males del hombre, se halla en los orígenes de la imagen de la femme fatale. Para ello se estudiará la pervivencia de este arquetipo en la figura de Herodías, que ocupó a autores del siglo XIX como Heine, Mallarmé, Flaubert y Wilde. Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyse how the figure of Lilith, considered in this investigation as one of the first women at the root of masculine " evil " , can be found in the origins of the femme fatale. To this end, the survival of this archetype through the figure of Herodias will be examined in the works of 19th Century writers such as Heine, Mallarmé, Flaubert and Wilde. Palabras clave: Femme fatale. Herodías. Heinrich Heine. Stéphane Mallarmé. Gustave Flaubert.

Avtorica diplomskega dela raziskuje pomen abecedne pesmi Pohvala vrli ženi (Prg 31,10-31) za razumevanje starozavezne poosebljene modrosti. Lik poosebljene modrosti se v Stari zavezi preučuje na osnovi ustaljenih svetopisemskih mest (Prg 1–9; Mdr 1,46; 6,12–11,1; Sir 1,1-30; 24,1-34; 51,13-30; Bar 3,9–4,4), za katere avtorica meni, da ne razkrivajo vsega, kar nam Stara zaveza lahko pove o liku poosebljene modrosti. Zato avtorica svoje zanimanje usmeri predvsem na vprašanje identitete vrle žene v Prg 31,1031. Pri tem skuša čim jasneje odgovoriti, »če« in »v kolikšni meri« je vrla žena izenačena z likom starozavezne poosebljene modrosti. Poleg tega pa tudi, kaj nam lik vrle žene lahko pove novega o poosebljeni modrosti.
Diplomsko delo temelji na metodi literarne analize (sinhrona metoda), preko katere avtorica dokazuje svojo tezo o tesni povezanosti oz. izenačenju likov vrle žene in poosebljene modrosti. Avtorica s tem namenom najprej predstavi dve vrsti branja (dobesedno in alegorično) odlomka Prg 31,10-31, zatem odlomek primerja z modrostnimi pesmimi v Prg 1–9, nenazadnje pa še z drugimi starozaveznimi odlomki, v katerih nastopa lik poosebljene modrosti. Na koncu je opisano judovsko in zgodnjekrščansko razumevanje odlomka Prg 31,10-31 ter razvoj poosebljene modrosti v nesvetopisemski judovski literaturi. Avtorica prav tako pojasni, kako je Jezus Kristus presegel starozavezno poosebljeno modrost. 
Avtorica pričujočega dela meni, da je za trditev, da je lik vrle žene le drugačen opis poosebljene modrosti, predstavljenih dovolj povezav in podobnosti med starozavezno poosebljeno modrostjo in vrlo ženo. Izenačenje omenjenih likov omogoča globlje razumevanje starozavezne poosebljene modrosti in odlomku Prg 31,10-31 v knjigi Pregovorov daje večjo težo.

Das frühe Christentum bezeugt eine notwendige Wechselwirkung zwischen Gesellschaftsordnung bzw. gesellschaftlicher Option und christlicher Gemeindeordnung. Diese Wechselwirkung bedeutet kein billiges Anbiedern an den Zeitgeist, sondern ist unabdingbar für die je aktuelle Weitergabe und Verwirklichung des Evangeliums. Das sollte allen zu denken geben, die in einer Zeit, welche die gesellschaftliche Gleichberechtigung der Frauen auf allen Ebenen anerkennt und fordert, für das Gemeindeleben an einer antiquierten patriarchalischen Orientierung festhalten, die von Jesus her nicht zu rechtfertigen ist.

A travers de la tradition chrétienne la figure de Noomi du livre de Rut ne joue pas un grand rôle. Dans la peinture elle est souvent représentée comme une vieille femme courbée. Plusieurs savants nous dessinent une figure dépourvue de qualités: une pauvre veuve âgée, ménopausée, parfois même de mauvais caractère à l’ombre de la jeune et attractive protagoniste Rut avec sa moralité exemplaire. L’auteur de l’article nous montre que les images stéréotypées et discriminatoires de la figure de Noomi ne peuvent pas être forcement trouvées dans le texte biblique. Elle nous présente d’autres in- terprétations possibles: Noomi peut être présentée comme femme bien consciente de ses responsabilités, pleine d’amour pour les autres, attractive, restée jeune à tous égards et étant propriétaire de terre. La figure de Rut lui manifeste la plus grande estime possible. Suite aux dures épreuves qu’elle a vécues la figure de Noomi-Mara vit une crise qui influence son comportement, mais celui-ci n’est jamais jugé de manière négative dans le texte. De ce fait, le texte peut être lu avec Noomi comme protagoniste, et il nous invite à réfléchir profondément à nos préjugés culturels.

This article explores Shirley Kaufman’s reading of the Bible as an elaboration on/of its feminine characters via three devices: (a) Dramatic monologues, in which the woman speaks for herself (“Rebecca” and “Leah”); (b) description of specific scenes that gives us a glimpse into the character’s point of view (“His Wife”, “Michal”, “Abishag”, “The Wife of Moses”, “Yael”, and “Job’s Wife”); and (c) interweaving of the biblical context into contemporary reality (“Déjà Vu” and “The Death of Rachel”). Fleshing these figures out, Kaufman portrays the biblical women through contemporary lenses as a way of “coming to terms with the past” and the historical exclusion of “women’s bodies” from Jewish tradition, thereby giving them a voice and “afterlife”. Her treatment of the biblical texts can thus be viewed as belonging to the new midrashic-poetry tradition by Jewish-American women that has emerged as part of the Jewish feminist wave. Herein, Kaufman follows Adrienne Rich and Alicia Ostriker’...

This article explores Shirley Kaufman’s reading of the Bible as an elaboration on/of its feminine characters via three devices: (a) Dramatic monologues, in which the woman speaks for herself (“Rebecca” and “Leah”); (b) description of specific scenes that gives us a glimpse into the character’s point of view (“His Wife”, “Michal”, “Abishag”, “The Wife of Moses”, “Yael”, and “Job’s Wife”); and (c) interweaving of the biblical context into contemporary reality (“Déjà Vu” and “The Death of Rachel”). Fleshing these figures out, Kaufman portrays the biblical women through contemporary lenses as a way of “coming to terms with the past” and the historical exclusion of “women’s bodies” from Jewish tradition, thereby giving them a voice and “afterlife”. Her treatment of the biblical texts can thus be viewed as belonging to the new midrashic-poetry tradition by Jewish-American women that has emerged as part of the Jewish feminist wave. Herein, Kaufman follows Adrienne Rich and Alicia Ostriker’...

This article explores Shirley Kaufman's reading of the Bible as an elaboration on/of its feminine characters via three devices: (a) Dramatic monologues, in which the woman speaks for herself ("Rebecca" and "Leah"); (b) description of specific scenes that gives us a glimpse into the character's point of view ("His Wife", "Michal", "Abishag", "The Wife of Moses", "Yael", and "Job's Wife"); and (c) interweaving of the biblical context into contemporary reality ("Déjà Vu" and "The Death of Rachel"). Fleshing these figures out, Kaufman portrays the biblical women through contemporary lenses as a way of "coming to terms with the past" and the historical exclusion of "women's bodies" from Jewish tradition, thereby giving them a voice and "afterlife". Her treatment of the biblical texts can thus be viewed as belonging to the new midrashic-poetry t...

Author: Mary LaGrand Bouma
Publisher: CBE International

It was a desperate ploy. If it failed she would be, at best, a social pariah; at worst, burned alive. Probably few of us, either women or men, would be able to summon up the kind of courage Tamar showed when, realizing that the system was failing to give her justice, she decided to do something about it. She used womanly wiles, but not in ways we usually associate with the term.