Women of Vision

The most extensive list of women of valor of which I am aware is found in Midrash HaGadol in Parshat Chayei Sara (pg 366). That particular midrash lists 22 renown biblical women paralleling the 22 verses from Proverbs 31. Other than the obvious, the list includes, Noah’s wife, Shimshon’s mother, Serach bat Asher, and Obadiah’ s wife to name a few.

One of my favorite midrashic texts on this subject is Midrash Tadshe cited by Torah Shleimah on Ex. 1:17 which lists the righteous gentiles who converted to Judaism, including Hagar, Osnat, Tzipporah, Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh’s daughter, Rahav, Ruth and Yael.

Note: that all the redemptions were brought about by women. The redemption from Egypt, although Moshe was instrumental it was Bitya, Pharoah’s daughter who rescued him from the water and raised him, hence she credited with the redemption. So too the salvation of the Jewish people from Sisra through the agency of Deborah and Yael the wife of Hever HaKeni. Similarly, the redemption from Antiochus by Yehudit, and Purim through Esther. But in the future the redemption will be through the masculine dimension which is nezach and so it will be everlasting. But all of the preliminary redemptions were through the feminine mystique.”

Etz Yosef, Rabbi Hanoch Zundel, 1829

One can be certain that there is nothing feminist about this text: kabbalistic, but not feminist. Rabbi Hanoch Zundel in Poland in the 19th century was not into consciousness raising. He simply transposed the midrashic metaphor into a refrain which recurred throughout Jewish history. The Etz Yosef lists five noble women through whose agency redemption came about: Bitya, Devorah, Yael, Yehudit and Esther.

Of course, the most famous list of outstanding biblical women is the list of the seven prophetesses found in the Talmud, Megillah 14a: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Hulda and Esther. Let’s consider two of them, Huldah and Deborah, to gain some insight into the kind of leadership roles  which were assumed by outstanding women in the biblical period and perhaps to arrive at an answer to the age old question: Where will the redemption spring from?