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THEY BOTH ATE THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, BUT EVE GOT THE BLAME. UNTIL NOW.

Groundbreaking New Commentary Offers Women’s perspectives and Insights on the Torah

New York, NY……..Women were instrumental in building the Temple in Jerusalem. Eve was no more complicit than Adam in the act of disobedience that led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. And Rebecca, far from being a submissive love object of Isaac, was a strong-willed young woman who made her own choice to marry a stranger more than twice her age.

Has the Torah changed? Not at all, but the commentary has. Thanks to a volume just published by URJ Press in association with the Women of Reform Judaism, there’s a new way of looking at the original Biblical text – text that has been studied, thought about, written about, and debated for millennia – but mostly by men.

“For thousands of years, interpreting Scripture and tradition were almost exclusively the province of men,” notes Shelley Lindauer, Executive Director of the Women of Reform Judaism. “But, we’ve needed commentaries that speak to all people, and blend voices of men and women. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary  can only enrich and broaden the experience.”

For the past fourteen years, more than 100 theologians, historians, sociologists, scholars, anthropologists, poets, rabbis, and cantors from the United States , Canada , Israel and South America – all of them women – took a fresh look at the Torah. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary is the result of their exhaustive research, thought, and discussion. Although more than 1,400 pages long, the book is eminently readable and unique in its synthesis of traditional interpretation methods and critical approaches. Its more contemporary topical methods give new meaning to the text, and provide fresh commentary on the Torah (the first five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and new insights and interpretation of the Biblical stories that have formed and informed our culture and values.

“In the contemporary selections, writers made the connection from the ancient text to the concerns of our lives today as Jewish women, “ notes Rabbi Hara Person, managing editor of the project. “Infertility, rape, dealing with parents, standing up for oneself – whatever the concerns are – there are thoughtful, beautiful and wise connections made.”

Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, one of the book’s editors, adds: “We also wanted to bring the women of the Torah out from the shadows into in the limelight, from their silences into speech, from the margins to which they have often been relegated to the center of the page – for their sake, for our sake, and for our children’s sake. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary  finally gives dimension to women’s voices in our tradition. It is an inspiration for all who study Torah, men and women, Jew and non-Jew, and a beacon for all future Bible study.”

The result is stunning. There are overviews of each of the five books of Moses, followed by the Hebrew texts and impeccable linear translations. Each Torah portion is further elucidated as follows:

• A central commentary, written by a Biblical scholar, concentrating on issues that involve women;

• A second, shorter Biblical commentary from another scholar that complements, supplements or challenges the primary interpretation;

• A post-Biblical text interpretation highlighting the way traditional Torah protions addressed issues pertaining to women;

• A contemporary commentary reflecting social, philosophical, and theological concerns that link the Torah portion with contemporary issues;

• Creative responses appear in the form of poems, prose pieces, and modern midrash.

“The book makes a unique connection between the intellectual, emotional and spiritual by bringing all this scholarship in proximity to poetry,” notes Rabbi Person. “It combines right-brain and left-brain thinking.”

That originality is evident in this passage from Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi’s introduction to Genesis:

“Beginning with daring Eve, resourceful women are central to the book of Genesis. Women are key, not merely because they give birth, but because they shape their family’s destiny; there would be no Israel without the matriarchs. Their stories belie any claim that Genesis privileges males at the expense of females. Rather, the book privileges the ones who secure the continuity of the family and perpetuate God’s blessings.”  While the description of Eve being created from Adam’s rib is commonly taken as sign of Eve’s inferiority, “we see it as more a statement of their equality,” she adds.

Or, the observation that when the Torah describes Abraham mourning the death of Sarah, it is the only time in the entire text that a man mourns a woman. The poet Nessa Rapoport responds to Abraham’s mourning for Sarah with her own poem about grief.

An essay by Elizabeth Bloch-Smith describes the building of the Mishkan, the portable temple the Jews built in the desert after the exodus from Egypt . Although the gender of the artisans who built the Mishkan isn’t clear, it often was assumed they were male. But based on archeological evidence that shows women heavily involved in weaving and spinning, Bloch-Smith suggests it was women who provided the yarn for the temples’ Tent of Meeting, according to Rabbi Andrea Weiss, associate editor.

The commentary also poses some questions: Why are Noah’s wife and Lot’s wife unnamed? Could it have been Miriam (not Moses) who wrote the Song of Celebration in Exodus?

More than traditional commentaries, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary will shed more light on women when they appear in the text as well as when they’re absent, says Dr. Eskenazi. It features gems of insight and lyrical beauty on every page. It is a work of substantive scholarship, yet it is as accessible to the young student or casual reader as it is useful to the scholar.

The idea for the book is traced to Cantor Sarah Sager from Beachwood, Ohio, who first proposed a women’s commentary on the Torah at a regional meeting of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhood in 1992. A year later, speaking to the WRJ assembly, Cantor Sager challenged the movement to undertake this project. Her dream came true this year. “It is a book that will benefit everyone and lend new relevance to the foundations of Biblical study and religious faith,” says Ms. Lindauer.

The Torah: A Women’s Commentary costs $75.00 and is available through Barnes & Noble (online and in stores), Borders, amazon.com, target.com, Powells, Ingram, Bowkers, Israel Bookshop, Bronchin’s, Bob and Bob, and Yussel’s Place. It also may be ordered in bulk by contacting info@urjpress.org or calling URJ Books & Music Customer Service at 212-650-4125.

In the coming months, WRJ and URJ Press will provide study material and other products relating to the book designed to enhance the reader’s experience.

9/05

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