Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash

301 Pages·2022·6.384 MB·English

by  Tamar Biala (editor)

Dirshuni

Dirshuni
Contemporary Women’s miDrash
Edited with Commentary by Tamar Biala
Introduction by Tamar Kadari
Brandeis University Press / Waltham, Massachusetts
Brandeis University Press
© 2022 by Tamar Biala
Introduction © 2022 by Tamar Kadari
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed and composed in Arno Pro by Mindy Basinger Hill
For permission to reproduce any of the material in this book,
contact Brandeis University Press, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453,
or visit brandeisuniversitypress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Biala, Tamar, editor.
Title: Dirshuni : contemporary women’s midrash / edited with
commentary by Tamar Biala ; introduction by Tamar Kadari.
Description: First edition. | Waltham, Massachusetts : Brandeis
University Press, [2022] | Series: HBI series on Jewish women |
Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Dirshuni:
Contemporary Women’s Midrash, is the first-ever English edition of
an historic collection of midrashim composed by Israeli women.
The volume features a comprehensive introduction to Midrash for
the uninitiated reader by the distinguished scholar Tamar Kadari
and extensive annotation and commentary by Tamar Biala.”
— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021058296 | ISBN 9781684580958 (cloth) |
ISBN 9781684580965 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Midrash. | Bible. Old Testament—Feminist criticism. |
Women in the Bible.
Classification: LCC BM514 .D5613 2022 | DDC 296.1/4—dc23/eng/20211223
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021058296
5 4 3 2 1
For Lori Kagan and Jody (Eliana) Sampson-Nair
And for Rochelle Isserow, of Blessed Memory
You were there for me

Contents
xiii Introduction The Enchanted World of Midrash
and Its Unexpected Return in Recent Generations
Tamar Kadari
xxxiii Editor’s Introduction The Road to Women’s Midrash
Tamar Biala
xlv Translators’ Notes
Yehudah Mirsky and Ilana Kurshan
one Creation of the World
3 Miscarriage and Creation
Tamar Biala
6 This One Will Be Called Woman
Miri Westreich
9 And Your Desire Will Be for Your Man
Rivkah Lubitch
12 And He Will Rule over You
Dana Pulver
15 Why Was It Given to Her?
Tamar Bitton
18 The Ever-Turning Sword
Tamar Biala
tWo Matriarchs and Patriarchs
25 The Tears of Salt
Ruti Timor
29 Sarah’s Trials
Naama Eldar
32 Sarah and the Sacrifice of Isaac
Rivkah Lubitch
35 Stirrings
Bilha Kritzer Ariha
40 And Where Was Sarah?
Tamar Biala
44 In the Presence of His Wife
Hagit Rappel
47 And Dinah Went Out
Rivkah Lubitch
54 The Daughter of Dinah
Ayala Tzruyah
58 Let Your House Be Open Wide
Hagit Bartov
three Exodus
63 The Midwives Saw and Feared
Orna Pilz
66 Bityah, the Daughter of God
Gili Zivan
71 The Giving of the Ten Commandments
Tamar Biala
Four Israel in the Desert
77 Daughters of Tzelophchad
Rivkah Lubitch
82 Death by a Kiss Miriam’s Passing
Tamar Biala
Five Prophets and Writings
89 Tanot, Jephthah’s Daughter
Rivkah Lubitch
91 I Will Build You Up Again
Yael Levine
96 A Woman of Valor
Adi Blut
six Sexuality, Love, and Marriage
103 More Bitter Than Death
Rivkah Lubitch
106 After Twenty-Four Years
Rivkah Lubitch
110 For Love Is as Fierce as Death
Tamar Biala
115 The Ways of Marriage
Avital Hochstein
123 One Who Did Not Find a Wife
Yael Unterman
129 And Eve Knew
Efrat Garber-Aran