צאינה וראינה: The Women's Bible

I. Torah Lessons for Everyday Life

God says, “Let the heavens be strengthened between the water.” For on the first day the heavens were weak, so the Holy One admonished [them]. The next day the heavens strengthened themselves from fear of the Holy One. (“In the midst of the waters”) The heavens made a distinction between the water, for there was water above heaven just as on the earth. And the water was as far above the heaven as the distance is from the heaven to the earth. And above the heaven water hung in the air by order of the Holy One. And the waters protested and said “We, too, want to be above the heavens; and why should we be below the earth?” So the Holy One promised the waters upon the earth that no sacrifice would be brought to the altar except when salt is with it, and salt comes from water. And every day the Holy One inscribed “for it was good” and on the second day “for it was good” was not inscribed; since the creation of the second day was not completed, then there was no “for it was good,” for the water was not completely created on the second day but rather it was on the third day that the Holy One finished creating the water. Thus the Holy One two times said “for it was good”: one time when the waters had been properly created; the second time when the earth was completed on the third day. And there are some sages who say that there is no “for it was good” on the second day because hell was created on the second day. And there are some sages who say that quarreling began on the second day since the waters quarreled with one another. Therefore “for it was good” is not [written] for the second day, since nothing good comes of quarreling. And because quarreling was created on the second day, thus hell was also created on the same day; for whosoever quarrels falls into hell, just as happened to Korah as the Gemara relates in the chapter of “He Who Sells a Boat.” Rabba bar Bar Hana says, he was once walking in the desert when a merchant approached him and said to him, “I wish to show you how Korah was swallowed into the earth.” There he saw the earth split open and smoke was coming out; then he took a spear and put a piece of wool on it and stuck the spear with the wool over the cleft. Then he heard someone crying out from that same cleft: “Moses is truth and his Torah is truth and we are deceitful liars!” And every thirty days they turn back around the fire in hell to await their afflictions. And they cry out, “Moses is truth and his Torah is truth!” Therefore every person should be warned on account of quarreling. And some sages say that one should start no work on Mondays since no “for it was good” was inscribed on a Monday. And from Monday on and thereafter every day there was a quarrel. On the third day we encounter a quarrel, that the Holy One ordered the earth to bring forth a tree which was to have a flavor like the taste of apple. And the earth did not do so but rather the tree was of wood and the apple had a different flavor. And on the fourth day there was also a quarrel: the moon said, “Why should the sun shine?” She wanted to shine herself. So the Holy One made her and her light small. On the fifth day there was also a quarrel: the wife of Leviathan had been killed and salted for the righteous in the days of the Messiah. On the sixth day (Adam the First) sinned and was driven out of (the Garden of Eden). Now one can see that from the second day all quarrels began.

Numbers 15:39 “Do not follow your heart and eyes”

The eyes and the heart are the organs of the person that are the brokers that bring the person to commit sins. The eyes first see everything and then the heart desires to commit that sin.

Bahya and Hizkuni write. Midrash Tanhuma writes that the Holy One gave a commandment for every task that a person does in the world. If a person wants to plow, it is written that one should not plow with an ox and a donkey at the same time. If he wants to sow a garden it is written, do not sow mixed varieties. If he wants to cut the grain, he must leave some in the field for the poor. If he wants to take grain to eat, he must give terumah and tithes. When he wants to knead the dough, he must separate hallah. If he wants to eat, he must recite a blessing. If he wants to shear the sheep, he must give wool to the priest. If he wants to slaughter an animal, he must give the shoulder, the stomach, and the cheeks to the priest. If he comes across a bird’s nest, he must send the mother away. If he slaughters a bird, he must cover the blood. Should he put on a garment, he must check that is does not contain a mixture of wool and linen. If a son is born to him, he must have his foreskin circumcised. If he wants to have sexual relations with his wife, he must be careful about menstruation. If he plants a tree, he must wait three years. If he buries a relative, then he must not scar his body from anguish and must not cut his hair, then he must not cut off his sidelocks. If he builds a house, he must build a parapet. If he makes a door, he must make a mezuzah. If he makes a garment, he must put tzitzit on it. A parable. A person falls from a ship into the water. The captain of a ship throws a long rope to that person and says to him: hold on to the rope and you will be protected from death. So too, the Holy One gave many commandments to the person for all of his works. He said to the person: hold on strongly to the commandments and you will have life in this world and in the next world. Concerning this, the verse says, “the Lord desires His [servant’s] vindication” [Isaiah 42:21]. That is to say, the Holy One desires his vindication to greet the Torah with many commandments, expecting the person should have many commandments, where he goes and does. He can have many commandments to do and fulfill.

Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln, 1646-1724 (Translation of Zikhroynes (1932))

In my great grief and for my heart's ease I begin this book the year of Creation 5451 [1690-91]— God soon rejoice us and send us His redeemer!

I began writing it, dear children, upon the death of your good father, in the hope of distracting my soul from the burdens laid upon it, and the bitter thought that we have lost our faithful shepherd. In this way I have managed to live through many wakeful nights, and springing from my bed shortened the sleepless hours.

This, dear children, will be no book of morals. Such I could not write, and our sages have already written many. Moreover, we have only our holy Torah in which we may find and learn all that we need for our journey through this world to the world to come. It is like a rope which the great and gracious God has thrown to us as we drown in the stormy sea of life, that we may seize and hold of it and be saved.

II. A Torat Nashim: Instructions for Proper Female Behavior

“Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out” [34:1].

Rashi asks a question. Why does it not say, the daughter of Jacob? The explanation is that the verse shows us that Dinah went out, taking after her mother, Leah, who also went out. She went toward Jacob and said: I have rented you to sleep with me.

Dinah went out to see the daughters of the nations. Hamor the son of Shechem came and took Dinah by force and slept with her. Bahya writes, Jacob caused this by sinning, by not giving Dinah to Esau. Perhaps Dinah might have made Esau pious. Jacob had hidden Dinah in a chest from Esau. The Holy One said: you did not want to give Dinah to one who observed circumcision, then you will give her to tone who was not circumcised, to Shechem, the son of Hamor, as the verse says here. The Midrash writes. Whenever a woman is in her house, she atones for the sins of the whole household, just like the altar forgives the whole world, as the verse says, “your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons, like olive saplings around your table” [Psalms 128:3]. This means, the wife should be like a grapevine. The root of the grapevine is in the house and the grapes grow and extend out of the house. So too is the woman. She should sit in her house and should have children who will go out into the world and study Torah. That is why the verse says, “like olive saplings” [Psalms 128:3]. The children will be worthy to anoint themselves with oil that is holy. That is why the verse compared the children to olives. All the trees in the world, when they begin to mate with other trees, an apple trees mates with a pear tree and similar other trees. However, the olive tree does not accept other branches to mate. So too should the wife be with modesty. She should not speak much with strange men. Another explanation is, just like the olive tree carries her children for nine months and the child she has is healthy. Therefore, the verse compares the children to olives. Olives are bitter at first, bitter with great pain day and night. Afterwards, whomever God gives is sweet like the good oil.

"Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel"

The Midrash says that it says, "Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister"[15:20] that is to say that Miriam was also a prophetess. When Miriam was the sister of Aaron and Moses had not yet been born, Miriam prophesied that her mother would give birth to a son who would take Israel out of Egypt. Bahya writes further that one should not be surprised that a woman could be a prophetess. They are also people, just like a man, since she was created from man. Similarly, Sarah was a prophetess, much more than her husband Abraham. Miriam sang the Song and all the women folowed her, singing praises of the Holy One. Bahya writes further that one should not hold women as nothing and lowly. They are as important as a pious man or a prophet, as we find in the Torah that Abigail was a prophetess. She said and showed that there is definitely a world to come. The world to come is not explicitly written in the Torah. It was through Hannah, who pointed to the resurrection of the dead, that no prophet had demonstrated. This shows us that one should consider women important and keep them before one's eyes. When she is pious, she is pious without measure. The Talmud says in [tractate] Megillah that seven women were prophetesses: Sarah, Miriam, Hannah, Deborah, Huldah, Abigail, and Esther.

“With timbrels” [15:20]

Miriam took a timbrel in her hand and drummed and all the women danced together with joy. Why did Miriam take a timbrel and not another musical instrument? The explanation is that the women should not allow their voices to be heard by the men, since it is a great sin when a strange man hears the singing of a strange woman. It is like he slept with her illicitly. Therefore, since the women and Miriam were singing songs, Miriam thought that the men would hear her voice. Therefore, she took a timbrel and drummed, in the expectation that the men would not hear their voice. When they pray and the men hear their voice, this is also a sin. The man will have evil thoughts about that woman. The man abrogates his prayers. They should learn from Hannah who prayed silently and only her lips moved and no sound was hear from her mouth, and God accepted her prayer immediately. Our sages learn from her that we should also pray silently and not with shouting.

III. Are Women Righteous or Evil?

“The Lord God cast a deep sleep” [2:21]

God put Adam to sleep. This teaches us that the person should not argue with his wife if he sometimes sees something that does not please him. He should make himself as if he does not see it and is sleeping.

When the Holy One brought all creatures before him so that he could give them a name, Adam saw each wild and domestic animal with its wife. Then Adam said, all the creatures have wives and I don’t have one. Therefore it says, “but for Adam no fitting helper was found” [2:20]. That is to say, Adam did not find among all the creatures a female that suited him to take as a wife. Some sages say that Adam lay with all the creatures, but none of them pleased him to take as a wife. Therefore, the Holy One brought a sleep over Adam and took a rib from his body and created a wife from it. That is why the Holy One made him sleep, so that it should not be repulsive to him that she came out of his body. If the person will be worthy, then God will give him a wife who will love him and be a helpmate. However, if the person is not pious then God sends him a wife who will cause him to lose this world and the next world. She is “more bitter than death” [Ecclesiastes, 7:26]. Similarly, she can bring him to the world to come. We find a story about a pious man who had a wife would was very pious. They did not have any children, so they divorced. She took a man who was an evildoer and she made him very pious. He took a woman who was very evil in all her deeds and she made an evil person out of him.

“And the Lord God formed” [2:22].

Rabbi Joshua asks: why must the woman adorn herself with perfumes and good smelling things and clean clothes more than a man? He answered that Adam was created from the earth and earth never stinks. Eve was created from a rib bone. It is a parable. If you do nothing to meat for three days, it stinks. Therefore, women must adorn themselves with perfumes and clean clothes. They might stink if they did not adorn themselves in this way. Why do women have good voices? It is a parable. Bang two bones together and it makes a sound and rings. Bang earth against earth and it makes no sound. Why can one not easily persuade a woman to commit a sin or dissuade her from her anger? He answered that the woman was created from a bone and if you poured water on a bone all day, the bone would not dissolve. However, pour a little water on earth, and it will soon dissolve. Therefore we say, “as a father has compassion for his children” [Psalms, 103:13]. The father is compassionate. Why does a man seek a wife and a woman does not seek a man? He responded: I will give you a parable. One who loses something must search for what he has lost. However, the woman has not lost anything. Therefore, she does not search. Why does the man have the hair on his head uncovered while the woman must cover the hair of her head? He answered, this is because Eve made Adam sin. Therefore, she must go covered, ashamed, and with covered head. Why do women run to a dead person first? This is because they brought death into the world. Why did the Holy One give women the commandment of nidah? Because she spilled the blood of people. Why was she given the commandment of hallah? He said that she made Adam sin, separating him from the earth. Therefore, she is obligated to separate hallah from the dough. Why do women light candles? Because she extinguished Adam’s light, that is [previously] his sould shone like a candle.

“Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife” [2:24]

The person should leave his father and his mother and should join with his wife because she is his flesh and bone. “Bone of my bones” [2:23]. The woman is strong by nature because she was created from bone. The man is weak by nature because he was created from the earth and earth is weak, since it dissolves easily.

“The community was without water.”

Israel had water for forty years because of the merit of Miriam, and when she died they had no water.

The woman is compared to a well. The more one takes water from it, the more water comes into it. When she does acts of lovingkindness with poor people, then her money and goods also increase, as the water in the well. So too, we find that our ancestors found their wives at the well. Isaac sends Eliezer and Rebecca came to the well and gave him and his camels to drink. Jacob encountered Rachel at the well, and Moses Our Teacher encountered Zipporah at the well. Women have few positive commandments, but to give charity. As soon as the well ceased, Israel gathered around Moses and Aaron, who were mourning Miriam. The Holy One said to them: since you are mourners, should Israel die of thirst? Stand up, take the staff, and give Israel water.