וַתִּפָּקַ֙חְנָה֙ עֵינֵ֣י שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם וַיֵּ֣דְע֔וּ כִּ֥י עֵֽירֻמִּ֖ם הֵ֑ם וַֽיִּתְפְּרוּ֙ עֲלֵ֣ה תְאֵנָ֔ה וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֖ם חֲגֹרֹֽת׃
[The serpent] said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
As for giving the fruit to the man, Carol Meyers observes that this reflects Israelite agrarian families, where women doled out the food. Note the emphasis on eating in this etiological tale. - Rabbi Dr Tamara Eskenazi, Women's Commentary
How does Eve's reaction to the tree, and desire for knowledge, inform our reading of the text - regardless of how this story might be interpreted?
וַֽיְהִי־ה֗וּא טֶרֶם֮ כִּלָּ֣ה לְדַבֵּר֒ וְהִנֵּ֧ה רִבְקָ֣ה יֹצֵ֗את אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֻלְּדָה֙ לִבְתוּאֵ֣ל בֶּן־מִלְכָּ֔ה אֵ֥שֶׁת נָח֖וֹר אֲחִ֣י אַבְרָהָ֑ם וְכַדָּ֖הּ עַל־שִׁכְמָֽהּ׃ וְהַֽנַּעֲרָ֗ טֹבַ֤ת מַרְאֶה֙ מְאֹ֔ד בְּתוּלָ֕ה וְאִ֖ישׁ לֹ֣א יְדָעָ֑הּ וַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּ וַתָּֽעַל׃ וַיָּ֥רָץ הָעֶ֖בֶד לִקְרָאתָ֑הּ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הַגְמִיאִ֥ינִי נָ֛א מְעַט־מַ֖יִם מִכַּדֵּֽךְ׃ וַתֹּ֖אמֶר שְׁתֵ֣ה אֲדֹנִ֑י וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתֹּ֧רֶד כַּדָּ֛הּ עַל־יָדָ֖הּ וַתַּשְׁקֵֽהוּ׃ וַתְּכַ֖ל לְהַשְׁקֹת֑וֹ וַתֹּ֗אמֶר גַּ֤ם לִגְמַלֶּ֙יךָ֙ אֶשְׁאָ֔ב עַ֥ד אִם־כִּלּ֖וּ לִשְׁתֹּֽת׃ וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתְּעַ֤ר כַּדָּהּ֙ אֶל־הַשֹּׁ֔קֶת וַתָּ֥רָץ ע֛וֹד אֶֽל־הַבְּאֵ֖ר לִשְׁאֹ֑ב וַתִּשְׁאַ֖ב לְכָל־גְּמַלָּֽיו׃ וְהָאִ֥ישׁ מִשְׁתָּאֵ֖ה לָ֑הּ מַחֲרִ֕ישׁ לָדַ֗עַת הַֽהִצְלִ֧יחַ יְהוָ֛ה דַּרְכּ֖וֹ אִם־לֹֽא׃
Rebecca, daughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder....She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. The servant ran toward her and said, “Please, let me sip a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and let him drink. When she had let him drink his fill, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking.” Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
"An important task assigned to young women was drawing water from wells to supply the family household. The task was all the more important when the young woman was also a shepherdess responsible for watering her flock. The well was a important element in her life."
Hyman lists four separate incidents regarding women and wells: Rebecca; her son Jacob meeting Rachel; Moses meets Tzipporah and her sisters; and when Saul was searching for some of his father's donkeys that had gone astray, he came across young women who were on their way to draw water.
Wells were a gathering place for the community, but also specifically for women. What do you think was the role of wells during their time, and what might be modern equivalents?
What is the connection between water as a life-giving source, women and childbirth? How is that hinted at by the connections made at the well?
וַתִּקַּח֩ מִרְיָ֨ם הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה אֲח֧וֹת אַהֲרֹ֛ן אֶת־הַתֹּ֖ף בְּיָדָ֑הּ וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָ כָֽל־הַנָּשִׁים֙ אַחֲרֶ֔יהָ בְּתֻפִּ֖ים וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת׃ וַתַּ֥עַן לָהֶ֖ם מִרְיָ֑ם שִׁ֤ירוּ לַֽיהוָה֙ כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה ס֥וּס וְרֹכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם׃
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to the Eternal, who has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.
"Was without water:" Since this statement follows immediately after the mention of Miriam’s death, we may learn from it that during the entire forty years they had the “well” through Miriam’s merit (Taanit 9a).
זאֹת כּוֹס מִרְיָם, כּוֹס מַיִם חַיִּים, זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם.
This is the cup of Miriam, the cup of living waters, a reminder of the Exodus from Egypt.
מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה, עֹז וְזִמְרָה בְּיָדָהּ
מִרְיָם, תִּרְקֹד אִתָּנוּ לְהַגְדִּיל זִמְרַת עוֹלָם.
מִרְיָם, תִּרְקֹד אִתָּנוּ לְתַקֵּן אֵת הָעוֹלָם.
בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ הִיא תְּבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל מֵי הַיְשׁוּעָה, אֶל מֵי הַיְשׁוּעָה.
Miriam, the prophet, strength and song in her hand,
Miriam, dance with us in order to increase the song of the world.
Miriam, dance with us in order to repair the world.
Soon she will bring us to the waters of redemption, to the waters of redemption
What is the significance of women and water? How is water related to birth and new beginnings in each example?
How has Miriam become an extension of that allegory, as a figure who sustained the Israelites for 40 years?
What is the significance of adding Miriam - and water - to our Passover Seders? To singing "Miriam the Prophet" instead of Elijah?
That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If these men have come to invite you, you may go with them. But whatever I command you, that you shall do.” When he arose in the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and departed with the Moabite dignitaries.
But God was incensed at his going; so an angel of the Eternal placed himself in his way as an adversary. He was riding on his she-donkey, with his two servants alongside, when the donkey caught sight of the angel of the Eternal standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The donkey swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the donkey to turn her back onto the road. The angel then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. The donkey, seeing the angel, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again. Once more the angel of the Eternal moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left. When the donkey now saw the angel, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the donkey with his stick.
Then the Eternal opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” Balaam said to the donkey, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.” The donkey said to Balaam, “Look, I am the donkey that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.”
Then the Eternal uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground. The angel said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? It is I who came out as an adversary, for the errand is obnoxious to me. And when the donkey saw me, she shied away because of me those three times. If she had not shied away from me, you are the one I should have killed, while sparing her.”
Balaam said to the angel, “I erred because I did not know that you were standing in my way. If you still disapprove, I will turn back.” But the angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men. But you must say nothing except what I tell you.” So Balaam went on with Balak’s dignitaries.
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go to the fields and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone who may show me kindness.” “Yes, daughter, go,” she replied; and off she went. She came and gleaned in a field, behind the reapers; and, as luck would have it, it was the piece of land belonging to Boaz, who was of Elimelech’s family.
Boaz arrived from Bethlehem. ...Ruth said [to him, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ She has been on her feet ever since she came this morning. She has rested but little in the hut.” Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen to me, daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field. Don’t go elsewhere, but stay here close to my girls. Keep your eyes on the field they are reaping, and follow them. I have ordered the men not to bother you. And when you are thirsty, go to the jars and drink some of [the water] that the men have drawn.”
The centrality of the field is not limited to this passage, but functions as bookends for the narrative portion of the book. Chapter one identifies Ruth as coming from “the fields of Moab”(1:1, 2, 6, 22), and in chapter four, Boaz ties her to the field of Elimelech, indicating that the kinsman who redeems this field will also acquire “Ruth the Moabite as a wife” (4:3-6). For LaCocque, “Boaz’s field symbolizes the land of Israel,” and Ruth’s “assimilation among Boaz’s ‘young women’ is her integration in Israel.”
....
In the ancient Israelite village economy, growing and harvesting grain and processing it into bread was a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that required the participation of an entire family. By the time a family gathered around a table to share a loaf of bread, each member would likely have contributed significant labor “by the sweat of their faces.” Boaz’s directives to Ruth to stay on his land, drink from his well, and most significantly, to eat of his grain, must be understood in this context. - Prof. Cynthia Chapman, "The Substance of Kinship"
Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: There were no days of joy in Israel greater than the fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur.
On these days, the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white garments in order not to shame any one who had none. All these garments required immersion. The daughters of Jerusalem come out and dance in the vineyards.
What would they say? Young man, lift up your eyes and see what you choose for yourself. Do not set your eyes on beauty but set your eyes on the family. “Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30). And it further says, “Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her works praise her in the gates.”
What do you think about the relationship between women and fields?
How might it be related all the way back to Eve, that women doled out the food in family settings?
Shechina: Reconciling Omnipresence and Closeness
Rabbi Yose taught, "The place does not honour the person, but the person honours the place. So long as the Shechina rested on the mountain, we read: 'Whoever touches the mountain shall die'(Shemot 19:12) But as soon as the Shechina departed, all were permitted to go up onto the mountain."
Rabbi Levi taught 'What was the Tent of Meeting like? Like a wave by the sea. The sea raged and flooded the cave. The cave was filled with the radiance of the Shechina, but the world lost nothing of the Shechina.'
ולמה נקרא שמו מקום אלא בכל מקום שהצדיקים שם הוא נמצא עמהם שנאמר בכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי. אמר לו הקב"ה יעקב הלחם בצקלונך והבאר לפניך לאכול ולשתות במקום הזה אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם עד עכשו לא ירד השמש חמשים
Why is the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, called Maḳom? Because in every place where the righteous are He is found with them there, as it is said, "In every place (Maḳom) where I record my name I will come unto thee, and bless thee" (Ex. 20:21).
He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. [Jacob has the dream about the ladder.]
Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Eternal is present in this place, and I did not know it!”