Girls in Trouble is an indie-folk song cycle about women in Torah by musician, writer and Torah teacher, Alicia Jo Rabins. The Girls in Trouble Curriculum links these musical midrashim with their source texts, Alicia's notes, and other artistic interpretations, inviting teachers, students, and individual learners on a journey through the world of women in Torah. We hope you enjoy this concise version of the Yiftach's Daughter unit. To download the full unit, including teacher's notes, please visit www.girlsintroublemusic.com.
Behind the Music: Notes from singer/songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins
This is a story of faith, danger, and sacrifice, in which a young girl loses her future because of a few careless words spoken by her father. And yet a careful reading seems to reveal that Yiftach’s Daughter (also called Bat Yiftach, or Jephthah's daughter) has more agency than appears at first glance.
Her story is one of the most fascinating and neglected passages in the Hebrew Bible, raising compelling questions about the consequences of our actions, the danger of blind faith, and the true meaning of power.
Note: In the Hebrew Bible, Yiftach’s daughter is called ‘Bat Yiftach’ (bat means daughter in Hebrew). Throughout this source sheet, we use ‘Yiftach’s daughter’ and ‘Bat Yiftach’) interchangeably. In English, Yiftach is often translated as ‘Jephthah’, in which case she is referred to as ‘Jephthah’s daughter’. Feel free to use any of these names, and notice that the text does not actually give us her name, only her father’s.
Pronunciation for non-Hebrew speakers: Yiftach is pronounced Yeef-takh (guttural "ch" as in "challah." In English, Jephthah is pronounced Jeff-thuh.
(29) Then the spirit of God came upon Jephthah, and ... he passed over to the children of Ammon. (30) And Jephthah vowed a vow to God, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, (31) then it shall be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be God's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” (32) So Jephthah passed over to the children of Ammon to fight against them; and God delivered them into his hand. (33) He struck them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. (34) Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances; and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. (35) It happened, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to God, and I can't go back." (36) She said to him, "My father, you have opened your mouth to God; do to me according to that which has proceeded out of your mouth, because God has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, even on the children of Ammon." (37) She further said to her father, “Let this be done for me: let me be for two months, and I will go with my companions and lament upon the hills and there bewail my virginity.” (38) He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months: and she departed, she and her companions, and mourned her virginity on the mountains. (39) It happened at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she was a virgin. It was a custom in Israel, (40) that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Translation: Adapted from JPS
Questions for Discussion:
1. Go back into the story and underline the sentences in which Yiftach’s daughter speaks or acts. Then read these sentences out loud. Do you think Yiftach’s daughter had no control over her fate, some control, or complete control?
2. Some commentators understand this story to mean that Yiftach’s daughter was literally sacrificed, while others believe that she remained alive, but was “offered to God” as a sort of nun and never allowed to marry. What evidence in the text can you find to support each of these readings? How does the story change depending on which interpretation you follow?
3. A challenge: can you think of any contemporary analog for this story, or a modern example of a person who acts like Yiftach’s daughter?
SONG LYRICS
MOUNTAIN/WHEN MY FATHER CAME BACK
a song in Yiftach's Daughter's voice, by Alicia Jo Rabins/Girls in Trouble
When my father came back from the war
I knew he would want to see me first
So I ran out to greet him
But he fell to his knees in the dirt
He told me daughter
I have promised God to offer
The first creature that I saw
Father the vow you have made
Is one you cannot escape
But first let me go with my sisters
Down to the shores of the lake
I lived two months with them
My sisters in the forest
And then I returned back home
The night he took me to the mountain
Neither of us spoke
We reached the peak together
Just as sunrise broke
I could have run from him
I almost thought he wished it
But I could not run from God
It was the last day of my life
The sun had never shone so bright
My father held the knife
I kept my eyes open wide
Then angels came to me
With faces of my sisters
And they filled my eyes with tears
Questions:
1. Unlike the original text, this song is written from the perspective of Yiftach’s daughter herself. How does hearing the song in (an imagined version of) the character's "voice” change our experience of the story?
2. The artist struggles with the question, “Why would Yiftach’s daughter
return to her father to be offered up?” How does the song answer this
question? Do you agree or disagree with its answer? How might you interpret the daughter's actions?
For more songs and study guides about women in Torah, as well as upcoming performances, come visit us at www.girlsintroublemusic.com.
