And Rachel Stole the Idols

Wendy Zierler is assistant professor of modern Jewish literature and feminist studies at H.U.C.-J.I.R and has spoken at JOFA conferences. In this trail-blazing book, she uses the story of Rachel and the teraphim in the Book of Genesis as a paradigm for women taking hold of a man’s tradition and making it their own. There were very few women who wrote in Hebrew throughout most of Jewish history; however, in the 19th century this changed. Zierler’s book traces how three generations of women writing both prose and poetry have claimed “a voice in a Hebrew literary culture in which women’s voices were hitherto conspicuously absent”. Zierler ranges expertly over works of familiar names like Rachel Morpurgo, Leah Goldberg, Rachel, Esther Raab and Zelda (who, Zierler relates, was a teacher of Amos Oz and is described by him in a recent verse novel). Often providing her own translations, Zierler also introduces the reader to works of less familiar writers such as Sarah Foner, and Yocheved Bat-Miriam, using a backdrop of contemporary feminist theory to analyze their writings. Especially fascinating is her analysis of the use that the writers make of the stories of women in biblical and rabbinic sources, and how they recast the images of these women. There are wonderful poems about Eve, Lillith, and Hagar, and about Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah that give us new insights into the Biblical texts. Zierler provides both the original Hebrew texts and translations of the poems.