From Eve to Esther, the Tanakh is full of stories of deception in which the player behind the mask is a woman.  Yet these acts of deceit are often met with divine sanction – at least retroactively.  In this four-week course, we will explore how women in particular advance the divine plan through acts of subversion.  We will engage in close literary readings of biblical and midrashic narratives:  Rebekah’s disguise of Jacob before the blessing, Rachel and Leah’s collusion on the wedding night, Tamar’s seduction of Judah at the crossroads, and the insurgence of women at the beginning of Shemot.  In addition to classic rabbinic and medieval interpretations, we will draw upon modern literary and feminist commentary. Are women compelled to use deception because they are powerless?  Or do these narratives present an alternative to conventional notions of power relations?

A class for women
Level: All
Four sessions: February 26; March 4, 11, 18

Rachel Adelman, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew University, and is a graduate of Matan's M.A. Program in Tanakh. She is currently a Research Associate in the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard University and teaches Tanakh at Hebrew College. Dr. Adelman has published numerous articles, and is the author of The Return of the Repressed: Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer and the Pseudepigrapha.