Never underestimate the role of Jewish women #korakh#devarTorah#parashathashavua

In the first verse of this week’s Torah portion, Korakh's partners in rebellion are identified: Datan and Aviram sons of Eliav and On ben Pelet, from the tribe of Reuven. As the story unfolds, the name of On no longer appears. The Talmud and the Midrash tell us that On was dissuaded from rebelling against Moses by his wife, who is thus credited with saving his life. Apparently, On heeded his wife's advice and is considered to have done teshuva, repentance. The Gemara quotes the verse in Proverbs (14:1): "A wise woman builds her house; a foolish one destroys it with her own hands". The wise woman, says the Gemara, is On's wife, and the foolish is Korakh's.

This praiseworthiness of women has a long precedent. When Abraham hesitated to comply with Sara's demand to expel Hagar and Yishmael because she recognized his bad influence on Isaac, God told him to listen to all she says. Rebecca took a very practical position vis a vis the blessings of Isaac in directing Yaakov's actions. Rachel and Leah "deceived" Jacob when it was the future of the Jewish People that was at stake. Yocheved and Miriam acted courageously by disobeying Pharaoh and are highly praised for their role in preserving the future nation of Israel. Miriam's prophecy to her father Amram consisted of a logical argument which convinced him to take back his wife; Moses, the redeemer of Israel was the result. The Gemara says: "Because of righteous women our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt." Many other women in the Bible like Deborah, Yael, Esther Ruth, and Naomi were instrumental in saving the Jewish people.

In my Tuesday’s short story class we read “What To Do About The Women” by Talya Jankovits. Because the ultra-Orthodox rabbis in the story demanded the removal of all pictures and photographs of girls and women of all ages so that they would never unnecessarily see the face of a woman. Then women began losing their faces. Their faces had no eyes, noses, and mouths. Their faces became blank canvases. The Rabbis’ solution was to sequester all females in their homes until they figure out what caused this spiritual plague. Then all the women of their community disappeared. To bring them back, all the men purged every last trace of their women until there was nothing left. “Not even a fleeting image to remember them by.”

The moral of the Torah reading and of the story is to never underestimate the role of women in Judaism and Jewish history.