Feminist Criticism

Through subtle echoes of other biblical narratives, the book of Ruth recasts women not as rivals competing for men, but as partners bound by loyalty and kindness.

In Ezekiel’s graphic metaphor of a girl abandoned in the blood of her afterbirth, God sees baby Jerusalem and urges her to live (Ezekiel 16:6–7) but leaves her there until she is older. The verse’s inclusion in the Haggadah (ca. 16^th century) hinges on Mekhilta’s radical reinterpretation and regendering of the blood as representing Israel’s first mitzvot in Egypt: circumcision and the paschal offering. In response to Christian supersessionism, women’s menstrual blood was added as a third example of Israel’s blood-based mitzvot.

In protest against the binding of Isaac, Sarah returns alone to Hebron, the site where YHWH promised her a son. This move marks the moment when she stops following her husband Abraham and finds her own path.

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah skillfully structure their petition to inherit land not by confronting the patriarchy, but by couching their request as an attempt to preserve their father’s name.

Esau/Edom is viewed negatively already in later biblical texts and throughout rabbinic literature, becoming a symbol of Israel’s oppressors. Marat Kila, an otherwise unknown woman, is quoted in a 15^th century supercommentary on Rashi offering a positive reading of Esau’s actions.

Rebecca’s confidence and assertiveness are an example of the difference between the dictates of common law, which rendered women entirely subject to the decisions of their fathers and/or husbands, and the multifaceted realities of women’s lived experiences in ancient Israel.

When Pharaoh takes Sarai into his palace, rather than being a passive victim, as in the Bible, the midrash has Sarai taking her complaint directly to God and commanding an angel regarding her protection and the punishment of her captors.

The title ʾem, “mother,” is found in a synagogue inscription, and is used in the Talmud to refer to Abaye’s foster mother. ʾEm is likely also used as a title when it is applied to biblical Eve, Deborah, and the wise woman of Abel of Beth-maacah. It reflects their honored position, not their role as child-bearing women.

A male priest recites and inscribes a curse that the sotah is compelled to orally ingest and disclose the “truth” without listening to her words. Set in the wilderness period, and framed as a narrative passed down from mother to daughter, the short story of Iʿezer and Shifra by David Frischmann (a 20th century Hebrew fiction writer) highlights how, when she is accused of being a sotah, Shifra’s ignorance of Torah dooms her.

The book of Samuel opens with the patriarch Elkanah’s annual pilgrimage to Shiloh, but it is his barren wife, Hannah, who emerges as the key figure in the story. Through her clever negotiations with God for a son, Hannah finds a way to transcend the bounds of her role as wife and mother and carve out an honorable niche for herself in the Israelites’ sacred chronicles.

The Torah requires a man who marries his maidservant to treat her as a wife, providing her with food, clothing, and onah, a term that has been interpreted as shelter, anointing oil, or conjugal rights. The latter is the traditional understanding, which Shadal defends. Critiquing Maimonides’ philosophical attitude to sexuality, Shadal claims that the Torah here is recognizing a woman’s sexual needs.

Biblical Antiquities, circa 1^st cent. C.E., retells the story of Judges 4–5. It expands the maternal imagery of Deborah and Yael, develops the character of Sisera’s mother, and adds sexual innuendo to Yael’s interactions with Sisera.

Abraham, Isaac and David are literally or figuratively blind to YHWH’s intentions. It is their wives who take decisive action to shape Israel’s future.

Eve was created as Adam’s עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּו ʿezer ke-negdo (Genesis 2:18). What is the meaning of this enigmatic phrase?

It is clear in the Bible and ancient Near Eastern texts that men were sorcerers, yet Exodus 22:17 seems to single out women in its command, “You shall not permit a witch to live.”

Bathsheba first appears as the object of David’s lust, then as the mother of Solomon, who pleads with the king to make her son his heir. And yet, a close look at her actions shows her to be someone with agency, able to manipulate her husband and even her son to ensure Solomon’s safety and rule.

1 Maccabees recounts how Mattathias instigated a rebellion against the Greeks out of zealotry against Jewish idolatry. Later midrashim tell how Mattathias’ daughter Channah goaded her father and brothers into fighting the Greeks to protect her from being raped by the local governor.

The liturgical compilation Hallel (“praise”) opens with Psalm 113. Originally, this psalm was recited by women who gave birth after being barren, reminiscent of the song of Channah in 1 Samuel 2. A close look, however, suggests that its opening verses are a later supplement meant to introduce the larger Hallel collection.

Hagar and Sarah are the matriarchs of the Arabs and the Jews in Jewish and Muslim interpretation. In the Bible, the feud between the two women is never mended, but Jewish and Muslim feminist readers have used midrash-style poetry to rewrite the ending of their story, in hope of reconciling the contemporary conflict between their putative descendants.

Feminist biblical interpretation is more than simply paying attention to texts about women. It is also a means of achieving a more accurate understanding of life in ancient Israel and of the composition of the Bible.

The haftarah (prophetic reading) for the first day of Rosh Hashanah features Channah's two prayers. In the second prayer, she thanks God for the birth of Samuel by reciting a ready made royal hymn about defeating one's enemies, hardly relevant to her situation. Why does the Bible choose such a prayer and how might this help us better understand prayer in the context of the contemporary Rosh Hashanah?

Virtually all biblical scholars—even feminist biblical scholars—consider the Bible and ancient Israelite society patriarchal. But is that a valid designation?

Finding gender equality in the Song of Songs without compromising God and meaning.

By withholding his son Shelah from Tamar, Judah sins against her. Powerless to oppose him legally, Tamar must resort to subterfuge to achieve what is justly hers, the possibility of children from her deceased’s husband’s family.

Can all social change be antedated back to Sinai?

A look at the Torah and Mishnah’s treatment of the mitzvah of bringing bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple and its associated requirement to recite a historical confession through five prisms: phenomenological, historical, anthropological, feminist and liturgical.

The biblical portrait of Miriam can leave the modern reader with a lingering bitterness, but a closer reading highlights her prophetic role, and her willingness to challenge the social norms and pursue an alternative, redemptive course.

Bringing “different voices” from the margin to the center of religious life.