{"id":38953,"date":"2018-08-29T14:28:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T11:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38953"},"modified":"2022-03-23T18:11:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T16:11:21","slug":"when-rachel-dies-is-she-a-failure-or-a-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-rachel-dies-is-she-a-failure-or-a-success\/","title":{"rendered":"When Rachel Dies – Is She a Failure or a Success?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On the one hand, Rachel has succeeded. She stole the <\/span>terafim <\/span><\/i>(“idols”) from her father and so far as we know, never returned them. Her motives are unclear to readers, and commentators have made various suggestions. The <\/span>terafim<\/span><\/i> were an ancient form of GPS giving directions, and navigating thus allowing the group safe passage. She believed in them and wanted the power they lent their devotees for themselves. She wanted to wreak vengeance on her father for his years of mistreatment of Jacob (Genesis 31:7) and his family; after all Jacob only feels ready to leave (Genesis 30:25) after his beloved wife Rachel has given birth to a son (Genesis 30:23). Whether it is to shame her father and render him impotent without the idolatrous token of potency or to sit on them and show her disregard for them is unclear.<\/span><\/p>\n

What interests me is the confrontation with her father. Rachel says to Laban, \u201cDon\u2019t be angry with me father, for I cannot rise in front of you, the way of women is upon me.\u201d Though many interpreters assume she is saying she is pregnant or menstruating, I prefer the suggestion of feminist Bible scholar<\/span> Jacqueline Lapsley<\/span><\/a> who says, quoted in<\/span> The Torah: A Women\u2019s Commentary<\/span><\/a>, that what Rachel is saying is that the fight between them is unfairly stacked against Rachel because in a patriarchal society the only weapons she has are the ways of women (literally, \u2018<\/span>derech nashim<\/span><\/i>\u2019 Genesis 31:35). Laban has a patriarchal authority she does not. The only way for her to attempt to equalize the playing field is to take the power her father has by force. For this reason, I love the fact that feminist scholar Wendy Zierler called her book about women in modern Hebrew literature<\/span> And Rachel Stole the Idols: The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Women\u2019s Writing,<\/span><\/a> whose focus is how women \u201ctook control\u201d of the language.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel had said to Jacob, \u201cGive me children or I die.\u201d She did have children, though as Jacob wisely reminds her it is in God\u2019s hands and not his (30:2), and she did die, for Jacob himself is the one who says that whoever has taken the <\/span>terafim<\/span><\/i> should not live (31:32).<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe this moment of rebellion <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> Rachel\u2019s life, was the meaning she was seeking, the ability to confront her father and let him know what she thought of the unfairness of the household she was raised in. In that case, her life and her death have succeeded and she did for a brief, all too brief, moment gain the power she sought while sitting on the <\/span>terafim<\/span><\/i> and speaking out against Laban. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":92528,"id":92528,"title":"pro12-woman of valor virtuous woman","filename":"pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-stout-woman\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":92527,"date":"2021-04-27 12:57:09","modified":"2023-07-20 11:57:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1637,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-768x901.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":901,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-873x1024.png","large-width":873,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman.png","1536x1536-width":1310,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman.png","2048x2048-width":1637,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-1023x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1023,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pro12-woman-of-valor-virtuous-woman-358x420.png","home_baner-width":358,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"When Rachel Dies - 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