{"id":39184,"date":"2018-09-03T00:22:52","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T21:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39184"},"modified":"2022-03-28T22:21:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T19:21:39","slug":"the-widow-from-periphery-to-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-widow-from-periphery-to-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The Widow: From Periphery to Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[365,503,403],"acf":{"old_id":"39184","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":39066,"related_cahpter":"38","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Making change from not-the-center: advancing themselves, even as they advance the whole","content":"

Again and again the Torah calls our attention- in both law and story- to the widow. The widow is, categorically, marginal to society and that position makes her vulnerable, but that same marginal status affords her a unique form of power.<\/span><\/p>\n

We see this unique marginal power play out through biblical images of the widow that appear in both story and law. There are two famous biblical widows– Tamar and Ruth– and I will highlight a third, less well known widow, a woman who feeds Elijah in the book of Kings I. \u00a0Each of these women finds herself on the physical, and metaphorical, outskirts of the community. In the book of Genesis, Tamar sits at a crossroads between towns. Ruth finds herself among the poor, gleaning from the corners of a field. And the unnamed widow in the story in Kings is also found beyond the \u201cgates of the city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The women\u2019s physical locations drive home the point that they are indeed marginal to society. Yet, it is precisely these locations on the margins that offer each of them the ability to fly under the radar, break some rules, and become an active player in our biblical stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judah, the patriarch and head of the tribe for which Judaism is named, is able to have sex with Tamar without <\/span>seeing<\/em> <\/span>her or recognizing who she is. This seeming power of invisibility allows Tamar to construct a situation that opens Judah\u2019s eyes to his failures– the story ends with his declaration that Tamar is \u201cmore righteous than I. \u201d Similarly, Ruth becomes a hero of rabbinic imagination and the primary model after which we design the legal conversion process. \u00a0Finally, the widow of Kings I is able to feed the prophet Elijah, who otherwise has no access to food. Because of her widowed status, she finds her herself in a unique position to sustain a central Jewish prophet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of these women advance the story of their own narrative, but they also advance the story of the Jewish people. Tamar and Ruth are each designated by the text as ancestors to King David, and thereby to the messiah, who is said to come from the Davidic line. And Elijah, we are told, is the prophet who will return to announce the coming of the messiah. Without widows, these stories teach us, we can never reach redemption.<\/span><\/p>\n

Widows are marginalized and as a result, they need to be cared for, but they are not necessarily weak, pathetic, or powerless — in fact, living on the margins offers a kind of power. People on the margins play a unique role in the fabric of society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today this framework, and the mandate of care that comes with it, may be expanded to include any group of people who are marginal but also empowered: The disability movement, the queer movement, and the women\u2019s movements all embrace and find pride in the ability to cultivate power and make change from not-the-center.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: James Tissot The Widow’s Mite (Le denier de la veuve), 1886-1894 \/ Brooklyn Museum<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65245,"id":65245,"title":"is10-Widows_Mite_Le_denier_de_la_veuve_-_James_Tissot","filename":"is10-Widows_Mite_Le_denier_de_la_veuve_-_James_Tissot.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is10-Widows_Mite_Le_denier_de_la_veuve_-_James_Tissot.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-case-of-widows-and-orphans\/is10-widows_mite_le_denier_de_la_veuve_-_james_tissot\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is10-widows_mite_le_denier_de_la_veuve_-_james_tissot","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65239,"date":"2019-11-05 09:35:10","modified":"2022-03-28 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