{"id":55165,"date":"2019-05-08T10:01:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T07:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55165"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:19:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:19:45","slug":"deborah-a-paradox-prophetess-judge-and-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deborah-a-paradox-prophetess-judge-and-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Deborah, a Paradox: Prophetess, Judge, and General"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[874,363,627,600],"acf":{"old_id":"55165","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"215","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"One of seven prophetesses - and rich too!","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deborah was paradoxical in several respects. In a strictly patriarchal world, she was a prophetess (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nevi\u2019ah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), a judge (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shof\u2019tah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), and, like the other <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shof\u2019tim<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (see our comments on chapter two), a military leader. Such exceptionalism invites explanation, and several rabbinic and medieval sources attempt to provide it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Talmud names Deborah among the seven Israelite prophetesses (Megillah 14a) and a Midrash attributes both her prophetic and judicial status to her simultaneous devotion to her husband and to God, demonstrated by her encouraging him to advance his social standing by manufacturing wicks (hence, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lapidot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> v.4) for the lamps in the Tabernacle at Shiloh (Tanna d\u2019Bei Eliyahu 10). Yehudah Halevi\u2014as per his philosophical views\u2014would argue that God can bestow the capacity for prophecy on anyone, women included, while Maimonides would submit that prophecy is a perfection of the intellective and imaginative faculties, of which women, too, are capable. Abrabanel added the observation that anyone who could meet the Maimonidean requirements for prophecy would most assuredly command respect and that accounts for her acceptance as a judge, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another tradition, embodied in an expansive Aramaic translation<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, attributes to her great wealth, interpreting her \u201cpalm tree\u201d (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tomer<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, v.4) as \u201cShe owned palms in Jericho, orchards in Ramah, olives in Beit El, and productive soil in Tur Malka.\u201d A later Midrash takes the \u201cpalm tree\u201d more literally, justifying her service as a judge\u2014in light of the restriction on male-female interactions\u2014by identifying it as a public place where she conducted her court (Yalkut Shim`oni 42). The Zohar amplifies her accomplishments to such an extent that it declares: \u201cTwo women, of the entire world, recited the praises of the Holy One, blessed be He, as no men in the world were ever capable\u201d (3:19). They are Deborah and Hannah (of whom we shall learn more when we reach 1 Samuel).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, an alternative school of thought considers the title <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nevi\u2019ah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to mean a prophet\u2019s wife, identifying Deborah as the wife of Barak ben Avinoam (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">barak<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, lightning, being related, semantically, to <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lapidot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, torches), and attributes the manufacture of wicks to her; all considerably more traditionally feminine roles than those delineated above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Deborah Praises Jael, By Gustave Dor\u00e9, 1865 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55166,"id":55166,"title":"jud4-deborah","filename":"jud4-deborah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deborah-a-paradox-prophetess-judge-and-general\/jud4-deborah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud4-deborah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55165,"date":"2019-05-08 07:01:28","modified":"2019-05-08 07:01:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1001,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-768x961.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":961,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":1001,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1001,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1001,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1001,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-336x420.jpg","home_baner-width":336,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Deborah, a Paradox: Prophetess, Judge, and General","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"One of seven prophetesses - and rich too!","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":55166,"id":55166,"title":"jud4-deborah","filename":"jud4-deborah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deborah-a-paradox-prophetess-judge-and-general\/jud4-deborah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud4-deborah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55165,"date":"2019-05-08 07:01:28","modified":"2019-05-08 07:01:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1001,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-768x961.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":961,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":1001,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1001,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1001,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1001,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud4-deborah-336x420.jpg","home_baner-width":336,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109553,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55165\/revisions\/109553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}