{"id":55170,"date":"2019-05-08T15:35:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T12:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55170"},"modified":"2022-11-30T16:58:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:58:46","slug":"yael-femme-fatale-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/yael-femme-fatale-literally\/","title":{"rendered":"Yael – Femme Fatale (literally)"},"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":[392,373,600],"acf":{"old_id":"55170","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":41525,"related_cahpter":"215","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A different lens through which to view motherhood, birth, and the sources of women\u2019s power","content":"

Judges 4 begins with a prophecy. Deborah, a judge and leader in Israel, foretells that God \u201cwill deliver Sisera,\u201d the enemy commander, \u201cinto the hands of a woman.\u201d That woman is Judaism\u2019s first femme fatale \u2014 what literature has long defined as a seductive woman who brings disaster to a man who becomes involved with her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sisera was the last man standing after a losing battle against Israelite forces. He flees into the tent of Yael, seeking refuge with her. \u201cCome in, my lord,\u201d she invites him at her doorway, \u201ccome in here, do not be afraid.\u201d She covers the commander with a blanket and gives him milk to drink. Once he is comfortable and cared for, drifting off into peaceful sleep, Yael drives a tent peg through his temple.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I read the tale of Yael, I am reminded of the ancient Near Eastern goddesses who were responsible not only for life, but also for death and destruction. The scene that unfolds in Yael\u2019s tent serves as a dark inversion of birth, and I am reminded that, in antiquity, every time a woman went to bring life into the world, death, too, hung in the balance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yael welcomes the general into her <\/span>makom<\/span><\/em>, into a space that promises both safety and nourishment. She cares for Sisera as a mother would her infant, swaddling him in blankets, feeding him milk. Gently, Yael soothes the general, meeting his every need. \u201cWhen he was fast asleep from exhaustion,\u201d Judges 4:21 tells us, \u201cshe approached him stealthily and drove the pin through his temple till it went down to the ground. Thus he died.\u201d Only after she has mothered him does Yael deal Sisera a deadly blow. Then, as scholar Tikva Frymer-Kensky observes, the \u201cstealthy heroine\u2026 stands with the slain foe between her legs in a grim parody of birth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The text does not tell us why Yael kills Sisera. She is not an Israelite, but takes up their cause and becomes their hero. Soon after, Barak, the Israelite general, encounters Yael while pursuing his enemy Sisera. \u201cCome,\u201d she tells Barak, \u201cI will show you the man you are looking for.\u201d He follows her into her tent only to discover that Deborah\u2019s prophecy has been fulfilled; Sisera has been delivered into the hands of a woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike the common trope of today\u2019s femme fatale, Yael neither rejects motherhood nor uses her sexuality to ensnare Sisera. Instead, she uses her maternal instincts and the life-or-death<\/span> power of the birthing chamber to bring Sisera down. Her story offers a different lens through which to view motherhood, birth, and the sources of women\u2019s power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>Yael shows Barak that she killed Sisera. 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