As I sat at Thanksgiving dinner this past Thursday, enjoying the opportunity to host my family in my home, I brought up a question to my father that had been on my mind over the previous week. The question stemmed from my study of Parashah Toldot in which Isaac sends Jacob off to Haran to find a wife from the family of Rebecca’s brother Laban. The question is asked; “Why would Isaac send Jacob away to a known idolatrous family headed by a greedy and deceptive patriarch, to find a wife?”
The commentators explain that in any given marriage the daughters will tend to resemble the characteristics of their father’s sisters while the sons will resemble their mother’s brothers. This is understood by the fact that Rebecca (also a product of an idolatrous home) had a godly disposition and character traits of kindness, hospitality and diligence which is understood to come from the feminine line of her father that included Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Therefore, Isaac sent Jacob to Laban’s family with confidence that a godly wife could be found there.
With these details in mind I began to contemplate my own lineage, and quickly came upon a quandary, for my father’s line as far back as I could remember, has produced no female offspring. There is no “father’s sister” to consider regarding my own character traits and tendencies. My father has one brother and his father had one brother, and my grandfather’s father had one brother. Yet, I was uncertain if “great-grandpa B” perhaps also had a sister, and so I asked my father over Thanksgiving dinner about this.
It turns out that my great grandfather had just one brother and prior to that the family was in Europe, residing in a now forgotten town in the southern part of Germany. With the family being small and the genealogy sketchy, any female influence in my father’s patriarchal line is information unavailable and lost to me. The “way of women” in this regard is something that I cannot know.
With this traditional understanding of lineage and character traits fresh on my mind I found myself contemplating the actions of Jacob’s wife Rachel this week in Parashah Vayetze, Genesis 31. As Jacob prepares his family to return to the land of Canaan via G-d’s command, Rachel decides to steal the teraphim belonging to her father Laban while he is away shearing the sheep. This leads to Laban’s hostile pursuit of the family as they journey toward Canaan and bitter accusations of Jacob’s character and actions. Being unaware of what Rachel had done, Jacob invites Laban to search the entire camp and vows that anyone found in possession of the idols will be put to death. As Jacob and Leah’s tents are searched, Rachel hides the teraphim in the saddle bags of her camel upon which she seats herself. After searching Rachel’s tent her father comes to her personally in v. 35;
“She said to her father, ‘Let not my lord find it annoying that I cannot rise up before you, for the way of women is upon me’. Thus he searched but did not find the teraphim.” (Stone Chumash)
Although the commentators present various opinions regarding Rachel’s motivation for taking the teraphim, they generally agree that her actions were honorable. Yet, how can it be that one who dishonored her father, concealed things from her husband, and even perhaps lied regarding “the way of women” (menstruation) being upon her (as it is very possible that she was already pregnant with Benjamin who was born while journeying in Canaan), is yet understood to be a woman of godly character? And if Rachel is a woman of honorable actions in this scenario, why do the commentators understand that her death in giving birth to Benjamin was a direct result of the vow Jacob made regarding the demise of the one in possession of Laban’s idols?
In considering Rachel’s motivation three general angles are presented by the commentators. One being that Rachel desired to discourage Laban from idol worship by removing the teraphim from his possession. Genesis Rabbah explains that Rachel’s actions were for the “sake of heaven” as she was concerned with going away to Canaan and leaving her father “in his errors”. Rashi agrees that Rachel’s desire was to “separate her father from idol worship”. Rabbeinu Bachya suggests that Rachel stole the idols in order to demonstrate to Laban that his gods were powerless. Others view Rachel’s sitting upon the teraphim hidden in the camel saddle during her time of menstruation as a deliberate act of indiscretion meant to denigrate and humiliate them.
The difficulty in this view surrounds why Rachel would keep the idols in her possession instead of burying them or destroying them. Certainly she would not return the idols to her father if she desired to wean him from worship of them. Why then did she keep the teraphim, hide them from her father, and denigrate them in a way known only to her?
A second angle as presented by Ibn Ezra and Rashbam conjectures that Laban had the ability to practice divination and discern details of the future via means of his gods. Fearing that Laban would use this ability to discover Jacob’s plans for the family’s departure, Rachel stole the idols to protect her family and enable them to depart without hindrance or violence. By taking the gods Rachel also robbed Laban of the ability to discover the whereabouts of the family as they traveled on their journey.
Again, problems occur in this view, for even without the idols, Laban is informed regarding the location of Jacob and his fleeing clan. Ultimately Laban and his cohorts overtake the family and hinder their trip anyway. Regarding the idea of protection for her family as Rachel’s motivation, Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 19:9) explains that she took the gods as a valuable bargaining tool, anticipating that Laban would attempt to hinder the family from leaving Haran. With the gods in her possession she could “obtain her father’s forgiveness” (by returning the idols to him in exchange for her father’s well wishes upon the family’s journey). According to Torah, Rachel never uses the gods in a bargaining fashion even when the opportunity to do so is presented through Laban’s searching of her personal belongings.
More modern conjectures draw on ancient Near Eastern customs in which the possession of the family idols by a woman’s husband insured his legal right to his father-in-law’s property. [1] Rachel, therefore steals her father’s gods in order to secure his possessions for her husband. Although this view seems to be supported by Laban’s insistence, when his idols are not found, that everything Jacob owns belongs to him (31:43), Torah makes clear that Jacob’s inheritance is of Isaac and Abraham and not related to Laban’s possessions or rank within his household.
A purely contextual and archeological (non-rabbinic) approach to Rachel’s actions understands the teraphim to be idols in the shape of human beings. This is based on 1 Samuel 19:13-16 in which David’s wife Michal placed a teraphim in David’s bed in order to trick Saul’s men (who were pursuing him) into believing that her husband was bedridden with sickness. From this it is understood that Michal’s teraphim where human shape and life size. Genesis 31 presents teraphim that are small enough to be hidden in a camel’s saddle. Near Eastern archaeological excavations have unearthed large numbers of small human-shaped idol/amulets, many in the form of nude females understood to promote fertility. This archaeological evidence combined with the Torah account of Michal (a woman who was barren) having teraphim in David’s home, suggests that the teraphim of the Tanakh describe typical idols of human form understood to aid fertility. [2]
With this in mind a possible motivation for Rachel’s stealing of the teraphim is as a fertility aid. With the idols in her possession she becomes pregnant with Benjamin. As she travails toward death during her delivery of Jacob’s twelfth son (Genesis 35:16-18), she appropriately names him Ben Oni which not only can be translated as “son of my sorrow” but can also allude to “son of my iniquity” — as oni has the same root (aleph-vet-nun) as the word avon which means “wickedness” or “iniquity”. In naming her son Ben Oni, Rachel proclaims the sorrowful judgment of death upon her due to her iniquity of trusting in idols. [3] Jacob, changes his son’s name to Benjamin meaning “son of the right hand”, alluding to G-d’s mercy (kabbalistically understood as represented by G-d’s right hand) in sparing the child from death.
Yet, what looks like a convincing argument based on context and historical considerations, still faces uncertainties’ for throughout the record of Genesis 31, the teraphim are referred to as Laban’s possessions and not Rachel’s (v. 19,30). This implies that Rachel had no use for the gods and never considered them her personal property.
In a most interesting conjecture regarding Rachel’s stealing of the teraphim, Rabbi Moshe Shapiro defines the basic mindset of idol worship as trust in “cause and effect”. Idolatry in its most basic form is to live life with the belief that certain efforts will produce certain results. [4] For Laban, possession of idols was understood to lead to protection and knowledge of future things.
The Ramban suggests that the word “teraphim” comes from the Hebrew root meaning “weak”. Idolatry is a weakened outlook on life that has faith in “one thing leading to another”. Such a cold, linear and purely logical mindset is blind to G-d’s involvement in the world and in an individual’s life. [5] In stealing the teraphim, Rachel’s motivation was to help Laban not rely on cause and effect. By removing the gods Rachel knew that her father would expend much effort to retrieve them and that he would surely seek out the family as they traveled away from him. In fact, the rabbi’s point out that Laban’s effort to catch up with Jacob’s caravan was so immense that he covered the same distance in a single day that it took the family seven days to travel (v. 23). Yet, despite such efforts the expected result did not occur and the gods were not found or retrieved. In this Laban faced the opportunity to question why one thing was not leading to another and why such strenuous efforts ended in failure and to thereby have his faith in “cause and effect” broken.
With this motivation in mind, if Rachel had buried or destroyed the idols she would have been guilty of the same mindset that she desired to rid her father of. For in expending such effort she would logically expect that the idols would never be found or retrieved by her father. But, by keeping the idols in her possession, Rachel trusted the outcome to G-d’s hands, for the possibility remained that the gods could have been discovered by Laban. Although Rachel made every effort to keep her father from finding his idols, remaining seated upon the camel did not assure that Laban would not discover them, for the scripture says that he continued to search but did not find them (v.35).
According to the opinion of R. Johanan in Genesis Rabbah (74:9) G-d changed the teraphim hidden in Rachel’s camel saddle into “goblets”. From this it is understood that Laban inspected the saddle bags by feeling them as Rachel remained mounted on the animal. As he groped the bags the hidden idols came into his touch. Instead of discerning the shape of carved human forms, he felt something that resembled goblets in his hands.
It is known from the story of Joseph that goblets were used as a means of divination (Genesis 44:5). Perhaps Laban concluded in feeling the “goblets” in Rachel’s saddle bag that she surely would not be in possession of his teraphim as she had tools of divination of her own (the goblets). In this way, Laban’s efforts in searching did not lead to the expected outcome of finding his idols due to G-d’s involvement rather than Rachel’s calculated efforts (to destroy or hide them).
Rabbi Shapiro further clarifies that in voicing “the way of women” was upon her, Rachel presents a living lesson to Laban for a woman’s monthly cycle represents cause and effect. Each month an egg is released from the ovary and if it is not fertilized death results and the uterine lining is shed. However, this cycle does not guarantee fertility or the conception of a child. A woman with a regular monthly cycle can have trouble conceiving while a woman with menstrual irregularities may conceive easily. Although the presence of a monthly cycle continues until menopause at age 50-55, once a woman reaches 40 years of age her fertility and likelihood of conception greatly decreases. The “way of women” speaks of the fact that cause and effect do not solely dictate life’s events. [6]
Since menstruation would not have disabled Rachel from dismounting the camel, and she certainly could have stood in her father’s presence without touching and defiling him due to niddah, Rabbi Abraham (the son of Rambam) conjectures that Rachel’s flow began at the moment Laban approached her sitting upon the camel, making it humiliating to dismount and display her soiled garments and saddle pillow. [7] It is possible that her “womanly time” came unexpectedly because she had been amenorrheic since the birth of Joseph (seven years earlier) and thereby unable to conceive. With the onset of menses again, Rachel was fertile and conceived Benjamin whom she bore on the journey to Ephrath. In this way, a beautiful example of G-d being both the means and the end, the ultimate cause and effect, was lived out right before Laban’s eyes at that very moment.
Considering the “way of women” as a physical picture that “cause” does not necessarily lead to “effect” due to HaShem’s sovereignty and involvement with the world and with individuals, brings to mind one of the most perplexing scriptures regarding women to be found in the Apostolic Writings;
“Yet she (women) will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control”. (1 Timothy 2:15, ESV, parenthesis mine)
Although commentators suggest that this verse is speaking of Mary and the birth of Yeshua as the means of salvation, the literal rendering and context cannot support this view. Understanding “saved” in this verse to speak of being “sanctified” or “set-apart” also leads to confusion and hurt for women who have never had children. Are we to think that those who have borne children somehow are holier or more set-apart for HaShem than those who have not?
The difficulty here lies in the Greek word translated “childbearing” (teknogonia/ τεκνογονία) that occurs in this one verse of the Apostolic Writings alone, and has no LXX equivalent to inform its Hebraic meaning or usage. This word is a compound of teknon/ τέκνον (child) and the base ginomai/ γίνομαι (to become). In the most basic sense teknogonia describes the ability of women to make a child “happen” or “come to pass”. Of course, the “becoming” of a child involves much more than the physical act of giving birth, but has its beginning in conception which requires a monthly cycle. In this way, all women participate in the process of childbearing to some extent, through their physical make-up and monthly rhythm which is the basis for a child “coming to pass”.
This verse is the summation of Paul’s halachah that women should not teach or usurp authority over men in the assembly of believers due to the fact that Adam was created first and that Eve was deceived to sin. The deception presented by the serpent in the Garden certainly focused on “cause and effect”. If the forbidden fruit was eaten Eve’s eyes would be opened and she would be like HaShem. Paul perhaps is then saying that through the process and details of childbearing –which has its basis in the monthly cycle and includes marriage, childbirth, and parenting– women find a means of deliverance or protection from the tendency to be deceived by or trust in “cause and effect” in their lives.
The monthly cycle brings with it a potential for conception but not the promise of it. Every woman has concepts and goals in mind regarding her relationship with her husband on their wedding day. Yet, such expectations are often unrealized or vastly different that what was first imagined as the marriage progresses through the years. The birth of a child presents great hopes and dreams. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” is the mantra and motivation for many a godly woman as she fulfills the unique role of setting the atmosphere and spiritual tone of the home. Yet, a godly child is not guaranteed despite the mother’s best efforts.
Perhaps the details and relationships involved in childbearing present the greatest opportunities in life for failure and disappointment despite one’s best and most sincere efforts. In this way, “childbearing” also provides women with opportunities to question and contemplate, to recognize HaShem’s involvement, and to have their eyes opened regarding the error of placing faith in “cause and effect” alone. But as Paul points out, such opportunities will only be fruitful if the woman continues in “faith, charity, holiness and self-control”. For infertility, singleness, marital challenges, and parenting failures can so easily lead to abandoning faith, bitterness of heart, self-focus, and excesses in thinking and in action.
. . . . . . . .
As conversation continued around the Thanksgiving table regarding family, relatives and genealogies, the suggestion was made by my mother that I should research a family tree. Actually, I have contemplated doing this many times in the past and my choice would be to research my mother’s line from which my pedigree is established (based on rabbinic thinking). I have done a bit of genealogical browsing online with little results. Yet, living in the US gives me access to the largest repository of genealogical data in the world (kept by the Mormon’s in Salt Lake City, Utah). But for some reason I find myself wary about pursuing this.
I know well enough that my focus would be to seek out the potential Jew in my family tree. With my maternal grandfather’s family hailing from Slovenia (Ljubljana) and my maternal grandmother’s line from Ireland (Dublin) the likelihood is slim that a Jewish presence would be found in the maternal line. But yet, what if it was? How would this affect the way I view myself in Messiah and in relation to Torah? Would such information tempt me to place faith in “cause and effect”?
For now I prefer to remain a “mystery woman” regarding my family line. Although “the way of women” genealogically and paternally is not known to me, the “way of women” that godly Rachel represents and that Paul perhaps expounds upon, certainly is.
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[1] The Doctrine of Teraphim, available at: http://kukis.org/Doctrines/Teraphim.pdf
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, as cited in, Mrs. Shira Smiles, Parashat Vayeitzei: Divination and Prayer, available at: http://www.naaleh.com/viewclass/325/single/
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Rabbi Abraham as cited in, Sarah Aranoff Tuchman & Sandra E. Rapoport, The Passions of the Matriarchs, KTAV Publishing House, Jersey City, NJ, 2004, p. 304
