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Sermons and Thoughts

In Search of Women’s Voices

13 July 2024
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein
Sermon Parashat Chukat

Did you know that there are only 33 named women whose spoken words are actually recorded in the Bible? 33! Lindsay H. Freeman observes in her book “Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter” that using the average speaker’s pace, the words of women in the Bible could be uttered in less than two hours.

Miriam, whose death is recorded at the beginning of our portion, only gets a total of 36 words of recorded speech in the entire Bible!

As Dr Liora Ravid explains: “The Bible is a masculine work, written by men for a male audience. It was written in a time when feminism and the ideas underlying this term had not yet entered anyone’s consciousness. Thus, the stories of women, and women in general, occupy a secondary position in the Bible.”

Yet when we study the Bible, paying attention to women’s lives, we learn a lot about the life of women in biblical times; it was emotionally, spiritually, and physically treacherous— and that makes their accomplishments even more extraordinary. The women cover all the stations of power as men do in the Bible, just in fewer numbers.

Let’s look at a few examples:

  • Women were not known as warriors or judges, yet Deborah was both.
  • Women did not serve as priests, yet when they— including Hannah, Hagar and Rebekah — cried out in prayer, God answered.
  • Women were not known as killers, yet Jael killed a top enemy leaders.
  • Women were not seen as political advisors, but King Saul sought out the witch of Endor (who told him, correctly, that he would die in battle the following day), and King Josiah’s assistants sought out Huldah to explain the spiritual and political meaning of scrolls, newly found in the temple at Jerusalem.
  • Women were not seen as negotiators, yet Abigail negotiated with King David not to slay her household, and the wise woman of Abel negotiated with Joab to save her town. Both were successful.
  • Women were not seen as poets, but some of the oldest and most beautiful poetry is found with women’s names attached including the Song of Miriam.

So if we just pay attention, we discover that women in the Bible are powerful and compelling examples of what it means to live in exceedingly challenging days.

They express emotions in a way that men do not, solve problems behind the scenes, and use their intuitive and intellectual skills to be God’s people— all despite the fact that they live in a world where they are seen as property, and it is rare to be loved, truly loved. Most are faithful. Most are bold. Some, with due cause, are irritating. A few are evil. Without exception, they are purpose-driven, their goals ranging from saving a nation to scavenging a last meal.

While things have much improved in terms of equal treatment of men and women since Biblical times, gender-based discrimination is still pervasive in society even if it is today quite difficult to identify. As Jessica Bennet describes in her book “Feminist Fight Club: A Survival Manual For a Sexist Workplace”: “Like the micro-aggressions that people of colour endure daily— racism masked as subtle insults or dismissals— today’s sexism is insidious, casual, politically correct, even friendly. It is a kind of can’t-put-your-finger-on, not-particularly-overt, hard-to-quantify, harder-even-to-call-out behaviour that maybe isn’t necessarily intentional, or conscious.”

On a day-to-day level, it’s watching a man instinctively turn to a woman to take notes in a meeting, or being mistaken for the admin when you’re actually the one in charge. It’s being talked over in a group setting, over and over again, or having your idea attributed to someone else (more often than not a man).

It’s when you are successful in a traditionally male environment and everyone praises you above and beyond because their expectations of you as a woman were just so low. It’s following all the rules, leaning all the way in, and still having to worry about being perceived as “too aggressive” when you display the behaviour required of a person in charge. It’s knowing that a colleague calling another woman “ambitious” is the opposite of a compliment. It’s having to be nice (because women are nice!) but not too nice (don’t wanna be a pushover) or maternal (a natural caretaker!)…. It’s having to be confident so that you can command respect but not too confident (because we don’t like cocky women).

But feminism in our age is no longer about fighting for equal rights – equality of men and women is legally well protected in the Western World. What is still too often absent is women’s voices. Yes, we had female prime ministers but while women hold 42% of board seats at big UK firms, just 10 are FTSE 100 bosses.

In nearly all subject areas, male-only panels remain a common phenomenon – so common that they even have a name: manels. Women are much less likely to be quoted in public speeches and female authors are still largely absent from reading lists. Of course, many argue that we can’t right hundreds of years of wrong in minutes and that there simply are fewer women to choose from – be it for a top job, conference panels or reading lists. That is sadly still the case but it just means we all have to try a little harder.

I am proud that The Ark Synagogue truly stands out for leading the way in terms of ensuring that all voices are heard in our community. For a number of years, we have made a conscious effort to raise up women’s voices in our sermons, writings and teachings. There are so many inspirational women who deserve to have attention drawn to them and their contributions and we hope that you will enjoy the weekly emails over this summer, when we will share some of the beautiful poetry found in the Women’s Torah commentary. With these thoughts, we invite you to pay extra attention to women’s voices because you might just discover that they allow you to see the world from a brand new perspective.