Reformed Perspectives Magazine, Volume 10, Number 8, February 17 to February 23, 2008
The Woman of Valor:
A Former Soviet Union Russian Jewish Perspective
Part I
Rev. Ilya Lizorkin
Stellenbosch University
M. Phil. in Bible Interpretation
Hermeneutics and Exegesis of the Bible
To Pnina Lizorkin,
A humble sage, who has the courage and
perseverance to be for me the mouthpiece of
God’s Chochmah.
It is nothing, but worthless religiosity when we concern ourselves with offering
God worship but are unmindful of the sociopolitical implications of our religion”1.
Desmond Tutu
OUTLINE
Introduction
a.
b.
c.
d.
Preliminary thoughts
Eshet Hayil in Jewish and Christian context
Contribution of feminism
Strategies and methodologies
My Social Location
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Short intro into the ideological criticism
Former Soviet Union location
Russian Jewish location
Male location
Christian Ministerial location
Eshet Hayil as Literature
a. Integrity of the book
b. Acrostic structure
c. Chiastic structure
Red Shadow Perspective
a. Reading
b. Implications in general
c. Examples of implications for women
d. Examples of implications for men
Laura Donaldson, “Postcolonialism and Biblical Reading: an Introduction,”
Semeia 75 (1996): 1
1
2
Red Chuppah Perspective
a. Reading
b. Examples of implications for women
c. Examples of implications for men
Conclusion
a.
b.
c.
d.
Strategy and methodology review
The real Woman of Valor
Comparison and contrast
Final remarks
Introduction
Preliminary thoughts
My goal in writing this paper is to present my own understanding of the Eshet
Hayil passage, and to draw out real life implications of its teachings from a
distinctly Former Soviet Union Russian Jewish Perspective. As I write this paper,
I am mindful of my own interpretive concerns as a person with a particular
background and a particular present social location. I will attempt to show how
the true message of Eshet Hayil can prove to be a liberating force to both men
and women who would seek God’s Chochmah above all in the adventures,
mazes and labyrinths of their lives.
There are several main ways one can interpret the identity of the Woman of
Valor: “Does the description refer to a wife and a mother who has actually lived,
or is the passage describing all the qualities every woman should be striving to
attain, or is the “noble wife” a personification of wisdom…”2 Furthermore does the
Real Woman interpretation imply that the woman should stay home or is it giving
the women authorization to be actively engaged in life outside of the home? Yet
another interpretive option that I will seek to set forth as the most likely one
combines two seemingly opposite views. It says that indeed the Woman of Valor
is personification of Wisdom, but the portrait drawn is based on the life of real
woman during the time of its composition. There are, also, several secondary
interpretations of this passage that are mostly characteristic of Jewish Mysticism,
such as the identity of the woman as the Sabbath Queen or the Shekinah Glory.
Thomas Hawkins, “The Wife of Noble Character in Proverbs 31:10-31,”
Bibliotheca Sacra 153 (1996): 12-23
2
3
The implications of the conclusions are especially thought-provoking with regards
to God’s design for His creation order, the roles of men and women, and
contemporary issues facing the church pilgrimaging in the world. Almost with
any interpretive option that I presented in the paragraph above, there are pluses
and minuses with regards to the practical implications. We would look at some of
those main implications in some detail in the later sections of this paper.
Perhaps one of the best summaries and short introductions that could be given
for what is known as Eshet Hayil (the Woman of Valor) passage is provided by
Derek Kidner, who with simplicity and yet tremendous literary force summarizes it
in his short commentary: “In the second passage, that ‘A to Z’ of wifely
virtues…we meet many of the qualities that have colored the whole book. Here is
a woman who leaves nothing to chance; who uses her organizing ability, her
skilful hands, her business sense and every minute of her time, to create a
ménage where nothing is second rate or insecure, where wisdom and
faithfulness abound; where help is at hand for the hard-pressed and where the
family bonds are affectionate and strong. At the root of it all, we are told, is the
fear of the LORD. It is the picture of Godliness that is severely practical, of values
that are sound and humane, and of success that has been most diligently
earned.”3
The concluding section of the book of Proverbs is not simply an addendum to the
book, instead it functions as the summary, the desired end, the culmination. It not
only functions as the crown of the book, but it also looks like one. Not one, but
two Hebrew poetic methods (chiasm and acrostic) are used to express all the
beauty of finally finding Wisdom and establishing life with her. These literary
tactics converge in the same place to establish the crucial importance and
enormous dignity afforded to the passage by its author both human and divine.
Christine Roy Yoder of Colombia Theological Seminary laments the Church’s
perception of the book of Proverbs: “The book of Proverbs is largely lost as a
source of guidance and inspiration for the contemporary Christian church. The
book is featured rarely in the lectionaries and, when it is, the readings are either
from the longer didactic poems of chapters 1-9 (e.g., 1:22-31; 8:1-4, 22-31) or the
alphabetic acrostic in 31:10-31. Similarly, Proverbs (and wisdom literature more
broadly) receives relatively little attention in adult and youth church education
programs. This neglect is striking given that the primary purpose of the book is
the formation of human character; indeed, no other biblical book is more relevant
for moral education. Moreover, many of the book's concerns figure prominently
among those of today's church and society, e.g., how may people navigate
faithfully and wisely through a world of competing claims? How do we understand
individual and communal moral responsibility and teach it to the next generation?
3
Derek Kidner, An Introduction to Wisdom Literature: The Wisdom of Proverbs,
Job and Ecclesiastes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 36
4
How might we reflect ethically and theologically about everyday matters like
relationships, work, wealth, and poverty?”4 I hope in some small way to rekindle
in the reader a desire to appropriate the entire book of Proverbs5 to his or her
theology of life.
The theme of wisdom in the “wisdom literature,” especially in the book of
Proverbs has very strong connections with the themes of the Law and Covenant.
In His great covenant love YHWH gives Israel the gift of the Torah. Indeed it is
his pledge to them of His faithfulness. To live by the Torah means to live the life
of wisdom. Both Wisdom and Torah are symbolically bound around the body and
retained at all cost (Deut.6:7; Prov.1:9). In His great Covenant love Christ gives
Himself up for his church. He becomes the Wisdom-Word-Torah of God to his
New Covenant people (1-Cor.1:30).
Eshet Hayil in Jewish and Christian context
The charge that was often leveled against the Christian faith in the past by its
Jewish critics still stands today: “Judaism is a religion of the deed, Christianity is
a religion of the Creed.” Even though such a charge is at best one-sided, there is
a painful ring of truth to it. Throughout two millennia, the Christian Church in
many ways6 concentrated on hammering out religious dogmas. This of course is
not the only thing that the church was doing, but in many ways this was the
epicenter of its activity. It did so, first, by defining what those dogmas were and
later by protecting their doctrinal purity. So it does not come as a surprise that the
book that is unapologetically concerned with right living would not be on the
bestseller list of the Christian psyche. In the Christian world, the book of Proverbs
is either not studied enough or studied in truncated fashion, which often leads to
overlooking its essential message. Certainly the charge cannot be leveled
against the Christian community that it does not know Proverbs at all. Every
Christian is able to quote at least a few passages from this book; many will be
able to sum up its major themes. But it would certainly take many believers by
surprise to hear of someone committing to life-long study of this book. I do not
mean to say that the book of Proverbs has never been studied or loved in some
4
Christine E. Roy Yoder, 2002-03 Columbia Theological Seminary Theological
Research Grant: Search as for Hidden Treasures: Toward a New TheologicalEthical Reading of the Book of Proverbs
5 According to Bruce Waltke the character of Proverbs is eschatological. It is not
that proverbs are “good for you”. It is not that they are “right most of the time”, but
that they the operational manual of wise eternal living and are completely true
within its eschatological context of the “not yet”.
6 There were periods and movements that all, but dogmatic (missionary, mystical,
etc), but I hear refer on the emphasis that the church placed on the doctrine per
se.
5
corners of the Christian community; I am rather referring to the more popular
level. Our passage is a good example. Indeed the use of Eshet Hayil may be
called seasonal in that it is only thought to concern young men who are looking
for a bride, and young women who strive “to be all God wants them to be.” Once
the marriage takes place, of course the husband and wife would both look to this
chapter for inspiration to righteous, but sadly only female conduct.
Various forms of rabbinical Judaism, however, historically placed much of its
interest in the application of the Bible to life, hence the lengthy and to modern
eyes, especially non-Jewish modern eyes, boring, and at times senseless
discussions of the Talmudic personalities, many of which deal with incredibly
detailed and seemingly irrelevant things. Jewish tradition sees “…five main
images of women in the Tanakh: the Eshet Hayil, the woman of Proverbs 31 and
elsewhere; the Imahot, the women who act in the holy history of the Jewish
people and its God; the Ra´ya, the woman of the Song of Songs; the Isha, the
woman as a legal category; and the Anusa, the woman as victim. There are also
some subcategories, including: the Isha Zara, the woman who is not a blood
member of the people; the Zona, the sexually active woman unencumbered by a
legal relationship to a man; and the No'efet, the whoring wife.”7 The only real
woman, however, who is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as a Woman of Hayil is
Ruth. She is commended for her loyalty, persistence and resourcefulness (Ruth
3:10-11). Boaz assures Ruth (v.11) that it is a common knowledge in the
community that she is indeed a woman of Hayil.8
Sometime in recent history, in the desire to enrich Sabbath family worship, the
reading/singing9 of Eshet Hayil became a traditional part of the Sabbath Liturgy,
where the literal view is taken and the husband and the children rise up to sing of
the qualities of the wife and the mother of the house employing the very words
under our consideration.”10 Throughout the rabbinical writings, Eshet Hayil is
referred to in passing and one finds an overabundance of biblical women who in
the minds of the Talmudic authors are Eshet Hayils of their generation and their
place. Shulamit Valler in her article entitled “Who is Eshet Hayil in Rabbinic
Literature?” recalls the following Talmudic connection with Sarah, one of the
David R. Blumenthal, “The Images of Women in the Hebrew Bible,” available at
http://www.emory.edu/UDR/BLUMENTHAL/ImagesWomen.html#fn19
8 Christine Roy Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic
Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31 (Berlin: WdeG, 2001), 77
9 “R. Sampson Raphael Hirsch comments on King Solomon’s ode to the Woman
of Valor. In Proverbs: “Even if from the all the past history of our womanhood, the
word of the sacred scriptures would have preserved for us nothings else but this
glorious testimonial, this one hymn in itself would one most forceful refutation of
the fable fabricated by inconceivable thoughtlessness that the Jewish woman of
ancient history had been enslaved and degraded.” The Hirsch Siddur (Jerusalem
and New York: Feldheim, 1978), 290
10 Adin Steinsaltz, The Woman of Valor (Jerusalem: Hamakor Press, 1993), 7
7
6
Eshet Hayils of the Hebrew Bible: “The representation of Sarai as a female figure
who delivers God’s intentions to Abraham places her on a higher spiritual plane
than him. Indeed, Sarah is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as one of seven
woman prophets (B.Meg.14a). An extreme expression of the spiritual superiority
attributed to her is recorded in Gen. R. 47a, in a debate between Rav Aha, a
Palestinian Amora of the fourth generation, and some anonymous sages about
the connection between verses from Gen.17:15-16 and Prov. 12:4. This is the
debate: ‘And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her
name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name”’ (Gen.17.1). ‘A virtuous woman is a
crown to her husband’ (Prov.12.4). Said Rav Aha, “Her husband was crowned
through her, but she was not crowned through her husband.” The rabbis said,
“She was master of her husband. In every other context the man gives the
orders. But here, ‘In all Sarah says listen to her voice’ (Gen.21.12).”11
However, it is not true that Judaism has always and at all times in all of its
movements treated this passage with appropriate care. German feminist scholars
Loise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, and Marie-Theres Wacker in their work entitled
Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Woman’s Perspective comment on the
Septuagint translation of this Hebrew poem that may express the view
traditionally accepted by the rabbis of the time. They write: “The Septuagint could
not bear the elevated valuation and praise of woman at the end of Proverbs 31
and has significantly changed the text in 31:28 and following. It is not the woman
who fears YHWH, but it is the sensible woman who is to be praised; she is to
extol the fear of YHWH and it is not she, but her man who is to be honored at the
city gate.”12 The abovementioned references are not the only examples of
diminishing the dignity and role of women in the Jewish mostly extra-biblical
texts. The truth is that Judaism’s official commentaries cut both ways in their
positive and negative statements and teachings with regards to women.
“Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the term Hayil refers broadly to the quality of
strength and is used of men who are soldiers, officers or brave warriors. These
persons are able-bodied, courageous, and loyal to their service…elsewhere the
term Hayil refers to wealth, property and profits from trade. Men with Hayil in
these contexts are professionals, managers of property, landowners and
community leaders. Generally, then, the men with Hayil are men of power and
capacity…yet, when a woman with Hayil is identified as the subject of Proverbs
31:10-31, her title is variously translated us “a good wife,” “a capable wife,” “a
good housewife,” “a true lady,” “a wife of many parts,” or an “ideal wife.” With
some exceptions, there is a notable reticence to use the same language of
“substance,” power, and wealth for her as is used for her male counterparts,
Shulamit Valler, “Who is Eset Hayil in Rabbinic Literature?” in: Athalya
Brenner, A Feminist Companion to Wisdom Literature, (Sheffield Academic
Press, 1995), 89
12 Loise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, Marie-Theres Wacker, Femenist Interpretation:
The Bible in Woman’s Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), 97
11
7
despite all evidence to the contrary.”13 It is common knowledge that young
women who are well educated, well trained, accomplished, smart and can in
many other way be characterized as Women of Substance, in spite of their
beauty are not attractive to men looking for a wife. They can in many cases end
up in the old maid category. Men generally feel threatened by the strength of a
woman. Men feel that a woman has to be weaker than they are, so that they can
be the “man of the house” providing and benefiting their wives and as such feel
that they are worth something. The picture here is different, however. The worth
of a man does not come from being productive or being “the man of the house”,
but in being married to a woman who is Eshet Hayil.
Feminist contribution
In an attempt to define what I here refer to as the feminist contribution, it is
helpful to quote C.H. Felder’s definition of “Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation.” He
defines it this way: Afro-Centric Biblical Interpretation is “the concept that Africa
and persons of African descent must be understood as making significant
contributions to world civilization as proactive subjects within history, rather than
being regarded as mere passive objects in the course of history.”14 I believe that
there is a way in which feminism can be defined along the same lines.
We need to be mindful of the fact that in its proper application, the spirit of
feminism is biblical, God-approved and holy. Just as the Afro-Centric
interpretation does not necessarily lead to Black Israelite Theology,15 the peculiar
position that the people of African descent are the true Jews of old. So also, true
feminism does not necessitate female domination, the lesbian agenda or any of
the other things that traditionally produce fear in the hearts and minds of many.
At the heart of feminism proper there is a democratic idea of equality. Women in
theology, church, family, workplace, university or any other area of life should not
be marginalized. They should be offered rights equal to those of male gender. I
am not here advocating that within the equality of human treatment there may not
be differences of roles between man and woman, but rather I am saying that the
feminist gift is a gift of equality, the right to happiness and fulfillment of purpose
for women, as much as for men.
13
Christine Roy Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic
Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31 (Berlin: WdeG, 2001), 76-77
14 C.H. Felder, “Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation,” in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of
Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 13
15 On the streets of New York City one would often encounter very strange
groups standing on the streets dressed as ancient warriors of sorts, with Jewish
symbols placed all over them. They call themselves Black Israelites. Claiming
that “white” North American Jews have no claim whatsoever to the Jewish
ancestry. They believe that people of color are the true ancient people of Israel.
8
In spite of the fact that I agree with Felder in his claims that the biblical world is
pre-racist (or color-blind),16 I am here cautioning the reader to keep in mind that
Biblical literature was written within the context of a highly patriarchal society17
and does not follow in the steps of colorblindness when it comes to gender.18
“…we have to remind ourselves that, with the exception of the advice of the
Queen Mother to Lemuel (31:1-9), this is literature written by men for men.”19 Gail
Yee helps us to understand how the patriarchal ideology of the day played an
important part in the world described in the Bible. Ideology she writes is “… a
complex system of ideas, values, and perceptions held by a particular group that
provides a framework for the group’s members to understand their place in the
social order. Ideology20 constructs a reality for people, making a bewildering and
often brutal world intelligible and tolerable. Ideology motivates people to behave
in specific ways and to accept their social position as natural, inevitable, and
necessary.”21 To say that the Bible is ideological literature is not necessarily
C.H. Felder, “Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation,” in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of
Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 13
17 An illustrative examples of the traditional popular understanding of the Bible is
the interpretation of Christ: Against the background of the reality of their own
lives, the people see him as either the suffering, defeated, powerless one, with
whom they can identify, or the heavenly ruler who is depicted with the insignia of
the colonial rulers and who legitimizes their rule. In the first case, Christ’s
resurrection plays almost no role; in the second, his saving death is scarcely
present. T. Schmeller, “Liberation Theologies,” in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of
Biblical Interpretation K-Z (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 66
18 Just as the passages in the New Testament are not exactly up-to-date with
God’s program for social justice with regards to slavery. (The passages I am
referring to are not wrong, but they are prospectival in nature, they are not
everything that God’s heart had to say about the evil of human race-based
slavery).
19 Joseph Blenkinsopp, Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament: The ordering of
life in Israel and early Judaism (Oxford: Oxford University, 1990), 26
20 In its broadest sense, ideological criticism examines ideology at work in three
variables of biblical interpretation: the author, the text, and the audience…
Ideological critic examines the social structures, relations, groups, and interests
that profited under a particular mode of production and those that were deprived
under it… Its interdisciplinary utilization of historical, social-scientific, and literary
methods makes ideological criticism a more inclusive method, offering exciting
possibilities for biblical studies. G.A.Yee, “Ideological Criticism,” in: J.H. Hayes,
Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 535537
21 G.A.Yee, “Ideological Criticism,” in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical
Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 535
16
9
pejorative. Defined neutrally, ideology denotes: “the system of assumptions and
conviction against which everything in the story…is evaluated.”22
When we think of Feminism we need to remember that there are significant
differences in various movements around the world that get labeled as
“Feminism.” To imply that feminism is just feminism is similar to suggesting that
there was only one type of Judaism at the time of Jesus. For the purpose of this
paper, it would be sufficient to point out that significant differences exist in the
feminist movements between former socialist countries in Eastern Europe and
those in the West.23 Russian feminism in many ways was propagating the very
thing that western feminism was rebelling against.
Strategy and methodologies
My strategy and methodology are clearly stated in the paper’s outline. First I will
introduce the book of Proverbs and the passage under discussion, asking
preliminary questions and pointing out some themes of the paper. Secondly, I will
seek to identify my own social location by applying the tool of ideological criticism
to my own understanding of the Scripture. Thirdly, I will use literary criticism to
help me tease out the main issues/teachings of our text, paying attention to
certain literary devices the authors used in composing this work of theological
art/poetry. Fourthly and fifthly, I will present a reading and the implications of this
passage from the Former Soviet Union and Russian Jewish perspectives. Finally,
I will conclude by summarizing the results and the implications drawn out of my
study.
In this paper I am primarily using two methodologies: Form Criticism and Reader
Response Criticism. These two methodology among many others are discussed
in greater detail in my paper called “The Story of Interpretation: From First
century to the Twenty-First.” Both methodologies that I will be employing are the
product of the last two hundred years of research in Biblical Hermeneutics.24
22
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text: The Bible, the Reader
and the Morality of Literary Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1998), 175
23 Similar phenomena can be noticed with Rock Music in Soviet Union as oppose
to in the West. Rock in England and U.S. was expression of rebellion against
traditional morality, family and church-related values, where is in former Soviet
Union rock musicians represented the rebels who were rebelling against the
communist establishment. So it is that many lyrics of secular Rock bands are
deeply religious and some are expressly Christian in their worldview.
24 The methods displayed in exegesis show that there are really three main
periods: 1) Pre-critical, 2) Critical and 3) Post-critical those correspond to prescientific and scientific ages. Attention at times was given more to the Author, at
times more to the Text, and more recently to the Audience.
10
Form Criticism is the analysis of a text according to typical, identifiable literary
forms by which people of a given cultural context express themselves
linguistically.25 Gunkel himself noted two broad literary classifications, prose and
poetry, the former including myths, folk-tales, sagas, romances, legends, and
historical narrative; the latter, wisdom and prophetic oracles, secular lyric poetry,
hymns, thanksgiving, eschatological psalms, etc.26 From ancient times students
of literature, linguistics and folklore have been trained to distinguish the different
patterns of speech used to make a point: poetry and prose, proverb and parable,
commandment and oracle, miracle story and myth, lament and joke, etc. Some of
these are clearly identified in the Bible: the OT book of Proverbs and the NT
parables of Jesus, for example…27
Reader-Response Criticism,28 on the other hand is the study of meaning in a
biblical text as perceived by a particular interpreter. It is not that the text lacks
meaning, but that it is overabundant with it. With the advance of the 20th century
hermeneutical theories… traditional picture began to slowly give way to the more
contemporary view that the audience as an interpretive community has
something to contribute to the meaning of the text it was reading. In other words
its job was no longer to slice and dice the text until the bone and marrow of
original meaning surfaces, on the contrary what began to be emphasized is the
conditionality or contextually of the interpretive act.
The reasons for my choice of methodologies are fairly simple. First, I have
chosen these methodologies because Proverbs 31:10-31 is among the best
examples of how the OT writers used literary devices of their day to
communicate their messages to the intended audience. Secondly, the nature of
25
Bruce Corley, Steve Lemke, Grant Lovejoy, Biblical Hermeneutics: A
Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scriptures (Nashville: Broadman and
Holman Publishers, 1996), 365
26 Ibid., 72
27 Mahlon H. Smith, A Synoptic Gospel Primer. Available at
http://religion.rutgers.edu/nt/primer/form.html
28 An intriguing example of Reader-Response Criticism can be seen in how
various groups of people interpreted Tolken’s trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.”
Tolken was a committed Christian who was immersed in the world of Scripture
and Literature. His heart and mind was drenched with Bible. However, what he
wrote was by no means, as many Christians interpreted it, Tolken’s interpretation
of the Bible, hidden in fantasy world of the Middle Earth. Nor was it simply the
World War II displayed as a magical tale of the great evil Adolf Hitler rising to
power against the people of the Earth, as many people that dismiss Tolken’s
deeply held Christian convictions, reason. Tolken dismisses both extreme views
of his work in his Introduction to the Lord of the Rings. But the Christian
interpretive community contributed to the meaning of Trilogy from the perspective
of its own needs and worldview.
11
the assignment presupposed that I would be engaged in the Reader Response
Criticism on some level since the paper’s explicit assignment originally had to do
with the Post-colonial South African perspective and now with “Former Soviet
Union Russian Jewish Perspective.”
My Social Location
I have been married now for over 8 years. I love my wife, and I know that the
commitment is mutual. But as with any married couple our communication skills
always need improvement. Recently, I was washing dishes, while Pnina my wife
was feeding our toddler daughter. She came up to the kitchen to check on
something. I used this opportunity to ask a question about placing her favorite
crystal glasses in a particular way (in the past I have been known to ignore the
rules of kitchen dishwashing). Pointing to the glass, I moved out of the way, and
asked if it was placed correctly. Pnina quickly responded: “Why don’t you move
so that I can see?!” “Move? Can’t you see it from there?!,” I challenged her
assertion that she could not see the glass from where she was standing. “No”,
she stubbornly continued. In disbelief, I glanced at the glass, at where I was
standing, and where she was standing. I was reassured by my short investigation
that I was in “the right.” It was so clear! I saw it with my two eyes! Pnina quickly
disappeared and in her familiar quick-thinking way returned with our digital
camera and moving to the exact spot where she had been standing, pointed the
camera towards the place where I continued to hold my ground. I was relieved.
Finally, she would have to accept my point of view and concede that I was
correct after all. But the monstrous level of today’s technological advancement in
the area of photography applied the final blow to my confidence as an objective
viewer. I was shocked when I saw the picture from my wife’s point of view as
captured by the camera. I was clearly in the wrong. You could not see the glass
since it was completely covered by me.
Perspectives or points of view are very important in the process of interpretation.
Sometimes opposing points of view are both right in some sense, but it was
clearly not the case this time. I was wrong and Pnina was right. I, however,
needed to move away from where I stood in order to see the truth and be
persuaded of its legitimacy. Nothing less would have done it, nothing less what
have challenged my pride, nothing less would have caused me to be persuaded
of how I needed the perspective of others to know God’s created order better.
Before I can look at any issues from the perspective of others, I need to clearly
understand my own position.
What exactly is my geographical, sociological, educational, philosophical,
gender, physiological and economical location? 29 Who am I? Why do I interpret
T.Okure defines the meaning of social location in the following way: “By social
location I understand the sum total of human experience that shape the lives of
29
12
life the way I do? What lies beneath the obvious? Which of my values are
predetermined by my upbringing and current situation? Calvin was right when he
wrote that “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound
wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”30
In order for me to identify my own interpretive concerns and evaluate my own
social location, it would be appropriate for me to set forth a working definition of a
Russian Jew: “A Russian Jew is a Russian-speaking person with at least one
parent31 of European (mostly, but not exclusively) Slavic32 Jewish ancestry, who
the persons connected with the Bible on three different levels: 1) The level of
peoples in the Bible and of the Bible itself…, 2) the level of biblical authors and
their respective audiences… and 3) the level of readers/interpreters of the Bible
throughout the course of history up to the present day…” (T. Okure, “Reading
from this place: some problems and prospects”, in: Segovia, FF and Tolbert, MA.
Reading from this place Volume 2. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 52-66
30 Calvin’s basic concept here is discoverable in Clement of Alexandria’s
Instructor in. 1 (MPG 8. 555 f.; tr. ANF 2. 271: “If one knows himself, he will know
God”), and finds frequent expression in Augustine. In his Soliloquies 1. 2. 7,
Augustine has this dialogue: “I desire to know God and the soul.” “Nothing
more?” “Nothing whatever”; and in 2. 1.1 occurs the prayer, “Let me know myself,
let me know thee” (MPL 32. 872, 886; tr. LCC 6. 26, 41). Cf. Aquinas: “Sacred
doctrine is not concerned with God and the creatures equally. It is concerned
with God fundamentally, and with the creatures in so far as they relate to God as
their beginning or end.” Summa Theol. 1. 1. 3 (tr. LCC 11. 38 f.). (John Calvin,
Institutes of Christian Religion, Book I).
31 Why at least one parent of Jewish ancestry? In Jewish law as defined by the
orthodox branch of today’s Judaism, Jewish ancestry is traced through the
mother, while in Reform Judaism (the fastest growing Jewish movement within
the U.S.) Jewish ancestry is traced through either of the parents. In the former
Soviet Union the common understanding was that your ethnicity was determined
through the father not through the mother. This practice of course is more in line
with the biblical, largely patriarchal accounts. In genealogies for example, rarely
does it refer of someone as son of such and such woman, on the countrary, it is
the father by whom the identity of the son or daughter is determined (Gen.4:332).The traditional rationale given to the switch in Jewish orthodoxy from the
biblical father to the post-biblical mother identification comes from the practical
concerns for social protection of the individual who was born as product of rape
by a Roman solder of a Jewish woman during the time of Roman Empire. The
father in those cases could rarely be found, but the mother was always by the
child’s side. But what was originally designed as protection for children that were
the product of rape, eventually became the standard definition for everyone. So
much so that in modern Israel, in which the orthodox are deeply disliked by the
average person on the street, but are in control of much of Israeli policy making,
someone of ¾ Jewish ancestry would not be officially recognized as Jewish, if he
13
in his or her psyche33 views him or herself as ethnically or culturally and to
various extend traditio-religiously34 Jewish, but carries within him or herself the
stamp of highly secular Former Soviet Union upbringing, whether consciously or
un-consciously.”
Former Soviet Union location
“The October Revolution of 1917 brought to power a radical socialist government
that denounced the family as a bourgeois institution, undermined the institution of
marriage, and promised the liberation of women. Aleksandra Kollontai, the
leading Bolshevik feminist, declared in 1923 that the Soviet state would "lift the
burdens of motherhood from women's shoulders and transfer them to the state."
She added that "the family, in its bourgeois sense, will die out." Yet by the 1930s,
official Soviet culture endorsed strong families, glorified motherhood, and strove
to raise the birthrate. The Soviet government also made divorce more difficult
and outlawed abortion. The country that had embarked upon the great socialist
experiment, reverted to a very traditional family model and an essentialized
notion of women's "natural role" as mothers.”35 Despite the liberationist feminism
of many in the communist leadership, they were largely unsuccessful in bringing
about any change.
In the former Soviet Union36 there is a veneer of equality of woman and man, but
in reality the doctrines of female inferiority are propagated in the family, on the
or she had a non-Jewish grandmother on the mother’s side, while some one who
is ¼ Jewish would be, if his mothers mother was Jewish.
32 Not all Soviet Jews would consider themselves Russian Jews; this refers
largely to the Jewish people of Slavic Jewish ancestry.
33 Why is self-defining psyche important? In the history of the Jews, there were
many people who have dismissed their Jewish identity and either worked to
disown it or went further to become what is known in history as self-hating Jews.
I have met many people who are Jewish ethnically on various levels of ethnic
mix, some 100%, some 50%, some 75%, all of them have various levels of
identity. Some of them think of themselves as Jews, some don’t. Some are
deliberate in their self-identification; some are deliberate in their dismissal of their
Jewish background and never think of themselves as Jewish at all.
34 By this I mean that there are Russian Jewish committed atheists, who do not
subscribe to any religion, but when it comes to burials and weddings, they would
incorporate traditional customs into the practice, even though they do not believe
in the God represented by these customs.
35 David L. Hoffman, “Mothers in the Motherland: Stalinist Pronatalism in its PanEuropean Context,” Journal of Social History (Fall, 2000).
36 In the considerable large part of the former Soviet union called the Central Asia
Republics (Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Khazahstan, etc) there was also a high,
14
street and at the state level. There are five main areas in which this claim could
be clearly sustained.
Language
The concept of female inferiority is deeply embedded in the former Soviet Union
male and female psyche, and is manifested by many things, but particularly by
the use of language that degrades women. Women themselves would use this
language, for example they would refer to another woman, by saying: “She is just
a babah.” The word babah refers to a female, but it connotes the uneducated,
impolite, incapable, thoughtless and in general worthless woman.
Humor
Russian culture was a culture that highly valued humor. Anecdotes were at the
very foundation of its everyday life.37 Not only ethnic minorities like Jews,
gypsies, various peoples of the North portion of Siberia, but also Women were
ridiculed and humiliated. Whether the jokes were pornographic, abusive, or
simply degrading to women by implying their stupidity and inferiority, all of them
contributed to the poor treatment of women in the former U.S.S.R and the
modern CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).
Posterity
To have a daughter born to you was acceptable, but to have a son was much
more honorable. It was argued that the son continues the family line (perhaps in
name only) and the son cannot get pregnant when he fools around (it gives the
father less to worry about.). Whichever other reasons are given about boys’
superiority to girls, they fall into the same faulty line of thinking.
Sex
It was considered good for a man to have sex before marriage. Indeed it was
expected that a man would have a fairly active sex life before he marries. But
when a woman was involved in sex before marriage, harsh condemnation
followed. The inconsistency in judgment illustrates the unfairness deeply
imbedded in the culture. Men were glad to use women’s bodies for sex, but
would look for virgins to marry. A prostitute in the Proverbs 6:26 is characterized
as a woman who devalues men, making their value equal to the value of a loaf of
albeit superficial view of woman. In the public transportation it would be unheard
of, if a woman would be standing, but a man sitting. The man would always get
up to let the sit on the bus be used by a woman standing next to him.
37 The people used private humor to get back at the ruling communist party.
Comedians were in reality political leaders who contributed to the fall of Soviet
Empire.
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bread. The attitude that the men often display is also one of prostitution, when
they cheapen the value of the woman.
Chores
One of the leaders of the Soviet Feminist movement, Alla Sariban writes: “…the
majority of women here are forced to work for the government and spend as
much time on the job as do men. And it is not because everyone is eager to
work. It is simply that if they do not, they would not be able to have their ends
meet. Women’s salaries constitute an essential contribution to the family
budgets. But, it is well known, that the Soviet woman’s main work begins after
official hours are over. That is when they start on the house work and the
everyday business of living.”38
Russian Jewish location
Larissa I. Remennick provides some statistical background when she writes
about the Russian Jews in the Soviet Union: “Soviet Jews were a prominent
ethnic minority due to their concentration in the largest cities, very high
educational level (over 60% holding academic degrees), and work in professional
or white-collar occupations. The percentage of Jews in engineering, science,
education, medicine, and culture was much higher than their share in the
population. Due to state anti-Semitism, most Jews occupied the middle tiers in
their professions, and relatively few reached high status, with respective material
gains. Since low- and middle-rank specialists in most white-collar occupations
(e.g., doctors and academics) were low-paid, Soviet Jews were not much better
off than non-Jews. Yet their social placement and informal networking gave them
access to some important non-monetary resources in health care, culture, and
various services.”39
A woman in the Russian Jewish community would be working and also taking
care of the house-related matters. There was, however, to a greater degree a
sub-conscious obligation to be not only highly achieving in the workplace, but
also an exemplary wife and especially mother. Russian Jewish mothers highly
38
Alla Sariban, The Soviet Woman: Support and the Mainstay of the Regime in
Mamonova, Women and Russia: Feminist Writings from the Soviet Union
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1984), 205
39 Larissa I. Remennick, “Women of the "Sandwich" Generation and Multiple
Roles: the Case of Russian Immigrants of the 1990s in Israel,” A Journal of
Research (March, 1999) available at http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2294/56_40/55082328/p8/article.jhtml?term=
16
valued musical education40 as well as other cultural pursuits. If one were pressed
to identify which of the two (work excellence or raising a family) was a greater
priority for Russian Jewish mothers, we would have chosen the second. Even
among non-Jews, marrying a Jewish girl often times meant making the right
choice for your future wife and the mother of your children. There was an
unspoken expectation for the Jewish woman to succeed in making and keeping
the family together. In other words, family and its stability was among the highest
values for the Russian Jewish woman.
I was raised and in many ways was indoctrinated with the same values. I have
certain expectations of Jewish women. I have certain roles clearly spelled out in
my mind, not because I have critically assessed them and confirmed their
authenticity and moral superiority, but because I was raised in them from my
childhood on into my marriage to the Jewish Woman who succeed my mother.
All ethnic backgrounds are egocentric. The Russian Jewish background is
certainly not an exception. Unless I am mindful of my own blind spots as well as
my own hermeneutical presuppositions, I will not be able to resist the temptation
to come to our passage without putting my culture-conditioned reading through
the filter of critical thinking.
Male location
In some ways, trying to understand Eshet Hayil being a male41 is not only a huge
disadvantage, but, perhaps, puts into question whether a truly balanced
interpretation is even possible. Mel Gibson is not only famous for the latest movie
that is causing so much debate all around the world, but also for scores of other
40
The City of Odessa in Ukraine, boasts not only beautiful beaches, but also
unusual amount of great writers and musicians that it has produced. Otherwise
an unexplainable phenomenon is easily understood, if one considers that ¼ of
Odessa’s population in the 20th century were the Russian Jews. A century before
that Odessa was known to be the center of the European Jewish community.
Russian Jewish mothers should be given their rightful credit for encouraging and
raising the new generations of songwriters, artists, poets and world famous
musicians.
41 Context, context, context…“The Bible helps people to feel a oneness with the
Palestinian peasants and places them in a similar context of redemption and
exploitation. The Bible, for instance, helps the Nicaraguan peasants to see easy
parallels between Roman-occupied Palestine and Somoza-ruled Nicaragua.”
R.S. Sugirtharajah, The Bible and the Third World (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001), 218
17
movies that he played in. One of the memorable ones and the one whose
storyline is relevant to the subject of this paper is the movie: “What Do the
Women Want.” In it an advertising firm run mostly by males has the task of
pitching their product to a female audience. They fail miserably in all of their
attempts to bridge the gender gap. In essence, they fail to understand the very
thing that they set out to comprehend. In the movie the ultimate salvation for the
firm comes when the character played by Mel Gibson gets electrocuted, which
caused an anomaly to develop in his brain. He can now hear women think when
he comes into close proximity to them. However, one thing is certain, getting
electrocuted and understanding woman is a fantasy that cannot be relied upon
for this paper’s methodology. Whether trying to advertise female products or
seeking to get a grasp on our passage, humility and realistic expectation is in
order. The closer we come to understanding the interpretive, social and
psychological concerns of women, the more hopeful we can be of the results of
our study.42
Christian Ministerial Location
At the risk of lengthening the introductory part of this paper to inappropriate
length, one other issue needs to be made clear about my social location. I am a
Hebrew Christian, that is I am ethnically Jewish, but subscribe to religious
believes that traditionally are not recognized as acceptable within any branch of
mainline Judaism. In my best judgment Jesus of Nazareth is the Promised
Messiah. It is my belief that when early gentiles were becoming followers of
Jesus it was clear to them (since many of them were godfearers) that they were
joining the ancient faith of Israel now offered to them through the Gospel; they
were not, as many believe, converting to another religion, even though many
noticeable difference existed between Israel’s faith in OT and NT administrations.
So with all of my heart I serve the spiritual needs of Russian speaking people in
Philadelphia as the pastor of Rock of Israel Presbyterian Church that consists of
42
So pervasive is my maleness in this paper that as I finished the first draft of the
implications contained in the Red Shadow and Red Chuppah sections, it took
others who read and gave me their feedback to point out to me that everything
that they read was written and applied almost exclusively to the things that are
predominantly man’s issues in talking about the Woman of Valor. As a cat will
naturally land on its four paws after being thought up and twisted it the mid air, so
will my paper doomed to be written from the male perspective. The strength of
this paper will lie however not in its avoidance of the male prospective altogether,
but in conscious effort to think outside of its own hermeneutical box.
18
Jews, Muslims and others who worship together in love and mutual acceptance
through Jesus Christ their King.
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