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Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne

2018; Eisenbrauns; Volume: 28; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5325/bullbiblrese.28.4.0658

2576-0998

Denise C. Flanders,

In this book, Wilda C. Gafney takes a "womanist midrash" approach to (re)introduce the reader to many of the named and unnamed women in the Torah and in the monarchy. Her approach draws on the wells of her experience with classical and contemporary Jewish midrash and with the "sanctified imagination" often employed in black preaching. The discussion centers on characters in biblical narratives who are female, with an emphasis on the marginalization of those who are foreign and/or enslaved.The introduction and second appendix frame the work and should be read first. In the introduction, Gafney first acquaints the reader to the womanist framework more broadly. Gafney then defines her own womanist midrash approach as "a set of interpretive practices, including translation, exegesis and biblical interpretation, that attends to marginalized characters in biblical narratives, especially women and girls, intentionally including and centering on non-Israelite peoples and enslaved persons" (p. 3). Like rabbinic midrash, her approach is characterized by close reading and imaginative interpretation of the texts and their gaps. Like the sanctified imagination as it is engaged in the African American pulpit, her reading creatively fills narratival spaces with details such as names and back stories of characters and also modernizes, connecting the marginalization of biblical characters with that of people today.The introduction states the four primary womanist principles that characterize the work: "the legitimacy of black women's biblical interpretation as normative and authoritative," the intrinsic worth of every member of the community, challenging or "talking back to" the text, and "making it plain," as she works from translation to interpretation (p. 8).Appendix B introduces the reader to issues that arise in the work of translation, and describes the author's own approach. As Gafney notes, translation is one of the first acts of interpretation (p. 281), and she outlines seven principles of her translation practice. These include purposefully using translation to draw attention to the feminine and the females in Scripture where they are often obscured in English versions. For example, Gafney makes the grammatical gender of the Spirit explicit in her translation, rendering "She, the Spirit of God," (e.g., Gen 1:2). Where Hebrew reads beney yisrael, Gafney translates "daughters and sons of Israel."The bulk of the work between the introduction and appendix is divided into two large sections. Part 1 is a womanist midrash on the Torah with one chapter devoted to the women in each of its five books. The format of the book is such that it can be used as a handbook; each woman is listed in bold type as a separate entry, and the discussion that follows can be read independently of the rest of the book. Part 1 focuses on the perspectives and experiences of women in both narrative and legal texts in the Pentateuch, particularly those who are foreigners or enslaved. Thus, in her chapter on Genesis, Gafney invites the reader to consider the point of view of Hagar alongside that of Sarah; she attends to Bilhah and Zilphah as well as Rachel and Leah.The reading is imaginative and focuses on female experiences, even and especially when those experiences are not discussed in the text. The chapter on Leviticus contains a long entry devoted to Shelomith bat Divri (Lev 24:10), whose son "violated the Name and cursed," (pp. 122–28). Noting that Shelomith is the only named woman in Leviticus, Gafney seeks to add dimension to her character by asking questions to which the text does not give answers: was the conception of Shelomith's son consensual? What would her life have been like as the mother of a criminal? Unnamed women who are addressed by the various laws also have entries—e.g., "women who give birth," (Lev 12:2), "women with a skin disease" (Lev 13:29), "sexually active women" (Lev 15:8).Gafney regularly discusses the implications of the translational choice made for terms that refer to females. She argues that piylegseh, often construed as "concubine" in the English versions, is better translated "secondary wife" (p. 198). In a special section entitled "The Torah of Enslaved Women" (pp. 72–85), Gafney argues for the importance of rendering the terms ʾeved, shiphchah, and amah with the word "slave," rather than "maid" or "servant."As noted in the book's introduction, an important aspect of Gafney's "womanish" approach is talking back to the text, and indeed, the hermeneutic employed in the work is highly suspicious. In nearly every entry, Gafney draws attention to the harmful ideologies she identifies in the text, along with their inconsistencies. For example, she regularly notes the discrepancy of Moses's having a Midianite wife while also promulgating the law that Midianite women be killed (p. 152). She rejects ideologies behind texts (and the authority of texts themselves, when necessary) that are injurious to the marginalized. For example, in the case of Phinehas's murder of the Midianite woman and her Israelite husband and God's approval of this behavior (Num 25), Gafney suggests the reader can look to "God-beyond-the-text and reject this text as an imperfect reflection of God" (p. 147).Part 2 focuses on the royal women of Israel and Judah—those "overshadowed by Saul," those "dominated by David," and those mentioned within the reigns of later kings.Womanist Midrash is unique and badly needed in biblical studies today. By focusing on female characters, named and unnamed, it draws the reader into the stories of women, particularly marginalized women. By making connections with ways that women face oppression today, it demonstrates the profound relevance of continuing to read and preach these texts. Not all readers will embrace Gafney's approach, which confronts both the text and traditional interpretations of it at every turn. Her interpretation seems to be suspicious to a fault, and she typically does not discuss or footnote interpretations that are less so. However, it must be noted that it is not her stated purpose to do so; as is true of rabbinic midrash, her readings "reimagine dominant narratival readings while crafting new ones to stand alongside—not replace—former readings" (p. 3). Whether or not the reader finds themself compelled by every interpretation Gafney proffers, the attention she draws to females, foreigners, and the enslaved in Scripture and the challenges to dominant readings that she presents are worthy of deep reflection and consideration. This book is essential and should be required reading for anyone in the field of biblical studies, particularly for preachers, professors, and students of the OT.