Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 10, 2025 by Carole Daman
Women in the Haftarah for Parshat Beshalach
The 14th of Shvat is the 13th yahrzeit of my mother, Rose Goldberg, Bryna Rayzel bat Avraham v’ Tcherna. She was active in Riverdale in local Jewish organizations including Bnai Brith, the Riverdale Jewish Community Council and UJA, cochairing Super Sunday for many years. She was very concerned with passing on a rich Jewish identity to her children and grandchildren and inspired me in both my religious and professional life. In her honor and in honor of the brave women of Israel in our own time, I would like to focus on the two extraordinary women in today’s haftarah.
This week both the Torah reading and the haftarah feature strong Israelite women. However, unlike Miriam, Devorah in the haftarah takes center stage. In Parshat Beshalach, Miriam leads the women in song, but they only get one verse to sing. Miriam is called a prophet in the text, but we only have a hint of what her prophecy was from the midrash explaining why she was referred to as the sister of Aaron.
In the Haftarah, Judges 4:4 – 5:31, Devorah is the author of her own song. She is called a prophet at her first introduction and the narrative in chapter 4 gives us the details of her prophecy. Her song is sung by both her and Barak, but since the verb ותשר is in the feminine singular its composition is attributed to Devorah by Abarbanel and other commentators. This song and Shirat Hayam, the centerpiece of this morning’s Torah reading, are the only two songs in the Tanach that are presented in brick form.
The narrative in chapter 4 emphasizes the roles of two women, Devorah and Jael the Kenite, in delivering the Israelites from the oppression of King Jabin of Canaan and his army headed by Sisera. While in the Book of Judges, the term שפט is used as a general designation of leadership, in verse 5 Devorah is actually pictured rendering judgments. In the next verse, she summons Barak and conveys the detailed plan that God has communicated to her. When he insists that she accompany him, she agrees but then tells him that God will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. That woman turns out to be not Devorah but Jael the Kenite to whose tent Sisera flees after he deserts his army.
Jael comes out to greet Sisera and welcomes him into her tent. She acts in a maternal manner, covering him with a blanket and giving him milk when he has requested just water. She agrees to stand watch at the entrance to the tent so he can rest, but when he is asleep she drives a tent pin through his temple and kills him.
Commentators point to the use of a tent pin to kill Sisera as evidence of Jael’s ingenuity in using a domestic object to accomplish her goal when no conventional weapons are at hand. However, I think that the Hebrew word for tent-pin יתר that appears three times in the narrative and again in Devorah’s song has a resonance that we also find in other words used in that song. The first appearances of this word occur many, many times in Sefer Shmot and then in Sefer Bamidbar referring to the pegs used for the Mishkan and its enclosure.
Devorah’s song is deeply religious. While she gives credit to herself and Jael for their actions, the song clearly attributes the victory to Hashem. The very first verse of the song ends with the words, “Barchu Hashem.” In that verse and also in verse 9 (which also ends with the words “Barchu Hashem”), she praises those who are dedicated to the people המתנדבים בעם. That hitpael form of the verb appears several times in the Book of Ezra with regard to contributions to the building of the Second Temple and several times in I Chronicles with regard to collections made by King David in preparation for the building of the First Temple. The verb in its Kal form appears throughout the Book of Exodus in connection to voluntary donations made for the building of the Mishkan. Consequently we see that Devorah is focused on more than just the physical salvation of the Israelites.
In verses 4 and 5, Devorah celebrates God’s glory in the context of his appearance at Sinai when the earth trembled and the heavens dripped. She also alludes to the Torah, God’s law, when she uses the terms חוקקי ישראל and מחקקים to describe the leaders who joined the fight in verses 9 and 14. While the root of these terms is חקק, it is clearly related to חוק meaning “law”. Indeed both Radak and Ralbag comment that the reference is to those wise men who teach the nation Torah and mitzvot.
The verse in which Devorah calls for blessings upon Jael has been interpreted several different ways. The verse begins מנשים תברךand ends באהל תברך מנשים. Rashi tells us that the “women of the tent” refers to the four matriarchs, each one of whom is mentioned in the Torah as being in or going into or out of a tent. Rashi and Ralbag both suggest that Jael is even more deserving of blessing than those women because if not for her their offspring would have been destroyed.
In a similar manner, it may be said that it is appropriate for Devorah to call herself a mother in Israel. Not only has she been instrumental in saving her people, but like a mother she castigates those who have not joined the fight and also those who did not stand up earlier when their countrymen chose new gods.
Before the song ends with a final prayer, Devorah introduces another woman who is a mother but is neither a heroic nor a righteous person. The song tells us in detail about Sisera’s mother whose attitude unfortunately seems to resemble that of some of the mothers of our enemies in the current war. She sits waiting passively for her son’s return behind the decorative window of a stone home unlike the simple surroundings in which we find Devorah and Jael. Her conversation with her female attendants provides an extreme contrast between the values of the Israelites and those of the Canaanites. As she worries about why her son is delayed, Sisera’s mother and her wisest princesses are comforted by the fantasy that Sisera and his men are busy dividing up the spoils which include two captive women to each soldier. The use of the phrase רחמתים רחם to objectify the women emphasizes the heartlessness of their attitude. The word רחם in the singular means “womb.” Not only does being characterized by a single aspect of their being dehumanize the captive women, but also the use of that term provides an even greater contrast between Israelite and Canaanite culture. The root רחם appears most frequently in the Tanach in the plural רחמים meaning “mercy.“
We do not know what motivates Jael. However it is clear that both she and Devorah extend themselves and make the most of the opportunities that they are given. It is because of women like them, the female soldiers and mothers of the modern State of Israel and all of our mothers that the Jewish people have survived throughout the centuries.
