The Lost Matriarch: Finding Leah in the Bible and Midrash

Index

235 index Aaron, 1 Abimelech (king), 101 Abraham, 101, 129, 172, 195; and Isaac, 6, 86; as Jewish hero, 6, 182; and Sarah, 19, 88, 89–90 Adam and Eve, 27–28 aggadah, 62, 195 Alter, Robert, 42, 61, 77, 93, 102, 159, 195 Apocrypha, ix, 195 Aramean, 21, 28, 195 Artson, Bradley Shavit (rabbi), 106–7, 195 Asenath, 157–58, 195–96 Asher, 94, 96 Ashkenazic, 196 Babylonia, 55 barrenness, 74; Leah and, 109, 148, 154, 218n18; Rachel and, 75, 79, 81, 83–84, 86, 92, 122–23 Benjamin, 71, 84, 131; tribe of, 31, 179, 184 Bethel, 114, 139, 196; Jacob’s prophecy at, 41, 84, 97, 124, 167 Bible, 196; ambiguity about Leah in, 42; as best- and worstread book, x, xiii; concept of truth in, xiii; derash method of interpretation in, 17, 46–47, 196–97; gender bias in, 9, 19, 70, 92, 106–7, 109, 144; heroes with human faults in, 65, 188– 89; on human conception and fetal development, 73–74, 113–14; interpolated episodes in, 86–87, 101, 103; introduction of Leah in, 28–29; JacobRachel ’s love as first romance in, 39–40; Leah’s direct dialogue in, 103, 105; as literature , xiii, xiv, 2, 4–5, 32, 49, 62, 71; moral commentary in, 61, 188; paucity of references to Leah in, 2–3, 9, 10, 184; peshat method of interpretation in, 15, 17, 46, 200; physical descriptions of individuals in, 34, 42, 208n42; plain reading of, 81; on punishment of descendants, 4–5, 144, 146; seen as divinely written, 49, 147; terms for sexual acts in, 104, 149–50; translation difficulties of, xv, 31, 50, 82 Bilhah, 116, 132, 196; as concubine, 91–92, 168; given as handmaiden to Rachel, 29–30; 236 Index Bilhah (cont.) given as wife to Jacob, 10, 29– 30, 87–88, 90–92, 95; and Reuben , 168–70; sons of, 92–93 birthright: Esau’s transfer to Jacob of, 7, 23, 30, 84, 173; of Reuben, 63–64 blindness, 73; of Isaac, 8, 23, 24, 49, 53, 58–59, 61, 77; Jacob and motif of, 32–33, 40 B’reishit, xv, 196 burial theme, 175, 181. See also Machpelah Canaan: Jacob’s flight from, 8, 30, 40, 84, 124–25, 130, 139, 141, 180–81; Jacob’s return to, 123, 124, 130, 137, 138, 139 circumcision, 147, 155, 158, 159 coarse language, 40–42, 51, 105, 108–9 concubines, 90–92, 196; Bilhah and Zilpah as, 91–92, 168 Dan, 92, 93, 180 David, 1, 71, 196 Deborah, ix derash, 17, 46–47, 196–97 Diaspora, 160, 197 Dinah, 197; birth of, 111–17; and Shechem episode, 144, 145–61 divine justice, 49–50, 59, 61, 146, 148 divine punishment, 83, 105–6, 144, 163. See also measure for measure Eliphaz, 37, 197 Ephraim, 167, 173–74, 177; tribe of, 179, 183, 184 Esau: anger at Jacob of, 58, 143; death of, 171–72, 180, 182; evil character of, 34, 144–45; Jacob’s confrontation with after Canaan return, 137–38, 139– 41, 142–43; Jacob’s rivalry with, 6–7, 8, 134, 138, 180; and Laban, 28, 133; and Leah, 34, 73, 143, 154, 207n39; sexual appetite of, 141, 142; and transfer of birthright to Jacob, 7, 23, 30, 84, 173 forgiveness, 83, 183 Friedman, Richard Elliott, 197 fusion of pillow stone at Bethel, 167 Gad, 94, 95–96 gender, 84–85, 87, 149, 161; Bible’s bias on, 70, 106–7, 109, 144; and Dinah’s birth, 114–16, 117, 118; midrash on, 34, 61–62, 145 guilt, 161, 176, 177 Haddakum, 155–56 Hagar, 86, 88, 89–90, 197 halakhah, 62, 197 Hamor (king), 146, 147, 153, 155–56 Hannah, ix Haran, 47, 197; Jacob coming to, 8, 17, 30, 40, 84, 124–25, 130, 139, 141, 180–81; Jacob leaving, 123, 124, 130, 137, 138, 139 Hasidism, 197 Hirsch, Samson Raphael, 160, 197 Holophernes, ix Hushim, 180, 182 Ibn Ezra, 79, 198 indeterminacy, xii Index 237 Isaac, 172; and Abraham, 6, 86; birth of, 86, 88; death of, 137– 38, 172; Jacob obtaining blessing from, 8, 30, 32, 50, 53, 57– 59, 61, 77, 97, 130, 159, 172; and Rebekah, 6, 125 Ishmael, ix, 6, 7, 29, 63, 88, 90 Issachar, 107, 110 Jacob: and anger toward Rachel, 82–83, 85–86, 87; bequest by, 167, 173–74, 177; Bilhah and Zilpah given as wives to, 10, 29–30, 87...