Today we mark Jewish Women's Aid Shabbat. Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA), was founded in the 1980s to find ways of supporting Jewish women and children affected by domestic abuse & sexual violence. Since its foundation, JWA established refuge and counselling services, a professional Domestic Abuse Service, education programmes in schools, a national helpline staffed by 60 helpliners and a volunteer base of around 150 people around the country. JWA’s work is so important, that it inspired Jewish communities all over the world. In my country, Brazil, a helpline for women affected by abuse and violence was founded in 2021 by the Jewish Federation, having JWA’s work as their inspiration.
The issue may seem to be not as necessary nowadays when we have a more equal society. It also may seem foreign to us, as it is easier to believe that domestic abuse and sexual violence are not part of the Jewish community, that it doesn’t happen to people we know. However, in England and Wales, a total of 40,572 women were victims of sexual assault in 2021, an increase of 13% from the previous year. [i] In the same year, in Brazil, 56,098 reports of rape were registered. Meaning that a girl or woman was raped every 10 minutes. JWA supports about 150 Jewish women experiencing domestic abuse every month. Telling their stories and creating awareness, are important tools to prevent this kind of violence. Creating a network that gives care and support to those women and children, as JWA does, is a sacred work. This shabbat we celebrate JWA’s work, express gratitude for their service, and remember that, unfortunately, there is still a lot to be done.
In fact, when we read our sacred text, we realize that domestic violence and sexual abuse are by no means new problems. The biblical families about which we read were as human as we are, and often faced deep and tragic challenges.
Traveling though the most recent parashiot, we find a difficult description of human beings in their best and worst behaviors. Some of which continue until our days. In parashat Vayeira, our patriarch Avraham almost kills both his children, by sending his first-born Ishmael to the desert, and by almost sacrificing Itzhak, the son that he loves, as a proof of devotion to God. In last week’s parashah, Toldot, we faced the terrible parenting skills of both Rivka and Itzhak, who favor one child over the other, who can’t bless both their children, causing them to fight and hate each other. Next week we will read about Dina’s rape. A terrible story of violence, shame, and silence.
Today we will read parashat Vayeitzei – he went out. Iaacov leaves his parents’ home and runs from the consequences of his act of stealing his brother’s blessing. In his way to his mother’s land, Iaacov has a dream full of magical images, where he is presented with a project: “Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the west and the east, and the north and the south.”[ii]. And probably with this project in mind, however the story evolves in the middle, by the end of the parashah, Iaacov leaves his mother’s land many years later with two wives and two concubines: Leah, Rachel, Bilah and Zilpah, and their children. With them, we get to know our six imahot. Six?
It was only recently that Sara, Rivka Rachel and Lea, the four imahot, were added to the Amidah in Progressive siddurim, as a reflect of the Jewish feminist movement to make women count by saying their names and telling their stories.
In this sense, Rabbi Judith Hauptman wrote, in 1998: “If we are asking God to be kind to us today because of the merit of our progenitors, then mentioning the matriarchs is critical.” Liturgist Marcia Falk went further: “If we really intend the Avot section [of the Amidah] to refer to our “ancestors”, and if we want the whole community to feel connected to ancestral sources, we ought to begin by recalling all the biblical foremothers – including Bilhah and Zilpah, the concubines who bore four of Jacob’s sons – and proceed from there to retracting the trail of their forgotten female descendants.”
“When we rewrite the Amidah to include Bilhah and Zilpah” teaches Rabbi Susan Schnur, “we introduce into our prayers a different ethic of decency. Justice is the highest value in masculine morality, but women’s morality places a higher value on an ethic of care, whose premise is that no one should be hurt.”
Torah is not for comfort. When we think about sacred texts, the first idea is that they will bring you joy, good vibes, rest. Not Torah. Especially, not the book of Bereshit. Here we find real people living their lives and making the most unimaginable mistakes. They build, they cook, they receive visits, they get married and lose their loved ones. They face infertility and have children. They betray and kill their brothers, they mistreat their wives, they sacrifice their children in different ways. In our sacred text we hear about abuse, rape, and trauma.
Torah is not for comfort; Torah is for change. It imposes to us, humans, full of flaws, the highest moral standards. Torah teaches us that it is our responsibility to protect the vulnerable, take care of the children, treat others with respect. But to do that, we need leave our place of comfort and see our reality under new perspectives, as our ancestors did. We must see and recognize our women, say their names, tell their stories, make them count. By reclaiming women’s names and stories in our tradition, we are doing justice not only to our past, but also creating a space in the present and building a holy future.
We are here together to live our Jewish values, share Shabbat, study Torah and be thankful. Thank you, JWA, for your holy work of protecting vulnerable girls and women and allowing them to feel and be holy again.
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