I thought they were all sisters!

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The farming instruments, or the law books?

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The mothers of the sons. The women Dinah refers to as her mothers.

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The mothers of the sons. The women Dinah refers to as her mothers.

Rachel and Leah are sisters. Bilhah and Zilpah are their maids. (I think Diamante makes them the daughters of one of Laban's other wives, but I can't find any justification for that in the bible.)

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Bilhah and Zilpah are their maids

Huh. Which makes sense of the serious dissing of Jacob marrying some of the sisters and turning the others into concubines. I liked that Jacob and Leah have a passionate, physically happy marriage while he and Rachel have another sort. All the Bible interpretatons make Leah out to be some dried up shrew.

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I do enjoy the sort of story that examines what could have been going on alongside the official recorded version of events. It provides me with a 3-D effect somehow.

My re-read is only up to Part II, but I don't remember thinking that the men had been universally vilified, though I surely did dislike Laban throughout, and (whozzizface) and (brother) when they were getting revenge for the family honor by slaughtering everybody. It seemed so wasteful and pigheaded.

Re: Blood rituals: the menarche ritual didn't bother me, it was much more benign than cutting someone's throat to bless the fields. Kinda gross, sure, but so is wearing woolen clothing with no showers or Arrid Extra-Dry.

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So. The Red Tent has drawn me out from under the fig tree where I've been lurking for lo, these past couple years. Hello, everyone! I feel I should apologize for eavesdropping for so long without so much as supporting anyone in email.

Anyways. I'm in this lovely peaceful sated place right now, having just finished Diamant's Midrash. I wasn't sure I would like it when I began, but I, um, did.

I'm reminded of The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, which took a similarly differing slant on the King Arthur legends. In the end, though, I disliked (actually, despised might not be too strong a word) Mists because of the male-bashing Raquel was asking after (Mal. Bad. In the Latin), and the fact that in the end, I felt that the main character (was it Morgaine?) had made a lot of bad/evil decisions that I couldn't resonate with. Dinah, on the other hand, was someone I consistently enjoyed being with. In her anger, in her grief and in her contentment, she was simply herself, and I loved her for it. The bashing of Laban in The Red Tent seemed entirely consistent with the biblical portrayal of him.

I love that the story began with Dinah's mothers as young women and ended after Dinah's death, and that every moment in between was fully realized. The one moment that took me out of the story bears mentioning simply for its triviality: When Shalem first looked upon Dinah and there was an awkward moment, he coughed into his hand. It seemed to me a very modern, Western gesture (though why I should think so I have no idea), but as the only moment that jolted my imagination out of the world of the Middle East some 4,000 years ago, well, kudos to Anita Diamant.

I was taken aback a bit by the frequent tweakings of the biblical narrative, such as the shading down of Jacob's 14 years of service to Laban as bride-price for both Rachel and Leah, and the dismissal of Joseph's rejection of Potiphar's wife, but in the end, although I consider myself a Bible-believing Born-again, I find I didn't mind the tweaks. They fit with my understanding of Genesis as collected oral history. In fact, I find myself believing Dinah/Diamant's story on such a deep level that I want it to be true, even if it (probably, strictly) isn't.

edited to resolve those pesky itals

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Hi Mark Eddy, and welcome out from the shadows of lurk.

The bashing of Laban in The Red Tent seemed entirely consistent with the biblical portrayal of him.

Yeah, he comes across as pretty much a selfish oaf in The Bible, too. I have to say I appreciate the irony where Jacob is concerned. The subbing in Leah for Rachel is a pretty direct parallel to Jacob dressing up in animal skins, and fooling his blind father into bestowing the blessing Isaac intended to give to Esau.

In fact, I find myself believing Dinah/Diamant's story on such a deep level that I want it to be true, even if it (probably, strictly) isn't.

I find an awful lot of it fairly likely. Where the so-called rape is concerned, I find it unlikely (even from the biblical account) that episode would fit in with the way we define "rape" today. It is more of a case of consent not then and there, belonging to the woman in the first place. What I find least likely to have happened is that Dinah conceived from her time with Shechem. I guess I think this way, because had there been a conception, I would have expected any baby born to be mentioned in Genesis 46, when Jacob's descendants are totaled.

I cried when I finished this book. Even though I was relieved Dinah's long struggle was over, I didn't want to stop hearing her voice.

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I have to say I appreciate the irony where Jacob is concerned.

I had never thought of the parallel between Jacob & Esau and Rachel & Leah. That's kind of cool.

What I find least likely to have happened is that Dinah conceived from her time with Shechem.

I thought Diamant did a good job of basically hiding Bar-Shalem's birth from Jacob's clan. Joseph alone knew of his existence, and I can pretty easily fan-wank his not telling anyone.

What I find provocative is the similarity between the name Re-Mose and Moses. I don't know what to do with the connection, but I want to keep reading through the next four hundred years of Israel's history.

I cried when I finished this book.

The part that pulled a sob from my throat was when Dinah unburdened herself to Meryt. Meryt's response:

"Dear one," she said, putting my hand to her cheek, "I am so honored to be the vessel into which you pour this story of pain and strength. For all these years no daughter could have made me happier or more proud than you. Now that I now who you are and what life has cost you, I am in awe that I number you among my beloved."

Meryt is me.

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I finished my re-read of The Red Tent last night.

I liked how fluid the ideas were about religion and the god(s). That the concept of the God of Jacob as being the only one -- was mostly just his family's thing and nobody took much notice of it. And that the women were busy doing their own thing completely separately from the men. Also, the world seemed both so huge and unknown and so full of possibility and also so small and familiar. All these people living in what weren't even villages who are the basis for something so huge.

And what Mark Eddy said about Re-Mose and Moses. And of course, Moses is a common Egyptian name -- so it's one of those things that seems significant but is probably coincidental. Except, of course, that Moses has to have been a descendent of Jacob, right? (My Old Testament knowledge is pretty weak.)

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