The Red Tent is our book club selection for Nov/Dec. I once owned this book, and couldn’t find the motivation to read it. So during one of my declutter phases, it got donated, along with other books, to charity. When our book club chose this book as a selection, i checked it out from the library.
I still didn’t want to read it, and it sat on my kitchen table for over a week. I knew that it was about a woman who is mentioned in the Bible for like two sentences. And all i could think was “Ew, Bible times, i don’t want to read about that.”
When i finally picked it up, however, i was immediately drawn in by the author’s tone. This was a time when women had a world unto themselves. They had their own lives, separate from the men, and their own secrets. And Dinah offers to share their secrets with us.
Dinah is the only daughter among Jacob’s thirteen children. This is the same Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, who stole his brother’s birthright and his father’s blessing. Jacob later changed his name to Israel. Jacob’s twelve sons represent the twelve tribes of Israel. His son Joseph is he of the multi-colored cloak.
Dinah’s story is set against this backdrop. Familiar events from the Bible occur, but the story is the story of many women. Dinah learns the stories of her four mothers, Jacob’s four wives. She learns the stories of other women in the community, and learns to become a midwife. She learns the mysteries of the red tent, which is where the women retire for three days during their menstrual cycles. She eventually has her own child and learns the mysteries of being a mother.
I like stories that have strong female characters, and this one has many. I also like stories that challenge what we know. This story challenges the only sentence in the Bible that mentions Dinah, that she was raped by a prince. This story suggests that Dinah and the prince fell in love, and that her father and brothers were too proud and stupid to accept it.
Indeed, the story of Jacob and the slaughter of the men of the city of Shechem horrified me. Jacob and his sons agreed to marry Dinah to the royal family if all the men of the city would be circumcised. Seriously? If you want to marry my daughter, you must convince every man to undergo genital mutilation. And they did! And then, after all the men had undergone the surgery and were at their weakest, two of Jacob’s sons went through the town and killed all the men and stole all the women and livestock. Behold, God’s Chosen People!
Despite my reactions to the Biblical part of the story, the tale of Dinah is captivating. Most of the challenges the women face are completely different than the ones we face today. Yet one thing we do have in common with them – childbirth. I spoke to one pregnant friend who is also reading it, who said “The book made me glad i get to have my baby during modern times, with doctors and hospitals.” I totally agree!
Tags: book club, books, religion
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