Jewish Women

Question 1

Deborah

Answer 1

• Means “Bee”
• Military leader, prophet, and poet.
• Deborah agrees to accompany Barak, and they fight Sisera.
• Yael lures Sisera into her tent and kills him with a tent peg through his head.
• Symbol: Palm tree
• Woman of valor because she was a leader and cares for her community.

Question 2

Judith

Answer 2

• Means “Women from Judea/Jewess”
• Young widow who lived in Bethulia.
• Entered an enemy camp to save her town.
• Charmed Holofernes and got him drunk, then cut off his head.
• Symbol: Hanukkah candles to re-live her courage
• Woman of valor because she led the woman in dance and was brave enough to kill Holofernes

Question 3

Babatha

Answer 3

• Her papyrus scrolls were discovered in the Cave of Letters in Israel.
• Contained marriage, divorce and property documents
• Controlled her own money

Question 4

Bruriah

Answer 4

• Only young woman Torah scholar mentioned in rabbinic literature
• “Woman of the Talmud”
• Rashi adds a story about how Rabbi Meir sent a student to seduce his wife and Bruriah was so ashamed she hung herself. (“women were light-minded”)

Question 5

Ruth

Answer 5

• Means “friend”
• Went with mother-in-law Naoimi to Bethlehem
• Ruth goes into the fields of Boaz, and he offersher water and tells her to stay in his field
• Naoimi tells Ruth to bathe and dress up and go lay by Boaz’s feet.
• Boaz marries Ruth, and she has a son names Obed.
• Namoi nurses Obed

Question 6

Esther

Answer 6

• Mordechi’s niece
• Chosen at a beauty pageant to be King Achasverosh’s next wife (Vashti left b/c she didn’t want to be paraded around by him)
• Hebrew name: Hadassah
• Haman was going to kill the Jews, but Esther told the king that if he kills all the jews, she will die too.
• God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther.

Question 7

Miriam

Answer 7

• Sister to Moses and Aaron
• A prophet, and leads the women in dance and song
• Speaks out against Moses with her brother Aaron and is struck with leprosy
• Lashon Hara- Evil tongue

Question 8

Yael

Answer 8

• Lulls Sisera to sleep in her tent
• Gives him milk to help him sleep
• Kills him by driving a tent peg through his head
• She fulfills the prophecy

Question 9

Golda Meir

Answer 9

• Former Prime Minister of Israel (the fourth)
• First female head of state
• Helped found the State of Israel

Question 10

Dr. Ruth

Answer 10

• German-American sex therapist
• Holocaust survivor
• Joined the IDF when she was 17 as a sniper

Question 11

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Answer 11

• Served on the U.S. Supreme Court as the first female Jewish one
• Fought for gay and women rights

Question 12

Dona Gracia Nasi

Answer 12

• Called “Our Angel” for saving Jews from being prosecuted
• Jewish in private
• Financier, advisor, and funder of synagogue, hospitals and yeshivas.

Question 13

Rebecca (Rivka)

Answer 13

• First woman to declare marital love
• Isaac’s wife
• Mother of Esau and Jacob
  Known for kindness, beauty and deception