(21) Modern Women’s Midrashim in the Wake of October 7 (Part 1)

Voices of Women at Wartime

Tamar Biala has been collecting and editing modern women’s midrashim for over 20 years and published them as part of the “Dirshuni” series, with two volumes in Hebrew and one in English. The first Hebrew volume was co-edited with Nehama Weingarten-Mintz.

Since October 7, Biala has received many texts relating to the Hamas attack and its aftermath. In this two-part session we will study these powerful texts written by women about grieving mothers and angry grandmothers, faith and doubt, the Jewish present and past and how they interact with one another.

In the introduction to this episode, Rivkah explains the background behind women’s midrashim. If you’d like to learn more, please listen to this 2022 interview with Tamar Biala about Dirshuni:

https://newbooksnetwork.com/dirshuni

See a video about Leora Ayalon’s granddaughter:

https://www.mako.co.il/mako-vod-keshet/heroes-s1/VOD-78a0c38dde9ec81027.htm

Texts discussed in Part 1:

1. Liora Ayalon’s midrash: “The Power of a Community to Diminish Suffering in the World” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1niJjmDMmEUCFaegsMxc_X5dJSU_nQadnL_wDO7TMv-8/edit?usp=sharing

2. Nurit Hirschfeld-Skupinsky’s midrash “Midrashim of Destruction” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m71SJkROg-lNBez6bfIAbOfxKjOPlagmIRmiedfoKpQ/edit?usp=sharing

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