I was drawn first to this book by its beautiful cover illustration.   It’s in the style of  a classical oil painting, and shows a woman in a Biblical landscape who is obviously suffering from a great tragedy.  I looked at the description, and found that it was about Dinah, a woman who is barely mentioned in the Bible, yet was one of the children of “Israel” (Jacob) like her brothers.  They got tribes named after them.  She did not.  I love reading Biblical fiction (even though I am no longer a believer, I find it fascinating) and especially stories from an alternative point of view (for example, Mary, Called Magdalene.  Great book, too).

I was not disappointed.  Growing up with the beliefs I was taught, it seems natural (in the Bible) for only men to be mentioned as important, as the leaders of their families and the ones who pass on the family name, etc.  Also, I’ve always thought of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and all their relatives) to be “Christians”, or at least “Jews”.  In fact, all the way back to Adam, it would seem these people were believers in God, if not the Jewish religion.  Of course, I know with the logical part of my brain that this is obviously not true (before Abraham, there was no such thing as a “Jewish” nation, and before Jesus, no such thing as “Christianity”).  But since we hear of these figures in Sunday School, they must be Christian (we think, subconsciously).  Why would we learn about pagan, or non-believing people.  However, it’s important to remember that before Moses, the Israelites did not have their religious laws (including the 10 commandments).  Their religion was a new idea, unique and untested.  We should, then, not be surprised that the early Israelites, and their ancestors, break all kinds of rules that we today would be appalled at.  Can you imagine Jacob and his 4 wives (Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah – the last two called handmaidens) sitting next to you in your church pew?  Or reading in the news that Abraham had a baby with his maid (on the advice of his wife), both of whom he later allowed to be turned out into the desert to die?  Or that Isaac took his son up on the mountain to offer as a human sacrifice, thankfully changing his mind at the last minute and sacrificing a lamb, instead.  Even the idea of ritual animal sacrifice turns our stomachs a bit.  Images of Jesus being nailed to the cross are bloody and gruesome, gory enough to deserve an R rating in any movie, or to be banned literature.  But we teach this to little children, and when you’re taught this at a young age, it seems normal (a detailed post on this some other day).  What I’m getting at, is that this book gives us another view of what life was probably like for the people who actually lived through the events described.  Especially the women.

Women’s customs are barely mentioned in the Bible.  I never realized it, but although there are extensive laws about what a woman can and can’t do while on her period in the Bible (i.e. no sex, she can’t touch certain things), I can’t think of a single law or proverb or piece of advice about what a woman should do to get ready for and participate in a birth.  Even sex is mentioned in detail in Song of Solomon.  But the most detail we get about a birth is if the woman dies, or if there are any spectacular things happening with the children being born (as in the case of twins, when it’s important which is born first).  Women must have used midwives, but they are barely mentioned.  One big reason for this is that men wrote the books of the Bible, and would not know (or want to know) about all the details of birth.  “Stay away from me when you’re bleeding, be ready for me any other time, and give me lots of sons.  Don’t bother me with the other details”, seems to be the message they’re trying to get across.  The Red Tent focuses on the female side of life.  What must it have been like to live in a world with no birth control, primitive pain medicine, no hospitals. What it would have been like to have your children die, knowing you could do nothing for them.  What it would have been like to be promised in marriage to someone you didn’t necessarily love, and forced to have children with him, with all the fear, pain, and uncertainty that entailed.

In the Bible, we’re told that Dinah was raped by a man from a nearby town, and some of her brothers, in revenge, plotted against her attacker, who had offered to marry her to make up for it (another horrific custom at the time, later echoed in Moses’ laws – if you were raped, the man was expected to marry you and make the relationship honorable – this would be absolutely terrifying).  They said he could marry her if he and all the men in his town would agree to be circumcised.  They did, and were obviously in terrible pain.  That night, the brothers sneaked into town and killed all the men.  Jacob, their father, says that they have brought shame upon him.  They did not ask his permission, and he claims he would never have allowed it.  We never hear about Dinah again.

What really happened?  Was she truly raped, or, as sometimes happens today, was she wooed and seduced by a suitor later  found unworthy by her father.  Did she possibly even marry this man (marriage being a pretty loose idea then)?  Did she afterward rejoice that her attacker was killed, or did she mourn ever after for a true love?  What happened to her afterwards?  Did she get pregnant?  Did she later marry someone else?  Did she stay with her family, or run away in shame or anger?  Did she die?  We don’t know anything about her.

Diamant answers these questions, and others, beautifully, creatively, but in a way that I think is very close to the truth.  Women likely did have a set apart place for their period – a menstrual tent, as some tribal cultures still do today – especially since Jewish law made everything they touched (including people) unclean.  Since this is early in the Jewish religion, and because the women were likely cut off from a lot of contact from the men, and talk about religion, (and Jacob’s wivers were all sisters or half-sisters, daughters of Laban, who worshiped idols), they likely had their own goddesses of fertility and women that they prayed to, or at least believed in secretly.

This book is a great story, moving, sad and hopeful at the same time.  It’s a story by woman, about a woman, from a woman’s perspecitive, that was originally told and interpreted by men.  It is about a Bible story, but it points out that even the Bible had outside influences.  It is a book that Christians and non-Christians should read, for a good story, if for nothing else.  It is important that Christian and Jewish women read this book, to be able to see the history of their faith from a different point of view, to realize that these stories are not isolated tales of black and white people with no emotions, totally dedicated to God.  They are three-dimensional, deep, surround sound, techincolor people with emotions, doubts, and meaningful relationships.