[NGFP-BookClub] Rachel the trickster

[James Kugel]

    Dear Students:
    
    I think we're moving in the right direction -- there often does seem
to be a gap between what the Torah says and what the ancient
interpreters say it's saying. But Sarah, I'm not sure that "serious" is
a bad thing. Didn't the interpreters' seriousness have a lot to do with
what became our whole attitude toward the Bible? 
    
    Let's look at Jacob and the angel now. What do you think of the
"spin" ancient interpreters put on this story? What do you think it was
about before they came along?
    
    _____________
    James Kugel
    11 Efrayim St.
    93621 Jerusalem
    Israel
    Tel. 972 2 672-2197
    Fax. 972 2 673-3027
    
    -----Original Message-----
From: ngfp-bookclub-admin@lists.ngfp.org
[mailto:ngfp-bookclub-admin@lists.ngfp.org] On Behalf Of Sarah Arnofsky
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 4:53 AM
To: ngfp-bookclub@lists.ngfp.org
Subject: [NGFP-BookClub] Rachel the trickster
    
    In pagan cultures there is an agent of change known to
anthropologists
    as a "trickster" - a god-like creature that plays tricks on gods and
    men, and through these tricks some change in society takes place -
    often the acquisition of new technology or knowledge. In a
    monotheistic world view there is no real place for the trickster as
    the one God must be the agent of change. But I can't help thinking
    that the Matriachs are the "tricksters" of Jewish culture. Leah
    dressing up Jacob is a perfect example. And perhaps we can
understand
    Rachel's behavior in this light - she "tricks" her father and steals
    his teraphim (stealing is all part of the tricksters character) to
    cause a change in the power relationship between her father and her
    husband. Jacob was basically a slave to Laban for 21 years. Now he
can
    finally become the master of his household and for that he needs to
    own the household gods.
    
    What is almost sad is how in the apologetics of these Second Temple
    Biblical commentators in re; Rachel's behavior, we see the final
    disconnect from these pagan roots and a total lack of understanding
of
    the original culture in which these stories were written. These
    commentators can be way too serious....
    
    Sarah A.
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