In her book, The Red Tent, Anita Diamant attempts to expound upon the foundations laid by the Torah by way of midrashim. In doing so, parts of her stories tend to stray from the original biblical text. The following essay will explore this and several other aspects of the book as they relate to the Torah and modern midrash.
One of the first differences I recognized was the description of Leah's eyes. In Genesis 29:17, Leah's eyes are described as weak. Diamant dispels this rumor', saying that Leah's eyes, one blue and one green, "made others weak" because most people had difficulty looking her in the face. By making this small adjustment, Diamant is able to create a connection between Jacob and Leah that the Bible neglects. The Bible says only that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, which tends to give the impression that Leah was unloved. Diamant says that Jacob was able to look Leah in the eye without any trouble and never made any comment regarding them. This is......
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Approximate Word Count: 1625
Approximate Pages: 7 (260 words per double-spaced page) |