Awake, Awake: Subversive Feminine Voices in the Jewish Tradition

Awake, Awake uncovers the subversive, rebellious, and powerful voice of the women of the Jewish tradition. Yael and Deborah, Hannah, Ruth, Miriam, Tzipora, Sarah, and the heroine of Song of Songs--earthly and divine women, creators, midwives, warriors, priestesses, and prophetesses--all are women whose voices have been silenced, erased, and distorted in the traditional canonic stories and interpretations. The book exposes a covert and encrypted level of teeming subversive female voices which have outlived the processes of blurring and deletion. The presence of this subversive stance in the stories of our ancestral mothers is like a knock on an inner door that evokes a deep, ancient and vital memory. Once we meet the stories again and experience the intensity of the fury and protest of our mothers, as well as their passionate desire and fiery boldness, we realize how much they can serve as a liberating anchor and a basis of power for the female readers who encounter the ancient stories of their religion with a renewed reading. When we dare to wake up--to challenge and undermine the exclusivity of the patriarchal ancestral heritage, we find again, in the depths of its womb, the gifts and treasures of the maternal heritage.