The Lost Matriarch

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The Lost Matriarch

Finding Leah in the Bible and Midrash

Jerry Rabow

264 pages
1 genealogy

Paperback

September 2014

978-0-8276-1207-5

$22.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

September 2014

978-0-8276-1179-5

$22.95 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

September 2014

978-0-8276-1180-1

$22.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

The Lost Matriarch offers a unique response to the sparse and puzzling biblical treatment of the matriarch Leah. Although Leah is a major figure in the book of Genesis, the biblical text allows her only a single word of physical description and two lines of direct dialogue. The Bible tells us little about the effects of her lifelong struggles in an apparently loveless marriage to Jacob, the husband she shares with three other wives, including her beautiful younger sister, Rachel. Fortunately, two thousand years of traditional and modern commentators have produced many fascinating interpretations (midrash) that reveal the far richer story of Leah hidden within the text.

Through Jerry Rabow’s weaving of biblical text and midrash, readers learn the lessons of the remarkable Leah, who triumphed over adversity and hardship by living a life of moral heroism. The Lost Matriarch reveals Leah’s full story and invites readers into the delightful, provocative world of creative rabbinic and literary commentary. By experiencing these midrashic insights and techniques for reading “between the lines,” readers are introduced to what for many will be an exciting new method of personal Bible interpretation.

Author Bio

Jerry Rabow is the author of A Guide to Jewish Mourning and Condolence and Fifty Jewish Messiahs.


 

Praise

"This new treatment of the Biblical matriarch Leah is a well researched and a refreshing new look at an old story."—Barbara Andrews, Jewish Book Council

"The Lost Matriarch is a thorough examination of the story of Leah."—Fred Reiss, San Diego Jewish World

“With imaginative insight, Jerry Rabow has placed a human face and heart onto the persona of this biblical drama of love, loyalty, and intrigue. The author endows this ancient romance with empathic contemporary relevance.”—Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, author of Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey and founder of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and Jewish World Watch

Table of Contents

Preface
Note on the Sources
The Family of Jacob and Leah
Introduction: We Meet Leah
1. Waiting for Leah
2. What Really Happened on Leah’s Wedding Night?
3. Leah Begins Married Life in Conflict
4. Leah Continues the Conflict
5. Leah and the Family Leave Haran
6. Leah Comes to the Promised Land
7. The Deaths of Rachel, Leah, and Jacob
Conclusion: Learning from Leah’s Story
Acknowledgments
Glossary of Names and Definitions
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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