TRADITIONAL JEWS WELCOME the seven visitors (אשפיזין) to their sukot: Avraham, Yitzik, Yakov, Moshe, Aaron, Yosef, and David.
All important and formative personalities.
But . . .
WHERE ARE THE MOTHERS, the emahot (אמאהות)?
Who has the most influence on a young child’s life? The father who is at work or study all day and into the night? Or the mother who is with the child until he or she starts school, who is at home when the child returns, who nurses and nurtures the child, who sees the child has food to eat.?
In this scrivener’s mind, there is “no contest.” The mothers win hands down.
Granted, the Torah gives short shrift to the patriarch’s wives and to female personalities in general. There are, of course, exceptions: Deborah the Judge, Jael with her tent peg, Ruth – should a Moabite be considered?
We honor the emahot when reciting the refuah blessing for females, and we seek their help calling for mercy for the sick and deceased; even for men, it is person’s name ben/bat mother’s name. (Most Sefardi and Mizrachi Jews follow this tradition on headstones/grave coverings.)
Many non-traditional congregations – and a few traditional ones – call people to the Torah by both the father’s and the mother’s names. In cases where the only the mother is Jewish, a person often is called to the Torah as name ben mother’s name.
Who could – perhaps should – be invited to the sukah?
1 Sara
2 Rivka
3 Leah
4 Rachal
5 Esther
6 Deborah1
7 Jael1
While I realize Ruth is one of King David’s ancestors, and David is included with the other men, I have a problem with the Moabite. The rabbis have swept away the prohibition of intercourse with Moabite females by ignoring Hebrew grammar so there is no stigma on David.
Rather than Ruth, how about Dinah2, Simon and Levi’s sister, or Tamar3, also an ancestress of David, who I think would be far better. At least both were Jewish.
The emahot (אמאהות) might be relegated to the kitchen since for women are not obligated to sit in the sukah. That doesn’t preclude their presence in the sukah; they simply may stay inside – out of the weather and away from the bugs.
(Were women allowed in the huts the escapees from Egypt lived in from time-to-time in their wanderings? Rhetorical question.)
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/yapjvt8h
2. http://tinyurl.com/y9n6vh5g
3. http://tinyurl.com/y8f63nrp
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