Reformed Perspectives Magazine, Volume 10, Number 8, February 17 to February 23, 2008

The Woman of Valor:

A Former Soviet Union Russian Jewish Perspective
Part I

By Rev. Ilya Lizorkin

Stellenbosch University
M. Phil. in Bible Interpretation

Hermeneutics and Exegesis of the Bible

To Pnina Lizorkin, A humble sage, who has the courage and perseverance to be for me the mouthpiece of God's Chochmah.

It is nothing, but worthless religiosity when we concern ourselves with offering God worship but are unmindful of the sociopolitical implications of our religion". 1

Desmond Tutu

OUTLINE

Introduction

• a. Preliminary thoughts

• b. Eshet Hayil in Jewish and Christian context
• c. Contribution of feminism
• d. Strategies and methodologies

My Social Location

• a. Short intro into the ideological criticism

• b. Former Soviet Union location
• c. Russian Jewish location
• d. Male location
• e. Christian Ministerial location

Eshet Hayil as Literature

• a. Integrity of the book

• b. Acrostic structure
• c. Chiastic structure

Red Shadow Perspective

• a. Reading

• b. Implications in general
• c. Examples of implications for women
• d. Examples of implications for men

Red Chuppah Perspective

• a. Reading

• b. Examples of implications for women
• c. Examples of implications for men

Conclusion

• a. Strategy and methodology review

• b. The real Woman of Valor
• c. Comparison and contrast
• d. Final remarks

Introduction

Preliminary thoughts

My goal in writing this paper is to present my own understanding of the Eshet Hayil passage, and to draw out real life implications of its teachings from a distinctly Former Soviet Union Russian Jewish Perspective. As I write this paper, I am mindful of my own interpretive concerns as a person with a particular background and a particular present social location. I will attempt to show how the true message of Eshet Hayil can prove to be a liberating force to both men and women who would seek God's Chochmah above all in the adventures, mazes and labyrinths of their lives.

There are several main ways one can interpret the identity of the Woman of Valor: "Does the description refer to a wife and a mother who has actually lived, or is the passage describing all the qualities every woman should be striving to attain, or is the "noble wife" a personification of wisdom…" 2 Furthermore does the Real Woman interpretation imply that the woman should stay home or is it giving the women authorization to be actively engaged in life outside of the home? Yet another interpretive option that I will seek to set forth as the most likely one combines two seemingly opposite views. It says that indeed the Woman of Valor is personification of Wisdom, but the portrait drawn is based on the life of real woman during the time of its composition. There are, also, several secondary interpretations of this passage that are mostly characteristic of Jewish Mysticism, such as the identity of the woman as the Sabbath Queen or the Shekinah Glory.

The implications of the conclusions are especially thought-provoking with regards to God's design for His creation order, the roles of men and women, and contemporary issues facing the church pilgrimaging in the world. Almost with any interpretive option that I presented in the paragraph above, there are pluses and minuses with regards to the practical implications. We would look at some of those main implications in some detail in the later sections of this paper.

Perhaps one of the best summaries and short introductions that could be given for what is known as Eshet Hayil (the Woman of Valor) passage is provided by Derek Kidner, who with simplicity and yet tremendous literary force summarizes it in his short commentary: "In the second passage, that ‘A to Z' of wifely virtues…we meet many of the qualities that have colored the whole book. Here is a woman who leaves nothing to chance; who uses her organizing ability, her skilful hands, her business sense and every minute of her time, to create a ménage where nothing is second rate or insecure, where wisdom and faithfulness abound; where help is at hand for the hard-pressed and where the family bonds are affectionate and strong. At the root of it all, we are told, is the fear of the LORD. It is the picture of Godliness that is severely practical, of values that are sound and humane, and of success that has been most diligently earned." 3

The concluding section of the book of Proverbs is not simply an addendum to the book, instead it functions as the summary, the desired end, the culmination. It not only functions as the crown of the book, but it also looks like one. Not one, but two Hebrew poetic methods (chiasm and acrostic) are used to express all the beauty of finally finding Wisdom and establishing life with her. These literary tactics converge in the same place to establish the crucial importance and enormous dignity afforded to the passage by its author both human and divine.

Christine Roy Yoder of Colombia Theological Seminary laments the Church's perception of the book of Proverbs: "The book of Proverbs is largely lost as a source of guidance and inspiration for the contemporary Christian church. The book is featured rarely in the lectionaries and, when it is, the readings are either from the longer didactic poems of chapters 1-9 (e.g., 1:22-31; 8:1-4, 22-31) or the alphabetic acrostic in 31:10-31. Similarly, Proverbs (and wisdom literature more broadly) receives relatively little attention in adult and youth church education programs. This neglect is striking given that the primary purpose of the book is the formation of human character; indeed, no other biblical book is more relevant for moral education. Moreover, many of the book's concerns figure prominently among those of today's church and society, e.g., how may people navigate faithfully and wisely through a world of competing claims? How do we understand individual and communal moral responsibility and teach it to the next generation? How might we reflect ethically and theologically about everyday matters like relationships, work, wealth, and poverty?" 3 I hope in some small way to rekindle in the reader a desire to appropriate the entire book of Proverbs 4 to his or her theology of life.

The theme of wisdom in the "wisdom literature," especially in the book of Proverbs has very strong connections with the themes of the Law and Covenant. In His great covenant love YHWH gives Israel the gift of the Torah. Indeed it is his pledge to them of His faithfulness. To live by the Torah means to live the life of wisdom. Both Wisdom and Torah are symbolically bound around the body and retained at all cost (Deut.6:7; Prov.1:9). In His great Covenant love Christ gives Himself up for his church. He becomes the Wisdom-Word-Torah of God to his New Covenant people (1-Cor.1:30).

Eshet Hayil in Jewish and Christian context

The charge that was often leveled against the Christian faith in the past by its Jewish critics still stands today: "Judaism is a religion of the deed, Christianity is a religion of the Creed." Even though such a charge is at best one-sided, there is a painful ring of truth to it. Throughout two millennia, the Christian Church in many ways 5 concentrated on hammering out religious dogmas. This of course is not the only thing that the church was doing, but in many ways this was the epicenter of its activity. It did so, first, by defining what those dogmas were and later by protecting their doctrinal purity. So it does not come as a surprise that the book that is unapologetically concerned with right living would not be on the bestseller list of the Christian psyche. In the Christian world, the book of Proverbs is either not studied enough or studied in truncated fashion, which often leads to overlooking its essential message. Certainly the charge cannot be leveled against the Christian community that it does not know Proverbs at all. Every Christian is able to quote at least a few passages from this book; many will be able to sum up its major themes. But it would certainly take many believers by surprise to hear of someone committing to life-long study of this book. I do not mean to say that the book of Proverbs has never been studied or loved in some corners of the Christian community; I am rather referring to the more popular level. Our passage is a good example. Indeed the use of Eshet Hayil may be called seasonal in that it is only thought to concern young men who are looking for a bride, and young women who strive "to be all God wants them to be." Once the marriage takes place, of course the husband and wife would both look to this chapter for inspiration to righteous, but sadly only female conduct.

Various forms of rabbinical Judaism, however, historically placed much of its interest in the application of the Bible to life, hence the lengthy and to modern eyes, especially non-Jewish modern eyes, boring, and at times senseless discussions of the Talmudic personalities, many of which deal with incredibly detailed and seemingly irrelevant things. Jewish tradition sees "…five main images of women in the Tanakh: the Eshet Hayil, the woman of Proverbs 31 and elsewhere; the Imahot, the women who act in the holy history of the Jewish people and its God; the Ra´ya, the woman of the Song of Songs; the Isha, the woman as a legal category; and the Anusa, the woman as victim. There are also some subcategories, including: the Isha Zara, the woman who is not a blood member of the people; the Zona, the sexually active woman unencumbered by a legal relationship to a man; and the No'efet, the whoring wife." 6 The only real woman, however, who is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as a Woman of Hayil is Ruth. She is commended for her loyalty, persistence and resourcefulness (Ruth 3:10-11). Boaz assures Ruth (v.11) that it is a common knowledge in the community that she is indeed a woman of Hayil. 7

Sometime in recent history, in the desire to enrich Sabbath family worship, the reading/singing 8 of Eshet Hayil became a traditional part of the Sabbath Liturgy, where the literal view is taken and the husband and the children rise up to sing of the qualities of the wife and the mother of the house employing the very words under our consideration." 9 Throughout the rabbinical writings, Eshet Hayil is referred to in passing and one finds an overabundance of biblical women who in the minds of the Talmudic authors are Eshet Hayils of their generation and their place. Shulamit Valler in her article entitled "Who is Eshet Hayil in Rabbinic Literature?" recalls the following Talmudic connection with Sarah, one of the Eshet Hayils of the Hebrew Bible: "The representation of Sarai as a female figure who delivers God's intentions to Abraham places her on a higher spiritual plane than him. Indeed, Sarah is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as one of seven woman prophets (B.Meg.14a). An extreme expression of the spiritual superiority attributed to her is recorded in Gen. R. 47a, in a debate between Rav Aha, a Palestinian Amora of the fourth generation, and some anonymous sages about the connection between verses from Gen.17:15-16 and Prov. 12:4. This is the debate: ‘And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name"' (Gen.17.1). ‘A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband' (Prov.12.4). Said Rav Aha, "Her husband was crowned through her, but she was not crowned through her husband." The rabbis said, "She was master of her husband. In every other context the man gives the orders. But here, ‘In all Sarah says listen to her voice' (Gen.21.12)." 10

However, it is not true that Judaism has always and at all times in all of its movements treated this passage with appropriate care. German feminist scholars Loise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, and Marie-Theres Wacker in their work entitled Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Woman's Perspective comment on the Septuagint translation of this Hebrew poem that may express the view traditionally accepted by the rabbis of the time. They write: "The Septuagint could not bear the elevated valuation and praise of woman at the end of Proverbs 31 and has significantly changed the text in 31:28 and following. It is not the woman who fears YHWH, but it is the sensible woman who is to be praised; she is to extol the fear of YHWH and it is not she, but her man who is to be honored at the city gate." 11 The abovementioned references are not the only examples of diminishing the dignity and role of women in the Jewish mostly extra-biblical texts. The truth is that Judaism's official commentaries cut both ways in their positive and negative statements and teachings with regards to women.

"Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the term Hayil refers broadly to the quality of strength and is used of men who are soldiers, officers or brave warriors. These persons are able-bodied, courageous, and loyal to their service…elsewhere the term Hayil refers to wealth, property and profits from trade. Men with Hayil in these contexts are professionals, managers of property, landowners and community leaders. Generally, then, the men with Hayil are men of power and capacity…yet, when a woman with Hayil is identified as the subject of Proverbs 31:10-31, her title is variously translated us "a good wife," "a capable wife," "a good housewife," "a true lady," "a wife of many parts," or an "ideal wife." With some exceptions, there is a notable reticence to use the same language of "substance", power, and wealth for her as is used for her male counterparts, despite all evidence to the contrary." 12 It is common knowledge that young women who are well educated, well trained, accomplished, smart and can in many other way be characterized as Women of Substance, in spite of their beauty are not attractive to men looking for a wife. They can in many cases end up in the old maid category. Men generally feel threatened by the strength of a woman. Men feel that a woman has to be weaker than they are, so that they can be the "man of the house" providing and benefiting their wives and as such feel that they are worth something. The picture here is different, however. The worth of a man does not come from being productive or being "the man of the house," but in being married to a woman who is Eshet Hayil.

Feminist contribution

In an attempt to define what I here refer to as the feminist contribution, it is helpful to quote C.H. Felder's definition of "Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation." He defines it this way: Afro-Centric Biblical Interpretation is "the concept that Africa and persons of African descent must be understood as making significant contributions to world civilization as proactive subjects within history, rather than being regarded as mere passive objects in the course of history." 13 I believe that there is a way in which feminism can be defined along the same lines.

We need to be mindful of the fact that in its proper application, the spirit of feminism is biblical, God-approved and holy. Just as the Afro-Centric interpretation does not necessarily lead to Black Israelite Theology, 14 the peculiar position that the people of African descent are the true Jews of old. So also, true feminism does not necessitate female domination, the lesbian agenda or any of the other things that traditionally produce fear in the hearts and minds of many. At the heart of feminism proper there is a democratic idea of equality. Women in theology, church, family, workplace, university or any other area of life should not be marginalized. They should be offered rights equal to those of male gender. I am not here advocating that within the equality of human treatment there may not be differences of roles between man and woman, but rather I am saying that the feminist gift is a gift of equality, the right to happiness and fulfillment of purpose for women, as much as for men.

In spite of the fact that I agree with Felder in his claims that the biblical world is pre-racist (or color-blind), 15 I am here cautioning the reader to keep in mind that Biblical literature was written within the context of a highly patriarchal society 16 and does not follow in the steps of colorblindness when it comes to gender. 17 "…we have to remind ourselves that, with the exception of the advice of the Queen Mother to Lemuel (31:1-9), this is literature written by men for men." 18 Gail Yee helps us to understand how the patriarchal ideology of the day played an important part in the world described in the Bible. Ideology she writes is "… a complex system of ideas, values, and perceptions held by a particular group that provides a framework for the group's members to understand their place in the social order. Ideology 19 constructs a reality for people, making a bewildering and often brutal world intelligible and tolerable. Ideology motivates people to behave in specific ways and to accept their social position as natural, inevitable, and necessary." 20 To say that the Bible is ideological literature is not necessarily pejorative. Defined neutrally, ideology denotes: "the system of assumptions and conviction against which everything in the story…is evaluated." 21

When we think of Feminism we need to remember that there are significant differences in various movements around the world that get labeled as "Feminism." To imply that feminism is just feminism is similar to suggesting that there was only one type of Judaism at the time of Jesus. For the purpose of this paper, it would be sufficient to point out that significant differences exist in the feminist movements between former socialist countries in Eastern Europe and those in the West. 22 Russian feminism in many ways was propagating the very thing that western feminism was rebelling against.

Strategy and methodologies

My strategy and methodology are clearly stated in the paper's outline. First I will introduce the book of Proverbs and the passage under discussion, asking preliminary questions and pointing out some themes of the paper. Secondly, I will seek to identify my own social location by applying the tool of ideological criticism to my own understanding of the Scripture. Thirdly, I will use literary criticism to help me tease out the main issues/teachings of our text, paying attention to certain literary devices the authors used in composing this work of theological art/poetry. Fourthly and fifthly, I will present a reading and the implications of this passage from the Former Soviet Union and Russian Jewish perspectives. Finally, I will conclude by summarizing the results and the implications drawn out of my study.

In this paper I am primarily using two methodologies: Form Criticism and Reader Response Criticism. These two methodology among many others are discussed in greater detail in my paper called "The Story of Interpretation: From First century to the Twenty-First." Both methodologies that I will be employing are the product of the last two hundred years of research in Biblical Hermeneutics. 23

Form Criticism is the analysis of a text according to typical, identifiable literary forms by which people of a given cultural context express themselves linguistically. 24 Gunkel himself noted two broad literary classifications, prose and poetry, the former including myths, folk-tales, sagas, romances, legends, and historical narrative; the latter, wisdom and prophetic oracles, secular lyric poetry, hymns, thanksgiving, eschatological psalms, etc. 25 From ancient times students of literature, linguistics and folklore have been trained to distinguish the different patterns of speech used to make a point: poetry and prose, proverb and parable, commandment and oracle, miracle story and myth, lament and joke, etc. Some of these are clearly identified in the Bible: the OT book of Proverbs and the NT parables of Jesus, for example… 26

Reader-Response Criticism, 27 on the other hand is the study of meaning in a biblical text as perceived by a particular interpreter. It is not that the text lacks meaning, but that it is overabundant with it. With the advance of the 20th century hermeneutical theories… traditional picture began to slowly give way to the more contemporary view that the audience as an interpretive community has something to contribute to the meaning of the text it was reading. In other words its job was no longer to slice and dice the text until the bone and marrow of original meaning surfaces, on the contrary what began to be emphasized is the conditionality or contextually of the interpretive act.

The reasons for my choice of methodologies are fairly simple. First, I have chosen these methodologies because Proverbs 31:10-31 is among the best examples of how the OT writers used literary devices of their day to communicate their messages to the intended audience. Secondly, the nature of the assignment presupposed that I would be engaged in the Reader Response Criticism on some level since the paper's explicit assignment originally had to do with the Post-colonial South African perspective and now with "Former Soviet Union Russian Jewish Perspective."

My Social Location

I have been married now for over 8 years. I love my wife, and I know that the commitment is mutual. But as with any married couple our communication skills always need improvement. Recently, I was washing dishes, while Pnina my wife was feeding our toddler daughter. She came up to the kitchen to check on something. I used this opportunity to ask a question about placing her favorite crystal glasses in a particular way (in the past I have been known to ignore the rules of kitchen dishwashing). Pointing to the glass, I moved out of the way, and asked if it was placed correctly. Pnina quickly responded: "Why don't you move so that I can see?!" "Move? Can't you see it from there?!," I challenged her assertion that she could not see the glass from where she was standing. "No", she stubbornly continued. In disbelief, I glanced at the glass, at where I was standing, and where she was standing. I was reassured by my short investigation that I was in "the right." It was so clear! I saw it with my two eyes! Pnina quickly disappeared and in her familiar quick-thinking way returned with our digital camera and moving to the exact spot where she had been standing, pointed the camera towards the place where I continued to hold my ground. I was relieved. Finally she would have to accept my point of view and concede that I was correct after all. But the monstrous level of today's technological advancement in the area of photography applied the final blow to my confidence as an objective viewer. I was shocked when I saw the picture from my wife's point of view as captured by the camera. I was clearly in the wrong. You could not see the glass since it was completely covered by me.

Perspectives or points of view are very important in the process of interpretation. Sometimes opposing points of view are both right in some sense, but it was clearly not the case this time. I was wrong and Pnina was right. I, however, needed to move away from where I stood in order to see the truth and be persuaded of its legitimacy. Nothing less would have done it, nothing less what have challenged my pride, nothing less would have caused me to be persuaded of how I needed the perspective of others to know God's created order better. Before I can look at any issues from the perspective of others, I need to clearly understand my own position.

What exactly is my geographical, sociological, educational, philosophical, gender, physiological and economical location? 28 Who am I? Why do I interpret life the way I do? What lies beneath the obvious? Which of my values are predetermined by my upbringing and current situation? Calvin was right when he wrote that "Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves." 29

In order for me to identify my own interpretive concerns and evaluate my own social location, it would be appropriate for me to set forth a working definition of a Russian Jew: "A Russian Jew is a Russian-speaking person with at least one parent 30 of European (mostly, but not exclusively) Slavic 31 Jewish ancestry, who in his or her psyche 32 views him or herself as ethnically or culturally and to various extend traditio-religiously 33 Jewish, but carries within him or herself the stamp of highly secular Former Soviet Union upbringing, whether consciously or un-consciously."

Former Soviet Union location

"The October Revolution of 1917 brought to power a radical socialist government that denounced the family as a bourgeois institution, undermined the institution of marriage, and promised the liberation of women. Aleksandra Kollontai, the leading Bolshevik feminist, declared in 1923 that the Soviet state would "lift the burdens of motherhood from women's shoulders and transfer them to the state." She added that "the family, in its bourgeois sense, will die out." Yet by the 1930s, official Soviet culture endorsed strong families, glorified motherhood, and strove to raise the birthrate. The Soviet government also made divorce more difficult and outlawed abortion. The country that had embarked upon the great socialist experiment, reverted to a very traditional family model and an essentialized notion of women's "natural role" as mothers." 34 Despite the liberationist feminism of many in the communist leadership, they were largely unsuccessful in bringing about any change.

In the former Soviet Union 35 there is a veneer of equality of woman and man, but in reality the doctrines of female inferiority are propagated in the family, on the street and at the state level. There are five main areas in which this claim could be clearly sustained.

Language

The concept of female inferiority is deeply embedded in the former Soviet Union male and female psyche, and is manifested by many things, but particularly by the use of language that degrades women. Women themselves would use this language, for example they would refer to another woman, by saying: "She is just a babah." The word babah refers to a female, but it connotes the uneducated, impolite, incapable, thoughtless and in general worthless woman.

Humor

Russian culture was a culture that highly valued humor. Anecdotes were at the very foundation of its everyday life. 36 Not only ethnic minorities like Jews, gypsies, various peoples of the North portion of Siberia, but also Women were ridiculed and humiliated. Whether the jokes were pornographic, abusive, or simply degrading to women by implying their stupidity and inferiority, all of them contributed to the poor treatment of women in the former U.S.S.R and the modern CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).

Posterity

To have a daughter born to you was acceptable, but to have a son was much more honorable. It was argued that the son continues the family line (perhaps in name only) and the son cannot get pregnant when he fools around (it gives the father less to worry about.). Whichever other reasons are given about boys' superiority to girls, they fall into the same faulty line of thinking.

Sex

It was considered good for a man to have sex before marriage. Indeed it was expected that a man would have a fairly active sex life before he marries. But when a woman was involved in sex before marriage, harsh condemnation followed. The inconsistency in judgment illustrates the unfairness deeply imbedded in the culture. Men were glad to use women's bodies for sex, but would look for virgins to marry. A prostitute in the Proverbs 6:26 is characterized as a woman who devalues men, making their value equal to the value of a loaf of bread. The attitude that the men often display is also one of prostitution, when they cheapen the value of the woman.

Chores

One of the leaders of the Soviet Feminist movement, Alla Sariban writes: "…the majority of women here are forced to work for the government and spend as much time on the job as do men. And it is not because everyone is eager to work. It is simply that if they do not, they would not be able to have their ends meet. Women's salaries constitute an essential contribution to the family budgets. But, it is well known, that the Soviet woman's main work begins after official hours are over. That is when they start on the house work and the everyday business of living." 37

Russian Jewish location

Larissa I. Remennick provides some statistical background when she writes about the Russian Jews in the Soviet Union: "Soviet Jews were a prominent ethnic minority due to their concentration in the largest cities, very high educational level (over 60% holding academic degrees), and work in professional or white-collar occupations. The percentage of Jews in engineering, science, education, medicine, and culture was much higher than their share in the population. Due to state anti-Semitism, most Jews occupied the middle tiers in their professions, and relatively few reached high status, with respective material gains. Since low- and middle-rank specialists in most white-collar occupations (e.g., doctors and academics) were low-paid, Soviet Jews were not much better off than non-Jews. Yet their social placement and informal networking gave them access to some important non-monetary resources in health care, culture, and various services." 38

A woman in the Russian Jewish community would be working and also taking care of the house-related matters. There was, however, to a greater degree a sub-conscious obligation to be not only highly achieving in the workplace, but also an exemplary wife and especially mother. Russian Jewish mothers highly valued musical education 39 as well as other cultural pursuits. If one were pressed to identify which of the two (work excellence or raising a family) was a greater priority for Russian Jewish mothers, we would have chosen the second. Even among non-Jews, marrying a Jewish girl often times meant making the right choice for your future wife and the mother of your children. There was an unspoken expectation for the Jewish woman to succeed in making and keeping the family together. In other words, family and its stability was among the highest values for the Russian Jewish woman.

I was raised and in many ways was indoctrinated with the same values. I have certain expectations of Jewish women. I have certain roles clearly spelled out in my mind, not because I have critically assessed them and confirmed their authenticity and moral superiority, but because I was raised in them from my childhood on into my marriage to the Jewish Woman who succeed my mother.

All ethnic backgrounds are egocentric. The Russian Jewish background is certainly not an exception. Unless I am mindful of my own blind spots as well as my own hermeneutical presuppositions, I will not be able to resist the temptation to come to our passage without putting my culture-conditioned reading through the filter of critical thinking.

Male location

In some ways, trying to understand Eshet Hayil being a male 40 is not only a huge disadvantage, but, perhaps, puts into question whether a truly balanced interpretation is even possible. Mel Gibson is not only famous for the latest movie that is causing so much debate all around the world, but also for scores of other movies that he played in. One of the memorable ones and the one whose storyline is relevant to the subject of this paper is the movie: "What Do the Women Want." In it an advertising firm run mostly by males has the task of pitching their product to a female audience. They fail miserably in all of their attempts to bridge the gender gap. In essence, they fail to understand the very thing that they set out to comprehend. In the movie the ultimate salvation for the firm comes when the character played by Mel Gibson gets electrocuted, which caused an anomaly to develop in his brain. He can now hear women think when he comes into close proximity to them. However, one thing is certain, getting electrocuted and understanding woman is a fantasy that cannot be relied upon for this paper's methodology. Whether trying to advertise female products or seeking to get a grasp on our passage, humility and realistic expectation is in order. The closer we come to understanding the interpretive, social and psychological concerns of women, the more hopeful we can be of the results of our study. 41

Christian Ministerial Location

At the risk of lengthening the introductory part of this paper to inappropriate length, one other issue needs to be made clear about my social location. I am a Hebrew Christian, that is I am ethnically Jewish, but subscribe to religious believes that traditionally are not recognized as acceptable within any branch of mainline Judaism. In my best judgment Jesus of Nazareth is the Promised Messiah. It is my belief that when early gentiles were becoming followers of Jesus it was clear to them (since many of them were godfearers) that they were joining the ancient faith of Israel now offered to them through the Gospel; they were not, as many believe, converting to another religion, even though many noticeable difference existed between Israel's faith in OT and NT administrations. So with all of my heart I serve the spiritual needs of Russian speaking people in Philadelphia as the pastor of Rock of Israel Presbyterian Church that consists of Jews, Muslims and others who worship together in love and mutual acceptance through Jesus Christ their King. 42

Notes:

1. Laura Donaldson, "Postcolonialism and Biblical Reading: an Introduction," Semeia 75 (1996): 1

2. Thomas Hawkins, "The Wife of Noble Character in Proverbs 31:10-31," Bibliotheca Sacra 153 (1996): 12-23

3. Derek Kidner, An Introduction to Wisdom Literature: The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 36

4. Christine E. Roy Yoder, 2002-03 Columbia Theological Seminary Theological Research Grant: Search as for Hidden Treasures: Toward a New Theological-Ethical Reading of the Book of Proverbs

5. According to Bruce Waltke the character of Proverbs is eschatological. It is not that proverbs are "good for you". It is not that they are "right most of the time", but that they the operational manual of wise eternal living and are completely true within its eschatological context of the "not yet".

6. There were periods and movements that all, but dogmatic (missionary, mystical, etc), but I hear refer on the emphasis that the church placed on the doctrine per se.

7. David R. Blumenthal, "The Images of Women in the Hebrew Bible," available at http://www.emory.edu/UDR/BLUMENTHAL/ImagesWomen.html#fn19

8. Christine Roy Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31 (Berlin: WdeG, 2001), 77

9. "R. Sampson Raphael Hirsch comments on King Solomon's ode to the Woman of Valor. In Proverbs: "Even if from the all the past history of our womanhood, the word of the sacred scriptures would have preserved for us nothings else but this glorious testimonial, this one hymn in itself would one most forceful refutation of the fable fabricated by inconceivable thoughtlessness that the Jewish woman of ancient history had been enslaved and degraded." The Hirsch Siddur (Jerusalem and New York: Feldheim, 1978), 290

10. Adin Steinsaltz, The Woman of Valor (Jerusalem: Hamakor Press, 1993), 7

11. Shulamit Valler, "Who is Eset Hayil in Rabbinic Literature?" in: Athalya Brenner, A Feminist Companion to Wisdom Literature, (Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 89

12. Loise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, Marie-Theres Wacker, Femenist Interpretation: The Bible in Woman's Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), 97

13. Christine Roy Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31 (Berlin: WdeG, 2001), 76-77

14. C.H. Felder, "Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation," in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 13

15. On the streets of New York City one would often encounter very strange groups standing on the streets dressed as ancient warriors of sorts, with Jewish symbols placed all over them. They call themselves Black Israelites. Claiming that "white" North American Jews have no claim whatsoever to the Jewish ancestry. They believe that people of color are the true ancient people of Israel.

16. C.H. Felder, "Afro-centric Biblical Interpretation," in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 13

17. An illustrative examples of the traditional popular understanding of the Bible is the interpretation of Christ: Against the background of the reality of their own lives, the people see him as either the suffering, defeated, powerless one, with whom they can identify, or the heavenly ruler who is depicted with the insignia of the colonial rulers and who legitimizes their rule. In the first case, Christ's resurrection plays almost no role; in the second, his saving death is scarcely present. T. Schmeller, "Liberation Theologies," in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation K-Z (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 66

18. Just as the passages in the New Testament are not exactly up-to-date with God's program for social justice with regards to slavery. (The passages I am referring to are not wrong, but they are prospectival in nature, they are not everything that God's heart had to say about the evil of human race-based slavery).

19. Joseph Blenkinsopp, Wisdom and Law in the Old Testament: The ordering of life in Israel and early Judaism (Oxford: Oxford University, 1990), 26

20. In its broadest sense, ideological criticism examines ideology at work in three variables of biblical interpretation: the author, the text, and the audience… Ideological critic examines the social structures, relations, groups, and interests that profited under a particular mode of production and those that were deprived under it… Its interdisciplinary utilization of historical, social-scientific, and literary methods makes ideological criticism a more inclusive method, offering exciting possibilities for biblical studies. G.A.Yee, "Ideological Criticism," in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 535-537

21. G.A.Yee, "Ideological Criticism," in: J.H. Hayes, Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation A-J (Nashville: Abington Press, 1999), 535

22. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text: The Bible, the Reader and the Morality of Literary Knowledge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), 175

23. Similar phenomena can be noticed with Rock Music in Soviet Union as oppose to in the West. Rock in England and U.S. was expression of rebellion against traditional morality, family and church-related values, where is in former Soviet Union rock musicians represented the rebels who were rebelling against the communist establishment. So it is that many lyrics of secular Rock bands are deeply religious and some are expressly Christian in their worldview.

24. The methods displayed in exegesis show that there are really three main periods: 1) Pre-critical, 2) Critical and 3) Post-critical those correspond to pre-scientific and scientific ages. Attention at times was given more to the Author, at times more to the Text, and more recently to the Audience.

25. Bruce Corley, Steve Lemke, Grant Lovejoy, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scriptures (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1996), 365

26. Ibid., 72

27. Mahlon H. Smith, A Synoptic Gospel Primer. Available at http://religion.rutgers.edu/nt/primer/form.html

28. An intriguing example of Reader-Response Criticism can be seen in how various groups of people interpreted Tolken's trilogy "The Lord of the Rings." Tolken was a committed Christian who was immersed in the world of Scripture and Literature. His heart and mind was drenched with Bible. However, what he wrote was by no means, as many Christians interpreted it, Tolken's interpretation of the Bible, hidden in fantasy world of the Middle Earth. Nor was it simply the World War II displayed as a magical tale of the great evil Adolf Hitler rising to power against the people of the Earth, as many people that dismiss Tolken's deeply held Christian convictions, reason. Tolken dismisses both extreme views of his work in his Introduction to the Lord of the Rings. But the Christian interpretive community contributed to the meaning of Trilogy from the perspective of its own needs and worldview.

29. T.Okure defines the meaning of social location in the following way: "By social location I understand the sum total of human experience that shape the lives of the persons connected with the Bible on three different levels: 1) The level of peoples in the Bible and of the Bible itself…, 2) the level of biblical authors and their respective audiences… and 3) the level of readers/interpreters of the Bible throughout the course of history up to the present day…" (T. Okure, "Reading from this place: some problems and prospects", in: Segovia, FF and Tolbert, MA. Reading from this place Volume 2. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 52-66

30. Calvin's basic concept here is discoverable in Clement of Alexandria's Instructor in. 1 (MPG 8. 555 f.; tr. ANF 2. 271: "If one knows himself, he will know God"), and finds frequent expression in Augustine. In his Soliloquies 1. 2. 7, Augustine has this dialogue: "I desire to know God and the soul." "Nothing more?" "Nothing whatever"; and in 2. 1.1 occurs the prayer, "Let me know myself, let me know thee" (MPL 32. 872, 886; tr. LCC 6. 26, 41). Cf. Aquinas: "Sacred doctrine is not concerned with God and the creatures equally. It is concerned with God fundamentally, and with the creatures in so far as they relate to God as their beginning or end." Summa Theol. 1. 1. 3 (tr. LCC 11. 38 f.). (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book I).

31. Why at least one parent of Jewish ancestry? In Jewish law as defined by the orthodox branch of today's Judaism, Jewish ancestry is traced through the mother, while in Reform Judaism (the fastest growing Jewish movement within the U.S.) Jewish ancestry is traced through either of the parents. In the former Soviet Union the common understanding was that your ethnicity was determined through the father not through the mother. This practice of course is more in line with the biblical, largely patriarchal accounts. In genealogies for example, rarely does it refer of someone as son of such and such woman, on the countrary, it is the father by whom the identity of the son or daughter is determined (Gen.4:3-32).The traditional rationale given to the switch in Jewish orthodoxy from the biblical father to the post-biblical mother identification comes from the practical concerns for social protection of the individual who was born as product of rape by a Roman solder of a Jewish woman during the time of Roman Empire. The father in those cases could rarely be found, but the mother was always by the child's side. But what was originally designed as protection for children that were the product of rape, eventually became the standard definition for everyone. So much so that in modern Israel, in which the orthodox are deeply disliked by the average person on the street, but are in control of much of Israeli policy making, someone of ¾ Jewish ancestry would not be officially recognized as Jewish, if he or she had a non-Jewish grandmother on the mother's side, while some one who is ¼ Jewish would be, if his mothers mother was Jewish.

32. Not all Soviet Jews would consider themselves Russian Jews; this refers largely to the Jewish people of Slavic Jewish ancestry.

33. Why is self-defining psyche important? In the history of the Jews, there were many people who have dismissed their Jewish identity and either worked to disown it or went further to become what is known in history as self-hating Jews. I have met many people who are Jewish ethnically on various levels of ethnic mix, some 100%, some 50%, some 75%, all of them have various levels of identity. Some of them think of themselves as Jews, some don't. Some are deliberate in their self-identification; some are deliberate in their dismissal of their Jewish background and never think of themselves as Jewish at all.

34. By this I mean that there are Russian Jewish committed atheists, who do not subscribe to any religion, but when it comes to burials and weddings, they would incorporate traditional customs into the practice, even though they do not believe in the God represented by these customs.

35. David L. Hoffman, "Mothers in the Motherland: Stalinist Pronatalism in its Pan-European Context," Journal of Social History (Fall, 2000).

36. In the considerable large part of the former Soviet union called the Central Asia Republics (Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Khazahstan, etc) there was also a high, albeit superficial view of woman. In the public transportation it would be unheard of, if a woman would be standing, but a man sitting. The man would always get up to let the sit on the bus be used by a woman standing next to him.

37. The people used private humor to get back at the ruling communist party. Comedians were in reality political leaders who contributed to the fall of Soviet Empire.

38. Alla Sariban, The Soviet Woman: Support and the Mainstay of the Regime in Mamonova, Women and Russia: Feminist Writings from the Soviet Union (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984), 205

39. Larissa I. Remennick, "Women of the "Sandwich" Generation and Multiple Roles: the Case of Russian Immigrants of the 1990s in Israel," A Journal of Research (March, 1999) available at http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2294/5-6_40/55082328/p8/article.jhtml?term=

40. The City of Odessa in Ukraine, boasts not only beautiful beaches, but also unusual amount of great writers and musicians that it has produced. Otherwise an unexplainable phenomenon is easily understood, if one considers that ¼ of Odessa's population in the 20th century were the Russian Jews. A century before that Odessa was known to be the center of the European Jewish community. Russian Jewish mothers should be given their rightful credit for encouraging and raising the new generations of songwriters, artists, poets and world famous musicians.

41. Context, context, context…"The Bible helps people to feel a oneness with the Palestinian peasants and places them in a similar context of redemption and exploitation. The Bible, for instance, helps the Nicaraguan peasants to see easy parallels between Roman-occupied Palestine and Somoza-ruled Nicaragua." R.S. Sugirtharajah, The Bible and the Third World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 218

42. So pervasive is my maleness in this paper that as I finished the first draft of the implications contained in the Red Shadow and Red Chuppah sections, it took others who read and gave me their feedback to point out to me that everything that they read was written and applied almost exclusively to the things that are predominantly man's issues in talking about the Woman of Valor. As a cat will naturally land on its four paws after being thought up and twisted it the mid air, so will my paper doomed to be written from the male perspective. The strength of this paper will lie however not in its avoidance of the male prospective altogether, but in conscious effort to think outside of its own hermeneutical box.

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