Kol Isha: When the women refused to strip off their finery

This experience at Sinai sets the precedent for the noncompliance of the women with their husbands at the sin of the Golden Calf.

By RACHEL ADELMAN
golden calf cow 88 (photo credit: )
golden calf cow 88
(photo credit: )
My first exposures to traditional text study and "creative ritual" in the 1980s began with participation in a Rosh Hodesh group for women in Jerusalem. As a mix of Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform women, together we lit candles and incense, sat in a circle, learned texts, told stories and sang. At the time, I was not familiar with the sources associating Rosh Hodesh with women and, rather romantically, thought it had to do with the waxing and waning of the moon and woman's monthly menstrual (from mensis, Latin for "moon") cycle. The sources, however, deem that women are exempt from work [melacha] on Rosh Hodesh because they did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf. What held the women back from idolatrous revelry? Is there an intrinsic relationship between their piety then, and celebrating the New Moon today? Commentaries on the Shulhan Aruch (the Taz and the Beit Yosef on Orah Haim 417:1) suggest that Rosh Hodesh was originally intended as a holiday for men and women but, because the men sinned, the women exclusively retained the privilege. The midrash, on the other hand, suggests that the women were inherently more reverent. According to Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer (PRE), chapter 46, Aaron concocted a series of delay tactics when the Israelites appealed to him to make an idol: He deliberated, saying to himself: If I say to them, "Give me your silver and gold," they will immediately bring it to me. But if I say give me the rings of your wives, your sons and your daughters, the whole project will fail, as it says, "And Aaron said: 'Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters...'" (Ex. 32:2). The women heard and refused, unwilling to give over their rings to their husband. Instead they rebuked them, saying, "To make an idol and a molten image that has no power to save! No, we will not heed you [lo nishma lachem]." And the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them their reward in this world, for they are to observe the New Moon (celebrations) more than the men. And He gave them a reward in the world to come, for they will be renewed in the future like the New Moon, as it says, "He satisfies you with good things in your finery/prime of life [edyech] so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:5) (PRE 46, my translation). When frustrated in their plan to make the molten calf, the men offered their own jewels, as it says, "And all the men took off the gold rings that were in their ears" [ozneihem, i.e. the masculine possessive pronoun]" (Ex. 32:3). Did the women refuse to give up their rings because they were possessive over their finery? They certainly didn't hesitate in contributing generously toward the making of the Tabernacle (cf. Ex. 35:22). Rather, Aaron adjured the men to ask for their wives' rings because he knew the women would resist, being inherently more pious. Similarly, according to PRE 41, the women were offered the Torah first because of their greater inherent piety: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Go, and speak to the daughters of Israel. Ask them whether they will accept the Torah, for it is customary for men to follow the opinion of their wives, as it says: "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob [beit Ya'acov], that is the women, "and declare to the children of Israel [bnei Yisrael]," that is the men (Ex. 19:3). They (the women) all answered with one voice, "All that God said we will do and then we will hear/understand [na'aseh venishma]" (Ex. 24:7). This experience at Sinai sets the precedent for the noncompliance of the women with their husbands at the sin of the Golden Calf. Because they were deeply bound by the promise to God, "we will do and then we will hear/understand" [na'aseh venishma]" they did not comply with the idol-making of their men: "No, we will not heed you" [lo nishma lachem]" How are their first commitment and their later resistance related to Rosh Hodesh? I suggest that the link hinges on the imagery in the verse from Psalms: "He satisfies you with good things in your finery/prime of life [batov edyech] so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:5). The Hebrew batov edyech can be understood as a designation of time, "the prime of life," but the midrash intends a double entendre - an allusion both to "ed", the woman's fertile youth, and to ornaments or finery, "edi" (cf. Ezek. 16:7, 11). In the context of the Golden Calf, the women refrained from contributing their finery (edyan) Later, in response to consequences of the sin, the people stripped off their finery [edyam] (Ex. 33:6) as a symbol of mourning. According to the Talmud, these were the crowns that the Israelites had gained with their declaration of faith at Sinai: "We shall do and then we shall hear/understand" [na'aseh venishma] (BT Shabbat 88a). Because the women did not contribute their jewels to the making of the molten calf, they maintained a loyalty to the original experience at Sinai; they never lost those precious crowns as a consequence of participating in idolatry. The jewels of their words bound them. They were thus rewarded with the Rosh Hodesh festival as the ultimate symbol of integrity, despite the vicissitudes of time. The gift, represented by the waxing and waning of the night luminary, is commensurate with the women's fidelity - a celebration of renewal and continuity. Perhaps, then, my first romantic hunch about the association between the New Moon and women's biological sense of cyclical time was not so far off the mark. The women of the desert sojourn were uniquely faithful to the inner and outer expressions of faith. May we be worthy of the legacy of their jewels. The writer lectures in Hebrew Bible and midrash at Matan, the Sadie Rennert Institute for Women's Torah Studies, in Jerusalem, as well as internationally.