CSH November Shabbat Service Schedule November 20 | Parashat Vayishlach Sag Harbor Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering followed by a Pot Luck Dinner Sunday November 21, 3:00 pm Old Whalers’ Church 2nd Annual Communitywide CANorah Event Sunday, December 5th, at 2:00PM Guild Hall in the Boots Lamb Education Center Menorah display. Chanukah activities. Music . Latkes. Sufganiot . The lighting of a large menorah outdoors in front of Guild Hall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Candle Lighting Friday, November 12 4:17 pm Shabbat Services There are no Shabbat services this week. Please join us next Shabbat Morning at 9:30am This week’s parashat: Vayetzei Annual: Genesis 28:10-32:3 (Etz Hayim, p. 166) Triennial Cycle: Genesis 28:10-30:13 (Etz Hayim, p. 166) Haftarah: Hosea 12:13 – 14:10 (Etz Hayim, p. 189) Musings on Vayetzeit: Bilah and Zilpah | The other imahot?? In this week's parsha, Parshas Vayeitzei the Torah tells us that 4 of the 12 children of Yaakov Avinu come from Bilhah and Zilpah. In the Midrash it is related that Bilhah and Zilpah were also daughters of Lavan, but daughters who were born from Lavan's concubine. Thus, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah are all step-sisters. Bilhah and Zilpah were given to Rachel and Leah by Lavan as maidservants. Later, both Bilhah and Zilpah become wives of Yaakov Avinu along with Rachel and Leah. The Torah tells us that Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali and Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. Four of the Twelve Tribes thus descend from Bilhah and Zilpah. Interestingly, later in Parshas Zos HaBeracha, when the 12 tribes receive their brochos, these 4 tribes who come from Bilhah and Zilpah, are mentioned last. http://asimplejew.blogspot.com/2004/11/whatever-happened-to-bilhah-and-zilpah.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zilpah: Midrash and Aggadah The Rabbis count Zilpah among the six Matriarchs (Cant. Rabbah 6:4:2) and an aggadic tradition relates that she was the niece of Deborah, Rebekah’s wet nurse. She was named Zilpah after the place where her father had been taken prisoner (Midrash Aggadah, ed. Buber, Gen. 30:2). However, according to another tradition, Zilpah was the daughter of Laban and one of his concubines and she was thus the paternal half-sister of Rachel and Leah (Gen. Rabbati, Vayeze, p. 119). The rabbis reveal that Leah and Zilpah knew that they were intended to marry Esau, while Rachel and Bilhah were meant for Jacob. In consequence Zilpah wept incessantly and tears poured (zolfot) from her eyes; hence her name. But since Esau threw off all moral bounds, Jacob was given all four women (Shir ha-Shirim Zuta 1:15; Sekhel Tov [ed. Buber], Gen. 30:7). Zilpah was the handmaiden of Leah, to whom she had been given by her father Laban upon her marriage to Jacob. The midrash relates that since Jacob married Leah unwillingly, he was also given Zilpah so as not to grieve Leah (Gen. Rabbati, Vayeze, p. 120). According to another midrashic account, Zilpah was Rachel’s handmaiden, and her father exchanged her for Bilhah when he deceived Jacob, so that Zilpah became Leah’s handmaiden (Midrash Aggadah, ed. Buber, Gen. 29:24). When Leah saw that she ceased bearing, she gave Zilpah to Jacob. The Rabbis relate that Leah learned such conduct from Sarah. Leah said: “If Sarah, who was barren, gave her handmaiden to her husband and was built up through her, should I, who have sons, surely not do so?” (Gen. Rabbati, Vayeze, p. 121). One tradition has Leah freeing Zilpah, whom she then gave to Jacob as a wife, and not as a concubine (Lekah Tov, Gen. 30:9). Zilpah was the youngest of Jacob’s four wives and her pregnancy was not apparent; therefore the Torah states merely that “she bore” (Gen. 30:10–12), in contrast with the other Matriarchs, of each of whom it is also said “she conceived” (Gen. Rabbah 71:30). Jacob favored Rachel and even loved her maidservant Bilhah more than Zilpah, the handmaiden of Leah (Gen. Rabbati, Vayeze, p. 120). Zilpah initially refused to bear children for Jacob; hence the wording “persons in all,” that is used in reference to the children of Rachel, Leah, and Bilhah, is not used in regard to Asher’s sons, thereby not fully accrediting them to Zilpah in the listing of Jacob’s descendants in Gen. 46:17 (Gen. Rabbati, Vayigash, 223). According to one midrashic tradition, Reuben did not lie only with Bilhah, as is recounted in Gen. 35:22, but also with Zilpah. Jacob accordingly reproved him in his blessing to his sons (Gen. 49:4): “For when you mounted [mishkavei—implying more than one act] your father’s bed” (Gen. Rabbah 99, ed. Theodor and Albeck [MS. Vatican]). http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zilpah-midrash-and-aggadah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Rachel marries Jacob, her father Laban gives her a maid, Bilhah (Gen 29:29; 46:25), whom she gives to Jacob as a wife (Hebrew ishah) when she finds herself barren (Gen 30:3–7). Rachel did not have to do this for Jacob’s sake, for Jacob already had children to be his heirs by his other wife, Leah; rather, she is said to do this so that Jacob could fulfill her demand to give her children. Rachel plans to “have children through her” (as Sarah did with Hagar) by having Bilhah give birth “upon my [Rachel’s] knees,” probably a phrase that comes from adoption ritual. The story is silent about Bilhah’s reaction. The plan succeeds, so that when Bilhah’s son is born, Rachel names him, an act expressing her maternal authority. The child’s name, Dan, means “he judged” and indicates Rachel’s relationship to the boy: she claims that “God has judged me [Hebrew dananni] and has also heard my voice and given me a son” (Gen 30:6). Bilhah bears another son to Jacob under this arrangement, with Rachel again naming the child. She calls him Naphtali, which means “I have prevailed,” because she has “prevailed” (Hebrew niftalti) over her sister in a divine contest (Hebrew naftulei Elohim; NRSV, “mighty wrestlings”). Despite this relationship to Rachel, Dan and Naphtali continue to be considered Bilhah’s sons, and that influences their standing in the family. When faced with what he thinks might be a tense confrontation with his brother, Esau, Jacob places the “two maids and their children” at the front of his household, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph bringing up the (protected) rear (Gen 33:1–3; compare 32:22–23). Bilhah’s own status in the household is somewhat ambiguous. She is given to Jacob as his “wife” (Hebrew ishah), although in one instance she is called his “secondary wife” (pilegesh; NRSV, “concubine”). Yet in the potentially dangerous situation with Esau, she reverts to being called a “maid” (Hebrew shifhah). Furthermore, in the listing of Jacob’s twelve sons in chap. 35, Dan and Naphtali are presented as the “sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid” (v. 25). And the maids apparently must share a tent, whereas the wives have their own (Gen 31:33). Nevertheless, when the danger from Esau has passed, Bilhah again is called Jacob’s wife; and her sons are not disadvantaged, for Rachel’s biological son Joseph becomes a shepherd, “a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives” (Gen 37:2). Bilhah must have been very young when she bore her children, because Jacob’s eldest son Reuben (by Leah) has sex with her (Gen 35:22). Sleeping with one’s father’s wife was considered a great offense in biblical law (Lev 18:8; 20:11); perhaps that is why Bilhah is called his secondary wife (pilegesh) in this one text—to diminish the gravity of the act. Jacob hears about what Reuben did and does nothing at the time. But apparently he considered it a major offense, for in his deathbed speech, he removes Reuben from his extra inheritance as firstborn and alludes to Reuben’s dreadful deed (Gen 49:4). Nothing is said about Bilhah’s fate, but she continued to be remembered as the ancestress of major clans in Israel (1 Chr 7:13). http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bilhah-bible ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May it be Your will, my God and God of my ancestors, to be gracious to me and to all my family and to give us, and all Israel, a good and long life. Remember us with goodness and blessing, and grant us salvation and mercy. Grant us abundant blessing, and fortify the places we call home. May Your Presence dwell among us as we gather here tonight. May we be blessed with wise and learned disciples and children, lovers of God who stand in awe of You, people who speak truth and spread holiness. May those we nurture light the world with Torah and good deeds. Hear the prayers I utter now in the name of our mothers Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah. May Your light, reflected in these candles, surround us always. And let us say, Amen. Adapted by Nurit Shein and Sue Levi Elwell from a traditional Sephardic techine found in Cohen, Jonathon, ed. The Sephardi Haggadah. Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers, 1988. http://www.ritualwell.org/holidays/passover/candlelighting/primaryobject.2005-07-06.6131311353 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the first edition [of Siddur B’chol L’vav’cha] the matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah were added to the English translation of the avot blessing of the Amidah (…God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). This edtion has not only used the more inclusive version of the avot in Hebrew…but has akso added the “handmaids” Bilhah and Zilpah to the list of our forebears.