Are you ready to go into the Red Tent? JACOB’S DINASTY: THE REALITY SHOW We have been lost to each other for so long. My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust. This is not your fault, or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed to the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing.Disfunctional family falls short to describe Jacob’s household.Nowadays, it would be easily a high-rating TV reality show!Jacob, a weak man put into the stressing place of being a patriarch of his race, manipulated by his scheming mother and later by his insidious sons.Leah, mostly a good woman BUT willingly played her role in a mean scheme to marry her sister’s boyfriend.Zilpah and Bilhah, with a image of “not killing a fly” but they make surgical comments with the sharp edge of a knife, whenever they can.Simeon and Levi, a couple of homicidal psychos, which they don’t hesitate to kill every single man in a settlement when those men were even unable to defend themselves or even selling one of their own brothers to slave traders.Rebekah, a mother who doesn’t hesitate to favor a son of hers over the other or throwing out a granddaughter from her tribe.Good thing that God already did a flood to rid of all the bad people! Geez! THE FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME FOR DINAH If you want to understand any woman you must first ask about her mother and then listen carefully. Stories about food show a strong connection. Wistful silences demonstrate unfinished business. The more a daughter knows about the details of her mother's life - without flinching or whining - the stronger the daughter.It’s odd that in many descriptions about the book, The Red Tent, it’s mentioned that one of the intentions is to denote a different scenario for the “rape” of Dinah, and while obviously I am not a Bible Scholar, one thing that I did was to read what my Bible says about the brief mention of Dinah on it. And as I understood, indeed Dinah was a fleeting line in the middle of the huge recollection of stories in the Bible, but it was clear (at least to me) that she wasn’t raped, and clearly her brothers were a bunch of psychos (with the exception of Joseph, of course).Besides, Dinah's brothers were clearly psychos but also men of short vision, since if they were so greedy, they could take the "rape" of Dinah into their own economical benefit, and therefore, instead of asking a massive circumcision, they could ask for better lands, with water's supply and a real potential to farm and to pasture, so they could gain something tangible out of their "ruined honor".What they gained killing every single man in that fortress? Nothing!Psychos and stupid! Very bad combination!Clearly, there are several versions of the Bible and all of them are subject to translations and interpretations. My bible is the MacArthur Study Bible, basically since I wanted to have a bible with footnotes and additional info to give a deeper understanding about what’s shown in the Bible.So, I don’t discard the scenario that my Bible’s version isn’t as many others. But taking is account that the Bible (any version) has been subjected to editions, censorships, exclusions, translations, etc... so who can say what really happened?It’s amazing the vision of Anita Diamant, the author, of choosing Dinah, an ephemera, easy-to-forget Biblical character and to develop such rich and complex story around her, to expand her original Bible’s fifteen minutes of fame to her deserved epic legend about her.Because it’s really unfair to see how the twelve male offspring of Jacob became nothing less than THE patriarchs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel......and Dinah? Oh, just the daughter who was raped, having barely a paragraph and disappears from Bible’s records.When you think about Dinah’s role in the middle of Jacob’s direct offspring, it’s clearly odd that the Bible didn’t give her a better position, since she was the only girl between several boys, it was obvious that if God would think in somebody as special in that generation, it has to be Dinah and not the boys.But again, it’s no shock that the Bible (or rather the people who manipulated it) gives importance (in the most cases) to men’s stories only and if a woman was ever mentioned, she must be guilty of something and/or playing a discreditable line of work.It’s amazing that nowadays there are still women in the Catholic’s faith (and to be clear, I am in this religion, but I am open minded and I like to question stuff) since it’s unfair that a woman who goes into the service of God, her highest chance to climb in Catholic Church’s chain of command is to be a Mother Superior, that it’s barely one upper step from being a Nun, BUT a man? Pftt! He can be potentially the Pope!Certainly one of the best things of Anita Diamant’s approach to Dinah’s story is that while she is clearly a likeable character, she isn’t perfect, with or without justifications, she has a dark side in her soul... but don’t we all? And the story isn’t a blind feminist propaganda or a men-hating pamphlet, since if you are objective in your reading experience, you will find in the book, as many sins made by women as by men, but also great women as great men... as in real life.And at last......Dinah won’t be a forgotten Biblical paragraph anymore!Now, not only women but also men will be able to get inside of the Red Tent, to learn Dinah’s story, to keep her legacy, to celebrate her life, and to share it with others.
The Red Tent is (very) loosely based on the story of Dinah in Genesis, and it is a book that is very easy to read. Dinah's tale is one that deserves fleshing out; in the Bible it is an interesting though undeveloped and uncertain chronicle. The author does a fairly decent job of developing her female characters, but her male characters are largely flat, stereotypical, and unnecessarily negative. In the Bible, the characters of Jacob and Joseph are more well-rounded; they are humans with both faults and virtues, moments of greatness and of pettiness. In Diamant’s novel, we largely see only one side to these men--the downside. We never get any sense that they are worth caring about, that there is any emotion within in them that we, as readers, can relate to. The narrator states that Jacob was devastated by Joseph's reported death, but we have no reason to believe it, since the author has neither developed nor depicted any love or affection between them. Although Diamant seems to be developing something interesting in the nature of Judah, she quickly drops the matter.The author unnecessarily, I believe, alters some segments of the Biblical narrative. She even suggests that the significant, divine naming of Israel (a true milestone in the Jewish story) was nothing more than Jacob's cowardly choice to change his name so as not to be associated with the slaughter in Schechem. When Rachel steals her father's household idol in the novel, Jacob seems both to know and yet not to care (at least for a long time). In the Bible, however, he thinks no one among him has taken it, and he basically says, "If anyone took it, let him die," in effect unknowingly cursing his beloved wife, who does die later in childbirth. Had Diamant not altered this point, it might have made for some wonderful pathos in the novel. Despite being written by a Jewish author, The Red Tent is in many ways an expression of a growingly popular modern neo-paganism, which incorporates the myth of the universal, goddess/Mother, feminist ideology, and a sort of body/self worship. I don't complain that Anita Diamant made some of the characters pagan; it is clear from the Bible that many early pre Israelites were, and of course, the Israelites themselves were always sliding back to idol worship. But in The Red Tent, Jacob appears to be the only monotheist in the world (and even his monotheism is on shaky grounds). What is more, polytheism almost seems to be portrayed as a healthy, feminine alternative to the somewhat deranged patriarchal religion of Jacob's fathers (an idea that does not comport too well with the actual historical treatment of women in cultures that embrace polytheism and goddess worship).
What do You think about The Red Tent (2005)?
I am not a Bible fanatic (as a reader), I mean I don't read much bout the bible even though I have a dozen of different translation of the Bible in my dormitory. I loved to collect different bible from the smallest to the heaviest encyclopedia-like Bible, I must be a theologically insane when you saw my family's collection of rosary, bible and statues but I never finished a Bible in my entire life.When I entered college I have this theologian professor who knows a lot about the Bible, even I ask him questions that are unnecessary he is still willing to answer like as if he-knows-everything. I must accept the fact that I am his greatest enemy but I don't hate him because he taught me a lot of interesting things about the holy scripture. Thanks to my Goodreads' friends I have the chance to read this book.From the Genesis to the Revelation, only limited female characters were mentioned in the bible, if ever they were mentioned they only have short appearance in verses and they are the mystery. The Red Tent is the story of the lost daughter of the prophet Jacob, who suffered because of her willingness to love a wrong man.Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, a woman who had given the chance to be loved by her mother and stepmothers and taught her all they knew to become a better woman in the future. As the only daughter of Jacob's clan, she only had the chance to experience the life of a woman in a Red Tent, a place were only women can enter, a place were women bleed, a place to give birth, friendship among women and a place were every secrets of women should be kept and shared.The books was divided into three parts, which are the early years of Dinah - which tackles the lives of her mothers, her childhood years and lastly her travel to Egypt. The book turns out to be a story of Leah, Rachel, Bilhal, Zilpah and Dinah who suffered and loved by Jacob. Leah, the true mother of Dinah, a skillful wife who inherit the gift of being a mother to her sons and daughter. Zilpah, Leah's closest sister and a religious woman who dreamed to become a priestess of the moon and to the virgin. Rachel, a beautiful woman, a midwife and truly been loved by Jacob. Bilhal, the smallest among the sisters and the closest of Rachel who inherit her beauty and talents of Leah and a quiet shepherd.As we all know or maybe few that Dinah was raped by an Egyptian in the bible and further that nobody knows what really happened to her. For me it wasn't a rape if she is willing to be touched by a man. She loved him and he loves her, but her brother tricked her husband's family by circumcising all the men in the household and killed them. That was a frightening event that Dinah suffered in the story even in the last will of Jacob he never mentioned Dinah but in fact she is a secret that must not speak in there family.The book also shown a strong feminism, it aimed social rights to the woman. It is also weird that the author included gods and goddesses and practicing paganism in the book, and she is a Jew and the story are gathered from the sacred scripture of Christians. But we can't deny that in the old times people especially women were priestess of sacred image of the people, they become the prophet or a priestess who given the chance to see the future and foretell other's fortune. Warning, the book had a strong paganism or religion on it and I think if you are an obsessed Christian you may find this awful and sinful.[image error]
—Kwesi 章英狮
One of my favorite books. After I read it, I began taking "Red Tent Days." I live in a household of men (one husband, three sons), but one day a month I go to my room and drink tea and read and tune out the testosterone. The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery. "Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons. --Gail Hudson
—Holli
I read this story over Mother's Day weekend so my take on it is the celebration of womanhood. I was absolutely fascinated by this time in history that is so vastly differnt from our modern times. I think if you are overly conservative and only look at the biblical inaccuracies you will miss out on a story with a gorgeous prose. I would caution you to read this as it is a work of "fiction". This is a family saga Diamant loosley wove biblical history into. told thru Jacob's only daughter Dinah and shows her POV from birth to her death. She becomes enemy of her father and his 12 sons so they are not shead in a good light. It shows the workings of her heart from her loneliness, horror, rage, depression, career and bonds with women. I took from this story to embrace my womanhood because we are shown to celebrate womanhod and coming of age from almost the beginning of time. It did make me wish we had more of a celebration or passage into our own coming of age. We should have a ritual of the changing of girl to womanhood(without the pagan or goddess worship shown in this tale, of course!)I was intrigued into the early skills of midwifery. They were very detailed and showed the harsh lifestyle of the times. I adored the bonds these women shared in The red tent. They used the tent for a place when they went during menstruation, sickness, nursing and birth of their children. It was a place they could be seperated from the world of men. This is a tale that well linger with me for a very long time and I look forward to reading it again and sharing it with other women I'm close to.
—Karla
