Session 11: Parashat Vayakhel

Sojourner Truth, "Ain't I a Woman," 1851

According to Torah, the laver in the Tabernacle was made from the mirrors of the women who performed tasks in the holy space. However, a midrash quoted by Rashi redefines the women’s role, saying they used the mirrors to seduce their exhausted husbands in Egypt, leading to the growth of the Israelite population and ultimately the survival of the Jewish people. The women are transformed from workers in the Tabernacle into heroines of procreativity. The story celebrates the women for ensuring Jewish survival, but also reduces them to reproductive vessels, raising troubling questions about how the Jewish value of continuity can be used as a way to oppress women.

Sojourner Truth was illiterate, and the first transcription of this 1851 speech was made by an African-American friend and reflects Truth’s familiarity with standard English and upbringing in the North. The second, more famous transcription from 1863 (the common title of the speech comes from this version) plays into common stereotypes about African-American women from the South, forcing us to consider the ethics of communication. The two transcriptions illustrate how the preservation of a narrative can redefine a person or group of people. The text is at once a piece of feminist scripture and an example of a woman’s legacy transformed.

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