Women in the Bible

Leah

Genesis 29:16-34:1; 35:23, 26; 46:5, 14, 18; 49:13; Ruth 4:11

• Genesis 29:16-17 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was graceful and beautiful.

• Genesis 29:21-25 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife [Rachel] that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”

• Ruth 4:11 Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel…”

List of Reading & Resources:

Articles

• “Leah’s Improbably Optimism” by Annie Norman-Schiff

• “Leah and Hagar: An Intergenerational Conversation of Belonging” by Ashley Starr-Morris (pp. 384-401) in CrossCurrents Vol. 69, No. 4 Religion and Sex/ualities (2019)

• "Leah: Bible" by Tikva Frymer-Kensky

• "Leah: Midrash and Aggadah" by Tamar Kadari

• "Leah" by Jennifer M. Matheny

• "Jacob" by Sarah Cook

• "Barrenness" by Cynthia R. Chapman

• "How Is It Possible that Jacob Mistakes Leah for Rachel?" by Dr. Rabbi Zev Farber

Books

• “Leah’s Prayers: A Feminist Reading” by Noam Zion

  “Rachel and Leah’s Shared Anger” by Wendy Zierler

• "Job" by Carol A. Newsom in Women's Bible Commentary, edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley (2012)

• "Genesis" by Susan Niditch in Women's Bible Commentary, edited by Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley (2012)

Podcasts

• “Loved and Unloved Wives” podcast from Parsha in Progress