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The Miriam Tradition
TEACHING EMBODIED TORAH
By CIA SAUTTER
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
Copyright © 2010 the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-03577-7
Chapter One
Women and Sacred Power Rambam (1135–1205) mentions in his writing the adoption of alien dance-customs by the Jews in Egypt, when he describes a bride taking a sword or rapier in hand and executing a sword-dance before her wedding guests. He of course prohibits this sort of dance as opposed to Jewish morals and altogether alien to the spirit of Jewish tradition. —Zvi Friedhaber, "Dance among the Jews in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance" When scholars say that women are more concerned with ritual than with theology, the implication often is that ritual is somehow less noble, important, or sophisticated than theology. While men sit and ponder and write about complex metaphysical problems, women jump up and down and ask the spirits to cure their children of the flu. This sort of dichotomous and androcentric thinking is of little use in grappling with women's religions. —Susan Starr Sered, Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister
Women's Texts and Rituals
When I tell people that I study "religion and dance," the response almost always makes me wince. I often hear, "David danced before the ark and all that, but what else is there?" Apparently no one remembers Miriam: a prophet and leader of Israel, she is the icon for dance in the Torah. Of the many overt passages on dance in the Bible, most refer specifically to women's role as leaders of ritual for the community of Israel. The supreme example is the prophetess Miriam, who led women in dance and song after the crossing of the sea.
So what happened to Miriam and these dancing women? And why do people remember David rather than Miriam? Those questions became a starting point for my investigation into the relationship between women, dance, and ritual around the world, especially in the West. Through my investigation, I concluded that Miriam not only danced, but she danced a Torah lesson. And even though the many Jewish female ritual leaders who followed her tradition seldom received credit for their important leadership, they were also teaching Torah values to their community through their dance and music.
My conclusion is meant to be a bit jarring, although it is not a simplistic idea. It considers the complexity of Torah interpretation, the range of Torah meaning, and the limits set on acknowledging Jewish women as transmitters of Torah tradition. The questions I ask along the way involve historiography, ritual, and culture in the study of Judaism. But first there is the issue of dance itself. In the Western world, study of dance has often been removed from its base in religious ritual. It has frequently been feminized into a realm for the Anna Pavlovas, Isadora Duncans, and Martha Grahams among us. Yet the Eastern world has the devadasi temple dancers of Juggernaut, the ritual dancing of Thai girls, and Balinese sacred dancers. When the world dances, women are often the dancers. In most of the world, dance is also commonly a part of religious ritual. For instance, African warriors' rites of passage, Native American Sun Dance ceremonies, and Hopi Kachina dance practices are the subject of numerous fascinating studies in the fields of anthropology and sociology. Significantly, it seems, these are dances performed by males.
But what of women's dance rituals? What happened to the biblical tradition of women leading the community in celebration? And from a broader perspective, where are the dance rituals of Western society? It is not that this material is absent from scholarship; there are, for example, anthropological studies of European dance rituals. But this is not a subject that is likely to be included in a religious textbook. With the exception of Carole Meyers's "The Drum-Dance-Song Ensemble," there has been scant attention to this role of women in biblical and Jewish traditions.
There are many reasons for the absence of information. One is the post-Enlightenment rational approach to religion and Judaism, which stresses philosophy and written text over performance. As Susan Sered indicates, women were not always recognized as religious ritual leaders because of their use of movement, dance, and music rather than doctrine. Their emphasis on ritual and ritual movement is somehow interpreted as primitive, or less developed. Or their activities are called "cultural" rather than religious because they do not take place in a temple, church, or synagogue. In Judaism, however, there is no break between the "religious" and the secular. All of life is a part of being Jewish. Rituals occur at home on the Sabbath, on holidays, and even through blessings said when observing natural phenomena. Furthermore, dance has been a part of Jewish ritual since biblical times, and continued to play a role in community life in the Diaspora.
Judaism, Dance, and Women
In the Bible, the Talmud, and rabbinic writings (responsa), dance is portrayed not only as an activity connected with Jewish worship and celebration, but in fact as a necessity. Some may be surprised to learn that dance was endorsed by the rabbis of the Talmud. However, in Mediterranean cultures, including Israel, there were many dances for rituals and celebrations. Women were part of this activity, and at times the leaders of these events, although documentation of their leadership is sparse. Yet there is enough evidence to demonstrate that Jewish women performed stylized and specific actions during significant times in significant places using symbolic gestures, motions, and dance.
In the Hebrew Bible, there are ten primary words used to describe the activity of dancing in general, and its use for celebration, worship, and mourning. Significantly, one term, machol, refers specifically to women's dance. Biblical passages that use this word include Exodus 15:20, Judges 11:34, and 1 Samuel 18:16, 21:12b, and 29:5. The word could mean to whirl or to writhe. There are also "countless passages of biblical and post-biblical literature" about dance. Post-biblical rabbinic material contains so many words for dance that Alfred Sendrey declared, "no other ancient language possesses this wealth of expressions describing the various aspects of dancing." European medieval and Renaissance Jewish reports also note that dance was a part of Jewish festivities. Every Jewish community in the medieval period had a dance hall, and dance was a favorite activity.
Some of the dances mentioned in the Bible were led by women and were used for worship-specific activities. Parallel archeological evidence from the Eastern Mediterranean region even suggests that a special women's chorus led the dance and music of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Carol Meyers's article "The Drum-Dance-Song Ensemble" explores this activity and its implications for understanding women's leadership in the ancient Near East.
Written evidence of women's leadership includes passages in the Psalms (30, 149, 150), the story of Miriam leading women in a victory dance, the account of the victory dance by Jepthah's daughter, and similar passages in the book of Judges, all using the term machol. These texts report on times during the period prior to or during the First Temple. Biblical and archeological evidence from the Second Temple period is more tenuous on women's musical leadership. Written rabbinic evidence suggests that as the synagogue service developed, women ceased to function as ritual leaders.
During the rabbinic period, it appears that Jewish women were not initially excluded from performing Jewish synagogue ritual, and that they could participate in worship services. However, their musical leadership of sanctioned ritual eventually became an impossibility. At first, the rabbis determined that women were not obligated to fulfill all ritual commands. Time-bound positive commandments were the obligation of only the men. There was an understanding that "women may observe them if they so choose," but limiting factors existed.
Women were sometimes excluded from services, and were even silenced. For instance, a minyan of ten men was required for group prayer; women could not participate. A minyan was also required for "reading ... the haftarah (Prophets) ... recitation of Kaddish (mourner's prayer) and sanctification prayers (Kedushah and Barekhu), consolation of mourners, and the seven blessings of marriage." Another limitation on women's involvement in worship involved the laws of niddah. A niddah—a menstruating woman—was often excluded from services in the synagogue. In Women and Jewish Law, Rachel Biale points out that this was not actually halakhah (law), and there were many interpretations of when and how a niddah could participate in a synagogue service. Yet the custom of excluding a niddah persisted. Finally, according to rabbinic interpretation of the Talmud, hearing a woman's voice was abhorrent, because it distracted men from worship. This interpretation eliminated the possibility of women's musical leadership in the synagogue, and of any associated dance practices.
Other sources of information provide a picture of a dynamic Jewish community in medieval southern Spain, offering a different picture of synagogue life. For example, secular poetry by notable Spanish Jews such as Abraham Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi was set to music and sung responsively within the synagogue. This interesting slice of medieval Jewish life in Spain suggests that rabbinic ruling may not have been actively employed, and what became written text was not necessarily the reality of embodied text. Accounts suggest that congregations were lenient about rulings, as rabbis objected to the use of secular music in synagogue worship. This probably means that secular music was used in synagogue services. Still, there is little doubt that if women led Jewish ritual, their performance occurred outside the synagogue.
SEPHARDIC SPAIN IN MUSIC AND DANCE
Dance might have provided a ritual activity for women, even though it was not necessarily done in fulfillment of Jewish law. However, rabbinic and biblical records indicate that women's dances have long been a part of Jewish custom. Dance as a part of Jewish ritual celebration did not end when the Second Temple was destroyed, but the connection to Jewish worship practices then became more peripheral. Perhaps one reason for the lack of dance was new strictures on the use of music. According to the Talmud, after the destruction of the Second Temple, Israel was to mourn; playing of musical instruments on the Sabbath would no longer be permitted. In conjunction, "when the Jews were sent into exile the dancing associated with the normal activities of a nation in its own country ceased." Women did not cease to dance, however; "some vestige of the women's dances may have remained in the female singers and drummers who accompany the joyful dancing of women in many of the ethnic groups."
By the time of Raba B. Hanin (c. 350 C.E.), the elimination of dancing from the Sabbath and from festivals was explained by arguing that dancing might lead to the repairing of instruments, as labor was forbidden on such occasions (Mishnah Sotah 48a; Mishnah Bezah 36b and 30a; Mo'ed VI). But the rabbis were also specific in stating that one was to "rejoice" during weddings, and this was interpreted to mean "dance." According to Doug Adams, "rabbis are reported to have even led dancing with the brides after the fall of the Sanhedrin." He refers to the Talmud (Kethuboth 17a, Nashim III, Pe'ah 15d), in addition to other early rabbinic materials. Significantly, then, in the Mediterranean world, weddings became the focal point for women's dance and music connected with Jewish practice.
Despite regulations concerning music, and by association dance, we know from the Talmud, rabbinic responsa, artwork, and travelogues that weddings were not the only occasions on which women danced. These materials record dance of a more purely entertaining nature performed for social occasions, as well as dance associated with more obviously sacred occasions. Records on social dances note the activity of Jews in the higher echelons of Spanish society, indicating that participation in mixed-couples dances was part of their education and social life. Other material shows that Jewish women in pre-expulsion Spain used dance for the celebration of the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh), holidays, and funerals, in addition to weddings.
SOCIAL DANCE AND JEWISH WOMEN IN SPAIN
There is a relative abundance of material concerning the practice of mixed-couples social dance in medieval Spain, in which Jewish women participated. Mixed-couples courtly dance was a precursor of Renaissance dance, so the records of Jewish dance masters contain evidence on women's involvement. Part of the reason for the documentation is that the rabbis generally did not approve of men dancing with women, and they wrote about their dissatisfaction in responsa. Some responsa comment on this new, tradition-breaking behavior. According to Amnon Shiloah, "R. Abraham, son of Maimonides (1135–1205)," objected to "women who imitate the dances of Gentiles" engaging in the "deplorable behavior" of "dance before men." He believed that they would be "completely excluded from the world to come." Rabbi Shlomo Ben Aderet (1270–1343) complained that it was "overstepping all moral bounds" to let young people dance together on the Sabbath as they did in Spain. Shiloah also reports an interesting dance custom that was popular in Spain, involving the wearing of a horse figure around the neck called a kurraj (an Arabic word): "Girl dancers ... would decorate themselves by hanging the models on their bosoms when they appeared at parties."
These comments are not surprising, given that Jews were fully integrated into the Islamic society of medieval Spain and lived in all strata of society. The responsa statements also tell us something about the social status of Jewish women, which appears to have been rather dynamic. Also worth noting is that the responsa cited above do not object to women dancing. The objection is to their dancing in mixed company, and their adapting offensive local customs.
Women's performance in front of men does not seem to have been an issue for the rabbis of medieval Spain. There remains a question, however, of when women were permitted to dance in public. A case in point is the zambra celebration. Zambras were grand parties given by the Moorish rulers of Andalusia. Jews actively participated in these events, which literally involved wine, women, and song. Islamic law bans all three, yet a great deal of wine was served at a zambra, while the guests listened to talented instrumentalists. While the music played, women danced behind a transparent veil. Raymond P. Scheindlin reports that "revelers passed the night drinking, nodding, waking, and drinking again," and "enjoy[ing] the performances of dancers and singers ... [who were] usually women who performed behind a curtain." It is possible that Jewish women danced at these celebrations.
The musicians and poets at these events were often Jews. Judah Halevi and Ibn Ezra frequently described zambras in their poems, and their works were performed at the parties. Who the dancers were is not clear. They were perhaps slaves from Persia, professional entertainers, or women of the courts. Evidence exists for all three possibilities, and all three possibilities could have involved Jewish women. Judging from what is known about the period, the only thing that is safe to assume is that the dance style was strongly Middle Eastern.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Miriam Tradition by CIA SAUTTER Copyright © 2010 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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