e to live lives governed by the Torah will become actualized. In contrast, if a woman insists upon living by making "unencumbered choices about her body, her material wants, and how she spends her time and energies, then he will not find satisfaction in observing Judaism" (Aiken xxvii). Aiken's commentary suggests that the role which the modern Jewish woman is asked to play is pivotal, yet also tenuous. According to the strictest tenets of Jewish law, only if the mother of the child is Jewish can the child be considered to be part of this race. Since the role which women play in the continuation of the Jewish race is paramount, the significance of her social position has alternated between being revered first and then restricted.
In The Invaluable Pearl: The Unique Status of Women in Judaism Ghatan adopts this mixture of a reverential and restricted appreciation of the Jewish woman. According to his conservative approach, Jewish women have repeatedly shown themselves to be possessed of a superior spirituality, intelligence, understanding, and judgment (Ghatan 3). Sarah reveals herself to be superior to her husband Abraham in her ability to prophesy (Ghatan 4). Approaching her old age and unable to bear any children, Sarah actively encourages her husband Abraham to sleep with her handmaiden Hagar in the hopes that he might have offspring. Yet recognizing that Ishmael, the offspring born of this match, is likely to prove destructive and treacherous to their own son Isaac which was eventually born to her, she tells Abraham that Ishmael must be cast out. Abraham is reluctant to obey her request until he awakens one morning to hear God's voice commanding him "to listen to her voice" (Ghatan 4). Similarly, the prominence of Leah is that all the Kings of Judea are said to proceed from her. Leah serves as the first individual who offered praise to God as recorded in Genesis 29:35.
Rebecca, Isaac's wife, was the mother of E...