Geoffrey D. Miller, «Canonicity and Gender Roles: Tobit and Judith as Test Cases», Vol. 97 (2016) 199-221
Clues from rabbinic literature suggest that several factors were at play in establishing the early Jewish canon, including the dating, theology, and language of disputed texts. Another vital yet overlooked criterion is adherence to patriarchy, and a careful analysis of the Books of Judith and Tobit illustrates how these texts failed to meet rabbinic standards for gender roles. Most notably, the countercultural figures of Judith and Anna would have scandalized the rabbis by their encroachment on traditionally male spheres of activity, their freedom of movement inside and outside the home, and their ability to chastise male characters without repercussions.
220 GeoFFreY d. MILLer
her husband repeatedly throughout the narrative. From the rabbis’
perspective, Tobit should “give her a letter of divorce,” especially after
he attains financial security through the recovery of his ten silver
talents, but he cannot bring himself to do so.
The genre of these two texts further compounds the problem. As
didactic novels, Judith and Tobit aim to inculcate certain values
in their audiences and promote an authentically Jewish way of life,
bidding their audiences to “go and do likewise” 54. For all their theolo-
gical merits, these stories fail the rabbis when it comes to gender.
Sarah might be the kind of wife they envision, but Anna is certainly
not, and Judith’s androgyny is out of the question. Neither do the male
characters edify when it comes to gender. They refuse to subjugate
these women, permitting them to run roughshod over patriarchy
and going so far as to throw themselves at Judith’s feet in homage
(Jdt 14,7) and laud her as the “pride of Israel” (15,9).
This criterion of adherence to patriarchy should aid future scholars
in their study of the formation of the Jewish canon. It certainly ex-
plains why other disputed books fared better in rabbinic debates. The
Hebrew text of esther never defends her marriage to a Gentile and
makes no mention of God, but it otherwise upholds gender norms.
esther is assertive only when she needs to be, and she saves her people
without transgressing the boundaries of patriarchy, merely serving as
a conduit between her kinsman Mordecai and her husband Ahasuerus.
She beautifies herself, hosts banquets, and never strays outside the
royal precinct, communicating to her uncle Mordechai through a
courier instead. Her conversations with her husband are always cour-
teous and polite, in contrast to the brazen effrontery of her predecessor
Vashti, and she prefers to be seen rather than heard. The main charac-
ter of the book is arguably Mordechai 55, who uses esther’s position
to accomplish his aims and rise to the highest position in the Persian
court. Likewise, even though Sirach was eventually excluded from the
Jewish canon, it enjoyed great popularity among the rabbis. Its late
date of composition did not preclude it from being cited frequently in
the Talmud, and the book’s thoroughgoing androcentrism served the
54
WILLS, The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World, 92.
55
Modern scholars are divided on the question of esther’s seemingly passive,
more demure persona, but it is easy to see how the rabbis would have viewed her
as a model of subordination. For a summary of the issues and relevant literature,
see M. FoX, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther (Grand rapids, MI
2
2001) 197-211, 298-299.