RABBI MARLA J. FELDMAN

Biblical Women Speak: Hearing Their Voices through New and Ancient Midrash

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What is midrash? How can midrash be utilized to understand and amplify the lesser-known stories of women in the Bible? Watch my discussion about my new book, Biblical Women Speak: Hearing Their Voices through New and Ancient Midrash, with JPS Director Dr. Elias Sacks in a recorded interview on the new JPS YouTube channel, where I describe  contemporary approaches to midrash and what led me to choose the ten Biblical women featured in the book. 

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Book Description:

Feldman's book uniquely combines the biblical text with a creative revisioning of ten biblical women’s stories, an analysis of the related classical midrash and commentaries, and the author’s insights for the modern world, creating an engaging invitation to enter biblical narratives, challenge conventional wisdom, and recalibrate the stories and lessons through the lens of our own lives.

Hear what other's have to say:

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"It is absolutely exquisite. I LOVE Midrash and your storytelling goes down like fine liqueur-with warmth and that glowing feeling. It is so good for the soul!"—Dr. Madelyn Katz, Associate Dean (retired), HUC-JIR, Los Angeles, CA.

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“Meeting these new role models of Jewish womanhood—some famous, others voiceless or infamous and nameless in the Torah—left me both enlightened and delighted. Reading the biblical text, rabbinic commentary, modern midrash, and Rabbi Feldman’s contemporary commentary illuminated four dimensions of these remarkable women.”—Maggie Anton, author of Rashi’s Daughters

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“Rabbi Marla J. Feldman is a marvelous teacher, and in Biblical Women Speak she proves to also be a weaver of ancient, modern, and original texts that give voice to women of the Bible who were often ignored or nameless, filling a void that has existed for centuries. Accessible for both beginner and advanced students, Biblical Women Speak should be required in any class of midrash.”—Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, executive director, Women’s League for Conservative Judaism

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“Rabbi Marla Feldman has created a dynamic and compelling conversation among the generations. Both individuals and groups will admire her captivating modern midrashic interpretations and her expert navigation of traditional texts. Feldman shows us how fresh and relevant our sacred tradition can be!”—Rabbi Mary L. Zamore, executive director, Women’s Rabbinic Network

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“Rabbi Marla Feldman has added an imaginative, insightful contribution to our collective Jewish library. As she creatively gives voice to both familiar and lesser-known female biblical characters, she shows why their stories matter for us as contemporary readers.”—Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion

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"Feldman not only recovers these female characters but brings together the traditional rabbinic commentaries on these marginal or marginalized women (as well as on better-known female figures... Feldman brings this conversation into the modern era: She composes midrashim that turn these biblical characters into real human beings, facing problems familiar to those of women (and men) today."—Moment Magazine

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"Few things are more powerful than bringing a voice to the voiceless. Biblical Women Speak is an excellent model for what bringing a voice to the voiceless can look like in the twenty-first century... And future writers have received their next challenge: to continue Rabbi Feldman’s work and to find more biblical women, both named and unnamed... who are waiting to have their stories created for the modern reader."— Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller, CCAR Journal

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"I am very impressed by the author’s creativity and in depth understanding of her characters. She often leans on traditional commentary, but is not bound by it… [M]ost of the stories focus on characters that we don’t usually think about… What is most interesting to me is how she enables us to empathize with these marginal biblical women."—Naomi Graetz, author of Unlocking the Garden: A Feminist Jewish Look at the Bible, Midrash and God and S/He Created Them: Feminist Retellings of Biblical Stories. 

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