(Jewish Chronicle, UK: September 1, 2006)

Moses's women

Rebecca Kohn's new novel retells the story of Exodus through the eyes of Moses's wife and sister.
She explains to Rachel Fletcher why it is important to look at biblical stories from a female point of view

More than once, Moses's life was saved by a woman. If they hadn't intervened, he wouldn't have been around to lead the Israelites from slavery to freedom. Yet Moses's sister, Miriam, and his desert shepherdess wife, Zipporah---who throughout stuck by him and his mission, though they dramatically fall out with each other later ---barely get a mention in the Exodus text.

Now American author Rebecca Kohn has redeemed them from their near-absence in the Bible and given them a voice as the heroines of her new novel, "Seven Days to the Sea." It is the second time she has ventured into biblical territory: her first novel, "The Gilded Chamber," revisited the events of Purim with Queen Esther as narrator.

"People are familiar with Bible stories as they grow up, but we know these stories in a childlike way," she says. "The stories need to grow with us, especially for women who are looking for a way to connect to the material."

On the face of it, that material, the Bible, is undeniably male-dominated. "I'm not sure alienating is the right word, but I think women can feel distanced from it," she says. "A lot of people think Exodus is all about Moses and God and the Ten Commandments---and of course they are incredibly important. But when you go back and take a closer look at what's said ofMiriam and Zipporah, they are mentioned only three times, even though they are absolutely instrumental in the events."

In similar spirit to "The Red Tent," Anita Diamant's highly acclaimed novel where Dinah tells her own story---despite saying not a word in the Bible --- Kohn has sought, through meticulous research and probing imagination, to recreate Miriam and Zipporah (in the book she uses the Hebrew Miryam and Tzipporah). Switching between the two women, "Seven Days to the Sea" tells the story of the Exodus from their perspective. Miriam is stern, efficient and solitary, aching for Moses's close connection to the Israelite God for whom she sacrifices everything. Desert-dwelling Zipporah, dedicated to her own goddess Asherah, is bewildered by her new life and frowned upon by her capable sister-in-law.

"One was a country girl, one was a city girl," notes Kohn. "Miriam always fascinated me because we are told she was a prophetess but never why, and the Bible never says she married. It's clear she has a problem with her sister-in-law --- there's the incident of speaking out against her and the punishment she gets." (In Numbers, Miriam is struck by leprosy for denigrating Moses's Cushite wife, seen by many commentators as identical with Zipporah.)

"Miriam grew up in Goshen and we do know a lot about that civilisation and its sophistication. She interacts with the princess and can deal with a more sophisticated environment. Zipporah is a shepherdess in Midian, on the West of the Arab peninsula, a rocky, barren, poor environment --- she probably would have lived a Bedouin lifestyle.

"We might not admit it but, psychologically, with sisters-in-law, we often think our brother could have done better or our husband's family asks too much of him," Kohn says. "It's a psychology that probably existed even back then."

It's not just the personalities, and relationships, of these characters that Kohn hopes to bring out. "We think about the grand event with the Ten Commandments, the Golden Calf, without really considering the social aspects of everything. Women are more involved with group dynamics, family, community," she says.

"I began to understand better that the Exodus was not just about leaving physical slavery. The whole culture was inhibited and enslaved. To free yourself spiritually, there had to be a community to support it, and that's what women are so good at --- building communities."

Women are not merely behind-the-scenesbuilders, they help to drive the plot itself: Miriam hides Moses in the rushes and Zipporah later rescues him from divine wrath by circumcising their son. "It's not just about men doing the important things.

But she hesitates over describing the book as feminist. "Feminism is a loaded term, I never know what people mean by it," she reflects. "I'm not saying we don't need men, though there is a feminist orientation making women central to the story. I don't downplay Moses. Some women were upset about "The Gilded Chamber" because I don't make women the be-all and end-all. I'm often asked why I don't write from the male perspective, but I don't pretend to understand men. I don't feel I could get inside a man's head. Men enjoy my books because I try to make them historically accurate."

Being historically plausible is important. "For example, why does Moses, a prince of the court in a tyrannical rule, flee when he kills a foreman beating a slave? They'd probably only laugh about it.

"But while I was researching Rameses II's court, I learned that Rameses' son inherited the throne, and we know that when Moses returns, there was a different Pharaoh from when he fled. It was the thirteenth son, and the record shows he probably killed his brothers to get the throne. So perhaps he thought of Moses as a threat and would use this as an excuse to kill him."

For her research, she not only read up on biblical archaeology and Jewish and non-Jewish commentaries on Exodus, but also consulted books on desert plants and videos for vets about sheep --- "how they give birth, those techniques have not changed much in thousands of years." Cambridge University professor Colin Humphreys' book, "The Miracles of Exodus," suggesting scientific explanations for the plagues, proved a helpful source.

Like many people, she had left the Bible behind as a child, but began re-reading it after enrolling her own daughter in synagogue classes and going to Shabbat services herself. "The richness of the drama, the exotic settings, and the complexity of the family dynamics really excited me. I wanted to know: how could these stories have really happened? How would they play out in human terms?"

From those Shabbat morning questions came the impetus for the novels. "People are really looking for a way to connect themselves to this history, especially Jewish people who think it's their history, spiritually or culturally.

"One of the most exciting things is when someone says my books brought the stories to life and they went back to look at the Bible, which they hadn't read for years. That's one of the most satisfying things. And it happens surprisingly often."



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