A Woman Called Moses: A Prophet for Our Time

by Jean-Christophe Attias

What if there was another Moses, very different from the one we know?

According to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. He is depicted there in a surprising way: with and against God; with and against his people; bringer of the Tablets of the Law, which he breaks; a stuttering prophet, guide to a Promised Land entry to which remains forbidden to him, and dead in an unknown tomb... Highly confusing for those who imagine a Moses carved out of a single block.

By way a series of possible portraits - including one of a female Moses - Jean-Christophe Attias follows the metamorphoses of the Hebrew liberator through ages and cultures. Drawing on rabbinical sources as well as the Bible itself, he examines the words of the texts and especially their silences. He discovers here a fragile prophet, teacher of a Judaism of the spirit, of wandering, and of incompleteness.

Receive and transmit. Listen, even when the message is confusing. Insistently question, especially when there is no answer. And always, remain free. This seems to be the Judaism of Moses. A Judaism that speaks to believers and others - to Jews, of course, but also far beyond them, inviting its hearers to have done with tribal pride, the violence of weapons, and the tyranny of a special place.

Genres: Judaism

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 21, 2015

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

One answer to the question of why there are so many different interpretations of the biblical text is that people are intrigued by the gaps in the stories – the parts that are either not clear or left out. Everyone from the ancient rabbis to contemporary novelists wants to fill in these gaps by answering such questions as, why did the character do or say that? What was he feeling or what was she thinking? The best works challenge the way we view the text and give us new ways to explore not only the lessons the text offers, but the way we think about our own lives. Two recent non-fiction works offer unusual approaches to their biblical subjects. While “Cain V. Abel: A Jewish Courtroom Drama” by Rabbi Dan Ornstein (The Jewish Publication Society) uses a trial format to explore the world’s first killing, Jean-Christophe Attias offers an exploration and meditation on the life of Moses in “A Woman Called Moses: A Prophet for Our Times” (Verso).
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...

[T.R. Ormond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attias purpose is to differentiate between the Judaism of Abraham (family lines, DNA), the Judaism of Jacob (conquest, armies) and the Judaism of Moses, which, according to him is "a school, where some faces, childlike or otherwise, occasionally shine with a strange brilliance..." Moses represents a humanist Judaism and thereby his lesson is universal: "'You may well believe in [God], but you will not understand Him. And even if you do not believe in Him, you will not escape the absurdity of His decrees.'"

I liked Attias's interpretation of Moses, a human prophet, flawed, contradictory, incomplete. There are so many great details and analyses to support this picture.

I also enjoyed Attias's general statements about prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel) and how Moses differs from them. His revelations do not come in visions or dreams; he interacts directly with God, "face-to-face" and "mouth-to-mouth" (135). Subsequent prophets can only make known "the already revealed"; Moses, on the other hand, is the first and "absolute receiver of a total knowledge." This might seem like silly and esoteric religiosity, but it holds meaning for how we might understand secular matters like, say, history and modern art.

I do think the English title is misleading. The contents of the book do very little to make good on the expectations aroused by this provocative title, A Woman Called Moses. The French title seems much better suited to its content (Moïse fragile).

[Jean-Sébastien Herpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moi qui n'avait que ma culture de catéchisme catholique bien éloignée du temps présent, et étant non-croyant, ce livre m'a permis une appréhension différente de ces textes sacrés, de voir la force des symboles et des paraboles.