I’m interested in the subject of women of courage including Jewish Biblical, historical and contemporary women. Can you cite some sources that will help? Thanks.

Examples of Jewish women of courage – this one’s easy, but let me give you a bit of background first.

Throughout my teaching career, I’ve been blessed (?) with a steady stream of students who are particularly deep thinkers. One of the very first (actually part of my first graduating class), once approached me with an interesting question: you read about the glorious inner Holocaust-heroism of, let’s say, young Chassidim of Ger. There are countless stories about their contempt for their oppressors, complete disregard for the abysmal conditions that surrounded them and their nearly super-human dedication to intense Torah study, acts of selfless kindness and deep love of G-d – all under circumstances we can only imagine (I actually grew up in Toronto only a single block from one of these Gerrer “boys” from Warsaw).

But, my student asked me, what were their sisters and mothers doing? It’s all very nice that these young men were able to immerse themselves in a better world of Torah that allowed them to rise above the horror around them, but what vehicles could their women-folk ride to greatness? I don’t remember what I answered my student at the time, but I do recall, a short time later, repeating the question to a prominent American rabbi/educator and he told me to tell my student to read the book “Vanquish the Dragon.”

I subsequently read the book myself (it’s written by a holocaust survivor named Perel Benisch and published by Feldheim) and was forced to agree. It describes how the former students of the Polish Bais Yakov girls’ school movement reached unfathomable levels of selflessness and holiness through the war years. It’s true that there are descriptions of the brutality of the Nazis, but in this case, that’s not the point; this isn’t really a Holocaust book at all. What it’s really about is how truly great a human being can become under even the worst of circumstances…and how that greatness is most manifest in a life devoted to kindness and inner goodness.

Whether man or woman, I don’t believe a thinking person can read this narrative without catching a glimpse of a most complex world…a world that can be attained only through long and hard effort, but a world so beautiful that, having your senses about you, you’d never want to leave. The life described by Mrs. Benisch is a life that needn’t blush before any other lifestyle – even that of Torah-oriented men!

Let me include a short thought of a very different kind that might also be helpful:

One of the first things we learn about Sarah is that she was infertile (Gen. 11; 30). Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that each of our four matriarchs was, by nature, incapable of bearing children. Now, as G-d obviously intended that from these women should come the Jewish nation, one might well wonder why He created them without the means to accomplish that.

The commentary of Rashi writes that this handicap was indeed intentional: a human being who receives everything he needs without asking is a human being in danger of taking things for granted. But a person of great spiritual sensitivity will react to adversity by turning to her G-d, the source of all goodness. Or, in Rashi’s own words (taken from the Talmud), “because G-d desires the prayers of His righteous ones?? and that these prayers actually perfect and refine already exalted characters.

You will also note (as observed by Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, the brilliant 19th Century Frankfurt scholar) the curious fact that the changing of Sarah’s name from Sarai (Gen. 17; 15) immediately follows the commandment of circumcision instead of being next to Abraham’s change of name (Gen. 17; 5). Rabbi Hirsch suggests that this new name for Sarah was G-d’s testimony that her character was such that it stood for her as circumcision stood for her husband.

Using his complex etymological system, Rabbi Hirsch compares the name Sarah to the Hebrew word, “Mesura?? (measure – specifically, a fine cup for measuring delicate and expensive liquids) and the Aramaic “Sar Sachin?? – one whose sense of touch is delicate and sure enough to feel the blade of a sharp knife for nicks.

From here we see that Sarah had become (i.e., had made herself) a leader, a princess (her name, “Sarah?? does mean princess) – but not through the force of her position or even her will, but through the delicate and refined sense of right and wrong; the ability to accurately understand and feel what was proper. This new Sarah led through example and moral suasion – her sense of restraint and balance had become internal and innate.
Best Regards,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton