Just saw the mini-series THE RED TENT on the LIFETIME
network and was favorably impressed.
The series was based on a book of the same name by Anita
Diamant. The fictional novel was based on a story out of the Old Testament concerning
DINAH the daughter of Jacob and sister of Joseph; I think most people are very
familiar with that story as Jacob is considered by many as the founder of
Israel.
The characters are all in the Bible story and the events in
the series mirror the events in the Bible.
What the author adds to the story is a closer look at the
women in Jacob’s story and especially DINAH and imagines with a very good
historical perspective, their individual stories in this greater Biblical
narrative.
What I liked about this particular rendering of a Biblical
saga is the fact that religion or God did not play a big role in this
adaptation but merely the workings and interactions of an extended family.
As a lifetime student of Christianity and all things
religious, I was struck that the author who placed the women in a Red Tent (for
women who are menstruating) had them worship a female deity that they prayed to
as a protecting deity of women and their needs. This worship practice had been
passed on from generation to generation and included a number of depictions of
the deity as clay figurines.
Many today look at ancient Jews as people who introduced monotheism
(worship of one god) to the world and as a people that only worshiped YAWEH
throughout their history. Well a pharaoh in Egypt actually introduced
monotheism long before the Jews did, if they ever did.
The author of The Red Tent probably knew all about that and
incorporated those facts into her story.
Jews as well as the surrounding population
worshiped whatever and whoever they felt could help them as did the women in
the Red Tent.
Yes the Old Testament stories try to portray the Jews as
having a contract with the one true god where they would worship only him and
he would treat them as his special people…that did not work out well for the
Jews as we now know.
The authors of the Old Testament had an agenda which did not
always square with reality on the ground. People who eventually became the Jews
of history worshiped many gods basically using the logic that if praying to one
deity brought favorable results, then that deity was stronger than the others
and thus were the ones they would pray to.
The authors and redactors of the Old Testament knew that to
keep the Jews united as a people they would have to stress the uniqueness of
their god and of their rituals and behavior. Please notice that the first of
the Ten Commandment stipulates that THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GODS
BESIDES ME in effect, agreeing that there were other gods on the scene.
I realize people are not interested in details of religion
as I am but I am buoyed by stories like The Red Tent which probably come closer
to what really happened than the heavily redacted (edited) stories in the Old
Testament.
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