“Tsene-rene” is a book written in Yiddish by Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi, around 1590. The text is based on the structure of the “parashot” of the Torah, the weekly sections into which the Torah is divided, mixed with texts from the Talmud, especially the Agadah and the Midrash. The name comes from a verse in the Song of Songs (3:11) which in Hebrew says: “Tzena Urena banot Zion,” “Go forth and see, O daughters of Zion.” On its cover, in addition to the title, it explains that it contains: “The Pentateuch in the language of Ashkenaz (Yiddish), the five “megillot” (The Song of Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Lamentations), and the Haftarot, portions of the books of the prophets.”

The Tsene-rene has been published in over 200 editions. The current one is under the English title «The Weekly Midrash.» Because it was originally written in Yiddish, the book was very popular, especially among those who did not speak Hebrew, the «sacred» language. This group included women, who, by principle, were not taught the language of the Torah, although they did know its alphabet, allowing them to read Yiddish, the Jewish language of Eastern Europe.

 Adam Kirsch explains: “By the title alone, the book was aimed at a female audience. Any Jew who couldn’t read the Bible in Hebrew could approach it through the Yiddish Tsene-rene. Many Jewish children absorbed Bible stories through their mothers reading them aloud. But Tsene-rene is not a simple translation of the Bible; if it were, it might never have become so popular. What Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi produced, instead, was a free paraphrase and interpretation of the five books of Moses, drawing on numerous sources, with the idea of ​​giving the reader a picture of how Jewish tradition understood the text.”

Kirsch says: “The Tsene-rene is a didactic book whose aim is to draw moral lessons from the biblical text. It is especially interested in using the women of the Bible as models of feminine virtues. The lives of the matriarchs, Eve and Miriam, are used to demonstrate the values ​​of Jewish tradition and instill them in the reader. This was not easy, as many biblical narratives present women in a negative light. Such as the story of Adam and Eve, created from a rib while he slept. The Tsene-rene explains it this way: «God made Adam sleep to teach us that a man should not constantly fight with his wife. If he sees her doing something he dislikes, he should pretend he didn’t see it and act asleep.» The sleeping Adam becomes the model husband, for he knows when to close his eyes. The Tsene-rene also explains that «woman is, by nature, stronger than man, having been created from a bone, while man was created from dust that dissolves easily.» In another story from Genesis, the Tsene-rene offers a description of Sarah kneading the dough for matzah, the day before Passover, although Passover, the festival of Jewish liberation from Egypt, was not instituted for hundreds of years.

 The author of the Tsene-rene projected the Judaism he knew, with all its rituals, back to the time of the matriarchs. They simply could not imagine Jewish life any other way.» The Tsene-rene, the first Jewish feminist book, put women front and center.

By Marcos Gojman.

Bibliography: Adam Kirsch, “The People and the Books.” Jacob Elbaum, Chava Turniansky “Tsene-rene”