The Red Tent

The sisters prepare to travel to Mamre and weave new clothing. Rachel makes a red-and-yellow tunic for Joseph that earns him teasing from his brothers. As the family travels, Zilpah tells Dinah stories of Rebecca’s work as a healer and oracle. Rebecca impresses Dinah with her age and beauty, but she does not show any emotion upon meeting her favorite son Jacob or his family. People visit her for advice and prophecy, and she is served by acolytes called Deborah.

Isaac, now old and blind, weeps when he embraces Jacob. He dotes on his grandsons at the men’s feast, but Rebecca makes the women’s feast cheerless. She speaks bitterly of her marriage to Isaac and the many children she lost. She then interrogates Jacob’s wives, one by one. Dinah is delighted to see Tabea, who wears the belt that signifies she is now a woman. However, because Tabea’s mother did not observe the rituals of the red tent, Rebecca refuses to accept Tabea as an acolyte. She wails in distress, and Dinah is angered by Rebecca’s cruel dismissal. Leah explains that Rebecca, who serves the goddess Inanna, is trying to defend a tradition that is in danger of being forgotten.