Quintet

I
Introduction by way of an Explanation

This is a story of a meeting taking place between five Biblical women who lived in different periods: Rahel (Rachel) the Aramite, younger daughter of Laban, before she became the beloved wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph; Deena (Dinah) the Israelite, only daughter of Jacob; Tamar the Canaanite, daughter-in-law of Judah son of Jacob, mother to his two sons who were ancestors to the House of David; Osnat (Asenath) the Egyptian, Joseph’s wife and mother to his two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim; and Deborah, the Prophetess of the tribe of Ephraim, leader of the Israelite war against the Canaanites. It must be accepted that ideas of alternative historical events appear in this story.

II

The Meeting

“Here we are, Dear,” said Tamar, the old Love priestess, as she led Rahel into the Desert Temple.

In her youth, Tamar, carrying the goddess’s name of the Mother of desert nomads, was a Love priestess known for her beauty from the southern desert of Arabia to northern Aram. Even now, having become the Temple’s Chief priestess and no longer functioning in her old profession, traces of that beauty had not vanished in her.

“I’m not sure I should really be here, Mother,” the girl, still in her pre-puberty state, said with obvious hesitation. She was a slight girl with a shock of black curls and enormous black eyes, pretty but promising to be a beauty when she matured.

Her father Laban the Aramite, a widower with two young daughters, was having some trouble with his youngest, Rahel, and was happy to send for away for a short duration. He had given her away into the hand of a nomad trader family to take to Tamar at the Desert Temple, to look after and teach what she could; they would bring her home on their way back in a few months time. It was actually the idea of her elder sister Leah, who was secretly fed up of her baby sister’s yearning after Love and not knowing what to do with her life. Tamar was known for her skill and wisdom, and could be trusted to look well after the girl.

Rahel was now staring at the building before her, the like of which she had never seen before; As a matter of fact, she had never been away from her father’s sheep and goat farm or its surroundings, where people lived in squat houses made of earth. This building, erected on the eastern bank of River Jordan, was made of stone, standing on a road that stretched from the rural areas of Aram in the north down to the deserts of Edom, Negev and Sinai and ultimately ended in Egypt in the south. Another road, crossing the river and leading from the capital Damascus in the east into the Land of Canaan in the west created a bustling crossroad not far from the Temple, which stood away from the main meeting spot of travelers.

It was a three stories building. The ground floor served as a regular inn for people coming and going, with facilities for sleeping and eating. The second floor was dedicated to the work of the Love priestesses, and on the third floor were the private rooms of the Temple’s inhabitants and occasionally a few personal guests.

“Let’s go in and out of that heat,” Tamar said to Rahel, leading their way into the ground floor of the Temple. It was divided into three spacious rest rooms, one for men, the other for women, the third for eating for both sexes. All functions took place on colorful carpets spread on the floors, strewn with cushions for support. No other furniture was in sight.

Two women were already in the Women’s room, each one sitting in another corner as if they did not know each other. But when the new occupants entered, Tamar said, “Deborah, Osnat, come over. Here is Rahel, for whose sake I invited you here. I want you to get to know her and we are going to talk together.”

The four of them got together in one corner, sat down and leaned on the cushions, as comfortably as possible. Tamar then said, “This is Rahel, from Aram, daughter of Laban of whom I’m sure you have all heard. In one way or another we are all connected together, so let’s behave as family, and talk freely of important things.”

Both Deborah and Osnat nodded in agreement, but Rahel just looked on, silent. Tamar continued, “Rahel wants to know all about life, and about the world of men and women, and I hope that between us, we can tell her something about it.”

Deborah, smiled toward the girl and said, “Welcome, Rahel, and what is it that you want to know about life?”

She was a middle aged woman who seemed nevertheless in full vigor; she looked tall and dignified, with a motherly figure and graying hair neatly arranged around her head, but with strong facial features and piercing gray eyes. She was leader of the Israelite of tribes occupying the area called Ephraim Hills at the very center of the Land of Canaan. She had recently led her people into a local war against some Canaanite tribes, had won the battle but lost her eldest son, and had come to the Desert Temple for the purpose of recuperating in body and soul, by Tamar’s own invitation.

In answer to her question, Rahel raised her gloomy face to her and presented the eternal problem, “What is it all for, anyway? Has it got any special meaning?” There was more frustration in her voice that real interest, for she was munching absently from the almonds that were put in plates on the floor, not waiting for any particular answer.

It was Tamar who gave the girl her reply. “Life’s purpose is living, that’s all,” she said; “there is no special purpose besides it, we just live.

“But wasn’t your son very young when he died?“ she asked Deborah directly, this time. “What could have been the meaning of that?”

“Barak was killed in the war we were fighting for the sake of our people’s safety and well-being,” the bereaved mother answered quietly. “We had to win this war, and his death helped us in this task.”

Rahel, though, would not take that as a proper answer. “I don’t see why some people must die so that others can live! Do you want to tell me that the war was won because your son died?”

“My son was wounded while fighting – that is what happens in wars and it cannot be avoided,” Deborah said severely, as if trying to persuade herself of the necessity of her loss. “You learn to accept it if you want to get on with the life you’ve chosen.”

“I’m sure I’ll never choose the life of war, myself,” Rahel murmured to herself. Aloud, she continued with her argument. “But what about people who don’t go to war? Some of them die just the same, as my mother did!”

This time it was the other woman, Osnat, who had taken over the conversation. “The purpose of dying,” she said, “is to come back to life again.”

Osnat was a very different woman from Deborah. She was an ageless person whose gender was hardly evident. Egyptian in origin, she had been the wife of Joseph the Israelite, who had come to Egypt in times of hunger and had advanced his position to become second to the Pharaoh. At his death, however, his sons and their families brought his body back to the Land of Canaan, to be buried at the town of Shekhem, his place of birth on the borderline between the tribal areas of Ephraim and Menasheh. His widow had accompanied the mission and remained in the country, having no one to go back to in Egypt.

Osnat, however, had not forsaken her Egyptian concepts, and become a priestess at a local Temple of Death and the Underworld. She had hidden her physical shape under a mass of garments, ornaments and symbols that covered her from head to toe, expressing her vocation rather than her individual personality. Only her deep, black eyes peeped like a pair of onyx stones under the heavy headdress that covered her brow.

Tamar and Osnat had known each other as priestesses, even though of opposite vocations; they even occasionally stayed at each other’s temples, for the purpose of enlarging their horizons about life and about the world. This time Tamar had invited the Death priestess to take part in educating Rahel, who now said in some confusion, “I don’t understand. To die in order to live again? That does not make sense.”

At that moment, a fifth woman appeared at the door, saying to Tamar, “Sorry for being late, the caravan was attacked by robbers and we barely came out of the fighting alive.”
She was a young woman, much closer to Rahel’s age than the other three, but more mature and well turned out. Tamar presented her to the others as Deena, Daughter of Jacob, an Israelite chieftain of a nomad tribe, which had settled with his people on the outskirts of Shekhem. Deena, in her full bloom, with dark red hair arranged in style around her head and shiny, audacious green eyes, was highly attractive to men, found it easy to take advantage of the situation. Being a free spirit, she had rejected marriage as an immediate goal of life, but took her pleasure anywhere she fancied.

Mischievous in nature, Deena asked Osnat, having heard her words as she entered the inn, “Did Deborah’s son come back to life? I’ve never heard anything of the kind.”

“You’ve got to study the mysteries of Death if you want to understand it. In a way, though, he did, in her new son.”

“Is that how you see it too, Deborah?” the young woman insisted. Being addicted to physical pleasures, she was not so much interested in spiritual ideas.

“Not at all,” the Leader replied. “My second son, Yo’av, is very different from what Barak used to be. No one could replace Barak, even though Yo’av is very special in his own way.”

“That is not what I meant at all,” Osnat exclaimed. “The way it is, in very simple terms, is that Barak was reborn somewhere else, in another shape to another mother. But let me ask you another question. Would you have had Yo’av if you had not lost Barak?

“Well, when you put it this way... May be not, but I am not sure. I don’t have children for a certain purpose besides having them – I don’t think of the big picture, as some people describe it, when I feel like having a child.”

“You have them for your own selfish purpose, don’t you?” Deena said with a half-hidden smile.

“Probably, in the same way you think only of your own selfish purpose when you have sex, isn’t it so, Deena?” Tamar intervened, her husky voice unusually sharp.

“I suppose...”

“I’ve never had sex, yet,” Rahel said.

“I should think not,” Deborah admonished, “you’re far too young to get into this business.”

But Rahel paid no attention to the older woman. “Tell me, Deena, how is it, then? You seem to want it all the time?” the girl said, innocent like.

“I can’t think of having sex not for the purpose of having children, as Deena does,” Deborah added. “It’s rather –“

“Depraved?” asked Deena. “I’ve heard that before, but I think differently. And what about Tamar – who knows how much sex she’s had!”

“But she definitely had a different purpose besides her selfish gratification in doing it!” said Osnat. “That must have been for the honor of the Goddess of Love.”

“Yes, certainly,” Deena replied, contemptuously. “Do you ever have sex, Osnat?”

“Not since my husband died, and certainly not since I’ve become an Underworld priestess. We have much more important things to do than enjoy ourselves.”

“Don’t you enjoy yourself in your task, then?” asked Rahel.

“I enjoy part of it – studying, for instance, which I’d never done before,” answered the ageless priestess with some pride. “And I enjoy being busy performing duties, and this is something you young people cannot appreciate yet.”

“What kind of duties do you have?”

“Ritual duties; but most of them are secret so I can’t talk about them.”

“Do you have similar duties to those of Osnat’s, Tamar, and do you enjoy them?” Rahel turned now to the old Love Priestess, who had been listening closely to what had been said. “Are yours also secret?”

“What would you say if I invited you to come and see for yourself, Rahel,” replied the old Love priestess with a soft smile.

Deborah exclaimed, “I said she’s too young, didn’t I!”

“On her own, yes, but I think she’s safe in the protective environment of the Temple.”

“Protective indeed! Be careful, Rahel, you don’t know what you’re getting into at the Temple!” Deena’s repeated contemptuous voice was biting on Rahel’s frayed nerves.

“Really, Deena!” cried Tamar, “We have special program for young girls like Rahel! You shouldn’t be afraid, because I personally would take care of you at the Temple, while if you do things on your own, who knows what trouble you can get into.”

“Are you recruiting, then, Tamar?” asked Deena, then turned to Rahel, “If you come with me, I can show you the ropes and you can learn how to protect yourself.”

“I’m not recruiting Rahel, only trying to fulfill her late mother’s wish,” the old priestess protested. “For instance, what if she falls in love with the wrong man, how would you help her then, if you couldn’t even help yourself?” Deena’s one unfortunate instance of falling in love with a man who wouldn’t marry her, and the trouble it caused between her own family and that of his, were well known. Some also inferred that that heartache must have led the girl into her current wanton behavior; Tamar was also of that idea, though she never voiced her suspicion aloud.

While Deena kept quiet for a while, Deborah joined the discussion. “I shudder to think what would happen to Rahel – she seems too gentle to turn up as independent as Deena. You know, Rahel,” she turned to the girl, “since your mother died, I’ve been quite ready to take her part in looking after you, even find you a nice young man as a husband.”

“A husband chosen by an older woman!” exclaimed Deena. “I know what that means. They did try to marry me off after that affair, but I wouldn’t let them! I wouldn’t ever let things get out of my hand, never!”

“But Rahel is not you, and she may not have your character that would make her wish to behave in the way you do,” Tamar said. “Now, at the Temple –“

“I think that talk has gone far enough,” Osnat interfered. “I thought we were going to discuss the meaning and purpose of life, not sex affairs!”

“And I thought there is a close connection between those two!” Deena protested.

“There are other things in life besides having sex and even bearing children,” Osnat retorted in her quiet, subdued voice.

“Like war, for instance,” said Deena sarcastically.

“I don’t like the idea of war, and of people dying in it, winning or not,” Rahel said.

“It is a part of the overall cycle of life and death,” Osnat stated, “whether you die in war or in any other way.”

“What is this cycle? I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s Osnat’s stock in trade,” said Tamar. “At the Temple of Love we don’t deal in Death.”

“You’re telling me that death is a part of life, then?” asked Rahel with a trembling voice, feeling as if she was getting into the mystery of it at last.

“No one can get off the cycle of life, which includes Birth, Love and Death,” asserted Osnat.”

“I would like to know something about it too,” Deena put in with renewed interest. “For instance, when the body dies, where does the cycle continue from there?”

“The body is not the only part of our personality, is it, even for you, Deena?”

“It is the most important one, as far as I am concerned! I’ve never cared what people are besides their bodies.”

“Well, perhaps it’s high time you did. People who study those things, as we do at the Temple of Death and Underworld, recognize in every person three parts – body, soul and spirit.”

“I’ve always cared for the spirits of those who died in battle,” Deborah said. “When this happens, the spirits of the dead live on among their people, who remember and admire them, and sometimes call their new-born babies after them. But as to their souls, I know very little about those.”

“What you said about people killed in battle is true in its way, but it’s not what I meant and it has nothing to do with our faith,” Osnat said. “We believe that the soul is the essence of life, which departs when a person dies. It comes down to the Underworld through one of our temples erected for the purpose. We are the ones who take care of the soul, see that it moves on and gets reborn into another body.”

“So, what about the spirit, then?” asked Rachel, showing interest.

“The spirit, in our view,” continued Osnat, “is the combination of a person’s thoughts and feelings when alive. When that person dies, the spirit goes up, being lighter than air, and reaches the Moon, where all the spirits of the Universe are collected to one body under the charge of the Moon goddess. Every individual spirit joins the collective into one clump of energy, so to speak. This is the source from which human beings draw to create their own spiritual make up of thoughts and feelings, which in turn go back to the Moon when they die. It is another eternal cycle, which is similar but different and separate from the cycle of the soul.”

“Is there also a cycle of bodies?” Deena added, half in gesture.

“Of course,” Tamar answered this time. “Dead bodies rot in the earth, and by doing that, they afford life to other creatures and plants, which get nourishment from them; these grow in their turn, supplying nourishment to other living creatures, including humans! This cycle is evident to the eyes, we only have to look and understand what we see every day!”

“I’ve never thought about things in this way,” Deena murmured softly to herself.

“That sounds like a great story and I like it better than anything I’ve heard before,” Rachel said, enthusiastically. “Especially the one about the collective spirit – I hope I can acquire something of this kind when I become a woman.”

“In my opinion, you have the promise of having a great spirit, Rachel,” Tamar told the girl.

“But what about childbirth,” Rahel asked. “My mother died at my birth, and I almost died with her. What would have happened if I did?”

“We would have missed a person with a great spirit sitting here with us and asking such interesting questions,” said Deborah, a motherly tone creeping into her voice, which Rahel had not heard before.

“But weren’t you afraid of death when you had your children?” she asked the Leader.

“You don’t think of death when you’re having a child, kid,” Tamar answered in a soft voice. “You want it too much to think about yourself at that time.”

“What happened to the children you had?”

“They are doing great, on the way of fathering a great Israelite dynasty,” replied the old Love priestess in a prophetic way.

“I’m not at all sure I’ll ever want to have children,” Deena said.

“I’m sure you will,” Osnat said with certainly. “There’ll come a time when you begin to get tired of men, who never give you what you really want. If you don’t settle down and have children, and you have no other interest in life like Deborah here, you may find yourself all alone in your old age. Unless you go into a Temple, and I can’t see you do that either.”

“Oh, I have plenty of time before I grow old, but right now, men stand in line to come to me,” Deena replied, full of confidence. “But I have been thinking – and if Tamar here is really recruiting... What’d you say, Lady, could I serve as a Love priestess in your Temple? Would you take me in if I wanted you to?” Again, she seemed half joking, as if uncertain of the old priestess’ answer.

“You certainly have a great potential, if you soften your tone a little,” Tamar said, examining closely the pretty but rather unstable young woman. “You’d have to work hard to bring out the best in you, but I have an idea I wouldn’t mind instructing you myself. You just have to grow a little more in your mind, to develop your spirit, so to speak; because right now, although so well mature and experienced in your body, you’re not much more than a child in your soul and spirit.”

“Ha,” Deena laughed awkwardly. “I might take your word for it – but I warn you, I am yet not ready to have children.”

“That will be up to you, there is no compulsion here. We do have some safe means and it’s a matter of choice for us, not as it is in the outside world.”

“Do you mean to say that there are actually women who choose not to have children?” asked Rahel.

“I told you I could explain all about it,” Deena said, and Tamar added, “But for us, at the Temple, it’s easier.”

Rahel turned to the Underworld priestess. “Have you had children, Osnat?”

“Indeed – both my sons have given their names to two Israelite tribes, but one of them is a real leader. What I gave them was the Egyptian tradition, which is the highest culture in the world. Of course, they are out of their mother’s care, now. Children grown up, you know, and they need their mother only for a short time. So what should a woman do when she has finished functioning as a mother?”

“She can serve as a grandmother to her tribe, the keeper of culture and customs, or she can become a leader,” said Deborah. “There is always something to do for willing and able older women in that framework.”

“I can’t see myself as a leader, especially being a younger child,” Rahel commented. “My older sister, now, Leah – even without beauty, because I have always been told I’m prettier than her – has enough wisdom and character to fulfill such a job. But what I would really like to do first of all in my life, is to meet a really wonderful man and fall in love with him. Now, tell me, Deena, who is a good man to love?”

“You must be joking! I’ve loved so many of them, but none at all, and the one I really loved was not really suitable. I love the action that occurs between a woman and a man when they are attracted to each other, but the affairs of the heart are not for me. Isn’t that how it is at the Temple, Tamar?”

“It sometimes is but not necessarily,” the former Love priestess said with some annoyance. “In our intercourse, we sometimes meet a person that we can be emotional about, there are no restrictions on feelings and we go through all human functions and attitudes.”

“But how can you conduct a love affair inside the Temple?”

“Discretely, of course, and for that the Temple is the best place of all.”

“I don’t think I’d like to meet the special man I’m going to love indoors, as in a temple,” Rahel reflected. “I prefer to do it out in the open; by a well, perhaps, when drawing water for the flock, and with that romantic atmosphere of hills and trees and pasture and flowers...”

“The Temple,” Tamar said, with soft yearning in her voice, “is not all building with walls and roofs. We also have outside areas, gardens and water fountains, trees and shrubs and flowers under a bare sky. If you bring your lover here, we can give you the best privacy you may ask for.”

“I don’t have a lover yet, but when I have – Well, I don’t know... Would you bring a lover to the Temple, Deena?”

“Not the way things are now, no. But if I ever come to serve at the Temple, I suppose I might take advantage of all the facilities.”

“It’s not necessary to have comfort for a love affair to flourish,” Deborah asserted. “I remember once, in the midst of war – at night, of course, when there’s no fighting. There happened to be a cave, and – I can tell you, nothing can be so exhilarating than making love under danger!”

“That’s not for me, I’m afraid,” Deena objected. “For me, comfort is essential.”

“Well, there is no comfort in a war zone. I even gave birth once in a cave, with only men to attend me. That’s the life! I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I’m not sure that’s what I’d be looking for in my life,” Rahel said, doubtfully. “Although, some soothsayer once told me... But that was nonsense and I won’t believe in it!”

“What did she tell you?” Osnat asked. “Perhaps it was a false prophecy, and you needn’t believe in it. “

“She said I’d give birth at a crossroad, and die of it – isn’t that nonsense, even before I had ever met the man I’d fall in love with, even before I’d ever thought of having children?”

A short pause ensued.

“You’re right,” Osnat said at last, “you shouldn’t pay attention to such verbiage. Too many people pretend to know the future, who have had no basis or instruction in the Art.”

“When I was young,” Tamar added, “I was told by a similar person that I’d be exploited by some important family for their own use. It put me on my guard and I was able to foil such evil plans, if ever there had been any – to this day I can’t say if there were or not.”

“Do you do much divination at your Temple, Osnat?” Deborah asked.

“Well, mostly we deal with Death ritual and the preparations for rebirth, not in soothsaying, although we have our own prophetess for whom it is a sole occupation. She gets her inspiration directly from the Underworld and does not sit in the street corner and announces her words for payment.”

“I wouldn’t want to hear a prophecy of my future anyway,” Deena announced. “I make my own destiny and do not depend on what other people are saying. How did you come to hear those words, Rahel?”

“Oh,” the girl answered, “she was only one of a bunch of my girl friends, at some gathering – probably at the same well we draw water from for the flocks, where I would love one day to meet my future beloved and mate. I told them of my feelings, and then that girl got into what seemed like a trance and told me what I told you.”

“Do you mean to say that she did not even pretend to be a professional? Had she done this kind of thing before?”

“I’m not sure. The girls became afraid of her and later they began to shun her. Then she was gone, disappeared, and we never heard from or about her again.”

“A strange story... But you still don’t have to pay any attention to it, Rahel,” Osnat affirmed. “Now, according to my calculations, it is time to eat, and although we don’t eat much at the Underworld Temple, we do have regular hours for every purpose.”

The break was beneficial to all, particularly to Rahel, who had got too weary from that unusual meeting of ideas and opinions. Still, perhaps it could help her in some way she had not yet discovered. She joined the others as they went to the eating room, sending a silent blessing to her older sister, Leah, for having the wisdom to send her to this place to meet with such clever people.

END