Category Archives: Living by their Wits

LIVING BY THEIR WITS 2012/2013

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Living by Their Wits – How our Ancestors Parleyed Their Way into Power

I led a pair of Sunday morning sessions at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 10/28/12 and 1/6/13, on the topic of Living by Their Wits.  We looked at a few of our biblical ancestors who lived by their wits and gained power when they lacked authority.  Many people think that the only tricksters in the Bible are women, and dismiss living by wits as a feminine wile, unworthy of respect.  In fact, men as well as women live by their wits.  We read selected biblical texts and entered into a lively discussion relating our texts to current politics, philosophy and challenges of life.

These types of classes are participatory and accessible to people with no experience studying biblical texts, while providing an intellectual challenge to those with a broad background.  Everyone is an expert at something; we combine our insights and knowledge to unpack the biblical texts and to wrestle with questions such as: what is authority vs power?  Is living by our wits relevant today?  If so, how does it help us to meet modern challenges (or not)?

How Six Women gave Moses His Start in Life – January 6 at Eitz Chayim

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Marc Chagall, "Pharaoh's Daughter and Moses, from The Story of Exodus"Consider the six powerful women who midwifed, mothered, and sistered Moses and gave him his start in life. Despite contrary decrees by the powerful Pharaoh of Egypt, they used their wits to gain power when they lacked authority and launched Moses as a prophet and leader.
Eitz Chayim member Penina Weinberg, who is both student and teacher of Hebrew Bible, will guide us on reading selected passages from Exodus and entering a lively discussion relating our texts to current politics, philosophy, or challenges of life.

Marc Chagall, “Pharaoh’s Daughter and Moses
from The Story of Exodus

Study session is participatory and accessible to people with no experience studying biblical texts, while providing an intellectual challenge to those with a broad background. Everyone is an expert at something; we will combine our insights and knowledge to unpack the biblical texts and to wrestle with questions such as: what is the meaning of our texts? What is authority vs power? Is living by our wits relevant today?

Please join us for bagels and coffee at 10am. Study and discussion at 10:30am.
Congregation Eitz Chayim is at 136 Magazine Street in Cambridge, MA.

Men and Women

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“‘If Rebekah’s deception of her husband is an example of ‘women’s cunning,’ then some of the men whose cunning is described in the Old Testament suffered from a sexual identity crisis! The list of such ‘feminine’ males would include Abraham… Jacob… Saul… David…This list is incomplete, but it should be enough evidence to refute the contention that cunning was a female trait in ancient Israel.”
—  John H. Otwell quoted in Steinberg, Naomi. “Israelite Tricksters, their Analogues and Cross-Cultural Study.” Semeia No 42, 1988, p 1-13

Authority vs Power

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“The classic statement of distinction between authority and power was developed by Weber. In the words of M. G. Smith,   “Authority is, in the abstract, the right to make a particular decision and to command obedience…Power…is the ability to act effectively on persons or things, to make or secure favorable decisions which are not of right allocated to the individuals or their roles.”
——— Naomi Steinberg. “Israelite Tricksters, their Analogues and Cross-Cultural Study.” Semeia No 42, 1988, p 1-13