AMONG ALL THE BLESSINGS and exhortations of parashat Eikev, the social role of women is addressed most explicitly with reference to the widow (10:18). In a patriarchal world, the widow, like the fatherless child, lacks a man to defend her rights. According to the Bible, the almanah (widow) functions in an illdefined but usually perilous role, for women are primarily defined by their relationships to men in positions of power, first as daughters and then as wives. When no grandfather, father, or adult son is living, an almanah has no man with authority over her—or responsibility for her. Although an almanah may be independent of male domination, she would probably have difficulty functioning as an autonomous individual in ancient Israel’s kinship-based, agricultural society.
In this context, God appeals to justice: an almanah must be recognized as an independent agent in order to support herself; to do otherwise would be unjust. God seeks redress, not out of sympathy for the “pitiable” widow, but because the woman should rightly be allowed to function on her own authority. (See Numbers 30:10, which holds widows and divorcees solely responsible for their vows, in contrast to young-adult daughters and to wives.)
Deuteronomy is particularly concerned with the almanah; it employs the word eleven times (10:18; 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19, 20, 21; 26:12, 13; 27:19), compared to six instances in the rest of the Torah. In Deuteronomy, she is always mentioned with the command that her welfare be guaranteed and protected. Significantly, the masculine form of the word appears only once in the Bible (Jeremiah 51:5), whereas almanah (singular or plural) appears fifty-five times with the sense of “widow.” Several biblical narratives illustrate the problems that widows face and some of the areas where they experience autonomy. Judging by I Samuel 25, wealthy widows probably do well, for there Abigail seems to inherit her husband’s property before she marries David. On the other hand, the story of Ruth and Naomi illustrates the peril of poor widows with no one to advocate or provide for them.
—Lillian Klein Abensohn