Like much of the Christian Old Testament, Genesis forms part of the Jewish Torah. Using higher criticism to relate the story of Eve to the story of the Goddess Inanna and drawing on traditional Jewish midrashes, Gottlieb reinterprets the creations story by rewriting it.

      In her telling Shekinah gazes upon the hermaphrodite earth creature, HeShe. Like many other languages, Hebrew assigns a gender to nouns. In the Hebrew language, Shekinah, Holy Wisdom or the primordial Spirit of God, is female. Not wanting HeShe to be alone, Shekinah decides to divide the earth creature in two so that it may have loving companionship. Assessing one body part after another, Shekinah finally creates woman using bits of all of the original earth creature. When she was finished, she looked upon woman and pronounced it good. Then the first woman awoke from her slumber.

      "Eve is the mythic persona in Jewish tradition who carries the remnants of women's prebiblical religion, which imaged the divine as a changing woman." page 8

      "Many of the symbols and stories associated with the goddesses of the ancient Near East, such as serpents, the tree of life, the quest for knowledge, and the glory of female sexuality, are recast in negative terms in the story of Eve. Instead of planting the tree of life in her own garden, like Inanna did, Eve is forbidden to eat from its fruit altogether lest she become too much like God. Instead of being a sign of her oracular wisdom, the serpent tricks Eve. Unlike Inanna, Eve does not descend to the underworld and is punished for her curiosity. And Eve's sexuality becomes a burden and a curse to her, "for her desire is unto her husband," and she must labor painfully in childbirth. Finally Eve, unlike Inanna, is ashamed of her body. There are no songs to her vulva like those Inanna sings. Yet the old association persist in the tale, and women have begun to retrieve them and weave them back into the story as positive elements in the life of Eve.

      One of the most exciting pieces of lost information recently rediscovered is the archaeological evidence of women's contribution to the formation of human culture. In many cultures of the ancient near East, women are credited with the invention of pottery, agriculture, bread baking, writing, weaving, dream interpretation, the oracular arts, the art of lamentation, and the art of healing with herbs. Yet in the Bible men are given credit for the invention of culture, except for law and sacred rituals, which are attributed to God. Jewish origin tales need to reflect women's true gifts to human development and to the people of Israel. The Eve I have imagined in my re-creation reasserts women's inventiveness and ingenuity.

      I have translated Hava's name as "Let There Be Life Woman" in order to honor her creativity and resourcefulness. I see Hava as Everywoman, constantly growing and integrating new experiences into her storehouse of wisdom. She eats from the tree of knowledge not once but many times as she expands the horizons of her understanding.

      By seeing Hava as a woman who pursues knowledge by making choices and taking risks, we erase the taint of sinfulness that has attached itself to her persona. Some scholars contend that the story of Adam and Eve presents woman in a positive light because of the term ezer c'negdo, "helpmate," but the wordplay used to tell the story does not support this view. Hava is drawn from Adam's rib or side, which is tzela in Hebrew. Yet this word also means "to limp." The intended pun suggests that men are wounded and limping from their contact with women, a meaning that is reinforced by the role the text gives to Hava as the one who coaxes Adam to eat the forbidden fruit, thereby resulting in his banishment from the garden of delights. Hava is a dubious helpmate to Adam and reflects the ambivalent feelings men have about women.

      By transforming Hava into Everywoman, we also transform Adam into Everyman. Adam must also seek wisdom, taste death, leave the garden of his youth, and make his way in the world. By changing the way we tell the story, we can help men and women foster a sense of mutual struggle toward authenticity without the need for notions of inferiority or superiority on either side. By asking ourselves how we might retell the story so it reflects our struggle for mutuality and respect, we have already initiated necessary changes in the way we see each other.

      The cycle of Everywoman Eve is meant for telling when we read the story of Genesis during Simchat Torah. I have borrowed traditional midrash and refashioned the tales. One midrash describes Adam and Eve as an androgynous creature that was separated by God, and another negatively assesses all the parts of Eve's body. We find some stories about Eve's inventiveness in the apocryphal Books of Adam and Eve, and I have drawn on them as sources for an Eve who invents many things. Another stream in Eve' story relates her to the tripartite image of the Goddess as maiden, mother, and crone. Many Jewish legends describe Hava' birth, her quest for knowledge, her experience of motherhood, and her death.

Awakening

Shekinah gazed upon the sleeping form of HeShe.
"I shall divide this being
So HeShe can find loving companionship
Like the other creatures in the garden."
HeShe lay asleep in the grass
Curled up like a snake in the warm sun
Dreaming of angels. 
Shekinah thought,
"Which part of the body
Shall I take to form the woman?
Perhaps from the mouth
So she can tell stories like Serach,
The woman who smells of time.
Perhaps the eyes
So she sees the inside truth of things
Like Soft Eyes Woman Leah.
Perhaps from the neck
So she walks with pride
Like the daughters of Zelophehad
Who are Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
Perhaps the ears
So she hears my laughter
Like See Far Woman Sarah.
perhaps the heart
So she flows with tender mercies
Like Soft heart Woman Rachel.
Perhaps the arms
So she heals and restores with touch
Like the Hebrew midwife women.
perhaps the legs
So she goes out seeking wisdom
like Truth Seeking Woman Dinah.
perhaps from the flower of her passion
So she enjoys the fruits of her body 
Like Shulamit."
Then Shekinah blessed every part of the woman's body saying,
"Be pure of heart
and always know your are created in My image."
Then she awoke, first woman." pages 78-82

Reference:

      Lynn Gottlieb, She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of a Renewed Judaism, San Francisco, Harper Collins,1995

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