Joy Ladin comments on Rebecca’s remarkable independence – an essential quality for a Matriarch. Unlike Abraham, who had direct communication from God on what to do, Rebecca had to rely on her own personal determination.
Rabbi Bearman ties parashat Bereishit to two historical female rabbis: Rabbi Sally Priesand and Rabbi Regina Jonas. Rabbi Priesand’s favorite biblical figure is Eve, “because she chose knowledge and wisdom over life in the Garden of Eden.” Rabbi Jonas is known as the first female rabbi, ordained in 1935. She was murdered in Auschwitz around October 1944. Parashat Bereishit has been designated as her yahrzeit.