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The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. Learn more

Caryn Tamber-Rosenau

Caryn Tamber-Rosenau is instructional assistant professor of Jewish Studies and Religious Studies. She is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible with a special interest in women and gender in the Bible and Second Temple literature. She is the author of Women in Drag: Gender and Performance in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Literature (Gorgias, 2018).

Articles by this author

Oil painting by Gustav Klimt depicting a semi-nude Judith prominently, holding the head of Holofernes in the bottom right

Women Warriors

In the Hebrew Bible and ancient Jewish literature, most warriors are men. However, a few women go to war or kill: Deborah, Jael, the unnamed woman of Thebez, and Judith.

Deborah stands before a group, praising Jael.

Deborah: Bible

Deborah is one of the major judges (meaning charismatic military leaders, rather than juridical figures) in the story of how Israel takes the land of Canaan. The only female judge, the only one to be called a prophet, and the only one described as performing a judicial function, she is a decisive figure in the defeat of the Canaanites.
Jael leads Barak to the corpse of Sisera in her tent.

Yael: Bible

Yael plays an important role in the story of Israel’s wars with the Canaanites, described in the Book of Judges. In the narrative about the military heroine Deborah, Yael kills Sisera, the Canaanite general of King Jabin, after he escapes from the battle with Deborah’s general, Barak.

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Caryn Tamber-Rosenau." (Viewed on March 21, 2023) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/tamber-rosenau-caryn>.

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