The biblical story of Dinah has often been overlooked or given little attention, until Anita Diamant's The Red Tent (Picador 1998), that is. Diamant skillfully weaves ancient history and culture with narrative fiction to draw a picture of what life might have been like for the women in Jacob's life. With equal skill and passion, Sandra Hack Polaski unravels the real biblical story of Leah, Rachel, Zil?pah, Bil?hah, and Leah's daughter Dinah, probing aspects of The Red Tent that give us insight into the text and into the lives of women in the ancient Near East. Inside the Red Tent brings readers into the biblical and historical contexts of the world of Dinah and her four mothers, exploring their stories in traditional and contemporary Midrash. She gives us a glimpse "inside the red tent" at the families, relationships, encounters, goddesses, and God that defined their lives and that define ours.
