Previous

My husband’s words found their mark, and I recalled something that Zilpah had told me when I was a child in the red tent, and far too young to understand her meaning. “We are all born of the same mother,” she said. After a lifetime, I knew that to be true.

This quote is from Dinah’s narration at the very end of the novel in Part Three, Chapter Five. Dinah has just returned home from visiting her family’s camp with Joseph after many years away. There she encountered Judah, who gave her Rachel’s ring, a gift passed on from Leah. Ever since she received the ring, Dinah has tried to understand why Leah would leave her a token of Jacob’s love for Rachel. Benia believes it is because Leah found peace with sharing her husband. Leah wanted Dinah to know that, despite the conflicts between the sisters, they loved one another and especially loved Dinah. Dinah understands that as women they are connected to one another as derivations of the great goddess, a fact that supersedes individual wants and needs. Dinah is as much Rachel’s daughter as she is Leah’s and Zilpah’s and Bilhah’s, because they all share the same relationship with the goddesses and the Earth. In Meryt, Dinah has been lucky enough to find yet another mother during her life. Dinah realizes that their love indeed unites them and makes them all one.

Previous section Famous Quotes Explained Page 4

Popular pages: The Red Tent

Take a Study Break