In modern times, we are well-aware of the importance and significance of taking a census. In Parashat Pinchas we find a description of one of the censuses that took place in the desert, with all males over the age of 20 counted according to their families and tribes (see Chapter 26). One name that stands out is Serah, the daughter of Asher, the only woman who is mentioned by name (v. 46). Why would this specific woman be highlighted?
One suggestion is that she has already been singled out previously, in the list of Yaakov’s descendants who made the trip to Egypt. In that list we find: “Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah” (Bereishit 46:17). In his commentary, Rav Yosef Bekhor Shor writes: Since she was mentioned with those who left Egypt, she was also counted with them here.” Clearly, the fact that she is mentioned in both places makes us understand that she was a unique individual who lived a very long life. Yet we find no descriptions in the Torah of her life – nothing about the changes in circumstances that she would have had to deal with, neither the pain of exile and servitude, nor the joy of redemption. There can be no doubt that behind her name there must be a life-story, and this has to engage our curiosity.
In fact, the midrashim have a rich collection of details that they offer in an attempt to flesh-out this unique character. Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer describes how it was Serah who gave the stamp-of-approval to Moshe Rabbeinu when he first presented himself to the Israelites, claiming to be on a mission from God to redeem them from Egypt:
For Yaakov’s son, Asher, entrusted the secret of redemption to his daughter, Serah.
So when Moshe and Aharon came before the elders and performed the miraculous signs before them,
The elders went to their grandmother, Serah bat Asher and said to her: A man appeared before us and performed the following miraculous signs in our presence.
She said: Those signs are meaningless.
They said to her: But he also said [in the name of God] “I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt.”
She said to them: That is the man who is destined to redeem you from Egypt.”
(Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 48)
The message of this midrash is that Serah served as the expert and primary decisor on religious matters in Egypt; she was a member of the “Supreme Rabbinic Council” of the time, whose words decided matters of the greatest import. Her healthy logic and skepticism are evident in her answer; she makes light of the possibility that a show-off miracle worker might be the redeemer, but quickly recognizes the secret code of redemption that was entrusted to her by her father. It is the code “God will surely take notice of you” known to Yaakov’s children (see Bereishit 50:24) that attests to a connection to the days of the Patriarchs that she recognized as the true sign of redemption.
In Mekhilta d’Rashbi, Serah is mentioned as the individual who had guarded over the collective memory of the Israelite nation from the time that they arrived in Egypt, likely because of her advanced age. For this reason, when Moshe is prepared to take the people out of Egypt and must fulfill the communal oath made to Yosef that his remains would be returned to Israel for burial, Serah is the one who he turns to, and she successfully directs him to the place where Yosef’s bones are interred. (See Mekhilta d’Rashbi Chapter 13 and Tosefta Sotah 4:7.)
According to some of the midrashim, the story of Serah bat Asher does not end with the redemption from Egypt. Massekhet Kallah relates that she is one of the people who entered the Garden of Eden while still alive (Kallah Rabati, Chapter 3). On some level we must understand that the sages are presenting Serah as a “concept” – an eternal concept – rather than as an individual person. In Midrash Kohelet Rabbah Serah is identified as the “wise woman” who, in the midst of Sheva ben Bikhri’s rebellion against King David, demanded that Yoav refrain from bringing disaster to the city of Abel Beth-maacah (see 2 Shmuel, Chapter 20):
‘Wisdom is more valuable’ (Kohelet 9:18) – this is the wisdom of Serah bat Asher,
‘than weapons of war’ (Kohelet 9:18) – than the weapons of war carried by Yoav,
As it says: ‘a wise woman shouted from the city’ (2 Shmuel 20:16).
(Kohelet Rabbah, Chapter 9)
The appearance of a woman who is presented as elderly and wise encourages the sages to identify her as Serah bat Asher. As is obvious, generations have passed since the Exodus, and it is difficult to accept that a real connection exists between the two characters. We must, therefore, recognize that the sages are suggesting a conceptual connection rather than an actual one, presenting yet another aspect of Serah’s character. As in Serah’s case, here steps forward one of the tribe’s elder states(wo)men who is concerned about how to keep the nation unified, one who professes “old-time values” like appreciation of social cohesion and national responsibility. Her life experience grants her a unique status of the inner “voice of sanity.”
At the same time, there exists an alternative approach to understanding Serah’s character that is very different from the one described up to this point.
Some suggest that Serah was not actually Asher’s daughter, rather that she was his wife’s daughter from a previous relationship. This is why she receives her own portion in the Land of Israel, since she is not connected to her father’s portion. This would also explain why she is identified in Sefer Bereishit as sister to Asher’s sons, rather than as Asher’s daughter (see (Bereishit 46:17). Much is learned from her situation about the status of an adopted daughter who is accepted and becomes a real daughter. According to this approach, Serah is a branch that is grafted onto the family of Yaakov. As such, she serves as a source of study for questions relating to Jewish law on matters such as personal status, family relationships between a father and his adoptive daughter, and so forth.
The approaches of the rabbinic sages in determining Serah’s character is representative of their approach to Bible commentary in general. Serah is mentioned only twice in the Torah. In both cases, her name appears in a lengthy list of names, most of whom are otherwise unknown and anonymous. We know nothing more about them beyond the fact that they were once part of the Jewish people’s lineage. Generally speaking, lists like this flicker before our eyes and appear to be a collection of valueless information. Yet, according to the Gemara in Pesahim:
Rami bar Rav Yuda said that Rav said: From the day the Book of Genealogies was hidden and no longer available to the Sages, the strength of the Sages has been weakened, and the light of their eyes has been dimmed. Mar Zutra said: From Azel to Azel there were four hundred camels of expositions written (Pesahim 62b).
This is a strange statement. What was it about the Book of Genealogies that its loss weakened the strength of the sages and dimmed their eyes? What could they possibly have expounded about a single chapter from the Book of Chronicles (“from Azel to Azel” refers to two identical pesukim, one in 1 Divrei haYamim chapter 8 and one in 1 Divrei haYamim chapter 9) that would have required so many camels to carry the missing expositions that were taught about them? What can be so significant about a list of names and the commentaries on them?
The first and most important teaching that the sages present in their expositions about Serah is the fact that every single name is a world unto itself. Our tradition teaches us that every generation loses something in comparison to the previous generation. Hundreds of years passed from the time that Ezra led a return to Israel until the first of the Tanna’im in the Mishnah. The Sanhedrin operated during this perion; there were heads of Jewish courts and Sanhedrin members who we never heard of. We do not even know their names. Imagine the size of the library that could have been filled had we succeeded in retaining records of their lives, their writings, their leadership, their arguments, their political battles and more. In the chapter “from Azel to Azel” we find a list of names of Jewish community leaders who led their communities for hundreds of years. Had Thomas Mann written an historical novel about each one of them, we could have easily had – without exaggeration – 400 camel loads of expositions. One can assumer that many of them would have been deserving of serious research and doctoral dissertations – no less than other historical figures about whom such studies were written.
From the midrashic material written about Serah, we can also develop an appreciation of the methods used by the rabbinic sages to extract insights from a minimalist text. There was once a popular radio program called “Note of the Hour,” which challenged listeners to recognize songs from just a few, short notes that were played. This is what the rabbinic sages did with their nuanced readings, gathering every available detail, uncovering what was hidden. We must recognize that the sages do not intend for us to accept their midrashim as literal descriptions of what took place. They tried to give meaning and significance to biblical personalities like Serah based on the minimal information that they were given. One approach focused on what was unusual about her (that she appears to have been adopted), while another approach focused on her long life and the suggestion that she had first-hand information about incidents and events that for others was ancient history.
Serah, the daughter of Asher, never died. She entered the Garden of Eden alive. Serah bat Asher can live in every one of us. She represents the ability to tell our story from the time of Yaakov Avinu until today in a manner that can change our perspective on the Jewish people as a whole.