The judge, the commander, the wife of lightning, Devorah HaNeviah
We know about Devorah through prose and poetry, and mostly inference.
Devorah emerges during a time when the people of Israel relied on judges, rather than prophets and kings, to guide and protect them. When threatened by a neighboring tribe, Devorah, the only female judge that we know of, choses Barak to lead the army. He asks that she accompany him, and Devorah agrees and joins him, after cautioning him that it would be a woman’s victory. In this twice told story, Devorah takes charge in a masculine space, and her counterpart, Yael does so in a feminine
one. Together, they bring their people to victory. Devorah dispenses wisdom, leads armies and gives prophecy, she grapples with power dynamics and issues of control. By Torah standards, she embraces both masculine and feminine qualities. Here she is depicted as a dominatrix, holding a flogger in one hand, reminiscent of the scales of justice, and a feather, representing gentleness and mercy, in the other. This shows that when doing something hard, you have to balance it with soft. This Devorah appears in front of a white hot flame, illustrating her connection to lighting and fire and her passion for justice.
🎨 by @wifebaerae
