Cultural Script of North African Jewish Women: The Making of an “Eshet Hayil”

Abstract

“May God make thee like Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah …” That's the blessing that welcomes the Jewish little girl into the world and these are the models that will shape her life.The cultural script of the Jewish woman goes back to the Bible. (The Bible) “in fact, created the Jewish woman. It has proven itself the most potent educative force in her life” (Benno Jacob).Five thousand years, and many diasporas later, how does the Jewish woman accept, adapt to, live and eventually change a cultural script that does not make room for any geographical, cultural, historical differences?This article describes the molding of the North African (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco) Eshet Hayil and her struggle for an identity beyond the label: “a woman of valor.”