Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  Devorah was a prophetess, wife of Lapidot, she judged Israel at that time. Shoftim [4:4]

Why does our haftorah tell us that Devorah was eishet lapidot? It is true that in most cases

the Torah will tell us the name of a woman's husband since he was the spouse more

relevant to the overall picture, but here, Devorah was the more important. We are, for

example, introduced to Rivka as a child, without naming Yitzchak, as both were very

important. Who, or what, was Lapidot?

The Gemora [Megillah 14a] asks "what is 'the wife of Lapidot'?" Based on the meaning of

the word lapid, torch, the Gemora answers, "That she used to make wicks for the

Tabernacle", which Rashi tells us means the one in Shiloh. Yalkut Shimoni examines our

verse and tells us that she made them in a way to increase the amount of light that the

Menorah would produce, and that God, in return, gave her more light in Israel. This does

not seem to explain "wife of Lapidot", but those words could instead legitimately be read as

"woman of lapidot", a woman of torches. Ralbag translates it as "a fiery woman".

Most commentators seem to understand it that "wife of" is what the verse means, and that

Lapidot was her husband. But various midrashim identify Barak as her husband, so in

addition to what Yakult Shimoni said above, it also says that Devorah's husband had three

names, Lapidot, Michael and Barak. The word barak means lightning, which would be a

good fit with the torches and fiery woman.

Abarbanel notes the Gemorah comment about wicks and also the idea that Barak and

Lapidot are names for the same man. But he prefers the understanding of "woman of

torches". Combined with the earlier phrase in the verse about prophecy, he says that we

learn of the completeness of her intellect and her full preparation for prophecy, that she

was a woman of valor, vitality and alacrity like a fiery torch in her actions and zeal in

judging and chastising Israel to get them to return to God.