Non­fic­tion

Sis­ter­hood of the Cop­per Mir­rors: The Lega­cy of the Jew­ish Woman

Laya Saul
January 1, 2013

Most con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish girls and women know what the mir­ror in Snow White said; but what about the cop­per mir­rors of the Jew­ish women who were enslaved in Egypt? Sis­ter­hood of the Cop­per Mir­rors — The Lega­cy of the Jew­ish Woman tells the rich sto­ries of women in Tanach (scrip­ture). The sto­ries are illu­mi­nat­ed with com­men­taries and reflect upon his­tor­i­cal con­text that helps deep­en understanding. 

The Jew­ish matri­archs also give a lega­cy of inspi­ra­tion for liv­ing a life of mean­ing pur­pose and val­ues. The lessons are prac­ti­cal for today’s women: how to over­come life’s chal­lenges, set­ting bound­aries, find­ing your voice, and more. The accounts of our ances­tors are not tied up neat­ly with a bow. Their lives were com­plex. Their wis­dom runs deep. Each chap­ter gives rel­e­vant action­able tools that the read­er can apply to her own life. The book ends with a sec­tion about spir­i­tu­al path­ways. Sis­ter­hood of the Cop­per Mir­rors makes the lega­cy of the Jew­ish matri­archy acces­si­ble to Jew­ish women of this generation.

Discussion Questions

Cour­tesy of Laya Saul

  1. Do you think the sto­ries of these women are uni­ver­sal? Why or why not?

  2. Why do you think the author chose to tell these stories?

  3. How con­tro­ver­sial are the issues raised in this book?

  4. Which one of the women’s sto­ries sur­prised you the most?

  5. Every char­ac­ter writ­ten about had chal­lenges in her life. Some women have shared that the tri­als of one of the bib­li­cal women have helped them through their own per­son­al tri­als. Did you find inspi­ra­tion in one of these sto­ries for your­self? Is it some­thing you could share about?

  6. Was there a top­ic in the book that shed light or clar­i­ty on an issue or value?

  7. What feel­ings did this book evoke in you?

  8. Was there a spe­cif­ic pas­sage that struck you as sig­nif­i­cant, pro­found, inter­est­ing, amus­ing, illu­mi­nat­ing, dis­turb­ing, sad? Share the pas­sage and its effect.

  9. Share a favorite quote from the book. Why did this quote stand out?

  10. What have you learned from read­ing this book? Has it broad­ened your per­spec­tive about any issues — per­son­al or otherwise?

  11. In what ways could these sto­ries be used to build bridges to oth­er women?

  12. When you think about the per­son­al jour­ney of your grand­moth­ers or great grand­moth­ers, how do you see their strengths reflect­ed in the qual­i­ties of these bib­li­cal women?

  13. Were there shifts in the way you think about the bib­li­cal matri­archs? Did you gain more clar­i­ty? Was there some­thing you found surprising?

  14. What com­mon threads did you see in the women’s stories?

  15. Did this book leave you with ques­tions? If so, what are they?

  16. If you could meet one of the women writ­ten about in this book, who would it be? What would you want to ask her?

  17. If you could give wis­dom from our moth­ers to your daugh­ters (or nieces or sis­ters) what lessons would you want to gift to them?t

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