PAPER #3
What is the role of women?
Jordana Ben Canaan is a character in Exodus by Leon Uris. She is the daughter and second child of Barak Ben Canaan (formerly Jossi Rabinsky) who was raised in a Russian Settlement and has since become the head of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. Jordana is a leader of the Palmach an elite unit of soldiers in their struggle for Palestine. Jordana is a native born girl, who's grown up fighting for her peoples cause of claiming Palestine their own nation. Her fiancé, David, is also a leader of the Palmach and they "live in sin", even though it is against their religion, because of the danger involved in their way of life and the chance that either of them may be killed any day.
Drauphadi is a character from the Mahabharata. She was born to King Drauphada and engaged to only Arjuna, but after the Pandava disappearance and supposed death at Varanavata, her father set up a swayamvara to marry her off, and she ended up marrying not only Arjuna but all five of the Pandava brothers. She is famous for her cheer-haran (to strip one's clothing) that takes place in the Mahabharata in the court of King Dhritarashtra. Her devotion to Lord Krishna throughout her life makes the exemplification of bhakti (or devotion to God) to most Hindus. She is also faithful to her husbands, following whatever rules the set up for their unusual situation and living her life as a proper wife as defined by her society and religion of the time.
Jordana: "If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel" (Deuteronomy 22:22). We are each equally responsible for our actions, whether we are a man or woman. We are just as responsible for changing that which is wrong in our world and just as capable of making it better.

Drauphadi (Mahabharata): “And when immorality prevails, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupted; when women are corrupted, social problems arise.” (Bhagavad-Gita) For women to behave as yours do, Jordana, fighting and acting as a man, living in sin…etc, is immoral. You have been corrupted and perhaps it is because of this corruption that all your problems have occurred. Why can't you behave as wives are meant to?

Jordana: There are sometimes more important things for "wives" to tend to than cooking and cleaning up after their men. Our relationships with men have little to do with our peoples struggle to be treated equally, or at least humanely on our own lands.

Drauphadi: Perhaps if you were proper wives your husbands would have the support and homely environment they needed to best deal with the problems in Israel. Perhaps that environment will put them in better health and better able to think through these problems and strategize. Aren't these traditions, the traditions of the Jewish faith, aren't they what you are fighting so hard to protect, and yet you yourself are so preoccupied with the battle you no longer practice the traditions you're fighting for. "When a family declines, ancient traditions are destroyed. With them are lost the spiritual foundations for life, and the family loses its sense of unity. Where there is no sense of unity, the women of the family become corrupt; and with the corruption of its women, society is plunged into chaos." (Bhagavad Gita 1:40-41). Perhaps your loss of tradition only supports the chaos you suffer now, and you dig yourself deeper and deeper into it by straying farther from your traditional role as a wife to better aid your cause.
Jordana: Perhaps, although I doubt staying in the houses of our men and fathers, wearing veils and not speaking to strangers would achieve much. You could say that we do the bidding of our husbands, as any wife should. It is their bidding that we do all we can to aid in this cause, to find freedom for our people in this one corner of the world if nowhere else. Therefore it is with their blessing that be stray from some of the behaviors said to be part of the role of a wife as mandated by the Old Testament. We act in the spirit of the laws if not in accordance with the details of them.
Drauphadi: And if your husband were to demand you stay home, clean, cook and follow the Old Testaments description of a wife to the letter regardless of whatever else you think you should be doing with your time, would you obey?
Jordana: No. I respect my husband but if he were to make a demand like that I wouldn't agree with him. I respect my husband but more than that I respect my God and it is part of my duty to God to see that his will is met out and I cannot do that if I busy myself with housework instead. Part of the reason I love my husband is his devotion to the same God and the same causes. For him to make such a demand would go against all of that. As much as I respect David, there is a bigger picture to consider.
Growing up in a individualist culture I think that I would side with Jordana in this debate. Interestingly enough, both of these women come from collective cultures and yet their view points on this matter are so different. I wouldn't say that they are polar opposites but I think that Jordana is so preoccupied with the fight for Palestine that she really just can't be bothered with behaving "properly". It is mentioned in Exodus, that while Jordana isn't the girlie type, it does hurt her to be missing out on femininity and have no sense of what it is to be a woman, as she sees women from America and England behaving. Her lifestyle, as far as womanhood is concerned, has come about not because of her beliefs on the rights of women, but the circumstances she is living with. While I see the value of a lot of collective cultures ideas for women, as Drauphadi's perspective showed here, I don't feel a sense of commitment to my family in the same way. On the other hand, the situation Jordana is in isn't something I have or most likely ever will encounter. I try not to define people by their gender, race, age…etc, but of course we all have stereotypes and they do come up whether we support them or not. I don't hate Drauphadi's idea of a woman's life either. I can respect it and see the good aspects of it, but unless it's something that woman wants for herself, I don't think it's necessarily the best or only life she should have. The biggest goal in life for me is to be happy, to find whatever it is that I can be passionate about and experience it to the fullest. Therefore, it being a housewife is what makes someone happy, I can see no reason not to take on that life. However I don't think we can make the assumption that that's what works for every woman out there.