Ḳedeshot u-ḳedoshot

The Female Dynasty of the House of David in the Biblical literature and its influence on the Jewish Messianic Myth. I argue that the Messiah, "Son of David," is chosen due to the merit of his mothers and their extraordinary antinomian deeds. In all the biblical stories about the Judean line, there is a constant and repetitive theme: the birth of the redeemer son is preceded by scenarios of seduction and sexual transgression, which are initiated by the female protagonists. These biblical scenes of seduction underscore the dominance of the heroines, and it is their actions alone that cause the birth of the sons and the formation of the myth of the birth of the Messiah. The book examines, from a mythic and a gender viewpoint, the female characters that establish the messianic dynasty, and discusses the evolution of their stories in Jewish exegesis, starting with the Hebrew Bible, through the Rabbinic Literature, culminating in the homilies of the Zohar.

This book emphasizes the centrality of the mother image in the Jewish messianic idea and its development throughout the ages, and shows that transgressive behavior is not an innovative idea first found in the Sabbatean heresy. This book provides a missing link in the chain of research on this topic and significantly contributes to the understanding of the connection between female transgression and breaking through sexual boundaries, on the one hand, and the concept of redemption, on the other. Moreover, it raises an important principle that relates to the ethnic and national identity of the Jewish people - that through the 'other', the stranger, and for the sake of precision, through the 'foreign woman' who threatens and seduces - the Messiah is born. The prominence of the roles of the mothers of the Davidic dynasty teaches us that the foreign and gentile women are those who, in a subversive manner and by means of sexual sins, establish the heart of Jewish sovereignty and royalty. In addition, In the last chapter of the book I discuss the parallels between the appearance of Mary (in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke), and the Davidic Mothers in the Hebrew Bible, and stress mutual representations of these narratives in Christian and Jewish culture.