וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אֶל־אָבִ֗יהָ אַל־יִ֙חַר֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י כִּ֣י ל֤וֹא אוּכַל֙ לָק֣וּם מִפָּנֶ֔יךָ כִּי־דֶ֥רֶךְ נָשִׁ֖ים לִ֑י וַיְחַפֵּ֕שׂ וְלֹ֥א מָצָ֖א אֶת־הַתְּרָפִֽים׃
For she said to her father, “Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for I am in a womanly way.” Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols.
Genesis 31:35 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)
When Rachel prevents Laban from finding her hidden transgression, she says that she’s on her period.
In Hebrew, the phrase she uses is interesting: “for the Way of Women is upon me.”
If Laban is a precursor to the Destroying Angel of Exodus, and this mentrual blood is a precursor to the blood over the doorposts in Egypt which prevented the Angel from claiming the firstborn, then perhaps there is something about the “Way of Women” that needs to be studied.
The rabbinical teachings explain that a woman on her period was “unclean.” The tradition held that she was SO unclean that even following a menstruating woman and walking in her footsteps could make you unclean. Talking to a menstrating woman would make you unclean (hence Laban saying nothing to Rachel in this story segment).
Later, Leviticus will echo this language of “unclean,” (Lev 15:19-20), and it seems shameful. Isolating. And then consider the woman who bled for 12 years. But Jesus talking to her and touching her and saying “your faith has saved you” is a jarring contrast.
Does this contradict Leviticus, or does it tell us something powerful about the “Way of Women?”
This is definitely something to chew on.