Rachel

Rachel was the wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Her long struggle for children and rivalry with Leah are central to the family narrative behind the origins of the tribes of Israel.

In Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, the narrative follows Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Bilhah through marriage, motherhood, rivalry and household ritual, making the women’s tent a centre of memory, birth and female community.