The Woman of Valor

This book deals in its entirety with the poem “A Woman of Valor” from the book of Proverbs. It is an attempt to pick up the threads of many generations of interpretation, so as to illuminate, and, to some extent, deepen our understanding of the poem with its various layers and dimensions.

Rabbi Steinsaltz’s insightful commentary on each verse infuses the text with new and timeless meaning. The illustrations by Itzhak Tordjman are intended to shed emotional light on the poem and to convey its rich texture in visual form.

While the model for the images in this book is of one woman, the drawings go beyond the portrayal of a particular woman to describe Everywoman, even womanhood itself. Each picture represents both one specific individual and many individuals: women out of Jewish history and symbolic figures.