Introducing an Honorific Title for Biblical Women: Em
In this week’s parsha, we learn about the beginnings of the world and of humankind. In chapter two of Bereshit, when the first human is divinely transformed into the first two humans, they are each designated by gender and then the male names the female. He names her Chavah, explaining that she is em kol chai. This three word allegedly explanatory phrase translates simply as “mother of all living things”. However, these three small Hebrew words, especially the first one, em, might not be as simple as it seems.
By examining the use of the word em here and elsewhere in the Bible, it becomes clear that it does not simply describe a woman who gives birth, but rather that it is a title used for a woman who is deserving of a special kind of honor and respect in and of herself.¹
The word em² appears throughout the Bible, in details of narrative and law and in poetic imagery. When it is used in its basic meaning, “mother”, it usually appears with a possessive pronoun ending, thereby conveying identity and/or relationship, as in “his mother” or “your mother”, in order to convey lineage and/or filial responsibility.
There are only three cases in the entire Bible where the word em is used without any connection to a male partner, children or animal offspring. The first is in the expression stated above, from this week’s parsha, em kol chai. It is perhaps the most difficult to parse as it describes an amorphous future state since at this point in the story, Eve did not yet have any children. Additionally, she was most definitely not the mother of the other living things in the world (Adam, plants and animals).
Investigating the other two times the word em is used in a similar way may help shed light on the meaning of this word. They are both found as part of a two-word phrase, em bi-yisrael, used to self describe an important biblical woman. These two women are the Prophetess Devorah and the Wise Woman of 2Samuel chapter 20. In both of these cases, neither woman is portrayed with biological offspring, as might be expected from a woman who calls herself ‘mother’. However, they are each described as an important leader of her people.
Devorah the Prophetess (Judges chapters 4 and 5) is a multifaceted woman; she was also a judge and she accompanied her people into battle. After military success, she sang a lengthy song of thanksgiving to God during which she described herself as em bi-yisrael. She is not a stereotypical biblical mother – she is not described as having children or participating in the realm of the home. Rather, she has participated in war and presumedly in the public legal/political and religious realm as both judge and prophetess. It must therefore be assumed that em bi-yisrael is a title that means something other than a simple mother in Israel. It appears to describe an important, larger societal role, as is echoed in the other usage of it in 2Samuel.
The Wise Woman of 2Samuel 20, is portrayed in a quasi-battle situation, as she must interact with David’s military commander in order to save the lives of the people of her town, Abel of Beth-maacah. The woman is not named in the Bible, but she is described/titled earlier in the chapter as a Wise Woman. When her city is besieged by King David’s army as a means to threaten it into releasing a traitor who had taken refuge in it, she decides to hand him over in order to save the rest of the city. She, in what can only be described as a position of leadership, takes the initiative to chastise David’s commander for his threat to her whole city and to herself, an em bi-yisrael.³
The three times the word em is used in the bible are described above. When it is used for Deborah and the Wise Woman of Abel Beth-maachah, it can now be seen that this designation is a title to a female leader that confers honor and respect. It is reserved for a special kind of woman, and it is not connected to motherhood. We may then infer that Eve’s broader designation as em of all living things is similar. When she is given the title, she is not yet a mother at all. She is, however, designated with a special title of respect. She is the First Woman and therefore worthy of being granted a title of honor.
¹I developed this thesis in more detail in an earlier article. Please see it at – Urowitz-Freudenstein, A. (2023). ʾEm: An Ancient Honorific Title for Women. TheTorah.com. https://thetorah.com/article/em-an-ancient-honorific-title-for-women
²Em is the correct Biblical Hebrew word that is later and more commonly known as Eema.
³This two word phrase is usually translated along with the noun and conjunction that precedes it: ir vi-em bi-yisrael, as a “mother city in Israel”. This is not necessary or even correct according to the Biblical Hebrew. See further discussion in my article referenced in footnote1.
