Origins of the Binah: An Introduction

A Gift for the Woman Beneath the Veil

***This is an excerpt from my latest novel which is still in the drafting phase. This is not the final draft***

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.

Proverbs 8:19

Ehud found himself drawn to a woman who always seemed to hide her face, but he always heard her voice. He found her voice musical and the way she moved graceful. She seemed kind, and he wanted to know her. Every time he wished to talk to her, she would run away. He could only listen to her and admire her from afar. He realized he was captivated by her, yet he had never seen her face!

He realized he would be happy even if he had never seen her face, so long as he knew her!

“Who is that woman?” he asked Takoda after she had run away from them.

“She is Shappa,” Takoda said. “Woman of the red thunder. She was injured badly when the demon came. No one sees her face.”

“She hides?”

He nodded mournfully, “She was scarred by the demon. She was once very beautiful, and took much pride in her looks. When she healed, she did not look the same. So she hides.”

“But her heart, that is still whole?”

“It is whole, yet no one sees it. She loves no one, only because she has closed it off to love,”

“So she has no husband?”

Takoda shook his head mournfully, “She will take no husband.”

“Have any asked?”

“How does one ask for one to love them when their heart is closed?”

“Is it because of why she will hide?

“No. Many have known her since before, they know how she changed, but they do not care. Their words are meaningless to her. No man will ask for her hand in marriage if they know they will only hear ‘no’.”

Ehud sighed in frustration, “So what should I do?”

Takoda grinned, “Either be very patient, or give up. If you try, be ready to hear her say ‘no’.”

“I will pray, then, that she will talk to me,”

“Perhaps between your prayers and our prayers, her heart may open up to you.”

“I think I know what to do,” Ehud nodded. I will give her a gift, something special, something that came along with us during our long voyage. She would talk to me if what I bring her is something beyond what she knows!

Ehud decided she would never speak to him unless he had a reason and she could not ignore him if he gave her something she would want to use right away. Shappa loved to grow herbs and tend to her plants. He decided to ask Edom for some garlic cloves to give her, figuring it would help him have a chance to speak with her. She had never seen garlic cloves, and he could tell her how to plant them! He thought the idea was genius, perfect. Maybe the conversation about the garlic cloves would turn into a conversation that would one day lead to him asking her to marry him! Ah Ehud, he scolded himself, you are such a dreamer!

He approached his brother and explained his plan. Surely Edom would see that this is a brilliant idea¸ he considered.

“You want to talk to a woman by giving her garlic?” Edom laughed.

Ehud was confused, “Is it a poor gift? She has never seen it before, so I thought…”

“My brother, if you want to win a woman’s heart, give her something that will grow for generations, a symbol of the future you want with her,” Edom handed his brother a sliver of root. “Give her grapes.”