Kabbalistic Teachings of the Female Prophets by Zohara Hieronimus is a multi-faceted work surveying the lives of the Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation, and delving into the deeper significance of who they were, and what they symbolized. At its most basic the book is an excellent anthology of Scripture and Midrash retelling the biographies of these giants of the female spirit. Clinging faithfully to the traditional approaches of the ancient sages of Israel Hieronimus paints the tapestry of their lives over which she can then lay a deeper understanding.

Not satisfied with mere history, she explains how the lives of each of these women are connected to other great symbols of Judaism. Each prophetess has a relationship to a species of fruit, a part of the body, a day of the week, and other connections as well. The significance of each of these connections is demonstrated by showing the basis for these connections in ancient tradition. More often than not these links are established by means of Kabbalistic sources. To ease the readers transition into that world of spiritual thought, she provides a handy overview of Kabbalistic concepts at the beginning of the book. For the previously uninitiated, frequent reference to that introduction will probably be necessary. Unlike others who have attempted to divorce Kabbalah from its roots in the Torah, and have presented it as a discipline in its own right, Hieronimus shows deep respect for the true basis of all Kabbalistic thought.

Finally, she draws attention to the Gematria (numerical value) of the prophetesses’ names and other symbols with which they are associated and uses this numerology to draw connections to other words and concepts found within the Torah.
It is an informative and thought-provoking book that will open the eyes of the reader to new vistas of understanding, of both the prophetesses, and of the Torah in general.
-Rabbi Chayim Lando, Baltimore, Md. (Learning Institue of Torah Empowerment; (www.torahempowerment.com))