Throughout societal norms, mothers are given the responsibility of being the caretakers and nurturers of children, but are judged for this complicated role of suffering and sacrifice when raising their children. Growing up in a Catholic household, I personally only knew about Mary as a female biblical figure and was not taught about any other woman in the Bible until later in life. When people think about powerful mothers, especially in a religious sense, they think of the Virgin Mary. She is the ideal mother because God chose her to bear Their Son. Mary was considered full of grace and a nurturer. Although I do believe that Mary is important, I also think that other motherly figures should be exhibited with the same light. I would like to emphasize the pattern of struggles mothers go through in making tough decisions for their children in an unjust world. I believe that many women, especially mothers, are judged and questioned on the choices they make for their children, whether it was a good decision for the better or if it was a decision they would regret for the rest of their life. I am using Siona Benjamin’s piece Four Mothers Who Entered Pardes and Thomas Satterwhite Noble’s The Modern Medea because they both depict mothers going out of their way to love, protect, and even grieve for their children. In both pieces, there is a sense of suffering, from the mothers, due to the result of something happening to their children. 

Siona Benjamin’s Four Mothers Who Entered Pardes is based on the Rabbi story of Four Who Entered Pardes. Benjamin reimagines Rachel, Sara, Leah, and Rebecca of the Hebrew Bible as the four Rabbis who have entered Paradise. 

The first image is of Rachel, who is surrounded by good and bad angels, cries for all children throughout time and future history, including her own children, banished children in exile who were bonadage in Egypt, and Jewish people of the future who were effected by the Holocaust, before her own death. The angels around her also weep as she is dying.

The second image is of Sara, who goes mad due to hearing that her only son is being taken away by her husband to be killed as a sacrifice to God. Sara is never seen again, but when she dies, it is because of the love for her son and all of the people that have sacrificed themselves in war due to the world’s selfishness. The scene behind Sara is of the world turning upside down due to all of the good and evil going against each other, and the evil being victorious in the end.

The third image is of Leah, who has many children, but loses her faith. She was able to find strength within herself again for her children by seeing and recognizing faith through her heart, not just her eyes. She sees a world where all daughters and sons are inherited and inspired equally by leaving the world of male patriarchs behind.

Lastly, the fourth image is of Rebecca, who is pregnant with twins. She asks God “If thus why am I?”, which means “If this is the nature of reality, which includes suffering, then what is the point?” God explained to Rebecca that “Nothing is ever perfect”, so then she was able to accept the imperfections of life and paradise. This allowed her to ascend and descend in peace.

Through all of these sacrifices and recognitions of the reality of life for their children and the future generations, all of these mothers were able to enter into paradise. 

Thomas Satterwhite Noble’s The Modern Medea painting depicts the tragic story of Margaret Garner. Margaret Gardner was born a slave in Boone County, Kentucky and was outcasted due to her father being a plantation owner and mother being a slave. She was described as a mulatto, which in turn was labeled to her children as well. She and her family attempted to flee to Ohio in order to escape slavery for good. Slave-catchers came to the home her family was hiding in and tried to take them back to the South and return them to the their slave-masters. Garner believed that death was more freedom than being a slave again, especaially having a status of a mulatto. So, she then decided to kill her two-year old daughter in front of the slave-catchers to threaten them and show them that death meant true freedom over becoming a slave again. Garner’s other children were wounded, but still alive. The Garner family were taken into custody again and were under enslavement for the rest of their lives.

The interpretation of Margaret Garner’s story is the idea of after-life being paradise. When paradise becomes idealized, it is seen as a better life than the present. Although there are disparities in this life, death does not mean the end of all time. To Garner, life after present death is greater than living in enslavement. There is no guarantee for paradise in the next life, but there is hope.

Comparing the pieces from Benjamin and Noble, they display mothers as recognizing the disadvantages and unfairness they have and taking responsibility for their actions for the sake of their children. In Four Mothers Who Entered Pardes, each mother is shown how they overcame their own difficulties for their children in order to be allowed to enter into paradise. While in The Modern Medea, Margaret Garner believed that death was considered freedom in order to finally enter the after-life of paradise. 

 I wanted to relate this idea with families immigrating, especially the struggles for the Latinx community. Making the decision to move to another country is hard enough, but having to include whether to also put a child or children in that place is also very hard. There are families and mothers willing to risk everything for their children because their current life is not good and they are aware of that. Mothers and families are criticized for sending their children alone to the United States because there is no guarantee for their safety and if they were to make the journey. 

The stigmatization of motherhood is to protect and ensure the safety of children due to their adolescence and their dependency. Mothers are given the task of revolving their world around their children and family. When people hear that there are mothers willing to send their children alone to the desert and move away from home, they are quick to judge those mothers as irresponsible, reckless, and selfish. What many ignorant people don’t realize is it’s either the life of the mother or the children that would take the risk of attempting to succeed in finding a new life in an unknown country. So, mothers take the responsibility of giving their children the opportunity to succeed because the children’s chances are greater than theirs. Their hopefulness of a successful life provides them the determination of a better life elsewhere from their current lives. Paradise to people who immigrate for a better life is located in the destination of their journey. They know the challenges that are going to have to be faced, but the idea of a better and successful life for their children is worth the difficulties. The unpredictability of the future is indicated by how there is no guarantee of a just world. As Siona Benjamin says, “until all children are safe, none are safe.” Mothers in historic and contemporary times want to provide the best life for their children, but how can they do that in an imperfect and unjust world?

Benjamin, Siona. The Four Mothers Who Entered Pardes. 2014, Hand embellished and archival prints on canvas.

Benjamin, S., Greenberg, E., Soltes, O. Z., Baigell, M., & Rosen, A. (2016). A Feminist Midrash. In Siona Benjamin: Beyond borders (pp. 16–21). essay, Opalka Gallery, The Sage Colleges. 

Hagan, J. (2021). Faith for the Journey: Religion as a Resource for Migrants. In Promised land, a perilous journey: Theological Perspectives on migration (pp. 3–19). essay, UNIV OF NOTRE DAME PRESS. 

Macfarlane, R. Margaret Garner’s Tragedy. Medea2.0006_noble. Retrieved from https://cal.byu.edu/macfarlane/OGCMA/Medea2.0006_Noble.htm 

Nava, A. (2021). God in the Desert: Searching for the Divine in the Midst of Death. In Promised land, a perilous journey: Theological Perspectives on migration (pp. 62–75). essay, UNIV OF NOTRE DAME PRESS. 

Nichols, C. (2019, July 20). Margaret Garner Incident (1856). MARGARET GARNER INCIDENT (1856). Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/margaret-garner-incident-1856/ 

Noble, Thomas Satterwhite. The Modern Medea. 1867, Oil on canvas.

Sernett, M. C. (1999). African American religious history: A documentary witness. Duke University Press.