Some Ideas to Jump-start your own Creative Interpretations

Choose one of these verses and write, draw, dance or sing about it:

  • And Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter (Verse 34)
  • And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said: ‘Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art become my troubler; for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.’  (Verse 35)
  • And she said unto him: ‘My father, thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD; do unto me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth (Verse 36)
  • And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed; and she had not known man (Verse 39)
  • And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year (Verse 39-30)
  • Or try one of these:

    Visual

    Retell this story in images by representing the objects that seem most important, either drawing or in collage (Some examples: veil, knife, mountain, fire, hut, hands)

    Choose a scene from the story, use any available materials to stage or build a sculpture of this scene, and photograph it with your phone camera

    Music

    Write a mourning melody for Yiftach’s daughter, to be sung by the girls each year

    Write a song in Yiftach’s daughter’s voice describing how you think she might have experienced the story

    Movement

    Create a series of positions or tableaux describing Yiftach’s daughter’s feelings at different moments in the story

    Make a dance in which you go back and forth between being Yiftach and his daughter

    Writing

    Write a letter from Yiftach’s daughter explaining why she returned after two months away

    Write about a personal experience you had that feels connected to the story of Yiftach’s daughter

    Create a ritual memorializing Yiftach’s daughter to be observed in her memory each year

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Listen to Our Podcast

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Some Ideas to Jump-start your own Creative Interpretations." (Viewed on November 29, 2024) <https://jwa.org/node/23117>.