Rabbinic sources develop the theological concept of ancestral merit, the idea that the merits of parents, especially fore-parents, continue to offer their descendants favor in the eyes of God. The term zekhut avot is often translated as “merit of the fathers.” In this article, I ask: to whom does “ avot ,” in the term zekhut avot , refer? I argue that the concept of zekhut avot encompassed the biblical matriarchs in addition to the patriarchs, though this fact has often gone unnoticed or been deemphasized in modern scholarship, and that the terms “ maʿaseh imahot ” and “ zekhut imahot ” appear alongside “ maʿaseh avot ” and “ zekhut avot ” in the sources. I argue further that the figure of Rachel stands most prominently among the matriarchs whose merit assists her descendants, parallel to Abraham’s binding of Isaac as the paradigmatic event that accrued patriarchal merit. I conclude by offering historical and literary reasons for this development in rabbinic sources.

中文翻译：

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Zekhut Imahot：犹太教教源中的母亲，父亲和祖先功绩

犹太教徒的资料发展了祖先功绩的神学概念，即父母，尤其是前父母的功劳继续在上帝的眼中为后代提供宠爱的观念。zekhut avot一词通常被翻译为“父亲的功绩”。在本文中，我问：zekhut avot一词中的“ avot”指的是谁？我认为zekhut avot的概念除了族长之外还包括圣经中的族长，尽管这一事实在现代学术界经常不为人所重视或忽视，并且术语“ maʿaseh imahot”和“ zekhut imahot”与“ maʿaseh avot”同时出现”和“ zekhut avot”。我进一步争辩说，蕾切尔（Rachel）的身材在母女中最为突出，她们的功绩可帮助其后代，与亚伯拉罕将以撒绑定为父权制功绩的典范。最后，我以阿拉伯语来源为这一发展提供了历史和文学原因。