Introduction

Thirteen-year-old Elisha lives in a village near Shechem in the Land of Canaan in ancient Israel. She wants to be like other girls but is unmarried, speaks to an angel, and composes and sings her own songs—a pursuit her parents disapprove of. When she tells the village women to stand up for themselves, the men are outraged and the tribe banishes her.

After journeying alone through the desert, escaping bandits, wild animals, and men who would sell her as a servant, Elisha makes it to Jerusalem, where the angel guides her to study with Abraham and Sarah. She learns much including reading and writing, and Abraham even gives her Doron, his servant, to accompany her as she sings her songs throughout the country. Doron becomes her lover and her songs are well accepted—until she sings one about equality for women.

Mountain of Full Moons explores how we overcome our fears, go out into the world, and gain the courage to speak up and be whom we choose to be.

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Excerpt

I dare not move. The hut is dark but I can still feel my mother’s black eyes glaring at me. The sun is not yet up over the horizon
in this Land of Canaan and my father, my Abba, is waiting and must be angry. The men need to make fresh mudbricks for the huts and I promised to bring a basket for them to collect the chaff. Instead, I am forced to sit here and listen to my Ima and her usual long list of complaints. I know them by heart. I sweep the floor, but it is not clean. I am never there to grind the flour and it is not done properly. Even animals will not eat the flatbreads I make, and I do not wear my shawl when I should. The truth is my parents want to keep me from playing my harp and singing. Did they give me grandmother’s harp to stare at? A harp is made to be played and a voice must sing. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1) Why ancient Palestine? Why set a book during biblical times?
2) Elisha follows her own path despite the harm it might bring her and her family. What's behind this?
3) Elisha is positioned as a feminist some 5,000 years ago. What's different for women today?

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