The Dovekeepers

Hoffman’s depiction of Masada sets it up as the novel’s most important setting, emphasizing its importance as a symbol of hope and resilience for the Jewish people living under the Roman threat. The awestruck Yael notes the orchards at Masada lead to ancient terrace gardens filled with vegetables, beyond which “rose a field of barley and Emmer” being plowed, and as the chaff rises, “the air glowed yellow, like honey poured into a bowl” (83). Masada is a place of plenty and refuge, contrasting starkly with the harsh desert Yael and her father have passed through. Most people in Masada have lost their homes and survived agonizing journeys. Many, like Yael, have wandered in the desert. Thus, for Yael and others like her, Masada signifies nurture, protection, and peace.

Masada’s significance becomes even more pronounced in light of the Roman oppression of Judea. Roman soldiers have destroyed not just homes and lives, but also the faith and cultural identity of the people, desecrating their temples. Yael describes how Roman soldiers kill white cockerels outside Jewish temples to render them unclean. The Roman army advances upon Jerusalem bearing an ensign of the boar, an animal also considered unclean in Judaism. Masada acts as a counter to this damaged sense of cultural identity, especially because it is proof of the resourcefulness and genius of the Jewish people: Kept fertile by an ingenious system of water tanks and cisterns, its fortress is considered impenetrable. At the same time, a sense of tragedy hangs over the fortress. This tension between temporary peace and impending doom invokes The Interplay Between Faith, Destiny, and Free Will as the Jewish people struggle to survive against mounting odds.

While the novel details a nine-month-long battle, its focus is on the experiences of those who don’t go out in the field: women and children. Hoffman examines how war impacts domestic spaces, leading to a deeper exploration of The Solidarity and Resilience of Women. The dovecotes, a key symbol in the text, are a metaphor for the solidarity between women and animals, linking Yael to Revka, Shirah, and Aziza. Although Yael initially does not find kinship with the other women, she gradually grows closer to them, especially Shirah.

While the women help each other out, such as when they assist in the maid’s childbirth, they are also frequently pitted against each other. Yael notes that the women’s gossip about Shirah and Aziza is filled with slander, such as when she is told “Aziza’s wings were black […] like those of a raven, and like a raven […] she perched on Herod’s wall each time [the] warriors went out” (105). Shirah herself is known as the Witch of Moab. In this patriarchal society, power for women is in limited supply, inducing some women to view each other with competition and suspicion instead of offering one another support.

The women’s attitudes toward Wynn also show how power operates in this hierarchical world. While many of the women in the dovecotes have been marginalized by men, they do the same thing to the enslaved Wynn. Yael’s kinship with Wynn further establishes her as a figure on the margins of society. Since Yael was not raised to behave as a typical domestic woman, she lives as far as she can by her own rules and aligns with the persecuted. Yael’s sympathy for Wynn foreshadows her heroic role in the final section of the novel, while Wynn’s warning to her that Romans will soon come to Masada foreshadows the fortress’s ultimate fate.

An important textual element that emerges in these pages is doubles and mirror images. Yael and Shirah are often presented as each other’s reflection throughout the novel. This linkage even extends to their physical appearance: While Yael has red-brown birthmarks, Shirah is tattooed with red henna, a mark of a kedeshah. These signs single out the two women as unusual and fearsome, defying the norms of their society. Another parallel is between Revka and Yael: While Yael is a daughter who has lost her mother, Revka is a mother who has lost her daughter.

The text’s animal symbolism continues, with Shirah fondly calling Yael a “lioness.” Yael is identified with a lion, just as Aziza is identified with a raven. The close relationship between the women and the doves also presents a synergy between the female characters and the natural world. Doves are an important symbol from the Bible, representing peace and prosperity. In Masada, they are used for sending messages, for divination and magic, and for food. Even their droppings turn the soil fertile. While men term the work of collecting the droppings women’s “impure” work, the labor is actually sustaining and life-affirming. Thus, the doves represent peaceful, alternative values in a patriarchal and warlike world.