Sarah’s Laugh and the Wisdom of Menopause

The Rabbis see Sarah's laugh (at the divine prophecy of a pregnancy) as thumbing her nose at God and at her husband, now that her "period" (or "sexual enjoyment" -- edna could be translated as either) has ended "in the way of women" at a certain age.  I've always found the Rabbis overwrought in their interpretation of Sarah's laugh, but in this podcast I take it seriously.  I use the article (I just discovered) of Sandra Tsing Loh from The Atlantic in October 2011 called:  "The Bitch Is Back: Are menopausal women mad, bad, and dangerous? Yes—but they’re really just returning to normal."  It's a review of Dr. Christiane Northrup's landmark book The Wisdom of Menopause. 

In that landmark book, the "thumb your nose at the expectations of your husband and of others" experiences of perimenopause are not looked at in their typical negative light, but rather as a "coming into your own" as a woman, knowing what matters for yourself, unwilling any longer to comply with the expectations of others.  This is the way I see Sarah's laugh in this podcast:  of course the Rabbis don't like it --spouses and kids don't like it either-- when a woman stops serving everyone but herself, but in a way it's a very serious liberation.  And, interestingly, the Hagar story can be seen similarly.  I explore the wisdom of menopause, of coming into your own, of being done with the office/home politics of all getting along and keeping in one's lanes, in Sarah's laugh.