Iscah

Iscah (Hebrew: יִסְכָּה‎ Yiskāh) is the daughter of Haran and niece of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible. The passage in which Iscah is mentioned is extremely brief and obscure. As a result rabbinical scholars developed theories to explain it, typically adopting the claim that Iscah was an alternate name for Sarah (Sarai), the wife of Abraham, particularly that it denoted her role as a prophetess.

The original Hebrew name Yiskāh (יִסְכָּה), means "foresight", or being able to see the potential in the future. The Hebrew root sakhah (ס.כ.ה) means "to see," so the name Yiskah, with the added yod, implies "to see before".

Iscah is also believed to be the source of the name "Jessica", via a character in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice.

Biblical text

The only reference to Iscah is in a brief passage in the Book of Genesis:

Rabbinical interpretation

Since Haran is described as the father of both Iscah and Milcah, Rabbinical scholars concluded that Iscah was another name or title for Sarai. This was formulated in the Targum Pseudo-Yonathan. Howard Schwartz explains: