During the final proofread of the book—the publishing equivalent of the eleventh hour—we noticed that the Hebrew word "va-t'galach" could be translated in the active voice "and she shaved (or cut)" or the passive "and she had shaved (or cut)" which means that Delilah might not have done the cutting herself. Instead, the man she had just "called in" to the room where Samson lay sleeping ("va-tikra la'ish") might have been the barber.

Rabbi Cohen said: "The verse reads 'she put him to sleep on her lap, then called for a man, whereupon she cut seven locks off his head.' The verb va-t'galach is definitely feminine and can only refer to Delilah. So it does not necessarily mean that she called in a barber and he cut the man's hair. It says, mysteriously, she called in a man and then she cut Samson's hair. The commentators Rashi and Radak dispute what it's all about. Rashi says she called a representative of the Philistine overlords in, presumably to witness her cutting his hair. Radak says 'she cut his hair' means 'she had the man cut his hair' or 'she arranged for his hair to be cut' or something like that.

I think you can rely on the simple meaning of the text (she called a man in, then she cut his hair—Rashi's interpretation) here. Mind you, the former interpretation leaves unresolved who the man was and what he was called in to do. I think you can go either way here."

So we left the text and the art intact. We'd love to hear your opinion about whether Delilah did the cutting herself. And we think it's a wonderful way to involve your students in a machloket, a debate or dispute, of their own.