A single word - "devolution" - sparked heated scholarly debate about the biblical matriarch Rebecca's true status in Jewish tradition. Through analysis of 2002 correspondence in Conservative Judaism between Rabbi Ari Markcartun and scholar Menorah Rotenberg, fundamental tensions emerge in how feminist biblical scholarship characterizes female religious authority. The exchange centers on Rotenberg's article "A Portrait of Rebecca: The Devolution of a Matriarch into a Patriarch," where Markcartun challenges her use of "devolution" as contradictory and needlessly negative, given Rebecca's demonstrated equality with Abraham as a covenant founder. Rotenberg's response defends her terminological choice by citing dictionary definitions of "devolution" as succession rather than decline. Beyond semantic disagreement, the correspondence reveals broader challenges in Jewish feminist scholarship: how patriarchal language shapes interpretation of women's roles, and how imprecise academic terminology can obscure rather than illuminate female biblical figures. The findings highlight the need for more nuanced language when discussing gender and religious authority in Jewish textual traditions.