Feminist Interpretations of the Talmud

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

H-Judaic TOC: NASHIM no. 28: FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TALMUD Discussion published by Deborah Greniman on Friday, July 3, 2015 FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TALMUD: A Collection of Feminist Talmud Commentaries Honoring Judith Hauptman on Her Seventieth Birthday Consulting Editors: Charlotte E. Fonrobert, Jane L. Kanarek and Marjorie Lehman Now available on the JSTOR site at ://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=nashim TABLE OF CONTENTS Charlotte E. Fonrobert, Jane L. Kanarek and Marjorie Lehman, Introduction Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert, Education as Filiation – BT ‘Eruvin 72b–73a Judith Hauptman, The Talmud’s Women in Law and Narrative Tal Ilan, “A Menstruant Who Was Forced and Immersed”: “Women to Think With” about Intention in the Performance of the Commandments – BT Ḥulin 31a–b Jane L. Kanarek, Pilgrimage and Piety: Rabbinic Women and Vows of Valuation – Mishnah‘Arakhin 5:1, Tosefta ‘Arakhin 3:1, BT ‘Arakhin 19a Gail Labovitz, A Man Spinning on His Thigh: Gender, Positive Time-Bound Commandments and Ritual Fringes – Mishnah Mo‘ed katan 3:4 Marjorie Lehman, Imagining the Priesthood in Tractate Yoma – Mishnah Yoma 2:1–2 and BT Yoma 23a Sarra Lev, Inside/Outside: The Rabbinic Negotiation of Binaries – BT Me‘ilah 15b–16a Elizabeth Shanks Alexander, When the Dead Want to Primp: Talmudic Gender as Theological Prompt – BT Berakhot 18b Christiane H. Tzuberi, A House Inside a House – Mishnah Ohalot 7:4 **** Melanie Landau, Tradition and Equality in Jewish Marriage: Beyond the Sanctification of Subordination, reviewed by Avishalom Westreich Michal Smart and Barbara Ashkenas (eds.), Kaddish: Women’s Voices,reviewed by Elana Maryles Sztokman Citation: Deborah Greniman. TOC: NASHIM no. 28: FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TALMUD. H-Judaic. 07-03-2015. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discussions/74049/toc-nashim-no-28-feminist-interpretations-talmud Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Judaic Natalie Naimark-Goldberg, Enlightened Jewish Women in Berlin, reviewed by Yemima Chovav Zipora Shehory-Rubin, Pioneering Jewish Women Doctors in Eretz Israel, 1900–1918,reviewed by Nira Bartal Nora Gold, Fields of Exile, reviewed by Goldie Morgentaler **** Resident Artist: Judith Margolis, Found Treasures, Myth and Midrash: Jo Milgrom’s “Cherubim” CFP: Nashim no. 31 New Historical and Socio-Legal Perspectives on Jewish Divorce Citation: Deborah Greniman. TOC: NASHIM no. 28: FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TALMUD. H-Judaic. 07-03-2015. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discussions/74049/toc-nashim-no-28-feminist-interpretations-talmud Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

What Sugyot Should an Educated Jew Know?
What Sugyot Should An Educated Jew Know? Jon A. Levisohn Updated: May, 2009 What are the Talmudic sugyot (topics or discussions) that every educated Jew ought to know, the most famous or significant Talmudic discussions? Beginning in the fall of 2008, about 25 responses to this question were collected: some formal Top Ten lists, many informal nominations, and some recommendations for further reading. Setting aside the recommendations for further reading, 82 sugyot were mentioned, with (only!) 16 of them duplicates, leaving 66 distinct nominated sugyot. This is hardly a Top Ten list; while twelve sugyot received multiple nominations, the methodology does not generate any confidence in a differentiation between these and the others. And the criteria clearly range widely, with the result that the nominees include both aggadic and halakhic sugyot, and sugyot chosen for their theological and ideological significance, their contemporary practical significance, or their centrality in discussions among commentators. Or in some cases, perhaps simply their idiosyncrasy. Presumably because of the way the question was framed, they are all sugyot in the Babylonian Talmud (although one response did point to texts in Sefer ha-Aggadah). Furthermore, the framing of the question tended to generate sugyot in the sense of specific texts, rather than sugyot in the sense of centrally important rabbinic concepts; in cases of the latter, the cited text is sometimes the locus classicus but sometimes just one of many. Consider, for example, mitzvot aseh she-ha-zeman gerama (time-bound positive mitzvoth, no. 38). The resulting list is quite obviously the product of a committee, via a process of addition without subtraction or prioritization.
[Show full text]
The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5bx332x5 Author Septimus, Zvi Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair Professor David Henkin Professor Naomi Seidman Spring 2011 The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions Copyright 2011 All rights reserved by Zvi Septimus Abstract The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus Doctor of Philosophy in Jewish Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair This dissertation proposes a poetics and semiotics of the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud)—how the Bavli, through a complex network of linguistic signs, acts on its implied reader's attempt to find meaning in the text. In doing so, I advance a new understanding of how the Bavli was composed, namely as a book written by its own readers in the act of transmission. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Bavli scholarship focused on the role of the Stam (the collective term for those people responsible for the anonymous voice of the Bavli) in the construction of individual Bavli passages (sugyot).
[Show full text]
Guide to Hebrew Transliteration and Rabbinic Texts
Guide to using Rabbinic texts: Transliteration issues: Hebrew has a different phonetic structure from English, and there is no universally accepted transliteration system. Therefore, the same title or word might show up in English works with diverse spellings. Here are a few things you can look for. Consonants ß The Hebrew letter b is usually an English B, but under some circumstances it is pronounced as a V. In those cases, it can be transliterated as either b, b, or v. (In German, it might even show up as a w.) ß Hebrew w can show up as either a v or a w. ß Hebrew x is an aspirated h sound, and is correctly transliterated as a h 9 (with a dot underneath). Ashkenazic Jews pronounce it as a gutteral, like the soft k (see below), and so it is often transliterated as a kh or ch. ß The Hebrew y, which is a Y consonant, might be transliterated as i or j (especially in German works). ß Similarly, the letter k is usually a simple K, but under some circumstances it is a guttural (Scottish/German) ch or kh sound, and is transliterated accordingly. ß Hebrew p can be either a P or F sound, depending on certain grammatical rules. In the latter case, it can be written as a p, p, f or ph. ß The Hebrew c is an emphatic S sound with no real equivalent in English. The correct transliteration is s,9 but Ashkenazic Jews generally pronounce it as a TZ sound, so that it will be transliterated as z, tz, ts, c or.ç.
[Show full text]
The Influence of Jewish Religious Law on the Everyday Life of the Nineteenth Century Jewish Community in Częstochowa - Selected Issues - 1
Jerzy Mizgalski The Influence of Jewish Religious Law on the Everyday Life of the Nineteenth Century Jewish Community in Częstochowa - Selected Issues - 1. Sources of Jewish Religious Law The books of the Old Testament constitute the basic pillar of Jewish religious tradition. As well as their historical and literary content, they contain a legal code of provisions and commandments – moral, health-related and others - which, over the centuries, have regulated the community’s everyday life. As Alan Unterman states, Jewish tradition not only teaches certain fundamental truths about God, the revelation and man, but also expresses them through ceremonies, rituals and laws which determine behaviour in various life situations1. From childhood through to old age, there is a religious duty to learn and to study the holy books whose contents support certain behaviour and contain the development of lines of thought. The Torah, with its written laws and provisions describing the fundamentals of the faith, demands the need for commenting upon and adapting the Torah to new socio-economic and political conditions, as well as to the practicalities of life2. The second pillar which supports the preservation of traditions is the Talmud. The word “Talmud” is derived from the Hebrew “lamad” which means to learn, to teach or to explain the meaning. Admittedly, the Talmud affects only the Orthodox Jews. As Eugen Werber states, it contains the cultural pearls of the Jewish people, values which, despite divisions and religious restrictions, are common to a much broader section of people and, in any case, deserve to be recognised by the world3.
[Show full text]
Birkat Hamazon Berakhot 20B
RECONSTRUCTING THE TALMUD Chapter Five Women at the Rabbinic Table: Birkat Hamazon Berakhot 20b Introduction Te rabbis of the Mishnah derived the commandment to recite birkat hamazon, the blessing over food, from a verse in Deuteronomy: “And you shall eat, and you shall be satisfed and you shall bless.” (8:10). Tis commandment seems to apply to both men and women, as indeed Mishnah Berakhot 3:3 states explicitly. Yet as we shall see in this chapter, the question of women’s obligation in birkat hamazon was no simple matter. In exploring this question, we employ most of the critical methodologies that we emphasize throughout this book, including comparison of the Mishnah with the Tosefta, examination of manuscript traditions of the Tosefta, comparison of the Yerushalmi with the Bavli, comparison of baraitot in the Bavli with their toseftan parallels, and separation of chronological levels within the Bavli. We again see the impact that stammaitic conceptualization had on halakhah. Te stammaim create rules by which to unite disparate felds of halakhah, and by doing so, they deeply impact subsequent developments in halakhah. However, beyond the usual textual techniques, this chapter also includes some cultural analysis. Te question of women’s participation in banquets and banquet rituals was a source of great contention in the Greco-Roman world, and rabbinic literature from the tannaitic period must be considered in the context of this broader discourse. Finally, the subject of women’s participation in Jewish ritual serves as a springboard for our discussion of feminist/gender analysis of rabbinic literature, an issue we address in an appendix to this chapter.
[Show full text]
Egalitarian Kiddushin and Ketubbah
Rabbi Pamela Barmash E.H. 27:6.2020 Egalitarian Kiddushin and Ketubbah Approved on February 19, 2020 by a vote of 14-4-2. Voting in favor: Rabbis Aaron Alexander, Pamela Barmash, Elliot Dorff, Susan Grossman, Judith Hauptman, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Steven Kane, Jan Kaufman, Amy Levin, Daniel Nevins, Micah Peltz, Robert Scheinberg, Deborah Silver, and Iscah Waldman. Voting against: Rabbis Baruch Frydman-Kohl, Joshua Heller, David Hoffman, and Avram Reisner. Abstaining: Rabbis Gail Labovitz and Ariel Stofenmacher. (She’eilah -- Question) שאלה May kiddushin, the traditional form of Jewish marriage, and the Jewish marriage ceremony, be made into an egalitarian form for a male-female Jewish couple? Is there an egalitarian form for the ketubbah? (Teshuvah -- Answer) תשובה 1. Introduction: The Spiritual Resonance of Jewish Marriage The form of Jewish marriage, effectuated by means of kiddushin and manifested in a ketubbah, has traditionally not been egalitarian. The groom takes on the active role, and the bride assumes a mostly passive role. Those seeking egalitarian marriage have followed two paths. One path is to determine that kiddushin cannot be molded in an egalitarian manner because of how it has operated historically, and a number of proposals for Jewish marriage by other means have been presented to the Jewish community.1 The other way is to maintain our tradition by —————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly provides guidance in matters of halakhah for the Conservative movement.
[Show full text]
Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books in the Library of Congress
Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books at the Library of Congress A Finding Aid פה Washington D.C. June 18, 2012 ` Title-page from Maimonides’ Moreh Nevukhim (Sabbioneta: Cornelius Adelkind, 1553). From the collections of the Hebraic Section, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. i Table of Contents: Introduction to the Finding Aid: An Overview of the Collection . iii The Collection as a Testament to History . .v The Finding Aid to the Collection . .viii Table: Titles printed by Daniel Bomberg in the Library of Congress: A Concordance with Avraham M. Habermann’s List . ix The Finding Aid General Titles . .1 Sixteenth-Century Bibles . 42 Sixteenth-Century Talmudim . 47 ii Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books in the Library of Congress: Introduction to the Finding Aid An Overview of the Collection The art of Hebrew printing began in the fifteenth century, but it was the sixteenth century that saw its true flowering. As pioneers, the first Hebrew printers laid the groundwork for all the achievements to come, setting standards of typography and textual authenticity that still inspire admiration and awe.1 But it was in the sixteenth century that the Hebrew book truly came of age, spreading to new centers of culture, developing features that are the hallmark of printed books to this day, and witnessing the growth of a viable book trade. And it was in the sixteenth century that many classics of the Jewish tradition were either printed for the first time or received the form by which they are known today.2 The Library of Congress holds 675 volumes printed either partly or entirely in Hebrew during the sixteenth century.
[Show full text]
Abbreviations
Abbreviations Names of biblical books, Apocrypha and Pseudepigraha, Josephus and Qum ran are abbreviated according to the JBL system, with exception of the prefixed numeral (1Cor) and omitting italics and full stops. Philo's works are indicated with the abbreviations of the Loeb edition. For Rabbinic works see list below. In the transcription of Hebrew words and names, a simple Anglo-based phonetic system rendering Israeli pronunciation is followed. New Testament mss are mostly indicated with the sigla used and explained in Nestle-Aland (26th ed), except for non-Latin characters: Sinai ( = alef), Athos (=psi), Byzantine majority or Koine (=Gothic M). Works referred to by mere author name are commentaries on the Pauline passage under discussion. 1. Text Editions of Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud Mishna K ms Kaufmann (ed Beer 1929) repr 1968 c ms Cambridge (ed Lowe 1883) repr 1967 p ms Parma (De Rossi 138) 1970 ParmaC ms Parma C (De Rossi 984) 1971 Tosefta Zeraim-Nashim: ed Lieberman 1955-73 Nezikin-Toharot: ed Zuckermandel1880 Yerushalmi Geniza fragments: ed Ginzberg 1909 ms Rome ib ed princ Venice 1523-4, facs repr Berlin n.d. Bavli M ms Munich ( ed Strack 1912) repr 1971 NY ms New York, ed Abramsoti 1957 ed princ Venice 1520-3, repr 1968 283 2. Mishnaic Tractates and Midrash Collections Ah Ahilut Ar Arakhin ARN alb Avot de-R. Natan (ed Schechter) vers. A/B AZ AvodaZara Av Avot b Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) BB Bava Batra Bekh Bekhorot Ber Berakhot Bik Bikkurim BK Bava Kamma BM Bava Metsia CantR Canticles Rabba Dem Demai Ed Eduyot Er Eruvin GenR Genesis Rabba (ed Theodor-Albeck) Git Gittin Hag Hagiga Hal Halla Hor Horayot Hul Hullin Kel Kelim Ker Keritot Ket Ketubbot Kid Kiddushin LevR Leviticus Rabba (ed M.
[Show full text]
A Heart of Many Chambers”: the Theological Hermeneutics of Legal Multivocality
Harvard Theological Review http://journals.cambridge.org/HTR Additional services for Harvard Theological Review: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here “A Heart of Many Chambers”: The Theological Hermeneutics of Legal Multivocality Steven D. Fraade Harvard Theological Review / Volume 108 / Issue 01 / January 2015, pp 113 - 128 DOI: 10.1017/S0017816015000061, Published online: 06 February 2015 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0017816015000061 How to cite this article: Steven D. Fraade (2015). “A Heart of Many Chambers”: The Theological Hermeneutics of Legal Multivocality. Harvard Theological Review, 108, pp 113-128 doi:10.1017/S0017816015000061 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/HTR, IP address: 132.66.25.46 on 25 Feb 2015 “A Heart of Many Chambers”: The Theological Hermeneutics of Legal Multivocality* Steven D. Fraade Yale University Introduction Given the multiplicity of legal interpretations and opinions, the question of the place of legal debate within early rabbinic literature of late antiquity—both as textual practice and as hermeneutical and legal theory—has occupied a particularly busy space within recent scholarship.1 This question centers on several issues of broad significance for the history of rabbinic Judaism and its literature: Does this phenomenon (if we can speak of it in the singular) represent a defining characteristic of rabbinic culture overall, or rather an aspect better attributed
[Show full text]
Tosefta Berachot
Tosefta Berachot Translated into English with a commentary by Eliyahu Gurevich www.toseftaonline.org Vowelization of the Hebrew Text by Rabbi Levi Sudri www.levisudri.com Published by: Eliyahu Gurevich 848 N Rainbow Blvd. #1744 Las Vegas, NV 89107 USA Website: www.toseftaonline.org Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2010 by Eliyahu Gurevich 1st Edition All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America Paperback ISBN: 978-0-557-38968-1 Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-557-38985-8 Dedicated to my grandfather, Peter Tsypkin, who taught me how to build a bridge across the river and not along it. Посвящено моему деду, Петру Цыпкину, кто научил меня как строить мост поперёк реки, а не вдоль. Table of Contents Introduction to the Tosefta ................................................................................ 6 Who wrote the Tosefta? ................................................................................. 8 The order of the tractates of the Tosefta ....................................................... 9 Printed editions of the Tosefta ..................................................................... 22 Commentaries on the Tosefta ...................................................................... 24 Translations of the Tosefta ........................................................................... 29 Books about the Tosefta ..............................................................................
[Show full text]
The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions
The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair Professor David Henkin Professor Naomi Seidman Spring 2011 The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions Copyright 2011 All rights reserved by Zvi Septimus Abstract The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus Doctor of Philosophy in Jewish Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair This dissertation proposes a poetics and semiotics of the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud)—how the Bavli, through a complex network of linguistic signs, acts on its implied reader's attempt to find meaning in the text. In doing so, I advance a new understanding of how the Bavli was composed, namely as a book written by its own readers in the act of transmission. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Bavli scholarship focused on the role of the Stam (the collective term for those people responsible for the anonymous voice of the Bavli) in the construction of individual Bavli passages (sugyot). Stam theory details how sugyot were crafted out of pre-existing sources and how the Stam works to control those sources in the service of a particular worldview. This dissertation locates a different force at work in the construction of the Bavli as a single unified book, an authorship that is above and against the work of the Stam—a Superstam.
[Show full text]
Halachic and Hashkafic Issues in Contemporary Society 98 - Mechitza - Part 1 Ou Israel Center - Summer 2018
5778 - dbhbn ovrct [email protected] 1 sxc HALACHIC AND HASHKAFIC ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY 98 - MECHITZA - PART 1 OU ISRAEL CENTER - SUMMER 2018 A] FAMILY SEATING - A HISTORY 1. In 1845, the Reform Congregation of Berlin abolished the separate women's gallery in the synagogue and the traditional mechitsa (partition) between men and women. Although mandating "the seating of men and women on the same floor," the congregation continued to preserve the principle of sexual separation during worship: Men occupied the left side of the auditorium, women the right. As late as the early twentieth century, the Hamburg temple, the cradle of German Reform, refused a donation of one million marks from the American banker Henry Budge, who had returned to settle in Hamburg following his father's death, because the sum was conditional on "men and women sitting together" in the new edifice. To Dr. Jacob Sanderling, then rabbi of the temple, that idea was shocking. "In the Hamburg Temple," he reports, "men and women remained separated up to the last moment.” Mixed synagogue seating, or to use the more common nineteenth century term, "family seating" first developed in Reform Jewish circles in the United States. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise 1, the leading nineteenth century exponent of American Reform, took personal credit for this particular innovation, claiming to have introduced Jewry's first family pews "in 1850 [sic] ... in the temple of Albany." ..... Wise had first come to Albany in 1846 to serve as the rabbi of Congregation Beth El. He was a new immigrant, twenty-seven years old, and thoroughly inexperienced, but he dreamed great dreams and displayed boundless energy.
[Show full text]