Feminist Rereadings of Rabbinic Literature (HBI Series on Jewish Women) - Softcover

Raveh, Inbar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611686083 ISBN 13: 9781611686081

Publisher: Brandeis University Press, 2014

Synopsis

This book offers a fresh perspective on classical Jewish literature by providing a gender-based, feminist reading of rabbinical anecdotes and legends. Viewing rabbinical legends as sources that generate perceptions about women and gender, Inbar Raveh provides answers to questions such as how the Sages viewed women; how they formed and molded their characterization of them; how they constructed the ancient discourse on femininity; and what the status of women was in their society. Raveh also re-creates the voices and stories of the women themselves within their sociohistorical context, moving them from the periphery to the center and exposing how men maintain power. Chapter topics include desire and control, pain, midwives, prostitutes, and myth. A major contribution to the fields of literary criticism and Jewish studies, Raveh’s book demonstrates the possibility of appreciating the aesthetic beauty and complexity of patriarchal texts, while at the same time recognizing their limitations.

About this title

About the Author

INBAR RAVEH is a scholar of rabbinic literature (aggada) and of modern Hebrew literature, as well as a poet in her own right. Her focus over the past several years has been a gender perspective on the legends of the Sages.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brandeis University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611686083
• ISBN 13: 9781611686081
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232