Published Books
A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud: Introduction and Studies
Ed. by Tal Ilan, Tamara Or, Dorothea M. Salzer, Christiane Steuer and Irina Wandrey
Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2007, 324pp.
ISBN 978-3-16-149522-9
The Order of Moed in the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud outlines the way Jews celebrate their festivals. It is well known among feminists that Jewish life is not the same for men and women, and that women experience Jewish festivals differently. The purpose of the feminist commentary on Seder Moed is to outline these differences, as they are reflected in the mishnaic and talmudic texts, which have become canonical for Jews and serve as a blueprint for the way they live their lives. In this introductory volume the questions of women’s participation in Jewish festivals are handled on a more general and theoretic level than in the upcoming volumes which will be devoted to individual tractates. Various world-renown scholars discuss the role of women in the tractates of Seder Moed from a variety of aspects - legal, literary, theological and historical.
Tal Ilan, Massekhet Ta'anit: Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2008, 340 pp., FBCT II/9.
ISBN 978-3-16-149524-3
Tal Ilan discusses tractate Ta'anit of the Babylonian Talmud, which deals with ritual fasting, usually in the case of rain failure. In this commentary, the author presents and discusses texts from the tractate which are relevant to women and gender. These include legal proclamations on the participation of women in public fasts, stories on pious men, whose proper conduct toward women make them ideal intermediaries for bringing rain and discussions of gendered rabbinic terms such as Bat Qol, usually translated as 'heavenly voice' but which literally translated means 'a daughter's voice'. The overall impression of this tractate is that it emphasizes the way the relationship between rainfall and the dry ground was imagined by the rabbis in a gendered metaphor of sexual relations in which rain is male and the land is female. This theme repeats itself in the tractate throughout.
Shulamit Valler, Massekhet Sukkah. Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2009, 224 pp., FBCT II/6
ISBN 978-3-16-150121-0
Tractate Sukkah from the Babylonian Talmud presents a broad spectrum of rabbinical sources from Erez Israel and Babylon that explicitly examine issues relating to women. Some of these sources were created by sages who lived in Erez Israel in the time of the second temple and after its destruction and were called "Tannaim", and the others were created by sages who lived in Erez Israel and in Babylon from the third until the seventh century and were called "Amoraim". All the sources can be divided into two categories: topics directly connected to women and Sukkot, and matters indirectly associated with women that were incorporated into the sugiot (Talmudic fragments).
Shulamit Valler's commentary to Tractate Sukkah includes an intensive study of all the sources which are connected to women and gender in this Tractate, thus leading to interesting findings regarding reality, conceptions and lifestyle
Tamara Or, Massekhet Betsa: Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2010, 191 pp., FBCT II/7
ISBN 978-3-16-150689-5
This book is a feminist commentary on Tractate Betsah, which deals with the laws specific to festivals. Tamara Or reveals surprising insights into the role of women in the development of halakhah. Thus, the commentary shows women's oppression as well as their actual power and influence even on halakhic decisions. The power women possess in this tractate can be explained as emanating from the fact that most of it is based on labors usually performed by women. In nearly all the cases where the rabbis discuss the sphere of action of women, the latter's behavior was considered halakhically correct or at least not in need of change. The power and influence gained by women through their various activities and endeavors were passed over in silence and thus hidden from the view of their descendants. The following commentary will strive to put these women back into Jewish history and into the history of the development of halakhah.
Introduction to Seder Qodashim: A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud
Ed. by Tal Ilan, Monika Brockhaus and Tanja Hidde
Mohr Siebeck, 2012, 385 pp.
ISBN 978-3-16-151930-7
The Order of Qodashim in the Mishnah and the Babylonian Talmud discusses the Temple and its rituals, especially the sacrifices. It is well known that the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, while it stood, was almost exclusively a male institution. The purpose of the feminist commentary on Seder Qodashim is to discover niches in this elaborate system where women were present and active. Differences between male and female participation in the Temple cult - as they are presented in the mishnaic and talmudic texts - are the topic of the essays in this volume. The contributions by highly esteemed scholars of rabbinic literature represent a surprising selection of topics that touch on Temple and gender. This volume sums up two conferences, held in Berlin and Jerusalem, devoted to the Order of Qodashim, initiating the Feminist Commentary Series on this Order. Contributors: Moshe Benovitz, Monika Brockhaus, Aryeh Cohen, Federico Dal Bo, Klaus Herrmann, Tal Ilan, Jane Kanarek, Reuven Kiperwasser, Gail Labovitz, Moshe Lavee, Marjorie Lehman, Andreas Lehnardt, Sarra Lev, David Levine, Dalia Marx, Tirzah Meacham, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Ze’ev Safrai, Günter Stemberger, Christiane Tzuberi, Dvora Weisberg.
Federico Dal Bo, Massekhet Keritot: Text, Translation,and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2013, 487 pp., FCBT V/7
ISBN 978-3-16-152661-9
The tractate Keritot of the Babylonian Talmud belongs to the Order of Qodashim in the Mishnah. It discusses the Temple and its rituals, especially sacrifices, but deals mostly with laws of incest, sexual transgressions, childbirth, and miscarriages. In this commentary, Federico Dal Bo provides a historical, philological and philosophical investigation on these gender issues. He discusses almost the entire tractate, referring to many other sources, Jewish (the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sifra, and other rabbinic texts) as well as non-Jewish (Akkadian, Hittite, and Ugaritic). The author also provides accurate philological observations both on the Mishnah and the Gemara. Finally, he addresses gender issues by combining a reductionistic approach to Talmudic study (the so called "Brisker method") with philosophical deconstruction. Dal Bo shows that in nearly the entire tractate Keritot the rabbis discuss human sexuality in a tendentious and restrictive way, claiming that heterosexuality is the only proper sexual contact and progressively stigmatizing any other kind of sexual behavior.
Dalia Marx, Massekhet Tamid, Middot, and Qinnim: Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2013, 258 pp., FCBT V/9
ISBN 978-3-16-152496-7
Dalia Marx provides a general introduction and feminist commentary on the last three tractates of the order of Qodashim . Each tractate deals with different aspects of the Second Temple as perceived by the rabbis and each sheds its own light on gender issues. The commentary on Tamid , a tractate dealing with the priestly service in the Temple, discusses the priests as a "gender unto themselves” and considers women as potential participants in the lay-service of the Temple and perhaps even as part of the sacred service. Middot concerns itself with the design of the Temple, and the commentary explores sacred space from a gendered perspective. Finally, Marx turns to Qinnim , a tractate dealing with bird offerings, typically brought by women. The commentary shows how the tractate employs images of women to develop its discourse. This volume opens a unique window onto the rabbis' perspectives on the Temple and gender related matters.
Dvora Weisberg, Massekhet Menachot. Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2020, 316 pp., FCBT V/2
ISBN 978-3-16-158332-2
Tractate Menahkot in the Babylonian Talmud considers the proper composition, formation, and presentation of offerings of grain and flour brought to the Jerusalem Temple. Redacted centuries after the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the sacrificial cult, the tractate focuses on the work of the priests and the centrality of intent in validating or invalidating offerings. There is minimal consideration of the role or experience of the men and women who brought offerings. The tractate also contains a detailed discussion of major ritual objects: Torah scrolls, mezuzah, tsitsit, and tefillin. Dvora Weisberg's commentary focuses attention on the tractate's treatment of women and gender issues, considering the ways that the Talmud presents women's engagement with the sacrificial system and with key religious symbols.
Gail Labovitz, Massekhet Mo'ed Qatan. Text, Translation, and Commentary.
Mohr Siebeck, 2021, 532 pp., FCBT II/10
ISBN 978-3-16-158282-0
Tractate Mo'ed Qatan, in addition to discussing the mid-festivals of Passover and Sukkot, is the primary source on rabbinic mourning laws and rituals. In her commentary Gail Labovitz thus considers such questions as: when considering whether particular forms of labour should or should not take place during the mid-festival or when one is in mourning, which gender's labour is considered significant, which is overlooked or taken for granted? How are practices that are meant to engender certain emotional states – joy in the festival, grief over a death – impacted by gender? How does gender guide who is mourned, and in what ways? She also explores women's unusually conspicuous and public role in funerals and mourning procedures as lamenters. Although Mo'ed Qatan is a short tractate, women, female characters both biblical and rabbinic, and issues of gender feature prominently throughout.
Anat Israeli, Massekhet Qiddushin Chapter 4. Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2021, 304 pp., FCBT III/7/d
ISBN 978-3-16-159896-8
Anat Israeli presents the first feminist commentary in the series on a chapter from the »Order of Women.« She discusses the last chapter of Tractate Qiddushin, devoted to »betrothals.« Chapter 4 deals in general with two major topics: the first is Jewish genealogies (what parts the mother and father play in deciding who is a Jew and who can marry whom). The second topic is about forbidden seclusions between members of the opposite sex (since they can bring about promiscuity, adultery and other unwanted sexual contacts). In this study, Anat Israeli and her collaborators first analyze the Mishnah and show what its authors had considered important about these two topics, and then they show how the emphases had shifted on the way between the land of the Mishnah (Israel) and the land of the Talmud (Babylonia).
Tal Ilan, Tractates Pe'ah, Demai and Kil'ayim. Text, Translation, and Commentary
Mohr Siebeck, 2022, 239 pp., FCBT I/2
ISBN 978-3-16-161533-7
In this volume, Tal Ilan presents a feminist commentary on the first three mishnaic tractates of Seder Zera'im (Seeds) that have no Babylonian commentary. The first one, Pe'ah, is about charity. The commentary shows that, even though women in antiquity were poorer than men, and the Bible was aware of this, this tractate actually ignores them completely. Demai, the second tractate, is about doubtful tithing. Because it devotes much space to a sectarian organization known as the havurah , it is interesting to discover that this sect included women among its members. The third tractate, kil'ayim, is about forbidden mixtures – mixed breeding among animals, mixed weaving of two sorts of thread; the sowing of mixed crops in a field, or working the land with two different animals hitched together. The tractate is full of gendered metaphors that are discussed in detail.
