Rereading The Rabbis: A Woman's Voice (Radical Traditions) [Hardcover]

Judith Hauptman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Radical Traditions | Publication Date: November 21, 1997

Fully acknowledging that Judaism, as described in both the Bible and the Talmud, was patriarchal, Judith Hauptman demonstrates that the rabbis of the Talmud made significant changes in key areas of Jewish law in order to benefit women. Reading the texts with feminist sensibilities—recognizing that they were written by men and for men and that they endorse a set of social relations in which men control women—the author shows that patriarchy was not always and everywhere the same. Although the rabbis whose rulings are recorded in the Talmud did not achieve equality for women—or even seek it—they should be credited with giving women higher status and more rights. For example, during the course of several hundred years, they converted marriage from the purchase by a man of a woman from her father into a negotiated relationship between prospective husband and wife. They designated a bride’s dowry to be one-tenth of her father’s net worth, thereby ending her Torah-mandated disenfranchisement with respect to inheritance. They left the ability to grant a divorce in male hands but gave women the possibility of petitioning the courts to force a divorce. Although some of these developments may have originated in the surrounding Greco-Roman culture, the rabbis freely chose to incorporate them into Jewish law.Rereading the Rabbis: A Woman’s Voice also breaks new ground methodologically. Rather than plucking passages from a variety of different rabbinical works and then sewing them together to produce a single, unified rabbinical point of view, Hauptman reads sources in their own literary and legal context and then considers them in relationship to a rich array of associated synchronic and diachronic materials.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Hauptman (Talmud, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York) provides a clear, scholarly, and accessible study of the treatment of women in Talmudic legal interpretations, comparing these interpretations with the Torah itself. This fresh approach to the problems raised for contemporary Jews by biblical and Talmudic patriarchy and by what the author sees as the second-class status of women leads to important results. Hauptman discovers that while "the rabbis upheld patriarchy as the preordained mode of social organization, as dictated by the Torah...they began to introduce numerous, significant, and occasionally bold corrective measures to ameliorate the lot of women" and occasionally granted women new benefits, "even at men's expense." Essential for Jewish collections and important for all but small public libraries.?Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Judith Hauptman, a well-known Talmudic scholar, is professor of Talmud at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (in New York).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (November 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813334004
• ISBN-13: 978-0813334004
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Women and Judaism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first true feminist reading of the Talmud, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rereading The Rabbis: A Woman's Voice (Radical Traditions) (Hardcover)

There seems to be a great deal of antagonism between feminists and talmudists. It's refreshing to read a book by someone who is both. The talmud isn't the Misogynistic text some make it out to be, and feminism isn't sacreligious. the two can reside together, and both gain from the proximity. Talmudic study is enlightened by feminist methodolgy and crtique. Feminist studies can learn from the talmud how to deal with a real-politik that is far from perfect. The book is a must for anyone who cares about Judasim in the real-world.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! Informative, thoughtful, balanced., January 2, 1999

By 

Laura Duhan Kaplan (Vancouver BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rereading The Rabbis: A Woman's Voice (Radical Traditions) (Hardcover)

Talmudic scholar Judith Hauptman looks in detail at Talmudic passages concerning the roles and rights of Jewish women. She reads each passage in the context of its development through the years of Rabbinic activity, drawing on the Mishnah, Tosefta, and both Talmuds. Even the newcomer to Talmud will begin to gain an understanding of Talmudic legal reasoning from her careful analyses.

Hauptman's thesis is that the Rabbis of the Talmud sought to improve the legal status of Jewish women beyond what Biblical law originally accorded women. In support of her thesis, Hauptman shows the evolution of legal theory and practice pertaining to women through the Talmudic period.

The book is gracefully written and carefully argued. It is riveting reading for anyone interested in Jewish Women's Studies.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mostly Convincing Defense of the Rabbis, September 9, 2001

By 

"krchicago" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rereading The Rabbis: A Woman's Voice (Radical Traditions) (Paperback)

Rabbinic Judaism reflects and reinforces a patriarchal society, giving men greater legal rights and religious roles than those allowed to women. Hauptman acknowledges this, but sets out to prove that *within this context,* the Rabbis of the Talmud are suprisingly liberal towards women, extending to them greater rights and protections than one might expect (and certainly more than the Torah requires).

In large part, Hauptman succeeds in her project. The discussions of Sotah (the test for unfaithful wives), marriage, divorce, rape and inheritance are particular successful in demonstrating a gradual change in favor of women. In other chapters, where Hauptman is trying to explain or justify rabbinic attitudes in themselves (without the comparison to Torah), she is less successful. For example, Hauptman argues that the rabbinic laws restricting women's ability to provide testimony in court and limiting their participation in religious rituals are *not* based on a misogynist view of women as defective, stupid, or untrustworthy. Instead, she argues that these rules are based on women's lower social status. "You can't testify against a man, even though you're likely to be honest, because you're socially inferior" does not seem to me like much of an improvement over "you can't testify because women are stupid, flighty and likely to lie." I found these chapters interesting, but ultimately unpersuasive.

Hauptman writes clearly and does a good job of providing context for non-scholars. The early chapters are easier to follow and therefore provide a good introduction if you are not a Talmudic scholar. Although not an easy read, I would say this is book is accessible to anyone who is willing to take the time to follow Hauptman's arguments and think them through.