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Gender and timebound commandments in Judaism / Elizabeth Shanks Alexander.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.Description: 1 online resourceContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781139565066
  • 1139565060
  • 9781107056145
  • 1107056144
  • 1299772501
  • 9781299772502
  • 9781107479173
  • 1107479177
  • 1139889745
  • 9781139889742
  • 1107055016
  • 9781107055018
  • 1107059674
  • 9781107059672
  • 1107058449
  • 9781107058446
  • 1107057205
  • 9781107057203
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Print version:: Gender and timebound commandments in Judaism.DDC classification:
  • 296.4082 23
LOC classification:
  • BM729.W6 A44 2013eb
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
  • REL040000
Online resources:
Contents:
Part I. Gender and the Tannaitic rule. 1. The rule and social reality: conceiving the category, formulating the rule ; 2. Between man and woman: lists of male-female difference -- Part II. Talmudic interpretation and the potential for gender. 3. How tefillin became a positive commandment not occasioned by time ; 4. Shifting orthodoxies ; 5. From description to prescription -- Part III. Gender in women's ritual exemptions. 6. Women's exemption from Shema and tefillin ; 7. Torah study as ritual ; 8. The fringes debate: a conclusion of sorts ; 9. Epilogue.
Summary: "The rule that exempts women from rituals that need to be performed at specific times (so-called timebound, positive commandments) has served for centuries to stabilize Jewish gender. It has provided a rationale for women's centrality at home and their absence from the synagogue. Departing from dominant popular and scholarly views, Elizabeth Shanks Alexander argues that the rule was not conceived to structure women's religious lives, but rather became a tool for social engineering only after it underwent shifts in meaning during its transmission. Alexander narrates the rule's complicated history, establishing the purposes for which it was initially formulated and the shifts in interpretation that led to its being perceived as a key marker of Jewish gender. At the end of her study, Alexander points to women's exemption from particular rituals (Shema, tefillin, and Torah study), which, she argues, are better places to look for insight into rabbinic gender"-- Provided by publisher
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - EBSCO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (ebsco)569177

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The rule that exempts women from rituals that need to be performed at specific times (so-called timebound, positive commandments) has served for centuries to stabilize Jewish gender. It has provided a rationale for women's centrality at home and their absence from the synagogue. Departing from dominant popular and scholarly views, Elizabeth Shanks Alexander argues that the rule was not conceived to structure women's religious lives, but rather became a tool for social engineering only after it underwent shifts in meaning during its transmission. Alexander narrates the rule's complicated history, establishing the purposes for which it was initially formulated and the shifts in interpretation that led to its being perceived as a key marker of Jewish gender. At the end of her study, Alexander points to women's exemption from particular rituals (Shema, tefillin, and Torah study), which, she argues, are better places to look for insight into rabbinic gender"-- Provided by publisher

Part I. Gender and the Tannaitic rule. 1. The rule and social reality: conceiving the category, formulating the rule ; 2. Between man and woman: lists of male-female difference -- Part II. Talmudic interpretation and the potential for gender. 3. How tefillin became a positive commandment not occasioned by time ; 4. Shifting orthodoxies ; 5. From description to prescription -- Part III. Gender in women's ritual exemptions. 6. Women's exemption from Shema and tefillin ; 7. Torah study as ritual ; 8. The fringes debate: a conclusion of sorts ; 9. Epilogue.

Print version record.

English.