Ep #29: Reclaiming Female Presence

About this episode

This episode explores the implications of reading the Talmud with a focus on female presence, featuring insights from Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek and Dr. Judith Kates.

What happens when we begin reading the Talmud with an assumption of female presence rather than female absence? In this episode of Speaking Torah , Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek, Professor of Rabbinics and Dean of Faculty at Hebrew College, joins her longtime havruta partner Dr. Judith Kates to explore Jane's book Beyond Brutality: Reclaiming Female Presence in the Bavli Sotah . Focusing on Tractate Sotah, a text shaped by a brutal ritual that publicly humiliates women, Jane demonstrates how reading the tractate as a unified literary whole reveals something surprising: the Bavli itself pushes back against that brutality. Get full show notes and more information here: http://hebrewcollege.edu/podcast-29

People in this episode

Host: Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek

Guest: Dr. Judith Kates

Topics covered

• female presence
• Talmud
• Tractate Sotah
• literary analysis
• Judaism
• gender studies

Keywords

• Talmud
• female presence
• Tractate Sotah
• Rabbi Dr. Jane Kanarek
• Dr. Judith Kates
• literary analysis
• Judaism
• gender studies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hebrew College

Books & works: Beyond Brutality: Reclaiming Female Presence in the Bavli Sotah, Tractate Sotah

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