03364nam a2200481Ka 4500 ocn855022984 OCoLC 20200709055812.0 m d cr cnu---unuuu 130805s2013 enk ob s001 0 eng d N$T N$T 9781107056145 (electronic bk.) 1107056144 (electronic bk.) 9781107035560 1107035562 (OCoLC)855022984 569177 (N$T) BM729.W6 A44 2013eb REL 040010 bisacsh 296.4082 23 REL040000 bisacsh N$TA Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks, 1967- Gender and timebound commandments in Judaism [electronic resource] / Elizabeth Shanks Alexander. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2013] 1 online resource (xviii, 281 p.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-262) and indexes. "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 -- Epilogue. Description based on print version record. Women in Judaism. Sex role Religious aspects Judaism Feminism Religious aspects Judaism. Jewish women Religious life. RELIGION / Judaism / Rituals & Practice bisacsh Electronic books. Print version: Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks, 1967- Gender and timebound commandments in Judaism. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2013] 9781107035560 (DLC) 2012035661 (OCoLC)811777319 EBSCOhost http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=569177 EBSCOhost EBSC 569177 cpp1723AUTO 02 N$T 53010 53010