Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks 1967- creator text bibliography Electronic books. enk Cambridge New York Cambridge University Press [2013] 2013 monographic eng

electronic resource

1 online resource (xviii, 281 p.) "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"-- 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. Elizabeth Shanks Alexander. Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-262) and indexes. Women in Judaism Sex role Religious aspects Judaism Feminism Religious aspects Judaism Jewish women Religious life RELIGION / Judaism / Rituals & Practice BM729.W6 A44 2013eb 296.4082 REL040000 Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks, 1967- Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2013] (DLC) 2012035661 (OCoLC)811777319 9781107056145 (electronic bk.) 1107056144 (electronic bk.) http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=569177 http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=569177 N$T 130805 20200709055812.0 ocn855022984