Studies in Rabbinic Narratives, Volume 1

Description

Explore new theoretical tools and lines of analysis of rabbinic stories Rabbinic literature includes hundreds of stories and brief narrative traditions. These narrative traditions often take the form of biographical anecdotes that recount a deed or event in the life of a rabbi. Modern scholars consider these narratives as didactic fictions―stories used to teach lessons, promote rabbinic values, and grapple with the tensions and conflicts of rabbinic life. Using methods drawn from literary and cultural theory, including feminist, structuralist, Marxist, and psychoanalytic methods, contributors analyze narratives from the Babylonian Talmud, midrash, Mishnah, and other rabbinic compilations to shed light on their meanings, functions, and narrative art. Contributors include Julia Watts Belser, Beth Berkowitz, Dov Kahane, Jane L. Kanarek, Tzvi Novick, James Adam Redfield, Jay Rovner, Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Zvi Septimus, Dov Weiss, and Barry Scott Wimpfheimer. Cover Contents Abbreviations Introduction “Hornets Came and Consumed Her” Bio-Power, Sabbath Burdens, and the Badly Behaved Donkey Problematizing Charity The Righteous Women of Bavli Sotah Mishnah as Story The Iridescence of Scripture The All-Night Seder in Bene Beraq The Story-Cycles of the Bavli The Deposition of Rabban Gamaliel Jews, Gentiles, and Gehinnom Conflict over the Essential Nature of Law Notes on Contributors Source Index