A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud

Edited by Tal Ilan

The Mishnah and the Babylonian Talmud, of which the latter is a commentary, are treated by Jews as their second canon and many of them still live by their rules. Even those who do not, realize their enormous influence on Jewish life and history over the ages. A feminist commentary to these writings is intended to uncover the pervasive and deeply ingrained Jewish conceptions of women and gender, and the way these have shaped women’s social and religious position within Judaism over the centuries.

The Babylonian Talmud is an enormous composition, consisting of over 40 tractates, some of them several hundred pages long. This series (FCBT – Feminist Commentary to the Babylonian Talmud) intends to produce a commentary volume on each of these tractates, as well as a commentary on the mishnaic tractates that do not have a Babylonian exegesis to them. In each volume a scholar of rabbinic Judaism will engage all the texts s/he perceives as relevant to the issue of women and gender, and will also produce an overall introduction to the tractate, outlining its gender conception. The exegetical approach to the text will be varied – theological, philosophical, philological, literary or historical, depending on the commentator’s preferences.
This project is an international endeavour. Individual tractates will be commented upon by distinguished scholars, coming from different countries and institutions. Each will be published in a separate volume.

ISSN: - Suggested way of quoting: FCBT