Gender and Timebound Commandments in Judaism

Examines a key tradition in Judaism - the rule that exempts women from 'timebound, positive commandments' - which has served for centuries.

List of contents

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; 9. Epilogue.

About the author

Elizabeth Shanks Alexander is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies, teaching ancient Judaism, at the University of Virginia. She received her PhD from Yale University in 1998. She formerly taught at Smith and Haverford Colleges. Alexander received a Brandeis–Hadassah research grant for her work on this book, and is also the author of Transmitting Mishnah: The Shaping Influence of Oral Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Product details

• Authors: Elizabeth Shanks Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks (University of Virgini Alexander, Alexander Elizabeth Shanks
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.02.2015
• EAN: 9781107479173
• ISBN: 978-1-107-47917-3
• No. of pages: 300
• Subjects: Education and learning > Adult education/adult education classes; Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Judaism; RELIGION / Judaism / General, Judaism, Judaism: life and practice, Gender studies: women and girls