Making Space Between the Bible and the Rabbis

Abstract

Review Essays 155 dangers of and appropriately cautions against cross-cultural comparisons that imply that differences in the writings of men and women are rooted in biological differences. The volume is significant not because it provides any definitive reading of a text or a uniform portrait of feminist scholarship. Quite the contrary, when juxtaposed the essays in this volume exemplify the various approaches, agendas, and methods at work in this field. Rather than providing answers, the collection raises questions: Can we determine the gender of an author simply on the basis of content? Are modern crosscultural studies useful analogies to ancient readers and hearers of stories? How can we navigate between finding a history for modern women. and locating a history of ancient women? These questions may be complex, yet they remain pressing for scholars interested in women's history. The volume concludes with indexes of sources (pp. 243-253) and authors cited (pp. 255-258). Making Space Between the Bible and the Rabbis by Maxine Grossman Religious Studies Department University of Pennsylvania From Eve to Esther: Rabbinic Reconstructions of Biblical Women, by Leila Leah Bronner. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994. 214 pp. $18.99. Rabbinic attitudes toward. female biblical figures were neither fJXed nor monolithic, argues Leila Leah Bronner in From Eve to Esther. Rather, these attitudes were flexible, accommodating both the exegetical problems of specific texts and certain rabbinic "social preconceptions" about the women of their day. The rabbis were most comfortable viewing women in what Bronner calls "enabling" roles (wife and mother), and they placed great value on female modesty. Such views contribute to a reinterpretation of biblical women that is sometimes consistent with biblical accounts and sometimes widely divergent. 156 SHOFAR Fa111995 Vol. 14, NO.1 Bronner's study focuses on rabbinic images of biblical women, as they appear in the aggadic traditions of the Talmud and Midrash. Her first chapter, "Aggadic Attitudes Toward Women," provides a context for this project and outlines the shifts in women's status from the biblical to the Rabbinic period. It also includes a discussion of individual women mentioned by the rabbis and a description of women as leaders and role models in the biblical setting. Following this introduction, the book includes chapters on a number of exemplary biblical women or types of women who were the subject of rabbinic discussion. A chapter on Eve highlights the rabbinic concern for defining Woman, establishing women's responsibilities, and promoting matrimony, all as social controls that the rabbis saw as necessary responses to Eve's sin. Chapters on Ruth and Hannah, the mother of Samuel, funher expand on the rabbinic concern for modesty, in addition to other vinues, such as besed (loving-kindness) and religious piety. Especially interesting is a chapter on Serah bat Asher, a woman who is merely mentioned in the Bible, but who becomes a vibrant character in the context of rabbinic discussion. Also of interest are chapters on several types of Biblical women: the daughter, the harlot, the female prophet or wise woman. These chapters underline the flexibility of rabbinic interpretation, with its constant concern for both the issues of their day and the elements of the biblical text. Bronner presents her study as "pan of a larger trend toward looking at the women of the Bible and Talmud afresh," as an element in "the emerging tradition ofdepatriarchalizing interpretation" (p. xxi). She notes that female biblical figures have had a significant influence on images of women, and that the Bible and Midrash will continue to have an impact on future generations, and for these reasons, it is imponant to present new messages along with the traditional ones. In this sense, Bronner specifically directs her book toward a liberal, observant Jewish audience, but it should have broader appeal as well. From Eve to Esther fills an imponant gap in scholarship and should be useful in an introductory class. ReadingFrom Eve to Esther raises a number ofimponant methodological questions related to biblical re-readings and the relationship of RabbinicJudaism to biblical texts. In several ways, this book begins to carry out tasks that can be carried much funher, to provide a more critical and more nuanced understanding of...