Marriage and Metaphor

Constructions of Gender in Rabbinic Literature

Häftad, Engelska, 2012

776 kr

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Beskrivning

In Marriage and Metaphor, Gail Labovitz explores gender relations in marriage within rabbinic culture. Labovitz shows how rabbis use the concepts of property and ownership to discuss the roles of a husband and wife, thereby modeling marriage after a business transaction-one in which the wife is seen as an acquisition owned by and subject to the husband. This ownership metaphor is clearly present in all strata of rabbinic literature and the book explores how it continues to guide rabbinic thinking, serve as a tool for legal reasoning, and produce new linguistic applications. With a close and careful reading of rabbinic texts, Labovitz applies metaphor theory and feminist linguistics to demonstrate the ways in which rabbis regularly use information from the realm of property and commercial transactions to structure their understanding of marriage and gender relations.Labovitz examines the qualities deemed "masculine" and "feminine," seeking out the methods used by members of rabbinic culture to promote, contest, legislate, and exemplify the ideas and ideals associated with proper, normative gender roles. What comes of this is a striking work of feminist scholarship that should be read by those interested in gender studies and Jewish culture and history.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2012-10-24
Mått:149 x 229 x 23 mm
Vikt:445 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:300
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:9780739179345

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Mer om författaren

Gail Labovitz is associate professor of rabbinics at the American Jewish University, where she teaches rabbinic literature and Jewish law, primarily for the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. She has also served as a senior research analyst for the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis University and as the coordinator of the Jewish Feminist Research Group for the Women's Studies Program at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Recensioner i media

This highly original and important study demonstrates how language associated with acquisition underlies rabbinic Judaism's legal understanding of marriage. While carefully and convincingly analyzing the rabbinic metaphor of women as 'ownable,' Gail Labovitz also argues for essential transformations if women are to attain an equal status in the Judaism of the future .

Innehållsförteckning

Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Chapter 1. A Woman is Acquired: Metaphor and MarriageChapter 3 Chapter 2. He Forbids Her to All: Polysemy and the Rabbinic Vocabulary of BetrothalChapter 4 Chapter 3. My Wife I Called "My House": Elaborating the Metaphor of Women as PropertyChapter 5 Chapter 4. The Purchase of His Money: At the Intersection(s) of Gender and ServitudeChapter 6 Chapter 5. Go to Your Ketubah: Bridewealth, Dowry, and the Rabbinic Marriage ContractChapter 7 Conclusion