Athalya Brenner-Idan is Professor Emerita of the HB\OT Chair at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and currently Professor in Biblical Studies at the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Research Associate at the Biblia Arabica Project there. In addition, she is Extraordinary Professor at the Department of OT/NT, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her website is http://athalya-morah-letorah.com.

• Abbreviations/ List of Contributors/ Athalya Brenner/ Introduction/ Part I/ Ruth/ A. Aspects of the Ruth Scroll/ Irmtraud Fischer/ The Book of Ruth: A ‘Feminist' Commentary to the Torah?/ Bonnie Honig/ Ruth, the Model Emigrée: Mourning and the Symbolic Politics of Immigration/ Carole R. Fontaine/ Facing the Other: Ruth-the Cat in Medieval Jewish Illuminations/ Ursula Silber/ Ruth and Naomi: Two Biblical Figures Revived among Rural Women in Germany/ Carol Meyers/ ‘Women of the Neighborhood' (Ruth 4.17) Informal Female Networks in Ancient Israel/ B. Ruth Papers. Orpah Papers, Papers Delivered at the ‘Semiotics and Exegesis' Session American Society of Biblical Literature, November 1997/ Laura E. Donaldson/ The Sign of Orpah: Reading Ruth through Naive Eyes/ Musa W. Dube/ The Unpublished Letters of Orpah to Ruth/ Judith E. McKinlay/ A Son is Born to Naomi: A Harvest for Isarel/ Athalya Brenner/ Ruth as a Foreign Worker and the Politics of Exogamy/ Roland Boer/ Culture, Ethics and Identity in Reading Ruth: A Respone to Donaldson, Dube, McKinlay and Brenner/ Part II/ Ruth and Esther: Mothers and Daughters/ Leila Leah Bronner/ The Invisible Relationship Made Visible: Biblical Mothers and Daughters/ Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan/ Black Mother Women and Daughters: Signifying Female Divine Relationships in the Hebrew Bible and African-American Mother-Daughter Short Stories/ Part III/ Esther/ Mieke Bal/ Lots of Writing/ Klara Butting/ Esther: A New Interpretation of the Joseph Story in the Fight against Anti-Semitism and Sexism/ Bibliography/ Index of References/ Index of Authors

Athalya Brenner-Idan is Professor Emerita of the HB\OT Chair at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and currently Professor in Biblical Studies at the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Research Associate at the Biblia Arabica Project there. In addition, she is Extraordinary Professor at the Department of OT/NT, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her website is http://athalya-morah-letorah.com.

• Abbreviations/ List of Contributors/ Athalya Brenner/ Introduction/ Part I/ Ruth/ A. Aspects of the Ruth Scroll/ Irmtraud Fischer/ The Book of Ruth: A ‘Feminist' Commentary to the Torah?/ Bonnie Honig/ Ruth, the Model Emigrée: Mourning and the Symbolic Politics of Immigration/ Carole R. Fontaine/ Facing the Other: Ruth-the Cat in Medieval Jewish Illuminations/ Ursula Silber/ Ruth and Naomi: Two Biblical Figures Revived among Rural Women in Germany/ Carol Meyers/ ‘Women of the Neighborhood' (Ruth 4.17) Informal Female Networks in Ancient Israel/ B. Ruth Papers. Orpah Papers, Papers Delivered at the ‘Semiotics and Exegesis' Session American Society of Biblical Literature, November 1997/ Laura E. Donaldson/ The Sign of Orpah: Reading Ruth through Naive Eyes/ Musa W. Dube/ The Unpublished Letters of Orpah to Ruth/ Judith E. McKinlay/ A Son is Born to Naomi: A Harvest for Isarel/ Athalya Brenner/ Ruth as a Foreign Worker and the Politics of Exogamy/ Roland Boer/ Culture, Ethics and Identity in Reading Ruth: A Respone to Donaldson, Dube, McKinlay and Brenner/ Part II/ Ruth and Esther: Mothers and Daughters/ Leila Leah Bronner/ The Invisible Relationship Made Visible: Biblical Mothers and Daughters/ Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan/ Black Mother Women and Daughters: Signifying Female Divine Relationships in the Hebrew Bible and African-American Mother-Daughter Short Stories/ Part III/ Esther/ Mieke Bal/ Lots of Writing/ Klara Butting/ Esther: A New Interpretation of the Joseph Story in the Fight against Anti-Semitism and Sexism/ Bibliography/ Index of References/ Index of Authors

Athalya Brenner-Idan is Professor Emerita of the HB\OT Chair at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and currently Professor in Biblical Studies at the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Research Associate at the Biblia Arabica Project there. In addition, she is Extraordinary Professor at the Department of OT/NT, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her website is http://athalya-morah-letorah.com.

• Abbreviations/ List of Contributors/ Athalya Brenner/ Introduction/ Part I/ Ruth/ A. Aspects of the Ruth Scroll/ Irmtraud Fischer/ The Book of Ruth: A ‘Feminist' Commentary to the Torah?/ Bonnie Honig/ Ruth, the Model Emigrée: Mourning and the Symbolic Politics of Immigration/ Carole R. Fontaine/ Facing the Other: Ruth-the Cat in Medieval Jewish Illuminations/ Ursula Silber/ Ruth and Naomi: Two Biblical Figures Revived among Rural Women in Germany/ Carol Meyers/ ‘Women of the Neighborhood' (Ruth 4.17) Informal Female Networks in Ancient Israel/ B. Ruth Papers. Orpah Papers, Papers Delivered at the ‘Semiotics and Exegesis' Session American Society of Biblical Literature, November 1997/ Laura E. Donaldson/ The Sign of Orpah: Reading Ruth through Naive Eyes/ Musa W. Dube/ The Unpublished Letters of Orpah to Ruth/ Judith E. McKinlay/ A Son is Born to Naomi: A Harvest for Isarel/ Athalya Brenner/ Ruth as a Foreign Worker and the Politics of Exogamy/ Roland Boer/ Culture, Ethics and Identity in Reading Ruth: A Respone to Donaldson, Dube, McKinlay and Brenner/ Part II/ Ruth and Esther: Mothers and Daughters/ Leila Leah Bronner/ The Invisible Relationship Made Visible: Biblical Mothers and Daughters/ Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan/ Black Mother Women and Daughters: Signifying Female Divine Relationships in the Hebrew Bible and African-American Mother-Daughter Short Stories/ Part III/ Esther/ Mieke Bal/ Lots of Writing/ Klara Butting/ Esther: A New Interpretation of the Joseph Story in the Fight against Anti-Semitism and Sexism/ Bibliography/ Index of References/ Index of Authors