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Volume 75 › Table of Contents › Article Abstract
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Desirable But Dangerous:
Rabbis' Daughters in the Babylonian Talmud
Dvora Weisberg, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion |
This article considers what space or place rabbis' daughters occupy in the Babylonian
Talmud. It explores the ways that rabbis' daughters are portrayed in the Bavli, both in
their relationships with their fathers and in their relationships with others. It considers
the ways in which stories about rabbis' daughters, or texts that include a mention
of a rabbi's daughter, correlate with other talmudic material about daughters. I argue
that stories about rabbis' daughters emphasize the connection between father and
daughter. Daughters do not ordinarily study Torah; furthermore, through marriage,
they leave their family of origin. At the same time, the Bavli indicates that a rabbi's
daughter may carry on her father's teachings through her behavior and his lineage
through her children. However, a father's undesirable behavior or poor supervision
may result in a problematic daughter. Rabbis' daughters are portrayed as desirable
wives for Torah scholars, but they are also portrayed as women who may, when outside
the domestic sphere, behave inappropriately and manipulate Torah for their own
ends. Rabbinic literature treats women as the Other and the Bavli's stories about
rabbis' daughters show that rabbinic concern about women extended even to the
women over whom the rabbis had the most control and influence.
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