This legal comparative study explores the nature and development of rabbinic thought on intermarriage. One could hardly phrase the query that lies at the heart of this work better than the Talmud itself: "Is she forbidden or permitted?" (bSanhedrin 82a). This challenge, posed to Moses as part of an exegetical exploration of the problem of intermarriage, asks so much more than whether an Israelite might marry a Gentile. It points to conflicts between biblical law and narrative, biblical and rabbinic law, as well as incompatibilities within rabbinic halakhah. The issues of status, national identity and gender loom large as the various legal and narrative sources on intermarriage are set on an hermeneutic collision course. In this way many rabbinic sources display a deep understanding of the complexity inherent to any discussion of intermarriage in rabbinic tradition. Considering intermarriage as a construct that lies at the intersection between identity and marital rules, we begin this study of rabbinic legal systems with an analysis of the notion of intramarriage and Jewish identity in halakhah as expressed through the system of the asarah yuchasin (ten lineages). Discussion of various systems dealing with intermarriage follows, including qiddushin (Jewish betrothal/marriage) and the status of the offspring of intermarriage, the concept of the qahal (congregation of God), the arayot (levitical incest laws) as well as the individual legal rules related to marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Gentiles. The role of narrative in the representation of case law and rabbinic engagement with these legal systems forms an integral part of our analysis of the law. The overall conclusion of the dissertation is that rabbinic approaches to intermarriage were characterized by multiplicity and diversity. Rabbinic tradition engaged with the issue of intermarriage through a wide variety of often unrelated and incompatible legal systems. Furthermore, it is apparent that conflicting attitudes towards the interpretation and implementation of these rules are represented in both tannaitic (c. 70-200 C.E.) and amoraic sources (c. 200-500 C.E.), such that several key problems related to intermarriage in early rabbinic tradition remain unresolved.

The first chapter of Mishnah tractate Sotah (m. Sot) records rabbinic elaboration and interpretation on the sotah ritual contained in the Hebrew Bible, Numbers 5:11-31. Specifically, the nine mishnayoth that compose m. Sot 1 discuss the circumstances for invoking the trial of the “bitter waters” and the overall treatment of the suspected wife during the trial. This paper argues that, when read together, m. Sot 1 describes an entire economy of justice and punishment that must be imposed on a wife who is merely suspected of adultery, quite apart from whether she is—or is not—guilty of adultery. Through a close reading of m. Sot 1 and by examining the current gender discourse surrounding this text, this paper maintains that the rabbis sought to justify and explain these aspects of the sotah ritual by elaborating their understanding of suspicion and drawing them under a larger conception of measure for measure justice.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--ha-Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-342).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 508-549). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ59156.

Thesis (M.A.)--Columbia International University, 2002. / Abstrakt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135).

A growing number of Jewish women are participating in adult bat mitzvah ceremonies in many synagogues across the United States. Little is known about the reasons why women choose to participate in a bat mitzvah ritual as an adult. It is also unclear if women of different ages have different reasons for participating in bat mitzvah.Older women were often not given the opportunity to participate in the bat mitzvah ritual as a young adult, and it is unknown why older women choose to accept the challenge of bat mitzvah. It may be suspected that Jewish women are interested in adult bat mitzvah for a variety of reasons; it could be related to childhood experiences, identity concerns, learning opportunities, or any other number of reasons. Erikson's theory of human development was chosen to explore possible reasons why middle-aged and older women chose to participate in bat mitzvah as an adult because Jewish tradition views the bat mitzvah as a human development issue, and Er ikson recognized the importance of ritual and religion in people's lives.An exploratory case study design used to gather a) interviews with middle-aged and older women who participated in bat mitzvah, b) interviews with their teachers, and c) information from the women's writings about their bat mitzvah experience. This research explored whether these women were using the bat mitzvah ritual to address life stage crises as delineated by Erikson's theory of human development. Analyses of data sources indicated that the majority of women were dealing with issues during their bat mitzvah experience that were consistent with the Erikson stage they were in, as well as revisiting earlier life stages, which is suggested by the concept of epigenesis as part of normal human development. Emergent themes also explored were the use of bat mitzvah as an aging ritual and conversion. Suggestions for further research include expansion of the interview protocol to include questions related to more Erikson stages, and the examination of the role of additional Jewish rituals in human development.

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Franz Kafka (1883-1924) wrote this little phrase one day in a notebook: Writing as a form of prayer. This dissertation will examine his highly personal and Judaic conception of the act of writing in order to demonstrate that it constitutes in fact the cornerstone of Kafka's activity as a writer and that it can be traced in a significant number of his literary works as their regulating instance. / In order to do so, we will first examine the social, political and economic conditions prevailing in Central Europe at the turn of the 20th century, in order to ascertain its tremendous impact on the Jewish communities living in that part of the world, in terms of loss of traditional Jewish identity culminating in many cases in assimilation. Kafka's work will thus firstly be situated in the historical and political context out of which it emerged. / In the course of this work, we have used the concepts of sacre and profane as developed by the historian of religions Mircea Eliade throughout in order to demonstrate that there exists in Kafka's work a constitutive tension articulated between those two poles, not only at the level of the plot, but at the level of language itself. / Since the central element at the root of this tension is expressed in terms of presence and absence, we have also analysed the philosophy of language of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem, which are themselves articulated exactly in those terms. / The use of these categories has helped us show that if Kafka's work is indeed at time very close to that of Scholem and Benjamin, especially in its literary rendition of motives underlining the absence of the divine in language, it also distinguishes itself markedly from the work of the two philosophers by the use of other motives which underline the immediate presence of the message of Revelation, made directly accessible within the modern and profane language, which is also that of literature.

This study examines the function of a patriarchal ideology in the episodes of human sacrifice narrated in Genesis 22 and Judges 11 and 19. The Akedah, or "the binding of Isaac" story, is discussed in terms of the midrastic literature it has historically generated, and a feminist, poststructural approach is used in the analysis of the Jephthah's daughter and Levite's concubine narratives. While traditional theology locates the significance of Genesis 22 in Abraham's faithful obedience and the cessation of human sacrifice, midrash documents the extent to which readers both ancient and modern have found not only God's command but also Abraham's silence in and Sarah's absence from the narrative problematic. On the other hand, scholars have previously interpreted the violence of Judges 11 and 19 in terms of their textual setting "when there was no king in Israel" and the Israelites' corresponding apostasy or in terms of the tension experienced during times of social/cultural transition. However, underlying both the Genesis and Judges episodes are the tensions created by God's unrealized promises of descendants, land, and nationhood to his chosen people and by the patriarchal hierarchy the biblical text at once asserts and indermines. Exploring these gendered narratives both contextually and intertextually affords the reader another way of understanding these troubling texts, reframing them from stories of ritualized human sacrifice to narratives of deferred promise and sacrificed inheritance. / Thesis (M.A.)--Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English.

This dissertation addresses the problem of whether the Gospel of Matthew reflects a Jewish Christian or gentile Christian stance within the early church. A study of the principal theories of the evolution of the early church provides the background against which the terms "Jewish Christian" and "gentile Christian" may be understood. The dissertation examines the bases on which Matthew has been classified as either Jewish Christian or gentile Christian. This previous work on Matthew is found to be unsatisfactory because of the lack of adequate criteria for classifying Matthew. A study of Acts and the letters of Paul reveals that the practice or rejection of Jewish dietary purity was a cause of division in the early church, and thus constitutes a suitable criterion for distinguishing between Jewish and gentile Christianity. Examination of Mt 15:1-20 shows that Matthew does not accept Jewish dietary purity as a part of God's will. Matthew thus reflects a gentile Christian position.