The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud
by: Gila Fine
June 1, 2024 Maggid Books
249 pages
As shown in my 2024 recap post, many of the books I cover on BookishlyJewish come to me from either the author or the publisher. Frequently the author (I especially love when it’s the author) or the publicist will reach out. Sometimes, I hear of a book and I email the publisher with varying success. If I can’t accomplish a copy that way, or the title is older than a few years and therefore the publisher is not actively promoting it, I’ll place a hold at one of the many libraries where I am a proud member. Sometimes, I’ll obtain titles at bookish events. Rarely do I buy them, because I funnel that budget into maintaining this website. I figure it benefits the largest numbers of Jewish authors and readers. So when I tell you that I slammed the buy button on Gila Fine’s nonfiction work, The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud, it should tell you something about the quality of the work.
I’ve noted before that I’m in my rediscovering Jewish learning years. I had a very good grounding in Tanach (written tradition) as a child, but as a person assigned female at birth I was not allowed to study the written tradition including mishnah and Talmud. Now, with the burgeoning women’s movement within even Orthodox Judaism, there are so many more resources and safe spaces for me to do that. It has been truly life altering, but one cannot help but notice how much of our tradition is written by men, about men, for men. As Fine points out, women are typically mentioned tangentially and often derogatorily. They aren’t given names, but are instead known by their relation to men – “wife of so-and-so man” or “mother of so-and so man.” However, there are six named women, each with their own chapter in the book, and they are often held up as stereotypes of everything that is wrong with women. Bruriah in particular has suffered a smear campaign by the later male patriarchy misinterpreting the Talmud that is so vile it make ones blood boil, so I was very glad to se Fine coming forward to set the record straight.
In addition, Fine focuses on a concept often ignored in traditional scholarship. The Rabbi’s of the Talmud were not just focused on transmission of law. They deserve more credit than that. They were also master story crafters, and they used those tales to caution those who would use the letter of the law to disenfranchise the “other” – particularly women who were not allowed to participate in the legal system. There are numerous tales of women who after being dealt with unfairly, and without kindness, by Rabbinic courts resorted to a woman’s last weapon – pleas to God. Indeed, the very last character of Fine’s book – Ima Shalom – and her story show just how disastrous the consequences are of such actions. She makes an impassioned case for realizing that The Rabbi’s actually had surprisingly kind and liberal views towards women, we’ve simply been too lazy to properly delve into these stories and glean their true meaning. It doesn’t help that years of male scholars with derogatory opinions of women influenced by the outside secular world and it’s inherent misogyny were the only ones interpreting these stories for a long time.
Most people likely think I would gravitate to Bruriah for her scholarly nature – and indeed I was very gratified at what came out in her chapter – but for me the most meaningful analysis was of the very first character- Yalta. It is a chapter dealing with reproductive issues, but also the right of women to be angry without being deemed ‘hysterical’ or ‘overreacting.’ If you have ever identified as a woman in your life, I guarantee you’ve been there and the urge to literally murder the person gaslighting you in this way is real. However, Fine does not give in to that rage, and she shows that neither did Yalta. The moves made in this story were calculated lessons and they hit with a force. I had to pause reading and just bask in the cleverness of it all.
Reconciling traditional Orthodox and textual Judaism with a feminist outlook on life can be an uphill battle. With The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic, Fine lends a guiding hand. It should be required reading for men and women Torah scholars alike. Who cares if I blew the entire gift card I had to spend on myself by purchasing it because I couldn’t find it in the library and I wasn’t sure the publisher would send me a copy? I’d do it again. In fact – I eagerly await her next book so that I have the chance to do so.