Women, Monsters and Rabbis: Reflections on Teaching and Research in Bavli and Yerushalmi Ketubot.

This article explores the interconnections between research and teaching in the Leo Baeck College Beit Midrash (otherwise known as the Rabbinic Literature Intensive). Two recurring issues that have consistently arisen in the teaching and learning of rabbinic texts are, firstly, a struggle with the n...

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Published in:European Judaism Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 112 - 126
Main Author: Clenman, Laliv
Format: Article
Published: Berghahn Books Spring2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Women, Monsters and Rabbis: Reflections on Teaching and Research in Bavli and Yerushalmi Ketubot.
      aug:
        au: Clenman, Laliv
        affil: Senior Lecturer, Leo Baeck College, UK
      su:
        Rabbis
        Virginity
        Education research
        Comparative method
        Rabbinical literature
      sug:
        subj:
          Rabbis
          Virginity
          Education research
          All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction
          Educational Support Services
          Administration of Education Programs
          Comparative method
          Rabbinical literature
      keyword:
        Babylonian Talmud/Bavli Ketubot
        gender
        Halakhah/Aggadah
        Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi Ketubot
        teaching
        virginity claims
        Babylonian Talmud/Bavli Ketubot
        gender
        Halakhah/Aggadah
        Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi Ketubot
        teaching
        virginity claims
      ab: This article explores the interconnections between research and teaching in the Leo Baeck College Beit Midrash (otherwise known as the Rabbinic Literature Intensive). Two recurring issues that have consistently arisen in the teaching and learning of rabbinic texts are, firstly, a struggle with the nature of the Sages and, secondly, a reluctance to engage with what may be perceived as difficult or irrelevant texts. I propose that the challenges posed to the contemporary reader both by the Sages and by the wide range of topics they explored, might be met through a middle way between apologetics and blame, and by the engagement with, rather than avoidance of, difficult themes and difficult Sages. Through a comparative methodological approach, analysing two parallel sugyot in the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds on the delicate subject of virginity claims, we will demonstrate how research of apparently non-utilitarian, antique, challenging texts can permit us to embrace and learn from the discomfort and tension in our sacred literary inheritance.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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