From Eve to Esther: Rabbinic Reconstructs of Biblical Women (1994 Bronner), book

From Eve to Esther: Rabbinic Reconstructs of Biblical Women (1994) is a book by Leila Leah Bronner.

Abstract

"This is the first book-length attempt to focus on female biblical figures in the ancient rabbinic writings of midrash and Talmud. Primary rabbinic sources employed by the author bring new life and insight into the stories of Eve, Deborah, Hannah, Serah bat Asher, and others. As women and men today attempt to reevaluate past historical models, it serves us well to understand the values and inner workings of rabbinic thinking. The examination of what the sources actually say, and not what others would like them to have said, enable reinterpretation of women's role to proceed on an honest and authentic basis. Biblical women, reclaimed with contemporary midrash, can become paradigms for our modern lives."--Publisher description.

Editions

Published in Tübingen [Germany]: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1995.

Contents

"She shall be called woman" -- Aggadic attitudes toward women -- Eve's estate: temptation, modesty, and the valorization of matrimony -- Serah bat Asher: the transformative power of aggadic invention -- The regime of modesty: Ruth and the rabbinic construction of the feminine ideal -- "Remember thy handmaid": on Hannah and prayer -- "The King's daughter is all glorious within": the estate of daughterhood -- Hope for the harlot: the estate of the marginalized woman -- "Deborah, say your song": female prophecy in Talmudic tradition -- Complexity and contradiciton in the rabbinic construction of women.

External links

• [ Google Books]