Notes on the Syllabus

The following syllabus was used for an advanced course on Gender and
Body in Jewish Literature, taught jointly with my spouse during the spring
term of 2014. We wanted to combine our interests in Jewish literature
throughout the ages, as well as to question the definition of Jewish texts. For
that purpose, we included Second Temple Jewish authors whose work was not
canonized as part of the Jewish tradition, such as the writings of Philo, or the
apocryphal Book of Judith. The most notable example in this context is
probably the inclusion of selections from the epistles of Paul of Tarsus. Despite
the inclusion of his epistles in the New Testament, he remains a Jew who lived
before the destruction of the Second Temple. Similarly, our study of Jewish
mysticism was not confined to the semi-canonized texts of the Zohar and
related literature, but also the more esoteric Shiur Qomah, part of the Hekhalot
literature. Secular modern Hebrew literature and literature written by or dealing
with Jews have long been recognized as Jewish literature, broadening the
definition from the religious tradition to the ethnic group. In relation to that we
also chose to include the film A Serious Man by the Coen Brothers and a song
by Paul Simon, to further broaden the definition of text.
The course was intentionally designed to avoid a chronological order or
any bias of canonic vs. non-canonic or religious vs. ethnic definitions
of Judaism. A chronological order might have given the wrong impression of
an essentialized development, as well as become a repetition of the
Introduction to Judaism course, designed by an historical paradigm. Instead,
we organized the course according to three themes: Body, Gender, and
Sexuality. While these topics overlapped throughout the entirety of the course,
there is an appropriate sense of progression. We began with the ungendered
body, dealing more abstractly with the tension between matter and spirit, then
proceeded to various aspects of gender constructions, Jewish patriarchy,
misogyny, and the thwarted masculinity of the Jewish body. We concluded
with several issues pertaining to sex, some of which mirrored topics from the
earlier selections, as in the issue of the relationship between sex and worship
that evoked once more questions raised in the second class on Gods body.
In addition to the syllabus, I attach here the timeline and three
bibliographies we gave to the students. The timeline is intended to provide the
historical framework that the courses plan refuses to follow. The List of
Sources for the syllabus provides full details of all materials used, for those
who wish to seek them. Finally, the two bibliographies on the topic, provide
further reading, as well as remind us all that the course barely scratched the
surface of this fascinating issue.

GENDER AND BODY IN JEWISH LITERATURE
Ofra and Aryeh Amihay

Details:
RLST 246; CRN 3952
Room: Main Hall 203
T Th 2:30-4:20

Office 411 (phone: 832-7177)
Office Hours: By appointment
ofra.amihay@lawrence.edu


Office 411 (phone: 832-7202)
Office Hours: M 9:00-11:00
aryeh.amihay@lawrence.edu


Books and readings

Berlin, Adele and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. Jewish Study Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, ed. People of the Body. Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective.
Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.

Kushner, Tony. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, revised and complete edition. New
York: Theatre Communications Group, 2013.

All other readings are on Moodle. Students are expected to come to class with copies of the texts they prepared,
printed or electronic.


Course description

This course will examine aspects of body, gender, and sexuality in J ewish texts, broadly defined. Students will
gain familiarity with major texts and authors of the J ewish tradition, and engage with questions of gender and
body as they relate to the J ewish religion, J ewish culture, and ethnic identity. The broad definition of J ewish
seeks to draw in these various elements into class discussions, as well as invite students to question the definition
of a text as J ewish.

Grading and Attendance

10% Participation
20% Gender paper
20% Bibliography exercise
50% Final paper

Students will not be allowed entry after class has started. Students are allowed two unexcused
absences. Each additional absence, unless excused by other Lawrence faculty or staff (e.g. nurse,
coach, etc.), will result in the loss of half a letter grade.

1 Amihay & Amihay, Gender & Body
Part 1: Body

Class 1 (Apr. 1) Introduction: The Image and the Rib

- Genesis 1-3 (J SB 12-18)
- Anderson, The Garden of Eden and Sexuality in Early J udaism (in People of the Body, 47-68)


Class 2 (Apr. 3): Gods Body

- Gn 1:26-27 (J SB 14)
- Ex 33:12-34:8 (J SB 187-189)
- Saadiah Gaon, Book of Doctrines and Beliefs 2.3
- Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed 1.54
- Shiur Qomah
- The Sefirot
- Wolfson, Images of Gods Feet (in People of the Body, 143-81)
- J anowitz, Gods Body (in People of the Body, 183-201)


Class 3 (Apr. 8): Circumcision

- Gn 17 (J SB 37-39)
- Ex 4:24-26, 22:28-29 (J SB 113, 157)
- J osh 5:1-9 (J SB 471-472)
- 1 Sam 18 (J SB 596-598)
- J er 4 (J SB 929-932)
- Romans 4
- Genesis Rabbah 46.1, 47.10, 48.2
- Schfer, Judeophobia, 93-105
- Kafka, Diaries, December 23-25, 1911


Class 4 (Apr. 10): The Nose

- Roth, Goodbye Columbus, 3-29
- Coen Brothers, A Serious Man (Scene 12: Nobody in this house is getting a nose job!)
- Geller, (G)nos(e)ology (in People of the Body, 243-282)
- Gilman, Making the Body Beautiful, 186-205



Class 5 (Apr. 15): The Impurities of the Body

- Lev 12, 15, 20 (J SB 232-234, 241-243, 256-258)
- m. Niddah 1-2, 10
- Weissler, Mizvot Built into the Body (in People of the Body, 101-115)
- Fine, Purifying the Body in the Name of the Soul (in People of the Body, 117-42)

2 Amihay & Amihay, Gender & Body
Class 6 (Apr. 17): Body and Punishment

- The Mark of Cain: Gn 4 (J SB 18-20)
- The Sotah ordeal: Num 5 (J SB 293-295)
- Genesis Rabbah 22.12
- Corporal punishment: b. Kettubot 33a-b
- Rosen-Zvi, The Sotah in the Temple

Deadline for gender paper: April 20
th
, 8pm.

Part 2: Gender

Class 7 (Apr. 22): Gender Essentialism in J ewish Sources

- Philo, Selections
- The Zohar, selections (Wisdom of the Zohar, 1381-1382, 1386-1388, 476-480)
- Sefer Hasidim, selections (Finkel, pp. 60-62, 89, 95, 218-230, 279-293, 321)
- Myers, The Myth of Matriarchy in Recent Writings on J ewish Womens Spirituality


Class 8 (Apr. 24): Misogyny

- Selections of rabbinic literature from Book of Legends, 19 (passage 76), 624-628
- b. Shabbat 152a
- b. Yevamot 63a-b
- b. Sanhedrin 22b
- Baskin, Midrashic Women, 44-87


Class 9 (Apr. 29): Women and War

- Deborah and J ael: J u 4-5 (J SB 517-522)
- The Woman in the Tower: J u 9:48-57; 2 Sam 11 (J SB 533-534, 636-638)
- Samson and Delilah: J u 16 (J SB 544-546)
- Esther (J SB 1626-1639)
- J udith
- Lubin, Gone to Soldiers: Feminism and the Military in Israel


Class 10 (May 1): Feminine Agency in a Patriarchal Society

- Tamar: Gn 38 (J SB 76-78)
- Ruth (J SB 1579-1586)
- Beruriah: b. Avodah Zarah 18a-b; b. Berakhot 10a; b. Eruvin 53b; b. Pesahim 62b
- Glckel of Hameln, Memoirs: Book 1, prologue (pp.1-5); 3.1 (pp. 40-45); 6.1-3 (pp. 222-230). Read
also introduction for background on Glckel, pp. vii-xviiii
- Singer, Yentl the Yeshiva Boy
- Baron, Sunbeams; Bill of Divorcement

3 Amihay & Amihay, Gender & Body
Class 11 (May 6): Masculinity in Antiquity

- b. Bava Metzia 83a-85a (in People of the Body, 87-93)
- b. Niddah 31a-b
- Boyarin, The Great Fat Massacre (in People of the Body, 69-100)

Reading Period (no class): May 8


Class 12 (May 13): Frustrated Masculinity in Modernity

- Abramovitsh, Travels of Benjamin the Third, 301-26
- Agnon, The Lady and the Peddler
- Keret, The Son of the Head of the Mossad
- Roth, Courting Disaster (or, Serious in the Fifties) [from My Life as a Man, 33-95]


Class 13 (May 15): Gender and Nationalism

- Biale, Zionism as an Erotic Revolution (in People of the Body, 283-309)
- Castel-Bloom, Dolly City, 35-52
- Dworkin, Scapegoat, selections

Deadline for bibliography assignment: May 18
th
, 8pm.

Part 3: Sexuality


Class 14 (May 20): Sex and Worship

- Deut 23:18-19 (J SB 419-420)
- Ho 1-4 (J SB 1144-1150)
- Zohar, selections (Wisdom of the Zohar, 1382-1386, 1388-1406)
- Amichai, Sabbath Eve Song
- Simon, Duncan

Class 15 (May 22): Nakedness and Modesty

- Lev 18, 20 (J SB 249-252, 256-258)
- b. Qiddushin 80b-81b
- Zohar, selections (Wisdom of the Zohar, 1196-1205, 1337-1338)

Class 16 (May 27): Sex and Sin

- Song of Songs 4-5, 8 (J SB 1570-1573, 1576-1577); Proverbs 6-7 (J SB 1457-1460)
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-7:39
- b. Nedarim 20a-b; b. Niddah 17a
- Selections of rabbinic literature from Book of Legends, 540-543 (passages 35-58), 560 (passage 226)
- Levin, A Midsummer Nights Sexual Pleasure
4 Amihay & Amihay, Gender & Body
Class 17 (May 29): Sex and Violence

- Gn 19 (J SB 40-42)
- Gn 34 (J SB 69-71)
- Gn 39 (J SB 78-79)
- J u 19 (J SB 550-552)
- 2 Sam 13 (J SB 640-642)
- Berdichevsky, The Red Heifer
- Agnon, Shira 1.22 (108-114)

Class 18 (J une 3): Sexuality, J ewishness and Otherness

- Kushner, Angels in America
- Bellow, Ravelstein, 94-108, 160-180
- Prell, Why J ewish Princesses Dont Sweat (in People of the Body, 329-59)



Class 19 (J une 5): Conclusion

- Ilan, J ewish Womens Studies
- Eilberg-Schwartz, The Problem of the Body for the People of the Book
(People of the Body, 17-46)
- Kimelman, The Rabbinic Theology of the Physical

Deadline for final paper, June 11, 2014, 5:30pm.
5 Amihay & Amihay, Gender & Body
GENDER AND BODY IN JEWISH LITERATURE

Timeline of Texts and figures

Biblical Period, 13
th
-2
nd
century BCE (by order of books):

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
1-2 Samuel
Jeremiah
Hosea
Proverbs
Song of Songs
Ruth
Esther


Second Temple period (332 BCE-135 CE):
Judith (2
nd
century BCE)
Philo (20 BCE-50 CE)
Romans; 1 Corinthians (~52-58 CE)
Rabbinic Judaism: (70 CE-8
th
Century)
Mishnah (edited 220 CE)
Genesis Rabbah (5
th
century CE)
Babylonian Talmud (edited by 8
th
century)
Medieval Judaism:
Saadiah Gaon (882-942)
Maimonides (1135-1204)
Sefer Hasidim (12
th
-13
th
century)
The Zohar (13
th
century)
Early Modern Period:
Glckel of Hameln (1646-1724)
S. Y. Abramovitsch (1836-1917)
M. Y. Berdichevsky (1865-1921)

20-21 Centuries:
Dvora Baron (1887-1956)
S. Y. Agnon (1887-1970)
Franz Kafka (1883-1924)
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991)
Saul Bellow (1915-2005)
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000)
Philip Roth (b. 1933)
Paul Simon (b. 1941)
Hanoch Levin (1943-1999)
Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005)
Tony Kushner (b. 1956)
Orly Castel-Bloom (b. 1960)
Etgar Keret (b. 1967)



1943 The Lady and the Peddler (Agnon)
1949 Sunbeams (Baron)
1958 Sabbath Eve Song (Amichai)
1963 Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (Singer)
1970 Shira (Agnon; published posthumously)
1972 Duncan (in the solo album Paul Simon)
1974 My Life as a Man (Roth)
1983 Yentl (dir. Barbra Streisand)
1986 A Midsummer Nights Sexual Pleasure (Levin)
1990 First performance of Angels in America (part 1)
1992 Dolly City (Castel-Bloom)
1994 The Son of the Head of the Mossad (Keret)
2000 Ravelstein (Bellow)
2000 Scapegoat (Dworkin)
2003 Angels in America miniseries (Kushner)
2009 A Serious Man (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
GENDER AND BODY IN JEWISH LITERATURE
Ofra and Aryeh Amihay

List of Sources
Books

Berlin, Adele and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds. Jewish Study Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, ed. People of the Body. Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective.
Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.

Kushner, Tony. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, revised and complete edition.
New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2013.


Translations of ancient works

Philo Translations from http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/philo.html

New Testament and Apocrypha (Book of J udith) translations from Coogan, Michael David et al., eds. The
New Oxford Annotated Bible, 3
rd
edition: College Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2001.

Mishnah translations from J acob Neusner, The Mishnah: A New Translation. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1988.

Talmud translations from http://halakhah.com/



Moodle readings

Abramovitsh, S. Y. (Mendele Moykher Sforim). The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third. Trans. Hillel
Halkin. In idem, Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler: Fishke the Lame and Benjamin the Third,
edited by Dan Miron and Ken Frieden. New York: Schocken, 1996.
Agnon, S. Y. The Lady and the Peddler. Trans. Robert Alter. Reprinted in A Book that Was Lost. Thirty
Five Stories, edited by Alan Mintz and Anne Golomb Hoffman, 209-21. New Milford, Conn.:
Toby, 2008.
. Shira. Trans. Zeva Shapiro. New York: Schocken, 1989.
Amichai, Yehuda. Sabbath Eve Song. In idem, Poems, 1948-1962, 89. Tel Aviv: Schocken, 1977 (in
Hebrew).
Baron, Dvora. Sunbeams. Trans. J oseph Schachter. Modern Hebrew Literature 2.1 (1976): 22-31.
. Bill of Divorcement. In eadem, The First Day and Other Stories. Trans. Naomi Seidman with
Chana Kronfeld, 48-57. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001
Baskin, J udith R. Midrashic Women. Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature. Hanover:
published for Brandeis University Press by University Press of New England, 2002.
Bellow, Saul. Ravelstein. New York: Viking, 2000.
Berdichevsky, M. Y. The Red Heifer. Trans. William Cutter. Reprinted in Miriam & Other Stories,
edited by Avner Holtzman, 31-39. New Milford, Conn.: Toby, 2004.
Bialik, Hayim Nahman and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, eds. The Book of Legends. Sefer Ha-Aggadah.
Legends from the Talmud and the Midrash. Trans. William G. Braude. New York: Schocken,
1992.
Castel-Bloom, Orly. Dolly City. Trans. Dalya Bilu. Champaign, Ill.: Dalkey Archive Press, 2010.
Coen, J oel and Ethan. A Serious Man, directed by J oel and Ethan Coen. Beverly Hills: Relativity Media,
2009. DVD.
Dworkin, Andrea. Scapegoat. The Jews, Israel, and Womens Liberation. New York: Free Press, 2000.
Genesis Rabbah; from: H. Friedman and Maurice Simon, eds. Midrash Rabbah. London: Soncino, 1961
(volume 1).
Gilman, Sander L. Making the Body Beautiful. A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1999.
Glckel of Hameln, The Memoirs of Glckel of Hameln. Trans. Marvin Lowenthal. New York: Schocken,
1977.
Kafka, Franz. The Diaries of Franz Kafka, 1910-1913, edited by Max Brod. Trans. J oseph Kresh. New
York: Schocken, 1948.
Ilan, Tal. J ewish Womens Studies. In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, edited by Martin
Goodman, J eremy Cohen and David Sorkin, 770-96. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kimelman, Reuven. The Rabbinic Theology of the Physical: Blessings, Body and Soul, Resurrection,
and Covenant and Election. In The Cambridge History of Judaism. Volume IV: The Late Roman-
Rabbinic Period, edited by Steven T. Katz, 946-76. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006.
Keret, Etgar. The Son of the Head of the Mossad. Trans. Miriam Shlesinger. In idem, The Bus Driver
Who Wanted to Be God and Other Stories, 111-117. New York: Thomas Dunne (imprint of St.
Martins Press), 2001.
Lachower, Fischel and Isaiah Tishby, eds. The Wisdom of the Zohar. An Anthology of Texts. Trans. David
Goldstein. Oxford: Published for the Littman Library by Oxford University Press, 1989.
Levin, Hanoch. A Midsummer Nights Sexual Pleasure. In idem, The Eternal Patient and His Beloved,
161-3. Tel Aviv: Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 1986 (in Hebrew).
Lubin, Orly. Gone to Soldiers: Feminism and the Military in Israel. Journal of Israeli History 21.1-2
(2002): 164-92.
Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed. Trans. Shlomo Pines. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
Myers, J ody Elizabeth. The Myth of Matriarchy in Recent Writings on J ewish Womens Spirituality.
Jewish Social Studies 4.1 (1997): 1-27.
Rosen-Zvi, Ishay. The Sotah in the Temple: A Well-Ordered Choreography. In Introduction to Seder
Qodashim. A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud V, edited by Tal Ilan, Monika
Brockhaus, and Tanja Hidde, 71-84. Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.
Roth, Philip. Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories. New York: Vintage, [1959] 1993.
. My Life as a Man. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974.
Saadiah Gaon, Book of Doctrines and Beliefs 2.3; from: Alexander Altmann et al., eds. Three Jewish
Philosophers. New York: Atheneum, 1972.
Schfer, Peter. Judeophobia. Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1997.
Sefirot; from: Arthur Green, A Guide to the Zohar, ix. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.
Shiur Qomah; from: Cohen, Martin Samuel. The Shi

ur Qomah: Texts and Recensions. Tbingen: Mohr

Siebeck, 1985.
Simon, Paul. Duncan. Second track on Paul Simon. New York: Columbia Records, 1972. LP (4:39).
Singer, Isaac Bashevis. Yentl the Yeshiva Boy. Translated by Marion Magid and Elizabeth Pollet. In
idem, Collected Stories: Gimpel the Fool to The Letter Writer, 439-63. New York: Library of
America, 2004.
Major Contributions in Gender and Jewish Studies: A Select Bibliography


Abrams, Nathan. The New Jew in Film. Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema.
New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2012.
Aschkenasy, Nehama. Eves Journey. Feminine Images in Hebraic Literary Tradition. Detroit: Wayne
State University Press, 1995.
Baader, Benjamin Maria, Sharon Gillerman, and Paul Lerner, eds. Jewish Masculinities. German Jews,
Gender, and History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.
Bach, Alice, ed. Women in the Hebrew Bible. A Reader. New York and London: Routledge, 1999.
Bal, Mieke. Lethal Love. Feminist Literary Readings of Biblical Love Stories. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1987.
, ed. Anti-Covenant. Counter-Reading Womens Lives in the Hebrew Bible. Sheffield: Almond
Press, 1989.
Baskin, J udith R. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature, Brandeis Series
on J ewish Women. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2002.
, ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, 2
nd
edition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press,
1998.
Biale, David. Eros and the Jews. From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America. New York: Basic
Books, 1992.
Bird, Phyllis. Missing Persons and Mistaken Identities. Women and Gender in Ancient Israel.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.
Boyarin, Daniel. Carnal Israel. Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1993.
Brenner, Athalya. The Intercourse of Knowledge. On Gendering Desire and Sexuality in the Hebrew
Bible. Leiden: Brill, 1997.
Cohen, Shaye J .D. Why Arent Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant in Judaism. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2005.
Dekel, Mikhal. The Universal Jew. Masculinity, Modernity, and the Zionist Moment. Evanston:
Northwestern University Press, 2010.
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, ed. People of the Body. Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective.
Albany: SUNY Press, 1992.
Exum, J . Cheryl. Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)Versions of Biblical Narratives. London: T & T
Clark, 1997.
Feldman, Yael S. No Room of Their Own. Gender and Nation in Israeli Womens Fiction. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1999.
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva S. In the Wake of the Goddesses. Women, Culture, and the Biblical
Transformation of Pagan Myth. New York: Free Press, 1992.
Fuchs, Esther. Israeli Mythogynies. Women in Contemporary Hebrew Fiction. Albany: SUNY Press,
1987.
Gilman, Sander L. The Jews Body. New York and London: Routledge, 1991.
Gluzman, Michael. The Zionist Body. Nationalism, Gender and Sexuality in Modern Hebrew Literature.
Tel Aviv: Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 2007 (in Hebrew).
Greenspoon, Leonard J ., ed. Jews in the Gym. Judaism, Sports, and Athletics. West Lafayette: Purdue
University Press, 2012.
Grossman, Avraham. Pious and Rebellious. Jewish Women in Medieval Europe. Trans. J onathan
Chipman. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2004.
Hasan-Rokem, Galit. Web of Life. Folklore and Midrash in Rabbinic Literature. Trans. Batya Stein.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.
Idel, Moshe. Kabbalah and Eros. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2005.
Ilan, Tal. Mine and Yours Are Hers. Retrieving Womens History from Rabbinic Literature. Leiden: Brill,
1997.
Koltun-Fromm, Naomi. Hermeneutics of Holiness. Ancient Jewish and Christian Notions of Sexuality and
Religious Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Labovitz, Gail. Marriage and Metaphor. Constructions of Gender in Rabbinic Literature. Lanham:
Lexington, 2009.
Lambert, J osh. Unclean Lips. Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture. New York: NYU Press, 2013.
Lerner, Anne Lapidus. Eternally Eve. Images of Eve in the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, and Modern Jewish
Poetry. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2007.
Marienberg, Evyatar. Niddah. Lorsque les Juifs conceptualisent la menstruation. Paris: Belles Lettres,
2003.
Meyers, Carol. Discovering Eve. Ancient Israelite Women in Context. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1988.
Miron, Dan. Founding Mothers, Stepsisters. Tel Aviv: Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 1991 (in Hebrew).
Prell, Riv-Ellen. Fighting to Become Americans. Jews, Gender, and the Anxiety of Assimilation. Albany:
SUNY Press, 1992.
Pressner, Todd Samuel. Muscular Judaism. The Jewish Body and the Politics of Regeneration. London:
Routledge, 2007.
Rosen, Tova. Unveiling Eve. Reading Gender in Medieval Hebrew Literature. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2003.
Rosen-Zvi, Ishay. Demonic Desires. Yetzer Hara and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Satlow, Michael L. Jewish Marriage in Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Schfer, Peter. Mirror of His Beauty. Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Schofer, J onathan Wyn. Confronting Vulnerability. The Body and the Divine in Rabbinic Ethics. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Seidman, Naomi. A Marriage Made in Heaven. The Sexual Politics of Hebrew and Yiddish. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1997.
Sommer, Benjamin D. The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2009.
Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror. Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1984.
Valler, Shulamit. Women and Womanhood in the Talmud. Trans. Betty Sigler Rozen. Atlanta: Scholars
Press, 1999.
Veltri, Giuseppe and Diemling, Maria, eds. The Jewish Body. Corporeality, Society, and Identity in the
Renaissance and Early Modern Period. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Wolfson, Elliot R. Circle in the Square. Studies in the Use of Gender in Kabbalistic Symbolism. Albany:
SUNY Press, 1995.
Yosef, Raz. Beyond Flesh. Queer Masculinities and Nationalism in Israeli Cinema. New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2004.
Zierler, Wendy I. And Rachel Stole the Idols. The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Womens Writing.
Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2004.







MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF GENDER & SEXUALITY
A very select bibliography


Armstrong, Nancy and Leonard Tennenhouse, eds. The Ideology of Conduct. Essays on Literature and
the History of Sexuality. New York: Methuen, 1987.
Bataille, Georges. The Accursed Share. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Zone, 1993.
Bem, Sandra L. The Lenses of Gender. Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1994.
Benhabib, Seyla. Situating the Self. Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics.
New York: Routledge, 1992.
Butler, J udith. Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering. Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
Cixous, Hlne. White Ink: Interviews on Sex, Text and Politics. New York: Columbia University Press,
2008.
de Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Trans. Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier. New
York: Knopf, [1949] 2010.
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 1985.
Freud, Sigmund. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Trans. J ames Strachey. New York: Basic
Books [1905], 2000.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton, 1963.
Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-
Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.
Grosz, Elizabeth A. Space, Time, and Perversion. Essays on the Politics of Bodies. New York: Routledge,
1995.
Irigaray, Luce. This Sex Which Is Not One. Trans. Catherine Porter and Carolyn Burke. Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 1985.
Kristeva, J ulia. Powers of Horror. An Essay on Abjection. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1982.
Mosse, George. The Image of Man. The Creation of Modern Masculinity. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1996.
Mulvey, Laura. Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Showalter, Elaine. Inventing Herself. Claiming a Feminist Intellectual Heritage. New York: Scribner,
2001.