Explorations in Feminist Torah

Course Details

Tractate Kiddushin is the locus of rabbinic conversation about halachic marriage, and also discusses gendered obligations in mitzvot – making it a rich source to use to explore what feminist Torah is and can be. In each meeting of this class, we will use one sugya from Tractate Kiddushin to dive into a major issue in feminist Torah. Topics will include metaphors of ownership for Torah; Jewish marriage; niddah; rabbinic and contemporary relationships to boundaries; disability; and more. This ninety-minute class will open with a brief introduction, and will then consist of havruta time followed by shiur/class. All sources will be available in translation, and the core texts for this class will primarily consist of Talmud and queer and feminist theory. We will lean into the nature of these texts as twisty, terse, and sometimes hard to parse; this is an opportunity to grow in relationship with Torah and with our own insights and reading abilities.