This Patriarchy Which Is Not One: The Ideology of Marriage in Rashi and Tosafot
In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discussions that are central for the laws of marriage. What emerges from this investigation is that there is a dominant understanding of marriage articulated by Tosafot. Rashi is consistent in presenting a co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2001
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1999, Volume: 70/71, Pages: 109-128 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discussions that are central for the laws of marriage. What emerges from this investigation is that there is a dominant understanding of marriage articulated by Tosafot. Rashi is consistent in presenting a countervoice to the dominant ideology of the Tosafot — not responding to the Tosafists understanding, since he lived before them, but his position in the history of patriarchal ideas remains as a countervoice to the dominant opinion. Rashi understands that the woman's agreement to participate in marriage is necessary. It is not necessarily a "natural" thing for her to want to participate, therefore she needs an incentive. This investigation also isolates one point at which "descriptive statements" are given normative legal weight, and highlights the fact that this very move from descriptive to normative is itself contended. This essay may be seen as part of a history of patriarchal ideas, the point of which is to challenge patriarchal or misogynistic assumptions. The analysis of the history of patriarchal ideas points to their internal conflicts and contradictions, and leads to the deconstruction of the implacable facade of eternal verity implied by the absolutist mode of their articulation — especially in legal writing. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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