Dressing and Undressing the High Priest: A View of Talmudic Mothers

In an effort to disentangle motherhood from idealized notions of the Jewish family, this article explores the complex rabbinic depiction of mothers who weave priestly garments for their sons serving as priests in the Temple. By viewing mothers and motherhood as a central location through which the rabbis construct and reflect on their own society and culture, it seeks to garner a more prominent analytical place for mothers in the narration of rabbinic Judaism. Located in a societal context organized by gender, the textual mother of tractate Yoma offers us an example of how the rabbis interact with, contest and hope to construct the gendered relationships that define their world.