Women Heroines of Torah Study as Portrayed by Rabbi Joseph Mesas in Naḥalat Avot

Positive attitudes towards in-depth study of Torah by women are widely regarded as a post-modern feminist phenomenon. It is therefore of great interest to see earlier sources composed in a traditional milieu that express deep admiration for women choosing as their life’s vocation immersion in the highest levels of Torah study—even if in order to do so they must forfeit the conventional roles of wife and mother. Rabbi Joseph Mesas’s lesson on Mishnah Avot 6:1 is a fine example of such a source, and it is to the analysis and discussion of his teaching that this article is devoted.