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The Death of Beruriah and Its Afterlife: A Reevaluation of the Provenance and Significance of Ma'aseh de-Beruriah
- Jewish Quarterly Review
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 110, Number 3, Summer 2020
- pp. 383-411
- 10.1353/jqr.2020.0014
- Article
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Abstract:
This essay challenges previous scholarship regarding the provenance and meaning of the story of Beruriah's downfall and death first attested in Rashi's Talmud commentary. I argue that, contrary to the recent scholarly consensus, there is good reason to believe that Rashi drew on a much earlier tradition and that his account represents the only attested explanation for the Bavli's reference to ma'aseh de-Beruriah. I further present a new reading of the story, viewing it not as a polemic but as a complex narrative that exposes the rabbis' own anxieties regarding women and their place within halakhic discourse and practice.