The Return of the Absent Father : : A New Reading of a Chain of Stories from the Babylonian Talmud / / Shira Stav, Haim Weiss.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• VerfasserIn: Weiss, Haim,; Stav, Shira,
• MitwirkendeR: Stein, Batya,
• Place / Publishing House: Philadelphia : : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (192 p.) :; 0 illus

The Return of the Absent Father offers a new reading of a chain of seven stories from tractate Ketubot in the Babylonian Talmud, in which sages abandon their homes, wives, and families and go away to the study house for long periods. Earlier interpretations have emphasized the tension between conjugal and scholarly desire as the key driving force in these stories. Haim Weiss and Shira Stav here reveal an additional layer of meaning to the father figure's role within the family structure. By shifting the spotlight from the couple to the drama of the father's relationship with his sons and daughters, they present a more complex tension between mundane domesticity and the sphere of spiritual learning represented by the study house.This coauthored book presents a dialogic encounter between Weiss, a scholar of rabbinic literature, and Stav, a scholar of modern Hebrew literary studies. Working together, they have produced a book resonant in its melding of the scholarly norms of rabbinics with a literary interpretation based in feminist and psychoanalytic theory.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- The Chain of Stories -- Introduction “Had I Been Here, I Would Have Had Such a Child” -- The First Story: Rav Rehumi and His Wife -- The Second Story: Judah, Son of R. Hiyah -- The Third Story: The Wedding of R. Judah ha-Nasi’s Son -- The Fourth Story: R. Hanania b. Hakhinai, His Daughter, and His Wife -- The Fifth Story: R. Hama b. Bisa -- The Sixth Story: R. Akiva’s Family -- The Seventh Story: Rava and His Son Rav Yosef -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Source Index -- Name Index -- Subject Index