The Talmud's red fence: menstrual impurity and difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian context
This book explores how rituals and beliefs concerning menstruation in the Babylonian Talmud and neighbouring Sasanian religious texts were animated by difference and differentiation.
Summary: | This book explores how rituals and beliefs concerning menstruation in the Babylonian Talmud and neighbouring Sasanian religious texts were animated by difference and differentiation. Cover -- The Talmud's Red Fence -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface: Reading Nidah in its Sasanian Context -- Why Study Nidah in the Talmud and its Sasanian Context? -- Irano-Talmudica -- Menstrual Impurity in Sasanian Religions -- The Talmud, its Sasanian Context, and Diachronicity -- Diachronicity and Talmudic Study -- Irano-Talmudica Beyond Diachronicity -- Book Program -- Conventions -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1 Like a Hedge of Lilies: Menstruation and Difference in the "Iranian" Talmud -- Menstruation Matters -- Menstruation and Meaning -- Menstruation and Method -- Difference and the "Iranian" Talmud -- Menstrual Impurity in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism -- Nidah and Difference in the Hebrew Bible -- Nidah and Difference in Ancient Judaism and Early Rabbinic Literature -- Nidah and Difference in the Babylonian Talmud: A Test Case -- Rav Kahana and the Heretic (b. Sanhedrin 37a) -- The Sources of the Rav Kahana and the Heretic Tale -- The Context(s) of the Rav Kahana and the Heretic Tale -- Chapter 2 Lifeblood and Deathblood: The Physiology, Etiology, and Demonology of Menstruation in Sasanian Judaism and Zoroastrianism -- Introduction -- Female Interiority and Viscosity in Rabbinic Literature -- Flow and Fertility in Ancient Judaism -- Flow and Fertility in Ancient Zoroastrianism -- Vaginal Blood and its Role in Human Reproduction: A Neo-Galenic Idea -- Why Women Menstruate: Menstruation, Evil, and Danger in Sasanian Religious Texts -- The Demonic Kiss: the Origins of Menstruation in Zoroastrianism -- Dangerous Blood: Magic and Menstruation in Talmudic Babylonia -- Chapter 3 Impure Gates Menstruation and Identity in Sasanian Religious Life -- Menstruation in the Diversity of Sasanian Religious Life -- Introducing the Mandaeans -- Menstrual Rituals in a Mandaic Heresiography. |
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Item Description: | Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (223 pages) |
ISBN: | 0192598899 |