Women in the Talmud are generally marginal and almost always anonymous –
the daughters, sisters, and wives of prominent rabbis. The Madwoman in the
Rabbi’s Attic explores the stories of the exceptions, the six named heroines of
the Talmud: Yalta the shrew, Homa the femme fatale, Marta the prima donna,
Heruta the madonna/whore, Beruria the overreacherix, and Ima Shalom the
angel in the house.
As their epithets suggest, every one of these women appears to embody an antifeminist archetype. Yet in each case, a careful rereading reveals that there is a
lot more to the story than initially meets the eye; that the heroine is far more
complex than she first seems; and that the rabbis had rather surprising – so as
not to say proto-feminist – views of marriage, sex, childbirth, and what it means
to be a woman in the world. In presenting us with archetypes that systematically
break down, the Talmud imparts profound moral teachings about how to read
the characters of a text and, ultimately, how to regard the people in our lives.