Sefardi Judaism – Gender and Halacha

This research group will focus on gender in Jewish works produced in the Islamic world over the past few centuries, with the goal of creating a point of meeting and blending between two types of texts:

The first type is rabbinic and halachic literature written by leading Jewish figures in the Islamic world, which deals with various religious and social issues related to gender.

The second is the writing of Jewish women who were active in the Islamic world and in Sefardi communities throughout the world, in various geographical regions and time periods.

We will try to investigate a series of fundamental questions related to both types of texts, most notably: can we, and if so to what extent, find parallels, connections, and correspondence between them?

Coordinators: Yitzhak Ben-David and Yaffa Benaya

This seminar takes place at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel.