Mad versus magnificent: book examines Talmud’s female archetypes

Gila Fine’s new book, The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic, is an adventure in reading. Fine posits that the six named heroines of the Talmud conform to, and then undermine, six literary female archetypes. Using critical literary analysis and drawing insights from the cultural and historical context of the narratives, Fine presents an elegant and well-argued theory of what the rabbis of the Talmud set out to accomplish, and of what we, the readers, can gain from a rigorous study of these aggadot (narrative portions of rabbinic literature).

Fine begins each chapter by outlining the particular archetype under discussion. Her first chapter considers the shrew as described in biblical, rabbinic, and Greek literature. Fine then moves on to Arabian Nights, the Canterbury Tales, the Taming of the Shrew, Rip Van Winkle, Great Expectations, and Jane Eyre to complete the sketch of the shrew as a dominating, ill-tempered, and irrational madwoman. With this in mind, she turns to Yalta, whom she designates “the great shrew of the Talmud”. Fine analyses the story, described in Berakhot 51b, of an enraged Yalta smashing four hundred jars of wine, and demonstrates how Yalta is presented as a classic shrew.

Then, as in each chapter, Fine revises her reading of the story to show that the Talmudic heroine is in fact pushing back against the archetype. In Fine’s reading, the destruction of the wine jars is a “very clever, sophisticated response” to Ulla’s argument denigrating women as merely vessels that hold the fruits of the male body. Fine imagines Yalta saying, “Vessels are unimportant, are they?” as she sends jar after jar crashing to the ground. “Alright. Let’s see how you do without them.”

In Fine’s re-reading, Yalta is entirely reasonable. She isn’t a shrew, but an intelligent woman crafting a cogent and incisive response.

Fine concludes each chapter with the moral of the story. In Yalta’s case, Fine argues that we learn about the danger of dismissal. She cautions, “[D]ismiss the other as irrational, wicked, or unworthy, and they will become the very thing you dismiss them for.” Yalta’s actions are an appropriate staking out of her selfhood in the face of Ulla’s belittling treatment of her.

In further chapters, Fine explores Homa as a femme fatale; Marta as a prima donna; Heruta as embodying the Madonna/whore dichotomy; and Ima Shalom as the angel in the house. My favourite chapter was Fine’s analysis of Beruria as an “overreacherix”.

As Fine puts it, “The overreacherix, as I shall call her, is a woman who likens herself to a man, engaging in a typical masculine pursuit. This, too, is an act of hubris, and here, too, hubris leads to nemesis, as the overreacherix falls precisely because of the feminine nature she thought herself able to transcend.”

Fine lists Jezebel, Hippolyta, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Catherine the Great as cultural examples of the overreacherix. She describes historical women such as Margaret Ann Bulkley and Enriqueta Favez, who pretended to be men in order to work as doctors in the 19th century, but were eventually outed as female and disgraced. Fine initially sees Beruria in this light, a woman who tried to study Torah as a man but is ultimately undone by her own arrogance and overreaching. Fine then demonstrates that the negative story of Beruria’s death exists outside of the Talmud’s set of Beruria narratives. Indeed, she argues that the Beruria Incident, in which her husband Meir persuades his student to seduce Beruria, is “what is known as a pseudo-Rashi, a later comment mistakenly copied into Rashi and misattributed to him”. Instead, Fine claims that the rabbis of the Talmud admire Beruria’s erudition, even as she often bests them. From this, Fine concludes, “In this, the rabbis are far more noble than so many of us. The most tolerant among us, who most readily accept the other into our midst, still cannot bear to be outdone by them.”

I have taught the Beruria narratives so many times that I know them by heart. Their depictions of a female Torah scholar are important to me, professionally and personally. Reading Fine’s analysis of Beruria is the experience of an exhilarating conversation with an exceptionally erudite, well-versed and creative companion. The texts are aired out and re-arranged and everyone can learn something new.

One last note: The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic is a beautiful book. Pictures are included to bring to life the cultural valence of the six classical female archetypes. The prose is smooth, the citations clear, helpful, and not burdensome. It’s not only an adventure in reading, but a smooth and elegant ride.

• Limmud South Africa will be hosting Gila Fine in August 2025. She will present at Limmud Johannesburg (15-17 August); Limmud Durban (20 August); and Limmud Cape Town (23-24 August). For information or to register, visit limmud.org.za.
• Wendy Amsellem teaches at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education and at Yeshivat Maharat. She received a Wexner Graduate Fellowship, and is an alumna of the Drisha Scholars Circle and of Harvard University.