Dr. Shana Strauch Schick is a lecturer in Rabbinic Literature in the Department of Talmud and the Multidisciplinary Department of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan University. She is the author of Intention in Talmudic Law: Between Thought and Deed (Brill, 2021) and the editor of Land and Spirituality in Rabbinic Literature: A Memorial Volume for Yaakov Elman (Brill, 2022). Her forthcoming monograph, Women in Rabbinic Law and Narrative: Vying Currents in Babylonian and Palestinian Texts, will be published by Brandeis University Press.
Last Updated
April 16, 2026
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Seed, blood, or nothing? This debate among the Greeks about the role of women in the development of a fetus influenced the way Second Temple and Rabbinic interpreters understood the meaning of the biblical verse "If a woman emits seed" (Leviticus 12:2).
Seed, blood, or nothing? This debate among the Greeks about the role of women in the development of a fetus influenced the way Second Temple and Rabbinic interpreters understood the meaning of the biblical verse "If a woman emits seed" (Leviticus 12:2).
Midrash Chad Shenati (ca. 10th cent.), discovered in the Cairo Genizah, praises Isaac for praying for Rebecca to have children, criticizing Abraham for not doing the same for Sarah, who is barren for much longer. Emphasizing the sensivity of Isaac, the only monogamous patriarch, is in line with the trend towards monogamy in Israel at the time of Midrash Chad Shenati’s composition.
Midrash Chad Shenati (ca. 10th cent.), discovered in the Cairo Genizah, praises Isaac for praying for Rebecca to have children, criticizing Abraham for not doing the same for Sarah, who is barren for much longer. Emphasizing the sensivity of Isaac, the only monogamous patriarch, is in line with the trend towards monogamy in Israel at the time of Midrash Chad Shenati’s composition.
A set of homilies from the Genizah connects two biblical readings (sidrot) in Leviticus by emphasizing the importance of the mitzvah of orlah as a key to inheriting and remaining on the land.
A set of homilies from the Genizah connects two biblical readings (sidrot) in Leviticus by emphasizing the importance of the mitzvah of orlah as a key to inheriting and remaining on the land.
