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Mothers

Parents Eating their Children – The Torah’s Curse and Its Undertones in Medieval Interpretation

Early rabbinic interpretation connected the curse of child eating (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57) with the description of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in Lamentations (2:20 and 4:10) and the Roman destruction of the Second Temple. In the Middle Ages, however, Jewish commentators de-emphasize this connection. The reason for this lies in the 12th c. development of Christian Bible commentary.

Dr. Rabbi

Wendy Love Anderson

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Mother and Child: Postpartum Defilement and Circumcision

Dr.

Tzvi Novick

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A Tribute to the Blasphemer’s Mother: Shelomit, Daughter of Divri

A struggling ex-slave and single mother labors against all odds to raise her son and shield him from the prejudices of the surrounding community.

Prof. Rabbi

Wendy Zierler

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Morality and Prepositions: On Taking a Mother on Her Young

Using the martial idiom “taking a mother on her young,” Deuteronomy forbids taking eggs and chicks without first shooing the mother bird. Is the concern cruelty to animals?

Dr.

Tzvi Novick

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Can Elijah Reconcile Fathers and Sons?

Biblical tradition often depicts difficult father and son relationships. Accordingly, the concluding verses of Malachi—the final book of the Prophets—imagines ultimate redemption through a metaphor of father-son reconciliation, in which the fire and brimstone prophet Elijah is its unlikely harbinger. Leave it to the poet Yehuda Amichai to step in and offer a counter-model to rescue the metaphor.

Prof. Rabbi

Wendy Zierler

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Heretics, Mystics and Abraham’s Mother

Rabbi

David D. Steinberg

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