Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction: firoozeh kashani-sabet and beth s. wenger 1
5. Part I. Comparative perspectives
6. 1. Jewish and Muslim feminist theologies in dialogue: discourses of difference 17
7. 2. Jewish and Islamic legal traditions: diffusions of law 46
8. Part II. Limits of biology bodily purity and religiosity
9. 3. Scholarly versus women’s authority in the Islamic law of menstrual purity 73
10. 4. Gender duality and its subversions in rabbinic law 106
11. 5. Gender and reproductive technologies in shia Iran 126
12. Part III. Crimes of passion: formative texts and traditions
13. 6. Not a man: Joseph and the character of masculinity in Judaism and Islam 155
14. 7. Dishonorable passions: law and virtue in Muslim communities 181
15. 8. Legislating the family: gender, Jewish law, and rabbinical courts in mandate Palestine 203
16. Part IV. Cultural depictions of Jewish and Muslim women
17. 9. A literary perspective: domestic violence, the “woman question,” and the “Arab question” in early Zionism 241
18. 10. An autobiographical perspective: schools, jails, and cemeteries in shoshanna levy’s life story 268
19. 11. An artistic perspective the women of bahram beizai’s cinema 311
20. Afterword: common ground, contested terrain 341
21. Glossary 349
22. About the contributors 351
23. Index 355