University of Pennsylvania Press
The Return of the Absent Father
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About this book
The Return of the Absent Father offers a new reading of a chain of seven stories from tractate Ketubot in the Babylonian Talmud, in which sages abandon their homes, wives, and families and go away to the study house for long periods. Earlier interpretations have emphasized the tension between conjugal and scholarly desire as the key driving force in these stories. Haim Weiss and Shira Stav here reveal an additional layer of meaning to the father figure's role within the family structure. By shifting the spotlight from the couple to the drama of the father's relationship with his sons and daughters, they present a more complex tension between mundane domesticity and the sphere of spiritual learning represented by the study house.
This coauthored book presents a dialogic encounter between Weiss, a scholar of rabbinic literature, and Stav, a scholar of modern Hebrew literary studies. Working together, they have produced a book resonant in its melding of the scholarly norms of rabbinics with a literary interpretation based in feminist and psychoanalytic theory.
Author / Editor information
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
v -
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Preface
vii -
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The Chain of Stories
xv -
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Introduction “Had I Been Here, I Would Have Had Such a Child”
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The First Story: Rav Rehumi and His Wife
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The Second Story: Judah, Son of R. Hiyah
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The Third Story: The Wedding of R. Judah ha-Nasi’s Son
33 -
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The Fourth Story: R. Hanania b. Hakhinai, His Daughter, and His Wife
46 -
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The Fifth Story: R. Hama b. Bisa
58 -
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The Sixth Story: R. Akiva’s Family
65 -
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The Seventh Story: Rava and His Son Rav Yosef
78 -
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Epilogue
83 -
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Notes
93 -
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Bibliography
131 -
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Source Index
141 -
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Name Index
143 -
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Subject Index
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