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Part of the series,ĚýThe Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and ThougłółŮĚý

With Dr. Judith Hauptman, E. Billi Ivry Professor Emerita of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture, 91żě˛ĄĚýĚý

Kiddush marks the onset of Sabbath sanctity and havdalah marks its end. Both of these ritual acts derive from the Talmud. A review of Talmudic texts reveals that although kiddush did not change much during the Talmudic period, havdalah underwent significant modification. It began as a simple statement of the end of Sabbath sanctity but evolved into a full-blown ritual in which we recite blessings, light a candle, smell spices, and drink wine. Anecdotes abound.ĚýIn this session, we study the changes to theĚýhavdalah ceremony and consider what brought them about and what they communicate about this unique momentĚýthat marks the end of the Sabbath. We reflect on how marking the beginning and end of the Sabbath allows us to experience its holiness more acutely.

Lecture Notes

• Dr. Judith Hauptman opened the session by pointing the limited textual definitions of the Shabbat observance in Tanakh, explaining that the rabbis explored this more fully in the Mishnah and Talmud. She focused on the bookends of commemoration, kiddush and havdallah.
• Kiddush is first mentioned in opposing viewpoints presented by Hillel and Shammai and is then deepened by subsequent rabbis. Some of the issues that emerge from these Talmudic discussions include:
  • When a Friday afternoon meal becomes lingers into Shabbat, how should one approach the food (clearing it? Leaving it to eat?)? No, cover the meal and then say the kiddush, then remove the cover and you have a sabbath meal.  This is a reversal of an earlier decision. Hauptman pointed out that halakha is not unchanging.
  • The kiddush is recited twice on Friday night and again on Saturday. The Saturday kiddish is different, emphasizing different verses about Shabbat observance.
  • Mostly the rabbis put forth that women are exempt from the time bound commandments, but they are required to say kiddush and can say it for men.
• These texts point to the importance of kiddish as establishing Shabbat and stresses that the commandments of keeping and observing the Sabbath are incumbent on everyone.   
• Havdalah is the separation between the holiness of shabbat and the rest of the week. Hauptman introduced the rabbinic debates on where havdalah ought to occur (in the home over wine vs in the synagogue during Ma’ariv), what needs to be recited (wine, light, spices or just a statement of separation from Shabbat). The rabbis discussed the existing practices and the confusion around these practices. One of the elements that was determined was having havdalah recited twice (in synagogue and at home) mirrors the recitation of the kiddush twice.
• These amazing rituals began as ways to acknowledge the entrance and exit of Shabbat and provide clear time markers (despite the obscurity and challenges of places delineations on time).

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

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Part of the series,ĚýThe Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and ThougłółŮĚý

With Dr. Sarit Kattan Gribetz, 91żě˛Ą fellow and Assistant Professor of Classical Judaism, Fordham University 

Rabbinic sources imagine the period of twilight between the six days of creation and the Sabbath to be a mystically productive time. It was then, they explain, that God created the rainbow and the manna, letters and writing, Abraham’s ram and Moses’s staff. But when is twilight and how long does it last? Does it belong to the day that is ending, the day that is beginning, or to both days at once? These questions are not merely theoretical—their answers determine important matters of Jewish practice, such as when Shabbat ought to begin or which day to circumcise a child. In rabbinic narratives, the time of twilight can serve as a powerful setting for studying mysterious aspects of the created world. In this session, we’ll explore the concept and history of twilight in rabbinic literature, and the role that this liminal time—literally called “between the suns” (bein hashmashot)—plays in rabbinic theory, law, and narrative. 

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

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Part of the series, The Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought 

With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics

It may surprise you to learn that, in the opinion of Talmudic teachings and the traditions that emerge from them, death is not a moment but a process—a transition that leads from one stage of life (which we call “life”) to another (which we call “death”). These beliefs have profound implications for our understanding of Jewish rituals of death and mourning, Jewish theology, and much else. Prof. Kraemer offers a close reading of the texts that discuss these rituals as well as the beliefs underlying them.  

Lecture Notes

• Kraemer introduced the rabbinic concept of death in which someone is not wholly dead until the third day after their death. In the rabbinic imagination, the deceased continued to be a presence especially in the first three days when the soul continues to flutter over the body. There is also a concept that the newly deceased body feels the pain of decomposition, but earth provides comfort for the deceased.
• The way shiva is practiced mirrors this concept and the experience of the deceased (being close to the ground, separated).  Shiva is also designed so that those who are mourning act similarly to the deceased (ie. can’t leave their homes, engage in sexual relations, etc) – and then the mourners diverge from the deceased such that they slowly get reintegrated into the community and the deceased slowly go through stages of death.
• Death was not an end, but a transition and the rituals around death reflect that the person who died needs comforting in addition to those who are mourning.  Death is a process that occurs in stages over time – but it seems that there is agreement that the consciousness continues after the body decomposes and that death is merely an end for the flesh/body but that our lives do continue in some way. 
• Olam Haba (the world to come) is not something that happens immediately after we die, rather it happens at some point in the future, following messianic times.

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

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Part of the series,ĚýThe Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and ThougłółŮĚý

With Rabbi Mychal Springer, Manager of Clinical Pastoral Education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and Adjunct Professor, 91żě˛Ą 

On Rosh Hashanah we read about two central biblical characters, Sarah and Hannah, who after facing infertility for many years are told that they will conceive. Many years ago, when I was undergoing fertility treatments and listened to these stories on Rosh Hashanah, I felt as if my struggles were actually at the heart of Jewish religious experience, selected by the rabbis to echo in the birth of every new year for generations of Jews. 

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

Download Sources

Part of the series, The Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought 

With Dr. Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies, 91żě˛Ą 

The Bible abounds with characters who transgress boundaries, for better and for worse. One of these characters who comes to a bad end is the half-Israelite, half-Egyptian blasphemer in Leviticus 24:10-16, 23. It’s clear that the Bible wants this story to show the dire consequences for blasphemy, but why is the identity of the blasphemer so specific, and how does this story relate to other laws outlined in the same chapter of the Torah? We explore these issues with the aid of both traditional and modern critical commentary. 

Lecture Notes

• Dr. Alan Cooper introduced the marginal figure of the blasphemer from Leviticus, calling into question whether he blasphemed at all. The story in Leviticus introduces a man whose mother is an Israelite and his father is an Egyptian. He gets into a fight with another Israelite and invokes/uses/curses using the ineffable name of God and is subsequently stoned.
• Cooper utilizes commentary from people who were expelled from Spain to explore this text. In particular, the sources Abraham Saba (1440-1508) develop a backstory establishing the taskmaster who Moses kills in Exodus is the father of the Blasphemer. Moses killed this man by invoking God’s name, so the blasphemer is enacting revenge by invoking the name of God.
• The status of the “blasphemer” and the approach the commentators take in exploring this story is connected to their own concerns about who is in or out of the Jewish community in their time frame and points to the specific challenges that they were facing around identity.

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

This session was sponsored by Yale Asbell.

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

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Part of the series,ĚýThe Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and ThougłółŮĚý

With Dr. Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, 91żě˛Ą 

Together we explore the story of Rav Nachman’s daughters and examine their transformation from daughters and wives to witches. Taken into captivity and then returned, they emerge as women on the margins of rabbinic culture. For the rabbis this transformation represents a great challenge to the world order and thus is an expression of their deepest anxieties and fears where they must face that certain things are not within their control. In our reading of this story, we see how the women who are movedĚýfrom inside the family to the margins of rabbinic life and culture reminds us of our own complicated journeys navigating where it is we are, and where it is we want to be.Ěý

Lecture Notes

Dr. Marjorie Lehman introduced this as a piece taken from a course she taught called, “Harlots, Witches, and Priests” and the focus was how to read Talmudic literature. The story she introduced presented figures with complicated lives. The broader context for her interest in witches is the current uptick in people identifying themselves as witches or the increase in interest in witchcraft, which could be connected to the desire to find meaning in chaos and/or to control circumstances.

• She introduced the story from the of the daughters of Rav Nachman who are introduced as stirring a pot with their bare hands. A Rav Ilish uses this to cite their exceptionalism, which leads to them being held captive along with Rab Ilish. Rab Ilish then talks to a man who man who talks to birds. The birds (a raven and a dove) tell Rav Ilish to escape, which he does, but not before trying to ascertain whether the daughters of Rav Nachman are still faithful so he goes and spies on them in the bathhouse, thereby discovering that they have husbands in captivity. He leaves them. The daughters return (Lehman specified that the Hebrew was not clear if they came back on their own or if they were ransomed). And the opening sentence is reiterated and changed: “They would stir the pot with witchcraft.”
• In biblical tradition, witchcraft is forbidden, but there are seeming nuanced responses to activities and elements connected with sorcery, spells, and demons throughout the Talmud.
• Deconstructing this complicated story brought several big questions to the fore—were the women marginalized or empowered by the witchcraft label? Lehman reads this as a way for the daughters of Rav Nachman to assert their identity and take control of their narrative.
• She connected the story of the daughters of Nachman with the historic label of witch, in which “attempts to control women have masqueraded as crackdowns on witchcraft.” She builds an explicit connection between the Salem Witch Trials and the daughters of Nachman. The label of “witch” is a way of masking the complicated lives of women—particularly in spaces outside male control (kitchen, bathhouse in the Talmudic period)
• Lehman pushed the group to broaden the understanding of the story—not just of the patriarchy labeling women as witches, but potentially women owning that label and using it assert their own power.

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

Download Sources
Part of the series, The Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought 

With Dr. Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, Assistant Professor, Talmud and Rabbinics, 91żě˛Ą 

Great fans of ambiguity, the sages of the Mishnah and the Talmud loved to problematize what people of their day considered the most deeply ingrained of binaries, including gender and sex identity. For them, human understandings were imperfect, and every perspective was up for debate. Torah was Divine and perfect, but its interpreters were not. Long ago, our sages debated questions of sex difference and the extent of our capacity to know what we are. We explore some of these debates and ask if they still hold relevance for us. 

Lecture Notes

Dr Mordecai Schwartz introduced the story of the creation of humans through two images, one from the Sarejevo Haggadah and the other from a ______ which depict Eve emerging from Adam. He used these images to set up the rabbinic understanding of creation and particularly gender identity.

He described Aristophanes description of gender in Plato’s Symposium in which there were three types of genders—male-female, female-female, male-male—that were separated from each other after a failed revolt against the gods. This story existed and could have been know to the rabbis while the Talmud was being constructed. The rabbinic formulation in Bereshit Rabbah shows a different sort of response. The separation was not a punishment, but proart of the act of creation itself. Bo

Through the lecture, he introduced three separate theories of gender in rabbinic literature around creation: 1) Binary view with two genders being separated from the beginning; 2) Body made as one and then separated; and 3) the first human was in a variable, flexible body, in which genetalia and gender were added later in creation.

Suggested Sources

Bibilcal Archeology Society

by Baruch Bokser

by Daniel Boyarin

“” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .

Download Sources

Part of the series, The Space in Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought 

With Dr. Jonathan Ray, Samuel Eig Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Georgetown University, and 91żě˛Ą Alumnus 

Jewish law provides relatively clear standards for who is, and who is not, a member of Jewish society. But popular Jewish acceptance – or rejection – of certain people as “Jews” has often run counter to these legal definitions. From medieval Spain to the Ottoman Empire to modern day America and the State of Israel, conversion out of, or into, the Jewish community has raised tensions over who is (and isn’t) considered Jewish. We discuss the question of Jewish belonging throughout history by looking at groups of converts and the liminal space they inhabited on the margins of the Jewish world. 

Lecture Notes

Dr. Jonathan Ray introduced the concept of anussim, Jews who were forced to convert but would still be considered Jewish. He looked at two historical periods in which issues around conversion and the standing of specific converso communities within the Jewish community, conversos in Christian Spain and Portugal and the dönme in Muslim countries. The questions of identity and community acceptance had ramifications around who was able to marry others within the community, could they be part of food/wine production, and how welcomed they were into the Jewish community.

• Rabbis tried to understand if anussim had maintained a private Jewish practice, despite the need to have a public Christian identity
• In communities where there were both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish communities, conversos seemed to be more comfortable with Sephardi Jews rather than Jews generally; the ethnic connection was more important to them than the religious connection. Dr. Ray said in some cases they would prefer to marry a Catholic from Spain than a Jew from Eastern Europe.
• The dönme are followers of Sabbatei Zevi who were forced to convert in the Ottoman Empire.
• This question of who is defined as a Jew and how they could view assert their place in the Jewish community has huge implications on contemporary Jewish identity questions between denominations and in the state of Israel.
• Another piece that came up is the interplay of rabbinic authority, halakha and the community in making decisions around who is “in” and who is “out.” The rabbinic authority has to represent the community and have community “buy-in” in order to maintain weight. In addition, in certain circumstances the community would ignore halakha making it somewhat irrelevant (eg. The extent to which they abided by the status of mamzeirut and the halakhot surrounding a mamzer). 
• Rabbi Andelman noted in the conclusion that while in some of our sessions the notion of both/and rather than either/or is celebratory, here, this liminal space of identity and who is a Jew, can be quite painful for those that are not recognized by everyone as being Jewish. 

About the Series

We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—  can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?  

In this series, 91żě˛Ą scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.” 

We will explore themes of borders, thresholds and transitions as they pertain to the story of Creation, gender, conversion, birth and death, the duality of living as a Jew in America, and more.

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91żě˛Ą, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information .