Beruria the Tannait: A Theological Reading of a Female Mishnaic Scholar

This work deals with the religious enigma of Beruria, the only female scholar mentioned in Talmudic literature. Although a well-known figure to educated readers, her scholarship has not been thoroughly investigated. Because Beruria was better known for her femininity than her literacy, many doubted her scholarship. Some maintain that she never existed, except in the imagination and libido of the Rabbis. The book fully exposes her character and her teachings with an atypical theological perspective of individual status. Comparing Beruria's philosophical model in the Talmudic literature to her portrayal in the post-Talmudic, the book indicates a crisis in Jewish culture, which circles around the differentiation of the sociological versus theological perspective of individual status in general, particularly of women.