The Mishnaic Sotah Ritual ─ Temple, Gender and Midrash

Rosen-Zvi (Talmudic literature and culture, Tel Aviv U.) explores why a fairly simple rite described in the book of Numbers for a man to test his wife's fidelity, was turned into an elaborate and humiliating public event in the Mishnah. Foremost among his questions is why this one tractate in the Mishnah, of the many that deal with gender and sexuality, is so violent and extreme, calling for the intentional defacement of the female body, its exposure before an audience, and finally its mutilation to the point of death. He covers warning and hiding, the threat, humiliation, drinking and death, measure for measure, historical reality and ideology, theatrical punishments, and texts and rituals. No publication data is cited for the original Tekes she-lo hayah, translated here by Orr Scharf. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ishay Rosen-Zvi is the Head of the Talmud and Late Antiquity section in the department of Hebrew Culture Studies at Tel-Aviv University, where he teaches Talmudic literature and culture. His main interests are: Midrashic hermeneutics; the formation of the Mishna; Temple rituals in rabbinic literature; and gender and sexuality in late antiquity. His Book Demonic Desires: YETZER HARA and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press (2011).