"Try to be a man": The rabbinic construction of masculinity

Harvard Theological Review

Volumn 89, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 19-40

  Satlow, Michael L ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61249164189     PISSN: 00178160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0017816000031795     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (160)

1. For an example of the essentialist position that there is a common core to the male experience, see Thomas Gregor, Anxious Pleasures: The Sexual Lives of an Amazonian People (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985) 9
2. David D. Gilmore, Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990) 1
3. See especially Julian Pitt-Rivers, "Honour and Social Status," in John G. Peristiany, ed., Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society (1966; reprinted Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974) 19-77
4. Stanley Brandes, Metaphors of Masculinity: Sex and Status in Andalusian Folklore (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980)
5. David D. Gilmore, "Introduction: The Shame of Dishonor," in Honor and Shame and the Unity of the Mediterranean (Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association, 1987) 2-21
6. Michael Herzfeld, The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985)
7. See Shaye J. D. Cohen, "The Place of the Rabbi in Jewish Society of the Second Century," in Lee I. Levine, ed., The Galilee in Late Antiquity (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992) 157-73
8. and Lee I. Levine, The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 1989)
9. Aristotle Eth. Nic. 1150b 20
10. Stanley K. Stowers, A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews, and Gentiles (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994) 45
11. On the increasing tendency of all philosophies to emphasize male self-control, see Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 3: Care of the Self (trans. Robert Hurley; New York: Random House, 1988) 39-68
12. On the Stoic attitude toward sexual equality, see Charles Favez, "Une féministe romain: Musonius Rufus," Bulletin de la Société des Études de Lettres 20 (1933) 1-8
13. C. E. Manning, "Seneca and the Stoics on the Equality of the Sexes," Mnemosyne 26 (1973) 170-77
14. and Marcia L. Colish, The Stoic Tradition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1985) 1. 36-38
15. On the idea of women being unable to control themselves, see Suzanne Dixon, "Infirmitas Sexus: Womanly Weakness in Roman Law," Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 52 (1984) 343-71
16. On these themes in the early church, see Elizabeth A. Clark, "Sex, Shame, and Rhetoric: En-Gendering Early Christian Ethics," JAAR 59 (1991) 221-45
17. Aline Rousselle, Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity (trans. Felicia Pheasant; Oxford/New York: Blackwell, 1988) 129-40
18. and Marvin W. Meyer, "Making Mary Male: The Categories 'Male' and 'Female' in the Gospel of Thomas," NTS 31 (1985) 554-70
19. On Stoic influence on the church, see Michel Spanneut, Le Stoicisme des pères de l'Ēglise de Clément de Rome à Clément d'Alexandrie (2d ed.; Paris: Seuil, 1969)
20. Colish, The Stoic Tradition, 2. Colish argues that early Christian Latin thought was far more influenced by Stoicism than has heretofore been thought
21. Stowers, A Rereading of Romans, 58
22. T. Reub. 5.1-7
23. See also T. Judah 13
24. T. Joseph 6.7, 10.2-3
25. Ep. Arist. 250
26. See further Anders Hultgȧrd, "God and Image of Woman in Early Jewish Religion," in Kari Elisabeth BØrresen, ed., Image of God and Gender Models in Judaeo-Christian Tradition (Oslo: Solum Forlag, 1991) 46-47
27. See Susan R. Garrett, "The 'Weaker Sex' in the Testament of Job," JBL 112 (1993) 55-70
28. See also Pieter W. van der Horst, "Images of Women in the Testament of Job," in Michael A. Knibb and Pieter W. van der Horst, eds., Studies in the Testament of Job (SNTSMS 66; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) 99-113
29. Philo Sob. 5
30. see also Mos. 2.68
31. For ascetic tendencies in Philo, see Steven D. Fraade, "Ascetical Aspects of Ancient Judaism," in Arthur Green, ed., Jewish Spirituality: From the Bible through the Middle Ages (London: Routledge, 1986) 253-88, esp. 263-66
32. Richard A. Horsley, "Spiritual Marriage with Sophia," VC 33 (1979) 38-40
33. Philo Abr. 253 (Abraham)
34. Sob. 65 (Jacob)
35. Jos. 42-48 (Joseph)
36. Mos. 2.68 (Moses)
37. On Philo's description of women, see Dorothy Sly, Philo's Perception of Women (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990)
38. Philo Jos. 42-48; 54-57
39. See further Ross S. Kraemer, "Monastic Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Egypt: Philo Judaeus on the Therapeutrides," Signs 14 (1989) 342-70
40. Josephus Bell. 2.120-61
41. Philo Hypothetica 11.1-12
42. Claudia V. Camp, "Understanding a Patriarch: Women in Second Century Jerusalem through the Eyes of Ben Sira," in Amy-Jill Levine, ed., "Women Like This": New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991) 1-39
43. See also Johann Marböck, Weisheit im Wandel: Untersuchungen zur Weisheitstheologie bei Ben Sira (Bonn: Hanstein, 1971) 34-133
44. See Claudia V. Camp, Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs (Sheffield: JSOT, 1985) esp. 79-147
45. Philo Cher. 50 (ET 2. 39)
46. Richard A. Baer, Jr., Philo's Use of the Categories Male and Female (Leiden: Brill, 1970) 65-66
47. Philo Fug. 51-52 (ET Supp. 2. 15-16)
48. See also Abr. 99-102
49. Philo Quaest. in Ex. 1.8 (ET 5. 37-79; modified)
50. t. Yebamot 10.2
51. b. Yebamot 82b, 83b
52. y. Yebamot 8.6, 9d
53. On the', see nn. 31-35 below. It is important here to differentiate between rabbinic constructions and reality. Rabbinic sources do mention in passing that some women could indeed control themselves, but this observation never penetrated to the level of gender construction. Shame, it appears, was one societal institution that promoted female chastity among Jews in late antiquity. See Michael L. Satlow, "Sex and Shame in Late-Antique Judaism," in Vincent L. Wimbush and Richard Valantasis, eds., Asceticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) 535-43
54. b. Qidd. 80b
55. Sifre Deut. 33 (ed. L. Finkelstein, Sifre on Deuteronomy [1939; reprinted New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1969] 60)
56. See b. Ber. 17a, 60b; b. Qidd. 81b; y. Ber. 4:2, 7d
57. b. 'Aboda Zar. 19a
58. m. Soţ. 3.4 (ET Mishna, ed. Albeck, 3. 240-41)
59. See further Judith Romney Wegner, Chattel or Person: The Status of Women in the Mishna (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) 153-62
60. b. Ketub. 65a
61. b. Ketub. 51b, 54a
62. b. Qidd. 81b
63. See, for examples, m. 'Abot 1.5
64. m. Soţ. 1.5
65. t. Soţ. 1.7
66. Sifre Num. 139
67. y. Soţ. 3.4, 19a
68. b. Šabbat 62b (par. b. Yoma 9b)
69. y. Šabbat 14.4, 14d (par. y. 'Aboda Zar. 2.2, 40d; b. Sanh. 75a)
70. For a discussion of these passages, see Michael L. Satlow, "Tasting the Dish": Rabbinic Rhetorics of Sexuality (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995) 158-67
71. See t. Qidd. 5.9-10, 14
72. y. Soţ. 1.3, 16d
73. b. Qidd. 80b-81b
74. See further Louis M. Epstein, Sex Laws and Customs in Judaism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1948) 68-75
75. m. Qidd. 4.12 (ET Mishna, ed. Albeck, 4. 328-29)
76. See also b. Šabbat 33b (women cannot be trusted with information)
77. b. Soţ. 32b
78. Tanhcombining dot belowuma. vayikra' 22 on Gen 22:1
79. On male modesty during sexual intercourse see the discussion in Satlow, "Tasting the Dish," 298-303
80. b. Nid. 31a-b
81. b. Ber. 60a (R Yitzhcombining dot belowak b. Ami)
82. b. Nid. 25b. (R. Yitzhcombining dot belowak b. Ami), 28a (R. Yitzhcombining dot belowak), 71a (R. Hcombining dot belowama b. R. Hcombining dot belowaninah)
83. See also b. 'Erubin 100b
84. See Galen, De usu pertium 14.6 (trans. Margaret Tallmade May; 2 vols.; Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1968) 2. 628-30
85. This approach continues throughout the Middle Ages. See Vern L. Bullough, "On Being a Male in the Middle Ages," in Clare A. Lees, ed., Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994) 31-45
86. MS Munich 95 reads, "prince"
87. b. Ned. 20a-b
88. Sifre Deut. 46 (ET Sifre Deut., ed. Finkelstein, 104)
89. See also b. Qidd. 29b
90. y. Ber. 1.3, 4c
91. y. 'Erubin 10.1, 26a
92. m. 'Abot 3.1
93. Sifre Deut. 45 (ET Sifre Deut., ed. Finkelstein, 103-4)
94. For other rabbinic comments on the efficacy of Torah study, see b. Ber. 5a
95. b. Sukk. 52a-b
96. b. Qidd. 30b
97. b. Sanh. 107a
98. See m. 'Abot 6.4
99. Daniel Boyarin, Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993) 134-66
100. b. Soţ. 4b
101. m. 'Abot 2.6 (ET Mishna, ed. Albeck 4. 359)
102. t. Ber. 6(7).24
103. There is a close parallel in Aramaic at y. Ber. 9.8, 14d
104. See further Saul Lieberman, Tosefta ki-Fshuta: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Tosefta (10 vols.; New York: JTSA, 1955) I. 125 [Hebrew]
105. b. Ber. 63a
106. See also the commentary of the Tosafot, b. Soţ. 23b, s.v.
107. Lev. R. 23.4
108. t. Kel. B. Qamma 4.17
109. t. Kel. B. Mescombining dot below. 1.6
110. Sifre Deut. 307
111. b. Ber. 10a (2)
112. b. 'Erubin 53b-54a (2)
113. b. Pesahcombining dot below. 62b
114. b. 'Aboda Zar. 18a-b (2)
115. b. Ber. 10a
116. b. 'Erubin 53b-54a
117. b. 'Erubin 53b
118. See the recent study of Tal Ilan, "Matrona and Rabbi Jose: An Alternative Interpretation," JSJ 25 (1994) 18-51. Ilan also offers a positivistic interpretation of these stories
119. y. Soţ. 3.4, 19a (par. Num. R. Naso 9.48)
120. The version of this story recorded at b. Yoma 66b appears to have been tacked on to a tradition cited from t. Yebamot 3
121. For a similar literary device (woman goes to rabbi who mocks her), see b. Ned. 20b
122. On these traditions, see further Michael L. Satlow, "'Texts of Terror': Rabbinic Texts, Speech Acts, and the Control of Mores," AJS Review [forthcoming]
123. See, for examples, b. Yebamot 103a-b (par. b. Hor. 10b; b. Nazir 23b)
124. b. Qidd. 49b
125. b. Sanh. 39b, 95b
126. b. Nid. 31b
127. m. 'Aboda Zar. 2.1
128. See also t. 'Aboda Zar. 3.1
129. b. 'Aboda Zar. 22b (par. b. Šabbat 145b-146a; b. Yebamot 103b); (a) and (b) are paralleled at y. 'Aboda Zar. 2.1, 40c, and (c) at b. Giţ. 38a. My thanks to Shaye Cohen for this reference
130. b. Ber. 61a
131. See also b. 'Erubin 18b
132. Gen. R. 22.4 (Mishna Bereshit Rabba, eds. Theodor and Albeck, 210)
133. See also b. Sukk. 52a
134. b. Sanh. 99b
135. 8l See m. 'Abot 1.5
136. b. Ketub. 51b, 54a, 62b
137. y. Ketub. 1:8, 25d, 1:9, 25a
138. y. Sanh. 2:3, 20b
139. m. 'Abot 3.8 (ET Mishna, ed. Albeck, 6. 365)
140. See also m. 'Abot 3.7
141. b. Menahcombining dot below. 99b
142. b. Ber. 8b
143. b. B. Qam. 14b
144. See Michael L. Satlow, "'They Abused Him Like a Woman': Homoeroticism, Gender Blurring, and the Rabbis in Late Antiquity," Journal of the History of Sexuality 5 (1994) 1-25
145. F. E. Santoro L'Hoir, The Rhetoric of Gender Terms: "Man", "Woman," and the Portrayal of Character in Latin Prose (Mnemosyne Suppl. 118; Leiden: Brill, 1992) 1-5
146. On taking the toga virilis, see H. I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity (trans. George Lamb; London: Sheed & Ward, 1956) 233
147. Stanley F. Bonner, Education in Ancient Rome: From the Elder Cato to the Younger Pliny (London: Methuen, 1977) 84-85
148. 9l See Musonius Rufus 12.3; Juvenal 2.54-56
149. See further Richlin, Garden of Priapus (rev. ed.; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992) xii-xxxiii, 81-143, 287-90, and the sources indicated on 246 n. 35
150. idem, "Not Before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the Cinaedus and the Roman Law Against Love Between Men," Journal of the History of Sexuality 3 (1993) 569-71
151. and Ramsay MacMullen, "Roman Attitudes to Greek Love," Historia 31 (1982) 484-502
152. Maud W. Gleason, "The Semiotics of Gender: Physiognomy and Self-Fashioning in the Second Century C.E.," in David M. Halperin, John J. Winkler, Froma I. Zeitlin, eds., Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990) 389-415
153. See Louis H. Feldman, "Use, Authority and Exegesis of Mikra in the Writings of Josephus," in Martin Jan Mulder, ed., Mikra (CRINT 2.1 ; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988) 485-94. Because Antiquities was written for a Roman audience, it is hard to know to what extent Josephus subscribed to this construction of masculinity in contrast to the one that emerges from the wisdom tradition
154. For collections of primarily dedicatory inscriptions from Palestinian synagogues, see Joseph Naveh, On Stone and Mosaic: The Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Ancient Synagogues (Tel-Aviv: Maariv, 1977) [Hebrew]
155. Lea Roth-Gerson, The Greek Inscriptions from the Synagogues in Eretz-Israel (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 1987) [Hebrew]
156. For expressions of piety in Jewish inscriptions from the Land of Israel, see CIJ 1045, 1056, 1161
157. For Jewish inscriptions from Palestine that record an office or occupation, see CIJ 883, 902, 931, 945, 949
158. Rabbi Shimon b. Lakish: b. B. Mescombining dot below. 84a-b
159. see Daniel Boyarin, "The Great Fat Massacre: Sex, Death, and the Grotesque Body in the Talmud," in Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, ed., People of the Body: Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992) 69-100
160. David: b. Mo'ed Qatcombining dot below. 16b