Rabbinic Tales of Destruction

This important book by Julia Watts Belser demands that we look again at rabbinic responses to the Roman conquest of Jerusalem ... [S]he pays particular attention to theoretical studies, including methodologies of related disciplines such as feminist, disability, ecological materialist, and post-colonial studies. In all, Belser brings insights from the crises and successes of our own era in order to reveal new interpretations of these ancient texts. --Susan Marks, Reading Religion Drawing on feminist, postcolonial, and critical disability studies, Julia Watts Belser probes the scars of rabbinic memory of Jerusalem's destruction with a depth and dimensionality that are as illuminating as they are devastating. Her book provides the sharpest lens yet on rabbinic accounts of this paradigmatic moment in Jewish history. --Cynthia Baker, author of Jew Julia Watts Belser's book on the narratives of destruction of the Temple as found in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Gittin, represents nothing less than the coming together and mutual perfection of several trends in the scholarly, literary study of the Talmud of the last two decades. Her work incorporates post-colonial, gender, sexuality, and disability studies in addition to the methods of slow, detailed reading developed in literary critical circles to uncover layers of meaning within the text of which we had hardly suspected the existence. A major contribution to all of those fields as well as presaging some new directions in thinking about the history of rabbinic thought. A beautiful piece of writing in its own right as well. --Daniel Boyarin, author of A Traveling Homeland: The Talmud as Diaspora Julia Watts Belser's vivid readings of the Talmud's stories of destruction expertly elucidate the pathos and tragedy as well as the heroic struggle depicted in the texts. She brilliantly explores the literary artistry and unpacks the complex meanings of these fascinating Talmudic narratives. --Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Literature, New York University