What’s Rabbi Reading? The Beth Tzedec Book Club

Join us each month at Masala Art for lively conversation, good company, and great food as we explore Jewish literature together. The Beth Tzedec Book Club is open to all who love reading and discussing stories, history, and ideas through a Jewish lens.

In March, we’ll be reading The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud by Gila Fine.

While women in the Talmud are often marginal and unnamed, Fine focuses on six named heroines—Yalta, Homa, Marta, Heruta, Beruria, and Ima Shalom—who seem to embody familiar antifeminist archetypes. Through close, literary rereading, she reveals far more complex characters and uncovers surprisingly nuanced rabbinic perspectives on marriage, intimacy, and women’s lives. In the process, Fine challenges us to rethink not only these ancient stories, but also how we read texts—and how we see one another.