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Document Details :

Title: 'Present but Absent', 'Still Alive', and 'A Pretty Maiden Who Has No Eyes'
Subtitle: On the Presence and Absence of Women in the Hebrew Language, in the Jewish Religion, and in Israeli Life
Author(s): ELIOR, Rachel
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 20    Date: 2010   
Pages: 381-455
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.20.0.2061156

Abstract :
The present essay is concerned with the following question: why there is not a single book written by a Jewish woman in the Hebrew language before the 20th century? The total absence of women writers in the vast library of the ‘the People of the Book’ created along three millennia in various parts of the world is explained in connection to the present reality of Israeli women and its origins in the past. This article explores the historical background and the religious and social context of the prevailing legal situation and elaborates on its origins in the past and on its implications from antiquity to the turn of the modern era.

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