Eros and the Jews: From Biblical Israel to Contemporary AmericaUniversity of California Press, 1 sept. 2023 - 334 pages Contradictory stereotypes about Jewish sexuality pervade modern culture, from Lenny Bruce's hip eroticism to Woody Allen's little man with the big libido (and even bigger sexual neurosis). Does Judaism in fact liberate or repress sexual desire? David Biale does much more than answer that question as he traces Judaism's evolving position on sexuality, from the Bible and Talmud to Zionism up through American attitudes today. What he finds is a persistent conflict between asceticism and gratification, between procreation and pleasure. From the period of the Talmud onward, Biale says, Jewish culture continually struggled with sexual abstinence, attempting to incorporate the virtues of celibacy, as it absorbed them from Greco-Roman and Christian cultures, within a theology of procreation. He explores both the canonical writings of male authorities and the alternative voices of women, drawing from a fascinating range of sources that includes the Book of Ruth, Yiddish literature, the memoirs of the founders of Zionism, and the films of Woody Allen. Biale's historical reconstruction of Jewish sexuality sees the present through the past and the past through the present. He discovers an erotic tradition that is not dogmatic, but a record of real people struggling with questions that have challenged every human culture, and that have relevance for the dilemmas of both Jews and non-Jews today. Contradictory stereotypes about Jewish sexuality pervade modern culture, from Lenny Bruce's hip eroticism to Woody Allen's little man with the big libido (and even bigger sexual neurosis). Does Judaism in fact liberate or repress sexual desire? David Bial |
Table des matières
| 9 | |
Law and Desire in the Talmud | 31 |
Rabbinic Authority and Popular Culture in Medieval Europe | 58 |
Sensuality Asceticism and Medieval Jewish Philosophy | 84 |
Sexuality and Spirituality in the Kabbalah | 99 |
The Displacement of Desire in EighteenthCentury Hasidism | 119 |
Eros and Enlightenment | 147 |
Zionism as an Erotic Revolution | 174 |
Sexual Stereotypes in American Jewish Culture | 202 |
Creating Desire | 226 |
NOTES | 229 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED SECONDARY WORK | 293 |
| 307 | |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Eros And The Jews: From Biblical Israel To Contemporary America David Biale Affichage d'extraits - 1992 |
Expressions et termes fréquents
adultery ambivalence ascetic asceticism Asherah Ashkenazic Aviv Baal Shem Tov become Ben Sira Bible biblical body Canaanite celibacy chap chapter Christian circumcision contemporary David divine divorce early Eastern Europe eighteenth century elite Eros erotic eroticism female fertility Genesis gentile Gershom Scholem Hasidim Hasidism Haskalah Hebrew holy husband Ibid ideology Iggeret ha-Kodesh intermarriage Israel Israelite Jacob Jerusalem Jewish culture Jewish Law Jewish sexuality Jewish women Jews Judah Judaism Kabbalah kabbalistic kibbutz Leviticus liberation literature Maggid Maimonides male marital marriage marry maskilim menstruation Middle Ages midrash modern Moses movement mystical myth Nahman niddah norms novel onah one's philosophers physical poem Portnoy practices procreation procreative rabbis role romantic Ruth Sabbatianism Scholem Second Aliyah Sefer Hasidim sexual desire sexual pleasure sexual relations Shekhinah Song of Songs spiritual story struggle suggests talmudic temptation theology tion Torah trans wife woman writers Yiddish York Zionist Zohar