Excommunication, Power, and Shame in bMQ 17a

• In Event: Compelling Reading: Access, Discipline, and Marginality in Reading Rabbinic Texts

Abstract

We will look at the narrative on bMQ 17a about an excommunicated scholar who ends up being stung on his penis. We will approach this passage as a text about sexually inappropriate behaviour and its consequences, and also as a text about excommunication as its own power-play, and its role in dealing with sexual impropriety. We will be looking at the story itself (and possibly at other stories or texts on herem and nezifah) as we explore themes of power, vulnerability and shame within the worlds of the text, within our classrooms, and within the academy.

Authors

• Sarra Lev, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

• Mira Beth Wasserman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College