“In the Clothes of Men”: Transcending Gender Norms in Sixteenth-Century Sephardi Commentaries on Ruth

• In Event: Gender and Questions of Agency

Abstract

The sixteenth-century Sephardi communities of the Ottoman Empire were hothouses of exegetical creativity. Inspired by the annual exposition of the book of Ruth at Shavu’ot, commentators and rabbis devoted particular attention to its interpretation. A comparison of their comments reveals a shared anxiety regarding Ruth and Naomi’s journey from Moab to Bethlehem, and interpreters asked why the women travelled alone rather than waiting for a passing caravan, how they found their way without a male guide, and how they protected themselves from attack. Seeking an explanation in an unusual grammatical feature of Ruth 1, the use of apparently masculine forms with reference to Ruth and Naomi, the commentators suggested that the women transcended gender norms of travel by journeying independently and disguised as men.

To consider why the women’s journey was so problematic for early modern Sephardi exegetes, this paper will compare the commentaries of Solomon Alkabets, Moses Alsheikh, and Samuel Uceda. Examining the sources the informed their exegetical discussions, the paper will ask how the circulation of interpretations in oral, manuscript, and printed forms enabled contemporary expositors to develop common interpretive themes. Their attitudes towards Ruth and Naomi’s journey will be compared to the discussions of women’s mobility in contemporary responsa and correspondence in the Cairo Genizah in order to ask how sixteenth-century gender norms shaped the interpretation of the biblical text. Finally, the paper will examine the notion that Ruth and Naomi transgressed the Deuteronomistic prohibition of cross-dressing by undertaking the journey in men’s clothing, drawing attention to halakhic discussions of travelling in disguise and the liceity of festive cross-dressing at Purim. Pointing to similar themes in chivalric romances, notably the tales of Amadís de Gaula, the paper will suggest that familiar narrative plots have shaped the commentators’ retelling of the biblical text.

By examining explanations of Ruth 1 in their social contexts, this paper aims to demonstrate for the first time how early modern Sephardi interpretations of the Bible were informed by exegetes’ own expectations regarding gender norms of travel. It will thereby contribute to a fuller understanding of the interpretive creativity of sixteenth-century Sephardi expositors.

Author

• Benjamin Williams, Leo Baeck College / University of Oxford