CONFERENCE IN FRENCH
fillesderachi.org2nd edition ROUEN: May 22-23, 2022
Is the woman a MAN like the others?
When it comes to characteristics that apply specifically to business or medicine (and, to a lesser degree, political leadership), most Jews don’t really distinguish between men and women. However they do make a difference when it comes to the role of women in Judaism and in religious studies.
Why – and does it still make sense?
Rashi, rightly famous for his biblical and Talmudic commentaries that have enabled generations to learn for themselves, is less known for the impact of his work and that of his Ashkenazi colleagues on Jewish women in France. medieval, including her daughters, who enjoyed an autonomy and a status that will only be found in the twentieth century. At a time when most women were illiterate and the few educated women were those who could read the Bible, Rashi’s daughters knew the Talmud so well that legend has it that one of them wrote her commentary on the Tractate Nedarim.
Following in the footsteps of Rashi’s daughters, metaphorically speaking, we move forward from our first meeting, two years ago in the pre-covid era, in the city of Troyes.
This year, women and men from all streams of Judaism will meet in the city of Rouen, near the oldest Jewish monument in France, built around 1100: the Maison Sublime. Completely forgotten until 1976, when it was rediscovered during the construction of the city’s courthouse. The Maison Sublime, which most specialists agree was a yeshiva (therefore the only preserved medieval rabbinical school in the world), bears witness to the active Jewish presence in Normandy, which was particularly important in the Middle Ages.
I am very proud to be associated with this second edition of Les Filles de Rashi, because the question is asked: “Is the woman a man like the others? Jewish perspectives”?
Join me and others (men and women) on May 22-23 to explore Jewish history together…and the perspective of “herstory”!
Rabbi Tom Cohen, Franco-American Synagogue of Paris, Honorary President of the Daughters of Rashi