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This paper argues that parashah 17 of Genesis Rabbah 17, which interprets the biblical story of the creation of woman from the rib, is a carefully edited text, which tackles not only the origins of humankind but also of misogyny. It shows that its structure develops from praise of women, to parodies on women haters and hatred, using what Bakhtin referred to as carnivalesque forms of humour. It also reflects on the reasons humour has not been pointed at by previous scholars.

This paper compares rabbinic and patristic stories of repenting prostitutes from late antiquity, showing that while some narrative structures remain fixed in both traditions, namely, the prostitute's story framed within that of a man, a competition between the man and the prostitute over the leading role, the perpetually open path to repentance, and more, other structures vary or take a different meaning. These include the gender identity of the desiring subject, the spiritual principle behind the story, the gender of the repentant, and his/her fate. The article offers a definition of “the repenting prostitute” as a tale type, as well as close readings in its rabbinic ecotype, in order to understand if, how, and why the Jewish and Christian traditions take different paths of meaning-making using similar narrative forms.

[...]Hasamba 1G, in accordance with this generation's doctrine, never cared much about religion. According to the Israeli law of return, one is regarded a Jew if he/she was born to a Jewish mother or father, had a Jewish grandmother or grandfather, or had converted to Judaism.2 The Knesset was trying to interpret the religious law in the context of a secular polity.