Deena Aranoff, "Household and Halakha: A Genealogy of Jewish Practice"

Tanenbaum Family Lecture

This talk examines the role of the household in the development of rabbinic halakha. It contends that the household was a highly generative domain, one that produced Jewish norms and shaped halakha. Ultimately, this paper arrives at a more precise genealogy of Jewish norms that allows for the interplay between common practice and more elite formulations of Jewish law.

Deena Aranoff is Faculty Director of the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. She teaches rabbinic literature, medieval patterns of Jewish thought, and the broader question of continuity and change in Jewish history. Her recent publications engage with the subject of childcare, maternity and the making of Jewish culture.