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The Reproduction of Species: Humans, Animals and Species Nonconformity in Early Rabbinic Science
- Author(s):
- Rachel Rafael Neis (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Group(s):
- Biblical Studies, Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity, Late Antiquity, Religious Studies, Science Studies and the History of Science
- Subject(s):
- Science, History, Animals--Study and teaching, Disability studies, History, Ancient, Jews--Study and teaching
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- reproduction, species, Science and Religion, Talmud, Midrash, and Rabbinics, History of science, Religious studies, Animal studies, Ancient history, Jewish studies
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/sy92-v673
- Abstract:
- Tracing an early rabbinic approach to the human, this article analyzes how the Tannaim (early Palestinian Jewish sages) of the Mishnah and Tosefta (redacted ca. early 3rd century CE) set the human side by side with other species, and embedded their account within broader considerations of reproduction, zoology and species crossings. The human here emerges at the intersection of menstrual purity law and Temple sacrificial law in the tractates of Niddah and Bekhorot and is part of a reproductive biology that sought to determine the boundaries and overlaps between species. This rabbinic biology ought to be understood amid ancient conversations about what constitutes a proper member of a species, in terms of reproduction, resemblance and variation. The article shows how, even as it disavows genealogical links between humans and animals (and indeed across other species), rabbinic reproductive biology nonetheless implicates humans among and as animals.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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