What women want – according to a medieval Talmudist

GENIZA FRAGMENT OF THE MONTH (MAY 2016): What women want (most)? A feminist reading of the Talmud from the Middle Ages: T-S Ar.18(2).20 (Zvi Stampfer).

The quandary of ‘what women want’ is not a modern one, but is apparently one that has bothered men since time immemorial. An interesting attempt to address this issue was made by a medieval Jewish scholar in his commentary on tractate Qiddushin of the Babylonian Talmud. The Genizah fragment T-S Ar.18(2).20, written in a mixture of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic (as well as a few Aramaic quotations), contains part of this commentary.

Past posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit are here, here, here, here, here, and here.