She is the poster woman for Jewish feminism and women’s Torah study. Schools have been named for her, responsa written against her. She’s been hailed as a heroine and denounced as an adulteress, held up as exemplar and as cautionary tale. But who was she, Bruria the Tannaite, the only female sage of the Talmud? How do we come to have such conflicting accounts of her? And why does her story end so tragically? Join us as we explore the truth behind the Bruria affair, through the Tosefta and Talmud, Greek tragedy and medieval commentary, Homer and Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf.  This is the first part of a four-part series on Thursdays in July.
Gila Fine is a teacher of Aggada at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, exploring the tales of the Talmud through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and pop-culture.