With the rise of the #MeToo movement, Jewish activists invoked the Jewish ethical tradition to support principles of accountability, dignity, and gender justice. One story from the Talmud seemed to offer a perfect precedent for #MeToo, describing how a rabbinic leader was chastened and dismissed for sexual violations. But is this an accurate reading of the text from Moed Katan 17a? In this talk, I take a second look at the talmudic text I at first celebrated and discover a more complicated and disturbing story. I offer my reading and re-reading as a case study in how the Talmud can—and can't—advance contemporary ethics.

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Mira Beth Wasserman is associate professor of rabbinic literature and director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, outside Philadelphia, PA. Her research focuses on the art of the Babylonian Talmud and on how the Talmud can be deployed to support contemporary Jewish ethics. Her first book, Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals: The Talmud after the Humanities (Penn Press), was awarded the Salo Baron prize for the best first book in Jewish Studies published in 2017.

With the rise of the #MeToo movement, Jewish activists invoked the Jewish ethical tradition to support principles of accountability, dignity, and gender justice. One story from the Talmud seemed to offer a perfect precedent for #MeToo, describing how a rabbinic leader was chastened and dismissed for sexual violations. But is this an accurate reading of the text from Moed Katan 17a? In this talk, I take a second look at the talmudic text I at first celebrated and discover a more complicated and disturbing story. I offer my reading and re-reading as a case study in how the Talmud can—and can't—advance contemporary ethics.

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Mira Beth Wasserman is associate professor of rabbinic literature and director of the Center for Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, outside Philadelphia, PA. Her research focuses on the art of the Babylonian Talmud and on how the Talmud can be deployed to support contemporary Jewish ethics. Her first book, Jews, Gentiles, and Other Animals: The Talmud after the Humanities (Penn Press), was awarded the Salo Baron prize for the best first book in Jewish Studies published in 2017.