Limmud eFestival 2023

The novellas that Jews in the late Second Temple period produced feature female heroines at the center of their stories. These novellas, which include the stories of Judith, Esther, Susanna, and Aseneth, were extraordinarily popular tales that depicted women as powerful saviors of the Jewish people. Why did Jewish authors at this time feature women at the heart of their stories? What messages were they seeking to convey? This talk will seek to answer these questions by exploring the historical setting of the late Second Temple period and considering the central role that Jewish literature played during this turbulent time.