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Gila Fine

Gila Fine

Gila Fine teaches Aggada at Pardes, exploring the Talmud's stories through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis and pop-culture. She is editor in chief of Maggid Books.

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About

Gila Fine is editor in chief of Maggid Books (Koren). She also teaches Aggada at Pardes, exploring the stories of the Talmud through philosophy, literary criticism, psychoanalysis and pop-culture. Gila has previously taught at Hebrew University, TAU and LSJS. Haaretz has called her “a young woman who is on her way to becoming one of the more outstanding Jewish thinkers of the next generation.”


Programs

1
Mirror, Mirror in the Temple: Rabbinic Reflections of Desire
Why is the Bible so afraid of love? Who were the lovers who saved the Jewish People? And how do the rabbis deconstruct one of the greatest myths of their time? A reading of Midrash Tanhuma Pekudei 9, through the Bible and Talmud, Ovid and Caravaggio, Maharal and the Brothers Grimm, Jacques Lacan and George Orwell, Erich Fromm and Harry Potter.
2
Unmasking the Women of the Talmud: The Tragedy of Heruta
Why are women divided into saintly and seductive? How does a married couple go for years without intimacy? And why must the wife dress up as a prostitute to show her husband who she really is? The domestic drama of R. Hiyya and his wife, read through Demosthenes and Nahmanides, Sigmund Freud and Oscar Wilde, Immanuel Kant and Martin Buber, Ruth Calderon and Mad Men.
3
“THAT DAY HIS SOUL RESTED”: THE MERCY KILLING OF REBBE
What makes Rebbe’s handmaid decide to put an end to her master’s life? Why does she use a clay jar as the murder weapon? And how does this story form the basis for the Jewish laws of euthanasia? Exploring Ktubot 104a, in light of the Shulhan Arukh and Sefat Emet, Iggrot Moshe and Tzitz Eliezer, Carol Gilligan and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Brittany Maynard.
4
LIKE A MOTH TO A FLAME: A DRAMA OF RABBINIC TEMPTATION
What makes rabbis so often fall into scandal? Can women prefer Torah to family life? And why does R. Meir allow a female congregant to spit in his face? A reading of PT Sotah 16:4, through Psikta Rabbati and Midrash Lekah Tov, Maimonides and Menachem de Lonzano, Ruth Calderon and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Spider-Man and Rabbi X.
5
THE MADWOMAN IN THE RABBI’S ATTIC: THE TALE OF YALTA THE SHREW
Why are shrews always so vicious? How did the ancient world view the male/female body? And what possessed Yalta to smash 400 bottles of her husband’s wine? The comic tale of Yalta, read through Aristotle and Euripides, William Shakespeare and William Congreve, Charlotte Brontë and Jean Rhys, Adrienne Rich and R. Kook.
Genres
  • Torah / Tanach / Text
  • Talmud / Mishna / Gemara

Endorsements

A young woman who is on her way to becoming one of the more outstanding Jewish thinkers of the next generation... Fine, who makes it look chic to be frum, is the Editor in Chief of Maggid Books and can give over a shiur – as they say in these parts, referring to a talk interpreting religious texts – which sends heads scrambling to keep up... One to watch in the years to come.

— Ilene Prusher, Journalist, Haaretz, .

Gila Fine is in my view one of the great Talmud teachers of our generation. She is charismatic and engaging, with the rare ability to make the ancient text come alive for a contemporary audience... Rigorous and sensitive, Gila uncovers in the text certain fundamental existential themes...which in the 1500 years of male commentary have been traditionally, and tragically, overlooked.

— Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Personal Endorsement, .

Gila Fine is part of a growing stream of Orthodox women who are not only studying, but embracing and teaching the Talmud, often challenging centuries of male interpretation and hegemony.

— BBC, ., ., .

Dynamic, thought-provoking and moving.

— The Jewish Chronicle, ., ., .

Contact Gila

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Videos
Unmasking the Women of the Talmud: The Tragedy of Heruta
Booking Our Speakers

Weekday/Sunday programs are approximately one hour. Shabbat Scholar-in-Residence usually includes two talks, sometimes three.

Usually: The event price includes honorarium and all expenses, including international and domestic airfare and local expenses. We ask venues to provide home-hospitality for one night (for weekday/Sunday programs), or two nights (for Shabbat programs), or for multi-day programs, one night for each day of the event. If your venue is unable to provide home hospitality, an additional charge of $150 per night will be assessed to cover speaker expenses.

Need a special program for Shavuot, Holocaust Remembrence Day, or July 4th? We have suggestions.

Interested in booking Gila Fine to speak at your next event? Contact Jewish Speakers Bureau (infREMOVEo@jewREMOVEishspeakerREMOVEsbureau.com), America's only speakers bureau for Jewish-interest speakers, authors, entertainers, and experts.

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