Yalta (Talmudic character)

Yalta (Hebrew: ילתא, romanizedYalta) is among the few named female characters mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud who was a member of a rabbinic family. Yalta was the wife of Rav Nachman, a rabbinic sage from around 250 CE. The scholar Judith Hauptman suggests that Yalta was also the daughter of the Jewish exilarch in Babylon and considers her depiction in rabbinic literature as a strong-willed, free-spirited woman.[1][2][3] Yalta is the second most-mentioned woman in the Talmud, after the daughter of Rav Chisda,[4] and appears to have been knowledgeable in matters of Jewish ritual law.[5]

  1. ^ Hauptman, Judy. "Yalta." Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. 31 December 1999. Jewish Women's Archive. Accessed December 14, 2022.
  2. ^ Labovitz, G. (2013). Rabbis and “Guerrilla Girls” A Bavli Motif of the Female (Counter) Voice in the Rabbinic Legal System. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary e-Journal, 10(2).
  3. ^ Kosman, A. (2011). A cup of affront and anger: Yaltha as an early feminist in the Talmud. Journal of Textual Reasoning, 6(2), 35-40.
  4. ^ Ilan, T. (2022). Women quoting scripture in rabbinic literature. Rabbinic Literature, 4, 45.
  5. ^ Hauptman, J. (2010). A new view of women and Torah study in the talmudic period. Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal JSIJ, 9, 249-292.