Gendering the Arab-Jew: Feminism and Jewish Studies after Ella Shohat

Getting out to write an essay about cultural theorist Ella Shohat's influence on Jewish Studies over the past 30 years, I couldn't help but wonder (perhaps a bit maliciously) what Shohat, who debuted in academia with an unprecedented study of Israeli cinema from a postcolonial feminist perspective,1 would say about the recent, so-called Jewish Studies film Footnote (2011). Given that it centers on quarrels between Jewish philologists, Footnote was a surprising success both in Israel and at international festivals, even nominated for an Academy Award. No doubt its depiction of the relationship between two generations of Talmud scholars, father and son, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem struck a (local and international) chord. Nevertheless, the pleasure is somewhat bitter if that scholar happens to be a woman, since Boyarin is employed merely to enforce the story of Jewish modernity as a story of masculinity. Whether it is a masculinity gained or lost depends on what flavor of masculinity you favor, but what is certain is that women remain irrelevant to it.