The Thigh of Its Mother
The Fetus and the Subordinated Subject in the Babylonian Talmud
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8204301 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sara Ronis (Department of Theology, St. Mary’s University . 1 Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio, TX 78228 , USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1010-1025 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lfad008 |
| OpenAlex | W4385479670 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 22 |
Modern discussions of abortion in Jewish thought often invoke the Talmudic phrase “ubar yerekh imo,” the fetus is the thigh of its mother. This article examines the ten instances in which the phrase first appears in the Babylonian Talmud. I demonstrate that the rabbis of Late Antique Sasanian Babylonia deploy the phrase in two specific contexts: discussions of the sanctification, criminalization, or sale of non-human animal fetuses, and discussions of the sale and manumission of the fetuses of enslaved people. Drawing on insights from animal studies and studies of slavery, I argue that this phrase illuminates how the rabbis think with the fetus to value some lives over others in a world reliant on the exploitation of enslaved humans and animals, and compare this approach with that of the Roman jurist Ulpian. Ultimately, I shed light on ancient rabbinic anthropologies of the human body and the body politic
Ancient history · Antique · Art · Judaism · Linguistics · Literature · Phrase · Sanctification · Subject (documents) · Talmud · Theology · Value (mathematics) · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · History · Philosophy
Ulpian
How the Word Is Passed
Rabbinic Law between Biblical Logic and Biblical Text
Animals and Animality in the Babylonian Talmud
Beyond Slavery
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature
The Seminal Contribution of R abbi M oshe F einstein to the Development of Modern Jewish Medical Ethics
Apuleius and Antonine Rome
More Slave Women, More Lewdness
Like an Animal
Animals, Empathy, andRaẖamimin the Study of Religion
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |