Bat ha-Levi (12th-century), was an Iraqi Jewish scholar. She gave lessons to male students and had a remarkable position for a Jewish woman in 12th-century Iraq.
Her name is not known, and she is known under the name ''Bat ha-Levi'', meaning 'the daughter of the Levite'. She was the daughter of Rabbi
Samuel ben Ali
Samuel ben Ali (also Samuel ben Ali ibn al-Dastur; died 1194) was the most noteworthy of the twelfth-century Babylonian scholars and the only one of his era whose written works have survived in any significant number.
Biography
Samuel served a ...
(Samuel ha-Levi ben al-Dastur, d. 1194), the
Geon of Baghdad. In the Medieval Middle East, education was normally low for Jewish women, but Bat ha-Levi was a famous exception. She was active as a teacher and gave lessons to her father's male students from a window, with her students listening from the courtyard below. This arrangement intended to preserve her modesty as well as prevent the students from being diverted from their studies by her appearance.
A eulogy in the form of a poem by R.
Eleazar ben Jacob ha-Bavli (c. 1195–1250), is believed to describe the virtues and wisdom of Bat ha-Levi.
Her activities were reported in the medieval travel diary
Petachiah of Regensburg Petachiah of Regensburg, also known as Petachiah ben Yakov, Moses Petachiah, and Petachiah of Ratisbon, was a German rabbi of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries CE. At some point he left his place of birth, Regensburg in Bavaria, and settle ...
.
See also
*
Miriam Shapira-Luria
Miriam Shapira-Luria, also known as Rabbanit Miriam, was a Talmudic scholar of the Late Middle Ages. According to academic Lawrence H. Fuchs, she was one of the "most noted" women Talmud scholars.
Family
Miriam Shapira-Luria was born sometime in t ...
References
* Baskin, J. R. (2012). Educating Jewish Girls in Medieval Muslim and Christian Settings. ''Making a Difference: Essays on the Bible and Judaism in Honor of Tamara Cohen Eskenazi''. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 19-37.
* Emily Taitz, Sondra Henry & Cheryl Tallan,
The JPS Guide to Jewish Women: 600 B.C.E.to 1900 C.E.', 2003
* https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/learned-women-in-traditional-jewish-society
{{Women in Judaism
12th-century Jews
12th-century women
12th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
12th-century educators