Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Deserted Women and Disappearing Men in Ashkenaz 1648-1850
An agunah, literally a “chained woman,” is a woman unable to secure a rabbinic divorce because her husband has disappeared or is unwilling to sign the divorce papers. In her PhD thesis, Shashar sheds light on Jewish family life in the early modern era and on the Jewish legal rulings of rabbis, which determined the fate of these marginalized agunot. How did Jewish society deal with the danger of women becoming agunot? What kind of reality was imposed on women who found themselves as agunot, and what could they do to extricate themselves from their plight? How did rabbinic decisors discharge their task during this period, and what were the outcomes given that the agunot were dependent on the male rabbinic establishment? Shashar reexamines the halakhic activity concerning agunot in the early modern period and proposes a new assessment of the attitude that decisors displayed toward the freeing of these women. This study also fills a void in the scholarship on agunot by describing the lives of these women and of the men who brought this about.
Noa Shashar earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish History from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an M.A. in Jewish and Gender Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary (Jerusalem Branch - Schechter Institute). Shashar is a lecturer at the Sapir Academic College. She is the author of Vanished Men: Agunot in the Ashkenazi Realm 1648-1850 (Hebrew, 2020), Not on Bread Alone: The Krell Murachovski Family Histories (2015), Mazkeret Rishonim: A History of the Levin and Miller Families from Mazkeret Batya & Rishon Lezion (2013), and Bein Olamot (between worlds): The Story of the Mathias and Irma Fischer Family (2003).
Acdemic Affiliation
Adjunct lecturer at the Department of Culture, Creation and Production
Sapir Academic College, Sderot (2011 – Current)
Post Doctoral Fellow, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheba (2012-2013)
Research Topic: Free-time Activity in Early-modern German Jewish Life
Supervisor, Prof. Edward Fram, Department of Jewish History
Non-Academic Occupation
Lecturer at “Alma– Home for Hebrew Culture”, Tel-Aviv (2011-Current)
Director of Shashar Publishing & Initiatives in Culture and Education
Current projects: research and publication of family histories for private clients.
Education
2007- 2012: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Jewish History, Ph.D. Dissertation: Deserted Women and Disappearing men in Ashkenaz 1648-1850. Supervisor: Professor Immanuel Etkes. (Dissertation approval August 2012)
2007: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, M.A. Thesis: The Role of Niddah Purity Laws in Daily Lives of Ashkenazi Jews in 17th-19th Centuries
2000: Jewish Theological Seminary (Jerusalem Branch - Schechter Institute) Jerusalem, M.A. Jewish and Gender Studies
1986-1990: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, B.A. History of Theatre and Humanities
Awards and Fellowships
Leobaeck Fellowship program (German Studienstiftung) (October 2010-September 2011)
Guggenheim Scholarship for research in Jewish Ethics (2009-2011)
Scholion Research Fellowship for Doctoral candidates (October 2007-September 2010)
Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines (2009)
Publications:
(Currently reworking my Dissertation titled Deserted Women and Disappearing men in Ashkenaz 1648-1850 into a book)
Shashar Noa, “Real Agunot among Real Rabbis: The Meaning of Jewish Law in a Specific Social Context” in: Proceedings of the Agunah Summit, Jofa and Tikva Foundation, New-York (June 2013)
Shashar Noa, “Forever Anchored? Attitudes towards Deserted Women and Deserting Men in Jewish Thought and Practice: 18th-21st Centuries,” in: Alessio Nencini and David White (eds .(Ethics in Everyday Life, Inter-Disciplinary Press,Oxford, (2010)
Shashar Noa, “Hebrew Woman, Who Shal know thogh plight? – Brief historical survey” (Hebrew), in: Ariel-Yoel D. (ed.), Baruch Sheaasani Isha,Jerusalem (1999) pp. 74-75
)ששר-אטון נועה, אשה עבריה מי ידע חייך- סקירה היסטורית חטופה בתוך: אריאל-יואל ד. (עורך) ברוך
שעשני אשה? (1999) עמ’ 74-57(
Shashar Noa, “The impact of Feminism on religious Zionism” (Hebrew), in: Ariel-Yoel D. (ed.), Baruch Sheaasani Isha, Jerusalem (1999) pp. 207-223
)ששר-אטון נועה, גילוי חדש של הרצון האלוהי: השפעת הפמיניזם על הציונות הדתית בתוך: הנ”ל
עמ’ 207-223(