Yalta ( he, ילתא, Yalta) is among the few named female characters mentioned in the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

who was a member of a rabbinic family. Yalta was the wife of

Rav Nachman Rav Nachman bar Yaakov ( he, רב נחמן בר יעקב; died 320) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the third generation. It is generally accepted that references to Rav Nachman in the Talmud refer to Rav Nach ...

, a rabbinic sage from around 250 CE. The scholar

Judith Hauptman Judith Rebecca Hauptman (born 1943) is an American feminist Talmudic scholar. Biography She grew up in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, United States. Hauptman received a degree in Talmud from the Seminary College of Jewish S ...

suggests that Yalta was also the daughter of the Jewish

exilarch The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Persian Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing ...

in Babylon and considers her depiction in rabbinic literature as a strong-willed, free-spirited woman.Hauptman, Judy. "Yalta." ''Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women''. 31 December 1999. Jewish Women's Archive. Accessed December 14, 2022.
/ref> Yalta is the second most-mentioned woman in the Talmud, after the daughter of

Rav Chisda Rav Ḥisda ( he, רב חסדא) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Kafri, Asoristan in Lower Mesopotamia near what is now the city of Najaf, Iraq. He was an amora of the third generation (died c. 320 CE at the age of ninety-twoMoed Kattan 28a) ...

, and appears to have been knowledgeable in matters of Jewish ritual law.

In the Talmud

Yalta, wife of Rav Nachman, appears in the Babylonian Talmud in a number of instances. In Tractate Berakhot (51b), Yalta is described as breaking four hundred jugs of wine after a guest offended her and womankind in general. In Tractate Kiddushin (70b), Yalta offers her husband counsel in protecting himself from a colleague. In Tractate Chullin (109b), Yalta asks her husband for a kosher food that would taste the equivalent of meat cooked in milk, he complies by having udders prepared for her. In Tractate Gittin (67b), it appears that Yalta was familiar with medicinal knowledge. The view that Yalta was the daughter of the Jewish exilarch is found in

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

's commentary on the incident described in Tractate Gittin (67b) and cites a statement in Tractate Chullin (124a) (that Rav Nachman was the son-in-law of the exilarch) as support for this view.Rashi on Gittin (67b)
/ref>

References

3rd-century Jews 3rd-century women Ancient Jewish women Davidic line Jewish royalty Judaism and women Talmud people Talmudic women {{Judaism-stub

In the Talmud

See also

References