{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Miriam Shapira-Luria | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = Konstanz | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline}} --> | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = Rabbanit Miriam | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | years_active = | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = Woman Talmudic scholar | notable_works = | style = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge = | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = Yochanan Luria | partner = | children = | parents = Solomon Shapira | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | module6 = | website = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} --> | footnotes = }} '''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.<ref name="Fuchs">{{cite book|last=Fuchs|first=Lawrence H.|title=Beyond Patriarchy: Jewish Fathers and Families|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyFDQsT4QW4C&q=miriam+shapira|year=2000|publisher=University Press of New England|isbn=978-0-87451-941-9|page=68}}</ref>

==Family== Miriam Shapira-Luria was born sometime in the 13th,<ref name="HenryTaitz">{{cite book|last1=Henry|first1=Sondra|last2=Taitz|first2=Emily|title=Written out of History: A Hidden Legacy of Jewish Women Revealed Through Their Writings and Letters|url=https://archive.org/details/writtenoutofhist00henr|url-access=registration|year=1978|publisher=Bloch Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/writtenoutofhist00henr/page/87 87]|isbn=9780819704542 }}</ref><ref name="Fuchs" /> late 14th or early 15th centuries<ref name="Eisenberg" /><ref name="Brayer" /><ref name="Rubin Schwartz" /><ref name="Karpeles" /><ref name="Jewish Chronicle" /> in Konstanz, on the southern German border.<ref name="Karpeles" /> Her father was Rabbi Solomon Shapira, a descendant of Rashi, an 11th century commentator.<ref name="Brayer">{{cite book|last=Brayer|first=Menachem Mendl|title=The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic literature, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOtWPalIFA4C&q=miriam|year=1986|publisher=Ktav Publishing House|isbn= 978-0-88125-072-5|pages=104, 113}}</ref><ref name="Rubin Schwartz">{{cite book|last=Rubin-Schwartz|first=Shuly |title=The Rabbi's Wife: The Rebbetzin in American Jewish Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn8J5xhK0oEC&q=miriam+spira&pg=PA12|year=2006|publisher=New York University Press|isbn= 978-0-8147-4016-3|page=12}}</ref><ref name="Jewish Chronicle">{{cite book|title=Papers Read Before the Jews College Literary Society During the Session 1886-7|url=https://archive.org/details/papersreadbefore00jewsiala|quote=miriam schapira.|year=1887|publisher=The Jewish Chronicle|page=[https://archive.org/details/papersreadbefore00jewsiala/page/86 86]}}</ref> Shapira-Luria's brother was the noted rabbi, Peretz of Konstanz.<ref name="Jewish Chronicle" /> Her husband, Yochanan Luria<ref name="Brayer" /> was a rabbi who was known to interpret the Talmud liberally.<ref name="Fuchs" />

==Talmud teacher== Shapira-Luria, also known as Rabbanit Miriam,<ref name="Eisenberg">{{cite book|last1=Eisenberg|first1=Joyce|last2= Scolnic|first2= Ellen |title=The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykWQGAJ4_HkC&q=Miriam+Shapira++luria&pg=PA114|year=2001|publisher=Jewish Publication Society|isbn= 978-0-8276-0723-1|page=114}}</ref> taught in Padua, Italy.<ref name="TaitzHenry">{{cite book|last2=Henry|first2=Sondra|last1=Taitz|first1=Emily|title=Remarkable Jewish Women: Rebels, Rabbis, and Other Women from Biblical Times to the Present|year=1996|publisher=Jewish Publication Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/remarkablejewish00tait/page/42 42]|isbn=978-0-8276-0573-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/remarkablejewish00tait/page/42}}</ref> She conducted a ''yeshiva'' (a higher institution for the study of central Jewish texts) and gave public lectures on Jewish codes of law.<ref name="Rubin Schwartz" /><ref name="Karpeles" /> She was thoroughly conversant in rabbinical writings,<ref name="Jewish Chronicle" /> and Nahida Ruth Lazarus writes that her "Talmudic disputations with other distinguished scholars of her time created a great sensation."<ref name="Remy">{{cite book|last= Remy|first=Nahida |authorlink=Nahida Ruth Lazarus|title=The Jewish Woman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oiIiAaaJcC4C&q=%22miriam+luria%22&pg=PA168|year=1916|publisher=Bloch Publishing Company}}</ref> Female community teachers were rare in Jewish tradition but "not unheard of", according to Norma Baumel Joseph, who lists as other examples Huldah, Bruriah, Asenath Barzani, and Nechama Leibowitz <ref name="Baumel Joseph">Baumel Joseph, Norma. "The Feminist Challenge to Judaism: Critique and Transformation", in Joy, Morny; Neumaier-Dargyay, Eva K.; Gerhart, Mary (1995). ''Gender, Genre and Religion: Feminist Reflections''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p.&nbsp;63.</ref> (the latter's biographer Yael Unterman is a descendant of Shapira-Luria's herself).

Shapira-Luria was also known for her beauty, and she taught Talmud to elite young men from behind a curtain so that they would not get distracted by her appearance.<ref name="Eisenberg" /><ref name="Karpeles">{{cite book|last=Karpeles|first=Gustav |authorlink=Gustav Karpeles|title=Jewish Literature, and Other Essays|url=https://archive.org/details/jewishliteratur00karpgoog|quote=miriam shapiro.|year=1895|publisher=Jewish Publication Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/jewishliteratur00karpgoog/page/n123 117]}}</ref>

==Descendants== Shapira-Luria was the ancestress of the Luria rabbinical family,<ref name="Jewish Chronicle" /> the grandmother of Solomon Luria (''Maharshal''), a ''posek'' (Jewish law decisor).<ref name="Brayer" />

== See also == * Bat ha-Levi

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Women rabbis|state=expanded}} {{Women in Judaism}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapira-Luria, Miriam}} Category:German women academics Category:Talmudists Category:People from Konstanz