Through much of history the Jewish Hebrew library of the ‘People of the Book’ excluded half of humanity; across all traditional Jewish communities compulsory communal education was only for boys until the turn of the last century.

In her comprehensive study The Unknown History of Jewish Women Through The Ages Rachel Elior examines the social, cultural and legal implications of female illiteracy, from antiquity and the Middle Ages to mid-20th-century immigration to Israel and beyond.

The professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem speaks to London School of Jewish Studies chief executive Joanne Greenaway.

An event from Jewish Book Week 2024