A “Queer” Mother of Nations: Reproductive Futurism and the Maccabean Mother of Seven

What is it about?

This article examines the narrative of the Mother of Seven sons in 2 and 4 Maccabees and rabbinic literature. It argues that the Mother is a queer figure who is described as both maternal and masculine. This article argues that the Mother encouraging her children to martyr themselves makes her a queer figure who challenges the ways in which mothers, and by extension women, are typically depicted in early Jewish literature. The Mother's queerness allows her to resist the violent tyranny of empire that is described in both 2 and 4 Maccabees, and later retellings of her story in rabbinic literature such as Babylonian Talmud Gittin and Lamentations Rabbah. Her queerness provides a model of attitudes and behaviors, which includes both maternal and masculine qualities, for the audience of the text to emulate.

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Photo by Tanner Mardis on Unsplash

Photo by Tanner Mardis on Unsplash