Cardozo Law Review de•novo
Volume
2013
First Page
214
Last Page
227
Publication Date
2013
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The relationship between law and culture is a complex, dynamic, variegated, and multifaceted accord, an entanglement that belies the traditional dynamic of categorical distinction that, many posit, lies at the center of the two amorphous terms. Increasingly over the last decade and a half, scholars, particularly legal scholars, have started to reconsider the complexities of the legal in social and cultural environs, partially as a result of interdisciplinary methods of cultural theory, which have permeated the guarded borders of legal studies. Roberta Kwall’s article titled “The Cultural Analysis Paradigm: Women and Synagogue Ritual as a Case Study” in the December 2012 issue of the Cardozo Law Review follows in this general trend and offers a perspective and road map for identifying the relationship between Jewish law and culture—while weaving through elements of legal theory. Over the coming pages, I seek to offer a number of thoughts concerning Kwall’s methodologies, theoretical constructs, fact structures, and perspectives concerning the utility of a law and culture approach. Ultimately, I propose ways to better refine the methodologies for transformative utility for use in particular historical circumstances.
Keywords
Jewish Law, Culture and Law, Law and Society, Gender and the Law
Recommended Citation
Ethan Zadoff,
Zadoff on Kwall: A Historian’s Critique,
2013
Cardozo L. Rev. De-Novo
214
(2013).
Available at:
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/de-novo/2
