You are not signed in. Sign in.
Authors: Avraham Grossman
ISBN-13: 9781584653929, ISBN-10: 1584653922
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Date Published: June 2004
Edition: 1st Edition
AVRAHAM GROSSMAN is Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a member of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the prestigious Israel Prize and Bialik Prize for Jewish Studies.
The first complete look at the social status and daily life of medieval Jewish women.
The image of the woman : partner or the "other"? | 8 | |
1 | The creation and the superiority of man | 10 |
2 | The temptation in the garden of Eden and the superiority of man | 13 |
3 | Characteristics of woman and the superiority of man | 15 |
4 | Women and sorcery | 20 |
5 | The "medical inferiority" of women and the superiority of men | 23 |
6 | The obligation to perform Mitzvot and the superiority of man | 25 |
7 | Expressions in praise of women and their perception as "partner" | 27 |
8 | Between image and reality | 31 |
Age at marriage | 33 | |
1 | The Talmudic heritage | 34 |
2 | The situation in Babylonia in the eighth and ninth centuries | 36 |
3 | The situation in non-Jewish society | 36 |
4 | The situation in Jewish society during the tenth through thirteenth centuries | 37 |
5 | Factors causing the large number of childhood marriages | 44 |
6 | Results of early marriage | 46 |
Engagement, betrothal, and the choice of a marriage partner | 49 | |
1 | The ceremonies and their development | 49 |
2 | The ban in Ashkenaz against cancelling engagements | 51 |
3 | Choice of marriage partner | 55 |
4 | Consensual marriage in Christian Europe | 60 |
5 | The institution of matchmaking and its place in Jewish society | 64 |
Monogamy and polygamy | 68 | |
1 | The biblical and Talmudic heritage | 68 |
2 | The situation in Ashkenaz | 70 |
3 | Polygamy in Spain | 78 |
4 | The atmosphere in the polygamous family | 88 |
5 | Levirate marriage and bigamy | 90 |
Feminine modesty and women's role in supporting the family | 102 | |
1 | The Talmudic tradition | 102 |
2 | Modesty in Muslim society | 103 |
3 | Modesty in Jewish society in Muslim countries | 105 |
4 | The "Miqveh rebellion" in Egypt | 109 |
5 | The situation in Jewish society in Spain | 111 |
6 | Feminine modesty and women's work in Christian Europe | 114 |
7 | The situation in Ashkenazic Jewish society | 117 |
8 | Changes in the legal status of women | 121 |
Woman as wife and mother and her economic status | 123 | |
1 | The woman within her home | 123 |
2 | Prostitution and concubinage | 133 |
3 | The woman's economic status | 147 |
Women's culture and education | 154 | |
1 | The Talmudic heritage | 154 |
2 | The situation in Muslim society | 157 |
3 | The situation in Christian society | 158 |
4 | The stance of the Jewish sages in the Middle Ages | 160 |
5 | Learned women | 162 |
6 | Education of women in Jewish society | 165 |
7 | Girls' education and erudition in Ashkenaz | 167 |
8 | The situation in Spain | 170 |
9 | Education of Jewish women in Italy and Sicily | 172 |
The role of women in religious life and in family ceremonies | 174 | |
1 | The Biblical and Talmudic heritage | 174 |
2 | The role of women in religious life in Christian Europe | 175 |
3 | The performance of time-linked positive commandments | 178 |
4 | Women in the synagogue | 180 |
5 | Women in the celebration of Passover | 188 |
6 | Women circumcisers | 190 |
7 | Women as ritual slaughterers | 190 |
8 | Fast days and acts of charity by women | 192 |
9 | Refraining from eating meat during the season of mourning | 193 |
10 | Women as bearers of Halakhic traditions | 194 |
11 | The role of women in family ceremonies | 195 |
Women's role in Jewish martyrdom in Europe in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries | 198 | |
1 | The descriptions of women in chronicles about the pogroms | 198 |
2 | The historical reliability of the descriptions in the Chronicles | 199 |
3 | The role of women in Jewish martyrdom according to Christian sources | 202 |
4 | The "beauty" and "purity" of the women | 203 |
5 | Kiddush Hashem and the cultural and social status of the women | 204 |
6 | The description in the chronicles and the public image | 205 |
7 | Between the chronicles of 1096 and Sefer Zekhirah | 209 |
Violence toward women | 212 | |
1 | The Talmudic tradition | 212 |
2 | The situation in Christian and Muslim society | 213 |
3 | The position of the Babylonian Geonim | 215 |
4 | The position of the Spanish sages | 218 |
5 | Maimonides' position | 219 |
6 | The situation in France and Italy | 223 |
7 | The situation in Germany | 225 |
8 | Wife beating for "education" | 228 |
9 | Summary : between theory and reality | 230 |
The divorcee and the "rebellious wife" | 231 | |
The divorcee | 231 | |
1 | The Biblical and Talmudic heritage | 231 |
2 | The attitude of medieval Jewish sages to divorce | 232 |
3 | Grounds for divorce | 235 |
The "rebellious wife" | 240 | |
1 | The change at the beginning of the Geonic period | 241 |
2 | The retreat from the Taqqanah of Moredet during the twelfth century | 242 |
3 | The proliferation of divorce in Ashkenaz in the thirteenth century and thereafter | 244 |
4 | "Rebellion" of women in Christian society | 248 |
5 | Divorce in Spain | 249 |
6 | The attitude to the divorcee | 251 |
The widow and the "murderous wife" | 253 | |
1 | The large number of widows | 253 |
2 | The Biblical and Talmudic heritage | 254 |
3 | The situation in non-Jewish society | 255 |
4 | Life expectancy in Europe | 256 |
5 | The situation in Jewish society : the attitude to the widow's remarriage | 257 |
6 | The commonness of widowhood and its social significance | 259 |
7 | The widow's economic rights | 259 |
8 | The"murderous wife" (Qatlanit) | 262 |
Summary : woman's status in historical perspective | 273 | |
1 | The positive changes | 273 |
2 | Negative changes | 277 |
3 | The silencing of creativity | 278 |
4 | Between "pious" and "rebellious" women | 280 |