Jewish Women in the Medieval World: 500-1500 CE

by Sarah Ifft Decker

Overview

Jewish Women in the Medieval World offers a thematic overview of the lived experiences of Jewish women in both Europe and the Middle East from 500 to 1500 CE, a group often ignored in general surveys on both medieval Jewish life and medieval women.

The volume blends current scholarship with evidence drawn from primary sources, originally written in languages including Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic, to introduce both the state of scholarship on women and gender in medieval Jewish communities, and the ways in which Jewish women experienced family, love, sex, work, faith, and crisis in the medieval past. From the well-known Dolce of Worms to the less famed Bonadona, widow of Astrug Caravida of Girona, to the many nameless women referred to in medieval texts, Jewish Women tells the stories of individual women alongside discussions of wider trends in different parts of the medieval world. Even through texts written about women by men, the intelligence, courage, and perseverance of medieval Jewish women become clear to modern readers.

With the inclusion of a Chronology, Who’s Who, Documents section, and Glossary, this study is an essential resource for students and other readers interested in both Jewish history and women’s history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367612726
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/19/2022
Series:	Seminar Studies
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sarah Ifft Decker is Assistant Professor of History at Rhodes College, USA. Her work explores intersections between gender and religious identity in the medieval Mediterranean. She is the author of The Fruit of Her Hands: Jewish and Christian Women’s Work in Medieval Catalan Cities (forthcoming 2022).

Table of Contents

List of figures viii

Acknowledgements ix

Chronology xi

Who's who xiii

Part I Introduction 1

1 Introduction 3

Previous works on medieval Jewish women 4

The limitations of this work 6

Sources for the study of medieval Jewish women 7

Part II Analysis 9

2 Jewish life in the medieval world 11

Judaism and the Jewish people: beliefs and practices 12

Jewish life in medieval Christendom 14

Jewish life in the Dar-al-Islam before 1500 18

Conclusion 21

3 Gender roles in medieval Jewish cultures 22

Religious roles and expectations for Jewish men 23

Religious roles and expectations for Jewish women 24

The social and familial role of Jewish men 27

The social and familial role of Jewish women 29

Non-Jewish perceptions of Jewish women 31

Conclusion 34

4 Marriage, divorce, and widowhood 36

Age at first marriage 37

Finding a marriage partner 39

Creating a Jewish marriage 41

Polygyny in medieval Jewish communities 44

Divorce in medieval Jewish communities 46

Widowhood 48

Conclusion 49

5 Sex and sexuality 50

Virginity, sex, and adolescence 51

Sex and marriage 53

Sex and mysticism 55

Sex outside marriage 57

Sex with non-Jews 58

Queer sex and sexuality 59

Women's sexual health 60

Sexual assault 61

Conclusion 62

6 Family, childbirth, and child-rearing 63

Family in the medieval Jewish world 64

Pregnancy and childbirth 65

Infertility 67

Rituals of motherhood 68

Nursing and wetnurses 69

Child-rearing 71

Guardianship 73

Mothers and adult children 74

Conclusion 75

7 Jewish women's work 76

Jewish women in credit and long-distance trade 77

Artisanal production and local trade 80

Real estate 81

Medicine and midwives 82

Prostitution 83

Domestic labors 84

Conclusion 87

8 Gender, faith, and worship 88

Prayer and ritual 89

Education and Torah study 91

Menstruation and ritual purity 94

Fasting 95

Donations and pious works 96

Where are the Jewish women mystics? 97

Conclusion 98

9 Jewish women between communities 99

Women in Jewish courts 100

Jewish women in non-Jewish courts 101

Responding to massacres 103

Conversion, forced and voluntary 104

Ritual murder, blood libel, and host desecration-accusations 106

Illness and epidemic 109

Expulsion 110

Conclusion 111

Part III Assessment 113

10 Conclusion 115

Directions for further research 115

Change and continuity: Jewish women in the early modern world 116

Documents 118

Glossary 141

Guide to further reading 150

Bibliography 159

Index 166