Temporalities of Marriage: Jewish and Islamic Legal Debates

Religion and Gender, 2014

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2011

Diné Israel 38, 2024

A landmark ruling issued in the mid-twelfth century by Rabbi Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz (Ra’aban, c. 1090–1170) is among the most frequently cited sources for the extensive economic activity of Jewish women in medieval northern Europe. Scholars have read R. Eliezer’s words concerning the legal liabilities of married women as testimony to the critical roles that medieval Ashkenazi women played in the financial affairs of their families and communities. Yet the implications of R. Eliezer’s ruling are more complex than most historical studies acknowledge. In addition to its consequences for the financial agency of married women vis-à-vis the outside world, R. Eliezer’s decision also affected the more intimate relationship between these women and their spouses. This article evaluates the legal underpinnings of R. Eliezer’s ruling, and then examines a set of court records from late thirteenth-century Ashkenaz that showcases a woman entangled in litigation against her spouse, demonstrating just how detrimental the approach promoted by R. Eliezer and his contemporaries could be.

Hebrew Union College Annual, 1999

In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discussions that are central for the laws of marriage. What emerges from this investigation is that there is a dominant understanding of marriage articulated by Tosafot. Rashi is consistent in presenting a countervoice to the dominant ideology of the Tosafot - not responding to the Tosafists understanding, since he lived before them, but his position in the history of patriarchal ideas remains as a countervoice to the dominant opinion. Rashi understands that the woman's agreement to participate in marriage is necessary. It is not necessarily anatural thing for her to want to participate, therefore she needs an incentive. This investigation also isolates one point at which descriptive statements are given normative legal weight, and highlights the fact that this very move from descriptive to normative is itself contended. This essay may be seen as part of a history of patriarchal ideas, the point of which is to challenge patriarchal or misogynistic assumptions. The analysis of the history of patriarchal ideas points to their internal conflicts and contradictions, and leads to the deconstruction of the implacable facade of eternal verity implied by the absolutist mode of their articulation - especially in legal writing.

EBR, 2019

Marriage—Medieval and Modern Judaism, in: Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (EBR), 17 (2019) Entry's content: The Wedding Ceremony; Marital Rights and Obligations; Levirate Marriage; Polygamous Marriage; Divorce