STATUS-WOMAN
D. Ben-Abo, Ma'amadah shel ha'ishah beyisra'el uvemizrah Hakadum,
Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University, l981, Pp. 245; see KS 58/2 no. 1693.
J.P. Brown, "The Role of Women and the Treaty in the Ancient
World", Biblische Zeitschrift 25 (1981), 1-28. - Women's roles
in ancient Israel, Greece and Rome developed along similar lines. Since
the language of ancient treaties is similar in all these areas, it may be
assumed women enjoyed a similar status in each centre. Three main stages
in the development of women's roles can be discerned. Early (c. 1000-500
BCE) women had substantial prestige and authority within the patriarchal
society. Then with the decline of the city state prostitution flourished
and respectable women were forced to stay at home cut off from the centres
of power. Finally the NT era sees the emergence of a feminine counter-culture
reasserting women's equality in certain areas. (G.J.W.)
David Daube, "Johanan ben Beroqa and Women's Rights",
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, R.A.,
99 (1982), 22-31. - D. seeks the characteristics of the halakhic view of
Johanan ben Beroqa. He finds him moderate, a liberal disdaining excessive
formalism, a helper of the underprivileged. In particular, he was dedicated
to the improvement of the position of women, even where he extended the
rabbinic duty to procreation to women. Women's liberation is relative to
the mores of the times; it led to different results in R, Johanan's day
from our own. (B.S.J.)
D. Mescheloff, "The Jewish Woman in Halakhah" (Heb.),
Diné Israel 13-14 (1986-1988), 263-312. - The framework
of this article is a critical review of M. Meiselman's book, Jewish Woman
in Jewish Law (New York: Ktav, 1978). The author begins by demonstrating
that both multiplicity of views and change within halakhah have traditionally
been part of Jewish law. Neither of these phenomena contradict the Divine
origin of the Torah or its transcendental validity. This is followed
by the analysis of various issues concerning the role of women in Jewish
law, including Torah study for women; women's duty "to obey
their husbands"; the disqualification of women as witnesses, their
rights in the laws of inheritance, and women in the context of divorce law.
Various halakhic opinions on each of these issues are presented, and illustrations
of attempts within the halakhah to deal with changing conditions
by means of novel interpretations of halakhic theory or by distinguishing
recorded theories from actual practice, are provided. There is also a discussion
of a number of proposed pre-nuptial agreements which have been submitted
for approval to Israel's major poskim. The purpose of these agreements
is to alleviate the problem of agunot. (D.B.S.)
Hans Jacob Hansen & Jakob Schow Madsen, eds., Thi Gud er jeg,
ikke mand. Studier over kvindebilleder i Det gamle Testamente, FK-tryk,
Aarhus, 1982, ISBN 87 7457 010 2, Pp. 100, Price: Dkr. 30. - Five female
students have published their seminar papers on images of women in the Old
Testament under the title For I am God, and not man (Hos. 11,9).
In focus are texts like Gen. 1-3, the narratives about the patriarchs'
wives, and the Song of Songs. These texts are analysed in their historical
context, but from a female point of view. A special paper gives a systematic
representation of female aspects of the image of God. Laws concerning women
and the possible theological implications of these laws today are discussed
in an appendix, a reprint of an article by their teacher, Kirsten Nielsen.
(K.N.)
Karin Friis Plum, Kvindehistorie og kvindehistorier - i det gamle
testamente, Hans Reitzel, København, 1983, ISBN 87-412-3714-5,
Pp. 144, Price: Dkr 138,50. - The title of the book indicates the main theme:
the history of women as we know it through the stories about women in the
Old Testament. According to the author, a woman herself, this history is
a history of economic, sexual, and religious oppression. The author bases
her thesis on legal texts like Deut. 25:11-12; Ex. 20-21;
Deut. 24:1-4; 22-24.29, as well as stories like Gen. 3; 12;
19; 34; 38; Judg. 14-15, and 1 Sam. 1. The authoress
does not end up with this negative evaluation, but emphasises that alternatively
read, from the point of a woman, the stories about woman often can be understood
only as descriptions of misery, but as witnesses of women's courage and
the will to transcend religious and political systems. (K.N.)
The status of the woman and the family according to Halakhah,
Jerusalem: International Council of Jewish Women, l979, Pp. 58; see KS
57/2 no. 1746.
Judith Romney Wegner, Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in
the Mishnah, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, pp.xii,
267, ISBN 0-19-505169-6. - This is a sensitive treatment of the status of
women as found specifically in the Mishnah. The author poses the theoretical
question of "chattel or Person", and finds that the answer of
the Mishnah varies according to the subject matter. The distinctions centre
around ownership of the woman's sexual and reproductive function: the personhood
of minor daughters, wives, and some widows is limited, while adult daughters,
divorcees, and most widows are virtually autonomous. (B.S.J.)
Judith R. Wegner, "The Status of Women in Jewish and Islamic
Marriage and Divorce Law", Harvard Women's Law Journal 5 (1982),
1-33. - The author compares the progress of women from the status of near-chattels
to that of near-persons in Jewish and Islamic law, against the background
of inhibitions against change in theocratic legal systems. (B.S.J.)
Joel B. Wolowelsky, "Modern Orthodoxy and Women's Changing Self-Perception"
Tradition 22/1 (1986) 65-81. - The author accepts a new self-perception
on the part of orthodox women as an ineluctable reality and he examines
the present and possible participation of women in orthodox Jewish life.
The key to the matter, as the author sees it, is the guaranteeing of opportunity
for girls and women to receive torah education including instruction in
Talmud. He warns that the orthodox community ignores the new self-awareness
on the part of women only at its peril. (S.M.P.)
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