A Separate People: Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in the Sixteenth Century

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BRILL - History - 307 pages
This major new contribution to the history of women examines the special status accorded to women in the Jewish communities of the Eastern Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the early modern period. Topics examined include their daily life and the social norms governing them, polygamy, divorce, child marriage, and the position of female slaves. Based on a detailed analysis of Hebrew and Arabic manuscript sources, legal and other, this first study of the subject in English opens up an almost unknown world of women to the modern researcher.
 

Contents

Women through the Eyes of the Sages
13
The Extended Family
58
Motherhood
78
Daily Life
97
Education and Sources of Livelihood
110
Social Norms versus Reality
127
Marital Disputes
157
Women and Divorce
171
Widowhood
196
Levirate Marriages
211
Regulations Concerning Women
224
Conclusion
263
Glossary
269
Books and Articles
282
Index of Subjects
299
Copyright

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About the author

Ruth Lamdan Ph.D. (1992) has taught for many years in the Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University and is a research member in the Institute for Diaspora Research in Tel Aviv.

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