Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Maps
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture
- Introduction
- 1 The Hebrew Bible and the Early History of Israel
- 2 The Second Temple Period
- 3 The Rabbinic Movement
- 4 The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
- 5 Jewish Life in Western Christendom
- 6 Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe
- 7 European Jewry: 1800–1933
- 8 Jews and Judaism in the United States
- 9 The Shoah and Its Legacies
- 10 The Founding of Modern Israel and the Arab–Israeli Conflict
- 11 Judaism as a Religious System
- 12 The Centrality of Talmud
- 13 Jewish Worship and Liturgy
- 14 Jewish Private Life: Gender, Marriage, and the Lives of Women
- 15 Jewish Philosophy
- 16 Jewish Mysticism
- 17 Modern Jewish Thought
- 18 Contemporary Forms of Judaism
- 19 Jewish Popular Culture
- 20 Aspects of Israeli Society
- 21 The Future of World Jewish Communities
- Glossary
- Timeline
- Index
- References
14 - Jewish Private Life: Gender, Marriage, and the Lives of Women
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Maps
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture
- Introduction
- 1 The Hebrew Bible and the Early History of Israel
- 2 The Second Temple Period
- 3 The Rabbinic Movement
- 4 The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
- 5 Jewish Life in Western Christendom
- 6 Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe
- 7 European Jewry: 1800–1933
- 8 Jews and Judaism in the United States
- 9 The Shoah and Its Legacies
- 10 The Founding of Modern Israel and the Arab–Israeli Conflict
- 11 Judaism as a Religious System
- 12 The Centrality of Talmud
- 13 Jewish Worship and Liturgy
- 14 Jewish Private Life: Gender, Marriage, and the Lives of Women
- 15 Jewish Philosophy
- 16 Jewish Mysticism
- 17 Modern Jewish Thought
- 18 Contemporary Forms of Judaism
- 19 Jewish Popular Culture
- 20 Aspects of Israeli Society
- 21 The Future of World Jewish Communities
- Glossary
- Timeline
- Index
- References
Summary
Until recent times, Jewish roles in both the private and public realms of life were significantly determined by gender. In the rabbinic vision of the ideal ordering of human society, which guided Jewish life for almost two millennia, special position and status-conferring obligations were reserved for eligible males, while females were seen as a separate and secondary category of human creation. Nevertheless, both females and males are essential for human continuity, and Judaism has traditionally understood marriage as the desirable state for all adults. Marriage has provided a means of Jewish continuity, a haven for personal intimacy, and a family setting in which children could be raised to adulthood and educated in traditional values and rituals. Moreover, in a system of theological imagery that envisions marriage as the closest approximation of the intimacy that can exist between human beings and God, the relationship between wives and husbands has assumed sacred significance.
Wherever Jews have lived, wives have assumed domestic nurturing roles, providing for the daily needs of their husbands and children, and overseeing the early educations of their offspring. Women have also labored with their spouses in the economic support of their households. Prior to the modern period, vocational endeavors were understood as a domestic activity. Wives worked closely with their husbands in crafts and trades, and some undertook business activities that supplemented economic resources or wholly supported their families so that husbands could devote themselves to learning.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture , pp. 357 - 380Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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