|
Pious and Rebellious:
Jewish Women in Medieval Europe Avraham Grossman |
|
Avraham Grossman offers a
comprehensive study of Jewish women in Europe during the High Middle Ages
(1000-1300). Examining multiple aspects of women's lives in medieval Jewish
society, Grossman shows that this period saw a distinct improvement in the
status of Jewish women in Europe relative to their status during the Talmudic
period in the Muslim countries. Two main factors fostered this change: the
transformation of Jewish society from agrarian to "bourgeois", with
women performing an increasingly important function in the family economy;
and the openness toward women in Christian Europe, where they were not
subjected to strict limitations based upon conceptions of modesty, as was the
case in Muslim countries. The heart of Grossman's book concerns the
improvement of Jewish women's lot, and the subsequent efforts of secular and
religious authorities to impede their new-found status. Avraham Grossman is professor of Jewish
History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a member of the Israeli
National Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the prestigious Israel Prize
and Bialik Prize for Jewish Studies. |
|
|