Slavery and Slaves in Ottoman-Jewish Households

Yaron Ben-Naeh

Hundreds of Hebrew sources, official Ottoman decrees, judicial records (sijillat), and reports by European travelers indicate that slaveholding – particularly of females – in Jewish households in the Ottoman Empire was widespread from the late sixteenth century until the nineteenth century. This phenomenon was unparalleled in other Jewish communities.
The article deals with the presence of slaves in Jewish households, and pays special attention to two main aspects: the cohabitation of Jewish men with female slaves, who served as their concubines; and the complex relationship stemming from the bondage of slaves to Jewish households.
The study provides insights into several other topics, such as the dynamism of daily life in the Ottoman city and the extent to which Jewish society and its codes were influenced by Muslim society, its values and norms. Besides the core family, there are other, extended, familial structures, including the large household in which family intimacy extends beyond that of the immediate family. Relations between master and slave are not necessarily conceived as part of a dichotomous category of relations between exploiters and exploited, or between employers and employees. These seemingly patron-client relations included the provision of patronage, protection, an honorable name, and enabled property ownership, in addition to the possibility of social and economic advancement.