MORE SLAVE WOMEN, MORE LEWDNESS: Freedom and Honor in Rabbinic Constructions of Female Sexuality

Rabbinic texts legislate for a slave society, biblical law incorporates slaveholding, slavery is well documented within the two primary cultures in which rabbinic Judaism took shape, and multiple sources of evidence demonstrate that Jews could be slaveholders or held as slaves. Yet most scholars now...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of feminist studies in religion Vol. 28; no. 2; p. 69
Main Author: Labovitz, Gail
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Atlanta Indiana University Press 22.09.2012
Subjects:
Bible
Culture
Ethics
Females
Foregrounding
Jewish law
Jewish people
Law
Marriage
Rhetoric
Sexuality
Slavery
Womens studies
ISSN:8755-4178, 1553-3913
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Rabbinic texts legislate for a slave society, biblical law incorporates slaveholding, slavery is well documented within the two primary cultures in which rabbinic Judaism took shape, and multiple sources of evidence demonstrate that Jews could be slaveholders or held as slaves. Yet most scholars now agree that it is problematic to read the prescriptions of rabbinic slave law as straightforward representations of actual social practices. This difficulty has had the effect of making the issues that follow from recognizing rabbinic culture as a slave culture not fully visible. Nonetheless, the permeating presence of slavery in these texts suggests a critical need for a fundamental reconsideration of rabbinic rhetoric in this area. This article focuses on the intersection of slavery and the construction of female sexuality in rabbinic thought. This example demonstrates the difference that foregrounding the rabbinic acceptance of slavery can make to a discussion of Jewish marriage and sexual ethics today. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
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ISSN:8755-4178
1553-3913
DOI:10.2979/jfemistudreli.28.2.69