cently obtained freedoms. These restrictions on women’s ritual participation
have a distinct parallel in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century discussions of
children’s ritual obligations. The appendix to this chapter outlines these
changes as they deviate from the focus of chapter 2, but are central to a broader
understanding of this topic.
Let us now return to the opening discussion of the co-parents and the ba’alei
brit and summarize some of the issues raised in this chapter. The medieval Jew-
ish community adapted the role of the ba’alei brit from their Christian neigh-
bors. Like the Christians, they used it as a means of forming new relationships
and strengthening existing contacts. Within the family framework, they chose
to honor various members, in accordance with the status of the different mem-
bers of their families. Among those honored were women—friends and rela-
tives—just as women were honored as co-mothers in the baptism ceremony.
By examining these practices, we may obtain a better understanding of the
tensions at work within Jewish society. As an institutional ritual, circumcision
was a way for the community to strengthen and confirm its hierarchy. By fol-
lowing the development of this institutional rite during the medieval period,
we can see how it reflects changes and tensions within Jewish society. Jewish
women, like Christian women in the baptism ritual, took part in the circum-
cision ceremony. Their role is more surprising because, unlike baptism that
was for female and male infants alike, circumcision was seen by many as an ex-
clusively male rite.
By examining changes in the roles of women, we were able to point to a
wider change in their ritual participation in Jewish society, as well as the
broader transformations that were part of European society at large. The simi-
larities between Jewish society and Christian society with respect to these two
rites of passage are especially striking when one remembers that both cere-
monies were definitive religious ceremonies. Although they were the ultimate
symbol of difference, they reflect similar social strategies and changes.