- Cadden, Meanings of Sex Difference, 117–30; Thomasset, “Nature of Woman,” 58–60.
- Shah·ar, Women in the Middle Ages, 98.
- For example, B. Lanfrancus, In D. Pauli Epist. Comment., Epist. I Ad Thess., PL, 150, 334
“non nutrix filios alienos, sed nutrix fovens filios suos” (d. 1089); Herveus Burgidolensis, Com-
ment. in Epistolas Pauli., in Epist. I ad Thess., PL, 181, 1361–62 (d. 1149); Petrus Lombardus,
Collectanea in Epist. D. Pauli, in Ep. I ad Thess., PL, 192, 291–93 (d. 1160). - Helinandus, Sermones, XIX in Ass. BVM, PL, 212, 638: “Nos illi debemus honorem, quia
est mater Domini nostri. Qui enim non honorat matrem, sine dubio inhonorat filium. Iterum
Scriptura dicit: Honora patrem tuum et matrem(Ex. XX). Quid ergo dicemus fratres? Nonne ipsa
est mater nostra. Per illam enim nati sumus, per illam nutrimur, crescimus per illam. Per illam
nati sumus, non mundo, sed Deo; per illam nutrimur, non lacte carnis;... Per illam crescimus,
non magnitude corporus, sed in virtute animae.” Helinandus was a Cistercian monk (died 1219).
Compare: S. Anselmus Lucensis Episcopi, Meditatio super salve regina, PL, 149, 586D; Petrus
Cellensis, Sermones, In assumptione Beate Mariae Virginis, VIII, PL, 202, 868 (12th cent.); He-
linandus, Sermones, XXI: In Nativitate B. Mariae Virginis I, PL, 212, 652. This same image ap-
pears in a commentary on Song of Songs 4:2 “Your teeth are like a flock of ewes climbing up from
the washing pool.” Bede explains: “Dentes sunt ecclesiae, quia panem verbi Dei parvulis illius ad
quem mandendum ipsi non sufficiunt parant. Solent quippe piae nutrices particulas panis den-
tibus conficere et inter lactandum,” Venerabilis Beda, In Cantica Canticorum Allegorica Exposi-
tio, PL, 91, 1130. - R. Simon b. Isaac b. Abun and his piyutim are discussed in Grossman, Sages of Ashkenaz,
86–102; Leopold Zunz, Die Literaturgeschichte der synagogalen Poesie(Berlin, 1865), 112–13. - The piyut was published by Avraham M. Haberman, Liturgical poems of R. Shimon bar
Yiz·h·aq(Berlin and Jerusalem, 1938), 99–100. - Naomi, for example, is referred to as an omenet(Ruth 4:16), as is Mefiboshet’s nurse (2 Sam.
4:4). Moses refers to himself as an omen, using the imagery of pregnancy and birth (Num. 11:12).
By contrast, his mother, Yokheved, is called a meneqet, as is the nurse of Joash (2 Kings 11:2). No
such distinction exists in Latin or English. From a feminist point of view, this term is fascinating
as it provides a parallel to a mother for a figure who mothers. This is the thesis of many scholars
following Nancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of
Gender(Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1978). - Rashi, Deut. 32:20, s.v. “Emun.”
- See chapter 1, p. 29.
24.SHB, no. 589. - Supra, unnumbered note.
- For example: R. Moses of Couc ̧y, Semag, negative commandment no. 81.
- Ibid., Isur veheter, no. 59, 28–29.
28.Both eating and washing are prohibited on Yom Kippur. The legal language uses the fem-
inine in these cases. BT Yoma 77b; Rashi, ad locum, s.v. “Isha medih·a yada bemayim; Mah·zor
Vitry, no. 345; R. Jacob b. Meir, Sefer haYashar, She’elot uTeshuvot, nos. 52, 2. - MS Oxford Bodl., Opp. 77 (844), responses of R. Meir b. Barukh of Rothenburg from 1375,
fol. 142, no. 95. - Tosafot, Shabbat 111b, s.v. “Hai mesucraita.”
31.For example, Bellette, the sister of R. Isaac b. Menahem, and Miriam, the wife of R. Tam,
were known to instruct the women of their communities on the observance of precepts pertaining
to women. Bellette is mentioned in a number of sources, Mah·zor Vitry, 610; R. Eleazer b. Yoel
Halevi, Sefer Ra’aviah, 1: no. 185, 210; MS Montifiore 134, Sefer Asufot, fol. 48c; Sefer Or Zaru’a,
1: no. 363. Miriam is mentioned in Hagahot Maymoniyot, K’dushat Hashem. Hannah, the sister
of R. Tam, is referred to in MS Montifiore 134, Sefer Asufot, 77a. All these women are mentioned
in the context of laws of ritual purity, food preparation, candle lighting, or making z·iz·it, another
ritual task fulfilled by women.
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
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