an enforced marriage. Since medieval times the
common view was that ™alitsah has priority over
yibum, though not all rabbis (for example, Mai-
monides, who lived in Egypt in the twelfth century)
and communities (for example, Algeria) accepted
this view.
Biblical law permits divorce, but only the hus-
band can initiate it. While numerous regulations
were added to the process over time the principle
remained the same, and the wife cannot initiate
divorce, except in a very limited number of cases
(for example, when the Jewish court of law agrees
that the husband is incompetent physically or men-
tally). Thus, husbands can prevent wives from being
absolved of a failed marriage and starting a new
life, and men might require a large payment and put
forward difficult conditions for divorcing their
wives. One of the most painful problems in this re-
gard is when a husband disappears without leaving
trace (for example, missing in action, gone on busi-
ness trip). The deserted wife (≠agunah, “anchored”
to her husband) cannot then be divorced, nor is the
Jewish court of law able to force her husband to
divorce her. Though attempts were made over time
to solve this problem, it is still an acute one.
In the medieval period, Rabbi Gershom, the
“Light of the Diaspora” (ca. 960–1028), of Ger-
many prohibited polygamy and divorcing a wife
against her will. This became known as the “Ban of
Rabbi Gershom,” the violation of which carried
severe judicial sanctions by the Jewish court of law.
These prohibitions are still followed by the Ash-
kenazi communities (that is, by most European
Jews) and were influenced by the prevalent Chris-
tian laws requiring monogamy. This is one of the
major differences between the condition of Jewish
women under Christianity and under Islam. In the
latter, the Ban of Rabbi Gershom was not observed,
influenced by the Muslim acceptance in principle
of polygamy. Sephardi and Mizrahi communities
(Jews originating from Spain and their offspring as
well as those originating from Muslim countries)
did not accept Rabbi Gershom’s Ban, while Ash-
kenazi communities generally did, even after Ash-
kenazim settled in Muslim countries. This does not
mean, though, that polygamy was prevalent among
Jews under Islam, but it was allowed and occasion-
ally did take place even in the twentieth century.
Both genders were subject to strict laws of purity,
and women were regarded as impure during their
menstrual period followed by another 7 “clean”
days (Leviticus, 15). Women were also considered
impure for 7 days following the birth of a son and
were forbidden to touch consecrated objects or
visit a sanctuary for the following 33 days; both fig-316 jewish women
ures were doubled when women gave birth to a girl
(Leviticus 12:2–5). While impure men and women
are forbidden to each other, only women are under
a mandatory period of impurity. Over time, the reg-
ulations regarding purification and immersion in
the ritual bath (mikva) became very elaborate, and
they are still in force. Conjugal relations were stip-
ulated as a duty in the marriage contract, and it
became customary to have them at least on those
Friday nights in which the woman was “clean.”
Women’s various tasks within the family included
service to their husbands, maintaining the home,
and taking care of her children, for which they were
praised as a good wife and mother. Influenced
apparently by the sociocultural attitudes of twelfth-
century Egypt, Maimonides ruled that if a wife
refuses to carry out her duties toward her husband,
such as washing his hands and feet, or serving him
at the table, she is to be chastised with a rod. This
was not, however, the common view among con-
temporary rabbis who objected, stating that they
never heard that it was permitted to raise a rod to a
woman. This was also contrary to the practice in
Ashkenazi communities at the time, where hus-
bands were not allowed to beat their wives. This is
not to say, however, that Jewish battered wives did
not exist.
The division between the public and private realm
was strongly observed among Jews in Muslim
countries. Since women were basically restricted to
the private realm, and contacts with non-kin men
were frowned upon, men did the shopping in the
market. Women usually went out in groups or
chaperoned by a male relative, and their visits were
mostly to other female friends and relatives, to the
mikva, the synagogue, the cemetery, or to saints’
shrines. Although women’s work was mostly at
home or in its vicinity (for example, in the vegetable
garden), it was usually the women’s job in rural
areas to draw water and to fetch wood – activities
that were usually conducted by a group of women.
Most Jewish women did not work outside their
homes until the late nineteenth century. Some
women, though, worked in exclusively female jobs,
such as midwives, cosmeticians (mainly for brides),
and mikva supervisors. Others became maids when
economics forced them, but usually only until they
married. A few were peddlers, merchants, or in
finance. Some women worked at home and sold
their extra produce (embroidery, sewing, spinning,
or foodstuffs). With the advent of female formal
education, women trained in professions, but the
society was slow to accept their participation in the
job market, where most women were both young
and unmarried or older widows.