My Dear Daughter: Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the Education of Jewish Women in Sixteenth-Century Poland 0878204598, 9780878204595

Citation preview

Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the Education

ofJe'o\oish Women in Slxteenth-Cenlmy Poland EDWARDFRAM

AN I

EDWARD KIEV LIBRARY fOUNDATION BOOK

Monographs of the Hebrew Union College Number 33 My Dear Daughter Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the Education ofJewish Women in Sixteenth-Century Poland

1. Edward Kiev Foundation Volumes

Benny Kraut, From ReformJudaism to Ethical Culture: The Religious Evolution ofFelix Adler Alan Mendelson, Secular Education in Philo ofAlexandria Raphael Jospe, Torah and Sophia: The Life and Though t of Shem Tov ibn Falaquera Richard Kalmin, The Redaction of the Babylonian Talm ud Shuly Rubin Schwartz, The Emergence ofJewish Scholarship in America: The Publication oftheJewish Encyclopedia Philip Miller, Karaite Separatism in Nineteen th-Cen tury Russia Warren Bargad, To Write the Lips of Sleepers: The Poetry ofAmir Gilboa Marc Saperstein, Your Voice Like a Ram's Horn: Themes and Texts in Tradi­ tionalJewish Preaching Eric L. Friedland, "Were Our Mouths Filled with Song": Studies in LiberalJewish Liturgy Edward Fram, Ideals Face Reality:Jewish Law and Life in Poland,

1550-1665

Ruth Langer, To Worship God Properly: Tensions Between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism Carole Balin, To Reveal Our Hearts:Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia Shaul Bar, A Letter That Has Not Been Read: Dreams in the Hebrew Bible Eric Caplan, From Ideology to Liturgy: Reconstructionist Worship and American LiberalJudaism Zafrira Lidovsky Cohen, "Loosen the Fetters of Thy Tongue, Woman ": The Poetry and Poetics of Yon a Wallach Marc Saperstein, Exile in Amsterdam: Saul Levi Morteira's Sermons to a Con­ gregation of "NewJews " Edward Fram, My Dear Daugh ter: Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the Education of Jewish Women in Sixteen th-Cen tury Poland

MY DEAR DAUGHTER

Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the Education ofJewish Women in Sixteenth-Century Poland

Edward Fram

With a transcription of Benjamin Slonik's

Seder mi?vot ha-nashim (The Order of Women's Commandments) translated by Edward Fram and Agnes Romer Segal

Hebrew Union College Press Cincinnati

©

2007 by the Hebrew Union College Press

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fram,Edward. My Dear Daughter: Rabbi Benjamin Slonik and the education of Jewish women in sixteenth-century Poland I Edward Fram. p. em. - (Monographs of the Hebrew Union College; no. 33) "With a transcription of Benjamin Slonik's Seder mitzvot ha-nashim (the order of women's commandments) translated by Edward Fram and Agnes Romer Segal." Includes bibliographic references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-87820-459-8 (alk. paper) 1. Women in Judaism - Poland - History - 16th Century. 2. Jewish women Education - Poland - History - 16th century. 3. Jewish women - Religious life - Poland. 4. Slonik,Benjamin Aaron ben Abraham, b. ca. 1550. I. Shoyn fru'an boykhleyn. English and Yiddish. II. Title.

BM729.w6F72.2007 296.6'808209438-dc22 Printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America Typeset by Posner and Sons Ltd.,Jerusalem, Israel Distributed by Wayne State University Press 4809 Woodward Avenue, Detroit,MI 48201 Toll-free 1-800-978-7323

2006048778

For whom else but my own dear daughter Ayala

The I. Edward Kiev Library Foundation In loving memory of Dr. I. Edward Kiev, distinguished Rabbi, Chaplain, and Librarian of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, his family and friends established a Library Foundation in September

1976 to support and encourage scholarship in Judaica and

Hebraica. The Hebrew Union College Press is proud to add this work by Edward Fram to the growing list of scholarly works supported by the Kiev Foundation.

Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Rules of Transliteration Introduction

IX

xi XU

Part One: Context

1 . The Bibliographic Context Handbooks of the Law Practical Obstacles to Reading in the Age of Manuscripts A Proposed Handbook for the Fifteenth C entury Literacy and Printing in the Vernacular

3 3 8 12 15

2. The Shifting Center of Ashkenazic Jewry German Jewry on the Move Keeping in Touch Italian Jewry in Crisis and the Rise of Polish Jewry Cultural Exchanges

22 23 26 30 32

3. Glimpses into the Lives of the Main Audience Men's Views of Women Separate and Unequal Life at Home Religious Responsibilities Women at Prayer Piety and Super-Piety In the Community

37 37 45 48 60 63 70 78

Part Two: Content

4. Popularizing the Law Creating a Book People Wanted to Read Motivating Observance Historical Role Models The Seder mi�vot ha-nashim and Earlier Handbooks Slonik, His Teachers, and the ShullJ.an 'aruk Mtermath

87 87 93 98 101 1 05 1 29

Tables 1 and 2 : Comparison of Passages from Seder mi?vot ha-nashim and ShullJan 'aruk

1 36

Appendix: Textual Traditions of "Women's Commandment" Books and Slonik's Seder mi?vot ha-nashim

1 39

Introduction to the Yiddish Text and Translation Yiddish Text and Translation

151 1 54

Bibliography

309

Index

33 1

Acknowledgments The end of a project offers the opportunity to thank formally those who have helped make it possible. The Rabbis of the Talmud said that "all beginnings are difficult," but a fellowship from the Oxford C entre for Hebrew andJewish Studies made the beginning of this project easier by giving me the opportunity to live in an idyllic setting and work in the Bodleian Library with its wealth of resources. Richard Judd and his staff at the Bodleian's Oriental Reading Room were ever accommodating, making it a perfect site for research. Brad Sabin Hill, then Librarian of the Oxford Centre's Leopold Muller Me­ morial Library and now with YIVO in New York, taught me indispensable skills with respect to Yiddish bibliography and much about the history of the printed word. Witnessing his bibliographic knowledge is indeed humbling. Professor Dov-Ber Kerler sat patiently with me as I made my first attempts to grapple with the problems of sixteenth-century Yiddish. His suggestions and translations were most appreciated, and I thank him for his efforts. My proximity to two other great collections in the United Kingdom, the British Library and the Cambridge Uni­ versity Library, was not wasted, and I thank both these institutions for granting me access to their collections. A semester at Oxford was simply not enough, and my work continued both at Ben-Gurion University's Aranne Library and at the Jewish National and Univer­ sity Library in Jerusalem. Without the resources of these libraries and the knowl­ edge and assistance of the staffs of both institutions, this research would have been all but impossible. Given the level of scholarship of those who sit in the various reading rooms of the National Library in Jerusalem, I never lacked for people to answer my questions. A Harry Starr Fellowship at Harvard University's C enter for Jewish Studies gave a new meaning to the term "fellowship. " Our research group meshed excep­ tionally well, and it was a pleasure to work with each and every member. Partic­ ular thanks go to Professor Magda Teter, with whom I shared a table in the Phillips Reading Room. She pored over documents from approximately the same time and place that I was working on and proved to be a wonderful source of knowledge and a fine friend. I thank her for sharing her findings with me and for reading a number of early drafts.

x

Acklowledgments

In Boston, a Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Fellowship helped make my stay possible, and at Harvard University, the staff of the Phillips Reading Room and Houghton Library made every effort to provide me with all the re­ sources that I needed. In New York,Jerry Schwarzbard and his staff at the Jewish Theological Seminary Rare Book Room were always helpful. Sharon Liberman Mintz, Curator ofJewish Art at the Seminary, was kind enough to suggest the frontispiece that is the basis for the dust jacket cover. Deciphering Old Yiddish posed quite a challenge. Thankfully, Agnes Romer Segal agreed to work with me and made the translation of the text possible. Her husband Eliezer graciously endured my two week sojourn in their home as Agi and I hammered out the final version. Jerold Frakes and Morris Faierstein gave generously of their time to review our work and made many corrections. Needless to say, they bear no responsibility for the final product. Another area that required much research was the Ashkenazic community in northern Italy in the sixteenth century. Here, thanks go to Howard Adelman for getting me started. Barbara Selya, Managing Editor of the Hebrew Union College Press, was a pleasure to work with, and Raphael Posner of Posner and Sons Ltd. in Jerusalem has done a fine job of dealing with the difficulties of setting sixteenth-century Yiddish. I am honored that the Kiev Foundation has chosen to include a book of mine, for the second time, in its series of works honoring the memory of Dr. 1. Edward Kiev. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their enduring love and support.

Abbreviations and Rules of Transliteration

BT. J.T. PVAA SMN YSS

Babylonian Talmud Jerusalem Talmud Pinqas vacad arbac ara�ot, compo and ed. Israel Halperin, rev. Israel Bartal, introd. by Shmuel Ettinger (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1 990) Benjamin Slonik, Seder mi�vot ha-nashim (Cracow: Isaac Prostitz, 1 585) Solomon Luria, Yam shel Shelomoh ( 1 858; reprint, New York: A. I. Friedman, 1 968)

Books of the Bible are abbreviated according to the guidelines of The Chicago Man ual of Style, 1 5th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Place names have generally been spelled according to English forms (e .g. , C racow rather than Krakow) . '!\There English forms do not exist, eastern European towns have been spelled according to Polish orthography. Biblical names have been written in their standard English form (e.g. , "Re­ becca" not "Ribqah") while non-biblical names and all other Hebrew terms that have not entered the English language have been transliterated following the rules found in The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1 907) al­ though the qufis represented here as a q instead of a � and the vav as a v instead of a W. The object of the transliteration is to allow the reader to reconstruct the original Hebrew as accurately as possible rather than to obtain a modern vocali­ zation. Yiddish words have generally been transliterated according to the rules of the American Library Association-Library of Congress (ALA-LC Romanization Tables) . Many early Yiddish books, such as Benjamin Slonik's Seder mi�vot ha­ nashim , had Hebrew titles. The transliteration of these titles reflects this practice.

Introduction

Jewish life in late sixteenth-century Poland was very much a continuation of me­ dieval German (Ashkenazic) Jewish culture in that it was characterized by the observance of religious law, rituals, and customs. C elebrating the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, preparing and eating kosher food, circumcising male children, and a host of other practices were simply whatJews did-and Christians did not. Contemporary eastern EuropeanJewry knew no other way of being Jewish. This is not to say that all Jews complied with each and every detail of the law. Rabbis might have been pleased if they did, but had this been the case, moralists and preachers would have been left speechless, and the historical record shows that they were not. Communities expected and facilitated proper observance, and social pressures were potent forces in persuading people to maintain a pious lifestyle. However, not every aspect of one's daily life was subject to public scrutiny. One area of religious observance that was generally removed from social controls was the sexual life of couples within the context of marriage. The Rabbis very much in­ sisted that this be so. I According to Jewish law (halakhah), the sexual union is to take place discreetly and in darkness, or at the very least in the shadows. This notion was so important that two of the greatest rabbis of the talmudic age, Abbaye and Rava, were said to have tried to insure that not even insects would be present when they had relations with their wives.2 Yet however private sexual intercourse was to be, the law itself is highly intrusive and makes significant de­ mands on the sexual lives of]ewish couples; the most complex aspect of these laws are the rules related to menstruation (Heb. , niddah).3 I. While privacy may have been the ideal, crowded living conditions, particularly in towns, could make it difficult to achieve. See Adam Teller, Ifayyim be-?avvta ' (Jerusalem: Magnes, 2003), 7 7-84. 2 . B.T., Niddah 1 7a; fur, Eben ha-'ezer 25; ShullJan 'aruk, OraJ:! J:!ayyim 240.6; Eben ha-'ezer 2 5 . 2 . Also see Daniel Boyarin, Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talm udic Culture (Berke­ ley: University of California Press, 1 993), 1 25-28. 3. There were certainly other rules governing sexual behavior. Basing himself mainly on ear­ lier sources, Rabbi Joseph Caro imposed numerous restrictions on how a couple could have

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Xlll

Based on passages in Leviticus 1 5 , 1 8, and 20 and ensuing rabbinic interpreta­ tions of these and other texts, the ha1akhah states that Jewish women who expe­ rience uterine bleeding or spotting of a certain minimal amount are prohibited from having physical contact of any kind with their husbands-even simple touch­ ing- unless the blood emanates from a wound, sore, or plausible source beyond the individual female's body (e.g., blood that may have splashed on her from elsewhere) . When uterine bleeding ends, but after a minimum of five days (hymenal bleeding requires a minimum of four days), the woman is obliged to wash her genital area and perform an internal examination with a white cloth to determine that all bleeding has stopped. If it has, she is to wear clean white un­ dergarments by day and sleep on white sheets while continuing to perform inter­ nal examinations every morning and evening for the next week. If no blood is seen during these so called "seven clean days" (shiv'ah neqiyyim), on the evening after the seventh day (according to the Hebrew calendar, the transition from one day to the next begins at nightfall rather than at midnight or dawn) she is to immerse herself fully in a ritual bath (mikve) or in a body of flowing water (e.g., a lake or river), after which she is allowed to resume physical contact with her spouse. Although many moderns find these laws discriminatory and explain them in terms of taboos, controls, and/or masculine aversion to women, for most Jews in sixteenth-century Poland they were the Divine word, and there was no question that they had to be followed assiduously.4 At the same time, there was no way for outsiders to know whether a couple was observing every detail correctly. Indeed, with so many of those details in the hands of women, even a woman's husband

intercourse (ShullJan 'aruk, Oral).l).ayyim 240; Eben ha-'ezer 25). Cf. , however, Rabbi Moses Isserles's gloss to Eben ha-'ezer 2 5 . 2 . 4. Despite its name, most o f the Babylonian Talmud tractate Niddah is preoccupied with purity rather than with the laws of niddah. Spittle, semen, nasal mucus, discharges from the genitals of both men and women (zav and zavah), impurity connected to childbirth, unclean reptiles, and the dead take up the bulk of the discussion. The vast majority of these laws were connected to the Temple. With the destruction of the Temple, there was no possibility of bring­ ing the appropriate sacrifices, leaving almost everyone in a state of ritual impurity. However, since the Torah specifically prohibited sexual intercourse with a woman who was in the midst of her menstrual period (Lev. 1 8 . 1 9 , 20. 1 8), this prohibition became almost the only law of ritual purity that remained applicable in the post-Temple period. The effect of the laws of menstrua­ tion on the status of women in ancient times is not to be underestimated (see, for example, Niddah 7 .4, which suggests that women live in separate houses, huts, or rooms while ritually unclean), but its effect became more pronounced in the post-Temple period when the numerous rules that applied to men were no longer in force, Ie" · /ing women as the sole source of ritual impurity among the living. For a brief but useful survey of modern scholarship on reasons for the biblical taboo, see Jonathan Klawans, Impurity and Sin in AncientJudaism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 7- 1 2, 1 04-8.

XIV

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did not know if his wife was truly "clean" -and his piety in this area was very much dependent on the punctilious observance of his wife. Twenty-first century women (and men, too, for that matter) have any number of opportunities to familiarize themselves with the laws ofniddah . If they are not taught in a formal classroom situation, they can easily find this information in books or even on the Internet." How did sixteenth-century women learn all the rules and regulations of such an intimate subject? As in other areas of ritual life that concerned the household, it would seem that their primary source of infor­ mation was other women, be they mothers, grandmothers, sisters, sister-in-Iaws, or friends. Since women taught other women the laws of menstruation, when practical questions arose they naturally turned to the same sources for answers. Often, however, particularly difficult issues could only be addressed by rabbis or other learned men, for women rarely, if ever, attained the level of rabbinic schol­ arship necessary to parse the details of these complicated laws.6 To be sure, women asking rabbis about menstrual bleeding was a custom that stretched back to at least the second century, but not all women were comfortable talking about such personal matters with men. 7 Some preferred to err on the side of stringency and declare themselves ritually prohibited rather than endure the embarrassment of discussing their sexual lives with a rabbi. A further complication: there were many Jewish communities in sixteenth­ century Poland where there was no qualified rabbi to ask.s This was nothing new, for a tradition in the Babylonian Talmud reported that Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi 5. A helpful English language explanation of many of these laws can be found by following the links provided at http:// www . yoatzot.org (accessedJune 28, 2006). The site reflects modern practice and deals with many sophisticated problems, but the explanations are helpful in under­ standing even the basics. 6. A husband who was knowledgeable inJewish law could have taught his wife and answered her questions for there was no legal objection to knowledgeable husbands deciding matters of law with respect to their wives, even though they had a personal interest in the matter (see Tosa[ot ha-Ro 'sh , Niddah 20b). However, with couples often marrying for the first time at a young age (mid-teens, if not earlier; see Simon Dubnow, ed. , Pinqas ha-medinah [Berlin: Ajanoth, 1 925J , no. 1 28 [from 1 628J , as well as Luria, YSS, Yebamot 6.40 and Qiddushin 2 . 1 ) , it is unlikely that even a very promising young scholar would have as yet mastered this aspect of Jewish law. More to the point, few young men were truly knowledgeable in Jewish law. 7. See Niddah 8 . 3 , where a woman asked a question of Rabbi Akiva, whose students seemed to have witnessed the give and take between their teacher and the woman. Also see Charlotte Fonrobert, l'v1enstrual Purity (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), I I 3. Jewish women in Babylonia, and perhaps one non-Jewish woman as well for different reasons, also are said to have asked rabbis questions about menstrual,staining and even sent their blood stains to rabbis (see B.T., Niddah 20b, 58a) . Regarding the embarassment felt byJewish women in sixteenth-century Poland, see Sionik, Si'v1N, introduction. 8. Sionik, SMN, introduction and no. 95.

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(d. ca. 220), Patriarch and editor of the Mishnah, was concerned that women who lived in such places would not observe the laws of niddah properly. His solution was to institute an across-the-board stringency in a particular aspect of the laws.9 Once women were informed of the new stringency, a source of uncertainty had been removed and there was much less need for rabbinic instruction. Some three generations later, Rabbi Zeyra, who was rigorous himself in all aspects of the law and tried to impose his religious zeal on others, reported that an even more ex­ treme practice had taken hold among Jewish women that made the law ever simpler to observe. 10 However, even stringencies had their limits. GivenJudaism's acceptance ofhuman sexuality within the framework of heterosexual marriage and its belief in a Divine command to procreate, not everything could be prohibited. II To educate both men and women, but particularly women, in a more system­ atic and impersonal manner, a young rabbi, Benjamin Slonik (ca. 1 550-after 1 620), who would one day become one of, if not the leading rabbinic authority in eastern Europe, harnessed the relatively new technology of printing and pub­ lished a "how to" book for women in the Yiddish vernacular. 1 2 His Seder mi�vot ha-nashim (The Order of Women's Commandments, Cracow, 1 5 7 7) dealt with

9. B.T., Niddah 66a with Rashi's comments. 1 0. B.T., Niddah 66a. Although Rabbi Zeyra reported this as the custom of "the daughters of Israel," one wonders whether he was reporting on the reality of his day or whether he was es­ pousing a position. Rabbi Zeyra was a native of Babylonia who left for the Land of Israei but returned to Babylonia from time to time. On his tendency to be stringent, see most specifically J. T., Berakot 1 . 5 , 3d, a source kindly pointed out to me by Mr. Aryeh Bodenheimer. With respect to Rabbi Zeyra imposing his view on others, seeJ.T., Berakot 8.6, 1 2c. I!. B.T., Berakot 22a; Niddah 3b, noted that the need to procreate was a legitimate legal concern in decision making. Also see, for example, Me'ir ben Gedaliah, She 'elot u-tesh ubot Me'ir mi-Lublin (Venice: Bragadin, 1 6 1 8), no. 7 1 . It is not clear whether the question was based on an actual case or was made up by the questioner, who included an unusually lengthy discus­ sion of the possibilities in his question. One way or the other, the questioner was not anxious to create a situation in which a couple would have to wait even two extra days before being able to have sexual relations even though the particular couple that he described was apparently not too eager to engage in sex. 1 2 . The primary audience for the Seder mi�vot ha-nashim may have been women, but it was also written for men who were like women in that they were not scholars of rabbinic law and could not read Hebrew legal texts. Slonik specifically told women, "If your husband is not some­ one who studies, then make him read from it (i. e . , this booklet) just like you" (Slonik, SMN, no. 1 05). While a man did not have the burden of examining himself on an ongoing basis, he too was expected to know the law. No less important, although never articulated, a mutual under­ standing of the nature of the restrictions was important for marital relations. A husband who understood the laws would have a better appreciation of exactly why it was that his wife was not only sexually unavailable to him during much of the month but why she might not take care of certain household duties or dress as he liked when she was ritually unclean. See tosa[ot, B.T.,

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the three commandments that had been specifically incumbent upon women from at least the second century on: the taking of a portion of dough that was about to be baked (hallah , see Num. 1 5 . 1 7-2 1 ) , the kindling of lights on the eve of the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, and the observance of the laws ofniddah . 13 The taking of hallah obligates one (not necessarily a woman) who mixes flour and water into a thick batter that is to be baked to separate a small portion of the dough if it is made from wheat, rye, spelt, barley, or oat flour. In ancient times the dough was given to members of the priestly clan (kohanim), but by the six­ teenth century, and today, the small piece of dough is burned to a crisp. The precept of hadlaqat ha-ner (kindling of light) obliges people to light oil lamps or candles just before the onset of the Sabbath or Festival and leave them to burn to insure that there will be light in the house into the night. Slonik's efforts reflected a belief that education rather than legislation was the way to insure proper observance of these commandments. His decision to use print to educate women, particularly those living in outlying areas, stood in stark contrast to the methods used by the Catholic Church in contemporary Poland. Desperate to root out what it perceived as the Protestant heresy from villages, the Post-Tridentine Church, at least in the Cracow diocese, relied on preachers and clerics to convince rural residents of the truths of Catholicism rather than the printed word, even though there was a dearth of well-trained men to fill local clerical positions. 1 4 By contrast, in western Europe, Catholic reformers harnessed the press to try to "control, shape, prescribe, reward, and inspire good Christian behavior among virgins, matrons, and widows of all conditions" and published over 1 ,000 vernacular books/pamphlets addressed to female readers by 1 600. 1 5 Slonik's Seder mi?vot ha-nashim was part o f a similar trend i n the Jewish world in which printed Yiddish books were part of a religious offensive to teach the masses about the Jewish tradition. 16 Niddah 1 2a, where the underlying assumption is that the husband understands the laws of niddah and thus his wife's behavior. 1 3 . The three "women's commandments" are mentioned in Shabbat 2.6. The Mishnah notes that women die in childbirth due to their failure to observe these laws scrupulously. 1 4. See Waldemar Kowalski, "Change in Continuity: Post-Tridentine Rural and Township Parish Life in the Cracow Diocese," Sixteenth CenturyJournal 35, no. 3 (2004): 689-7 1 5, and Magda Teter,Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-ReFor­ mation Era (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 59. 1 5 . Rudolph M. Bell, How to Do It (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 999), 6. 1 6. See Jean Baumgarten, In troduction to Old Yiddish Literature, ed. and trans. Jerold C. Frakes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 295. Also see Moses Gaster's introduction to his edition ofJacob ben Abraham, Ma 'aseh Book, translated and introduction by Moses Gaster, reprint, 1 934 (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1 98 1 ), xxvi-xxxi, as well as Astrid Starck's edition, Un beau livre d'histoires eyn shan mayse bukh (Basel: Schwabe, 2004), xl-xlvi.

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Informing and correcting the religious lives of women, particularly in the most personal of realms, raised questions about how to present the law and what should be included. The laws of niddah are among the most complicated in the Jewish legal system of the post-Temple period, and their numerous fine points can easily be misunderstood-with dire consequences. This is of no small importance since the Torah threatens a man and woman who knowingly have sexual relations while a woman is ritually unclean with karet (lit. , "cutting off;" see Lev. 1 8 . 1 9-29, 20. 1 8), among the most severe penalties in the PentateuchY At the same time, however, excessive stringency can lead married couples to separate themselves from one another unnecessarily for days if not weeks on end. For Slonik's book to be a successful tool in public education, he had to consider the capabilities and limitations of his audience both as readers and listeners-the sixteenth century was a period of transition in which written sources were in­ tended to be read aloud to those who could not read for themselves. 18 What were both readers and listeners capable of understanding in terms of content and lan­ guage? Were people ever ready to modifY their behavior or did they have to be convinced to change their ways? Determining the correct answers to these ques­ tions was complicated by intellectual and cultural currents of the time. Both Christian andJ ewish societies held negative views of women and their intellectual abilities. Moreover, like any author, Slonik could not anticipate how each user would respond to his book. Individual perceptions were influenced by a host of forces-social factors, levels of education, levels of personal faith, and, particularly in dealing with matters of sexuality, psychological factors such as feelings about one's own body. For his book to be successful in educating contemporary readers and listeners, Slonik had to write not only for the pious but for the rebellious as well-and for every level of religious commitment in between. To meet his audience's needs and abilities as he perceived them, Slonik created a handy text that almost every Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jew old enough to be aware of basic adult human physiology could understand. It required no spe­ cialized knowledge beyond the ability to read or listen. 19 It was addressed to readThe use of print did not absolve the need for teachers who went out "to the field" to instruct people in the law, even with respect to the laws of menstruation. 1 7 . For a useful listing of various rabbinic views of the practical meaning of karet, see Yisrael Sichel, "Karet, 'ariri u-mitah bidey shamayim-gidreyhem," Magal l l ( 1 995): 203-25. 1 8. With regard to readers and listeners, see Steven Ozment, "Pamphlet Literature of the German Reformation," in Reformation Europe: A Guide to Research , ed. Steven Ozment (St. Louis: Center for Reformation Research, 1 982), 89. Admittedly, then as now, fictional works were probably more popular listening material than a legal handbook. 1 9. The notion of requiring limited intellectual effort on the part of readers was developed by Chava Tumiansky in her introduction to Alexander ben Yi�J:!ak Pfaffenhofen, Sefer massah

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ers of average intelligence from all sectors ofJewish society, and it was published in a small and relatively inexpensive format that would allow many people to purchase it. 20 As such, it was a piece of popular literature.2 1 Slonik read his audience well. Although his Seder mi?vot ha-nashim was not the first handbook on the "women's commandments" to appear, it was undoubt­ edly the most successful (see Appendix) . It was republished in Cracow in 1 585 and again in 1 595 before it reappeared in western Europe, first in Basel in 1 602, and later in Hanau in 1 62 7 . The work was also translated and adapted into Italian and published in Venice in 1 6 1 6, in Padua in 1 625, and again in Venice in 1 65 2 and 1 7 1 1 . Sections o f Slonik's text were copied into a t least one subsequent hand­ book written for women and published in Prague in 1 629.22 The Seder mi?vot ha-nashim is of great historical value. Not only does it offer an opportunity to learn about the history of Yiddish printing and public educa­ tion, but it is a rare remnant of a direct interface between a member of the rab­ binic elite and the laity, particularly women. Although printed sermons and other homiletical material ostensibly report what was preached, they provide only lim­ ited information about how preachers interacted with their audiences. Not only do extant sermons fail to record the gestures, qualities of voice, and wealth of colloquial expressions that animated good preaching, but before publication they were generally translated into Hebrew (from the vernacular in which they were delivered) and recast for a scholarly audience. By contrast, from the outset, the Seder mi?vot ha-nashim was addressed to the laity. Slonik's text also sheds light on the history ofJewish law, particularly the re­ ception offered to the ShullJan 'aruk, an important new legal code that had just been published in Cracow. Slonik's inclusion of sections of Sh ullJan 'aruk in his handbook gave the newly written code an important push by disseminating its rulings in Yiddish and providing it with a potentially wider audience than it could possibly receive in its original Hebrew. This is all the more interesting given that Slonik was not only a student of Rabbi Moses Isserles (d. 1 5 72, Cracow), whose comments on ShullJan 'arukh made the work a useful text for Ashkenazim, but u-meribah , edited with an introduction by Chava Turniansky Gerusalem: Magnes and Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1 985), 1 3 1 . 20. Sionik, SMN, introduction, urged potential buyers, "Do not spare a few groschen "and buy the book, suggesting that he expected this to be a relatively inexpensive volume. 2 1 . On what defines popular literature, see Paul F. Grendler, "Form and Function in Italian Renaissance Popular Books," Renaissance Quarterly 46, no. 3 (Autumn 1 993): 453, as well as his "Chivalric Romances in the Italian Renaissance," Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 1 0 ( 1 988): 59-60. 22. See Agnes Romer Segal, "Sifrey mi�vot ha-nashim be-Yidish be-me'ah ha- 1 6," unpub­ lished Master's thesis Hebrew University, Jerusalem ( 1 9 7 9), 5 3-54, no. 1 4.

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of Rabbi Solomon Luria (d. 1 5 74, Lublin) as well. Luria profoundly disagreed with the notion of codifyingJewish law in a relatively simple and straightforward text, and his own legal opus, Yam shel Shelomoh , required that readers have a thorough grounding in rabbinic literature. 23 While Slonik's public education proj­ ect may seem to have contradicted the spirit of Luria's work, a closer examination of the sources reveals that a deep methodological bond existed between master and disciple. The following chapters investigate these issues in the history of education and Jewish law while locating Slonik's efforts in their bibliographic and historical contexts. Although Hebrew manuals on various topics were common in the Mid­ dle Ages, many Ashkenazic rabbis, reflecting the views of the twelfth and early­ thirteenth century GermanJewish pietists, believed that women-even those who could read-should be precluded from having access to written sources of hala­ khic information. Chapter One examines the characteristics of those early hala­ khic handbooks, explores some of the practical obstacles to reading encountered by everyone in the age of manuscripts, and discusses how rabbis sought to main­ tain a rabbinic aristocracy by opposing both formal education for women and the linguistic vulgarization of the halakhah. The arrival and dissemination of printing forced AshekanzicJewish communi­ ties to reconsider their views on a number of issues, but technology was only one factor in fostering change. Chapter Two traces the geographic shifts of the Ash­ kenazic community in this period and with it, the decline of German Jewry and the rise of two new cultural centers, first in the northern Italian lands and later in eastern Europe. Our study suggests that such upheavals weakened traditional attitudes against popularization of the law and help explain why the "women's commandments" texts moved from the German lands to northern Italy, where they were copied and adapted, and then later to Poland, where they were up­ dated, expanded, and published-ultimately to return to Italy in an Italian trans­ lation and adaptation prepared in the early seventeenth century. Chapter Three focuses on the place and roles of women-in the home, in the community, and in the views of men-in late sixteenth-century Polish:Jewish so­ ciety and thus their determining effect on Slonik's perception of his audience and on the presentation and content of his Yiddish handbook. Finally, Chapter Four analyzes that presentation and content to show how Slonik popularized the law, incorporated Shull}.an 'aruk in his work, and how his handbook reflects his rela­ tionship to his own illustrious teachers. The study is accompanied by a transcription of the 1 585 edition of the Seder mi�vot ha-nashim and a running facing-page English language translation of the 2 3 . See Luria, YSS, Gittin (introduction) and /fullin (introduction).

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text. Out of print for centuries, the Yiddish text alone would be useful only to a few. As a bilingual edition, however, Slonik's handbook invites modern readers to experience for themselves the religious world of eastern Europe in the late sixteenth century, particularly that ofJewish women.

Context

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The Bibliographic Context Handbooks of the Law Legal handbooks, that is guidebooks or manuals that offer readers easily under­ standable, practical information, were not a development of the sixteenth century or unique to Jewish society. 1 Already in the geonic period, it would appear that handbooks in Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in Hebrew characters with Hebrew and Aramaic loan words) were written by the likes of Rabbis Sa'adyah Gaon (d. 942) and Samuel ben I:Iofni (d. 1 084). 2 Handbooks of canon law, such as Burchard of Worms's Collectarium canon um (first quarter eleventh century) and laterJohn Gratian's Decretum (ca. 1 1 40), were important in the training and daily lives of priests in the Middle Ages and beyond.3 After the Fourth Lateran Council ( 1 2 1 5), when annual confession was required of all Christians, there was a need for manuals not only in Latin but also in the vernacular in order to instruct local confessors and make it possible for them to administer the Sacraments and per­ form other pastoral functions properly.4 In the Ashkenazic milieu, almost all legal handbooks prepared before the de­ velopment of print were written in Hebrew and intended for those who had some experience in the field of halakhah. Manuals for professionals involved in ritual slaughtering and the preparation of kosher meat were particularly popular, but

1 . Handbooks are significantly different than legal monographs. The topic of either type of work may be broad or narrow, but monographs expand on or discuss fully (all) aspects of the subject while handbooks give relatively simple and practical instruction. 2. See Robert Brody, The Geonim ofBabylonia and the Shaping ofMedievalJewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1 998), 253-54, 259-60, and David Sklare, Sam uel ben Ifofni Gaon and His Cultural World: Texts and Studies (Leiden: Brill, 1 996), 25. 3 . Already in the twelfth century, Gratian's Decretum , one of the most popular and easy to use canon law texts of the Middle Ages, was translated into Old French so that it could be used by those who did not understand Latin. See James Brundage, Medieval Canon Law (London: Longman, 1 995), 48-49. 4. See Leonard Boyle, "The Fourth Lateran Council and Manuals of Popular Theology," in The Popular Literature ofMedieval England, ed. Thomas Heffernan, Tennessee Studies in Lit­ erature 28 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1 985), 3 1 .

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authors also composed works for cantors, scribes, and other communal function­ aries.5 Presentation of the law in such works was generally straightforward, and introductory remarks, if any, were typically brief. Rabbi Isaac ben Me'ir of Duren's discussion of the laws ofniddah in his thirteenth-century Sha 'arey dura' had but a one-line introduction that may or may not have been written by him, and it was followed by specific and technical legal instruction.6 Rabbi Jacob Margolis (d. 1 50 1 , Regensburg) offered no introduction at all to his work on writs of divorce and began with legal directives.7 In writing what was in essence pro­ fessional literature, authors did not consider it necessary to capture the readers' imaginations or entice them to read on. The need to know the law was reason enough for professionals to work through a text.8 Indeed, Rabbi Me'ir of Rothenburg (d. 1 29 3) began his summary of the laws of ritual slaughtering with

5. See Israel Ta-Shma, "Le-ofiyah shel sifrut ha-halakah be-Ashkenaz be-me'ot ha- 1 3- l 4," Aley Sefer 4 ( 1 9 7 7) : 20-4 1 . Regarding possible reasons for the phenomenon, see Ta-Shma, 2 1 -22, as well as Paul Saenger, "Silent Reading: Its Impact on Late Medieval Script and Soci­ ety," Viator 1 3 ( 1 982): 395. Examples of such works in manuscript include those listed by Moise Schwab, "Les manuscripts et incunables hebreux de la bibliotheque de l'Alliance Israelite," Re­ vue des etudesjuives 49 ( 1 904): 2 7 8-79 (no. 42), and Benjamin Richler, Guide to Hebrew Man­ uscript Collections (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1 994), 1 96 (no. 8 75), and the laws of slaughtering and checking the lungs in verse (see Adolf Neubauer, "Collectaneen," Monatsschrift fur die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Juden tum s 36 [ 1 88 7] : 502-5). 6. Isaac ben Me'ir, Sha 'arey dura ' ha-shalem (Jerusalem: n. p., 1 983), 8 7b. The Sha 'arey dura ' itself began with the laws of salting meat and there too the author promptly started with legal instruction: "Meat that was rinsed and salted and remained so for the necessary amount of time and later was cooked without having been rinsed . . . " (fols. l a-3a). 7 . Jacob Margolis, Seder ha-get, 2d ed., ed. Yitzchok Satz (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 998), 25, began with "The parchment that the bill of divorce is written on is prepared like the parchment of a Torah scroll and tefi1lin and mezuzot." The text was later expanded and edited by Rabbi Margolis's son, who wrote the brief introduction that repeated the talmudic warning that, given the legal complications involved in preparing a bill of divorce, only those who had the requisite legal expertise should deal with the matter (p. 23). 8. On professional literature in medieval and pre-modem Ashkenazic society, see Israel Ta-Shma, Halakah, minhag u-me?i'ut be-Ashkenaz 1000-1350 (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 996), 94- 1 1 1 . Not all handbooks were given to be copied and distributed (see Elchanan Reiner, "The Ashkenazi Elite at the Beginning of the Modern Era: Manuscript versus Printed Book," Polin 10 [ 1 99 7] : 85-89). Rabbis had personal manuals that focused on specific topics to which they referred and made notes in during the course of their careers. For example, Rabbi Aaron Blumlein (d. 1 42 1 ; Vienna) had a reference book on the laws ofniddah that he annotated. Yet it was not intended for the use of others, let alone lay use (see Israel Isserlein, Pesaqim u-ketabim [Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1 5 1 9] , no. 1 32; on Blumlein, see Israel Yuval, lfakamim be-doram ITerusalem: Magnes, 1 988] , 59-7 1 ) .

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a citation of a talmudic rule that it is prohibited to eat the meat of an animal slaughtered by a ritual slaughterer who does not know the law.9 Hebrew guidebooks for professionals continued to be written in the sixteenth century. l O Rabbi Benjamin Slonik himself wrote one on the laws of dissolving a levirate relationship (hali�ah ; see Deut. 25 . 5 lO) As in earlier handbooks, Slonik also assumed that readers were familiar with rabbinic Hebrew, talmudic and Aramaic phrases, and basic legal terms. I I Given their complexity and centrality in daily life, the laws of uterine bleeding and sexual relations merited a number of handbooks, the first and most important of which was Rabbi Abraham ben David of Posquieres's (1120-98) Sefer ba 'al ha-nefesh , a work that the author himself termed "a handy treatise." 1 2 Although Rabbi Abraham intended his work to illuminate a series of laws that many people had difficulty observing properly, he wrote his book in a Hebrew intermingled with talmudic phrases and technical terms that he did not bother to define, a sure sign that the work was addressed only to those who had an advanced knowledge of rabbinic literature. 1 3 If few men had the requisite knowledge to understand Rabbi Abraham's treatise, even fewer women did. The Talmud all but formally barred men from teaching women rabbinic literature, claiming that anyone who taught his daughter Torah taught her frivolity (tifl u t The implications of that prohibition were clear to the late twelfth and early thirteenth-century German Jewish pietists, lfasidey Ashkenaz . One of their cen-

.

9. See Me'ir ben Baruch, Tesh ubot pesaqim u-minhagim , vol. 2, ed. Yitzhak Z. Kahana (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1 960), 1 70. 1 0. Related to legal handbooks but somewhat different were Hebrew custumals, manuals that outlined the yearly cycle of traditions in the Ashkenazic community, such as what prayers were to be said when. Specifically intended for non-scholarly readers, these works offered practical instruction that was sometimes accompanied by rationales for rites and customs. On the in­ tended audience of such custumals, see Isaac Tymau, Sefer ha-minhagim , ed. Shlomo Spitzer (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 97 9), 1 . 1 1 . The work has not survived, but Sionik copied a portion of it into one of his responsa (see Benjamin Sionik, Sefer masa 'at Binyamin , reprint, 1 894 ITerusalem: n.p., 1 968] , no. 1 0) . On guides for ritual slaughtering, see Yedidya Dinari, lfakmey Ashkenaz be-shalhey yemey ha-beynayim (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1 984), 287-96 with n. 1 8 7 . A portion of a Yiddish guide for porging meat from the fifteenth century can be found inJewish Theological Seminary, Rab­ binics MS 5 7 7 (New York), fols. 88a-89a. 1 2 . See Isadore Twersky, Rabad ofPosquieres, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication So­ ciety, 1 980), 8 7 , whose translation of the author's phrase "l}ibbur yafeh ," I have followed. Re­ garding earlier works, see Twersky, 88-89. 1 3. Abraham ben David, Ba 'aJey ha-nefesh , ed. Yosef Kapah (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1 964), introduction. Also see Twersky, Rabad ofPosquieres, 90-9 1 . 1 4. B.T., Sotah 20a.

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tral works, Serer lJasidim , detailed both what they thought appropriate to teach women and how they should be taught. A man is obligated to teach his daughters the precepts, such as practical legal rulings. And what [the Rabbis] said, "Whoever teaches his daughter Torah it is as if he teaches her frivolity," this [refers to] the depths of the Talmud and the rationales for the commandments and the secrets of the Torah. [One does] not teach [these things] to a woman or child but the rules of the precepts he must teach her [for if] she will not know the laws of the Sabbath, how will she observe the Sabbath? And so it is with each precept, in order to be careful with regard to the commandments . . . A man should teach his daughters the precepts that they are commanded [to observe] . . . [for] they have no part in Torah . . . only that they should know the precepts but the depths of Torah and casuistry they are not commanded [to know] . And the precepts that they are not obligated to fulfill they are not commanded to learn, but the precepts that they are obligated [to fulfill] they need to study and to know, in whatever language that they know but a man is commanded to study in the holy tongue [i.e., Hebrew] . . . and this is [the meaning of] "Thus you shall say to the house ofJacob" (Ex. 1 9. 3), the women [you should teach] in a gentle language and the men with casuistry... 1 5

For pietists, the goal o f women's education was purely practical. Women needed an education only in order to know certain facts so they could perform their religious obligations properly. Such a curriculum required a pragmatic pedagogy, and thus the pietists' view that, unlike men, who had to study in Hebrew, women were to be taught in the language that they understood best, the vernacular. 1 6 The pietists not only articulated what and how to teach women but who should teach them. A parallel passage of this section in a different manuscript tradition of Serer lJasidim was most specific in noting that " . . . the father should teach his daughter and his wife." 1 7 Women were to learn through oral instruction in the vernacular, specifically by father/husband to daughter/wife, most likely for rea­ sons of modesty. 18 Once women were familiar with the law they could pass that knowledge on to other women. As the pietist explained in another discussion of the importance of teaching women the practicalities of the law,

1 5 . Judah ben Samuel, Sefer q.asidim , 2d ed., ed. Jehuda Wistinetzki, foreword by J. Freimann, reprint, 1 924 (Jerusalem: Wahrmann, 1 969), no. 835. See too, no. 1 50 1 . The expla­ nation of this fragment of Exodus 1 9. 3 as referring to women is based on earlier rabbinic sources and is cited by Rashi in his commentary on this verse. 1 6. A similar view appeared in the comments of the tosafists (B.T. , Sotah 2 1 b with reference to J.T., Sotah 3.4, 1 8d- 1 9a). However, the tosafot on Sotah were edited by Rabbi Judah ben Qolonimos, who was connected to I;lasidey Ashkenaz (see Ephraim Urbach, Ba 'aley ha-tosafot, 2 vols. , 4th ed. [Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1 980] , 36 1 -65, 637-39). I 7.Judah ben Samuel, Sefer q.asidim , ed. Reuben Margaliot (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1 95 7), no. 3 1 3 . 1 8. See Judah ben Samuel, Sefer q.asidim (Wistinetzki), no. 1 50 1 .

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And why should one not teach the words of Torah to women? Because Scripture says, "And you shall teach them to your sons" (Deut. 1 1 . 1 9) and [this implies] not to your daughters. For whoever teaches women Torah it is as if he teaches her [sic] frivolity. However, one must teach her the rules of the commandments and the rules of the pro­ hibited and permitted [e.g., foods] but not the reasons for the precepts. For if they do not know the words of Torah, how will they warn women [i. e . , teach other women the laws] ? And how did Deborah who judged Israel, as it is written, "She judged Israel" (Judg. 4.4) [i.e., how did she judge them if she did not know the law] ? But the words of Torah must be taught to them in order that they know what to do . . . 1 9

These practical ideals of the pietists were echoed in Rabbi Isaac ben] oseph's Sefer mi?vot qatan , an influential compendium of halakhah that appeared later in the thirteenth century. 20 Rabbi Isaac, who was known to have followed the German pietists in a number of matters, was said to have specifically called on his male readers "to tell the women the precepts that apply to them, the positive and the negative," so that women would know how to observe the law properly. 2 1 These views became normative in Ashkenazic legal culture and continued to be so into the sixteenth century and beyond. 22 No ideal existed for teaching women Hebrew or how to read rabbinic texts. Quite the contrary.

1 9. Judah ben Samuel, Serer lJasidim (Wistinetzki), no. 1 502. The biblical story of Deborah suggests that women could teach men as well, a possibility not developed by the pietist. 20. On Rabbi Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil's work as a compendium that popularized the law among Hebrew readers, see Yehuda Galinsky, "Arba'ah turim ve-ha-sifrut ha-hilkatit shel Sefarad be-me'ah ha- 1 4," Ph.D. diss. , Bar-Han University ( 1 999), 1 28-29. The Serer mi;wot qatan was not only popularized but was popular. Mr. Pinhas Roth of the Hebrew University, who has studied the manuscripts of the work, has told me that there are over 1 00 complete manuscripts of the text still extant. On the influence of Serer lJasidim on Rabbi Isaac of Corbeil, see Ephraim Kanarfogel, "Peering Through the Lattices": Mystical, Magical, and Pietistic Di­ mensions in the Tosafist Period (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000), 8 1 -92, and par­ ticularly 88 with n. 1 66 regarding women's obligation to study Torah. See too, Haym Soloveitchik, "Piety, Pietism and German Pietism: Serer lfasidim I and the Influence of lfasidei Ashkenaz,"Jewish Quarterly Review 92, no. 3-4 (April 2002): 455-84. 2 1 . See Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil, Serer 'ammudey golah (Constantinople: [Nahmias] , 1 5 1 0), 2b (formal title aside, the work is almost always refered to as Serer mi�vot qatan). In the Cracow 1 596 edition, the word "to tell" (lomar) appears in parenthesis. The introduction also notes that "the reading and the study and secrutiny will benefit them [i.e., the women; ba-hen] " (2b). From the context, it does not seem that women were actually reading the text but rather this was a call to men to educate women through oral instruction. However, the word "ba-hen " does not appear in the Cremona 1 556 edition and I have not checked the manuscript traditions of the text. 2 2 . See Jacob Molin, Sh u "t Mahari''l ha-lJadashot, ed. Y. Satz (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 9 7 7), no. 45 .2, based upon Rabbi Isaac ofCorbeil;Jacob Landau, Serer ha-agur, ed. Moshe Hershler (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 960), no. 2 (p. 1 8); ShullJan 'aruk, Yoreh de'ah 246.6, with Isserles's glosses (note that in the 1 5 74 edition of ShullJan 'aruk published in Venice by Alvise

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Practical Obstacles to Reading in the Age ofMan uscripts Linguistic and conceptual issues aside, in the age of manuscripts the sheer eco­ nomics of copying rabbinic works made them unattainable for the vast majority ofJews. For example, Bibliotheque Nationale Hebrew manuscrip t number 363 is a complete copy of Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms's (ca. 1 1 65-ca. 1 2 30) Sefer ha-roqeafJ. , an important compendium ofJewish law. This particular man­ uscript was completed early in 1 45 3 .23 Each side of its 1 92 vellum folios was hand­ ruled with 35 lines. The scribe, like almost all Ashkenazic scribes of the age, used a square script, the writing of which was more time-consuming than writing in cursive. (Unlike Sephardic society, Ashkenazic society never developed a true He­ brew cursive script.) He wrote in a way that allowed approximately 75 characters, including spaces, per line. In the best of conditions, it would have taken a skilled scribe no less than two-and-one-half months to copy such a manuscript, and not all Ashkenazic scribes were so highly skilled. 24 Moreover, even the most skilled would have been slowed down by cold fingers-the winters of northern Europe were fierce and the heating poor. Less formal handwriting may have been some­ what faster, but it too was time-consuming. A custumal and "women's command­ ments" book, one hundred and seven folios in length and written in a semi-cursive script on paper without rulings, took a northern Italian scribe about two months to write in late 1 556, early 1 55 7 .25 Bragadini [without Isserles's glosses] , the word "tiflut" was explained [perhaps by Me'ir Parenzo] to mean "a sinful matter" [dabar 'abeyrah] ) ; Joel Sirkes, Bayit lJadash , in Arba'ah turim ha-shalem (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 990-9 1 ) , Yoreh de'ah 246; David ben Samuel, Magen David, in ShullJan 'aruk (Oral,t l,tayyim) (Jerusalem: Tal Mann, 1 9 7 7),47 . 1 0; Abraham Gombiner, Magen Abraham , in ShullJan 'aruk (Oral,t l,tayyim) (Jerusalem: Tal Mann, 1 9 7 7), 4 7 . 1 4. 23. M. Zotenberg, Catalogues des man uscripts hebreux et samaritains de la Bibliotheque Imperiale (Paris: Imprimerie Imperiale, 1 866), 50, no. 363. I have given the date based upon the information in the colophon of the manuscript rather than the information in the catalogue. 24. Paul Saenger, "Literacy, Western European," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol. 7, ed. Joseph R. Strayer (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1 986), 60 1 , noted that a 200 leaf manuscript written in a cursive script on paper took a scribe two and one half months to write. I assume that writing in a square script in a realtively dense manner on vellum took no less time. On the varying skills of Ashkenazic scribes, see Michele Dukan, "La vente et Ie pret du livre. Le livre, Ie mort et Ie vivant," in La conception du livre chez les pietistes Ashkenazes au Moyen Age, Ecole Pratique des Hautes E tudes, Sciences Historiques et Philologiques VI, Histoire et Civili­ sation du Livre 23 (Geneva: Droz, 1 996), 1 2 7-29. On the speed of Latin manuscript writing in an earlier period see, Michael Gullick, "How Fast Did Scribes Write? Evidence from Roman­ esque Manuscripts," in Making the Medieval Book: Techniques of Production , Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1 500, Oxford, July 1 992, ed. Linda L. Brownrigg (Los Altos Hills, Calif. : Anderson-Lovelace, 1 995), 39-5 3 . 25. Bibliotheque d e I'Alliance Israelite, MS 9H (Paris). The scribe's colophon (fol. 1 07b) noted

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Beyond the cost of labor, manuscript production required raw materials, the most expensive of which was vellum. The use of paper as opposed to vellum could lower the cost of manuscript production significantly-by as much as eighty percent-but the cost of labor and paper for a medium length manuscript could still equal a week's income for a well-to-do person in fifteenth-century Naples.26 Lengthy works, even if written in a less expensive format, could not have been written for readers who were without financial means unless copied by the owner him or herself, and even that required money to purchase materials and the time to make the copy. 27 It is little wonder that in 1 3 7 5 "a very few" manuscripts were worth more than the library building completed at Exeter College in England that year. 28 C osts of production aside, as far as public education was concerned, manu­ scripts had still another drawback. Copying may have been slightly faster than printing (when the Cracow printer Isaac Prostitz published his edition of Sefer iJ.asidim in 1581, it took the press from February 9 until May 3 to print the 122 octavo folios with 3 6 lines to the page and about 70 characters per line). 29 But at the end of the process the scribe had produced only one copy while the printer had produced hundreds, if not more. In short, copying was a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, even if the scribe was but a cash-strapped yeshiva student. 3 0 that he began to transcribe the work on 1 5 Kislev and completed it on either 6 or 1 0 (the text is unclear) Shevat. Some pages of the manuscript are tightly written, with 36 lines per page and others have much more open space. The scribe wrote about 40-45 characters per line. 26. See Brian Richardson, Prin ting, vVriters and Readers in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 999), 1 1 3. 2 7 . Not surprisingly, it is estimated that at least half of all extant medieval Hebrew manuscripts were copied by their owners (see Malachi Beit-Arie, 'The Codiocological Data-Base of the He­ brew Palaeography Project: A Tool for Localizing and Dating Hebrew Medieval Manuscripts," in Hebrew Studies: Papers Presented at a Colloquium on Resources for Hebraica in Europe, British Library Occasional Papers 1 3, c-d. Dina Rowland Smith and Peter Salinger [London: British Library, 1 9 9 1 J , 1 6 7-68; also see, Marvin Heller, Prin ting the Talmud: A History of the Earliest Prin ted Editions of the Talm ud [Brooklyn, N.Y. : 1m Hasefer, 1 992] , 6-9). 28. See 'Vilbur Lang Schramm, "The Cost of Books in Chaucer's Time," 1VIodern Language Notes 48, no. 3 (March 1 93 3): 1 43--44. 29. Judah ben Samuel, Seier �lasidim (Cracow: Isaac Prostitz, 1 58 1 ). I have calculated the time of printing based on the date given on the title page and the date given on the last page of the text. I do not know if the 23 folios of indices that follow the text were printed before May 3 , 1 58 1 or thereafter. Needless t o say, not all manuscripts or books were produced under the best of conditions. For example, the printing of Rabbi Joel Sirkes's commentary on the Tur began on I Tammuz (July 3), 1 639 and was completed only on 8 Tammuz (June 28), 1 648. Sirkes died in 1 640. Presumably, Sirkes's death in 1 640 was a significant factor in the delay. 30. Manuscript copying was an integral part of yeshiva study and material copied by a student in his youth could serve him for a lifetime (a sixteenth-century example of this very phenomenon

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The occasional woman in medieval and early modern Ashkenazic society who could read and understand rabbinic Hebrew was most likely to have been a member of one of those families who could afford to buy, commission, or write manuscripts or at least appreciated such works and may have had them in their possession. Miriam, the daughter of Rabbi Solomon of Speyer, for example, was said to have taught rabbinics to "exceptional young men" in fifteenth-century Germany from behind a curtain. 3 l Chava(?) Eilburg, born into a scholarly family in the sixteenth century, apparently spent quite some time studying Jewish mys­ ticism.32 Beyla Falk (d. 1631), the wife of Rabbi Joshua Falk (d. 1614) of Lw6w, one of the leading rabbis of his generation, studied the weekly Torah portion with the commentary of Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, d. 1105, northern France) and those of other commentators. Her son reported that during his father's life­ time, his mother would "gird her loins like a man" and take part in discussions around the table about Torah. Sometimes she would have her own fine insights "as is known to everyone of my father's students who ate at our table."33 Yet being a member of a rabbinic family did not guarantee easy access to information. Rebecca of Tykocin (Tiktin; d. 1605 in Prague) popularized segments of rabbinic ethics and literature for other women in her Yiddish language Meyneqet Ribqah ("The Wet Nurse of Rebecca," a play on Gen. 3 5 . 8 ; Prague, 1609), yet the intro­ duction to her work seems to indicate that such knowledge was not easily ac­ quired, even though she was the daughter of a rabbi. 34 is discussed in Elchanan Reiner, "A Biography of an Agent of Culture: Eleazar Altschul of Prague and His Literary Activity," in Schopferische Momen te des europiiischenJuden tums, ed. Michael Graetz [Heidelberg: Winter, 2000] , 229-47). I know of no specific example of a yeshiva student moonlighting as a scribe for others. However, in a town with a yeshiva, they would likely have been the least expensive source of scribal labor in light of their numbers and their literacy. Re­ garding medieval students working as scribes to support themselves, see Graham Pollard, "The Pecia System in the Medieval Universities," in Medieval Scribes, Man uscripts and Libraries: Essays Presented to N.R. Ker, ed. M.B. Parkes, Andrew G. Watson (London: Scolar, 1 97 8), 1 56, and Gullick, "How Fast Did Scribes Write?" 43. 3 1 . See Solomon Luria, She 'elot u-tesh ubot ha-Maharsha '1 (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 969), no. 29; Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 249-5 3. An oddly similar story aboutJewish life in medieval Baby­ lonia appears in Petahiah of Regensburg, Sibub ha-rav Rebbi PetalJyah mi-Re 'genspurg, pt. I, ed. Eliezer Greenhut (Frankfurt: Kauffmann, 1 905), I I. 32. SeeJoseph M. Davis, "A GermanJewish Woman Scholar in the Early Sixteenth Century," in Freedom and Responsibility, ed. Rela Mintz Geffen, Marsha Bryan Edelman (Hoboken: Ktav, 1 998), 1 03-4, as well as his "The Ten Questions of Eliezer Eilburg and the Problem of Jewish Unbelief in the 1 6th Century,"Jewish Quarterly Review 9 1 , no. 3-4 (April 200 1 ) : 295. 33. See the introduction ofJoseph Falk to his father's commentary on the rur, Yoreh de'ah, first printed in Lublin in 1 635 and reprinted in Jacob ben Asher, Arba 'ah turim ha-shalem , 22 vols. (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 990-94), n.p. 34. The introduction noted, "I have observed, I have studied according to my heart, I have

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Rebecca's difficulties notwithstanding, these educated Jewish women were ex­ ceptions. For the vast majority, self-study of the tradition was a difficult, if not impossible task. Even though universal formal Jewish education for boys was of­ fered in some centers in the sixteenth century, girls did not enjoy the same privi­ lege . 35 Girls who learned to read most likely did so at home and generally did not progress beyond learning the Hebrew letters-all they needed in order to pray and read Yiddish texts.36 As Moses Altschul, author of the late sixteenth-century Bran tspigel, all but explicitly stated, rabbinic works were generally inaccessible to contemporary women, and there is nothing to suggest that men or women were clamoring to change the situation. 37 raised up my voice and read. Now I have come and today I have gone out and I have found a well of water and I have rolled the large stone and I have drunk from it (see Gen. 29. 1 - 1 0) and I am still thirsty and I said in my heart, I will go and bring [water] to my neighbors and relatives. And my bones will make me rejoice that they will drink for a long time to come in fulfillment of what is written, 'drink water from your own cistern'" (Prov. 5 . 1 5; the text is transcribed in Chone Shmeruk, "Ha-soferet ha-yehudit ha-ri'shonah be-Polin-Ribqah bat Me'ir Tiqliner ve-qibbureyha," Gal-Ed 4-5 [ 1 9 7 8] : IS). The use of the story ofJacob and the well covered by the large stone suggests that Rebecca of Tykocin had a difficult time reaching "the waters of Torah. " This may have been due to conceptual difficulties, but one suspects that in an age in which women did not enjoy formal education for cultural, historical, and legal reasons, it had more to do with the attitudes of men towards women's education. The publisher's introduction notes that Rebecca was the daughter of "Ha-ga'on R. Me'ir" (reproduced in Chone Shmeruk, Sifrut yidish be-Polin [Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 98 1 ] , 5 7 , and now, on the basis of the first edition, in Frauke von Rohden, "Meneket Rivka [ 1 609] von Rivka bat Me'ir. Kritische Edition mit Einleitung und Kommentar," unpublished Ph.D. diss. Universitat-Gesamthochschule [Duis­ burg, 2002] , 52). Although married and called rabbanit (lit. "wife of a rabbi" but perhaps simply a term of honor), neither Rebecca of Tykocin's gravestone or the record of her death in the memorbuch of the Altneuschul in Prague make mention of her having any children (see Rohden, "Meneket Rivka ," 4-5 , as well as Johannes Conrad Lufft, De Rebecca Polona: eruditarum in gentejudaica foeminarum rariori exemplo [Altdorf: Kohlesii, 1 7 1 9] , 7-9). Ifindeed she was free of parental responsibilities, she may have had the time to dedicate herself to her studies. 35. The author of the Hebrew-Yiddish glossary, the Merkebet ha-mishnah (Cracow: Helicz, 1 534-35), hoped that his book would be used by those who lived in villages where there was no teacher to teach their sons, daughters, and even their wives. Marion Jennifer Aptroot, "Bible Translation as Cultural Reform: The Amsterdam Yiddish Bibles ( 1 678- 1 679)," Ph.D. diss. (Uni­ versity of Oxford, 1 989), 45, who cited this passage, noted that this sort of phrase was found in "most glossaries and translations. " While such phrases may not have described every reality of the day, marketing cliches had to be somewhat in congruence with contemporary realities and values. It would seem that the study of the Bible by women was deemed as a positive, but not necessary, activity. 36. The ability to read Hebrew characters did not mean that one could understand Hebrew texts. See Isaac Sulkes (cited in Shmeruk, Sifrut yidish be-Polin , 63), who claimed that women could not understand the most basic prayers in Hebrew. 3 7 . See Moses Henochs Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Moses Henochs Altsch ul-Jeruschalmi

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A Proposed Handbook in the Fifteenth Cen tury The Ashkenazic notion of how, but not what, to teach women was ultimately challenged by Rabbi I:Iayyim of Augsburg (known as I:Iayyim Zarfati), who, prob­ ably some time in the l 420s, planned to prepare a Yiddish handbook of the laws of niddah . 38 It was intended both for women and for men who lacked a working knowledge of Hebrew. Rabbi I:Iayyim's proposal elicited a strong negative re­ sponse from the outstanding Ashkenazic halakhic authority of the age, Rabbi Jacob Molin (d. 1 42 7) . 39 Replying to a number of questions from Rabbi I:Iayyim about the laws (perhaps information for his project?), Molin, who strongly ob­ jected to halakhic handbooks for the laity in any area, expressed astonishment at Rabbi I:Iayyim's plans to offer the ignorant yet another opportunity to err. Like Christian scholars who argued against translating the Bible into English in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, Molin believed that religious knowl­ edge had to be mediated.40 Only male scholars, or at least those trained in the law, should teach women. [Male] students competent to rule inform the women of the laws applicable to them at home, in town, or in the neighborhood . . . it is the obligation of each scholar and every student of a scholar to inform them [i.e., women] and to keep them away from a prohibition and to guide them in the correct path . . . and sometimes he should teach them according to what he thinks they need to know, if he is capable [of teaching them] . 4 I

"Brantspigel;' ed. and compo Sigrid Riede! (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1 993), 25. On the dating of the Bran tspigel, see Mosheh N. Rosenfeld, '''Der Brant Shpigl'-mahadurah bilti noda'at she! ha-sefer ve-zihuyi mel;\abro," Kiryat Serer 55, no. 3 ( 1 980): 6 1 7-2 1 . 38. See Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 3 1 6. See there n . 1 8 regarding a responsum written di­ rectly to a woman in Hebrew by RabbiJacob Molin. It appears as no. 76 inJacob Molin, She'elot u-tesh ubot Mahari'1, ed. Y. Satz (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 9 79), and is quite a lengthy and detailed piece. 39. Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93. Also see Simhah Assaf, "Zutot," Kiryat Sefer 20 ( 1 943-44): 4 1 -42; Romer Segal, "Sifrey miFot," 2-3. On the dating of the question, see Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 3 1 1 - 1 2 . Molin, at least, understood that the target audience of Rabbi I;£ayyim's plan was uneducated men and women. Incredulous, Molin wrote to Rabbi I;£ayyim, asking whether he had ever heard of such a thing "from the days of your fathers and your fathers' fathers," suggesting that Rabbi I;£ayyim was being innovative in writing a work on the laws of niddah in Yiddish. Molin did know of a Yiddish manual on the laws of ritual slaughtering that was composed in rhyme "with good intentions" for those who lived in villages ("yishubim ") and could not understand "even" the laws of ritual slaughtering in Hebrew. Even so, Molin argued that this was only a review tool and that no one was granted the right to slaughter based on studying just this work. 40. On England, see Nicholas Watson, "Censorship and Cultural Change in Late-Medieval England: Vernacular Theology, The Oxford Translation Debate, and Arundal's Constitutions of 1 409," Speculum 70 ( 1 995): 84 1 -42. 4 1 . Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93 (pp. 93-94).

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According t o Molin, direct instruction b y men was not the only legitimate way to educate women in the law. Word of mouth was also perfectly fine, and Molin accepted and expected that women would pass along information to other women once they had been taught the law by a male. "And at least [he should educate] the members of his household and they will inform their friends," wrote Molin.42 And this is what those who have preceded us did . . . they taught what they thought there was a need for, and so in other matters of niddah mentioned above. And this is what the scholars of our generation do and we will follow in their paths and thus we will save our souls. 43

Elsewhere Molin noted, "We see in our generation that they [i.e., women] are great experts in the laws of salting, rinsing, and porging [meat] and the laws of niddah , and so on. And all this is based upon [a] tradition outside [of the written text] . "44 As Molin saw it, tradition not only reinforced his position, it vindicated it. The perceived success of traditional methods of education left little reason for Molin to endorse Rabbi I:Iayyim's plans for a popular handbook. Indeed, as Yisrael Yuval has argued, Molin was a champion of the rabbinic aristocracy and opposed both formal education for women and the linguistic vulgarization of the halakhah.45 His goal of restricting knowledge suggests that he had an interest in maintaining a rabbinic monopoly on an important source of power: informa­ tion.46 Even in the age of manuscripts, when the economics of copying made even the most modest volumes virtually unattainable for the vast majority of Jews, Molin feared that any popularization of the halakhah would only weaken the laity's dependence on the rabbinate, a rabbinate that had just recently been pro­ fessionalized in Germany.47 For him, vernacularization threatened to erode the

42. Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93 (p. 94). 43. Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93 (p. 94). 44. Molin, Responsa (old), no. 1 99 (pp. 3 1 5- 1 6). 45. Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 3 1 1 - 1 8. Also see Yedidya Dinari, lfakmey Ashkenaz, 62 and 1 52, n. 48; and Dovid Katz, "Der pal.tad far Yidish iz an alter," Yiddishe Kultur 59.9- 1 0 ( 1 997): 38-4 7 . Molin may have been opposed to the use of Yiddish in religious life. See Jacob Molin, Sefer Mahari'7, ed. Shelomoh Spitzer (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 989), 626, no. 59, with Frank Talmage, "Angels, Anthems, and Anathemas: Aspects of Popular Religion in Fourteenth-Century BohemianJudaism," in Apples of Gold in Settings ofSilver, ed. Barry Dov Walfish, Papers in Medieval Studies 1 4 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1 999), 403-4. 46. See Jack Goody, "Introduction," in Literacy in Traditional Societies, ed. Jack Goody, reprint, 1 968 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 98 1 ), 1 2 . 4 7 . On the professionalization of the Ashkenazic rabbinate during this period, see Mordechai Breuer, Rabban ut Ashkenaz be-yemey ha-benayim (Jerusalem: Shazar, 1 9 76), 1 8-22.

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hierarchy of knowledge and with it the order of society.48 Accordingly, Molin opposed teaching women certain technical aspects of the law, such as the size of a bloodstain that renders a woman ritually unclean. He wanted to insure that women would have to come to scholars such as himself for detailed halakhic guidance on such matters.49 Molin advised Rabbi I:Iayyim to abandon his plans and "leave the daughters of Israel, for if they are not prophetesses, they are the daughters of prophetesses and from their youth they are experts [in the laws ofniddah] based on [what they learn from] their mothers and their instructions. "5o An oral tradition sufficed to teach them how to observe the law on a daily basis, while specific questions would have to be brought to a rabbinic authority. As for earlier halakhic guidebooks such as the Serer mi?vot qatan and the Sha 'arey dura', Molin argued that these works, written in Hebrew, were never intended for direct study by the laity.5 1 Molin was not unique in his views. Rabbi Abraham Katz of Halle (d. after 1435) sent a Hebrew summary of the Sha 'arey dura' to theJewish community in nearby Halberstadt with explicit instructions to "teach [it] in your synagogue to all the men and women in German [i.e., Yiddish] so that they should all understand" how to observe the law properly. 52 Katz allowed his summary to be copied freely and taught in other communities, but he noted that he specifically sent his work to Halberstadt because "among you there are intelligent and noted people to explain very well everything written in this letter."53 In sending the material to Halberstadt, Katz tried to insure that the interpretation, translation, and ulti­ mately the teaching of the law would be done by those competent to do so. His efforts showed that while he assumed responsibility for the education ofJews in

48. This was not unique to the German rabbis; the English clergy had similar fears (see Watson, "Censorship and Cultural Change," 849). 49. Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93 (p. 98). 50. Molin, Responsa (new) , no. 93 (p. 94). 5 1 . Molin, Responsa (new), no. 93 (p. 93). 52. Isaac ben Me'ir, Sha 'arey dura ' (Venice: Vittorio Eliano, 1 564), fo!' 50a. A comparison of Katz's letter with the editor's introduction indicates an interesting change in perceptions. Katz specifically charged the community with teaching both men and women in the synagogue in Yiddish. The editor's note, presumably by Rabbi Abraham Menal).em Rappoport, suggested a different educational scenario. The introduction reads, " . . . so that it should be clear to young and old and they will explain ["yamlio?u;" see Gen. 42.23 with Rashi's comments] it to their wives in their language [i.e., Yiddish] " (fo!. 50a). The reality of Katz's world was that women were taught together with men in the synagogue; in the editor's world, men were taught and then they taught their wives in the vernacular. 5 3 . The letter was published in 1 564 edition of the Sha 'arey dura', fo!' 50a. On Katz, see Yuval, Ifakamim be-doram , 1 67-7 1 . A transcription of Katz's introductory note based upon the Basel 1 599 edition of the Sha 'arey dura ' appears in Yuval, 1 7 1 .

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surrounding areas, he tried to retain control over the dissemination of knowledge by reminding people that any questions that might arise should be addressed directly to him. 54 Katz left no room for independent halakhic thought. Access to the sources of knowledge remained with authorized individuals who transmitted the information to others. Perhaps out of deference to Molin and those who shared his point of view, Ashkenazic authorities in the first half of the fifteenth century consciously re­ frained from writing legal handbooks for lay people. These rabbis anticipated neither imminent technological developments nor the views of humanists who sought to spread legal knowledge among the laity. 55 However, if there was any consensus among them, it came under great pressure as the center of rabbinic Ashkenazic culture shifted and Europe entered a period ofprofound technological change. Literacy and Printing in the Vernacular The advent of printing and, with it, the use of the vernacular in fields that had heretofore used learned languages such as Latin, heralded an unprecedented change in European culture. 56 The most significant push for the use of the ver­ nacular came from Reformation Germany. Church services, the Bible, the New Testament, catechisms, and prayers were all vernacularized, opening up a new world to lay readersY The implications for the publishing industry were as­ tounding.58 Four times as many books were published in the l 5 20s than in the

54. See Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 1 7 0, n. 2 7 . 5 5 . O n the views o f the humanists, see Richard ]. Ross, "The Commoning o f the Common Law: The Renaissance Debate Over Printing English Law, 1 520- 1 640," University ofPennsyl­ vania Law Review 1 46, no. 2 (January 1 998): 329-32, 347. 56. In general, on Latin giving away to the vernacular, see Peter Burke, Languages and Com­ m unities in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 43-60. In­ dividuals had works translated for them before the sixteenth century (see, for example, Stanislaw Kutrzeba, Historja irodJa dawnego prawa polskiego, reprint, 1 925 [Cracow: Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1 987] , 2 70-7 1 ) , and in western Europe the commissioning of translations had been a mark of the generosity of a prince (see Ruth Morse, Truth and Conven tion in the Middle Ages: Medieval Rhetoric and Representation [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 99 1] , 2 1 5). 57. Medieval churchmen had used vernacular sermons to address their parishes as well as congregations of women (see Louis:Jacques Bataillon, "Approaches to the Study of Medieval Sermons," in La predication au XIIIe siecJe en France et Italie, reprint, 1 980 [Aldershot: Vari­ orum, 1 993] , 25). However, the publication of Catholic sermons in the vernacular was another matter. 58. Regarding the role of capitalism in creating the vernacular print business, see Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 2d ed. (London: Verso, 1 99 1 ), 3 7 -40.

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previous decade.59 In the course of the sixteenth century, weather forecasting guides, agricultural handbooks and almanacs, guides to child rearing, and a host of different types of vade mecum , including how to choose an appropriate mate, became commonplace vernacular publications. Medical treatises too were made available because, as a French medical doctor put it, "If you want a servant to follow your orders, you can't give them in an unknown tongue."60 The law, too, was gradually vernacularized. In France, the Villers-Cotterets Ordinance of 1 5 39 ordered that all legal acts and procedures were henceforth to be in French.6 1 The anglicization and printing of law books that took place in sixteenth-century England were the subject of ongoing debates, with proponents portraying their opponents as Papists who wanted to mystify the law.62 Poland was part of the move to vernacularization. Local record books were kept in Polish already in the late fifteenth century.63 In 1 544 the Polish Sejm allowed the use of the vernacular in all legal documents, without the need for Latin, and by 1 589 one could even record legal matters in Ruthenian in the eastern territories.64 In 1 559 Bartlomiej Groicki, a Cracow jurist, took a further step toward making the law accessible by publishing the municipal laws of the Kingdom in Polish so that Poles (including judges according to Groicki) could understand the laws of their land and their rationales.65 The Catholic Church in Poland was also affected by the vernacularization movement. Daily prayers were published in Polish in Wrodaw in 1 47 5 . A Polish prayer book appeared in Cracow in 1 5 1 3 .66 The Book of Psalms was translated into Polish and published in 1 5 32 and was specifically addressed to women, while

59. David D. Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days ofJudgmen t, reprint, 1 989 (Cambridge, Mass. : HaIVard University Press, 1 990), 2 3 . Lutherans also published many pamphlets defending and spreading their faith. 60. Cited in Natalie Davis, "Printing and the People," in Society and Culture in Early Modern France (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1 9 75), 1 89. 6 1 . See Ordinance 1 88 of August 1 539, the so-called Villers-Cotterets Ordinance, http:// www . assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/villers-cotterets.asp (accessed December 26, 2005). 62. See Ross, "The Commoning of the Common Law," 342-52, as well as, Elizabeth Eisen­ stein, The Prin ting Press as an Agent of Change (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1 980), 362. 63. Agnieszka Bartoszewicz, "Mieszczanie 'Iitterati' w polskim midcie poznego sredniowiecza," Kwartalnik Historyczny 1 06, no. 4 ( 1 999): 1 7 . 64. See Volumina Legum , reprint, 1 859 (Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1 980), vol. 1 , 285; vol. 2, 295. 65. Bartlomiej Groicki, Porzqdek sqdow i spraw miejskich prawa majdeburskiego w Koronie Polskiej (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Prawnicze, 1 953), 3 . 6 6 . See Barbara Bienkowska and Halina Chamerska, Books in Poland: Past and Presen t, ed. and trans. Wojciech Zalewski and Eleanor Payne (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1 990), 8.

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Polish language books and prayers made their way into cloisters.67 The Polish Church, however, did not see vernacularization as an unmitigated blessing. Pre­ occupied with the threat posed by Protestantism, it feared that those who could read books that the Church approved of-prayerbooks and psalms-might well come to read books that the Church did not approve of.68 The Polish Church's concerns notwithstanding, across Europe, the reformed C atholic Church made extensive use of the vernacular. 69 The success of these vernacular works must have made an impression on] ewish printers as well. The first Yiddish work, an educational tool for the study of the Bible, was published in Cracow in 15 34-3 5 . It was soon followed by David Kohen's Yiddish language Azharat nashim , the first printed "women's command­ ments" book (Cracow, 1 5 35). To be sure, the printing of texts in Yiddish indicates that a Yiddish reading audience existed, but the levels of Yiddish literacy in sixteenth-century Poland are difficult to gauge. Literacy among Poles in Cracow, for example, varied greatly according to status. Based on tax records from 1 564 to 1 565, Andrzej Wyczanski surmised that wealthy Cracow burghers, civil ser­ vants, clerics, and court officials were highly literate while, as a class, petty nobles could rarely read a text. 70 In general, the wealthier the noble, the greater the chances of his being literate . 7 1 According to Wyczanski, however, only about one 6 7 . Alojzy Sajkowski, " Zycie kulturalne w XVI i w pierwszej polowie XVII w," in Dzieje Wielkopolski, vol. I, ed.Jerzy Topolski (Poznan: Wydawnictwo Poznanskie, 1 969), 5 7 8 . Regard­ ing prayers in the cloisters, see Malgorzata Borkowska, Zycie codzienne polskich klasztorow zeriskich w XVII-XVIII wieku (Warsaw: Panstwawy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1 996), 304. 68. See Polska Akademia Umiej�tnosci. Komisja Prawnicza, Archiwum komi�i prawniczej (Cracow: Nakladem Akademii Umiej�tnosci, 1 895), 390, particularly no. 8 (from 1 542), and 452-53 (no. 8, from 1 557). Also see Teter,Jews and Heretics, 1 00. 69. See Burke, Language and Communities, 79. 70. Wyczanski (see next note) acknowledged the problematics of trying to determine literacy numbers from signatures, but this seems to have become an accepted form of determining liter­ acy in many pre-modern societies. However, it is certainly easier to learn to read than it is to write. On the problematics of signatures and marks to determine literacy, see Ross W. Beales, Jr. , "Studying Literacy at the Community Level: A Research Note, Jo urn al ofIn terdisciplinary History 9, no. I (Summer 1 9 78): 93- 1 02 . 7 1 . Andrzej Wyczanski, "Alphabetisation e t structure sociale en Pologne a u XVIe siecle," Annales: Economies Societes Civilisations 29, no. 3 (June 1 9 74): 708- 1 0. An expanded version of the article appeared as Andrzej Wyczanski, "Oswiata a pozycjza spoleczna w Polsce XVI stulecia pr6ba oceny umiej�tnosci pisania szlachty wojew6dztwa krakowskiego w drugiej polowie XVI w," in Spoleczeristwo staropolskie, vol. 1 , ed. Andrzej Wyczaitki (Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1 976), 2 7-55. Wycanski offered rather exact numbers that I hesistate to use. He estimated that civil servants and courts officials were 9 1 % literate, while petty nobles who did not own peasants were only 9% literate. He further estimated that 94% of clerics, 9 1 % of wealthy burghers, and that 5 7 % of the nobility in the region were literate at this time. "

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quarter of women of the upper and middle nobility and the upper strata of the burgher class could read. 72 Moreover, a provincial church synod led by members of the Cracow diocese in 1547 complained that parish priests, both young and old, "are illiterate, not taught, utterly ignorant of Latin, do not have books, do not read sacred scriptures, and are therefore ignorant of the word of God, be He praised, and thus contemptuous of ecclesiastical statutes."73 Whether Jews had a higher literacy level than their urban Polish neighbors is difficult to say. As we have pointed out, it was not necessary to go to school to learn how to read. A friend or relative could teach anyone, including women, who wanted to learn.74 If the 1551 education ordinances of the Cracow Jewish community were observed, then almost every Jewish boy in the town was taught to read, but not necessarily understand, Hebrew-and the ability to read Hebrew characters could easily be translated into the ability to read and understand Yiddish. 75 Literacy was not just a religious ideal. Many aspects of daily life in sixteenth­ century Polish cities demanded an ability to read and write. Laws, administrative and legal records, and many financial transactions were written down as a matter of course. 76 The use of letters of credit, for example, made some level of literacy a necessity for many participants in local economies.77 Geography was also a factor. Educational institutions tended to locate in areas where there was a com­ munity with the critical mass necessary to support them. Although formal educa72. Wyczanski, "Alphabetisation et structure," 7 1 1 . Wyczanski attempted to extrapolate these figures to all of Poland and suggested that in 1 565 about 1 2% of the male population in Poland, or about 200,000 men, were literate (p. 7 1 3) . Whether the records of the Cracow region can serve as a basis for the study of all of Poland is very questionable. Cracow was among the most highly developed urban centers in Poland at the time and was both a university town and the nation's capital, meaning that both administrative and academic forces may have combined to make this a center with a greater level of literacy than elsewhere in the country. 7 3 . Polska Akademia Umiejt;tnoki. Komisja Prawnicza, Archiwum komisji prawniczej, 424. 74. See, for example, in a different geographic context, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, The Beggar and the Professor, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 997), 2 7-28. 7 5 . See P. H. Wetstein, "Qadmoniyyot me-pinqase'ot yeshanim," O?ar ha-sirrut 4 ( 1 892): 580-8 1 . Waclaw Urban, "Sztuka pisania w wojew6dztwie krakowskim w XVII i XVIII wieku," przeglqd Historyczny 75, no. 1 ( 1 984) : 78, estimated that in the first half of the seven­ teenth century, 98% of adult Jewish males in Cracow could sign their names (Urban made no claims regarding the literacy ofJewish women). Again, the use of signatures in court records to extrapolate the abilities of the entire population is highly questionable. In this regard, see too the remarks of Bell, How to Do It, 1 6. 76. See Bartoszewicz, "Mieszczanie 'litterati'," 1 4. 7 7 . See Abraham M. Fuss, "The Eastern European Shetar Mamran Re-Examined," Dine Israel 4 ( 1 9 7 3): li-lxvii.

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tion was possible in smaller communities, greater effort was generally required to see that it took place. Even the presence of learned individuals was no guarantee that others would receive an education from them. Writing in 1 6 1 0, Slonik noted that in his youth he had been in the Ruthenian lands where "it was common that there were many ignoramuses who could not read even one letter in the Torah"-even though Slonik's teachers lived in the area. 78 How many Jewish women in Poland in 1 5 7 7 could decipher Hebrew charac­ ters? It is difficult to determine. Slonik himself acknowledged that "there are some wives who cannot read."79 However, there must have been enough who could for Slonik to have written a book for them in Yiddish and for Isaac Prostitz to risk some of his money on publishing it. The history of this and other texts is evidence of a market for such publications. Nevertheless, their popularity should not be overestimated. Nor should it mistakenly suggest an inflated image of the literacy ofJewish women in eastern Europe at the time. To put the success of Slonik's handbook into perspective, it is worth noting that a Hebrew language compendium of the rules of slaughtering and internal exam­ inations of animals, a standard professional handbook by Rabbi Jacob Weil, was printed by Pro stitz in 1 5 7 7 .80 Although this was the first printing of the work in Cracow, Weil's book had been previously printed nine times-twice in Venice ( 1 54 1 , 1 55 1 ), five times in Mantua ( 1 556, 1 5 60, 1 563, 1 5 70, 1 5 7 1 ) , once in Prague ( 1 549), and once in Konskowola (near Lublin, 1 56 1 ) . 8 1 Mter numerous printings and the appearance of the book in eastern Europe, it continued to be a best seller. Prostitz republished it in 1 580, 1 585, and again around 1 595 in quarto and octavo formats of about forty fo1ios.82 There could not possibly have been more ritual slaughterers and animal examiners during the entire sixteenth century than there

78. Sionik, Responsa , no. 62. 79. Sionik, SMN, introduction. When a certain woman who had had an extra-marital affair was instructed to admit her sins publicly in the "women's synagogue," the confession that she was to say was written out for her "on a new [piece of] paper" in Yiddish and read to her by the beadle. Presumably, she was unable to read it herself. See the material published by Jacob Elbaum, Teshubat ha-leb ve-qabbalat yesurim (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 993), 236 with 232, a text that appears to have been written in 1 582. 80. Jacob Weil, ShelJitot u-bediqot, with notes and novellae of Zebi Buchtner (Cracow: Isaac Prostitz, 1 5 7 7) . 8 1 . On Hebrew printing i n Konskowola, s e e Krzysztof Pilarczyk, Leksykon drukarzy ksiqg hebrajskich w Polsce (Cracow: Antykwa, 2004), 93. 82. Yeshayahu Vinograd, O?ar ha-sefer ha- 'ibri (Jerusalem: Institute for Computerized Bib­ liography, 1 993�95), s.v., "Cracow," no. 1 1 7 , listed a 1 588 edition of the text as well and noted that there is a copy of the work in the Jewish National Library. The library catalogue lists no such book, suggesting the possibility of confusion with the 1 585 edition.

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were Jewish women in eastern Europe at any given time.83 Yet it would seem that ritual slaughterers bought more books than women did. A likely explanation has to do with motivation. Literacy was not a requirement for becoming a ritual slaughterer. But since those men provided for the religious needs of others, the public had an interest in protecting itself from both charlatans and the unskilled. They therefore saw to it that ritual slaughterers were examined before they were allowed to work. Weil's handbook was a useful tool for learning the laws.84 In addition, slaughterers traditionally used manuals to guide them in their work (or at least they had them on hand) . Women also needed to know the laws ofniddah , but to the best of our knowledge they were never tested on them. Be that as it may, reading for pleasure was beginning to gain popularity as a female pastime. In early seventeenth-century Germany, some Protestant women took time from their daily duties not only to read privately but to share aspects of their reading with others in their households.85 There is no reason to assume that Jewish women were any different in this regard. Those who could read no doubt shared their pleasure with others by reading aloud. 86 However, stories, antholo­ gies of tales, and parts of the Bible itself would have been more appealing than a technical work on how to observe the laws of niddah . Indeed, an Ashkenazic author writing in Italy the second half of the sixteenth century complained that his contemporaries read "inappropriate books" (sefarim pesulim) and left 'jewish books" to languish on the bench or in the book boxY It was Rabbi Benjamin

83. Assuming the print run to be about the same seems to be a minimalist position. Sionik's work was twice as long as Weil's but Weil's was published with marginal glosses that would have taken more time to typeset, so the cost of printing may have been more equal than it might first appear. However, Weil's work was a proven seller by a famous rabbi with a more or less known audience; Sionik's work was basically a new publication by an unknown youngster. A prudent publisher would have printed fewer copies of Slonik's text. 84. See Isserles's comments, ShuiiJan 'aruk, Yoreh de'ah 1 . 1 -2 . Not surprisingly, licenses to act as ritual slaughters (heter sheiJitah) or notes that the laws were reviewed with a local rabbi can be found in some copies ofWeil's book (see the British Library copy) as well as in at least one manuscript of the text (Bodleian Library, MS Opp. 1 56, Oxford University [Oxford] , fol. 1 34a). 85. See Cornelia Niekus Moore, "Erbauungsliteratur als Gebrauchsliterature fUr Frauen im 1 7 Jahrhundert: Leichenpredigten als Quelle weiblicher Lesegewohnheiten," in Le livre reli­ gieux et ses pratiques, ed. Hans Erich Bodeker, Gerald Chaix and Patrice Veit, Veroffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts fur Geschichte 1 0 1 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1 99 1 ) , 296-9 7 . 8 6 . This was a custom that was known among eastern European Jewish women even i n the second half of the nineteenth century. See the material gathered by Aptroot, "Bible Translation," 43. 87. Anshel Levi, Midrash ie-pirqey abot be-yidish qama'it ie-Anshel Levi, edited with an in­ troduction and annotations by Yaacov J. Maitlis (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Science and

The Bibliographic Con text

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Slonik's self-appointed task to write a book that would b e such a "good read" that women would flock to get a copy and read it.

Humanities, 1 9 78), 1 03 . I cannot say how often people read any work. None of the copies of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century works that I have examined makes reference to the number of times an owner read the work except for one. A copy of the OrlJot ?addiqim found in the 'Widencr Library of Harvard University contains three notes at the end of the work by the owner, Solomon Ulmann of Pfersee (ncar Augsburg). According to the note, Solomon read the work three times between 1 6 1 4 and 1 63 1 . A note at the beginning of his copy ofJonah Gerondi's Sha 'arey tesh ubah (both works are bound together in one volume) says that he read this work once. I know nothing else of Ulmann and cannot draw any broader conclusions.

2

The Shifting Center of Ashkenazic Jewry As we have seen, the Ashkenazic rabbinic leadership of the fifteenth century strongly objected to making the law accessible to women through vernacular translation. The availability of new technology, however, taught rabbis that the printed word could be an important tool in public education, a tool they soon learned to use. Yet new technology was not the only factor that contributed to a change in attitude toward teaching women the laws of niddah. By the time the first "women's commandments" book was published in 1535, the Jewish commu­ nity in the German lands was largely scattered and depleted as Jews either relo­ cated within the German territories or moved to new centers to the south and to the east. 1 This redistribution of the population may well have weakened unwritten local rules and customs regarding strict observance of those laws and preparing vernacular handbooks about them. 2

I. On the ongoing expulsions of Jews from German towns during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, see Dean Phillip Bell, Sacred Communities:Jewish and Christian Identities in Fifteenth-Century Germany (Boston: Brill, 200 1 ) , 1 38-48, who noted that most Jews who were expelled settled in other German towns or lived near the very communities that expelled them. See too Eric Zimmer, GelJelatan shel lJakamim (Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University Press, 1 999), 1 -3, 8, who observed that the size of the Jewish community in Frankfurt actually increased during this period. In light of the difficulties ofJewish life in Germany in the fifteenth century, some Jews emigrated to the Ottoman Empire (see Yuval, lfakamim be-doram , 435). Regarding the expulsions, see too Yuval, 392-93, as well as Elisheva Carlebach, "Early Modern Ashkenaz in the Writings ofJacob Katz," in The Pride ofJacob: Essays onJacob Katz and His Work, ed. Jay M. Harris (Cambridge, Mass . : Center for Jewish Studies, 2002), 7 5 ; Moses Shulvass, "Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy," in Between the Rhine and Bosporus (Chicago: The Col­ lege ofJewish Studies Press, 1 964) 1 63-64. 2 . Whether the earliest composition of the "women's commandments" handbooks was con­ nected to lapses in religious observance remains to be investigated. In the interim, see the intri­ guing introductory note to the laws of niddah of Landau, Sefer ha-agur, 222, an AshkenazicJ ew living in Italy in the late fifteenth century.

22

The Shifting Cen ter ofAshkenazicJewry

23

GermanJewry on the Move Jewish emigration from the German lands was not a new or sudden development. From the thirteenth century on, individual Jews had sought safer havens and economic opportunity to the south and southeast in the Tirol region and in the northern districts of the Italian peninsula, and to the east in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland. 3 Such migrations were quite i n keeping with the larger migration patterns of local non-Jews. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, Poland encouraged German immigration as a means of populating its territories, rebuilding areas destroyed by the Mongols and others, and protecting itself from border incur­ sions. So many Germans were enticed by the promises of better economic condi­ tions and legal status in the east that Polish historiography termed the migrations "the German colonization," even though other peoples also moved eastward.4 GermanJewry was not only pulled towards Poland, it was also pushed from Ger­ many. The ongoing expulsions ofJews from almost all the Imperial cities of Ger­ many forced manyJews to migrate well into the sixteenth century.5 Non-Jewish emigration from the German lands to the Italian regions was par­ ticularly strong in the early fifteenth century. Some German urban centers suf­ fered from an overabundance of skilled labor, and local artisan guilds imposed harsh entry requirements on would-be members in order to protect their mem­ bers' interests. Squeezed out of the workplace, some artisans moved south in search of less competitive labor markets. Rome proved to be a particularly attrac­ tive destination. 6 With the departure of the papacy during the Great Schism, Rome suffered an economic and demographic decline. When Pope Martin V

3. On the early migrations of Ashkenazic Jews to Italy, see Shulvass, "Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy," 1 60. Zimmer, GelJelatan shel lJakamim , 1 2, dated such migrations to the mid-fourteenth century. 4. See Israel Halpern, "The Jews in Eastern Europe (from Ancient Times Until the Partitions of Po land, 1 7 7 2 - 1 795)," in TheJews: Their History, ed. Louis Finkelstein (New York: Schocken, 1 9 70), 3 1 8-2 1 . 5 . As to the reasons for Jewish emigration, see Eliyahu Capsali, Seder Eliyah u zuta ', vol. 2, ed. A. Shmuelevitz, S. Simonsohn and M. Benayahu (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute and Diaspora Research Institute, 1 9 7 7), 230-34. Regarding C apsali's reliability, see Shmuelevitz's introduc­ tion in vol. 3, 63, and Roberto Bonfil, "Ashkenazim in Italy," in Yiddish in [talia. Yiddish Man­ uscripts and Printed Books [rom the 15th to 1 7th Century, cd. Chava Turniansky and Erika Timm, with the collaboration of Claudia Rosenzweig (Milan: Associazione Italiana Amici dell' Universita di Gerusalemme, 2003), 2 1 9-20. 6. Some craftsmen also wandered to England where Edward III (r. 1 32 7-7 7) extended priv­ ileges to them (Alfred Doren, Deutsche Handwerker und Handwerkerbruderschaflen im mittelalterlichen [talien [Berlin: R.L. Prager, 1 903] , 1 9), but generally trade conditions in the north and west were no better than in Germany (Clifford VV. Mass, The German Community

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returned to the Eternal City in 1420, its churches and public buildings were rebuilt, propelling an economic recovery and a demand for skilled artisans. 7 German merchants were active i n a number o f Italian centers, particularly in the north. Commercial ties with Venice, which had provided a market for Ger­ man exports and a conduit for imports from the east such as spices, sugar, and brocade since well before the fifteenth century, were especially strong. Not sur­ prisingly, Venice eventually became the home of the most developed German merchant organization on the peninsula.s German immigration to the Italian lands continued to such an extent that by the second half of the fifteenth century it was said, perhaps with some degree of hyperbole, that a German traveler could travel through the entire land and stay only at German guest houses and in some towns "not hear a word of Italian."9 The emigration patterns of Ashkenazic Jews were similar to those of the Ger­ man merchants. Like them, the Jews favored the towns of the northern Italian peninsula. AshkenazicJewish life had begun in Venice in the late fourteenth cen­ tury, when individual Jews from German-speaking lands were invited to settle in the town for a limited time to help provide funds for borrowing. By the early fifteenth century, Jewish bankers were settled in a number of centers along the northern Adriatic coast. I O Soon German Jews were in Padua and Verona as well in Renaissance Rome' 1378-1523, Romische Quarta1sclllHt supplement 39, cd. Peter Herde [Freiburg: Herder, 1 98 1 ] , 3.). 7 . See l\1ass, The' German Community, xiv, 1 -3, and Doren, Deutsche Handwerker, 1 8- 1 9. 8. See Karl Ipser, Venedig und die Deutschen (Munich: Markus, 1 976), 1 9-23, as well as Doren, Deutsche Handwerker, 6-7 , 1 5 , and Karl-Ernst Lupprian, II fondaco dei tedeschi e Ja sua fiwzione di con trollo del commercio tedesco a venezia , Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani, vol. 6 (Venice: Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani, 1 9 78), 4-7 . 9. David Herlihy, "The Tuscan Town in the Quattrocento: A Demographic Profile," Medievalia et Humanistica new series I ( 1 9 7 0): 1 02 . On the use of German in Italy, sec Uwe Israel, "Mit fremder Zunge sprechen," Zeitschrift flir Geschich tswissenschaft 48, no. 8 (2000): 68 1 . The German economic colony in Italy was not unique. Merchants of various nationalities formed subcommuniti('s, not only in Venice but in towns beyond Italy, such as in Seville, where there was a substantial Genoese colony during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (see Ruth Pike, Enterprise and Adventure [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1 966] , 1 - 1 9) . 1 0. A clear explanation o f how Jews helped solve the credit crisis i s offered b y Reinhold Mueller, "Les preteurs juifs de Venise au Moyen Age," AnnaJes 30, no. 6 (December 1 97 5): 1 2 7 7-78. Also see Henry Simonsfled, Der Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venedig lind die Deutsch-Venetianischen Handelsbezieh ungen , vol. 2 (Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta'schen, 1 88 7), 285-86. Regarding the lack ofJewish settlement in Venice in the twelfth and thirteenth centu­ ries, see Benjamin Ravid, "The Jewish Mercantile Settlement of Twclfth and Thirteenth Cen­ tury Venice: Reality or Conjecture?" AJS Review 2 ( 1 9 7 7): 20 1 -25, as well as his "The Venetian Government and theJews," in TheJews ofEarJy Pvlodern Venice, cd. Robert C. Davis, Benjamin Ravid (Baltimore: ThcJohns Hopkins University Pre-ss, 200 1 ) , 3-4. OnJewish settlement on the

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as other towns in Lombardy and the Piedmont. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, Ashkenazic Jews had become the majority in the Jewish community of Verona, while Venice too was transformed into a center of Ashkenazic culture. II As for Padua, Ashkenazic Jews took control of the Jewish community there even earlier. 1 2 Jews venturing into many Italian regions were protected not only b y local or­ dinances that granted them privileges but by papal rulings that often safeguarded their interests. Emigration did not guarantee a trouble-free existence, but Jews generally found life in their new surroundings to be more stable than it had been in Germany. 13 Although the top tier of rabbinic leadership did not join the flow of Ashkenazic Jews out of the German lands during the mid-fifteenth century, their students and rabbis of the second rank such as Zalman ofSankt Goar,Joseph ben Moses, and Simon of Nuremburg, did emigrate in significant numbers to effect a distinct demographic change. 1 4 Indeed, by the second half of the fifteenth century, German rabbis, particularly those of the Rhineland, came to see north­ ern Italy as a part of Germany. 15 By the late fifteenth century, arguably the most important center of Ashkenazic culture had shifted from the German lands to northeastern Italy, where it grew under the informal rabbinic leadership of Rabbi

Adriatic coast, see Mueller, "Les preteurs juifs," 1 293, and Lois Dubin, The PortJews ofHabs­ burg Trieste: Absolutist Politics and Enligh tenmen t Culture (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1 999), 1 8. 1 1 . See Cecil Roth, The History oftheJews ofItaly (Philadelphia:Jewish Publication Society, 1 946), 1 25, 1 2 7 ; David Jacoby, "Les juifs a Venise du XNe au milieu du XVle siecle," in Ve­ nezia cen tro di mediazione tra orien te e occidente (secoli XV-XVI), vol. 1 , ed. Hans-Georg Beck, Manoussos Manoussacas, and Agostino Pertusi (Florence: Leo Olschki, 1 9 7 2), 1 83 ; Jomtov Ludovico Bato, "L'immigrazione degli Ebrei tedeschi i n Italia dal trecento a l cinque­ cento," in Scritti in Memoria di Sally Mayer (Jerusalem: Fondazione Sally Mayer, 1 956), 2 1 . With respect to Verona, see Salo W. Baron, "Siksuk qehillot be-Vironah 'al pi teshubat R Mordekay Bash'an," in Sefer ha-yovel le-professor Shem u 'el Krauss, ed. S. Klein (Jerusalem: Reuben Mass, 1 93 6), 222. Regarding Venice, see Capsali, Sippurey Vene?i'ah , 230. 1 2 . See Daniel Carpi, "Ha-Yehudim be-Pa'dobah be-tequfat ha-reyn �ysa'ns ( 1 369- 1 509)" (Ph.D. diss. , Hebrew University, 1 967), 1 08. 1 3 . Regarding Italy in general, see Cecil Roth, The History oftheJews ofItaly (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1 946), 1 1 6-37, and, more specifically, Shlomo Simonsohn, History of the Jews in the Duchy of Man tua (Jerusalem: Kiryath Sepher, 1 9 7 7), 3-5, and Shlomo Simonsohn, TheJews in the Duchy ofMilan , vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1 982), xvi-xviii. As Roth pointed out, papal rulings concerning the Jews were not consistently favorable throughout the period. 1 4. See Yuval, Jfakamim be-doram , 320. Zimmer, GeiJelatan shel iJakamim , 1 2- 1 4, noted that the overall level of rabbinic scholarship in the German lands declined drastically during this period. 1 5 . Yuval, Jfakamim be-doram , 1 48.

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Judah Mintz (d. 1 509) . 1 6 The new center was well enough established that stu­ dents from Germany now came to study in the yeshivas of northern Italy, and its rabbis became the leading Ashkenazic halakhists of the day. 1 7 Upon his return to Venice from Trent in 1 475, the Dominican Bishop Baptista Dei Giudici may have been exaggerating when he commented that he was happy to be in Venice, "where justice was and would always be dispensed, where innocent people are not killed, where Christians do not plunder Jews, as it was in Trent," but life in northeastern Italy was relatively good for the Jews. 1 8 Keeping in Touch In this period of emigration, members of families invariably went in different directions. While some GermanJews moved south to Italy, others headed east to Poland, where many enjoyed the assurances and privileges offered by royal char­ ters. 1 9 Despite the distances, many families maintained contact for some time. Rabbis Moses Isserles and Solomon Luria, for example, were both related to the Katzenellenbogen family of Padua and corresponded with them during the mid­ sixteenth century from their homes in Poland.20 Yet the connection between the Ashkenazic centers in Italy and eastern Europe went far beyond familial links. By the beginning of the sixteenth century a cultural exchange existed between the Jewish communities in Poland and Italy as a few young Jewish men, like some of their non-Jewish peers, traveled from Poland to study medicine in Padua. Others followed suit and not only to study medicine but other disciplines as wel1.2 1 The 1 6. As late as 1 478, Regensburg was still arguably the leading center of Ashkenazic rabbinic culture (see A. Freimann, "Aus der Geschichte derJuden in Regensburg von der Mitte des 1 5 . Jahrhunderts bis zur Vertreibung im Jahre 1 5 1 9," i n Beitrage zur Geschichte der deutschen Juden Festschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstage Martin Philippsons [Leipzig: Gustav Fock, 1 9 1 6] , 88�89) but that situation would soon change. 1 7 . Regarding German students coming to Italy, see Capsali, Sippurey Vene�i'ah , 249. On Italy as a center of Ashkenazic culture, see Shulvass, "Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy," 1 58�83, and Erika Timm, "Das jiddischsprachige literarische Erbe der Italo-Aschkenasen," in Schopferische Momente des europiiischen Juden tums, ed. Michael Graetz (Heidelberg: Winter, 2000), 1 6 1 � 7 5, who focuses on Yiddish culture in the Italian lands. 1 8. Cited and translated in R Po-Chia Hsia, Tren t 1475: Stories ofa Ritual Murder Trial (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1 992), 7 5 . 1 9. On privileges t oJews i n Poland, see the introduction inJacob GoldbergJewish Privileges in the Polish Commonwealth Gerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1 985), 1 �46. 20. See Jacob Elbaum, "Qishrey tarbut beyn Yehudey Polin ve-Ashkenaz Ie-beyn Yehudey Italiyah be-me(,ah) ha- 1 6," Gal-Ed 7�8 ( 1 985): 1 5 � 1 6, with nn. 1 7 , 1 8; Asher Siev, "Maharam Padubah," Hadarom 28 ( 1 969): 1 94�95. 2 1 . See Tadeusz Czacki, Rozprawa 0 Zydach i Karaitach (Cracow: Wydwan. Biblioteki Polskiej, 1 860), 1 09, n. 4, regarding Jewish students studying medicine in Padua. Jews were

The Shifting Center ofAshkenazicJewry

27

Jew Mattathias Delacrut arrived i n Italy b y 1 5 35 and delved into sciences, math­ ematics, and Jewish mysticism in Bologna before returning to his native Poland in 1 550. 22 Eliezer Eilburg was born in Germany in about 1 5 30 and traveled with his parents to Poznan in 1 546. He soon moved from there to Ancona, where he studied medicine, philosophy, and Kabbalah. By 1 55 3 he moved to Silesia and later traveled back to Poland, even if only for a short time.23 Others left the Jewish community in Poland and took up positions in Italy. Gumprecht ofSzczebrzeszyn was a teacher in Venice, where he brought the frame of mind of eastern Europe, if not its very traditions, to bear in a Yiddish language ballad written in Italy in the mid- 1 550s-mainly for the sake of "pious women" in the Italian lands so that they would know how to observe Hanukkah and Purim properly. 24 The Rappoport family of Lublin immigrated to Italy before 1 5 20, where they must have raised their children according to Ashkenazic tradition; towards the end of the century, Rabbi Abraham Menaqem Rappoport was the rabbi of the Ashke­ nazic communities in Cremona and later Verona.25 YoungJewish men from Po­ land also found their way to yeshivas in northern Italy, and the printing presses of northern Italy provided Ashkenazic Jews everywhere with works in Hebrew and later in Yiddish. In 1 556, when there was no ongoing Hebrew publishing concern in Poland, Isserles sent his commentary on the Scroll of Esther to Italy for publication. The continuingJ ewish cultural exchange between Ashkenazic Italy and Poland was part of a much broader link between Poland and Italy stimulated years earlier certainly not unique in this regard. Over the course of the sixteenth century approximately 1 ,400 students from Poland studied at the University of Padua (see Anne Markham Schulz, Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano , vol. I [University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1 998] , 9 1 ). 2 2 . Moritz Steinschneider, Silrut Yisra'el (Warsaw: Ahiassaf, 1 897), 285, dated his stay be­ tween 1 5 30 and 1 550. 2 3 . SeeJoseph Davis, "The Ten Questions," 295�300. Eilburg was in Inowroc1aw (in the area of Poznan) in 1 5 7 9 for his daughter's wedding. Whether he was just visiting or lived there, I cannot say. 24. See Gumprecht von Szczebrzeszyn, Lieder des Venezianischen Lehrers Gumprecht von Szczebrzeszyn (urn. 1 555), ed. Moritz Stern, Deutsche Sprachdenkmaler in Hebraischen Shriftkarachtern (Berlin: Hausfreund, 1 922), 54. Stern's almost illegible handwritten introduc­ tion (v�viii) contains references to biographical information regarding Gumprecht found in the ballad. For the reference to eastern Europe in Gumprecht's work, see lines 284�8 7 . Also see Chava Turniansky and Erika Timm, eds., Yiddish in Italia. Yiddish Man uscripts and Prin ted Books from the 15th to the 1 7th Century, with the collaboration of Claudia Rosenzweig (Milan: Associazione Italiana Amici dell' Universita di Gerusalemme, 2003), 1 20, item 60. 25. Rabbi Abraham Menahem ben Jacob ha-Kohen Rappoport was born in Porto in 1 5 20 (see Marvin Heller, "A Little-Known Chapter in Hebrew Printing: Francesco dalle Donne and the Beginning of Hebrew Printing in Verona in the Sixteenth Century," The Papers of the Bib­ liographical Society ofAmerica 94 [September 2000] : 339 with 3 3 7).

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by papal connections. 26 Some of the first professors of the J agiellonian University came to Cracow from Italy during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centu­ ries, and in the early sixteenth century, Italian masters and their textbooks were prominent in the universityY Polish participation in church councils in the fif­ teenth century exposed Polish leaders to the ideas of humanism, and the arrival of the Italian Filippos Buonaccorsi (known as Callimachus, 143 7-96) and the German Conrad Celtis (1459-1508) from Rome via Venice certainly gave a boost to the development of humanism in Poland.28 The marriage of King Sigismund I (r. 1506-48) to Bona Sforza of Milan in 1518 strengthened the Polish-Italian connection-a connection that was strongest in Cracow, then the capital of Po­ land, where the opportunities and rewards offered by the royal court were a mag­ net for Italian artisans, merchants, and administrators. Trade between Cracow and Italy was steady through the sixteenth century and into the seventeenth, and Italians came to fill many important roles in the Polish royal chancery. 29 Italian stonework became commonplace in the Polish capital and Italian influences could be found even in synagogue art in Cracow and elsewhere in Poland. 30 In general, Italians brought their knowledge and skills to Poland while Poles went to Italy to acquire that knowledge and those skills. 3 I Polish humanists, men like Nicholas Copernicus (147 3-1543) and the poet Jan Kochanowski (15 30-84), 26. Regarding the effect of papal connections, see F.W. Carter, Trade and Urban Develop­ ment in Poland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 994), 344-46. 2 7 . Tadeusz Ulewicz, "Polish Humanism and its Italian Sources: Beginnings and Historical Development," in The Polish Renaissance in its European Context, ed. Samuel Fiszman, fore­ word by Czeslaw Milosz (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1 988), 229. 28. See Harold B. Segal, Renaissance Culture in Poland: The Rise ofHumanism, 14 70-1543 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1 989), 8-9, 36- 1 06. On Polish humanism before the arrival of Calli mach us, see Ulewicz, "Polish Humanism and Its Italian Sources," 2 1 6-22. 29. See Honorata Obuchowska-Pysiowa, "Trade between Cracow and Italy from the Customs-House Registers of 1 604," Journal of European Economic History 9, no. 3 ( 1 980): 633-5 3 . 30. See Iris Fishof, "Zug delatot aron qodesh me-Qeraqob," i n Qera 'qo ', Qazemiyeze, Qeraqob , ed. Elchanan Reiner (Tel Aviv: Diaspora Research Institute, 200 1 ) , 295, 296. 3 1 . See Schulz, Giammaria Mosca Called Padovano, 9 1 . Examples of Poles who went to Italy to study abound. See, for example, Stanislaw Kot, Humaniici polscy XVI wieku mi�dzy sobq (Cracow: Filipowski, 1 929), v-vi; and Stanislaw Lempicki, DzialalnoicJana Zamoyskiego na polu szkolnictwa 1573-1605, Ministerstwo wyznan religijnych i oswiecenia publicznego, komisja do badania dziej6w wychowania i szkolnictwa w Polsce, Serja I: Prace monograficzne z dziej6w wychowania i szkolnictwa w Polsce (Cracow: Sklad gl6wny w ksi,!znicy polskiej w Warszawie, 1 92 1 ) , who described Jan Zamoyski's educational reform plans, ideas that seem to have been very much based on both Zamoyski's western experience, which included Italy ( 1 5), and ongoing correspondence with Italy (36-40, for example). Zamoyski also brought an Italian architect to Poland to design his ideal Renaissance city, Zamosc.

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spent significant time completing their studies in Italy. For obvious reasons, they were quite fond of a legend that the Roman poet Ovid had been exiled to lands that by the sixteenth century were part of Poland and Lithuania. 32 In the Jewish community too, Cracow appears to have been at the center of the Italian-Polish connection.33 The Cracow community's ties to Italy were strengthened with the arrival of Rabbi Jacob Pollak sometime between 1492 and 1495 , a few years after his mother-in-law had married a wealthy Cracow tax farmer. Pollak, who spent the early years of his rabbinic career in Prague, had studied with RabbiJacob Margolis in Regensburg but later may have spent time in Italy in various yeshivas before returning to the east. 34 Despite the distance from Italy, Pollak became embroiled in a dispute with no less an authority than Rabbi Judah Mintz. Pollak must have remained connected to the center of Ash­ kenazic learning in Italy for later, in the summer of 1520, he was asked to take an active role in a new dispute that broke out among Ashkenazic rabbis there. Pollak expressed his views forcefully in both instances, leaving no doubts about his place as an important member of the contemporary Ashkenazic rabbinic world.35 Years after Pollak's death, Rabbi Moses Isserles of Cracow attempted to solidify Polish Jewry's place in the Ashkenazic chain of tradition.36 In his glosses to Abra­ ham Zacuto's (d. ca. 1515) Sefer yul;lasin , Isserles listed the leading Ashkenazic rabbis of the early sixteenth century: Rabbi Judah Mintz; his son, Abraham; Ju­ dah Mintz's granddaughter's husband (and Isserles's own relative), Rabbi Me'ir Katzenellenbogen; and other rabbis from Germany and Italy, many of whom

3 2 . Segal, Renaissance Culture in Poland, 206. 33. See Alexander Guterman, "Yehudim sefardim 'al admat Polin," Pe'amim 18 ( 1 984): 55, who noted that Cracow may have had "something of an Italian Jewish colony until the mid­ seventeenth century. " He may, however, have somewhat overstated the case. 34. On Pollak's mother-in-law, see Elchanan Reiner, '''Asher kol gedoley ha-are? ha-z'ot hem talmidav'-R Ya'aqob Pollaq: ri'shon ve-ro'sh le-J:takmey Qeraqob," in Qera 'qo ', Qazemiyeze, Qeraqob, ed. Elchanan Reiner (Tel Aviv: Diaspora Research Institute, 200 1 ) , 5 3-54; on Pollak in Regensburg, see Freimann, 'juden in Regensburg," 89; and regarding Pollak's travels in Italy, see Israel T. Eisenstat, Serer da 'at qedoshim , copied by Samuel Viener (St. Petersburg: Bermann, 1 89 7-98), pt. 3, 1 5, as well as the following note. 35. See Reiner, "R. Ya'aqob Pollaq," 47, 60-62. Also see Alexander Marx, "AJewish Cause Celebre in Sixteenth Century Italy (The Pesakim of 1 5 1 9)," in Studies in Jewish History and Booklore, reprint, 1 93 2 (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1 944), 1 42 with appendix II, and Yacob Boksenboim, Parshiot (Tel Aviv: Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, 1 986), 4-29, regarding the dispute and mention of Pollak's role in it. 36. See Elchanan Reiner, "Temurot be-yeshibot Polin ve-Ashkenaz be-me'ot ha- 1 6-ha- 1 7 ve-ha-vikkuaJ:t 'al ha-pilpul," in Ke-minhag Ashkenaz ve-Polin serer yovel le-lfone' Shmeruk, ed. Israel Bartal, Ezra Mendelsohn and Chava Tumiansky (Jerusalem: Shazar, 1 993), 50-5 1 with n. 66.

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participated in the aforementioned dispute of 1 520. Included also, of course, was Rabbi] acob Pollak of Cracow. Pollak was a bridge between the two major centers of the Ashkenazic world. Two of Pollak's students, Rabbi Shalom Shakhna in Poland and Rabbi Me'ir Katzenellenbogen in Italy, became the rabbinic leaders of the next generation.37 Regarding Shakhna, Isserles wrote, "All the great [rab­ bis] of this land [i.e., Poland] are his students"; thus Poland was simply a contin­ uation of Ashkenaz. 38 Elsewhere Isserles could simply state without qualification that "we are the children's children" of those who came from medieval France and Germany.39 ItalianJewry in Crisis and the Rise ofPolish Jewry Italy did not remain a fertile ground for Ashkenazic culture, however. The mid­ sixteenth century witnessed a crisis in Italian] ewish life, even in Venice and other independent cities. The burning of the Talmud in 1 55 3 was followed by a papal ban on all Hebrew books other than the Bible in 1 55 7 .40 The edict spread from Rome to the northern regions of the peninsula, where not only was the Talmud consigned to the flames but other books written with Hebrew characters were as well, robbing women of their Yiddish texts and translations.4 1 The order may have been ignored for a time in the Duchy of Milan and in Montferrat, and the Talmud may have been taught in Cremona for a few more years, but by 1 559 the Talmud had been set ablaze in almost all communities in Italy.42 The edict of Pope Paul IV banning the Talmud was eventually rescinded in 1 564 by Pius IV,

3 7 . On Katzenellenbogen studying with Pollak, see Abraham Zacuto, Sefer yul)asin (Cracow: [Isaac Prostitz] , 1 580), fol. 1 65a. Siev, "Maharam Padubah," 1 60, posited that Katzenellen­ bogen and Shakhna did not study with Pollak at the same time and that the two may not have known each other. 38. Zacuto, Sefer yul)asin , fol. 1 65a. Isserles's notes were simply incorporated into Zacuto's text (see the title page of this edition). Also see Reiner, "R Ya'aqob Pollaq," 65-66, who called attention to Isserles's effort to connect Polish]ewry to the Ashkenazic tradition. 39. Shull)an 'aruk, Yoreh de'ah 39. 1 8. 40. See Kenneth Stow, "The Burning of the Talmud in 1 55 3 in Light of Sixteenth Century Catholic Attitudes Toward the Talmud," Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 34, no. 3 (September 1 97 2): 443, as well as William Popper, The Censorship ofHebrew Books, with a new introduction by Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger, reprint, 1 899 (New York: Ktav, 1 969), 3 7-38, and Abraham Yaari, Sereyfat ha-talm ud be-1ta1yah (Tel Aviv: Zioni, 1 954), 1 0, who noted that on May 29, 1 554, Pope ]ulius III allowed]ews to keep books other than the Talmud on condition that any passages offensive to the Church be blotted out from them and that new publications be reviewed by the authorities 4 1 . Gumprecht von Szczebrzeszyn, Lieder, 1 7 (lines 465-74). 42. Yaari, Sereyfat ha-talm ud, 7-9, 58, as well as Meir Benayahu, Ha-defus ha- 'ibri be­ Qerimonah Gerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute and Mossad Rarav Kook, 1 9 7 1 ) , 1 7 , 89-90.

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who tolerated the work if it was censored and the name "talmud" was removed from the title page, yet the harsh stance of the papacy was reinstated in 1 566 under Pius V, and it continued under Gregory XIII, who in 1 5 8 1 ordered the confiscation of all Hebrew books.43 Hebrew printing presses in Sabbioneta, Fer­ rara, Mantua, Riva de Trento, and Cremona all closed down in the late 1 550s and 1 5 60s under pressure from the Church.44 No Hebrew books were published on the presses of Venice from 1 55 3 until 1 563, when the printing of Hebrew books resumed-only to be interrupted yet again in 1 568.45 No volume of the Talmud, the basic text of study in Ashkenazic yeshivas, was printed on the presses of Venice from 1 55 2 until at least the mid-twentieth century. The Church's offensive against Jewish life was hardly limited to the written word. The legal status ofJewish communities in the Italian lands declined signif­ icantly in the second half of the sixteenth century. The establishment of ghettos in a number of communities on the peninsula and deterioration in relationships with non:Jews left late sixteenth-century Jews, at best, as a tolerated minority.46 The crisis in ItalianJewish life during the mid-sixteenth century coincided with a period of economic expansion in Poland that made it a particularly desirable destination for many Jews, including some Sephardim (those originally from Spanish or Portuguese speaking territories).47 Concurrently, a strong and inde­ pendent center of rabbinic learning emerged in Poland, and it began to exert an influence on Ashkenazic rabbinic culture in Italy.48 Polish rabbis such as Shakhna, Isserles, and Luria, and later, Mordecai Jaffe, Joshua Falk, and Joel Sirkes, were the most important Ashkenazic jurists of the age, and one is hard pressed to name

43. Stow, "The Burning of the Talmud," 443. Also see Popper, The Censorship of Hebrew Books, 5 3-54; Heller, Prin ting the Talm ud, 2 1 7-40. A ban onJews in all Christiandom holding any of their books other than the Bible in any language was reinstituted by Clement VII in 1 593. 44. See Benayahu, Ha-defus ha- 'ibri be-Qenmonah , 1 3 , 1 7 , 2 1 . As for Riva de Trento and Venice, a quick glance through Vinograd, O�ar ha-sefer ha- 'ibn, tells the story. 45. See Paul F. Grendler, The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 1540-1605 (Prince­ ton: Princeton University Press, 1 97 7), 93, 1 40-45 . 46. See David B. Ruderman, "A Jewish Apologetic Treatise from Sixteenth Century Bolo­ gna," Hebrew Union College Ann ual 50 ( 1 9 7 9): 2 5 3-54, and Robert Bonfil, "Change in the Cultural Patterns of aJewish Society in Crisis: Italian Jewry at the Close of the Sixteenth Cen­ tury," reprinted in Essential Papers on Jewish Culture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy, ed. David B. Ruderman (New York: New York University Press, 1 992), 407- 1 0. 4 7 . See Guterman, "Yehudim sefardim," 53-6 1 . 48. For example, when the Sha 'arey dura ' was printed in Venice in 1 547, the editor used the glosses of Rabbi Shalom Shakhna of Lublin that a student had brought from Poland (see Isaac ben Me'ir, Sefer sha 'arey dura ' ha-niqra ' issur ve-heter [Venice: Meir Parenzo, 1 547] , introduc­ tion) .

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any native Ashkenazic Italian legists of the first rank in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The confluence of circumstances in Poland and Italy brought about a shift in the relationship between the two Ashkenazic centers.49 Poland now attracted rab­ binic scholars of note from Italy, men such as the rabbinic polyglot Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi ( 1 5 1 3-86). These scholars brought with them new ideas, including fresh insights into Jewish mysticism. Students from Italy, as well as Germany and Moravia, now came to Poland to study in its yeshivas. 50 Immigration was not limited to rabbis and students. Jewish doctors from Italy, some of whom later served royalty and churchmen, also moved to Poland.5 1 Cultural Exchanges As part of this migration to the east, two Moravian Jews who had learned the

49. Shulvass, "Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy," 1 82, partially ascribed the decline of Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy to the War of the League of Cambrai. The War definitely had negative conse­ quences for the Jews of Venice and the areas controlled by the Venetians, but whether it had long term effects on Jews elsewhere in the Italian lands and on German Jewish immigration to such areas is unclear (see Robert Finlay, "The Foundation of the Ghetto: Venice, the Jews, and the War of the League of Cambrai," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 1 26, no. 2 [ 1 982] : 1 40-54). 50. Regarding young men from Italy studying in Poland, see Simhah Assaf, Meqorot le-toledot ha-l}.inuk be-Yisra 'el, 3 vols. , ed. Shmuel Glick (Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Semi­ nary, 200 1 -2), vol. I, xxxii. See too Luria, Responsa , 65. Presumably, the reference to a student from "ere� lo'az" is to a student from Italy (see, for example, Moses Isserles, Sh u "t ha-Rem "a, ed. Asher Siev Uerusalem: Feldheim, 1 9 70] , no. 1 0, p. 48, who refers to Italy as "ere� lo'az"). Saul Wahl was the son of the rabbi of Padua, SamueIJudah Katzenellenbogen, yet he too came to study Talmud in Poland (see Majer Balaban, "Dichtung und Wahrheit tiber den Eintagskonig von Polen Saul Wahl," in Skizzen und Studien zur Geschichte derJuden in Polen [Berlin: Louis Lamm, 1 9 1 1] , 3 1 , 34). On the possible effect of the burning of the Talmud on the migration of students to Poland, see Jacob Elbaum, Petil}. ut ve-histagrut (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 990), 40, and Chone Szmeruk (Shmeruk), "Bal;lUrim me-Ashkenaz be-yeshibot Polin," in Sefer yobel le­ Yi?l}.aq Baer, ed. Salo Baron, B. Dinur, S. Ettinger, and I. Halpern (Jerusalem: Historical Society ofIsrael, 1 960), 305 with n. 6. Students from German lands studied in Polish yeshivas before the mid-sixteenth century. The grandfather of the Maharal of Prague ( 1 525- 1 609) had three sons, two of whom studied in Poland (see Eric Zimmer, Rabbi lfayyim bar Be?al'el mi-Fridberg Ue­ rusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1 98 7] , 44). 5 1 . OnJewish doctors from Italy in Cracow, see Majer Balaban, "ltalienische und spanische Aerzte und Apotheker im XVI. und XVlI. Jahrhundert in Krakau," in Heimkehr, foreword by Leon Kellner (Berlin: Louis Lamm, 1 9 1 2), 1 80-82, as well as his Historja Zyd6w w Krakowie i na Kazimierzu 1304-1868, 2 vols. , reprint, 1 9 3 1 (Cracow, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1 99 1 ), 1 43-44, and, more generally, N. M. Gelber, "Le-toledot ha-rofim be-Polin be-me'ah ha- 1 8," in Shay le-yesha 'ayah u sefer yobelle- R. Yesha 'ayah u VolfSberg, ed. Y. Tirosh (Tel Aviv: Ho�a'a ha-merkaz le-tarbut shel ha-po'el ha-mi�ral,li, 1 955), 348-50.

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publishing trade i n Italy also moved eastward. Isaac Pro stitz and Rabbi Samuel Bohm, the former a printer and the latter an editor, began working together in Cracow from about 1 5 69. There they published numerous texts, including the first edition of the Shull].an 'aruk with the glosses of Rabbi Moses Isserles and, later, of course, the Seder mi�vot ha-nashim . 5 2 Together with Hebrew printers in Lublin (themselves immigrants from Germany and Prague), they supplied books not only to Jews in Poland but to Ashkenazic communities in Italy as wel1.53 Sefer dibber tab, a dictionary for children studying the Bible, had been pub­ lished in Italy a number of times in the second half of the sixteenth century. The book was intended for "Ashkenazim and Lo'azim" (Yiddish and Italian speaking Jews), and marketed as a book that would make parents happy because it would help their children learn Italian.54 When the book was republished in Cracow in 1 590, it was printed with the original Yiddish and Italian terms, presumably be­ cause it was to be sold in the Italian book market as well as locally. Even Yiddish­ only texts published in Poland found a readership in Italy. One need go no further

5 2 . See Chaim Friedberg, To1edot ha-defus ha- 'ibri be-Po1anyah , 2d ed. (Tel Aviv: Baruch Friedberg, 1 950), 5. The important role of an editor in sixteenth-century printing is examined in detail in Brian Richardson, Prin t Culture in Renaissance Italy: The Editor and the Vernacular Text, 1 4 70- 1 600, Cambridge Studies in Publishing and Printing History (Cambridge: Cam­ bridge University Press, 1 994). Regarding Rabbi Samuel B6hm and his importance, see Zeev Gries, "Le-demuto shel ha-mabi' le-defus ha-Yehudi be-shalhey yemey ha-benayim," Iggeret ha-aqademiyyah ha-1e'umit ha-yisra 'elit 1e-mada 'im I I (July 1 992): 7 ; Zeev Gries, Sefer sofer ve­ sippur be-re'shit ha-l)asidut (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1 992), 47 with n. 3; Zeev Gries, "Ha-defus ke-em?e'ey qesher beyn qehillot Yisra'el be-tequfah ha-semukah le-gerush mi­ Sefarad-haqdamot le-'iyyun ve-diyyun," Daat 28 ( 1 992): 1 1 - 1 2; Siev, "Maharam Padubah," 1 90-9 1 . There is no mention of the editor's name in the editions of Seder mi�vot ha­ nashim , a work published during the author's lifetime. 5 3 . The Hebrew printing presses of Prague also provided Ashkenazic]ews in Italy with books. In 1 586 a mal)zor according to the Ashkenazic rite used in Italy was printed in Prague and in 1 58 7 a book of penitential prayers (selil)ot) according to the rite of the Ashkenazim and Italians (lo'azim) appeared there. On the first Hebrew publishers in Lublin, see Aharon Freiman, "Ha-defus ha-'ebri ha-ri'shon be-Lublin," in Ve-z'ot li-Yehudah qobe� ma 'amarim be-l)okmat Yisra 'e1 asher l)ibbru ohabim ve-re 'im yedidim ve-ta1midim 1e-kabod ha-l)akam Yeh udah Aryeh B1a u , ed. Simon Hevesi, Bernard Heller and Maximilian Klein (Vienna: Union, 1 926), 282-85 . Interestingly, Hebrew publishing predated Polish publishing in Lublin by more than half a cen­ tury (see J.S. Bandtkie, Historya drukarn w kro1estwie po1skiem , vol. I, reprint, 1 826 [Cracow: Drukarnia Narodowa, 1 9 74] , 350-5 1 , 356). 54. See Shmeruk, Sifrut yidish be-Polin , 89-90, no. 25. Even if the book was based on earlier editions (see Dov Rappel, "Milonim 'ibriyyim ke-sifrey limud," Sinai 1 0 1 [ 1 988] : 247-48), the inclusion ofItalian words only made economic sense if there was a possibility of selling the book to readers in Italy (see Yitshaq Yudlov, "Sefer 'Or lustro' ha-meyul;1as le-R. Yehudah Aryeh Modina ve-sefer 'Dibber tob', Qera'qa' [5] 390," Kiryat Sefer 59, no. 2-3 [July 1 984] : 645-46).

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than Slonik's own Seder mi�vot ha-nashim , numerous copIes of which were owned by Jewish households in Mantua in 1 595.55 Eastern EuropeanJews continued to travel to the Italian lands. However, after Poland's emergence as an independent center of Ashkenazic culture, such travel often came only after one completed one's education in the talmudic academies of Poland. Rabbi MordecaiJaffe (ca. 1 5 35- 1 6 1 2), a native of Prague, studied with both Isserles and Luria before returning to Prague in 1 55 3 . Upon the expulsion of the Jews from Bohemia in 1 5 6 1 , Jaffe went to Italy for at least ten years before returning to serve in the rabbinate in Poland. 56 David Darshan (b. ca. 1 5 2 7) stud­ ied with Isserles in Cracow before arriving in Italy no later than 1 556. There he served as rabbi and head of the yeshiva in a private household, but by 1 56 7 , he was back in CracowY Italian rabbinic authorities who followed Italian rather than Ashkenazic tradi­ tions continued to be important resources for rabbis in Poland. Rabbi Shabbetai Sofer of Przemy§l (ca. 1 565-after 1 630) corresponded with Rabbi Menaqem Azaryah of Fano ( 1 548- 1 620) on matters of grammar and vocalization, and dur­ ing the course of the seventeenth century, Menaqem Azaryah's work came to influence eastern European rabbinic scholarship.58 At the same time, however, Italian Ashkenazic culture became dependent on the east. Polish trained scholars such as Rabbis Issachar Ber Eilenburg and Natan Shapira of Grodno left the 55. See the list prepared by Shifra Baruchson, Sefarim ve-qore 'im (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ban University Press, 1 993), 1 30. 56. Mordecai Jaffe, Sefer iebush malkut (Lublin: Qolonimos Yafeh, 1 590), introduction. Prague itself was an important center ofAshkenazicJewry but it became unstable forJews in the mid-sixteenth century. On the instability ofJewish status in Bohemia in general and Prague in particular, see Josef Janacek, "The Prague Jewish Community before the Thirty Years' War," in Prague Ghetto in the Renaissance Period, ed. Otto Muneles (Prague: State Jewish Museum in Prague, 1 965), 45-46, and Otto Muneles and Vladimir Sadek, "The PragueJewish Commu­ nity in the Sixteenth Century (Spiritual Life)," in Prague Ghetto in the Renaissance Period, ed. Otto Muneles (Prague: StateJewish Museum in Prague, 1 965), 68-75. 5 7 . David Darshan, Shir hama 'alot l'David (Song of the Steps) and Ktav hitn��elut l'darshanim (In Defense of Preachers), translated and annotated by Hayim Goren Perelmuter (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1 984), 9- 1 9. 58. Stefan C. Reif, Shabbethai Sofer and His Prayer-book (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 9 79), 1 9. On Fano as an Italian rabbi, see Reuben Bonfil, "Yedi'ot I;tadashot le-toledot l:tayyav shel R. Menal).em 'Azaryah mi-Fa'no ve-tequfato," in Peraqim be-toiedot ha-q.ebrah ha­ yehudit be-yemey ha-beynayyim u-be- 'et ha-q.adashah m uqdashim ie-professor Ya 'aqob Katz, ed. E. Etkes, Y. Salmon (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 980), 99- 1 0 1 . With respect to his influence on eastern Europe, see Robert Bonfil, "Halakhah, Kabbalah and Society: Some Insights Into Rabbi Menahem Azariah da Fano's Inner World," inJewish Though t in the Seventeenth Century, ed. Isadore Twersky, Bernard Septimus, Harvard Judaic Texts and Studies 6 (Cambridge, Mass . : Harvard University Press, 1 98 7), 5 3 n. 42, 6 1 .

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yeshivas of Poland to serve communities in Italy.59 Secondary functionaries, such as ritual slaughterers and teachers, also moved from Poland to the Italian penin­ sula. Jacob Soresina of Koscielec studied in Cracow with the local ritual slaugh­ terer Zebi Buchtner; after his studies, he traveled to Italy, where he summarized part of Buchtner's guide with translations of certain technical words into both Italian and Spanish so that Jews in Italy from all communities could learn the law.6o The rationales for the writings of Buchtner's and Soresina's books are tell­ ing. Buchtner had been the local slaughterer in Cracow for twenty-two years, and he wrote his book to share his experience and what he had learned from Isserles and Rabbi Joseph Katz, Isserles's brother-in-law and a leading rabbi in contem­ porary Cracow in his own right.6 1 This was a book for those who were familiar with the law and wanted to learn more. Soresina, on the other hand, had moved to Italy and found that there the porging of meat was left to the "ignorant and women" and that the Ashkenazic chain of tradition had so withered that the laws were all but forgotten in the Ashkenazic Italian centers that he was familiar with. To solve this problem Soresina essentially popularized the scholarship of the east forJews in Italy.62 Similarly, when RabbiJacob Halperon, a native of east-central Europe, published a Yiddish handbook for the Italian Ashkenazic community in 1 602 on how to salt meat and render it kosher, he relied on Moses Isserles's Tarat ha-l;latta't.63 In short, the works of Polish rabbis, sometimes after adaptation and simplification, became reference works for Ashkenazic Jews in northern Italy. 59. On Polish yeshiva students in Italy, see Elbaum, "Qishrey tarbut," 24-2 7 . With respect to Eilenburg, see Issachar Eilenburg, serer be 'er sheva ', reprint, 1 6 1 4 (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 969), introduction, 34b, and 95b. 60. Jacob ben Joseph Soresina, Seder ha-niqqur, reprint, 1 595 (Brooklyn: Shalom Gross, 1 985), title page and fo!' 2b. Moritz Steinschneider, Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum in Bibli­ otheca Bodleiana , reprint, 1 852-60 (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1 964), no. 5 5 5 7 , erroneously labeled him a C astellian ("Castellanus") based on a misreading of his place of origin; the text most likely refers to Koscielec (2b). Both Bezalel (Cecil) Roth, '''Isq'a yehudit le-hamlekat melek 'al Polin be-shenat 1 58 7 , " in serer yobel le- Yi;r:l;!aq Baer, ed. Salo Baron, Ben Zion Dinur, Shmuel Ettinger, and Israel Halpern (Jerusalem: Historical Society of Israel, 1 960), 294-95, and Shulvass, "Ashkenazic Jewry in Italy," 1 64-65, 1 7 1 , correctly saw Soresina as a PolishJew who emigrated to Italy (see, however, other views cited by Roth in n. 7 of his article). There were at least five Polish towns with the name KOScielec during the late sixteenth century (see Filip Sulimierski, Bronislaw Chlebowki and Wladyslaw Walewski, eds . , Slownik geograficzny kr6lestwa polskiego in innych kraj6w slowiariskich , vo!' 4, 1 883 [Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1 986] , 446-47 . Either the one near Cracow or the other near Pinsk seems to be the most likely place of origin for Soresina. 6 I. Jacob Weil, Shel;!itot u-bediqot, with notes and novellae of Zebi Buchtner (Cracow: Isaac Prostitz, 1 580), fo!' l b . 6 2 . Soresina, Seder ha-niqqur, title page and fo!' 2b. 63. Jacob Halpron, Dinim ve-seder (Venice: Giovanni Di Gara, 1 602), title page.

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In some ways, the history of the "women's commandments" books traces the migration of much of Ashkenazic Jewry from the late fifteenth to the early seven­ teenth centuries. The genre featured a Yiddish work that was likely written in Germany or by GermanJews who had moved to Italy; it was copied and adapted in Italy, and later updated, expanded, and published in Poland, ultimately to return to Italy in an Italian translation and adaptation prepared by a Jew from east-central Europe in the early seventeenth century for a readership that no longer knew the language of its forebears or shared all of its values. The appear­ ance of Slonik's book in Italian was a sure sign that not only had Poland become the thriving center of Ashkenazic culture and Italy the dependent one, but that Ashkenazic Jews in Italy, lay and elite alike, were adopting some of the ways of the local culture and losing a part of their own cultural heritage. 64

64. The process of acculturation did not begin in the late sixteenth century nor was it restricted to laypeople or simply to matters of language alone. Towards the end of his life, Rabbi Samuel Katzenellenbogen ( 1 5 2 1 -9 7) showed an openness to the aesthetic values of the Italian Renais­ sance (see Elliott Horowitz, "Speaking of the Dead: The Emergence of the Eulogy among Italian Jewry of the Sixteenth Century," in Preachers of the Italian Ghetto, ed. David B. Ruderman [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1 992] , 1 32-33, 1 48; Moses Shulvass, TheJews in the World of the Renaissance, trans. Elvin Kose [Leiden: Brill, 1 9 7 3] , 223).

3

Glimpses into the Lives of the Main Audience

(mainly through the eyes of men) The separation of men and women that characterized most daily activities in late sixteenth-century Polish Jewish society was very much based on religious tradi­ tion. For centuries Jewish law had obligated men to observe almost every one of its religious precepts applicable in the post-Temple age and study all facets of the Torah. By contrast, Jewish women were prohibited from broad study, excluded from most positions of communal religious leadership, and excused from a rela­ tively small number of very visible rituals such as communal prayer and wearing tefillin (phylacteries; see Deut. 6.8) . l The observance of these few rituals was so central to self-perceptions of religiosity among some males that a leading Polish rabbi was moved to comment that women "were exempted from most of the commandments. "2 Even if a woman chose voluntarily to fulfill precepts from which she was exempted-and over the ages many Jewish women did-Jewish tradition deemed her efforts to be of less significance than the same actions per­ formed by men.3 Men's Views of Women Women were not only excluded from much ofJewish intellectual and religious life; they were at times denigrated by it. Following a talmudic dictate, each day

I. Maimonides noted at the end of his listing of positive commandments that there are sixty positive biblical commandments that are to be observed almost universally by men in the post-Temple period. Women are exempted from fourteen of these (see Moses Maimonides, The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides, Charles Chavel, trans. , vol. I [London: Soncino, 1 9 7 0] , 258-60). However, much of currentJewish practice is rabbinic in origin and women have traditionally been excluded from many, but not most, of these directives. 2. Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of L�czyca, Sefer 'ir gibborim , reprint, 1 884 (n.p., n.d.), pt. 3, 9a. 3 . See the words of Rabbi I;Ianinah, B.T. , Qjddushin 3 1 a, with the accompanying tosafot. On women fulfilling such commandments, see, among others, Talya Fishman, "A Kabbalistic Per­ spective on Gender-Specific Commandments: On the Interplay of Symbols and Society," AJS Review 1 7 , no. 2 (Fall 1 992): 209- 1 1 .

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men were to say a blessing thanking God for not making them women.4 The blessing may be seen as an attempt to express gratitude for the greater religious opportunities that men enjoyed, but it effectively announced to men and women alike that from a religious perspective, it was better to be male rather than female.5 As for women, they were to give daily praise for their secondary status by saying, "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who made me according to Your will." RabbiJ acob ben Asher, whose code ofJewish law remained highly influential in Ashkenazic circles in the sixteenth century and beyond, suggested that women recite this blessing as a way of praising God for the "bad" (ra 'ah) that He had wrought upon them by making them female-which only reinforced the idea that it was better to be a Jewish man than aJewish woman.6 Not only were women viewed as religiously inferior, but the rabbinic tradition saw them as a threat to the spiritual welfare of men. Indeed, males were warned not to look at women or engage in idle chatter with them-even with their own wives.7 Because the Rabbis believed women's hair to be alluring, they ordered married women to cover their tresses when they were in the presence of men other than their husbands. Women were also forbidden to sing in the presence of men, for their voices were deemed sexually provocative. 8 In short, Jewish women were portrayed as potential temptresses who threatened the chastity ofJewish males. Moreover, it was not simply the responsibility of men to avoid such enticements. Jewish women had to preven t themselves from beguiling Jewish men into falling prey to sexual desire. As Rabbi Isaac ben Elyakim of Poznan wrote in the early seventeenth century, a woman should not go out among Jewish men, lest they be led to thoughts of sin by her very presence .9 Thus the demand that a Jewish

4. See B.T., MenalJ.ot 43b. S . See Tosefta', Berakot 6. 1 8 . 6. SeeJ acob ben Asher, Arba 'ah turim ha-shalem (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1 990), Oral). l).ayyim 46.4. 7 . Abot I . S; B.T., Shabbat 64a-b. Also see B.T., Berakot 43b, where there is a prohibition for scholars to talk to their wives, daughters, or sisters in the marketplace. Although an Ashkenazic writer in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century tried to soften the prohibition of speak­ ing to one's wife by limiting it to a case of an evil wife (Levi, Midrash le-pirqey abot, 1 1 - 1 2), Joseph Katz, Serer rekeb Eliyyah u , reprint, 1 638 (Brooklyn: Copy Corner, 1 996), 4b, warned that men who spoke too much with women, even with their wives, would become stupid and fail in their study of Torah. According to Katz, such men would ultimately come to masturbate and waste their seed, a sin of no small proportions, particularly in Jewish mystical writings. 8. See B.T., Berakot 24a. 9. Isaac ben Elyakim, Serer leb tob (Prague: Bak, 1 620), SOb. See too, Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of Lt;czyca, 'Ir gibborim , pt. 3, 9b, and his use of the talmudic phrase "nashim da'atan qallot" (women are simple minded).

Glimpses into the Lives of the Main Audience

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woman hide aspects of herself from men other than her husband-although she is, at the same time, to monopolize that husband's carnal thoughts. 1 0 Presumably, non-Jewish women too were a threat t o the chastity o f Jewish males, but their behavior was beyond the control of the Jewish community. II Interestingly, however, in the context of Polish society, the same Jewish women who were viewed as potential corruptors ofJewish men were suddenly viewed as the possible, if not likely, innocent victims of lecherous non-Jewish men. Thus in 1 595, under the threat of a fine, the Jewish community of Cracow prohibited Jewish women from visiting the baths of non-J ews when the King or his court was in town, presumably because it was feared that the women would be seen as easy sexual prey. 1 2 In 1 60 7 the Council of Four Lands approved a rabbinic ordinance prohibiting a single family from maintaining an arenda (a lease, in this case, of a tavern), lest the wife be left alone with non-Jewish men who were drinking. 1 3 Similarly, theJewish community of Z 6lkiew forbade women, under threat offine, from going alone to the homes of non -Jews; and, in 1 628, the Lithuanian Council decreed that aJewish woman whose barter and trade brought her into the home of a non-Jew should not go there unless accompanied by her husband or another marriedJ ewish man plus a male youngster. The need for two male escorts reflects the high level of communal anxiety regarding a woman's safety. The Council ordered that if in the course of her business dealings in the non-Jew's home the Jewish woman needed to send someone to do her bidding, she was to send the youngster and keep the adult male with her, even if he was not her husband. 1 4

1 0. Sionik, SMN, no. 1 03.

I I . Non-Jewish women did work for Jews as domestic servants but I know of nothing to indi­ cate thatJews controlled the dress or appearance of such workers. 1 2 . See Majer Balaban, "Die Krakauer Judengemeinde-Ordnung von 1 595 und ihre Nachtnfge, " Jahrb u ch derJiidisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft 1 0- 1 1 ( 1 9 1 2- 1 6): 346. The com­ munity also prohibited young males from visiting the baths during this time unless there were compelling medical reasons for doing so. This suggests that fear of general sexual abuse underlay the community's ordinance and not simply a mistrust of female sexuality. Conversely, for cen­ turies the Church feared for the wellbeing, both spiritual and sexual, of females working in a Jewish home. See Walter Pakter, Medieval Canon Law and theJews (Ebelsbach: Rolf Gremer, 1 988), 1 3 2-37, and Teter ,jews and Heretics, 63-69, 76-7 7 . 1 3 . Regarding Z 6lkiew, see Salomon Buber, Qjryah nisgabah , reprint, 1 903 (n.p.: n.p., 1 968), 83, from 1 620. The rabbinic ordinance appears in PVAA, no. 5 2 . In his conclusion to the ordinances of 1 60 7 , RabbiJoshua Falk noted that the political leadership of the Council of Four Lands agreed to these regulations (p. 2 3). Similar concerns were expressed by the Lithuanian Council although they offered a different solution. See Pinqas ha-medinah , no. 1 32. 1 4. See Pinqas ha-medinah , no. 1 3 3.

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Slonik himself warned his readers that aJewish woman should not joke around with other men or be in a room alone [with another man] without a chaperone nor go alone at night or through the fields without a chaperone with her. All the more so, not to be mentioned in the same breath, with a non-Jew. And she should absolutely not go alone, God forbid, into the house of a nonJew, for much evil might come from this, God forbid, even if she had no evil thoughts. And, similarly, even if two women were together, it is not proper ifher husband or anotherJew [ish man] is not with her. 1 5

I n other words, i n the context o fJewish society, women were viewed a s threats to the spiritual wellbeing of ideally pious Jewish males; in the context of non-Jewish society, these same women became highly honorable Jews whose unquestioned sexual probity was threatened by the immoral ways of the Gentiles. 1 6 No finer example of this latter view can be found than Nathan Hanover's praise of "women and maidens" who, he claimed, jumped to their deaths during the 1 648 Cossack uprising in order that "the uncircumcised should not defile them. " 1 7 Not surprisingly, girls were not the children o f choice. Even a casual reading 1 5 . Sionik, SMN, no. 1 35. The prohibition of aJewish woman being alone with a nonJewish man appears in the Mishnah ('Abodah zarah 2 . 1 ) and was predicated on a fear that nonJewish men would sexually attack Jewish women. However, as Avraham Grossman, lfasidot ve-moredot Gerusalem: Shazar, 200 1 ) , 20 1 -2 , has pointed out, the medieval tosafists limited the practical ramifications of these concerns to a case where a Jewish woman was held captive by nonJews, presumably to justifY the fact that contemporary Jewish women were from time to time alone with nonJews in the course of their business dealings (also see Israel Isserlein, Terumat ha-deshen [Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1 5 1 9] , no. 242). The sensibilities of sixteenth-century Polish Jewry (and at least one Ashkenazic rabbi in fifteenth-century Italy; see Grossman, 202-3) were somewhat different. See, for example, Luria, YSS, Qtddushin 4.2 1 , 24. 1 6. The sixteenth-century author of a book written for women in Yiddish evidenced no mis­ givings about remindingJewish women of their questionable conjugal faithfulness (seeJacob ben Abraham, Ma'aseh Book, no. 1 1 3, a tale based on B.T., Gitlin 45a). Regarding nonJews, the Talmud declared that "the majority of non-Jews are licentious" (B.T. , Ketubbot 1 3b). That sixteenth-century Polish Jewry continued to accept this charge only suggests that their experi­ ences had not led-or forced-them to alter their understanding of the talmudic position. On the other side, the contemporary Catholic Church vilified the Jews as sexually dangerous (see Teter,Jews and Heretics, 7 3-74). 1 7 . Nathan Hanover, Abyss of Despair, trans. Abraham J. Mesch, preface by Solomon Grayzel (New York: Bloch, 1 950), 5 1 . While Hanover noted that some Jewish women were raped, he never suggested that Jewish women acquiesced to sexual relationships with their at­ tackers. Even stories in which women were said to have agreed to marry individual Cossacks aimed to show that any apparent compliance was a trick on the part of women who really re­ mained totally faithful toJudaism (see, for example, 5 3 ; regarding the authenticity of such stories see Yoel Rabba, Beyn zikkaron Je-h�ashah [Tel Aviv: Diaspora Research Institute, 1 994] , 5 7). As for those women who married Cossacks, Hanover was careful to note that they married against their will and that they returned to the Jewish community when they could ( 1 03).

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of Slonik's guide left the reader with the clear impression that the very purpose of sexual intercourse was to beget male children who would study Torah-and that the birth of a girl was a disappointment. 18 The Rabbis had already said, "Happy is he whose children are males, and woe to him who has female children." 19 There was even a special talmudic blessing instituted to be said upon the birth of a boy. 20 Yet while fathering a girl elicited a mere "woe to him" from talmudic Rabbis, in the writings of some Polish rabbis it became associated with absolute evil. Rabbi Ephraim of L�czyca ( 1 550- 1 6 1 9) wrote sometime before 1 580 that the birth of a girl symbolized spiritual immaturity, and that evil had overcome good. 2 1 The preacher Rabbi Joseph Katz of Zaslaw expressed even greater disdain towards female children: " . . . and his wife will give birth to a female, the language of curse [lashon qe1alah] . "22 The same Rabbi Katz was responsible for perhaps the most extreme expres­ sion of contempt for Polish Jewish women of the period. Citing a text that appeared in the writings of lfasidey Ashkenaz, Katz commented on the mishnah in Abot (5 .8) that states that plagues visit the world due to the threats of death that I S. Slonik, SMN, no. 7 2 . Not all Polish rabbis were so negative regarding the birth of a girl. Although B.T., Niddah 3 1 b, says that all are sad at the birth of a girl, Rabbi Samuel Edels tempered the statement by suggesting that the sadness stemmed from an awareness of the pain that the daughter would have to endure when she gave birth (see David Bonami, "The Theo­ logical Ideas in the Hiddushei Aggadot of Maharsha," D.H.L. diss. unpub. [New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1 9 76] , I SO). 1 9 . B.T., Qjddushin S2b. On rabbinic ambivalence toward women, even with respect to those in their own family, seeJudith Romney Wegner, "The Image and Status of Women in Classical Rabbinic Judaism," inJewish Women in Historical Perspective, 2d ed. , ed. Judith Baskin (De­ troit: Wayne State University Press, 1 995), 9 1 -92. 20. B.T., Berakot 59b. The law was codified in Jacob ben Asher's Tur, Oral;t l;tayyim 2 2 3 . 1 . Note, however, Isserles's gloss (ShuIl]an 'aruk 22 3 . 1 ) to the effect that people did not observe the rules regarding such special blessings. If such lack of observance was restricted to the blessing on the birth of a male child, perhaps a claim could be made that people no longer shared the ideal of male children. However, given Isserles's use of the plural form ("in these blessings") and his notes I and 4 in his Darkey Mosheh on this passage, it seems that people had stopped saying other special blessings mentioned in this section and not just the blessing on the birth of a male child. 2 1 . Ephraim Solomon ben Aaron of L�czyca, 'Ir gibborim , pt. 3, fols. 9a-b. In Rabbi Ephra­ im's view, the birth of a girl reflected a father's failure to control his desires properly during intercourse. 22. Katz, Serer rekeb Eliyyah u , 4b. Katz made extensive use ofJewish mysticism and may represent a more extreme misogynist view than those held by eastern Europe rabbis in previous generations. Ironically, Katz's book was typeset, at least in part, by a woman, Tesharna Meisels (see the colophon at the end of the work). For other works that Meisels typeset, see A.M. Habermann, Nashim 'ibriyyot be-tor madpisot, mesadrot, mo�i'ot Ie-or ve-tomekot be-mel]aberim (Berlin: Reuben Mass, 1 9 33), no. 9.

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are mentioned in the Torah but that are not given to rabbinic courts to carry out. 23 . . . and women suspected of eating children: there are those who do so against their own will and others who are witches. So, they should declare in the synagogue when [these women] are there that if any child is harmed they will sharpen their teeth [i.e., of the guilty women] with the rocks that surround the well and the guilty women will die. 24

To be sure, the connection between women and witchcraft had biblical and talmudic antecedents, and the notion continued well into the pre-modern age in Poland. 25 Yet even if Katz's use of this accusation was simply part of a literary motif-and nothing in the course of his comments suggests that he viewed it only as such-a citation about Jewish women eating children was particularly chilling coming from a member of the very minority that suffered charges that they killed Christian children and consumed their blood as part of the Passover ritual. 26 Whatever the literary basis of Katz's remarks, his repetition of such a grisly

2 3 . Judah ben Samuel, Serer J?asidim (Bologna), nos. 4 1 1 and 680, as well as Rabbi Judah's ethical will (no. 5). A parallel passage appears in Judah ben Samuel, Serer J?asidim (Wistinetzki), no. 1 7 2, however, the former version of Serer J?asidim was published numerous times, including in Cracow in 1 58 1 , while the latter remained in manuscript until Wistinetzki published it in 1 89 1 . The idea is also found in Eleazar ben Judah, Serer ha-roqeaJ? , ed. Baruch Schneirson (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 966), no. 3 1 6, p. 1 95, and Yeru�am ben Meshullam, Serer toledot Adam ve-lfavvah , reprint, 1 55 3 (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 9 75), 28. 1 (23 I d). 24. Katz, Sefer rekeb Eliyyah u , 34a. The idea of women eating their children has a number of biblical sources. See, for example, Deut. 28.56-57 (28. 5 3-55 discusses men eating their chil­ dren), 2 Kings 6.26-29, and Lam. 2.20. 25. See, among other verses, Exodus 2 2 . 1 7 and the talmudic commentary on the verse in B.T., Sanhedrin 67a (cited by Rashi in his commentary to the biblical verse). Also see B.T., Gittin 45a, a story retold in the late sixteenth century in Yiddish by Jacob ben Abraham, Ma 'aseh Book, no. 1 1 3. Concerning witchcraft and Ashkenazic Jews in the high Middle Ages, see Grossman, lfasidot ve-moredot, 47, as well as Joshua Trachtenberg,jewish Magic and Super­ stition , reprint, 1 939 (New York: Atheneum, 1 9 75), 1 4, and M. Giidemann, Geschichte des Erzieh ungswesens und der Cultur der AbendlandischenJuden (Vienna: A. Holder, 1 880), chapt. 7. RegardingJews visiting a female "witch" in early seventeenth-century Poland, see Joel Sirkes, She 'elot u-tesh ubot (Frankfurt: Johann Vaust, 1 697), no. 99. Rebecca of Tykocin also com­ plained about women going to see "witches," apparently for medical services (see Shmeruk, "Ha-soferet ha-yehudit ha-ri'shonah be-Polin," 1 7).Jews were not alone in this regard. See Hein­ rich Kramer and Jakobus Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum , reprint, 1 928 (London: Hogarth, 1 969), 4 1 -48. 26. Few ritual murder charges were specifically leveled againstJewish women in Poland dur­ ing this period. Two such cases from the second half of the sixteenth century are cited in Hanna Wwzynek, "Czarna legenda " Zyd6w (Warsaw: Bellona, 1 995), 1 03, 1 1 7-20.

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passage reinforced and perpetuated a view of women as vicious and dangerous, if not completely mad or inhuman.27 Paradoxically, these negative dispositions in rabbinic and contemporary liter­ ature toward females did not necessarily translate into mistreatment-or even a lack of paternal affection-as a baby girl grew up. For centuries Ashkenazic fa­ thers routinely guaranteed their daughters inheritances even though the Torah itself had prohibited the practice if there were living sons. Although such inherit­ ances were in keeping with local Polish custom, in some cases they were clearly predicated on 10ve.28 Indeed, some men spoke out publicly against the prevalent misogynist atti­ tudes. In the preface to his 1 589 edition of a Yiddish translation of the Scroll of Esther, the Cracow publisher Isaac Prostitz lamented that "it is the way of the world that women especially are considered nothing at all and are regarded as good for nothing, and whether young or old, they are done much injustice and violence. " Prostitz did not approve of the situation (at least not while writing the introduction to a book that he hoped to sell to women) and added, "And it is contrary to God's will that one should mock and play with His creation."29 Sim­ ilarly, in a work that appeared in 1 5 35, one Andrzej Glaber, who was particularly sympathetic to the plight of women, observed that women were held in contempt by Polish men and that although they were intellectually capable, they were prevented by men from self-advancement.3o For the most part, however, negative views of women in the Jewish community were hardly called into question. Even in writing for women, Slonik perpetuated many of these views. In one of the most gripping narrative sections of his work, Slonik described how the biblical prophet Samuel came looking for the sons of Jesse to anoint one of the them as king of Israel. According to the biblical story in 1 Samuel 16, Samuel was most impressed with the physical qualities ofJesse's eldest son, Eliav, and wanted to anoint him. God, however, enjoined Samuel from doing so, while chiding him for being impressed by the physical, as "a human being" or "mankind" (adam) typically is (verse 7). The Hebrew word "adam " 2 7 . Already in the Talmud, the amora Abaye was of the opinion that "woman are a breed apart" (B.T., Shabbat 62a). See Wegner, "Image and Status," 82. 28. See my Ideals Face Reality (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1 99 7), 8 1 �95. 29. Megillat Ester (Cracow: Isaac Prostitz, 1 589), preface. 30. See Andrzej z Kobylina Glaber, Gadki 0 skladnoici czlonk6w czlowieczych , ed. J6zef Rostafiriski, reprint, 1 5 35, Biblioteka pisarzow polskich (Cracow: Nakladem Akademii Umiej�tnosci, 1 893), 1 �2 . Glaber, who was of German origin and whose book was dedicated to the daughter of his patron, argued that women were actually capable of more than men but that men restricted women to reading prayer books and rosaries because they feared them. See Wiktor W,!sik, "Andrzej Glaber z Kobylina," Przeglqd Filozoficzny 19 ( 1 9 1 6): 94�98.

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cannot refer specifically to a female. Nevertheless, Slonik followed his literary sources and changed the meaning of "adam " in God's remark. "You are looking at his appearance as women do," says God in Slonik's text. "If they see one who is beautiful and large, they believe that they have all that they desire. Thus they often have every sorrow and woe from him."3J Being impressed by the physical, a folly common to all men or all humanity as the biblical text suggests, here becomes a strictly female failing. Slonik also portrays women as inherently tainted in spiritual terms. Based on earlier sources, he emphasizes that every Jewish woman bears ongoing responsi­ bility for the existence of death in the world as a result of Eve's eating from the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2 . 1 7 ; 3 . 1 9).32 Jewish women effec­ tively shoulder an "original sin," a culpability transferred from mother to daughter through birth, a spiritual blemish that observance of the three "women's com­ mandments" is to atone for.33 The Rabbis of the Talmud did not burden Jewish men with any such legacy. Men observed the commandments for a host of rea­ sons, but atonement for sins committed by their forefathers was not one of them. At the same time, Slonik evinced more confidence in women's ability to under­ stand the law than many of his predecessors. He believed them capable of a basic understanding of Scripture even if they lacked the intellectual capacity to grasp its legal intricacies and underpinnings.34 But he reminded them any number of times of their limitations. Although he assured women that "if you read the weekly Torah portion in Yiddish . . . then you see that you understand it as well as a man," in other places he noted that certain matters were "too deep" for women or could 3 1 . Slonik, SMN, no. 1 02 . Cf. , Biblioteca Palatina, MS 25 1 1 (Parma), fols. 5b-6a. 32. Slonik, SMN, nos. 2-3. The incrimination of women in Jewish tradition for death and destruction did not begin with the rabbis of the Talmud but appeared in Ben Sira and other pre-talmudic works (see James L. Kugel, Traditions of the Bible [Cambridge, Mass. : HaIVard University Press, 1 998] , 1 00- 1 02). The connection between failure to obseIVe the three women's commandments and death in childbirth shows that already in mishnaic times these command­ ments were associated with Eve's sin for she was cursed to have difficulty in childbirth (Genesis 3. 1 6). The idea of menstruation as a collective punishment for Eve's sin also appeared in medi­ eval Christian thought (see Charles T. Wood, "The Doctors' Dilemma: Sin, Salvation, and the Menstrual Cycle in Medieval Thought," Speculum 56, no. 4 [ 1 98 1 ] : 7 1 3). 3 3 . This was not the universal view in rabbinic literature. See, for example, B.T., Shabbat 3 1 b-32a, as well as the comments of Boyarin, Carnal Israel, 90-94. Those who maintained this view would seem to have presumed a doctrine of original sin, at least for females, since each woman was obliged to atone for sins that she never personally committed. Ephraim Urbach, Jfazal-pirqey em unot ve-de 'ot, 2d ed. (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1 9 7 1), 3 7 1 -83, rejected the notion of original sin in Judaism but did not offer an exhaustive treatment of the matter. 34. See Rohden, "Meneket Rivka ," fol. I b (p. 52), in which the publisher expressed confidence in the ability of a woman to write simple explanations and a book of morals just as well as a man. One would expect nothing less from the publisher of a book written by a woman.

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not be written for them because "they cannot half understand the matter."35 Mo­ ses Altschul echoed such perceptions and explained the prohibition against teach­ ing one's daughter Torah as based on a fear that it would lead her "to idolatry, for they [i.e., women] have no understanding (sekeI) to differentiate between things."36 It is an understatement to say that a talmudic statement that women were created with greater wisdom than men never gained much currency in sixteenth-century Jewish life in PolandY Separate and Unequal In order to maintain spiritual and moral order, Jewish men and women were separated from one another in numerous aspects of daily life. As in contemporary Catholic churches, men and women did not sit together during prayer. Jewish custom, however, separated the sexes more than Christian practice did.38 Even the sight of a woman was unwelcome in men's prayer space-that is to say, men were prevented by the physical layout of the synagogue from seeing women. Even at funerals women walked to the cemetery behind the men, ostensibly for reasons of modesty. 39 C ertain celebrations were also separate . Rabbi Solomon Luria noted that dur­ ing wedding festivities "in most places" the groom and those who accompanied him dined in one house and the bride and those who accompanied her in a dif­ ferent one. The practice was praised by Luria, who claimed that he had witnessed 35. See Slonik, SMN, nos. 95, 1 04, and compare with no. 6, as well as nos. 74 and 79. 36. See Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Bran tspigel, 245 . 3 7 . See B.T., Niddah 45b. Interestingly, the context of the statement was never expanded beyond its narrow legal band. 38. See Margaret Aston, "Segregation in Church," in Women in the Church , in Studies in Church History, vol. 2 7 , ed.j.W. Sheils, Diana Wood (Oxford: Blackwell, 1 990), 238-42. Unlike in synagogues, contemporary churches did not separate men and women with a physical barrier that prevented them from seeing each other. On the earliest mention of the use of a partition to separate men and women in the synagogue, see Lee Levine, The Ancien t Synagogue (New Ha­ ven: Yale University Press, 2000), 4 7 7 , n. 36. 39. See Sirkes, Bayit lJadash , Yoreh de'ah 359 withj.T. Sanhedrin 2.3, 20b. My thanks to my daughter, Ayala, for pointing out this source to me. Jewish mysticism did little to improve a woman's lot. According to the Zohar (Va-yaqhel 1 96a-b), when a body is taken for burial, the Angel of Death threatens the living by mingling among the women through whom (i.e. Eve) death came to the world. Apparently as a preventative measure, Caro ordered women not to accompany the body to the cemetery (see Jacob ben Asher, Tur, Yoreh de'ah 359, with the comments of Caro and Isserles [long version] , as well as ShullJan 'aruk, Yoreh de'ah 359.2 with Shabbetay ben Me'ir ha-Kohen's comments thereon [Siftey kohen , n. 2] ; Caro's interpretation of the Zohar was challenged [see Yo4anan Kremnizer, Oral) mishor on Isserles (reprinted in the Machon Yerushalayim [ 1 990] edition of the Tur)] ). On mysticism as a negative influence on women's place inJewish life, see Fishman, "A Kabbalistic Perspective," 24 1 -45.

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a number of "mishaps" (qilqulim) when men and women sat together.40 Yet sep­ arate celebrations did not mean equal ones. Luria noted that sometimes a festive meal would be prepared during the week after the wedding for the groom and his guests but not for the bride. 'Nomen's celebrations were considered secondary to those of men and could easily fall by the wayside.4 1 The perceived need to separate men and women seems to have been suffi­ ciently ingrained in the consciousness of Rabbi Joel Sirkes that he cited a fear of licentiousness (pri�ut) as support for his refusal to allow a woman to be counted together with two men to form a quorum for the simple call to grace after meals. Although there were precedents for this view, there was certainly no text that forced Sirkes to this conclusion. More compelling textual reasons had been sug­ gested, but for Sirkes, who was raised in Poland, the separation of men and women in ritual for reasons of sexuality seems to have been axiomatic.42 The observance of many rituals was not the only thing that men and women did separately. Card playing, presumably for money, was viewed as an evil of the age. The 1 595 communal ordinances of the Jewish community of Cracow pro­ hibited men from the activity in public in general, and in a tavern in particular.43 Card playing by women, however, was forbidden even in the "privacy" of their homes and even if no money was at stake-although special events, both public and private, could set this interdiction aside.44 A woman could play cards with 40. The custom was either not universal or did not endure in all places for Moses Altschul in his Bran tspigel, cited in Baumgarten, Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature, 2 1 0, noted that men and women ate together at banquets. 4 1 . Luria, YSS, Ketubbot 1 . 20. See the citation of Serer ha-pardes by Irving Agus, Urban Civilization in Pre-Crtlsade Europe, 2 vols. (New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1 965), 7 28-29, regarding the need for a separation of the sexes at weddings in the eleventh century. I am unable to find the citation in the original source as provided by Agus. See too, Joel Sirkes, She 'elot u-tcsl1ll b ot ha-Ba "�l ha-l.ladashot (Koretz: Johann Anton Krieger, 1 785), no. 55, written in Cracow late in 1 626. Sirkes noted that on the second day after the wedding only the family was invited to eat together with the bride and groom in the "winter house" and then men and women sat together. However, on Friday night and at se 'udat shclishit (the third Sabbath meal), there were numerous people invited to dine and then men and women sat separately. Interestingly, unmarried young men and women were invited to eat the Sabbath morning meal with the bride and groom and then the seating was mixed. Sirkes noted, perhaps somewhat optimistically, that when no "deflowered women" were present there were no "thoughts of sin." 42. See Sirkes, Bayit l}adash , OraJ:t lfayyim 1 99 and 689 . 3 . Cf., particularly B.T., 'Erakin 3a, as well as B.T., Berakot 45b, both with the comments of Rashi and the tosafists. 43. Balaban, "Krakauer Judengemeinde-Ordnung," 8 7 . Another example of the condemna­ tion of card playing without differentiation between men and women appears in Pinqas ha-medinah , no. 5 1 ( 1 623). 44. \Vomen were allowed to play cards on the intermediate days ofFestivals and on Hanukkah. A woman who had just given birth could also play cards but only with her neighbors and her

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men only if she had just given birth, and then only with her husband, father, brother, or father-in-law.45 Beyond the immediate family, men and women were supposed to create social circles only among members of their own sex. Needless to say, there was a different ethos ofwhat was deemed proper behavior for women and what was proper for men, both in public and in private . The attempt to separate Jewish men and women even carried over into some visions of life in the next world.46 Following both talmudic and mystical prece­ dents, Slonik portrayed the world to come as segregated along sexual lines.47 There she will find Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Leah and they will receive her lovingly. And there her soul will rejoice with the pious and saintly women who are in Paradise . . . And thereafter the truly bright gate of the Garden of Eden will be opened for you and you will come to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah and you will spend your time with them. iS

In this view of eternity, women are to have their own space, and they will rejoice there separately and differently from men.49 Despite these examples of the formal separation of men and women in the daily

closest relatives. The notion of allowing games of chance on the intermediate days of Festivals and, for women, on Rosh I;Iodesh (the new moon) was not new. Sec the last will and testament of Eliezer of Mainz (d. 1 35 7) in Israel Abrahams, Hebrew Ethical Wills, 2 vols. , reprint, 1 926 (Philadeiphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1 948), 2 1 0- 1 1 . 45. Balaban, "Krakauer Judengemeinde-Ordnung," 88. Ct, Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Bran tspigcl, 6 7 , who suggested that it was better for a husband to stay home and play cards with his wife than to go out and play cards with others. 46. I know of no attempt to prevent men and women from being buried next to each other in sixteenth-century Ashkenazic culture (separation being a common practice in contemporary cemeteries of highly traditional Ashkenazic Jews). As Dr. Avriel Bar-Levav has pointed out to me, given the biblical precedents of burying men and women together (e.g. , the matriarchs and patriarchs in Hebron), it would be a difficult custom to justify. 4 7 . Although the Talmud specifically notes that men and women will be separated in the next world (B.T., Sukkah 52a), at least one contemporalY Ashkenazic work, Moses Altschul's Bran tspigel, portrayed the afterlife as mixed but hardly equal. Sec Chava \'Veisslcr, Voices ofthe J\1atriarchs (Boston: Beacon Press, 1 998), 7 7 , who also cites and translates a passage from the Zohar that describes the world to come as separated along the lines of gender during the day (78-79), as well as Grossman, lfasidot ve-moredot, 59-60. Also see \Veissler's contribution to "On Law, Spirituality, and Society in Judaism: An Exchange between Jacob Katz and Chava \'Veissler," Jewish Social Studies (new series) 2, no. 2 (Winter 1 996): 1 03-4. On the mystical notions of separation of the genders in the afterlife, see too Ada Rapoport-Albert, "'AI ma'amad ha-nashim bc-shabbta'ut," NIcl;qarey Yemshalayim be-malJshebet Yisra'el 1 6 (200 1 ) : 2 2 7-32. 48. Sionik, SJ\1N , nos. I and 1 05 . 4 9 . SceJoseph Falk's introduction t o his father's commentary onTur, Yoreh de'ah, reprinted inJacob ben Asher, Tur, without pagination.

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life of Jews in sixteenth-century Poland, the two sexes did interact in both the private and public spheres. Rabbi Joel Sirkes noted in a legal decision penned early in 1 6 1 4 that in all of the large contemporary Jewish communities, four or five families typically shared the heated quarters (beyt ha-lJ.oref) of a house. The wealthier members of pre-modern society could afford to buy themselves privacy, but most families had to share those heated areas, and with them very likely the cooking facilities toO.50 Sirkes specifically noted that in such semi-public space men and women came to know one another quite well and became familiar not only with their neighbors' worldly affairs but with their personal habits as welp l Jewish traditions and basic commerce also forced men and women to interact in public. The production of meat, for example, was almost entirely in the hands of men in eastern Europe. Halakhic rules and customs dictated that men slaughter the animals and examine those that required an internal inspection for blemishes that might render them ritually unfit for consumption. 52 Men also cut up large carcasses and prepared them for sale. 53 Those who purchased the meat, salted and soaked it to render it kosher, and cooked it for their families were mostly women. 54 At some point male producers and female consumers met-presumably at the butcher shop or market stall-in a face to face encounter that in the early eighteenth century would be banned, apparently for reasons of modesty, on the busiest shopping days of the week in at least one Polish Jewish community.55 Life at Home Relegated to a secondary status in the religious world, Jewish women were also relegated to secondary status in their families, an arrangement that Slonik ac­ cepted and perpetuated in his handbook. While he reminded Jewish men that they were to honor their wives as themselves, he made it clear to women that they

50. See Teller, Ifayyim be-:r;avvta', 55-69. 5 1 . Sirkes, Responsa (old), no. 78, who speaks of recognizing the meaning of personal gestures. 52. See Shu1l]an 'aruk, Yoreh de'ah 1 . 1 with Isserles's gloss and the comments of Rabbis David ben Samuel ha-Levi and Shabbetay ben Me'ir ha-Kohen. 5 3 . See Joshua Falk, Quntres me-ha-ge'on ha-gado1 m o "har''r Valq Ka:? za '1 ba 'a1 ha-Sema ' ( Z 6Ikiew: Meyerhoffer, 1 833), fol. 2a. A portion of Fa1k's ordinances appear in PVAA, nos. 43-44. 54. See Falk, Quntres me-ha-Sema ', fols. 2a-b, as well as in PVAA, no. 45. The organization of the ordinances themselves reflects this division. The first ordinances deal with production and sale of the meat and were dearly addressed to men. A new section dealing with salting and cooking the meat (no. 45 in PVAA) begins with the words "the women. " 55. See Pinqas qaha1 Tiqtin 381-566, 2 vo1s. , camp. and e d . Mordechai Nadav Gerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1 996-99), no. 1 74 from after 1 7 1 3 and, particu­ larly, no. 582 ( 1 7 1 5), that aimed to separate men and women at the butcher shop.

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were to subordinate themselves to their husbands in all matters and situations.56 Even if cursed or beaten, a woman was to remain silent and accept her husband's dominationY If at one point your husband does hit you, God forbid, nevertheless, stay quiet and go your way and, in spite of this, do not hate him, for God, blessed be His name, has commanded this upon you, as the verse says, "And your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.,, 58

God's own pronouncements-that woman should be a helpmate for man (Gen. 2 . 1 8), His curse of Eve (Gen. 3 . 1 6), and the Divine decree, cited by Slonik, that "he (i.e., the husband) shall rule over you (the wife)" (Gen. 3 . l 6)-lent biblical support to men's domination of women. Moses Altschul stated it plainly: a wife is to be her husband's servant and as a slave (knecht) to him. 59 One doubts that this was the reality in every family: the combination of a weak husband and a strong wife is not a new phenomenon, and marriages of equality were also possible. Nevertheless, the ideal laid out for Polish Jewish society by its religious leadership was that men were to be in control. The values of the host Christian society were no different. The Church's ac­ ceptance of Paul's statements-that "the husband is the head of his wife . . . man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man" ( 1 Cor. 1 1 . 3, 9), and "Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord; for the husband is the head of the wife . . . just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands" (Eph. 5 . 22�24)-meant that the Church also formally granted husbands almost total control over their wives. Moreover, such control was reinforced by Polish law, which held husbands re­ sponsible for the heretical beliefs of their wives and punished them accordingly well into the seventeenth century. 60

56. Slonik, SMN, no. 2 . 5 7 . An almost contemporary Polish personal prayer for Protestant women asked that God help them accept their husbands' abuse with humility and without responding with their own "stupid" remarks (see Jan Soinski, Modlitwy naboine 0 roine potrzeby [Rakow: S. Sternecki, 1 63 3] , 497-98). 58. Slonik, SMN, no. 1 04. 59. Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Bran tspigel, 6 1 . Jacob ben Eliezer, Ayn kalah leyd (Venice: Gio­ vanni Di Gara, 1 593), I b, told how a wife is a "crown" for her husband and instructed the bride to fulfill her husband's will as she would that of a king and "to bow" (her will?) before him because he is her master. Regarding a woman as a crown of her husband, see too Slonik, SMN, no. 1 03 . 6 0 . See, Volumina Legum , 3 8 9 , a source pointed out t o m e b y Professor Teter. I n late seventeenth-century western Europe, a husband was responsible for his wife's actions (see Steven Ozment, Ancestors [Cambridge, Mass . : Harvard University Press, 200 1 ] , 1 6), and in the late eighteenth century, husbands in western Europe were still considered guardians over their wives

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For most men, part of con trol was that women should not venture out of the house. The notion that a Jewish woman's place was in the home was so widely accepted in the early seventeenth century that a certain husband sought to divorce his wife, who, rather than remain at home, "walked in the streets and market places." This and other behavior was deemed so strange by her peers that some thought her legally unfit to receive a bill of divorce. After members of the commu­ nity rebuked her for her wandering ways, she returned to sitting in the house "as is the way of all women." The "improvement" in her behavior made it easy for the rabbi deciding the case to dismiss the charge against her that she was legally incom­ petent.6 1 This notion of women's place was reinforced in both the Jewish and non-Jewish tradition. The biblical story of Dinah, who went out among the local "daughters of the land" (Gen. 34. 1 ) , was understood by rabbinic commentators and Christian moralists alike as a tale of improper female behavior. 62 A rabbinic commentary on Deuteronomy 2 2 . 2 3 suggested that an engaged woman who leaves the con­ fines of her house almost invites sexual assault.63 The biblical prophetess and judge Deborah was not seen as a role model for contemporary women in either the Jewish or Christian communities.64 The paradigm of women remaining mainly in the house was ensconced in Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's code ofJewish law in the fourteenth century.65 Interestingly, when Rabbi Joseph Caro codified the law in his ShullJan caruk, he failed to mention this idea; but Rabbi Moses Isserles noticed the omission and added, "A woman should not accustom herself

(see Claudia Ulbrich, Shulamit and Margarete: Power, Gender, and Religion in a Rural Society in Eigh teenth-Century Europe, trans. Thomas Dunlap [Boston: Brill, 2004] , 1 42). 6 1 . Shabbetay ben Me'ir ha-Kohen, Sefer geburat anashim (Dessau, 1 697), no. 6, written by Rabbi Me'ir Ashkenazi to Sionik's son, Rabbi Abraham. 62. See Rashi's comment to Gen. 34. 1 , which suggests a connection between a woman's going out of the house and licentious behavior (also see Kugel, Traditions, 4 1 5). One Christian tradi­ tion blamed Dinah for allowing herself to be seen by Shechem while another emphasized the sin of her simply going out (see Mary C. Erler, Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval Eng­ land [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002] , 7�8). Regarding the use of the story by sixteenth-century Christian authors to warn girls against going out, see Cornelia Niekus Moore, The Maiden 's Mirror: Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1 987), 2 2 . 63. S e e Rashi's comments on the verse together with Sifre 242. 64. As for the biblical heroine Yael, rabbinic literature had already stated that she merited greatness precisely because she was a "proper woman" (ishah kesherah), that is, one who fulfilled her husband's will (see Yalqut shim 'oni, Shofetim 42; see too, Rashi onJudges 5 . 24, who offered an interpretation that Yael generally sat in her tent). 65. See Wegner, "Image and Status," 86�9 1 , and Tur, Eben ha-'ezer 7 3 .

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to go out very much for there is no beauty for a woman except in the corners of her house. " 66 This ideal of staying within the house applied to both married and unmarried women. Luria commented regarding a "virgin who sits in her father's home, it is not her way to come and gO ." 67 Rabbi Isaac ben Elyakim of Poznan urged women to remain at home and instructed them to keep their daughters with them day and night so that they should learn proper behavior. 68 Even women affiuent enough to have servants to take care of household tasks were specifically in­ structed to remain at home.69 The prooftext was the verse in Psalms 45 . 1 4: "All glorious is the king's daughter within" -within the house, that is.?o Gravestones of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries reflected this ideal. While likely stylized, they described people who came of age in the course of the sixteenth century. The historical value of these stones lies both in what they tell of lives lived as well as the values of those who composed or paid for the epitaphs on them. ? l Those epitaphs also represent voices from the past that do not always belong to the rabbinic elite. An epitaph that deviated too much from the reality of the deceased's life would likely have been a source of ridicule among those who had known him or her; likewise, values that were too far removed from those of the survivors would have been of little comfort to the living and would not bequeath what was perceived as a noble image to the deceased for eternity. For example, the monument of Adel, daughter of David Jonah, who died in Cracow in 1 595, makes specific reference to the above-mentioned verse from

66. Shulhan 'aruk, Eben ha-'ezer 7 3 . 1 . This, however, may not have been an ideal among AshkenazicJewry in the high Middle Ages. See Grossman, Ifasidot ve-moredot, 1 98-202. 6 7 . See Luria, YSS, Baba' Qamma' 8.28. A contemporary discussion concerning a woman appearing in court appears in English translation in David Darshan, Shir ha-ma 'alot, 95-98. 68. Isaac ben Elyakim, Leb tob, 5 1 a. 69. Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Bran tspigel, 93, 1 23 . 70. S e e Luria, Responsa , n o . 2 4 . Luria reformulated and expanded a question asked o f him but in so doing offered an explanation of a passage in B.T., Shabbat 55a, in which a woman came before the amora Samuel. In light of Psalms 45 . 1 4, Luria suggested that such a woman must have been a widow. Regarding widows in pre-modem Poland, see Moshe Rosman, "Lehiyot ishah yehudiyah be-Polin-Lita' be-ra'shit ha-'et ha-i)adashah," in Qjyyum ve-sheber, vol. 2, ed. Israel Bartal, Israel Gutman (Jerusalem: Shazar, 200 1 ) , 43 1 -3 3 . On the talmudic use of the verse from Psalms "as a justification for keeping wives chastely confined to the house," see Wegner, "Image and Status," 85. 7 1 . In respect to constructing memory in the oldJewish cemetery of Prague in the period, see Rachel L. Greenblatt, "The Shapes of Memory: Evidence in Stone from the OldJewish Ceme­ tery in Prague," Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 47 (2002): 43-6 7 . On gravestones and their messages to the living, see Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Re­ n unciation in Early Christianity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1 988), 7 .

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Psalm 45, not only suggesting that she spent her days at home but that it was something to be proud of. 72 Gravestones of women in Vienna and Frankfurt often cited the same verse. 73 The epitaph of Kela, the daughter of Samuel Krakauer of Poznan, who was buried in Vienna in 1 635, explicitly praises her for "sitting in her home. " 74 One acceptable place a woman could visit was the synagogue. Even though women were not obligated to pray in a quorum, communal prayer was viewed as more efficacious than private prayer. 75 The early seventeenth-century Ma 'aseh Book, compiled by Jacob ben Abraham of Mezeritch, portrayed a pious old woman who rose every morning before dawn and went to the synagogue to pray.l6 Even though the story was but an exemplum , the woman represented a model of female piety that the author tried to convey to contemporary readers, one that certainly had medieval antecedents in German Jewish culture.l7 Grave­ stones in contemporary Ashkenazic communities outside of Poland noted that certain women attended synagogue morning and night, although a comment of Rabbi Solomon Luria in the course of a responsum suggests that most women in Poland did not say the evening prayers at all, let alone go to the synagogue.78 Rabbi Joseph Falk reported that his mother, Beyla Falk, rose "a few hours before daylight all her days" to say her prayers. She had the key to the door of 7 2 . P. H. Wetstein, "Le-toledot Yisra'el ve-l;1akamav be-Polin," Haeschko1 6-7 ( 1 909- 1 3): 224. 7 3 . See Bernhard Wachstein, Die Inschriften des altenJudenfriedhofes in Wien , vol. I (Vi­ enna: Wilhelm Braumiiller, 1 9 1 2), nos. 1 3 ( 1 595), 35 ( 1 605; an unmarried woman), 1 26-27 ( 1 625), I S6 ( 1 632), the epitaph ofNal;11ah, the daughter of Rabbi Yom Tom Lipman Heller. See too nos. 39 ( 1 609) with Judges 5 .24 and Rashi's comments, and SI ( 1 6 1 S) with Psalms 1 1 3.9. Regarding a slightly later period in Frankfurt, see Michael Brocke, Der altejiidische Friedhofzu Frankfurt am Main Unbekannte Denkmiiler und Inschriften (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1 996), I S 7 , dated 1 655. 74. Wachstein, Inschriften , no. 2 1 4. 75. See B.T., Berakot S a , 2 1 a-b. 76. See Jacob ben Abraham, Ma 'aseh Book, no. 234. 77. See Grossman, Ifasidot ve-moredot, 3 1 5- 1 6. 7S. See Wachstein, Inschriften , 22, from 1 60 1 regarding a woman who arose while it was still night to go the synagogue. Similarly, from Metz, see Le "Memorbuch " de Metz (vers 1 5 75-1 724), translated with an introduction and notes by Simon Schwarzfuchs, Documents sur l'histoire de Lorraine (Metz: Societe d'histoire et d'archeologie de la Lorraine, 1 9 7 1 ) , nos. 7S ( 1 632), 1 30 ( 1 63S/9), 1 36, 1 4 1 , 1 43 , 1 44, 1 69, and from Prague, see Muneles , Ketubbot me-beyt ha- 'almin , nos. 42 and, particularly, 1 92 ( 1 625), describing a woman who "morning and evening was always the first to the synagogue." The notion of daily synagogue attendance was generally absent from the contemporary gravestones of men (an exception can be found in no. 5 1 [ 1 546/7]) suggesting that with respect to men this was not worthy of note. Regarding women in Poland, see Luria, Responsa , no. S I .

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the women's synagogue because she was the first t o arrive there i n the morning, and she tarried there "for an hour or two" after everyone else had left to complete her prayers.19 When Rabbi Solomon ben Judah Leybush of Lublin, one of Slonik's teachers, prescribed penances for a woman who had admitted not only to an adulterous relationship but to having done so while ritually unclean, he ordered that she articulate her sins in Yiddish in front of other women.80 Writing from C helm, Rabbi Solomon directed the woman to do so on a Monday or Thursday morning (be-yom ha-kenisah) when the Torah is taken out to be read or "between the afternoon and evening prayers in the women's synagogue so that (be'ofen) there will be many women there to hear the confession. " Mter the con­ fession, she was to be beaten with a strap forty times right there in front of the other women.8 l We may conclude, then, that some women in Poland came to synagogue to pray during the week, both in the morning and in the evening-and not only in Chelm, for Rabbi Solomon ordered the adulteress to confess in the same fashion in Belz, LWDw, and, ideally, in Plock as well, the city in which she sinned, so "that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness" (Ezek. 2 3 .48).82 To be sure, the ideal of the Jewish woman at home was not observed by every­ one.83 With the death of a husband or a divorce, a woman gained increased freedom and might well have found her way to public places if only in her efforts to support herself. A somewhat extreme example can be found in the eastern regions of Poland where, in 1 605, one Esther Khiminne not only inherited the lease of an estate (arenda) that had been owned by her late husband, Isaac Mikhl, but, together with her associates, was accused of physically attacking the property of her husband's murderer.84 Perhaps more usual was the case of Marianna, a 79. See Joseph Falk's introduction to his father's commentary on fur, Yoreh de'ah, reprinted in Jacob ben Asher, fur, without pagination. 80. On Rabbi Solomon ben Judah Leybush as Sionik's teacher, see Nisson E. Shulman, Au­ thority and Community (Hoboken: Ktav, 1 986), 89. 8 1 . Solomon benJudah Leybush, republished in Elbaum, Teshubat ha-leb, 236. Biographical references are given by Elbaum, 228, n. I . Since Rabbi Solomon made no mention of the need to gather women for this purpose, I have assumed that women came to pray as a matter of course. I cannot totally exclude the possibility of translating the word "be'o[en " as meaning to arrange that women will be present, but it seems rather forced in the context of the sentence. 82. See B.T., Sotah 8b. Interestingly, Isaac ben Me'ir, Sha 'arey dura ', Niddah , no. 8, noted that a woman should examine herself "in the evening when she goes to synagogue," suggesting that in his community, a woman going to the synagogue in the evening was common. 83. The ideal was not unique to sixteenth-century Poland. Cf. ,Joei Kraemer, "Women Speak for Themselves," in The Cambridge Genizah Collections: Their Conten ts and Significance, ed. Stefan Reif (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 1 89-92, with respect to Jewish women in medieval Egypt. 84. Of no less significance, the following year the widow appears to have been granted the

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widow who supported herself as an arendarka (female lease holder) of a brewery in Brest in 1 569. Or Chaimora(?) of Grodno, who sold a horse to Andrei Sudnikovich and later sued him in a Lithuanian court when he failed to pay her for it.85 The assertive activities of these Jewish widows stand in sharp contrast to the ideals of sixteenth-century Polish law, which expected widows to remain in the confines of their homes passively waiting to receive their dowries or financial support from the heirs of the estate.8 6 Some married women also had jobs, whether they worked from their homes or with their husbands in their workshops.87 The colophon of a malJzor printed in Lublin in 1 5 67 notes that both the wives and children of the printers worked in the shop. The women dealt with metal items (setting up the type?) while the children helped with the paper and actual printing. 88 When husbands traveled or were simply out of the house, wives continued to run the family business.89 Deal­ ing with a case in which a woman gave a creditor pledges in exchange for a loan estate in perpetuity by a Polish court (see Akty izdavaemye Vi1enskoiu kommisseiu dlia razbora drevnikh aktov, vol. 28 [Vilnius: Tipografie. AG. Syrkina, 1 90 1 ] , documents 74 and 86, sources kindly pointed out to me by Professor Teter). 85. See S .A. Bershadskii, Dokumenty i regesty k istorii litovskikh evreev (1 388- 1550) (St. Peterburg: AE. Landau, 1 882), 247, doc. 203, regarding Chaimora, and S. A Bershadskii, Dokumenty i regesty (1 550-1569), vol. 2 (St. Petersburg: Tipografie AG. Syrkina, 1 882), 245, doc. 30 1 , regarding Marianna, both sources pointed out to me by Professor Teter. 86. See Andrzej Karpinki, Kobieta w mieicie po1skim w drugiej polowie XVI i w XVII wieku (Warsaw: Instytut Historii PAN, 1 995), 35-40, who suggests that in practice, widows in the Polish community gained some degree of freedom. 8 7 . Bozena and Jerzy Wyrozumski, "Meqorot �adashim le-toledot yehudey Qeraqob be-yemey ha-beynayim," in Qera 'qo ', Qazemiyeze', Qeraqob , ed. Elchanan Reiner (Tel Aviv: Diaspora Research Institute, 200 1 ) , 38-39, noted that there were a "relatively high" number of Jewish women involved in commerce in fifteenth-century Cracow; however, they have not spec­ ified the nature of such economic activity. Women involved in money lending could certainly have worked from home. 88. See the description of the workshop in the colophon of the second volume of the mal;lzor that notes that the women worked with bedi1 ve- 'orrah ("tin and lead"). I have understood this to be connected to the setting of type. The Bodleian Library copy of this work is damaged pre­ cisely at this place (a second copy is missing the page). A complete version may give more infor­ mation about the activities of women in the workshop. The setting of type should not be con­ strued as a sign of the ability to understand Hebrew. Typesetting was a technical skill that only required an ability to recognize letters. Support for this can be found in the common request that readers excuse the many mistakes in a text because the typesetters were non:Jews who did not know Hebrew, a problem that was most acute in Italy where Jews were not always allowed to perform certain tasks in the printing process (see Abraham Yaari, "Telunot magihim 'al hadpasah be-shabbat 'al yedey goyyim," in Mehqarey serer [Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1 958] , 1 70-78). 89. See, for example, Luria, Responsa , no. 99. This was certainly not a new development in

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at interest, Luria, who served as rabbi of Lublin from 1 559 until his death in 1 5 74, specifically noted that "our women now engage in trade in the house. "9o Yet Luria's observation is somewhat problematic. Perhaps when Ella, the daughter of I:Iayyim Schwartz(?), provided funding for the publication of the Pentateuch in Lublin in 1 556, she remained at home while others did the actual publishing.9 1 And perhaps when Anna received a royal privilege from King Sigismund Augus­ tus in 1 559 to print and sell Hebrew books, she and her cousin I:Iayyim, who received the privilege together with her, were too young run the printing shop.92 However, in 1 6 1 7 , when the Jewish communal leadership of Poland ("die Juden-Eltesten aus Pohlen") turned to the municipal authorities in Wrodaw and asked that wives be admitted into the town for the upcoming fair, one doubts that it was simply to allow them to keep their husbands company. Presumably Jewish women, like Polish women, were involved in the business activities of the fair, and the Jewish community saw to it that they be admitted to the town.93 There is further evidence thatJewish women were active in commerce beyond the confines of private Jewish spaces. In 1 620 the Jewish community in Z61kiew warned women who sat in the marketplace not to argue with the non-Jews. Those

the Ashkenazic community. An example from the twelfth century can be found in Eliezer ben Nathan, Seier Ra'aban , reprint, 1 925 (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 9 75), pt. I, 83b, no. 1 1 5 . 9 0 . Luria, Responsa , n o . 99. Naturally, widows old enough t o pursue their own interests rep­ resented a different category for often they had no one to represent their needs other than them­ selves. Sec, for example, Sirkes, Responsa (old), no. 50, in which the husband and wife worked together. Upon tht' husband's death, his widow seems to have continued their business interests and sued a former business associate. 9 1 . Regarding Ella as a financier, sec Moritz Steinschneider, Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum , no. 1 44, and, rt'garding her likely relation to I:Iayyim Schwartz, Freiman, "Ha-defus ha-'t'bri ha-ri'shon be-Lublin," 283. 92. See the copy of the privilege to produce and market Hebrew books in Mathias Bersolm, Djplomataryusz dotyezqcy Zyd6w w dawnej Polsce na zr6dlach archiwalnych OSll u ty (E l88-l 782) (Warsaw: Gebethner and Wolff, 1 9 1 1 ) , nos. 76 and 5 3 1 . On the relationship be­ tween Anna and I:Iayyim, sec Friedberg, Toledot ha-defus ha- 'ibri be-Polanyah , 46. Majer Balaban, DieJudellstadt VOll Lublin [Berlin: Jiidischer Verlag, 1 9 1 9] , 27, wrote that Anna and I:Iayyim were married. The claim is unsubstantiated. 93. See Pinqas va 'ad arba ' ara,!,ot, compo and ed. Israel Halperin (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1 945), viii (no. I I) with no. 94 in the Hebrew section (cf. Bartal's note to no. 94 in his revision of Halperin's work). See too, Altschul-Jeruschalmi, Brall tspigel, 95, discussing a woman working with her husband in the marketplace or the workshop, a phenomenon that Altschul rejected. Altschul labeled such wives as nuisances, at best. On the activity of women in general at the fairs, see Andrzej Karpinski, "The Woman on the Market Place. The Scale of Feminization of Retail Trade in Polish Towns in the Second Half of the 1 6e and in the 1 7e Century," in La DOllna Nelle'eeonomia Secc. XII!-XVIIl, cd. Simonetta Cavacioechi (Florence: Le Monnier, 1 990), 285-86, 2 8 7 .

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who defied the warning were to be fined and banished from the marketplace for thirty days.94 Furthermore, as noted above, in 1 628 the Council of Lithuania ordered that "women who are engaged in trade and because of their dealings go into the homes of non] ews" were not to enter those homes alone.95 Clearly, some Jewish women had left the confines ofJewish space, passed through public space, and entered the private space of non]ews to conduct business. Either times had changed or Rabbi Luria was not completely familiar with daily life in various areas of the realm. Some women were so active in day to day business matters that the religious tradition that relegated women to a secondary legal status had to make some accommodations. For example, generally speaking, Jewish law, like contempo­ rary Polish law, did not formally allow women to give testimony.96 Moreover, following earlier rabbinic sources, Rabbi Solomon Luria believed it improper for women to be ordered to appear before a rabbinic court because they should re­ main at home.97 The realities of daily life, however, both in the Polish and Jewish communities, were somewhat different.98 94. See Buber, Qjryah nisgabah , 83. Women who argued with Jewish men were not threat­ ened with such a fine. Presumably the male leadership accepted such quarrels as a inevitable part of daily life that did not endanger the community. The failure to fineJewish men for arguing with non:Jews suggests that either men were not as combative as women (a highly unlikely pos­ sibility) or Polish men found it particularly offensive to be yelled at byJewish women. 95. Regarding the ordinance, see Pinqas ha-medinah , no. 1 33 . The problem was not new or unique to the Jewish community in Poland; nor was it easily solved. See above, n. 1 2 , and Me'ir Katzenellenbogen, Sefer she 'elot u-tesh ubot Mahar"i Mini? ve-Mahar"am Padv'ah , reprint, 1 882 (Jerusalem: n.p., 1 980), no. 26; Rosman, "Lehiyot ishah," 429�30. 96. See Groicki, Porz llVl'i' llV'i' 1'T " .l.ll'i �" l'i l'lEiy, " IV' �IV" lEi,l'i l'l'.l'" 1l'i ,'m " l'i l'i'T IV' il'l7j 1"l'i IVy T'l'i 1" l'i lEi,l'i 'l �'.l 1l'i.l .�'Yil 1" � " .l.ll'i 1,Ei �"" lC'Ei " 'l'i 1,Ei 1"� " ,� 'l'iT 'T '.l'� l'l ll'ii' 1"" 'IVl'i" l'l.l'" 1l'i " l'i '.l'l'i 1" � " .l.ll'i 1,Ei '.lYil " 'l'i 1" l'i 'l'iT l'i'T '.l'l'i �" , 1l'i �'.l 1" .ll'i 131' c ',Ei 1"l'i [ J II )7 '''l IV' 1" � " .l.ll'i ,�,� �'.l l'i'T 'l'iT 'T 371i'Y'�IV IV" l'i �"" 'l'i" l'.lYil lY' 1,Ei 'l.l'Ei " 'l'iT l'i'T 'l'iT l'i'T '.l'l'i �IV'.l il,'5� il" l'i T'l'i l'i' �IV" Ei 1"l'i Tl'i �Sl'i7j �.lil " l'i'T 131" '.l'l'i �IV" Ei 1l'i Tl'i �C" � l'i" T' 1�'l'i" '31' li" � l'.l'" 1l'i 1'T 'l'iT '.l'l'i l�'il �", l" l'i 1,Ei 'l'i" 1" � '.lYil " 'l'i C'l'i il" l'i 'l'i" T17j l'i'T '.l'l'i l'l ll'ii' l'il 'l'i '�'l'i 'IVl'i" IVl'i' IV' '.l'l'i 1'" 1l'i �", 131' �'.l 1l'i 38l'i'" Ei il" .ll'i 1"l'i llV" �'.l 1'T 'l'iT l'i'" Ei 1"i' . P.lYil llVl'i' �C" � " 'l'i '.l'l'i P'il �" l'i " .ll'i " 1'T 131" P" IVl C'7jSn ''.IT'l'i Pl'iil 1l'i' �IV'�IV 'IVl'i" IVl'i' '�.l" l'i 1'T 'T 131" 1'" ,'T " '" Ei " l�'il 'l'i" 'T ll'i7j l'i' 1'31" Cl'i.l '.lYil il" l'i IV' �IVl'i" �.lYil il" � 'l'i' l'i" " : �Sl'i7j Cl'i.l '�Ei '.lYil l'i" 'T IV' �'Y".l " " 'T ll'i'il 'l'i" �i" '� " ilS'� " ,�" ll'i7j 'T " l'i lSl'i7j ilS,� " l'i'T 'l'iT l'i' �i" �'l �l'iil 1'T 'T 131" '.l'l'i Nj " l'i �'�IV 'IVl'i" l'l'i 1l'i.l l'i'T ,,,,, " pl'iT ilS,� " ll'i7j �'T '.l'� lSl'i7j il" 5� " ilS,� " 'T 'l'iT l'iT Pl'i'IV'l '�.l" � �Sy, 1'T �l'iil l'i'T '.l'l'i l'l.ll'il T'l'i il,'5� 'l �Sy, 'T 131" 1'� 1'" IV"" " .ll'i 1l'i " l'i ,7jYil '�.l" l'i llV"" 1.3'" 1"l'i �'7j li'Y' 'l 1'T T17j 'T '.l'l'i ·lSl'i7j IVl'i' �'Y".l l'� 'l ll'i �'.l ,7jYil l"i' 'T �'l'i' �, T'il ll'i T'� �'�IV " IVl'i" l'l'i l'i'T 131" " l'i �,,� lC'El 131' �'7j IVy 'T IV',7j l'i' '31" �,,� �'.l 'IVl'i" IVl'i' 131" '.l'l'i l"T �,,� T',7j 'IVl'i" ':lZ �.l W 1 " J;1'¥ � f u�li? 'W� C? ; Y Q 1?7? '.l' ::J' � '" il T;l� 1" ? ilS,� " �ll'iT '.l'l'i lSl'i7j ilS,� '.l'l'i il,'5� '31' llV" 'l �" , �'T IV' lSl'iT 'T" l'l'i l'i'i'7j 1"l'i " l'i 1YIV'l '.l'l'i il?'�T?ij il,'5� 'l " " , �'.l C" l'i' �l'i" '� l'i'T lTY" l pl'iil C'.l�' " i" CEl7j l.l' 'l'il '31" '.l'l'i lS7j ,.l"i' l'l'i �'.l C" , " l'i �l'iIV IVy .1Sl'i7j 'l l'IVYl 'Y� 'l'il ilS,� " �Yil �'T 131" '�l'i = 1'l l'i" l'i'T 131" ilS,� l'i" l'i'T �Sl'i7j 1l'i' �.lY" ilS,� '31' 1l'i �'.l 1'T il'l7j " 131" lSl'iT l'i'" .i1l\'J p' 'TP)7'�l/}' :I,l1:l il"Jl/}' T"71Zl l1" " i17:l:l 7:1l\ 'TP')7�l/}' :I,l1:l " P7:lJ 37 i1l\'J P' 'l\'" ,' il"Jl/} m" i17:lJ' 'l\" ,!i' :l1l1:l T"7l/} m" i17:l:l 7:1l\ '" ,,!i' :l1l1:l " P7:lJ 3 8 .

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1 96

The Order of Women 's Commandments

she says the blessing when she thinks of it. It is different if she recently came out of the ritual bath and is still standing in the bath house. in winter one should not pour warm water into the mikve water so 5 2 And that the water should be warm for immersion. Still, where the custom to pour warm water into the mikve has arisen, one should not prevent it. In some places where there are warm springs, one may certainly immerse therein. If a woman immersed in cold water she may certainly go into the bath house again to warm herself after the ritual immersion, but she should be very careful that she not put more water onto her body. woman who must ritually immerse herself in a place where there are 5 3 Amany people and she is thus ashamed to immerse, she may certainly be allowed to have a kind of wall hung around her with a cover, or a sheet, or a garment, or whatever it may be. And also, if she immerses in a stream and the water is low and does not reach above her heart, she should, after she has properly submerged, first put on her garment before she says the blessing. She must not stand naked and so say the blessing. And as soon as she has gone out of the water, the woman who has observed her immersion should make an effort to approach her and the woman who has immersed should look upon her well. This is a great mitzvah so that she sees a Jew first and she does not encounter anyone from another nation-a nonJew, a Gentile-man or woman or a pig or a dog or an animal or any such thing. Therefore, her friend that is with her should immedi­ ately go before her eyes and she should look at her well. And therefore we find that years ago the talmudic scholars used to sit in front of the mikve door so that she would see a scholar first and so that the child that she would bear from the immersion should take after him. And it is of great help if she at first encounters a scholar before she sees another person. Once, a great thing happened to someone called Rabbi Elisha the High 5 4 Priest, who was a great righteous man to whom no children remained [alive] . So he prayed mightily before God the Almighty and said: "Dear Lord God, Master of the universe, why do other righteous people have children and I have no children?" God, may He be praised, answered him back. "All the right­ eous are secretive about when they [ 1 6bJ have sexual intercourse with their wives." Then he went to his wife and told her these words. She also wanted to do so. Once she went to immerse. Then a leper met her after the immersion, so she went back

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to immerse a second time. Next a hangman met her, so she went to immerse again. Then a donkey met her, so she went again to immerse. Mter, again a camel met her, so she went to immerse again. Then a horse met her. Then again, the sixth time, a hound met her after which, again, the seventh time a pig met her. The eighth time, again, a cat, in Italian it is called a gatto, met her. The ninth time an ignoramus met her and the tenth time a Gentile met her, and each time she went back to immerse so that the compassion of God the Almighty was aroused for her. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Metatron, who is the most powerful angel in heaven: "How much longer should this righteous woman suffer? Go and stand in front of her so that she will bear a righteous, holy man." So he went there immediately and stood in front of her. As soon as she saw him she was terrified that she saw an angel and wanted to go immerse again. So he said to her, "No, hold still. I am the angel Metatron. Our dear Master, God, has sent me to you because he has seen your good thoughts and your good heart. And I should tell you how He will give you a son who will be a joy to you." The woman was very happy and went home and became pregnant and in time gave birth to a son who was a very pious and holy man and he was called Rabbi Ishmael, the High Priest. And the angel came to the circumcision and became the child's god­ father (i.e., the person bringing the child in for the circumcision) and watched over the circumcision. And afterward the angel taught the child the entire Torah and taught him what is above the heavens and below the earth. And when the child wanted to know what should happen next (i.e., in the future), the child was so holy that he could come to heaven as surely as Moses our teacher, peace be upon him. And he was one of the ten martyrs, the greatest talmudic scholars in the world. This event happened all because of the mitzvah that she wanted to become pregnant in such purity and holiness and so [ 1 7a] our dear Master, God, helped her to do so and granted her such a pious [son] . Therefore, dear daughter, mark this matter well as I have written above, that the matter entirely depends on the women, that [they] must have good thoughts when they go to immerse and when they lie with their husbands. Then they will certainly have pious chil­ dren with the help of God, blessed be His name. Amen. And when she prays to our dear Lord, God, blessed be His name, He hears her prayer immediately and this we learn from the verse that says, "And Isaac en­ treated God for his wife [and the Lord] answered him."43 This means [in Yid­ dish] , "and he, Isaac, prayed on behalf of his wife and it was provided for him." So the Holy Torah writes for us a great innovation, for the Torah says, "And He answered him," that is God, blessed be His name, provided for him and not her. And our teacher Solomon44 writes, God, blessed be His name, provided for him because he was a righteous man and his father was a righteous man, therefore his

43. Gen. 25.2 1 . 44. A reference to the commentary of Rashi on Gen. 2 5 . 2 1 .

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200

prayer was heard before her prayer. If so, had he not been a righteous man nor had his father also been a righteous man, her prayer would have been heard more than his. And from this we can learn that a woman's prayer will be heard more than his prayer if the woman would ask something from God, blessed be His name, with her whole heart, for women do not have so many thoughts and do not have anything else to worry about. But the man, be he as pious as he may be, always has many kinds of thoughts that confound his thinking even ifhe is diligent and directs his [intentions] as best as he can. And the more he concentrates his intentions, the more thoughts there are that disrupt his concentration. However, this is not so with a woman for she has nothing else to think about other than what she has to do in the house. Therefore, the Torah writes us a great innovation, that his prayer is more accepted than hers and this is because of nothing else than that he was a righteous man, son of a righteous man. Indeed Elisha prayed but God, blessed be His name, answered her because she immersed herself again with good intention and the angel came on her account and revealed himself to her and not to him (i. e., to Elisha, her husband, because he was not the son of a righteous man) . And so we also find with regard to Sarah, as the verse says [in Hebrew] , "And God remembered Sarah. "45 That means [in Yiddish] , "and God remembered Sarah as He had said. " Why does the verse not say, "And God remembered Abraham as He had said?," for the verse does say [in Hebrew] , "This will not be your [i.e., Abraham's] heir [ 1 7b] but he who will come from your own bowels will be your heir?"46 This means [in Yiddish] , "He shall not inherit you, rather he who will come out of your bowels will inherit you. " If so, God, blessed be His name, promised this to Abraham and not Sarah! Yet if you want to say that the verse says [in Hebrew] , "In due season and Sarah will have a son,"47 this means, in time, as we all live, and Sarah has a son. Be that as it may, it was Abraham that He promised it to, so how did it come about that later God, blessed be His name, remembered Sarah? Rather this must undoubtedly mean that God, blessed be His name, remembered that He wanted to answer Sarah and remembered Sarah and through Sarah His promise that He had promised Abraham-"he who will come out of your bowels, he will inherit you"-would be fulfilled. And this is the character of God, blessed be His name, that he always pays one person together with another and so Abraham and Sarah were an­ swered. So we also find with Leah that God, blessed be His name, sees and hears her pain as the verse says [in Hebrew] , "because God heard that I am hated."48 This means [in Yiddish] , "for when God heard that I was hated." And so we find also with Rachel as the verse says [in Hebrew] , "and the Lord remembered Rachel and heard her. "49 This means [in Yiddish] , "and God remembered 45. Gen. 46. Gen. 4 7 . Gen. 48. Gen. 4 9 . Gen.

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202

The Order of Women 's Commandmen ts

Rachel and heard her prayers. " If so, then we definitely hear that God immedi­ ately listens to a woman's prayer and answers her with great compassion if she is pious and God fearing. And therefore, when she goes home from the immersion she should also be careful not to look upon anything and not to let anyone look upon her unless she sees a very pious man or a pious scholar whom she should look at and she should request from God, blessed be His name, that the child that she will have should be like him. And after, when you are home, be modest and ask your husband with good, loving words to sit over a book [dealing with reli­ gious matters] . And as he studies a while so his heart becomes good natured, as we learn from the verse stating "the laws of God are virtuous [they] gladden the heart. "5o That means [in Yiddish] , "the laws of God are upright and gladden a person's heart." if she finds something stuck between her teeth after her immersion, 5 5 And a small bone or something else, the immersion is invalid and [ 1 8a] she must immerse again. And so too, if after the immersion she finds something stuck on her body, clay, or dough, or wax, or mud, or similar things, this invalidates her immersion. But, if she immersed immediately after the bath, it does not in­ validate it for we say it happened after the immersion. If she had delayed a while, for as long as an hour after the bath, before she went to the ritual immersion, she must worry that it came upon her before her immersion; she must go immerse again. Therefore every woman should be careful to immerse immediately after her bath so that even if she finds something stuck on her body after her immersion, it does not invalidate [her immersion] . If, however, she should [bathe] during the day, a little while before night and go thereafter to immerse at the beginning of the night [and after her immersion found something on her] , even though there not be half an hour between her bath and her immersion�this is as if there was an entire day between the bath and the immersion and she must immerse herself again. But any woman who fears God does not rely on anything and goes to immerse again. And no woman should do otherwise and she should immerse herself once again. woman whose time to go to immerse falls on the very night when the 5 6 ASabbath or a Festival ends should bathe herself very well on the eve of the Sabbath or Festival as best she can, as if she were going to immerse immedi­ ately. And when the Sabbath or Festival ends, she should warm a basin or pot of water for herself and she should wash her body and her hair well with the warm water and she should comb herself well and afterward she should immerse. Or, equally good, she should watch herself very well on the Sabbath and Festival that she not touch or deal with anything that may stick to her and that might make her unclean again. If it is impossible for her to be careful for she has no one to feed her children or she herself must eat or she must deal with the cooking herself,

50. Ps. 1 9.9.

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204

The Order of Women 's Commandments

then she may indeed deal with it herself. Nevertheless, she should be careful whenever she deals with anything that is sticky that she sees to it that nothing remains stuck to her [ 1 8b] and that she washes her hands clean each time. And so must she also cut her nails late on the eve of the Sabbath or Festival and when she washes herself again at night (i.e., after the Sabbath and Festival) that she again washes off the dirt that was under her nails well. if there were two days of the Festival or if the Festival falls after the 5 7 And Sabbath and her [time for] immersion falls on the night between one day of the Festival and the other or between the Sabbath and Festival so that she is not allowed to comb and bathe [because of the Sabbath and Festival] , then she should do it (i.e., bathe and comb out her hair) on the eve of the Sabbath or the eve of the Festival. And on the Sabbath or the Festival she should guard herself well from touching things that might stick to her. On the eve of the Sabbath or the Festival, she should comb her hair very firmly and bind it very tightly and on Saturday night, even though it is a Festival, she may warm a little water or she should take warm water that has been warmed on the Festival. She may wash herself well in several places, like under the armpits and other hidden places, and after she may certainly immerse. However, before she immerses, she should ex­ amine her entire body and the hair on her head well, so that nothing should be stuck there. She should also clean her teeth well, so that nothing is left stuck between her teeth. it happens that she has to immerse at the end of the second day of the 5 8 If Festival, she may still bathe herself well on the eve of the [first day of the] Festival even though there are two days until the immersion. And when she immerses, she should warm a little water and wash and comb herself well, as I have written above. In places where one cannot immerse at night and one im­ merses by day on the eighth day, as in a place where it is dangerous at night, or in other situations, as I have written above, if this eighth day falls on the Sabbath then one should not immerse on the Sabbath. If it happens that she has to immerse on the intermediate days of the 5 9 Festivals, if she can have a non:Jewish maid servant cut her nails, this is [ l ga] a great mitzvah. But she may not allow any non:Jewess who does not work for Jews do it, since the non:Jewess will think that she had been bewitched. If she cannot have a non:J ewish maid servant who works for Jews, she may cut her nails herself If she is accustomed to cut her nails with a knife the entire year, she should cut her nails with scissors; if she is accustomed to cut her nails with scissors the entire year, on the intermediate days of the Festival she should cut them with a knife.

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60

The Order of Women 's Commandments

Since one may never have sexual relations o n Tisha b'Av o r o n Yom Kippur, one may not immerse, neither that very night nor that same day. And if it happens that her time for immersion should fall on the night that Tisha b'Av or Yom Kippur begins, she should wait with her immersion until the night after Tisha b'Av or Yom Kippur. And the same night that Tisha b'Av or Yom Kippur ends, she should bathe herself and wash her hair as at any other time and after she should immerse. If she does not want to wait so long to bathe and wash her hair on the night that Tisha b'Av or Yom Kippur ends, then she should bathe and wash her hair well on the eve of Tisha b'Av or Yom Kippur and after, when Yom Kippur or Tisha b'Av ends, she should wash her hair lightly and comb herself and then immerse. Also, if her immersion should occur during the nine days before Tisha b'Av [when it is generally prohibited to bathe] , she should bathe and wash her hair before the ritual immersion just as at other times. woman who wants to don white on the evening that Yom Kippur 6 1 Abegins should bathe and don a white garment and spread a white sheet over the bed as at any other time of the year but she should stop bathing before the sun sets. And after she should examine herself properly during twilight as at other times. If she wishes to don white on the evening when Yom Kippur ends, she should also do as at other times but she may not wet her body with either warm or cold water [on Yom Kippur] except in the private part where she must wash herself and nowhere else. If she wishes [ 1 gb] to don white on the eve of Tisha b'Av, the law is that she should bathe and don a white garment before the sun sets and after this she examines herself at twilight as she does at other times but she must not spread a white sheet [on the bed] . She should take a sheet that has been lain on once and examine it well [to see] that there is no bloodstain on it and she should spread it out under her [on the bed] . If she wants to don white the night that Tisha b'Av ends, she may not wash herself, except she may certainly wash in the private places where it is necessary. And she should also not put on any white garment. She should put on a clean garment that had been worn for an hour. And if it had been worn for about an hour, as long as it is clean from blood, she should put it on. But she may certainly spread a white sheet under herself. And during the nine days before Tisha b'Av she may certainly immerse and don white as [she does] the rest of the year. In her seven days of mourning she may not immerse herself at all. She 6 2 may certainly don white during these seven days. She may not, however, bathe but she may wash her private parts well. Her friend should wear a white

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208

The Order oflVomen 's CommandmenlS

garment for her for an hour and after she should put it on. She should also take a white sheet and let someone else lie on it and after she should lay it out [for herself] . However, before she puts on the garment and spreads out the sheet she should check that each is free from blood. After the seven days, during the thirty days of mourning, she may immerse as at any other time and she may also don white as at any other time. The same with regard to bathing and [on putting on] white garment [s] and sheets. However, it is proper that she not bathe so much when she dons white during the thirty days of mourning. The evening that the seventh day [of mourning] ends, the law is the same as after the seven days-that she may immerse and may don white as during [the rest of] the thirty days of mourmng. Every female that a man takes i s [considered] a bride and they should 63 have a wedding. Whether a widower or a bachelor, and whether she is a virgin or a woman who is deflowered, whether young or old, widow or divorcee, no matter how young she is, the bride must don white for seven days prior to her [20a] immersion before she may lie with her husband. And even though she is still so young that she has not yet seen any [menstrual] blood in her lifetime, never­ theless we fear that she may see [blood] due to lust. The bride may begin to count the seven days early in the morning even if she had not examined herself the previous evening. However, another woman may not begin to count the seven days unless she had examined herself the previous evening and found herself clean. And she should don white eight days before the wedding, before the cere­ mony, and she should examine herself every day, once in the morning and once in the evening and after this immerse. And if she forgot to examine herself every day, if she only examined herself once during the seven days, this is enough. And if the ceremony is not immediately after the seven days, she has the status of any woman who has let her immersion pass, that is she must always guard herself (i.e., examine herselfj as she did during the seven days when she had donned white . And she must immerse as close to the ceremony as possible. And the custom is that until her groom comes to her she must examine herself very often up to the very time [of the wedding] , more than other women [have to] . The rationale has been written by our teacher, Rabbi Solomon.5 1 the custom is to take the bride to be immersed on Tuesday night 6 4 And even though the man will not lie with her until Saturday night. And one may not distance the immersion any further from sexual intercourse. So too, ifhe does not lie with her on Saturday night, she must then continue to examine herself until the groom comes to her. If the ceremony had been postponed and she had counted seven clean days, when it is again possible to have the ceremony, she must begin to count the seven days anew even though she had observed (i.e., examined) herself during the days after the initial seven clean days. Nevertheless, it does not help and she must begin to count seven clean days again. And the seven 5 1 . See Rashi's comments on B.T., Yoma ' 1 3b.

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2 10

The Order of Women 's Commandments

days must be close to the ceremony, at most six days (i.e., the counting of the seven clean days may end no more than six days before the ceremony) . Had she im­ mersed, however, seven days before the ceremony, the immersion is invalid and she must begin to count seven clean days again and on the eighth day at night she goes to immerse. [20b] Also, if she had forgotten to count a second time; or if she had not 65 counted altogether; or the bride became unclean before the ceremony; or the seven clean days had begun on Tuesday or whatever day and she had not completed seven days prior to the ceremony and had not immersed before the ceremony, then (i. e., in all these cases) as soon as the groom has wed the bride, she is to him exactly like any other niddah and he must separate from her. And also, he must not be alone with her in a room by day during this time until she has gone to immerse. And prior to ritual immersion, he may also not lie alone in a room with her at night whether she is a maiden, a widow, or a divorcee or whether he is a bachelor or a widower. He must have a young boy as a chaperone with him in bed. And she must have a young girl chaperone with her in her bed until she has gone to immerse. And thus [until] he has lain with her once. A bride who was [ritually] clean at the wedding and who has lain with the groom in one bed several nights and the groom has not had sexual intercourse with her and then she became a niddah , then she must have a guard again so long as the groom has not yet had intercourse with her. Whenever she is a niddah, even a number of years after the wedding, she must have a chaperone each time until he has had intercourse with her. Mter [having had intercourse] , they do not need a chaper­ one any more when she becomes a niddah again. And now it is our custom that the bride usually goes to immerse on the Wednesday (i.e., Tuesday night) before the ceremony. Nevertheless, she should examine herself every day until she lies with her groom. And every groom, when he goes to lie with his bride, may not touch her until he first asks her whether she has counted the seven clean days. And if she is a virgin and he had proper relations with her, and he saw or discov­ ered blood coming from her immediately after he concluded his intercourse, then he must separate himself from her completely just as he must separate himself from a niddah . And similarly, if he had not had intercourse with her properly (i.e., he had not penetrated her), and he had separated himself from her, if he saw blood he must [stay] separate [d] from her [because she is a niddah] . However, there is a difference between this niddah and another niddah, for [with respect to] another niddah [2 1 a] , so long as she is unclean on account of actual menstrual blood her husband must not lie in her bed even if the bed is clean and she is not in the bed. But this niddah is [ritually unclean] on account of her virginal blood, so her husband may certainly lie in her bed when she is not lying in the bed and even if the bed is still full of virginal blood. And he may also certainly remain lying [in her bed] unless he wants to do otherwise; and she must get up from him. And immediately after lying with her for the first time, he should say this blessing so that he will have well raised, pious children and Torah scholars.

21 1

'T �y;, .l�� lVi'YT �lVl"� lV�' �',� .;,!),n 'Y' 1'1 �;'1l 1"T IT'� lY� P'T " 'l'� 1" 1 '1 l� " " , �lV" � 'l'� �lV'l ;,,'j� " 'Y" �'T lTY",l ,j,� ;,!),n 'Y' 'Y� l�� P'T '::2� T T : ;,,'j� '1 �S�l 'l l�� l�S� lY' l� �'l �'T 'l'� ;'l'" lY� P'T 1" 1 '1 P';' 'l 'T �Y;" T ,,� .1" 1 '1 �" � " l� T�' .1lVYl " �Y;" T T' 1" � TY 'Y" i1 0 [ :1"l/ 1] " ,,� .;,�'n 'Y' " l'�" 'l 63;,�',� 'Y" ;,,� " ,,� �" l'l �'l �" � �y;, �'l 'T " lTY" 'l 'Y" TY l�� lV�" ,,� l��lVl" l� P';" l l� l�Y;' 'l'" " lY� P'T " �::2 'T� C" , .;,!),n 'Y' 'Y� Pl�l 64;" 'j� '1 �'l 'Y" 'l'� ;,!),n 'Y' " lV" � lY� P'T " 'Y 'l'� ;" 'l ;" 'l� l"� T� 1"'l C'� �'T T'� " .1TY" l lV'i'� ;,,� �" ��;, liin 'Y' T� l�� �"::2 1"T '��i' 'l"� l'� l"'� �'l ,,� �,� 'Y ,�� 1" � 'l'� l'''lV ,,� l'� 1'T lV" � 'Y ,�� �S�l �"::2 66;,,'j� 'Y' 'Y� 'l'� .l'll�l 65;,,'j� '1 ,�, T'� 'T T'::2 �"1 'Y' l'� 'Y" ;'lV" l ,,� ;'l�'� l"� ,,� '1" !) l"� �"T 'T �"T p', '��i' " ,� l'� l"'� �'l 1" � C'� �"::2 " ll" l"'i' l"� '�'lV l"� T1� 'Y l�'� l"� " ,� ::2�li' l"� �"T 'Y ,,� �"T 'T T'::2 P�;' �Y::2 1" � l'� ,,� �"::2 ii'�'lV l"� " ,,� l"'i' l� 1" � T1� 'T 'l'� .p�;, �Y::2 1'� 1'" T'� T' " ;,,� l� .T'� PY" l ,,� �"::2 �,�� l"� 'Y T' 'l'� .T'� l'll�l ;" 'j� 'l �'T T' liin 'Y' 'l'� .�S�l 'S" �y �Y::2 1"� l'� PY'l liin lY' �"::2 T'� 'l'� ;'liin 'Y' l'l lTY" 'l P�;' '�'lV l"� " " , 'T lT1� " l'�" 'l ;" 'l l� 1�l " 'Y" �'T 'l'� .1TY" 'l ,Y'::2 �'l 'T �y;, C'llV ;,�� " ,�� �'Y" ;" 'l �'T lY" �;" l �,;, l'� �'1 ,,� �,� �'l liin 'Y' T�' ,,,,, " ,� 1�l " �;" l �,;, l'� '1 ,,� �,� 'Y T' T'::2 P�;' '�'lV l� ��,� 'T� 'T IT'� ;'l,iin 'Y' 1�l ;,,� " T' l;'l� 'Tl'� T'� " l'l'� 'l'� �'Y" :11'l " " , 'T lY" 'Y� '�'lV l"i' �'T l�'Y' T'::2 l�� ,,� l"T i" ,::2 '��'lY' 1'T 'T " T " .;,!),n " " 1'�" �'� C� l'l 67;,,'j� '1 �lY'!) 'Y ,�� 'T �l" ;,,� 'l"T l'1 1'T 'Y lY" liin 'S" i" � l"� 'l'� �l" liin l" � '1 1'T �'T T' '1" !) l� 'T T'� 'l'� .�" ll 'l'" lY� P'T " �,;, 'T ::2'� �lY'� ,�, 'T 'Y T'::2 .1'" l� �'l �'T 'Y T� ,,::2 'T� l'l ,,� l'� C, �l'�!)l� ,,� �S'T 'l'� �,;, l" � '1 ,,� �,� �Sy, 'Y T' 'l'� ;" 'l 'l"� l'� 1'T 'Y T� .1lV�� " ,� l'� l'''lV ,,� l'� 1'T 'Y T" � " . ��;, T" � ;','Y::2 l"T l'''lV'l ,,� l'� 1'T �y;, 'l'� �y;, l��'l �Sy, �'l ;','Y::2 " 1"'l 'Y lY" 'l'� T" � l1"lV l� ,,� ;" 'l " llV" 'l i',,'n l"� T'� 1�' .11"lV ,,� l'� 1'T 'Y T'� " �S'T C, 'Y lY" �Y::2 T' 1"'l lY" P" �Y::2 ,,� l'� �'l l�� [ � " l/ � :I] ,,� ,�� ;" 'l " 'l� l� lY' ;" 'l " 'l� �" ,,� :11'l C, l�SY' l'� l"'l'� T'� 'T ,,,,, 'Y' .�Y::2 1'� �'l 1" � T'� 'T 'l'� 1'" T'� l'� �'l 'T lY" P" �Y::2 ,,� l'� ,�" l�� ,,� l�� " c'" ii::2 C, ,,� pY" l'� �'Y" ;" 'l P" P"'::2 ,�" 1" � l�� 'Y 'l'� .'Y" c'" ii::2 c, �,� " ,� �Y::2 T' l'lV lY" 'l'� �l" �Y::2 " P" �"::2 1�lV'Y lY' 1�l ��n " T 'Y 'l'� l'�lV �',� C'� l'� T" � 'T 'l'� lV" l� 'Y " " .1':ll .1':ll .1':ll .1':ll .1':ll

):I' 'i1�" �1 :1111 :1 T"71Z/ m" i1�:1 7:11( 'i1:i" �1 :1'11:1 " p�:1 .63 ):I' 'i17':i�1 :1'11:1 T"71Z/ m" i1�::1 7::11( 1i17'�11' ::1'11:1 " p�::1 .64 ):I' 'i17':i�1 ::1'11:1 T"71Z/ m" i1�::1 7::11( 1i17'�11' ::1'11:1 " p�::1 .65 ):I' 'i17':i�1 ::1'11:1 T"71Z/ m" i1�::1 7::11( 1i17'�11' ::1'11:1 " p�::1 .66 ):I' 'i17':i�1 ::1111 :1 T"71Z/ m" i1�::1 7::11( 1i17'�11' ::1'11:1 " p�::1 .67

212

The Order of Women 's Commandments

One should not say the blessing unless he found blood from her in the bed. "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who has placed a nut in the Garden of Eden, a lily of the valleys, that no stranger should control the sealed spring, thus the loving doe guarded her purity and did not violate the law. Blessed are You, God, who chooses the seed of Abraham, our father."52 Mter the first intercourse, if he is certain that he had penetrated her properly, he must separate himself from the bride if she was a virgin, whether he had found blood from her or not. For one finds many people are not properly knowledgeable in the laws. And if he did not penetrate her properly, he need not separate from her until he sees blood [at the time of intercourse] , or he [later] discovers it, or [until] he is certain that he has penetrated properly. However, if he has not had proper intercourse and has also found no blood, then he need not separate from her and he may remain lying in bed with her after all. And the law is that the groom may even lie with the bride on Friday night and may have his first inter­ course with her then. In any case, he should do none of these, though they are permitted, if others customarily prohibit them.53 if he penetrated her properly and saw n o blood and discovered no 66 And blood [later] , nevertheless he must separate himself from her immedi­ ately for there are often virgins who are old and who have very little blood and one cannot find [such] a little blood for it becomes mixed with the semen. And therefore he must immediately separate himself from her after the intercourse just as if he had found a lot of blood beside her. And after the first intercourse he may certainly be alone with her and lie in the [same] room in a separate bed for now she is his lawful wife and he must try to guard himself from sin. He cannot always have a chaperone and for whoever wants to do evil, God forbid, having a chap­ erone would not help. Therefore, I say to everyone that he should be pious and wise and not walk, God forbid, on [thin] ice. on account of sin, when he lies with his wife, there should not be 6 7 Also, any light in his room that shines on his bed or anything else that [would indirectly] shine onto it. And if they want to cover themselves so that they do not see the light, it is still a sin if the light shines on the bed. But if there was a wall ten fists high between the light and their bed, then they may certainly lie together even if the light shines through. Or if a vessel covers the light so that it cannot shine through, then they may also certainly do so. And also by day, when there is light in the room, it is a sin since he sees her naked body. He should shutter the window, thus he can certainly lie with her. But, if he wants to leave the window open and wants to cover himself with something so that he does not see the light, 52. I have essentially relied on the translation of Ruth Langer, "The Birkat Betulim : A Study of theJewish Celebration of Bridal Virginity," Proceedings of the American Academy forJewish Research 6 1 ( 1 995): 56-65. 53. C(, below, no. 68. The custom in Poland in the seventeenth century was not to have the first intercourse on the Sabbath (see Sirkes, Bayit lJadash , Oral). I).ayyim 280) even though the law permitted it (ShullJan 'aruk, Oral). I).ayyim 280.2).

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214

The Order of Women 's Commandments

this does not help and he should not do it. And a talmudic scholar may well leave the window open as long as he covers it with a cloth or something else. And if there are holy books in the place where he lies with his wife, then he must cover them. And if there are people awake where he lies with his wife, then while the people are awake he must not have intercourse with her. t i s the custom in France and among the Germans that o n the Sabbath 68 Ione does not lie with a virgin bride. The rationale is written in the poseqim (i.e., those who decide matters ofJewish law) . A man who takes a divor­ cee or a widow and weds on the [eve of the] Sabbath, they may not lie together for the first night on the Sabbath. Therefore, a bachelor who takes a widow or a divorcee and they want to wed on the [eve of the] Sabbath, if they wish to be together on the Sabbath, they must be locked in a room prior to the Sabbath, and if the groom had consummated the marriage with her before the Sabbath, then he may also have intercourse with her on the Sabbath. If the groom does not have intercourse with her before the Sabbath, then he may also not have intercourse with the widow or divorcee on the Sabbath. Nevertheless, they may lie [22a] alone in the room on the Sabbath and do not need to have a chaperone with them. Since the groom may not lie with his bride for the first time on the Sabbath if she is a widow or a divorcee, therefore, if the bride is a widow or a divorcee, she should not immerse herself on Friday night. But some scholars say that she may also not immerse herself on Saturday night; however, other scholars say that she may indeed immerse herself. However, since the prohibition is not against being with a menstruant (i.e., a very serious transgression) but against having intercourse for the first time [on the Sabbath; a lesser legal issue] , they do not need a chaperone; they are to be trusted. A bride who is a virgin may certainly immerse if it befalls her (i.e., her need to immerse) either on Friday or on Saturday night. if she became unclean because o fvirginal blood, she has all the laws 69 And that every [woman who is a] niddah has except one great difference is that because she was a virgin, during their first [intercourse] he may remain [in her] until he has totally finished [intercourse] , even though the blood has begun to press through. But after intercourse, he must separate himself from her, whether she is young or old, even if she was about thirty years old [and may have not seen any blood; see above, section 66] , he must separate from her immediately. once a woman is n o longer a virgin, if her husband is lying with her 7 0 But and she feels menstrual blood during intercourse, she should immedi­ ately tell her husband and they should both be terrified and she should feel great horror and fear because of the great sin that has befallen them. However, what has happened cannot be changed. One must pray to God the Almighty to forgive it; it did not happen willingly. Only I must also write further about how they should behave then, if, God forbid, such a thing happens so that one should not sin further intentionally. If a woman tells her husband that she has become un­ clean and he was in the midst of sexual intercourse, the husband should immedi­ ately be still and should not move himself from that spot. He may not continue

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to have intercourse and he may also not separate from her. Were they either to continue to have intercourse or to separate from one another while his penis is still hard, they are liable for karet (i. e., a severe punishment inflicted directly by God), just as when one lies with a menstruant, for separating with a hard penis is as pleasurable as intercourse itself. Therefore they should wait until the lust passes and his penis becomes soft again and only then should they separate from one another. And while the husband lies thus still over her, he should not lean on his wife. He should prop [himself] up [on] his toes on the bed and should lie still thus until his penis becomes soft again. Anyone to whom such a thing happened and he did not know the law that he must not separate himself from her immediately and he had separated himself from her while his penis was still erect, he should go to a rabbi and receive a penance as the rabbi orders him but the woman need do no repentance. woman who twice saw that blood flowed from her after intercourse, 71 A must not lie with her husband a third time until she has permission from the rabbis. Therefore she should take care to ask a rabbi about it. every person should take care, man and wife, that they do not talk 7 2 And during intercourse. Nor should they have bad thoughts or reveal any hidden things (i.e., parts of their bodies), for if one talks at that time, then a blem­ ish will come upon the child that she will bear from that intercourse-it will have a deformity on its body. A misfortune will befall it from this, God forbid; it will be malformed, or blind, or dumb, or deaf, or other similar things. It does not occur without consequences. And neither he nor she should be intent upon pleas­ ure . They both must direct their thoughts toward God, blessed be His name, for a child and particularly for a son who will learn the Torah and follow the com­ mandments. Another thought that they should have is that they wish to fulfill the commandment of procreation, this means [in Yiddish] to be fruitful and multiply the world for God's service. And they should not lie with each other in impudence and licentiousness. He should not think of other women and she also should not think of other men. Also, many children die young because of this. Our Lord God made this secret known to Rabbi Elisha, the High Priest. Also, because of this, many children have deformities on their bodies. Rabbi Yol)anan heard this secret from an angel [23aJ and the Talmud states: "Rabbi Yol)anan ben Dahaba'i said: the ministering angels told me four things. How does it comes about that lame people are created?"54 In the Talmud it cites the entire saying. It is also a sin if he sleeps with her while he remains in a quarrel or flare up with her, before he has made up with her. Or if one of them had thought to divorce, then they may also not lie together with these thoughts until he has put them aside. Or if one of them was drunk they should also not have sexual relations during this time. Also, if one had gone to the toilet during this time, one should wait a sixth of an hour (i. e., ten minutes). Also, it is written in a biblical verse and the Talmud has taught, if 54. B.T., Nedarim 20a.

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218

The Order of Women 's Commandments

there was licentious talk between them they both must suffer for it in Gehenna. If the entire intention of the mother and father is to God, may He be praised, our Lord, God, sees into their hearts, where all people's thoughts are. Therefore the greatest commandment is to always have your heart toward the Almighty God. He should not force her and she should also not say afterward that she had had to do it for with such talk she is like a whore and he may not keep her for a wife. Concerning this our sages said, if she gives her will totally to her husband with her full heart, and with desire, and good will towards him, then God, may He be praised, will give her much reward and a pious son. They will have good and very dear descendants. And she should make herself pretty for him and do his will. If she behaves well as I have written, neither she nor he need suffer Gehenna. 7 3 55 And when they have intercourse they should not have any bad thoughts. During intercourse they should also remember that they are not doing this for their own pleasure but rather that they wish to fulfill the com­ mandment of procreation and that thus they will have talmudic scholars from it. They both [should] have their intentions for the good. However, it mainly goes according to the mother's intentions and also every man knows well what he must be thinking at this time. Profanities should not be thought of at this time, rather both their thoughts should be to complete piety. This is the secret so that the children will turn out properly, as it is written in the holy Torah, as the Kabbalah has laid out. And if they want male children, they must give alms to the poor and she must do what her husband orders and what he likes and she should not con­ tradict him. And he should give [23b] her pleasure and take a long while in the act of intercourse with her. Because of this he will merit having male children as the verse says, "Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the reward of the fruit of the womb. "5 6 Our sages have said that the plain meaning of the verse is this: now the inheritance of God�these are the sons. And one merits this as a reward for the good thoughts that they have during the time that they perform the act [of intercourse] . And he should have intercourse in such a way that his semen should not go out from him needlessly for if one ejaculates his semen for naught, this is a great sin, just as if one committed a murder. Therefore he should be clever with these matters. And they should delay until the middle of the night until they have digested their food; thus the children will be fine and proper. And [they should have intercourse] before people wake up and begin to talk for perhaps he might hear other women speaking and have a thought about them. And they should urinate beforehand and she should not allow herself to hold herself in for long so that he does not damage his semen, God forbid, for that is a great sin. So pay attention to what I have written for you. There are many who do not pay attention and they must suffer greatly because of it. 55. Portions of the following passage are transcribed in Griinbaum, }iidischdeutsche Chrestomathie, 275-76. 56. Ps. 1 2 7 . 3 .

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74

The Order of Women 's Commandmen ts

Praised be our holy God, who hates all evil ways. Above all evil is licen­ tiousness, the profanities of which he has no benefit from. For he merely yields to the evil inclination to do its will as it is in his heart. His soul goes to Hell just as smoothly as it does because of evil gossip, lies, and false testimony that are surely displeasing to God. Often if one knew what the holy books write about this, he would avoid profanity and buffoonery, for profanity can deprive one of all his good fortunes so that he will never prosper. The sin of niddah is similar to that of eating leavened bread on Passover and non-kosher food on Yom Kippur and like sleeping with his sister and with his father's sister. And every menstruant who has not immersed herself after her period and even if she remained unclean for thirty years (i.e., she did not immerse during this time), nevertheless, she still remains [in a state] of uncleanliness. There is no great difference between both women-an unmarried woman who has been a niddah for thirty years and a married woman who has yet to immerse. There is as much difference as between one who desecrates the Sabbath and one [who eats] leaven on Passover and eats on Yom Kippur. [24a] However, if a woman usually finds herself unclean when she has come to him, not long after the time that her husband had intercourse with her-in the brief time that she could have climbed out of bed-and it was still long before her period, there is much to read about this; one cannot write all of it for a woman. It happens so seldom to women that we will not waste time with it. She should leave it for a rabbi right away. And the husband should also remember that if he finds [blood] on his body more than once, he should ask a rabbi about it. i s the law of a woman who is unclean, who i s a menstruant. She 7 5 This may not touch her husband even with her little finger and they both may not hand one another a dish or any other things. They may not even throw [anything] into each other's hand, they must put it down and let it out of their hand. They may also not eat together out of one bowl. If she was always accus­ tomed to eat alone, separately (i.e., out of her own dish even when she was ritually clean), then now while she is a niddah , they should make a divider with something between her dish and his dish, with a container or with bread. Or each of them should have a special cloth so that they should remember that she is a menstruant. If she had eaten out of her bowl and she left something over, he may not eat it. However, she may certainly eat what he leaves over. If she ate and went away, he may certainly eat what she left over if she is not nearby, but in her presence, not at all, and the same with drinking. She may certainly drink after him but not he after her. If she is not present, he may certainly drink after her. If she drank from a vessel and he did not see it, she does not have to tell him [that she drank from it] if she sees him eating or drinking out of it. If another person drank or ate from what she left over, then he (i.e., her husband) may definitely drink or eat

221

tI"ilT'J '7� ,�g 'l tI�il tll"g mm TT'J '7� 'Y' tI'� '"'7"il 'Tl'� �"T tlJ'7'l Y'il 'l' TY' tI'Y"l 'Y 'rl7' tI�il T,g 'Y' il�lil T"j? 'Y 'rl7' c'g,,'n �" �'�'l 1'� tI�7l T7'il 'Y' 1'� tI�'j? 7'T T"T tI'tl T7'" T"T 'Y 'rl7' 1'l'Yil T"T T'� C'� " , tI'7 T7'" T"T 'l"� tlg,� tI'rl7'" '''7 T"T tI'� 1�' �" ,,,� ''rl77�g 'l'� P'7 ti'7'S, tlSY7'rl7 'J'� tI'l 'rl7Y P'� c'g,,'n �" TY' .TJ",tI ti'll'7 C'El,,'n tI'l " " 'Y .TJ"''rl7 T,g 'Y' C',gO �" 'rl7�" 1"7l T'� il" l 'Y' 'l'T �" T�'j? 'l ilS'J T"j? 1'� '�'l Cl"� 'l'� .T'�Yl 7T� T"T 7� Cl"� ,tloy,,'rl7 'l"T �"J ,Y lY7 T� 'l'� T''rl7Y 'l C'" El:J C" T� ti,g" tI 'l'� T'rl7Y 'l nOEl T� r�n T� 75'tI tI'il 75t1'l il" l ,,� 11l 1'T �" il" l 'S'7t1'� T"� 'l'� 'tI�g 'rl7l"T ,tlyo,,'rl7 �"J 'l'� .1�l �'T T'� ti,g" tI ,,� T'� 1�' TTY'" l ilg" tI T'�' l '0"" ,g tl7il �'T 'Y" 'l'� TTY'" l ,g TTY" 'l T'� il" l " 'l" '7 T"� .,"J T�'" g TY' T'rl7" 'l ''''rl7 'tll'� " 'rl7Y'l tI'l T'� 'rl7Y T'rl7" 'l T� 7'g 'T� 1"7l T'll�l il7'5t1 'l 'Y" �, �" 'rl7'� ti'rl7� 'l"� 'l'� T'�' l'O"" 1::J] .tI'rl7Y C" 'El':J C" T� 'l'� nOEl T� r�n 'Y' Cl"� T'rl7" 'l 'l'� .T'� tiJ'rl7 77n� 'Y' Cl"� 'rl7' tI"T 'Y' T,g T�'j?'l T'� C'� �'T 'rl7' 1�l " T'l'g 'l ilg" tI 'J� ill"� 1'T tll7yg [�"1I T,g P" � tlYil 'T 'rl7�' tI"l 'l" j? T"� T'� .Py7'" ,,� �"J T'� " , 'Y' ll7 tI'l T�� 'Y' .TTy7 'I T,g " 7'g 'Y" 'rl7' tI"l ,,� ,yg ll7 1�l 'Y" 'rl7Y 'l'� .p"tI'rl7 J�'il tlYJ 1)7' ,,� 'rl7' TJ"" TY' Ttl7YT '�l 1" � tlS''rl7'l T' . TJ"''rl7 T�" " 'l"� 'rl77� tI'l TY� T�j? 'rl7' 1" � 7�T 'T� 'l'� .TJ"7J '7J 5, Cl"� T� T'rl7�7 'rl7Y 7�T �'T TJ",tI ,g tI'l tI'� �' tI"l " C" , 'Y 5, Cl"� 7�� T"� TY" 'Y� .J"7 Cl"T �" � 'rl7Y 'Y tll'g .7�" Tj?lY" l T�� 'Y' :7�T Py,g T" � ,�tI 'T T'� il" l �, �" 'Y" T"'l'� " �'" g 'l"� T,g tlSY' 'rl7�' T'� 'rl7Y i1 Y TY' 'rl7'l"� tI'l T'�tI ',"J �'T 'l'� 1'7'll" P"7j? T" � tI'� '7'g� T'" T� tI'l T�� T" tI �'T '7'g� T'S�T �"7 '7� 'rl7" l� 'rl7�" " ,� 70''rl7 T''� tllil 'Y' tI'� TS" 'l tI'rl7'l T" l� T'Ytl 1" � 'l'� .tllil 'Y' 'rl7" � P'7 " 'l 'rl7Y TT1� �'T tllil " 1'� T" l� TY' 'rl7'l"� Tg,y" tI'l T'rl7Y 'I T''7� tl7�� 7� tll'�" 'l TY' �'T tI�il .70''rl7 'l"� 'rl7" � 1''rl7Y " 'l� tI'� tI'l �'T �'T 7"" " l'l'� 70''rl7 'l"T 'l'� 70''rl7 ,,� T'rl7" 'l ''''rl7 'tll'� T"� TS� 'T T7�T �, ''IT'J T"� T7�T T'''J �'T 'tll'� 'S'7t1'� " ,� .tI" J T"� 'l'� Tj? T"� tI'� 'rl7" lY tI'� T'� i11'l .70''rl7 ,,� T" � T'rl7Yl 'T tlYil .T'� il" l �'T 'rl7�' Tj?lY" " T'7�T 'T T' TJ�il 7ilY" l " l'T'J 'J'� C'� 'rl7�" T'rl7Y 7�" ,,� ,�tI 'T T'rl7Y tI'l T'Y ,�tI �T TJ'7J'l 'J'� 'rl7" lY 'Y" ,,� 'l'� 'J'� ,,� 'rl7�" T'rl7Y 7�" 'Y l�� �T 1'"l" j?Y" 1'il 'Y" 'l'� T'rl7Yl 'T tlYil .T'� TJ'7J'l l�� �'T .Tj?l" tl TY' tI'� 'T� 'l'� tI'l 77:J ,,� " 'J'� T'� "J " tI'l �'T TY" .T'� TJ'J7'l 11l 7�" 'Y l�� �, T'� �"J " tI'l 'J� 'T TY" .,,� 11l tI'l 'Y 'J� Tj?l" tI C'� 1�l 7�" 'l tI'l 'rl7�'� �'T �" �, tI'l 'rl7Y 1YT 'Y 'l'� '7:J Cl"� 'rl7" � Tj?l" tI'l �'T tI'il Tj?l" tI ,,� ,,� 1�l 'rl7lY� " l� T"� tI'rl7Y " ,� j?lY'tI .T'rl7Y " ,� Tj?l" tI 'rl7" " 1YT C'� �'T TY" p�T •

Bodleian MS Opp. 307=Neub. 8 1 2 l' :l11 ::J � j il"llV m11il�� l1�l�l ?�� '1i'�� ill'� il?'�il .75 .il!:)01il:l il'1lVil l� il?YIJ? l1�l�l il?'lJil

222

The Order of Women 's Commandments

what is left over in the vessel that she had drunk or eaten from. If she drank from a [cup] , he may certainly pour the remainder into his cup and drink from his cup, or he may pour it back from his cup into hers and may then drink from her cup. Nevertheless, our holy Torah commands that one should distance oneself the most one can. [24b] It is a great mitzvah that he and she should be in accord with all the laws until she has gone to immerse. when she is a niddah , she should not dress up so nicely and not 7 6 And make herself so pretty with jewelry as she is accustomed to do when she is permitted [to her husband] . And she should not adorn herself as when she is permitted [to her husband] . And [she] also should not joke around with him nor may he banter with her. And they should distance themselves as much as possible for the evil inclination is great. Therefore, one must guard oneself. Nevertheless, she should go about nice and clean so that her husband will not be disgusted with her, God forbid. If it is possible for her, it is a mitzvah for her to have different clothes for the time that she is a niddah so that thereby they both remember that she is a niddah. She may certainly make the bed for him whether he is there or not, but she should not spread out his sheets for him when he is present. But, if he is not present, she may certainly spread out the sheet for him even if he well knows that she is spreading out the sheet for him. Also she may not pour water over his hands, not even cold water. Also she may not give him a glass or goblet when he is present unless she does it in a different way-she places the glass on the bench or the table with her left hand. And he too should not pass a glass or goblet to her when she is present unless he changes something and he places the goblet on the bench or the table with his left hand. Also he may not pass her a glass over which a blessing has been made (e.g., Kiddush) or a simple glass of wine or whatever else even if he had not poured it himself. Also he should not sit next to her on a bench or chest that wobbles. However, if someone sits between them, they may certainly both sit on it. Also they may not go off together in a wagon or a boat. However, if they need to travel for their needs (e.g., business) they may well do so but they should not touch each other. And he should not banter with her and he should also not look at any place on her that she usually keeps covered, but he may look at her face and hands even ifhe has pleasure from her. However, he should be very careful that he not look at her too much [25a] for if one looks at a niddah too much the children will turn out badly; so it states in our Talmud.57 And he should not lie on her bed even if she is not present and the bed is already clean, and also he may not touch it. And their beds that are in their room may not touch one another and, if they are touching, even by a hair, he may not lie on his bed until he totally separates them.

5 7 . B.T., Nedarim 20a.

223

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224

77

The Order of Women 's Commandments

When she is a niddah she should not pronounce the Name (i.e., utter God's name) or answer "Amen" or touch any religious book or go to synagogue or pray. And she should not go or stand in front of another woman who is praying for that woman is not allowed to pray behind her. However, when she has donned white she may certainly go to the synagogue and touch religious books and pray and say grace after meals like other women, as I have also found in other books. However, if she is not ritually clean on the Days ofAwe (i.e., Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), she may go to synagogue and stand next to other women. Such is the custom with all this in many places. he is sick during the time that she is a niddah and he has no one to 7 8 If serve him and to fulfill his needs but his wife, she may certainly touch him so that she may fulfill his needs. Only she must be very careful not to wash his hands or feet or face and not to lay out his sheet in his presence. If she was sick and had no one to fulfill her needs other than her husband, then he may not touch her or lift her or lay her down. However, if she was very weak and had no one to do anything for her, then her husband may help her to get up and lie down. It is the same if the husband was a doctor and she was dangerously weak. If there is no other doctor or there is another but he is not as expert as him (i.e., the husband), then the husband may certainly take her pulse. All the laws that are prohibited with respect to a niddah are prohibited even when she has donned white until she immerses. A woman who has immersed may certainly consider herself clean if she 7 9 wants to have intercourse with her husband and she need not examine herself before or after intercourse. And she may certainly stand before God, may He be praised. And this refers to a woman who has a regular cycle and lies with her husband when it is not [25b] her time (i.e., not the time when she expects her period to begin) . In such a case she does not need an examination. However, a woman who does not have a regular cycle, such a woman may not lie with her husband, for [she must do] differently, she must examine herself before inter­ course and after intercourse too. Her husband must also wipe himself with a cloth after intercourse and when they have had done so, they should inspect the cloths well. If she finds nothing on either her cloth or his cloth, she may thereafter have intercourse again with her husband if she wishes. However, when she has inter­ course with her husband the next time, she must examine herself before inter­ course and after intercourse and her husband must also wipe himself off with a cloth after intercourse. If they find no blood the second time as well, they may have intercourse again a third time if they wish. However, if they have intercourse a third time, she must examine herself again before intercourse and after inter­ course and her husband also, just as before. If they find nothing also on the third time, they may have intercourse as they please and they need no more examina­ tion for intercourse all their days, neither she nor he, neither before intercourse nor after, and they may always have intercourse without an examination. How­ ever, pious wives know well that they should examine themselves often, whether

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226

The Order of Women 's Commandments

by day or by night, at times when they are not about to have intercourse. There is no difference between a woman who has a regular cycle and one who does not have a regular cycle, or whether it was still long before her period [was due] , she should still always examine herself. However, she should never examine herself when she will have intercourse with her husband, neither before intercourse nor [immediately] after intercourse. When they want to examine themselves the first three times after intercourse, they are not obligated to examine it [i.e., the exam­ ination cloth] immediately thereafter at night to see whether there is blood on it or not. She may put aside the cloths until morning and look at them after, in the morning. And the woman is trusted to examine her cloth and his cloth. If they have intercourse more than once in one night, they should examine (i.e., wipe) themselves separately after each intercourse and look at it together in the morn­ ing. Ifit occurs that after intercourse the woman finds blood once among the three times (i.e., on the cloths that had been used to check), whether it is on his cloth or on her cloth, or if she finds [blood] all three times, or however it comes about, this is too much to write about. One cannot write this [26aJ for wives. She should ask a rabbi without delay, otherwise, she must commend her soul to God the Almighty so that she need not go to Gehenna, for this is not child's play. For in all cases that she finds blood after intercourse, either on her cloth or on his cloth, she must separate herself from her husband just as another niddah and after five days she must count seven clean days and [she] must immerse. woman who says t o her husband, " I am not clean," and a little while 80 Athereafter, she says, "I was just joking with you, but I am clean." He may not believe her and he must consider her unclean for five days and [she] must count seven clean days and then immerse. However, if she gives an excuse for what she said previously that she was unclean and says, "I was not strong enough to have intercourse with you and therefore I said that I was not clean," or she says, "I thought that I was not clean but I had not checked myself properly," or another reason, he may certainly believe her. Even though the law is that he may certainly believe her if she gives a reason, nevertheless, anyone who does not wish to believe his wife in such a matter is a pious man. Therefore I say to you women, that no woman should make such a statement about something that is not true, for such talk is not nice or good and a person does herself harm with it. who has put on clothes that she is accustomed to wear when 8 1 Ashewoman is a niddah and afterward says that she was clean and gives a reason why she had put on these clothes, she is not believed. A woman who finds a bloodstain and says, "the rabbi has 'permitted' the stain for me" (i.e., he ruled that the stain of blood did not render her unclean), and the rabbi says that he had not made it "pure" (i.e., he ruled that the bloodstain rendered her ritually un­ clean), the rabbi is believed and she is not believed.

227

" l'l't �5l'tj l't":J " l't ll't� l't":J �tOj'T l"T i" ,:J �il'l't l'l'tT 1'T 'T T' ,:J"" ,�" " " ,l't" .�"1 '�lYT'l l"l't �l't:1 l't' " l't'" il 1"l't i',,'n 1"i' T'l't tOy l"T tO�tO� l'Y" �'j 'T to, �"1 '�'l't 1'T l't'T 'l'tT l't, �"1 " l't " ljl't' 1l'tj 'Y" tOy " l't .�l't:1 �"1 '�lYT'l l"i' " " ,l't 1l'tj " " p', 1l't� l" l't l't":J 'T T' �"1 'Y' l'l't l"T i" ,:J �'j 77:J 1'T l't'T 'l'tT 1l't' ·l"T i" ,:J l't":J 1Y' 1l'tj l"T i" ,:J 1'T l't'T l" Y" p', l't":J 1Y' 1l'tj �'j 1" l't 1l'tj p', l't":J 1Y' ,yil :J,l't �5l'tj l't":J l:1YT '1 �'" , 1l'tj 'Y' �:Jn j" n� �'j l't'T l"T l't' 'l't� l't"" 1tO'Y l't" p', 'T l:1YT tOjl'l't� 'l 'j,l't P'l't� 1Yi' to':J l::l ' :1 �" l't '5" � " ll't� l't'T �'j " ,l't T'l't �'" , C, 1'� l't'T lY" ·1" � l"T �" l't 'j,l't 1" � " l't �" l't l:1YT':J '1 �:J"'l':J T'l't l't'" il ,, 'j,l't .1l'tj " '1 1'T " j'T':J p', l't":J 15',i" l't '1 l't'T l'l'tT l't' �5l'tj ,j"l't l'l't p', l't":J 'l't� 1"l't 1Y" l't"" 1Y' '�j'l't l't'" il " to, 1l'tT tOy T'l't . " jjl't �,� tOy l't'T l:1YT tOjl'l't� 'l 'j,l't l:1YT':J 1" � " l't �" l't " l't 1" � l"T �" l't l't"T TY p', l't":J 1Y' 1l'tj ,jyil'l �" ':J 'l't� 1"l't . 'l't� 1l'ti' 1� .l::l " 'tO 'l l,il " ,'il T'l't l't, .��'i' tOy l't'" " l't 'l't� l't"" ,l't ,jyil'l l't'T " l't :1�tOj " l't to" jl't l't'T " " ��'T'l ll't Py,il 'T 'l'tT j, 1"l't l:J"'tO l':J"" 1Y' [ K " Y 1:l ] �'j tOl't' " :I'i' 1"i' T'l't TY 1Y' 1�'i' Cj:1'l Tl't' 1'l't " " �'j 'T T' 'j,l't 1,yil':J p'�5y�,l't 1Y' �'l '1 �" l't " l't 1" � l" l't �" l't P" l't":J 1Y' 1l'tj ,j'ill �" ':J l't'T to, lY" pY" " l't 1l't' . ,,�to lY� �j'il 1l'tj 'j,l't :1,'j '" jl't 1"l't Tl't 1"'l ll't� l" l't 1,il l'''tO :Jl't 1'T to,� l't'T 1'� Cj"T q'l :1,'j� '1 to" � 'j,l't ll't� 'j", l::l ' T l" l l't'T to'� 1Y'�tO 1l'tj " ,,,,, 'j",i' 'j,l't .1'" �'j l':J 1'l't 1l't� l" l't '1 1Y'�tO l't' " l't" " 1"l't � 'T T'� 'j,l't .l::l " 'l �'j to" l't 'Y 'l't� l't, 1'" 1':J 'j,l't .�5"'l 'Tl't 1" :Jl't:1 1'l't 'T ,:J,l't �ll'tT 'T 1Y" ,j,� 'l'til 1'T T'l't 'j,l't 'j", lY� l::l ' T 1" 1 T'� 'j,l't C'�' ':1 l",j,l't " 1�':1 �'j 1'::1 1'l't 1Y'�tO 'j,l't 1'" �'j 'Y" l't'T �':1 �ll'tT'l 'l'til l't'T " " , l" l't '1 'l't1" l't 1l't 'T " l't 1'" �'j 'Y" 1'l't �ll'tT'l 'Tl't 1'l't :Jl't:1 C" , 'j,l't p', '1 " , l't":J 1TY" 'l i" l't�to 1"l't " l't .1:1YT':J �5y, �'j " l't 1'� :Jl't:1 1'l't .1'" �'j 'Y" 1'l't �j"�'l :Jl't:1 1'l't 1Y'�tO ,l't" ll't� " l't 'Y T' 'Tl't T'l't 1" " l'tO 1Y" 1l't' l::l l't'l ,l't" " l't 'Y ll't� l't, 'l't1" l't '" jl't 1l'tT '5'YT 1l't :J"" l"T l::l " 'l " " �'j 1l't� ,5,y" '�5'jy' .�ll'tT 'l't1" l't 1"l't 'T 1Y" l::l l't'l to" lY 1,il 1'" " , '5'YT l't" " 1"i' " T TY 1Y'" il 1"l't 1'l't ll'tT c " , ,'on 1"l't T'l't 'Y' 'Y' Y'" 1'T to jy� 1"l't 'j,l't . �'l 1l'tj tO�':1 �'j l"T " , l't" 1Y" 'l't" T'l't �'j tOy 1Y" pY" :�,� �,� :1,'j T'l't l't'T 1Y" 1'� '1 1l't �lY'il l't'T " " "'i' ll't�'l ll't �Y:1 l't' l't" l't'" il 1"l't �!) �Y:1 l't'T C" l't" " 1" l't 1"l't � ll'tT 'j,l't 1'" 'Y" l't'T l't'" l't'T 1'Y�tO 1l'tj " 'j,l't c, 1,il l'i'Y,il 1"l't ,jyil l't, l't" l't'" il 1"l't .�:Jl't'l':J �'j l't'T T'l't l't, .1'�'l ll't " "'i' l't" " :1� �'j �tOl't:1 'Y �ll'tT j, 'Y' 77'j,l't i'Y'il 1Y' 1TY" 'l " n� to,,� �l't:1 j, 'Y' �ll'tT 'j,l't : �:J" 'l':J �'j T'l't l't'T 'j,l't �:J" 'l':J j, 'Y' T'l't l't, �5�'l •

228

82

The Order of Women 's Commandments

A woman who made a mistake because she had not read books and made herself ritually unclean for one, two, or three nights, and after realized that she had erred; she is ritually clean from that time on. a woman who cannot speak nor hear, that means [26b] that she is 83 And deaf and dumb, and similarly, a mentally incompetent [woman] , these same [women] may not examine themselves; other wives must examine them and "make" (i.e., declare) her clean for her husband. And so too, an insane or crazy woman, a friend must also examine her and render her clean for her husband. A woman who is blind may certainly examine herself and after show [the examina­ tion cloth] to her friend [who will tell her] whether she is clean. A mute woman who can hear well and a deaf woman who can speak properly, they are just like other women and they may indeed examine themselves and make [themselves] clean for their husbands. Women who must have female friends examine them and render [them clean] , if this same friend establishes a regular cycle for her, she has the same status as other women who have a regular menstrual cycle. Every man is obligated to separate himself from his wife before her pe8 4 riod comes. And he only need separate himself from intercourse, no more. However, he may certainly touch her and may also eat with her and drink from one vessel [with her] . And he may otherwise well have his amusement with her as long as he is careful about intercourse that he must separate himself from her in the established way. If she is accustomed to see (i.e., begin her period) during the day, he must separate himself that entire same day. However, the previous night and the following night, he need not separate himself from her. And even if she is accustomed to see as soon as the sun rises, he need not separate himself from her the previous night. Also, it is the same even if she is accustomed to see at the end of the day (i.e., just before sunset), still he need not separate himself from her the following night if she has remained clean. And similarly too, i f she i s accustomed t o see a t night, whether early or 85 late [in the evening] , he need not separate himself from her except that very night. As long as she is accustomed to see at nightfall, he may nevertheless be with her the entire previous day. Also, even if she is accustomed to see as the night ends, he may nevertheless be with her the entire following day. woman whose pattern is that when she has her period, blood regularly 8 6 Aflows for two or three days, nevertheless, her husband need [2 7a] not separate from her except on the very day or the very night on which she usually first begins to see [blood] . And if the very day or the very night passes and she does not see blood, he need never separate from her [until her period actually begins] since the essence of separation is the very day or the very night when she is accustomed to begin to see blood. And therefore, the law is that if she usually begins to feel that her womb has let the blood flow before sunrise and delays so long [in coming out] until the sun has risen, one goes according to the beginning and must therefore separate oneself the entire night and in the day until the delay

C ' VJ J i1 1 m n � " 0

229

�>'i1 '.:moi; .1T>" 'l C" �O �1oI;i1 �'l IoI;'T IV' C" , 1T>" " l i1>" � �>'i1 1'T 101;" 1oI;" '� 1"101; � !) IoI;'T T' ,1oI;" 'l lol;'T �'>'" 1101;l '>" 'l'loI; �Sl 101;"" " 101; 101;"" 1 1"101; �S�'l ;,�,,� 1'T :�"1 'l'::1'>,T '>," 1 'IV:J IoI;'T T'1oI; 101;' .1T>," 'l i1>" � 1'T �>'i1 IoI;"T IoI;'T [ :lily 1:l ] �l"� 1V1oI;, .1" 'i1 �'l 1101;l 1'" 1101;i' �'l 101;' 101;" 1oI;" '� 1"101; 'l'loI; l� ,::1"" " 'llol; .1i1>,T'::1 �'l 1'T 1'>'� 'l'::1'>,T 101;" 1'>,l 1"101; 'TIoI; 1" 101; .::1" � 'l'loI; C'�IV " 101; ll'U1101; " 'l"loI; 1" 101; T'1oI; 'TIoI; 'l'loI; plol;� 1" 101; '1 1SIoI;� 1'" IoI;'T 1'T1� 'l'loI; 1i1>,T'::1 Io1;'T 1T'� 'l" ::1 " 101;" " 1"101; .1101;� 1" 101; '1 1S� 1'" 'l'loI; 1"T i" ,::1 i1f1,5n 1"101; 1" 101; T1� " T'1oI; ;'l'lV� 1"101; .T'1oI; 1'" 'T ::1'101; i1111 5 n " 101; 11.:1 " �T"" 'l'loI; 1"T i" ,::1 �'::1'>'T '101;" 1'T llol;� " T'1oI; 101;'" 1"'l 1"T " .1'" 1101;i' '101;" " 101;" " i1::1" � 1"101; 'l'loI; 1'>,i1 1101;i' '101;" 101;" 101;" " '�'�IV 101;" ,::1"" " 1101;� 1" 101; '1 1'" 1SIoI;� 'l'loI; 1"T i" ,::1 �'::1'>'T '101;" 1'T P'� 'l'loI; .1101;" " " 'llol; 1"101; " 101; �S� i1111 5 n l'::1'>,T 101;" 1>'" 1SIoI;� 'l'loI; 1"T i" ,::1 IoI;'T 101;" fI'1115 n ploI;i1 1T1� 101;' : plol;i1 �"1 1�1>'T'l 1"1oI; 101;" ,::1"" " 'llol; 101;'" 1'T 1101; 1" 1>" IoI;'T �1oI;i1 101;' .�"1 '�l>'T'l ��'i' �"1 " 101; 1>'" "101; ::1"" Cl"T 1'� �"IV 1'T '>' T1 l" " 1V T'1oI; 1101;� ,S" i" 1oI; 1"101; , !) 1"'101; 1V'�1V11 1>" 1'� �'>'''l 1'''1V '1 ,,� 1Vi" l 1'� 1'T �'IoI;' '>' 'l'loI; �S'T IoI;'T T' " :J Cl"loI; 1V',1oI; 1i'l" � 'l'loI; 11V>' " 101; �,� '101;" 1" 101; llol;� 'l'loI; 1'" 1101; '101;" IoI;'T llol;� '>' '::1'101; �,� T'1oI; �l'IoI;" 'l '>' T' �'>'''l plol;i1 " 101; �,� '101;" '>' llol;� �IV" '101;" 1"T '101; �lVl'T 'l'loI; 101;' llol;� 101;"::1 1i1>'T '1 IoI;'T �l>" � �'IoI;�IV'l C>" 1'101; �'''IV " 101; 1'� 1'T '>' T' 1V'�1V11 c>" '>" �SloI;l 101;" 'l'loI; ,,� '>" �SloI;l 101;" '::1'101; llol;� 11llol;l P'::1'>,T 1>" " 101; 1'� 1'''1V 1'T '>, T'� 1'T 101;" TIoI; " 101;::1 'TIoI; 1i1>'T '1 �l>" � 1'1V IoI;'T 1>'" 'l'loI; .1'''1V '1 " 101; 1'� �'l 1'T '>' �'IoI;' 1101;l 'T W" 1S"'l IV>" 1" 101; ,,� '>" �SloI;l 101;" " 101; 1'� 11"1V '1 �'l 1'T '>' �'IoI;' 101;' �'l �" 1oI; 1101;l '>" �SloI;l 101;" 1'''1V �'l 1'T '>, �'IoI;' 101;' 1'l lV" 1oI; ,IoI;T llol;� '>" TIoI; 1i1>'T '1 �l>" � 1'1V : P" ::1'l T'1oI; 1'" 'T 1>'" �>'�IV " 101; 1oI;" � IoI;"T IV>' �SloI;l 101;"::1 1i1>,T '1 �l>" � IoI;'T 1>'" 1" 101; 1S"'l lV>,' 'TIoI; i1 � �l>,'� 'T T' '101;" 101;'" �SloI;l 'l'::1'>,T " �'>'''l .1'''1V " 101; 1'� �'l 1'T '>' �'IoI;" ::1 Io1;T 1" 101; .1"T " 101; 101;"::1 ,,� '>" llol;� 11ll 1>" �S'l>," >, llol;� IoI;'T �'l 1"1oI; �SloI;l " TIoI; 1i1>,T '1 1101;l '>" llol;� 11ll 1>" �S'llol;' '>' llol;� 101;' �'l lV" 1oI; �SloI;l " TIoI; 1i1>'T '1 �l>" � 1'1V 'T 1>'" = 1"T " 101; 101;"::1 ':J '1 " 101; 1'� C, 1V1oI;, �l>" � 101;' ��'i" ::1 �"1 " 101; IoI;'T 1>'" T'1oI; " 0 " 101; T' 1oI;" '� 1"101; '1 �'l " 101; 1'� 1101;� " 101; [ �lI y 1:l ] �'IoI;' '101;" 1"'l 1101;l llol;� 101;"" " '101; 101;"" 1 p" '1 '101;� '�IV" 1oI; T' P'i1 1101; �l>" � 'T T' �Sl 'l'::1'>,T " " 101; llol;� P'::1'>,T 1>" �'>'''l 1'''1V C, 1'� 1i1>,T'l �1V'l �1oI;i1 'l'loI; �'l lV" 1oI; �SloI;l 'l'::1'>,T " " 101; llol;� 'l'::1'>,T " 1>'" 'l'loI; 1i1>'T " '101; llol;� P'::1'>,T 1>" T'1oI; 1'''1V 1>" 1'� 'i" >' '>" W" 1'''1V '1 " 101; 1'� '�'l '>' �'IoI;' 101;' �l>" � IoI;'T 1>'" 1" '>" T'1oI; C" , 'l'loI; 1i1>'T '1 C, P';' 1101; �l>" � 'T 1>'" �SloI;l 'l'::1'>,T 101;" �'>" " l 'l'loI; �'l �" 1oI; 1'T " '101; 11V1oI;' '1 C, IV' �" 1oI; 1'T �,� " i'1? " 101; T' 1" � '1 P';' 1101; " ,,� '>" 1'''1V 1'T T'� 'l'loI; 1101;l ::1'i1 1101; 1>" 1� �'l lol;' T'1oI; Pllol;l �" 1oI; 1'T " T'::1 lllol;, 'TIoI; •

•

230

The Order of Women 's Commandments

[in it coming out] . If she is accustomed to see [blood] just as the sun rises, and she cannot know with certainty whether the sun has risen yet, she does not need to separate any longer than that day. woman who does not know when her period should begin (i.e., 8 7 Every she has an irregular cycle), when her period begins [she should note the date and] she must see to it that on the thirtieth day thereafter she separates herself from her husband. Or, if her period usually begins at night, she should separate herself [from her husband] the night of the thirtieth day [thereafter] . And if the thirtieth day comes and she does not see [blood] , she need not separate herself thereafter until she has her period again. Then she must separate herself again on the thirtieth day thereafter. o that wives will know how to reckon a regular menstrual cycle, they 88 Smust mark well on which day their period began. And when she next gets her period, she must reckon how many days there were in between-twenty-one days, or twenty-five, or however many. As long as she knows that she once saw after twenty or twenty-five. And when she sees blood again for the third time thereafter in that [same period of] time, then she has for two consecutive times seen [blood] after twenty days, or however many days it may be. If she sees [blood] again for the fourth time in that period of time, she has now seen similarly for three consecutive times after twenty days or for three consecutive times after twenty-five. And if a woman sees for three consecutive times [at the same intervals] then she has a regular menstrual cycle. And this kind of cycle is called a cycle of intervals (veset haflagah) in the books, that means a period that is equally distanced from the next period. Each time is like the next. And a menstrual cycle can [2 7b] only be established if she has her period three or four times as I have written and as long as she can establish her period three times on the same [number of] days, be they twenty or twenty-four [days] . Similarly, she can also establish a cycle for the same days in the month, that is if she sees [blood] for the first time on the tenth day of Nissan and the next time again on the tenth day of Iyyar and the third time again on the tenth day of Sivan, then she now has her cycle fixed always for the tenth day of the month. And in the books this cycle is called a cycle of days (veset ha-yamim), this means a period that always comes on the same day of the month. And the cycle is established three times only if she had her period three times. who has a set cycle from twenty-five days to twenty-five days 8 9 Aor woman any other day whatever it may be, when the twenty-fifth day comes, he must separate himself from her in every way as is written above. And similarly, if she has established her cycle to see [blood] on the tenth day of the month, then he must also separate himself from her when the tenth day of the month arrives. And [it is] not only if she has established her period three times on the tenth day of the month that he must separate himself from her. If she already had her period once on the tenth of the month, then he must separate himself from her when the

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2i: .... Cl L.! .... alCl N .. 1 1.. l'i 1 O�l. .. c "LOIJ L!�4tL.! I.. N L � .... tCl N .... l 2i: .... Cl I.. .. L .. L �l'il.Cl �L1 1.. l'i 1. Ntl.. l. .. 2i: .... Cl

LLl'i1 N .... 1 �l.L .. N 1.. 1. .... N �N4 tNL Nttl.. l. 'C4.... L ! .. �Cl I.. N L.!NCl ! .. N .... 1 'C .. !l'i2i:Cl .. 2i: .... Cl· 6L NLt, 1.. .. Nttl.. l. 'C4.... L 'C .. Ll'iL.!l 2i:L 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C Cll'i'C Nl.. l. I.. l. .... �4Cl tNL Nttl.. l. 2i:L � .. tl:: NLt, 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C NLt, LL .. N �"4 l'ial LLl'il. L .. �Cl ! .. N 2i:LC � .. l.!..l �N4 LL .. l.. l. 2i:L I.. l. 2i: .... Cl I.. N L.!NCl ! .. tLN 1.. 1. .... N �N4 tNL 2i:L I.. l'i l. 2i: .... Cl ! .. �Cl I.. N L.!l'iCl ! .. N 2i:LL .... N �N4 tNL Nttl.. l. 'C4.... L 'C .. !l'iL.!1 2i:L 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C ClNd NLl.. l. 'C .. Ll'iL.!l 2i:L 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C NLl.. l. 2i:L � .. tl:: NLt, 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C NLt, LLl'i1 L .. N 2i:LC 1.. 1. .. Cl1 �N4 I.. l'i l. tNL LL .. l.. l. ClN'C Nl..l. � .. tl:: NLt, 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C Nl.. l. LL .. N L"4 l'iL N .. ! t .... l'il.Cl I..! L .. N LL .... aI I.. L ! .. N L.!NCl N .... 1 �N4 LL .. l.. l. L.!NCl t: .. aL�l l.. .. 2i: .... Cl I.. N m! h 1.l'i�t1 LL .. N �"4 Cll'i'C I.. l'i l. 2i:LL .. al1sL N .. ! N .... 1 NLt, 2i:LLNt2i: .. 'C

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t: .. L ! .. N N .... 1 �N4 LL .. l.. l. N .. l. 2i: .... Cl L.!NCl I.. N �u ! .. ! .. L LL .. 1.. 1. 1.. l'i 1 1.. 1. .... aI .. 'CCl1 ClN'C I.. l'i l. tNL aI .... !..l : aI .... !.. l NLt, LLl'i1 1.. l'i 1. 1.. 1. .... aI .. 'CCl ClN'C al'ic NLt, L .. !l'iL t.. alCl I.. N I.. N l.l:: L .. ! .. L I.. l. tNL t.. Cl 2i:L aI .... !..l Nl.. l. �4l'i'CCl ! .. t: .... N t�Cl N .. l. 2i: .... Cl 2i:L t: .. aL�l I.. N !N4 ! .. N ! .. L 1.. .. t�Cl �L1 1.. l'i 1 1.. 1. .... aI .. 'CCl1 ClN'C

Ci 1

t: .. aL�Cl I.. N �LL ! .. Ll'iL.!l I.. L L .. L .. L I.. l. tNL 1.. l'i 1 1.. 1. .... aI .. 'C .. aCl1 ClN'C aI .... I.. Cl �L1 N .. l.l �N1 N .... 1 N .. Cl4.. � .. Ll.L .. N 1.. .. a.... 1 2i: .... Cl t.. Cl LL .... aI LLl'i1 ! .. N .. l. 2i: .... Cl LN4 L.!t:l LLl'i1 L .. N .. l. .. 2i: .... Cl

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O l. L.

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L! t lll .. C

232

The Order o f Women 's Commandments

tenth day of the [next] month arrives. And similarly, if she has already gotten her period once after twenty-five days, he must separate himself from her when the twenty-fifth day arrives (i.e., twenty-five days later) . The only difference is whether she has established her cycle three times or one time. If she established her cycle three times on the twenty-fifth day, even if once or twice it happened that she missed it and did not get her period on the twenty-fifth day, nevertheless she must separate herself from her husband the next time on the twenty-fifth day until she misses it three consecutive times and does not see [blood] on the twenty-fifth day. Afterward, she need never separate on the twenty-fifth day. However, if she only saw once or twice on the twenty-fifth, if she missed once and did not see on the [next] twenty-fifth day, then she has now canceled her cycle and need never separate on the twenty-fifth day. And this is also the law if she had set her period [28a] three consecutive times on the tenth of the month, so that she must separate herself on the tenth day even if she had missed it once or twice and had not seen [blood] on the tenth of the month. If she missed it three consecutive times and does not see [blood] on the tenth day of the month, then she now has canceled the cycle of the tenth day of the month and she need never separate herself on the tenth day of the month. But if she had her period only once or twice on the tenth day of the month and afterward missed it and did not see [blood] on time on the tenth day, then she need never separate on the tenth day of the month. There is still another difference if she had established her cycle on a particular day on the basis of three times or once or twice: if she had seen once or twice on a particular day, when that same day comes again she must separate herself and if the day passes and [she] did not feel [blood] , then she may lie with her husband even if she had not examined herself [to see] whether she had seen [blood] or not. But if she had established her cycle three times on a particular day, and when the same day next comes and she does not feel [her period] , she may not lie with her husband until she examines herself and finds herself clean. And so too is the law with respect to a woman who does not know when [her period] should come. She must separate herself from her husband on the thirtieth day after she has had her period. And if the thirtieth day passes and she has not felt [her period] , still she may not lie with her husband again until she has examined herself and has not found any blood. Only then may she lie with her husband. And the twenty-fifth day and also the thirtieth day of which we have written above, these very days are reckoned from the day on which she began to see [blood] and not from the day that she stopped seeing [blood] . woman can only establish a regular menstrual cycle o f twenty-five 90 Adays to twenty-five days or from Rosh I:Iodesh (the new moon) to Rosh I:Iodesh if she had seen [blood] three consecutive times during the day or three consecutive times at night. If, however, she saw two consecutive times during the day and the third time at night, or twice at night and the third time [28b] during the day, this is not called a regular menstrual cycle and she must still continue to

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Q I. L. � 2i: L U' I..! [ � .. c

234

The Order of Women 's Commandments

follow the most recent time. If the last time she had seen by the day, she must separate herself when that same day arrives and the night before and the night thereafter she need not separate herself If she had seen most recently at night, she must separate herself from her husband when that same night comes, but the day before and the day after she need not separate herself. And whether that most recent time that she saw was during the day or at night, she must pay close atten­ tion when the same day or night comes again [to see] whether she sees again or not [at] the expected [time] . If she sees [blood] at three consecutive times, there­ after she has a regular menstrual cycle. And even if she missed [having her period at the set occasion] once, she must still separate herself when that same (i.e., the regular) time comes [again] . However, if she missed three consecutive occasions, then she cancels this cycle and she need never separate herself on that date. And if she had not yet seen on three consecutive occasions at the same time, and then she missed [it] once at this same time, then she cancels the [possibility of estab­ lishing a] cycle with the one occasion that she missed it. And when that same time comes again, she need never separate herself from her husband. A woman who had a regular menstrual cycle three consecutive times, every twenty days, and once her period was delayed to the thirtieth day, she must separate herself the next time on the twentieth day and again on the thirtieth day. However, if the next time she did not see [blood] on the twentieth day and was delayed again until the thirtieth day, then the third time she must still separate herself on the twentieth day and the thirtieth day. However, if on the third time she did not see [blood] on the twentieth day and only saw on the thirtieth day, then the cycle of twenty days is canceled and a cycle of thirty days is established. And thereafter she need never separate herself on the twentieth day and from then on must always sepa­ rate herself on the thirtieth day. However, if after she had twice delayed to the thirtieth day and on the third time again saw on the twentieth day, then her cycle still remains on the twentieth day and she must continue to separate herself on the twentieth day and she need never separate herself on [29a] the thirtieth day. And this is also the law if her period is delayed from Rosh I:Iodesh to the fifth day of the month or any other day of the month. And a woman who has her cycle according to days of the month (i.e., the Hebrew calendar date) must separate herself when the same day of the month comes whether the month is embolismic (i.e., 30 days) or deficient (i.e., 29 days). woman who got her period and thereafter, on the twentieth day or 9 1 Atwenty-fifth, or however many it was, she got her period again, she must separate herself when that same day in the month arrives. This is called a cycle of days (veset ha-yamim). And she must separate herself again on the twentieth day or the twenty-fifth day after her period, this is called is called a cycle of inter­ vals. She must separate herself on the day of the cycle of days and on the day of the cycle of intervals until she establishes one cycle of the two or until she cancels one of the cycles. And what this means will be stated below. If she has no set cycle and she got her period for the first time on Rosh I:Iodesh Nissan, and afterward

235

'T T'� �, "�'O �":J l:137T'" 7�� 1'OTO''Ol':1 c,� 'T 'O�:1 7�� 1'OTO''Ol':1 137' 1�l l'OS" ''0'''' 'T �,�, 1�l " 'OS�l " 1" � ,,§ '37' 'OS�l " 'l'� .'O�'P "�'O "':J737T '37' 137" l'''TO 1'T 137' 1'§ l'''TO 1'T 'T T'� �, 'OSl �":J 7�� 'OTO''Ol':1 T' l:137T'" 137' 'T 'O�:1 .1'''TO ,� 'O'l 1'T �'T �,�, 1�l '37' "�'O 137' T'� ,,§ '37' ,,�'O '37' ,,� 'O�'P 'OS�l '''':J737T �" 137" 1�� �":J ,,� "�'O �":J T037 �"T 'OS'T �'T TO' 7�� 'OTO''Ol':1 ''''T�' TO�' 'l'� l'''TO ,� 'O'l 1'T :J'� 'O�'P " " , 'OS�l " ,� "�'O "':J737T '37' 137" T:J37" �'" , "l''OS� ,,� 7�" �'T T1� 'OS�l '37' �'T '037:1 �, 137T " ll� 1�l 7�� �"', �'T 137" 1'O'�" '37' 'O'l ,,� 'OS'T " " , �'T l'''TO 'O'�§ 1'T 'T 'OT'� �, 'O'737§ 7�� 1"� 1�l '37' l'TO �'T 137" 'l'� 'O"� 'O�37T'" 1"� 1�l ''''T' " 'T 'OTO'" �, " ll� 1�l 7�� �"', 'O737§ �'T 137' �"T 'O�'P 'O"� "':J737T " 137" '037:1 7�� �"', 'O'l 1�l �'T 137" 'l'� 'O"� '37' ,� l'''TO '�'l 1'T 'O§'37' 'l'� TO" � 'O"� �'T 'OTO'" �, 'O"� '''':J737T '37' ,� 'O737§'" 7�� 1"� '037:1 'l'� 'O"� '''':J737T '37' ,� l:137T'" �, 'O�'P " " , "':J737T " 'O"� " 137" 'l'� 'O�:1 'O737§'" 'T T' 7�� 137' 'O'� TO" � 'O"� �" 7�� �"', 'O"� ''O�37T'" 1"� 'O�:1 �, " �" " 1"� .1�� 1" � 1'§ l'''TO ,� '�'l 1'T 'T �,�, T1� �, "�'O 1'OP'TO"', 137' ,� 'O"� �" 7�� 1"� 'Op" 'T 'l'� "�'O "'�l37" � '7� " ll� 1�l 'O�:1 "�'O 1'OP'TO"', 137' ,� " " , 'l'� "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 137' ,� 7�� " l� TO�' l'''TO 1'T �'T 137' 1� T':J 'OP" '" 1'T 'O�:1 'l'� "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 137' 1� l:137T'" 'OTO'l ':J� 7�� " l� TO�' 'T 1� 'l'� "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 137' 1� ':J� 7�� '0'" TO�' l'''TO 1'T 'T T'� �, "�'O 1'OP'TO"', '037:1 'l'� "�'O 'O"'�l37" � l' 1� l:137T'" 'OTO'l ':J� 7�� 1'0'" c,� 'T '0,:1 ."�'O 1'OP'TO"', 1'''�'O "'�l37" � 1'§ 'O"� " 1" " " 1TO" " TO" � l'l T'� �, "�'O 1'OP'TO"', 137' 1� l:137T'" 'OTO'37 ,� '�'l 1�l '37' 1'T �,�, 'l'� "�'O 1'OP'TO"', 137' c,� 'O"� �" 1'�" '" 'O�37T'" T'� 'l'� '037:1 ."�'O 1'OP'TO"', 137' 1� l'''TO 1'�' ,�,� T T TO'� 'l'� "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 137' 1� l'''TO 1'0'" c,� �'T '037:1 �, "�'O 1'OP'TO"', c,� 'OP" '" 7�� �"',� 'O�:1 �'T T� 1�l '37' ':J� �'T 1'OP'�l37" � 137' �',� 'O'�§ 'O"� ,,� 'O:J"7:J �, "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 137' 1� l:137T'" " " , 7�� 137' 1� l'''TO ,� '�'l 1'T �,�, 'l'� "�'O 1TO'OP'�l37" � 137' ,� " " , l'''TO 1'T T1� 'l'� "�'O TO" " TO�' 1'§ 'O"� ,,� 'Op" �'T 137" 1" '37' 1" � T'� 'T� 'l'� ."�'O 1'OP'TO"', [ 1(11)7 tl:J] " " �" " 1� 'l'� : TO" " 1'� "�'O l" ll� �',� 'OTOl'T ,,� TO" " 1'� "�'O 1'O§l'§ 137' �',� TO" " 1'� "�'O "':J737T '37' 137" l'''TO 1'T �'T T" � �, TO" " 1'� 1"37'0 137' 1�l 'O"� ,,� 'O�:1 : �7� ,,� '0" T'� TO" " '37' �"T 'O�'P �l'§ ,,� "�'O 1'OP'�l37" � 1� 1�l '37' 'l'� l�'P':J 'O"� ,,� 'O�:1 �' " �" ,§ 1"� �� �'T T1� �, .1�'P':J 'O"� ,,� " " , �'T '037:1 .'37" T037 7'§ �" , ,,� p�l37" � 'l'� " " , 1'T T1� 'l'� .c' �;1J tiQ, 'OTO":1 TO�' 'O�'P TO" " 1'� "�'O "':J737T '37' 137" l'''TO 1'T 'OTO":1 "':J737T TO�' 'O"� " ,� 1�l 1'''�'O P'�l37" � 'l'� �l'§ '� ,,� 1'''�'O "'�l37" � '� l'''TO tio, 1'§ "�'O 137' 1� 'l'� C'�':1 tio, 1'§ "�'O 137' 1� l'''TO 1'T �'T TO'� "l�7 'T� ·:1�7�1J tiQl .'OTO'" TO" � ''Ol'" 'O"� 1"� �'T T':J ,,� 'O�37T 1" ":J 137' ''Ol'� 'O"� 1"� �'T T':J :1"7:):1 C37P':J 'l'� '037:1 'O"� ''O�37T'" l"P �'T 137" .1''OTO ''0'''' 'O'37" �' �" , 'T� 'Ol"� TO�' 'l'� ,,� �'T C37P':J 7�� " l� TO�' 1�l '37' 'l'� .10'l TO,m TO�' 1� 7�� 'OTO'37 TO�' 'O"� ,,�

2 36

The Order of Women 's Commandments

she got her period the next time on the twentieth day of Nissan, then she must separate herself from her husband on Rosh J:Iodesh Iyyar because she had pre­ viously seen on Rosh J:Iodesh Nissan. Therefore she should be concerned that perhaps she will set her cycle for every Rosh J:Iodesh-and this is called a cycle of days. And she must separate again on the ninth day of Iyyar because the ninth day of Iyyar is the twentieth day after the period that she had seen before on the twentieth day of Nissan. And she must be concerned that perhaps she will get her period every twenty days after her �ast] period since the first time she got her period on Rosh J:Iodesh Nissan and again twenty days later. Therefore she must take care again every twenty days-and this is a cycle of intervals. And thereafter she must separate herself again on the twentieth of Iyyar because she had seen [blood] before on the twentieth day of Nissan. Therefore she must be concerned that perhaps she will establish her cycle on the twentieth day of the month and that is also called a cycle of days. And thus she must separate herself again each Rosh J:Iodesh and again each twentieth day of the month and again every twenty days after her period until she misses her period once among these times whether she misses it on Rosh J:Iodesh and does not see [blood] [2gb] or she misses it on the twentieth day of the month or she misses it twenty days after her �ast] period, whatever day that she misses among these, she need never separate herself on that day. But if she establishes her cycle three times on a particular day among these days, whether on Rosh J:Iodesh, or on the twentieth day of the month, or on the twentieth day after her [previous] period, whatever day among the days that she establishes first, on this same day she has her set cycle. And she must separate herself on that same day the next time (i.e . , the next month) and she has canceled her cycle from the other days and she need not separate herself any more on those same days. And even if she had not yet missed seeing [blood] on those same days, nevertheless, she need not separate herself immediately on those same days. woman who has had her regular cycle every twenty days three con9 2 Asecutive times and missed it once and did not see [blood] on the twen­ tieth day and thereafter [saw blood] on the thirtieth day-she must separate her­ self on the twentieth day after this �ast] period since her regular cycle is to see on the twentieth day after her period. Therefore she herself must be concerned that perhaps she will now also see on the twentieth day after her [most recent] period. And if the twentieth day arrives and she does not see [blood] then she must sep­ arate herself again on the thirtieth day since she had previously once seen [blood] on the thirtieth day. Therefore she must be concerned that perhaps she will now see [blood] again on the thirtieth day. If the thirtieth day arrives and she sees [blood] again this next time on the thirtieth day, then she must separate herself again on the twentieth day after this period. And if the twentieth day arrives but she does not see [blood] , then she must separate herself again on the thirtieth day. If the thirtieth day arrives and she gets her period again, then now with three consecutive times she has canceled her regular cycle that she had established on the twentieth day, and for three consecutive times she has established [it] on the

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238

The Order of Women 's Commandments

thirtieth day. And therefore she need now never separate herself on the twentieth day after her period, rather she must separate herself on the thirtieth day after her period. And even if it occurs that after she has now established her period on the thirtieth day, [30a] and she again sees [blood] on the twentieth day after her pe­ riod, nevertheless, her regular cycle remains on the thirtieth day after her period and not on the twentieth day unless she may [after] three consecutive times cancel her cycle of the thirtieth day and may [after] three consecutive times again estab­ lish it on the twentieth day and not on the thirtieth day. And now, that is the established law of a woman who had a regular cycle and she missed it (i.e., the regular time for her period) three consecutive times and she has established three consecutive times on another day. But a woman who had her regular cycle every twenty days and she missed it three consecutive times and has not established any other cycle, then the law is that she never need separate herself on the twentieth day. Just the same, she has not canceled her cycle of the twentieth day as long as she has not established any other cycle. And if later it happens that she gets her period even once on the twentieth day after her [last] period, then she once again has her regular cycle on the twentieth day as before. And a women who misses her regular period three consecutive times and does not establish any other cycle-this occurs if she has a set cycle every twentieth day and once it happens that she misses it and she does not see [blood] on the twentieth day and she sees on the twenty-third day. And the next time she misses it on the twentieth day and she misses it also on the twenty-third day and sees on the twenty-fifth day. And the third time she misses it on the twentieth day and she misses it on the twen­ ty-fifth day and she sees it on the thirtieth day. So now she has missed it three consecutive times on the twentieth day and in addition she has also not established any other cycle. Therefore the law is that she need never separate herself on the twentieth day since she has missed it three consecutive times on the twentieth day. However, ifit happens again that she sees [blood] even once on the twentieth day then she has reestablished her regular cycle on the twentieth day after that one time. But in this fashion one can also find that she misses her period three con­ secutive times and in addition does not establish any other [30b] cycle. [For exam­ pIe] , if a woman who has a regular cycle every twenty days and does not see [blood] until sixty days afterwards, then she has now missed [her period] at twenty days three consecutive times and furthermore has not established any other cycle. Therefore she need never separate herself thereafter on the twentieth day. How­ ever, if thereafter she saw again, even once on the twentieth day, then she has re-established her cycle on the twentieth day as before, and she must again sepa­ rate herself every twenty days. And a woman who has now displaced her cycle three consecutive times and has not established another cycle must behave just like another woman who does not have a regular cycle who must separate herself every thirty days after her period. And as the law is stated here with respect to a

239 137' TN T'''IZ.' '� '�'J 1'T N'J N'T �'N' C"

N' 'J'N "N� T�"'IZ.''''' TY' TN ��YT'" " JJN 1NJ " N 1NJ "N� T�IZ.' j:" IZ.''''' TY' TN T'''IZ.' 1'T n� N'T �'Y"J .�,,� " N 1NJ "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� T�"'IZ.''''' TY' TN �,,� " N ��YT'" �Ni1 N'J N'T TN 1NJ 'Y' CYj:' T'IZ.' IZ.'Y TY" 'J'N .�,,� " N �:l"':l '�5uy, 1NJ �,,� " N 1NJ "N� T�j:" �JY" � TY' TN " " , 1YT 'T 'J'N [ �" V ?] "N� TY' N"T "N� T�"'�JY" � TY' TN �'J 'J'N �,,� " N 1NJ "N� T�"'IZ.''''' T' TN �,,� '��YT'" N'T �5y� 'J'N "N� T�"'IZ.''''' 137' T'� �,,� " N 7'0'" T" N " JJN 1NJ 'N� "" �5y� N'T �,,� '��YT'" " N N'T �Yi1 N' "N� T�"'�JY" � TY' �" N T�YT " " , " JJN 1NJ 'N� N"" T'J�IZ." " TU T'N " 'J'N "N� T�"'IZ.''''' TY' TN �'J 'J'N 'N� N'" "N� T�j:" �JY" � TY' TN " " , " JJN 1NJ 'N� "" �,y�,,, 'T �Ni1 'J'N �i1'" �'i1 �,,� '��YT'" T"N " N" " T"N T'� T" " �Ni1 N' " N" " T"N ':IN ."N� 7" 'JN T"N �" N " JJN 1NJ 'N� "" ��YT'" 'T �Ni1 'J'N �Yi1 'J'N " JJN 1NJ 'N� N"" �,y�,,, N'T �Yi1 'J'N "N� "'�JY" � " N �,,� ��YT'" " N TY' TN P"IZ.' ,� �'N" :l '�'J 1'T N'T T' T" 'Y' T'N N' ��YT'" �'J �,,� '''IN T"j:' T�IZ.''''�JY''� TY' T'� TIZ." '" IZ." 'N �'J �,,� " N N'T �Ni1 " N" 1"'" ':IN ."N� T�j:'�JY" � " N 'T T' cYj:' 1NJ 'Y' IZ.'Y TY" 'J'N ��YT'" �Ni1 �,,� '''IN T"j:' N'T IZ." ,,,,, 'Y' 'N "N� " " , N'T �Yi1 N' �,,� " N 1NJ "Y� "'�JY" � ,� T�' j:" :l pNi1 'N� T"N �'Y"J �'NT �,,� �,,� '��YT'" " N N" N" '� T"N 'J'N .'N� N'" "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� TY' TN �,,� '��YT'" " N N'T TY" �'N�IZ." " 'Y' T'N ��'j:' IZ.'N' �,,� '''IN T"j:' ��YT 'J'N " JJN 1NJ 'N� "" �'Y� �IZ." J 1YT N'T 'J'N �'Y� N'T T' 'N� T"N cYj:' 'J'N ."N� "'�JY" � " N �Ni1 �,,� '��YT'" T"N 'N� ''IN IZ.'N' 'J'N ."N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� 'J'N N"" TY' TN 1YT N'T 'J'N "N� T�"'�JY" � ,� TN 1YT 'J'N "N� p'�JY" � 'J'N "" TY' TN 1" N �'Y� 'J'N "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� TN 'T �'Y� 'J'N "N� T�"'�JY" � TN N'T �'Y� 'N� �" , IZ.'N' 'J'N : "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� 'J'N �J'� TY' �,y�,,, N'J 'T �Ni1 N' "N� T� j:" IZ.''''' TY' TN 1YT 'J'N T�"'�JY" � 'J'N �J" TY' TN 1" N �'Y� �'J 1" N �,,� '''IN T"j:' ,� 'Y' �Ni1 'J'N "N� T�"'�JY" � TY' TN " JJN 1NJ 'N� N"" ,,,,, 'Y' "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� TY' TN T'''IZ.' '� �'N' '�'J 1'T N'T T' T" 'Y' T'N C" , ��YT'" �'Y"J N'T T' " " , IZ.'Y cYj:' 1N' ."N� T�"'�JY" � TY' " JJN 1NJ 'N� N"" �,y�,,, �Ni1 'T TY' TN ��YT'" �,,� " N " " , N'T �Yi1 N' "N� T�IZ.''''�JY''� TY' TN 1YT " " , 'N� T"N " N N'T T' T'J�'" 1" N TN� TNj:' �'N�IZ." " TY' 7'N " N .'N� T"N TY' �,� "N� T�"'�JY" � N" '� T"N TN .�,,� [ J " V ?] '''IN T"j:' ,� 'Y' ��YT 'J'N " JJN 1NJ 'N� N"" �'Y� �,,� "Y� "'�5YT 1NJ T':l �IZ." J 1NJ 'Y' 1YT 'J'N "Y� "'�JY" � " N �Yi1 �,,� '��YT'" " N N" '''IN T"j:' ,� 'Y' �Ni1 'J'N "Y� "'�JY" � ,� 'N� N"" " JJN 1NJ �,y�,,, NU N'T �Ni1 N' TY" ':IN ."N� T�j:" �JY" � TY' TN T'''IZ.' ,� 1u " '�'J 1'T 'T �'N' C" , ��YT'" �'J �,,� " " , �,,� " N 'T �Ni1 N' ,,� T�"'�JY" � TY' ,� 1YT " " , 'N� T"N �'Y"J 1NJ 'Y' 'T 'J'N ."N� "'�JY" � " N T'''IZ.' " " , 1'T n� 'T 'J'N 'N' N'" "N� T�"'�JN" � TY' �" N ��YT'" �,,� '''IN T"j:' �'i1 'J'N " JJN 1NJ 'N� "" TIZ." '" T" N �,,� " N �Ni1 N'J " N" " T"N n� 1'T 'T T' �Ni1 �,,� '��YT'" T"j:' " N" '� '''IN T"N TN 1"'" T�'i1 1'T 'T T'� N' ��YT'" N" '� T"N N":l T'JN�IZ." " N' T'N T" 'Y' T' N'" 'J'N .�,,� " N 1NJ "N� "'IZ.''''' " N T'''IZ.'

240

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woman who had a regular cycle every twenty days, which is called a cycle of intervals, and then she displaced it, such is also the law with respect to a woman who has a regular cycle every Rosh I:Iodesh or every fifth day of the month or whichever day of the month it was, and that is called a cycle of days. And if she should later displace the cycle from this day three consecutive times, she might later establish [her cycle] on another day of the month, or she may displace the cycle three consecutive times from this day of the month. And she might also not establish any other day. She should act just as is stated with respect to a cycle of intervals, so should she also act with a cycle of days in all matters. young woman who i s not yet twelve years and one day old, if she 93 A already has two [pubic] hairs, or she was already twelve years and one day old and does not yet have two [pubic] hairs-such a young woman, if she has already gotten her period, after, when her period is to come again, she does not need to separate herself from her husband beforehand as long as she has not yet established a cycle. However, if she has established her cycle three consecutive times, then she must now separate herself from her husband beforehand when the same time comes [again] just as any other woman. However, there is one difference between another woman who has a regular cycle and a young [3 1 a] woman who has a regular cycle. Another woman who has established her cycle every twenty days or every Rosh I:Iodesh, if once she does not see [blood] until after ninety days and thereafter she starts to see again on Rosh I:Iodesh or on the twentieth day as was her previous custom-even if she saw only once on Rosh I:Iodesh, or on the twentieth day after her [most recent] period, then she has re-established her cycle as before with this one time. However, a young woman who has a set cycle every Rosh I:Iodesh or twenty days after her [previous] period and does not see until after ninety days,- even if she should see again thereafter once on Rosh I:Iodesh or twenty days later, still she need not separate herself from her husband until she again establishes her cycle three consecutive times. How­ ever, if the young woman stops seeing according to her regular cycle until the ninetieth day and thereafter she might again stop seeing until the ninetieth day again, and thereafter, for the third time, she might again stop seeing until the ninetieth day again-then she has now established her cycle three consecutive times for ninety days and must separate herself every ninety days. Yet she cannot establish a cycle of ninety days other than if she sees three consecutive times exacdy the same, either at ninety days or all three times at ninety-one days, or all three times at ninety-two days, or however it comes about. However, if she should see once at ninety-one days and once at ninety-two days, or however inconsistent it be, it is as if she had never established [a regular period] and she need not separate herself from her husband. A woman who already has two [pubic] hairs and is also twelve years and one day old, she is now the same as another woman in all matters, be it with respect to establishing and displacing her cycle or with separating [from her husband] before her period.

241

tllC��i 'J'� il:l,flil tio, tllC��il lC�' :I�tl :I�lJ�" l �,� tl�il�:I tl�il tl��l �tll�P:l l"� �, ��, �,� tl��l �tll�T�:l I'�� tl�il �' ��, ��'ifl iJ"� �"J 1" i�' 1" � T�� 'T� .P'� l�J i�' ��T I J'� i�" IC� T' 1C" n 1'� :I�tl 1'�� ifl lC�" i'� 1C" n 1'� :I�tl �J�fl �,� i'� 1C" n lC�i ��, i'JJ� l�J '�/'j �"i' 1'0��i T�'� tl'�T l�J i�' ��T 1�" 'J'� .tJ�/'j�il tio, tllC��il lC�' 1C" n 1'� :I�tl li'J� 1'�� ��,� Il�T l�J i�' ��T tl5�/'j 'J'� .:I�tl p�T�' 1�' l,fl tl��l :I�T�' .1C" n 1'� :I�tl P �T�' 1�' l,fl i' JJ� l�J '�/'j �"i' tl��l ��, llC��i IC�'� tl5�/'j ��T T' i'� 1�'J�tllC�:I T� ��" 1'�':l l'tl'�il l�T �T " T " I'l�T tl�J l� :I�tl li'J� l"i' ��,� ��T tl5�/'j 'J'� : 1'5�T 1" � tl�/'j tJ�/'j�il tio, 1�' ���J ltl'�il 1" � 1'T ��T '�T 'T� il:l,flil tio, i' �"J T�� �T11C l'lC ��T 1�" P� tl'� :I�tl l"� 'J'� i�� �'�" l tl�J l�J ��, ��'ifl �:lJ'� 1"� l� tl�il I J'� tl'� :I�tl 1'�� I J'� i�� �'�" l l'lC i�" �T i'� tl5�iJ �:I tl�il ti'i�1C l�J i�' tlmi'�J tl"l i�� l'lC ��T 1�" ��'ifl �:lJ'� �:I�T�' �' .tl5�iJ�:I ti'i�1C �T11C tl�J l�J .1�/'j li�� l,fl P"IC 'l i�fl i�' tl�J l�T ��T �i�' �, 1/'j'i' i'�" '�T tl��l �:I�J'�T �, 1�" ���i' tll�T�:I tl��l i�� tl�il iJ� �T 1�" .tl�il tl"l �tll�T�:l l"i' l�J ��T T' ,,,,, i�' ,� tl/'j'i' tl"l �:I�J'�T �, 1�" i�fl i�' 1�/'j li�� l,fl p��1C �1J 1'T ��T Tm �, i'JJ 1"� l�J '�/'j 1'�� �, �, ��'ifl �i'J� 1'�� llC�" l '��IC itlJ'� 1'�� P� l�' .��'ifl �i'J� 1'�� T� ,�" 'T� 1'�� 1�' .tl'il tl��l �tll�P:I i�� �, ��'i' [ t-(II)I t-(7l �:lJ'� i�' llC�" l 'J'� .tl�il tl"l �tll�T�:I 1"� ��T 1�" 1C" n lC�i �,� i'� :I�tl :I�lJ�" l �,� tll�T�:I tl"l i�� tl'il " �, �'i' �i'J� lC�i 1� lil�T 'l i'�" 1� ��T tlJ�il l�J i�' 'J'� :I�tl :l'l"J l�J PJ lil�T tllC�J tl'�T '�/'j tl�il '�/'j 1'�� tli�"J ��T 1�" .tlT�" �:I i�fl P� i'O i�� ��" :I�tl :I�lJ�" l 'l i'� lC,m tl�/'j tll�T�:I tl"l i�� i'�" �T tl�il �, tl��l i�� l�J :I�tl :I�lJ�" l i'� 1C" n lC�i 1� lil�T�:I 1C" n lC�i �,� tl�il tl��l �tll�T�:l I'�� ��, ��'ifl :lJ'� ��, iJ� . i�fl ��" T� '�/'j 1'�� tJ�, l'lC ��T 1�" .:I�tl :I�lJ��J l�J T�J lil�T tllC�J tl'�T 'J'� tl��l i�� l�J :I�tl :I�lJ�" l 'l i'� �i�' tl5'J�' l�J :I�tl :I�lJ�" l 'l i'� 1C" n lC�i 1� '�/'j 1"� lil�T i'�" tl'�T l�J i�' 1�" . tll�T tl"l ��, i' JJ� l�J '�/'j �"i' i'�" ��T T�J 1�/'j li�� l,fl P"IC 'l tl�J 1'T ��T .:I�tl ltl:l�l"J 1�' 1� T�J tl��l �tll�T�:I i�' l�J lil�T 'l tli�il ��,� ��'ifl �:lJ'� �, iJ� ��T i)7, 'J'� .:I�tl ltl:l�lJ��J 1�' 1� i'�" T�J lil)7T 'l li�il ��,� i'�" ��T tl5�/'j l�J i)7, 'J'� �, :I�tl ltl:l�lJ"J 1)7' 1� i'�" T�J lil)7T 'l li�il ��,� i'�" ��T tl5�/'j '�/'j ltl�i' tJ'l l�J �,� p��1C 1'T n/'j 'J'� :I)7tl :I�lJ"J 'l i'JJ� l�J '�/'j ���i' tll�T�:I tl��l i�� �1J �T tl�il ��T 1)7' ���T tl"l �tll)7P:l I'�� :I)7tl :I�lJ��J 'l P)7T lCi'J� tl�J ��T 1�i' l�' .:I)7tl :I�lJ��J 1"� 'l '�/'j ��i' �,� i'� .:I�tl :I�lJ"J 'l i)7'1tlJ� i'JJ� l�J '�/'j ���i' �,� l"':1 l�T 1�" .tJ)7i' IC� ��" i'� .:I�tl :I�lJ��J 'J'� ���" l 'l '�/'j �"i' �,� i'� .:I)7tl :I�lJ��J 'J'� i'� :I�tl :I�lJ��J 'J'� "" l 'l '�/'j 1'�� 'J'� :I)7tl :I�l"J 1'�� 'l lil)7T '�/'j 1"� tl'�T iJ� ��T 1'T �i' 'J'� tl�il tll)7T�:I tllC�J ��J �T 1)7" T� 1'�':I �T T�� " tll�T l"':1 tl�J �T T' i)7" T� �" �'�" l 1" � i�" 'J'� tl5�iJ�:I ti'i)71C �T11C tl)7il l'J �, ��'ifl l'�� .1�/'j li�� l'fl l'��1C tl�J tl"l i' tl�/'j ���T 15�T 1'� tl�/'j �'i' �i'J� 1'�� T� 1'�':I I'J �T T�� �, tl'� :I�tl l"� I J'� i�� : tl"l i' i' P"IC 1�' tl�/'j i'� 10"i T�'� i'� Il�T •

242

94

The Order of Women 's Commandments

An elderly woman who is already so old that it is now appropriate that unfamiliar young people call her "mother" -this is the meaning of an elderly woman. And if such an elderly woman does not see [blood] for ninety days, then there is an assumption that she will not see [blood] now all her living days. And she need never separate herself when her period is to arrive. And even if she should see [blood] thereafter [3 1 b] , then she has the same legal status as a young woman who had her regular period and then stopped seeing again for ninety days and then afterwards starts to see again. However, if it happens that after ninety days she once sees [blood] at the time that she was previously accus­ tomed to see, before she had ceased seeing, then she has re-established her cycle again with that one time for the time that she had had beforehand. And she again has the same status as another woman in all matters. And this is not so with respect to a young woman. For a young woman, if she had once stopped seeing for ninety days, even if afterwards she starts to see at the time as she had seen before, nev­ ertheless she need not separate herself before this time until she has again seen three consecutive times. Pregnant women, three months after they have become pregnant, as 95 well as nursing women for twenty-four months after they have given birth, are assumed not to see any blood (i.e . , there is a legal assumption that any discharge is not menstrual blood). Therefore, even if she had a regular cycle be­ fore she began her pregnancy, she need not separate herself when the same time arrives from the point that she is three months pregnant until twenty-four months after she has given birth. And even if she did not nurse her child [since] she gave it to another woman to suckle or because the child died at birth, nevertheless, she need not separate herself until after twenty-four months and she may come to her husband even if she has not examined herself [to see] if she is ritually clean or not. However, if she does see [blood] once while she is pregnant or nursing, there is no difference whether she sees at the time that she is accustomed to see or not at that time, still it is the same as a woman who sees [blood] and does not have a regular cycle. So she need not separate herself any more at the time that she had seen but once. And if she had separated herself and afterwards had not found [any blood] , then she need never separate until after the twenty-four months from the time that she had her child. And similarly, she cannot establish any regular cycle as long as she is pregnant until after the twenty-four [32a] months. And even if she sees many times consecutively this is all called irregular and it is just as if she had not established any cycle. And now when the twenty-four months are passed, she must again separate herself at the time that she had established before she became pregnant. If she previously had a regular cycle every Rosh I:£odesh or every fifth day of the month, then she must separate herself on the first Rosh I:£odesh or the fifth day of the month that follows the twenty-four months. If she had her regular cycle not according to days of the month but according to a cycle of intervals , this

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The Order of lVomen 's Commandments

means every twenty days or every thirty days, or however many days it was, then she need not separate herself until after she has seen [bloodJ once after the twenty­ four months. And thereafter she counts from that first period as many days as [the timeJ until her period was accustomed to arrive, then she must separate herself from her husband. As long as a woman can establish a cycle according to an equal [number of] days, every twenty days, or every thirty days, or how ever many it is, this is called a cycle of intervals. And she can just as well also establish [a regular cycleJ according to the same days of the month, that means every Rosh J:Iodesh, or every fifth day of the month, or how every many it is, and this is called a cycle of days. She can just as well also establish a regular cycle according to unequal days, either in the form of a cycle of intervals or a cycle of days. [For example,J if she saw [bloodJ for the first time thirty days after her [previousJ period and the next time thirty-one days and the third time thirty-two days [after her last periodJ , then she has established her cycle as increasing by one day [per cycleJ . And sim­ ilarly too, regarding the day of the month. If she sees for the first time on the fifteenth day of the month and the next time [onJ the sixteenth day of the month and the third time the seventeenth day of the month, then she has established her cycle always for one day later in the month and this is called a skipping cycle (veset ha-dilug) . In addition, the way that some women establish their cycle is according to their bodily signs. This means the following: some women are accustomed to [undergo bodilyJ change before their period arrives. Either they are accustomed to yawn, or to belch, or to pass air, or their heads pain them, or their belly pains them around the navel or opposite the womb, or their limbs [32bJ ache, or any other pains, whatever aches they be. If they came to her three consecutive times before her period, then she has established her cycle [andJ as soon as these same aches arrive she must separate herself and this cycle is called a cycle that depends on an event (veset ha-taluyi be-ma 'aseh). Some women have a physical symptom that when they jump they get their period. One can only establish such a cycle if she is accustomed to jump and to see [bloodJ on the same day of the month or of the week. This means that if she had jumped three consecutive times on the fifth day of the month, or on any other day of the month, and had seen [bloodJ , or she had jumped three consecutive times on Sunday, or on any other day of the week, and had seen [bloodJ , then she has established her cycle. If she jumps on that same day, she must separate herself. And this cycle is called a hybrid cycle (veset m urkab). And these cycles, a skipping cycle and also a cycle that depends on an event, and also a hybrid cycle, their laws are different in many respects from the laws of a cycle of intervals and a cycle of days, and one cannot truly describe it all for women for there is too much to write about it. And if one really were not to spare any effort and were to write everything, still the matter would be much too difficult for women; they cannot half understand the matter. Therefore, all wives, I am giving you advice, that they learn properly from the mouths of rabbis and that each woman ask how she should behave regarding her cycle. However, if she is ashamed, then her husband should do it or she should ask through another

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246

The Order of T1fomen 's Commandments

woman. And do not think that this is a small matter-it is a great, mighty sin if she lie with her husband during the time that she is obligated to separate herself [from him] , it is almost as great as if she lay with her husband as a niddah . Take an example. If a woman should find a bloodstain in such a fashion that she must declare herself unclean, she certainly would not take all the money in the world to come unto her husband; not only not to come [unto her husband] , but not even to touch him. And truly it would be a serious and mighty sin. So you may believe that it is a much greater sin if she should lie with her husband during the time that she is required to separate [from him] . In addition, if she should [33a] become pregnant from this intercourse then the child must die, as the Talmud says in tractate Niddah :58 "Rabbi YoJ:tanan said in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Yol).ai: any man who does not separate himself from his wife the day that she is supposed to have her period, even if he should have children as precious as the children of Aaron the Priest, they must die. " Therefore, every woman should be careful about this and should not take the matter lightly and thus she will be guarded from sinning. who wants to travel, whether in the Italian lands or in Flanders, 9 6 Someone and her (i.e., his wife's) period is approaching so that she must [separate] herself from lying with him that day as written above; then (i.e., under such cir­ cumstances) he should shower his wife with good words or give her some gift. He must, however, not lie with her. Otherwise, when she does not have her period, it is [his] duty to lie with her before he travels. Also, it is not proper that he depart from her the day that she is to immerse. He should wait until she has immersed and thereafter travel to where he wishes. who establishes her cycle according to the day of the month, 9 7 Aor woman she had established it every twenty days, or she has established it on whichever day that it was, when that same day comes, he must separate himself and when the day passes he may not lie with her until he first asks her whether she is [ritually] clean. And this is also the law if she has no set cycle. He must separate himself when the thirtieth day after [her previous] period arrives and when the thirtieth day passes he may not lie with her until he first asks her whether she is [ritually] clean. And the law is not different [in these two cases] , he must ask her after the day that her period was to have begun. However, if she has no regular cycle, after the thirtieth day, if he wishes to lie with her one day after he has separated himself from her, or three days thereafter, or eight days thereafter, he must first ask her whether she has not had her period. However, if he has waited so long from the time that she was to have had her period that she could have immersed again if she had already had her period-this means so long that she could have waited the five days and then the seven [33b] clean days and the immersion, then he need not ask her and may certainly lie with her for we assume that if she had her period then certainly she has immersed. And even if he was not at home and has just come from his journey, nevertheless, he need not ask 58. The passage does not appear in B.T., Niddah but rather in B.T., Sham 'ot l 8b.

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248

The Order of Women 's Commandments

her for wives do not forego any immersion even if the husband is not home. Therefore every woman is obligated not to let her period pass [without having properly immersed] whether her husband is in town or away. Perhaps he may arrive suddenly and may lie with her. Then the great sin would be hers. Therefore she should never ever let her immersion go by, even for one day. whose husband well knows that she has had her period and 98 Athatwoman she was unclean, he may not lie with her, even if he had already waited so long so that she could have had the five days and the seven days and the immersion, until he has first asked her and she told him that she has immersed. And if she said to him that she has immersed, he may definitely believe her. And even if he should plainly see that her clothes are soiled with blood, still, she is believed since she may say that she had soiled herself with whatever it was (i.e . , she could give a reasonable cause a s t o why her clothes were dirty with blood) . who has given birth, there is n o difference whether blood goes 99 Aoutwoman from her or whether she has not seen any blood, she must be unclean just like another menstruant who sees blood and she must have seven clean days and immersion. And the time that she should go to immerse depends on the custom. Where the custom is that one waits forty days after a son and eighty days after a daughter, they should do according to their custom. However, where the custom is that one not wait so long, they should not wait so long, for the religious books write that whoever considers it a prohibition to immerse earlier than forty days after [the birth of] a son and earlier than eighty days after a daughter is a sectarian for the Karaites would have it that one should wait so long. Therefore it is a mitzvah to break from the custom of the Karaites. A woman who miscarries the child, God forbid, in the second or third month, one cannot see whether it is a boy or [34a] a girl so she must wait as long as [she would] for a daughter. Similarly, if she miscarried something that had the form of an animal or a beast, or another creature, she must act just as if she had had a daughter. A woman that miscarried something before she had been pregnant for forty days, it is definitely not a child for a child is not properly formed until forty days after she has con­ ceived. Still, she must be unclean like a niddah even if she did not see any blood and must count five days and seven clean days and immerse thereafter. Every woman whose time for immersion occurs on a Friday night is 1 00 free to immerse herself if her husband is with her in town. However, if her husband is not in town, she may not immerse herself on a Friday night. Nevertheless, a woman who never postpones any immersion should do what her custom is. A woman who has postponed her immersion for a few days because her husband is not in town with her and her husband returned home on a Friday, and similarly too, those who want to immerse themselves after childbirth, some sages say that they should not immerse on Friday night. However, the matter depends on the custom. As the custom is in that very town, that is how they should behave.

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Q U . C4 li: L l! 1..! t IlI . C

250

The Order of Women 's Commandments

Any woman who may not immerse on a Friday night because she has postponed her immersion, should also not immerse on Saturday night following the Sabbath. It should be known that after her immersion, every woman should 1 0 1 persuade her husband and see to it that he study before he lies with her. And so we find it written regarding Boaz, "And Boaz ate and drank and satisfied his heart."59 This means that he ate and drank and then studied the holy Torah that gladdened his heart-therefore he was satisfied. Therefore, ask your husband with loving words to study for at least half an hour on the night of your immersion, even if he is not accustomed to study on other nights, or, if he studies every night, that is even better. And, if he is no rabbi for he is a layman, a busi­ nessman whose business awaits him, then at least make him read from [34bJ the Five Books of Moses, or whatever he can read, in the hope that he will gain a good thought, even though he is a simple layman. If he studies a little, a good thought will come to him for one mitzvah begets another mitzvah. So we also find written, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. "60 This means that the Torah that God, blessed be His name, gave on Mount Sinai is complete and it revives the body and the soul and causes the soul to turn back to its place from which it was taken. This means that one who studies awakens the soul so that it wants to return to its Father's house and it remembers that it wants to be pious. Therefore take care that you make your husband study for a while before he lies down. now when you lie [with him] , see if you can convince him to 1 0 2 And restrain himself until he has slept a while since the children that you will conceive at midnight turn out very well. For whoever prays to God, blessed be He, at that very time regarding [his] desires, that same prayer will be readily heard, for God, blessed be He, sits at that time on the throne of mercy and desires to be compassionate and to accept the prayers that come at that time, as you well know. As King David, peace be upon him, was always diligent to pray at this very time, as the verse says [in Hebrew] , "At midnight I will arise to give thanks to You. "6 1 This means, in the middle of the night I will get up to praise You God. For this specific time is a time of good will. I do not want to write the entire Book of the Zohar for you. Study it and then you will know why this very time is a time of good will. And also, sexual intercourse after eating is very unhealthy and the very seed [that issues forth then] comes from the evil inclination. And in addition, there are also other reasons for it, all of which I do not need to write. Therefore, dear daughter, know that all these matters depend on the woman, as the verse says [in Hebrew] , "See life with a woman. "62 This translates as, "See life with a woman." The simple meaning is that a pious wife makes a pious husband since the woman can accustom her husband to Torah and mitzvot and good deeds and 59. Ruth 3 . 7 . 6 0 . Ps. 1 9.8. 6 1 . Ps. 1 1 9. 62. 62. Eccl. 9.9.

25 1

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252

The Order of Women 's Commandments

a woman may raise her husband to be worthy of the world to come . And therefore the Torah says, "see life with the woman. " And therefore our [35aJ holy Torah is likened to a precious woman who is God fearing. What is the Torah? It enables one to merit the world to come. And so too does a pious wife. And so too the reverse if she does not do so. A bad wife makes a man bad too and causes his soul to come to the abyss of Hell. And the pious woman is also she who can produce children who will be pious and God fearing. If you wish to see that it is true, that everything depends on the woman, look at the tale of Tamar, which was so very wonderous.63 Her intention was so good, for she intended to have children from a pure and holy seed who would be pious and God fearing. And because of her good intention, she merited that the monarchy of the House of David came from her. From this one certainly sees that she did it with good intention and it was not that she wanted to lust after her evil inclination. She did it only for the sake of Heaven so that she should have pious children, for pious children enable the soul to have rest and tranquility. For if it were not certain that she had this intention, she certainly could have found people in her town who could have satisfied her lust since she was young and unusually beautiful. You could not have found a lovelier woman. And also she was not lacking any lovely youths who would have spent time with her. Judah was now very old. From this one can see that her intention was totally good. And therefore such children that built the monarchy of the House of David came from her. Therefore you see, dear daughter, the matter entirely depends on the woman and the nature of her thoughts. For it could not have been according to his thoughts for they certainly could not have been good. ForJudah expected that she was a whore and one who goes to a whore can certainly not have any good thoughts for he could not have thought that pious children would come from a whore . And, nevertheless, I do not want you to think evil of Judah who was a pious man and one of the [twelve] tribes [came from him] , that he should be going awhoring, God forbid. He did this so that he would not have thoughts about any other woman. And also, the Torah had not yet been given. And also, he wanted to maintain her as a concubine, for a man [35bJ with­ out a wife sometimes has improper thoughts and looks upon women more than a man who has a wife. Therefore our holy Torah commanded that no man should be without a wife so that he should not come to improper thoughts, for from this same [matter] come many bad things about which I do not want to write. And nevertheless, he wanted to do it in a permissible way and made her immerse first. If a whore goes to immerse at the [proper] time, then it is not a great sin [to have intercourse with her] , and particularly if he intends, as Judah did, to rid himself of the evil inclination and improper thoughts, that is why he did the deed. And this was also the case with Jesse, the father of King David. He said to his maid that she should go immerse for he wanted to sleep with her one night. The maid

63. See Gen. 38.

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254

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was pious and went and told her mistress that she can have no rest from her master [and] how he now wanted to sleep with her one night. The wife said to her, "Tell him yes, you will do his will. " "Then I will lay myself in your bed and you lay yourself somewhere else." So she did. When it was midnight, the good Jesse arose and went to the bed in which the maid was accustomed to lie. And he lay himself next to his wife, and he thought it was the maid. And she stayed ever silent until he had fulfilled his desire. Then he returned to his bed. For two or three nights, his wife said nothing to him, for he had not lain with her for a long time. The good mistress's belly began to rise and Jesse suspected that she had committed adultery and said that she was carrying a bastard. And he would not believe her anymore when she now wanted to tell him that she was the one with whom he had lain. And he thought that the kitchen maid had told her the story so that she would thereby cover up her shame and that now the good woman was deceivingJesse. And all his family did not want to see or hear the child and Jesse considered the woman very despicable within the household and came to her no more for he believed that she had become adulterous and yet he did not want to tell anyone for he did not want to shame his children and his family. And David had to be in the fields with the animals day and night, for no one wanted to hear or see him and they considered him a bastard. Then the prophet Samuel came and wanted to anoint his (i.e . , Jesse's) son [36aJ king over Israel. 64 So he brought him Eliav. Then Samuel looked upon him. How well he pleased him for he was beautiful and large, so that he wanted to anoint him. Then God, blessed be His name, spoke : "No, you are looking at his appearance as women do. [If they see] one who is beautiful and large, they believe that they have all that they desire. Thus they often have every sorrow and woe from him. So too have you seen. I am God who knows and tests the heart of all creatures. I do not want this one . " SoJesse brought all his sons. He did not find any among them whom God, blessed be His name, desired. Then the prophet Samuel said, "Have you no more sons?" He said to him, "one young one who is in the field with the sheep. " Samuel the prophet said, "Have him too come here." Jesse did so unwillingly, for he believed that his shame would thus be revealed, nevertheless, he made him come. So the good David came and immediately the prophet Samuel fell upon his neck and kissed him on the mouth and anointed him king over all of Israel. As the father and the brothers saw this, they stood as if dead and they did not know what to say. Then King David began to say, "I will give thanks to You for You have an­ swered me and have become my salvation."65 In Yiddish this means, I will praise You God for you have answered me and this has been of help to me for the world will not suspect that I have come from an adulteress. And then Jesse said, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone."66 This means, 64. See 1 Sam. 1 6. 65. Ps. 1 1 8 . 2 1 . 66. Ps. 1 1 8 . 22 .

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