The Unknown History of Jewish Women Through the Ages: On Learning and Illiteracy: On Slavery and Liberty

The Unknown History of Jewish Women—On Learning and Illiteracy: On Slavery and Liberty is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, discussing their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library and their social condition due to imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy. The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, but girls' education was only introduced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The following chapters discuss the social, cultural, and legal contexts of female illiteracy in the Jewish community, which valued male education.

Format: Hardback
Length: 803 pages
Publication date: 22 May 2023
Publisher: De Gruyter

The Unknown History of Jewish Women—On Learning and Illiteracy: On Slavery and Liberty is a comprehensive exploration into the rich tapestry of Jewish women's history, delving into their conspicuous absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the People of the Book and elucidating the intricate relationship between their societal status and the imposed constraints of ignorance and exclusion from public literacy. The book commences with an insightful chapter that sheds light on the communal education system for Jewish boys, a compulsory and free-of-charge initiative that was extended to them for the initial ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. This chapter serves as a foundational context for the subsequent discussions, highlighting the striking absence of any comparable communal education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The implications of this historical anomaly for the immigration of Jewish women to Israel during the period spanning 1949 to 1959 are then explored in depth.

The subsequent chapters delve into the social, cultural, and legal frameworks that shaped the reality of female illiteracy within the Jewish community, a community that placed paramount importance on male education. The central focus of the discussion revolves around the patriarchal order and the various postulations, rules, norms, sanctions, and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality.

Through a meticulous examination of historical records, scholarly research, and personal narratives, The Unknown History of Jewish Women—On Learning and Illiteracy: On Slavery and Liberty offers a profound and multifaceted perspective on the complex history of Jewish women. It sheds light on the historical forces that have shaped their educational opportunities, social roles, and legal status, challenging prevailing narratives and illuminating the hidden stories of a marginalized and often overlooked segment of Jewish society.

Weight: 1572g
Dimension: 176 x 253 x 51 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783111042770