Living with the law : gender and community among the Jews of medieval Egypt / Oded Zinger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zinger, Oded, author.

Series:

Jewish culture and contexts.

Jewish Culture and Contexts Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Egypt--History--To 1500.

Jews.

Jewish women--Egypt--Social conditions--To 1500.

Jewish women.

Jewish marriage customs and rites--Egypt--History--To 1500.

Jewish marriage customs and rites.

Jewish courts--Egypt--History--To 1500.

Jewish courts.

Courts--Egypt--History--To 1500.

Courts.

Marriage (Jewish law).

Marriage law--Egypt.

Marriage law.

Cairo Genizah.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Living with the Law explores the marital disputes of Jews in medieval Islamic Egypt (1000-1250), relating medieval gossip, marital woes, and the voices of men and women of a world long gone. Probing the rich documents of the Cairo Geniza, a unique repository of discarded paper discovered in Cairo synagogue, the book recovers the life stories of Jewish women and men working through their marital problems at home, with their families, in the streets of old Cairo and in Jewish and Muslim courts. Despite a voluminous literature on Jewish law, the everyday practice of Jewish courts has only recently begun to be investigated systematically. The experiences of those at a legal, social, and cultural disadvantage allow us to go beyond the image propagated by legal institutions and offer a view "from below" of Jewish communal life and Jewish law as it was lived.Examining the interactions between gender and law in medieval Jewish communities under Islamic rule, Oded Zinger considers how women experienced Jewish courts and the pressure they were under to relinquish their monetary rights at court and at home. The tactics with which women countered this pressure, ranging from exploiting family ties to appealing to Muslim courts, expose the complex relationship between individual agency, gendered expectations, and communal authority. Zinger concludes that more than money, education, or lineage, it was the maintenance of a supportive network of social relations with men that protected women at different stages of their lives.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Jewish Marriage 101: In Lieu of a Glossary

Notes on the Text

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Legal Arena: A Social Interpretation

Chapter 2 Gender and Status in Geniza Courts

Chapter 3 Compromising Women: Gender and Property in Divorce and Married Life

Chapter 4 The Ties That Bind: Kinship Support and Communal Participation

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Geniza Shelfmarks and Maimonidean Responsa

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781512823806

1512823805

OCLC:

1346365253