Chattel or Person?: The Status of Women in the Mishnah

0195080033......Page 1
Contents......Page 10
Introduction......Page 16
The Mishnah as a Sociolegal Document......Page 17
Why Chattel or Person?......Page 19
Methodology......Page 21
Definition of Personhood......Page 23
The Legacy of Scripture......Page 25
Mishnah\'s Taxonomy of Women......Page 27
Ambiguity of Status: Effect on Woman\'s Rights......Page 30
Exclusion of Women from the Public Domain......Page 31
Chattel or Person? Sexuality as the Key......Page 32
The Minor Daughter as Chattel......Page 33
Virginity and Bride-Price......Page 34
Seduction and Rape: Criminal Penalties......Page 36
Seduction and Rape: Civil Damages......Page 38
Ambiguity of Status: Effect on the Minor Daughter......Page 41
Minor Daughter\'s Lack of Basic Rights......Page 45
The Pubescent Girl as Potential Woman......Page 47
The Girlchild as Potential Adult......Page 48
Summary......Page 51
3. The Wife......Page 53
The Wife as Chattel......Page 54
Marriage: Acquisition of a Wife......Page 55
Divorce: Disposition of a Wife......Page 58
The \"Straying Wife\" as the Husband\'s Sexual Property......Page 63
Wife\'s Vows Inimical to Conjugal Relations......Page 67
Ambiguity of Status: Effect on the Wife......Page 73
Punishment of the Wife Who Remarries in Error......Page 77
The Wife as Person......Page 83
The Wife\'s Rights in Customary Law......Page 84
The Wife\'s Right to Maintenance......Page 87
The Wife\'s Matrimonial Duties......Page 88
Reciprocity of Conjugal Rights and Duties......Page 91
Spouses\' Rights and Duties with Respect to Divorce......Page 93
The Wife as Owner of Property......Page 100
The \"Straying Wife\" Revisited......Page 104
The Nazirite Vow and the Personhood of the Wife......Page 106
Summary......Page 108
4. The Levirate Widow......Page 110
The Scriptural Law of the Levirate......Page 111
The Levirate Widow as Chattel......Page 112
Mishnaic Expansion of the Levirate Law......Page 113
Control of a Levirate Widow\'s Property......Page 115
Annulment of a Levirate Widow\'s Vows......Page 117
Incapacity of a Levirate Widow to Initiate Release......Page 119
Ambiguity of Status: Effect on the Levirate Widow......Page 120
The Levirate Widow\'s Part in the Rite of Release......Page 122
The Levirate Widow as Property Owner......Page 123
The Levirate Widow\'s Right to Reject a Repulsive Levir......Page 124
Summary......Page 125
5. The Autonomous Woman......Page 127
The Emancipated Daughter......Page 128
Equivalence of Autonomous Woman to Autonomous Man......Page 129
Woman\'s Power to Arrange Her Own Marriage......Page 130
Woman\'s Power to Engage in Litigation......Page 132
Woman as Legal Witness......Page 133
Testimony of a Sole Witness to a Husband\'s Death......Page 136
Woman\'s Eligibility to Take an Oath......Page 139
Vows of an Emancipated Woman......Page 141
The Divorcée......Page 142
The Wife\'s Active Powers in the Law of Divorce......Page 144
The Wife\'s Passive Rights in the Law of Divorce......Page 146
Release of a Woman Morally Entitled to Divorce......Page 148
The Total Autonomy of the Divorcée......Page 150
The Widow......Page 151
The Widow\'s Rights Against Heirs of a Deceased Husband......Page 152
The Widow\'s Compellability to Swear an Oath......Page 154
The Vows of a Widow or Divorcée......Page 155
Summary......Page 156
6. Woman and the Public Domain......Page 158
The Intrinsic Superiority of the Male......Page 159
Women\'s Subordinate Status and Exclusion from the Cult......Page 161
Confinement of Women to the Domestic Sphere......Page 163
Women\'s Incapacity to Fulfill Others\' Religious Obligations......Page 166
Women\'s Sexuality and Public Decorum......Page 169
Women\'s Sexual Morality: The Sages\' View......Page 172
Woman as Cultic Contaminant: The Menstrual Taboo......Page 175
Public Man, Private Woman: Sexuality as the Key......Page 178
Dependency, Autonomy, and Sexuality......Page 181
Woman as Chattel......Page 183
The Autonomous Woman......Page 185
Private and Public Domain......Page 186
Woman as Anomaly......Page 188
The Substance of Sanctity......Page 193
8. The Mishnaic Woman and Feminist Theory......Page 195
Jewish Feminism......Page 196
Is the Right Question Sociological?......Page 197
Is the Right Question Theological?......Page 199
Feminist Theory and the Mishnaic Woman......Page 201
De Beauvoir and the Concept of the Other......Page 205
Appendix 1. Further Illustrations of Chattel Status of Minor Daughter......Page 212
Appendix 2. Exceptions to the Rule Compensating a Father for the Violation of His Daughter......Page 213
Appendix 3. Further Examples of Forfeiture of Marriage Portion by Women Exempted from the Ordeal......Page 214
Appendix 4. Husband\'s Right to Revoke His Wife\'s Nazirite Vow as Inimical to Conjugal Relations......Page 216
Appendix 5. Effect of Sexual Acquisition of a Woman on Her Caste Privileges......Page 218
Appendix 6. Further Illustrations of the Effect of Ambiguity on the Personhood of the Wife......Page 220
Appendix 7. Husband Who Renounces Right to Control Disposition of His Wife\'s Property......Page 222
Appendix 9. Standard of Proof in Cases Involving Wife as Sex Object and as Property Owner......Page 223
Appendix 10. Curtailment of Levirate Law to Increase Pool of Women Eligible for Marriage......Page 225
Appendix 11. Divorcee\'s Right to Freedom from Unreasonable Conditions......Page 227
Abbreviations......Page 229
Notes......Page 231
Bibliography......Page 262
B......Page 268
C......Page 270
D......Page 271
G......Page 272
J......Page 273
M......Page 274
O......Page 277
S......Page 278
W......Page 279
Z......Page 280