B / B* Sexuality and Marriage in Jewish Tradition and History ( Jewish Women, Men and Children )

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1 McGill University, The Department of Jewish Studies Syllabus for the course B / B* Sexuality and Marriage in Jewish Tradition and History ( Jewish Women, Men and Children ) Dr. Evyatar Marienberg Winter 2002 Monday 16:00-18:00 / Wednesday 16:00-17:00 Arts W120 * Registration for this course under B is possible with instructor s approval.

2 B / B: Sexuality and Marriage in Jewish Tradition and History ( Jewish Women, Men and Children ) Dr. Evyatar Marienberg (evyatar.marienberg@mcgill.ca) McGill University, Winter 2002 Monday 16:00-18:00 / Wednesday 16:00-17:00 Arts-W120 The class will deal with various topics related to sexuality and marriage in Jewish tradition and history. Our main focus will be to explore past and present communities that hold the Halakhah, the Jewish Law, to be a significant factor in shaping daily life. Among the subjects to be discussed: sex outside of marriage, wedding ceremonies and customs, regulations of marital sex, menstruation and ritual bath, divorce, masturbation, homosexuality, rape, and prostitution. Class will include guest lecturers and probably some videos. No knowledge of Hebrew necessary. * Picture on cover page: Detail from Hamburg Miscellany, Germany, c. 1427, shows a Jewess immersing herself in a mikveh before going to her husband. Credit: Encyclopaedia Judaica / Staats-und Universitatsbibliothek, Hamburg cod. Heb. 37, fol.79v 2

3 Please note the following calendar. Due to the Jewish holiday of Passover there will be no classes (NC) on March 27 and April 3. A detailed description of each session will be given in class. 1. Mon, Jan 7 9. Mon, Feb Mon, Mar 4 NC Mon, Apr 1 (Easter) 2. Wed, Jan Wed, Feb Wed, Mar 6 NC Wed, Apr 3 (7 th of Passover) 3. Mon, Jan Mon, Feb Mon, Mar Mon, Apr 8 4. Wed, Jan Wed, Feb Wed, Mar Wed, Apr Mon, Jan Mon, Feb Mon, Mar Mon, Apr Wed, Jan Wed, Feb Wed, Mar Mon, Jan 28 NC Mon, Feb 25 (Break) 21. Mon, Mar Wed, Jan 30 NC Wed, Feb 27 (Break) NC Wed, Mar 27 (Passover Eve) Grades will be calculated as follows: 10% attendance (After the second absence, -5% for each class missing). 20% participation (Students who do not participate or who participate rarely in the discussion, will not receive an A, no matter how brilliant their written works are). 25% midterm (In special cases, this may be replaced with an oral presentation, upon approval). 15% few short papers (Consisting of a page or two). 30% final 3

4 Bibliography Please note: All references are in English. Copies of all references are provided in the coursepack. Modern works (mostly secondary sources): Ruth K. Westheimer ; Jonathan Mark, "Beauty and the Bible", in: Ruth K. Westheimer ; Jonathan Mark, Heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition, New York University Press, New York - London 1995, pp Louis Jacobs et al., "Halakhah", in: Encyclopaedia Judaica (EJ), CD-ROM Edition, Keter, Jerusalem 1997, pp Gary Anderson, "The Garden of Eden and Sexuality in Early Judaism", in: Howard Eilberg-Schwartz (ed.), People of the Body, Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective, SUNY Press, New York 1992, pp Naomi Koltun-Fromm, "Sexuality and Holiness: Semitic Christian And Jewish Conceptualizations of Sexual Behavior", in: Vigiliae Christianae 54 (2000), pp Anson Rainey et al., "Concubine", in: Encyclopaedia Judaica (EJ), CD-ROM Edition, Keter, Jerusalem 1997, pp

5 Ruth Langer, "The Birkat Betulim: A Study of the Jewish Celebration of Bridal Virginity", in: Nahum M. Sarna (ed.), Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, vol. 61, Jerusalem - New York 1995, pp Edward Westemarck, "The Origin of Marriage", in: Edward Westemarck, A Short History of Marriage, Humanities Press, New York 1968 (First published 1926), pp David Fohrman, "Tractate Kiddushin: General Introduction", in: Talmud Bavli, Tractate Kiddushin, Vol. I, Mesorah Publications, p Reuven P. Bulka, Jewish Marriage: A Halakhic Ethic, Ktav - Yeshiva University, New York 1986, pp Lawrence A. Hoffman, "The Jewish Wedding Ceremony", in: Paul F. Bradshaw ; Lawrence A. Hoffman (ed.), Life Cycles in Jewish and Christian Worship, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame - London 1996, pp Herman H. Pollack, "Why the Eirusin and the Nissuin were combined? A study in historical causation", in: (ed.), Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies, W.U.J.S., Jerusalem 1986, pp Michael L. Satlow, "Customs and Rituals of Marriage", in: Michael L. Satlow, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity, Princeton University Press, Princeton - Oxford 2001, pp Anita Diamant, "Under the Huppah", in: Anita Diamant, The New Jewish Wedding, Simon & Schuster, New York 1985, pp

6 Jacob Z. Lauterbach, "The Ceremony of Breaking a Glass at Weddings", in: Joseph Gutman (ed.), Beauty in Holiness: Studies in Jewish Customs and Ceremonial Art, Ktav, 1970, pp [reprinted from Hebrew Union College Annual 2 (1925)] Naomi Feuchtwanger, "Interrelations Between the Jewish and Christian Wedding in Medieval Ashkenaz", in: (ed.), Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies, W.U.J.S., Jerusalem 1985, pp Michael L. Satlow, "Conclusions", in: Michael L. Satlow, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity, Princeton University Press, Princeton - Oxford 2001, pp David Biale, "Sexuality and Spirituality in the Kabbalah", in: David Biale, Eros and the Jews - From Biblical Israel to Contemporary America, University of California Press, Berkeley 1997, pp David M. Feldman, "The Mitzvah of Procreation", in: David M. Feldman, Birth Control In Jewish Law, Jason Aronson, New York 1998, pp Jeremy Cohen, Be Fertile and Increase, Fill the Earth and Master It : The Ancient and Medieval Career of a Biblical Text, Cornell University Press, Ithaca - London 1989, pp Daniel Boyarin, "Engendering Desire: Husbands, Wives, and Sexual Intercourse", in: Daniel Boyarin, Carnal Israel : Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture, University of California Press, Berkeley 1993, pp Tirzah Meacham, "An Abbreviated History of the Development of the Jewish Menstrual Laws", in: Rahel R. Wasserfall (ed.), Women and Water - Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law, Brandeis University Press, Hanover 1999, pp

7 Norman Lamm, "Staying Married", in: Norman Lamm, A Hedge of Roses: Jewish Insights into Marriage and Married Life, Philipp Feldheim, New York 1972, pp Jonah Steinberg, "From a Pot of Filth to a Hedge of Roses (and Back): Changing Theorizations of Menstruation in Judaism", in: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 13.2 (1997), pp Yiskah Rosenfeld, "Taking Back Our Rites: Lighting Candles, Baking Challah, and the Laws of Married Sex", in: Lilith 26.2 (2001), pp Andy Steiner, "Take Me to the Mikveh", in: Utne Reader 108 (2001), pp Michael L. Satlow, " Wasted Seed, The History of a Rabbinic Idea", in: Hebrew Union College Annual 65 (1994), pp Eliezer Segal, "Looking for Lilith", in: Eliezer Segal, Why I didn t learn this in Hebrew School, Jason Aronson, 1999, pp Yom Tov Assis, "Sexual Behaviour in Mediaeval Hispano-Jewish Society", in: Ada Rapoport-Albrt ; Steven J. Zipperstein (ed.), Jewish History - Essays in Honour of Chimen Abramsky, Peter Halban, London 1988, pp Justin Jaron Lewis, "Women s Voices, Men s Laws : The Halakhic Process and Three Women s Accounts of Rape", in: Women in Judaism 2.1 (1999), 37 pages Leila Leah Bronner, "Hope for the Harlot: The Estate of the Marginalized Woman", in: Leila Leah Bronner, From Eve to Esther : Rabbinic Reconstructions of Biblical Women, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, pp

8 Benjamin (?), "Mamzer", in: Encyclopaedia Judaica (EJ), CD-ROM Edition, Keter, Jerusalem 1997, 4 pages Yaakov Levado, "Gayness and God : Wrestlings of an Orthodox Rabbi", in: Tikkun, Sep-Oct (1993), 14 pages Shmuley Boteach, "Essay on Homosexuality (unedited)", electronic message, in: oxford-judaism@nysernet.org, June 29 th 1993, 16 pages Reena Zeidman, "Marginal Discourse : Lesbianism in Jewish Law", in: Women in Judaism 1.1 (1997), 13 pages Aharon Feldman, "A Letter to a Homosexual Baal Teshuva", in: Jerusalem Letter 1.5, March 24 th 1998, 5 pages, < Michael S. Berger, "Two Modeles of Medieval Jewish Marriage: A Preliminary Study", in: Journal of Jewish Studies 52.1 (2001), pp Michael L. Satlow, " One Who Loves His Wife Like Himself : Love in Rabbinic Marriage", in: Journal of Jewish Studies 49.1 (1998), pp Mordechai A. Friedman, "The Ethics of Medieval Jewish Marriage", in: S. D. Goitein (ed.), Religion in a Religious Age, Association For Jewish Studies, Cambridge 1974, pp Some primary classic sources: Examples of major primary Jewish sources: - Bible (Hebrew, one page) 8

9 - Mishnah (Hebrew, one page, Edited by Chanokh Albeck, 1958) - Mishnah (English, one page, Translated by Herbert Danby, 1933) - Tosefta (Hebrew, two pages, Edited by M. S. Zuckermandel, 1881) - Talmud Yerushalmi (Hebrew, one page) - Talmud Bavli (Hebrew, one page) - Talmud Bavli (English translation, two pages, The Schottenstein Edition, Artscroll-Messorah) - Halakhot Gedolot (Hebrew, one page, Codex Paris 1402, published by Shraga Abramson, 1971) - Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Sefer Nashim (Hebrew, one page) - Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Sefer ha-mada (English translation, two pages, Translated by Moses Hymson, 1965) - Shul an Arukh, Even ha-ezer (Hebrew, one page) A selection of verses from the Jewish Bible ( Old Testament ) Maimonides, Sefer ha-mitzvoth, Positive Commandement, Translated by Charles B. Chavel, Soncino 1967, The Holy Letter - A Study in Medieval Jewish Sexual Morality ascribed to Nahmanides, (Hebrew / English), Translated with an Introduction by Seymour J. Cohen, Ktav, New York 1976, Introduction ; 2 ; 6 Meir of Rothenburg, Responsa, Even ha-ezer, in: Irving A. Agus, Rabbi Meir of Rotheburg : His Life and His Works as Sources for the Religious, Legal, and Social History of the Jews of Germany in the Thirteenth Century, Ktav, New York 1970, pp Sefer ha-pinukh, (Hebrew / English), Translated by Charles Wengrov, Jerusalem New York, Feldheim 1989, ;

10 Solomon Ganzfried, Code of Jewish Law / Kitzur Shulhan Aruh, (Hebrew / English), Translated by Hyman E. Goldin, Hebrew Publishing Company, New York 1961, A selection of verses from the Christian Bible ( New Testament ) *** Additional primary sources will be provided 10