Marital Relations in Ancient Judaism
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Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte 10 Marital Relations in Ancient Judaism Bearbeitet von Éthan Levine 1. Auflage 2009. Buch. XIV, 349 S. Hardcover ISBN 978 3 447 05868 1 Format (B x L): 17 x 24 cm Gewicht: 740 g Weitere Fachgebiete > Religion > Jüdische Studien > Geschichte des Judentums: Biblische & Klassische Periode Zu Inhaltsverzeichnis schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, eBooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte. Étan Levine Marital Relations in Ancient Judaism 2009 Harrassowitz Verlag . Wiesbaden ISSN 1439-619X ISBN 978-3-447-05868-1 Table of Contents Preface.............................................................................................................................. VII Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... IX Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... XI Prologue: Introduction to a People ................................................................................... 1 The People of Families – Nomothetic Information: Covenant and Circumcision – Covenant and Continuity – Societal Law and Human Sexuality – Lore Supplements Law – Asking the Right Questions – Crossing the Intellectual Divide I. Kinship and Law in Biblical Israel................................................................................ 14 The Family Book – Divine Covenant as Marital Covenant – The People’s Familial Historiography – The People – The Tribe – The Clan – The Family-House – The Marital Unit – The People’s Supervision of the Family – Structures of Monogamy and Polygamy – On the House Divided – The Morality of Biblical Polygamy – Levirate Surrogate Marriage – A People of Two Genders II. The Home as a ‘Small Temple’ ................................................................................... 40 Becoming a People of Families – The Book, Bookmen and Book Folk – Discourse on Gender: Sex, Marriage and Reproduction – The Jewish People Attends Every Wedding – Marriage as a Religious Imperative – Reproduction as a Religious Imperative – Encouraging Youthful Betrothal – Who Marries Who? Prohibited and Preferred Unions – The Incest Taboo – Levirate Surrogate Marriage – The Ethnicity Requirement – Lineage, Status and Community Preferences – Polygamous Marriages III. On Gender and Legal Status....................................................................................... 76 Gender Status in Antiquity – The Linguistics of Gender – Women’s Legal Rights and Judicial Review – Marital Law and Gender Status – She Ascends With Him IV. Love as a Legal Construct.......................................................................................... 97 The Loving Bond – Marital Choice in Heaven and on Earth – Infatuation is not Love – Love and Ontological Security – Honor as Protective Care – Loving Laboring – Compassionate Connection: Spousal Dignity – Conflict Avoidance and Resolution – Transcending Ambivalence and Alienation – Divorce as Amputation – The Divorcing Wife – Divorce as Sexual Separation – The Idea of Eternal Existential Unity V. Validating Human Eroticism ....................................................................................... 140 Sexuality in Bible Lore – Conjugal Joy: Liberation from Reproduction’s Tyranny – Transcending Gynophobia – Confronting Sex Negation – Jewish Sexuality and Anti-Semitism VI. Free Will, Law and the Moral Imperative .................................................................. 152 Determinism as Judaism’s ‘Original Sin’ – Transcending Temptation – Israel’s Self-Discipline as Self-Definition – Human Dignity and Sexual Modesty – Female Dignity as Legally VI Table of Contents Inviolate – Pre-Marital and Extra-Marital Sex – The Sweetness of Stolen Waters – Betrothal as Sexual Consecration – ‘You Will Not Covet’ – The Concept of Emotional Fidelity VII. Woman as Sexual Suspect........................................................................................ 187 On Cross-Cultural Sexual Mistrust – Wifely Fidelity, Children’s Paternity and Israel’s Covenant – Male Control of Female Chastity – The Accused Bride – A Bride’s Presumed Innocence – Sotah: The Suspected Adulteress – Measure for Measure in a Procedure – Emotional Cleansing – Abrogating theah Double Standard – A Wife’s Presumptive Innocence VIII. Sexual Relations in Marriage Law.......................................................................... 209 ‘Onah: the Crux of Marriage – Ramifications for Textual Interpretation – Ramifications Regarding Female Sexuality – A Husband’s Conjugal Responsibilities – A Husband’s Sexual Rights – The Sexual Quantum Meruit – The Marital Couch vs. The Scholar’s Seat – Sabbath and Holy Day Sex – Sex During Pregnancy – Postpartum Sex IX. The Time to Refrain From Embracing....................................................................... 232 Wholeness and Holiness – The Menstruating Fountain of Life – Sexual Separation During Menstruation – Female Sexual Empowerment – Niddah: Bodily Purity and Female Dignity – Sanctity, not Anxiety X. Love’s Body: Anticipation and Idealization ............................................................... 243 Anticipating Conjugality – Sexual Realities and Cognitive Dissonance – On Bridal Virginity – Conjugality and Age Symmetry – Physical Aesthetics in Jewish Culture – Winning the Genetic Lottery – Aesthetic Subjectivity – The Poetry of Sexual Anticipation – The Idealized Body – Uniqueness of the Beloved – Beautification Necessities – Religious Dispensations for Beauty and Dignity – Aesthetics and the Aging Wife XI. Lawful Conjugality: The Loving Embrace................................................................ 266 Wedding as Entering Eden – Lovemaking Surroundings – Privacy of Conjugal Sex – Cleanliness in Conjugality – Consummating Marriage – Sexual Learning – To Whom Does a Woman’s Body Belong? – Conjugality as Lovemaking – Holistic Sexuality: Emotional Fidelity – The Whole-Body Experience – Over-Knowing as Love’s Executioner – Sanctity in Sexuality – The Consequences of Repugnant Sex – Marital Intercourse as a Free Option – The Concept of Marital Rape – Timing: By Invitation Only – Who Solicits and Initiates an Encounter? – On Sexual Positions – Intercourse: ‘Usual’ and ‘Unusual’ – Woman Comes First: The Female Orgasm – On Masculinity and Virility – Aphrodisiacs and Healthful Behavior – Aging and Virility: The Parade’s End XII. Children: Married Life and Eternal Life................................................................... 313 Conjugality as Eternity’s Portal – How Babies are Born: The Three Parents – The Infertility Dilemma – The Mothering Instinct – How Many Children to Have – The Preference for Sons – On Birth Spacing – Attitudes to Birth Control – The Woman’s Body and the Woman’s Decision – The Crises of Childbirth – Positions for Reproductive Sex – ‘I Can Make All My Children Be Males’ – Repeated Female Orgasms – Repeated Sex During Pregnancy – Blessing For the Person Who Has Everything Epilogue........................................................................................................................... 335 Select Bibliography.......................................................................................................... 339 Index ................................................................................................................................ 347 Preface By a most appropriate scholarly inversion a preface (ex. < prae = before + faris = speak) is composed last: at the end of one’s odyssey. For only now then can one fully realize how a voyage was not without hazard. Even if piously undertaken it could not have been entirely free of metaphorical rape and pillage: reckless speed, violation of context, tactless poking in dark places, even being un peu vulgaire. For such sins (and for others unwittingly commit- ted,) I should probably walk off my guilt by walking some road until my pen, (like Odys- seus’ oar,) is no longer recognized by the locals. Yet though the ancient expiatory rite has much to commend it, in its lieu I offer apologia: First, colleagues did alert me to the hazards of charting the sea of classical Judaica as if it were a corpus: the epistemological absurdity of attempting to map a polyphonic textual mélange of unverifiable origins spanning centuries, socio-cultural realities, and predilec- tions about gender, sexuality and marriage! Yet there is something about sound advice offered in a spirit of true friendship that just begs the recipient to prove it wrong. For we academics are sworn enemies of the obvious: a flair for overruling common sense with clever argument and rationalization is often what marks a scholar. While searching for features and coherences groundingh texts on conjugality, the perversity of my decision became clear, yet equally clear was that Jewish sages did not strive to be a ‘Greek chorus’: they themselves affirmed that opposites may be complementary “words of the living God”. (As the physicist Niels Bohr noted, ‘The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of