Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe

Avraham Grossman offers a comprehensive study of Jewish women in Europe during the High Middle Ages (1000-1300). Examining multiple aspects of women's lives in medieval Jewish society, Grossman shows that this period saw a distinct improvement in the status of Jewish women in Europe relative to their status during the Talmudic period and in Muslim countries. Two main factors fostered this change: the transformation of Jewish society from agrarian to "bourgeois," with women performing an increasingly important function in the family economy; and the openness toward women in Christian Europe, where they were not subjected to strict limitations based upon conceptions of modesty, as was the case in Muslim countries. The heart of Grossman's book concerns the improvement of Jewish women's lot, and the subsequent efforts of secular and religious authorities to impede their new-found status.