Michael L. Satlow , Jewish relationships for the antiquity. Princeton: Princeton School Push, 2001. xii, 431 pages ; twenty five cm. ISBN 069100255X $.
Tawny Holm , Indiana School out-of Pennsylvania.
Which lighting up and you will comprehensive publication from the Satlow goes much to demonstrate you to definitely discussion on the subject of ong Jews, and amongst their Christian, Roman, and you can Greek neighbors, as it’s today from inside the progressive American and modern Jewish society. Satlow, whom observes marriage just like the a great socially developed, culturally built institution, gets a great refreshingly historical direction with the alarmist discourse nowadays. “The truth your discourse from social marital ‘crisis’ is indeed dated at minimum is always to alert me to this new possibility we is actually referring to a question of rhetoric significantly more than just truth. xvi-xvii). As for the researching upbeat trust one progressive marriage is actually instead an improvement into the crappy days of the past of the patriarchal earlier, Satlow suggests that old Judaism is much more complicated than of many imagine, and contains “at least one rabbinic articulation away from relationship beliefs . . . so you’re able to competitor our personal egalitarian notions” (p. xvii).
Whether or not the “you to definitely rabbinic articulation” of close-egalitarianism impresses all of the viewer, Satlow’s situation to possess higher variety amongst the more Jewish groups are well-made (new Palestinian rabbis constantly can be found in a far greater light than the Babylonian), and his awesome publication will therefore end up being enticing not only to students of Close East antiquity and you will Judaism, however, into read societal. The study requires a plastic approach to Jewish marriage in the Mediterranean Levant (particularly Palestine) and you will Babylonia about Persian several months to your rabbinic period (california. five hundred B.C.Elizabeth. in order to five hundred C.E.). You can find three earliest arguments: (1) personal Jewish groups of antiquity differed from one another within understanding of matrimony, usually not always conceiving wedding when it comes to the historic and you will geographical perspective; (2) there is nothing basically Jewish regarding Jewish matrimony until Jews modified life and you may rituals distributed to the server societies into their individual idiom so you’re able to erican marriage ceremonies today, old Jewish beliefs regarding the matrimony probably diverged greatly away from fact, and various ancient legal prescriptions by rabbis shouldn’t be taken while the descriptive.
Satlow correctly cautions the person about the characteristics of no. 1 sources; certain attacks don’t have a lot of or skewed research, particularly the Persian period (by which i simply have Ezra-Nehemiah regarding Bible and Aramaic courtroom data files out-of Egypt) while the Babylonian Amoraic months 200-five hundred C.Age. (wherein we do have the Babylonian Talmud, a large supply but the one that shows a sealed rabbinic society rather than Babylonian Jews in particular). If you don’t the offer plus feature the fresh Palestinian Talmud and midrashim, Jewish weblog inside Greek (including the Septuagint interpretation of Hebrew Bible therefore the The Testament), the fresh new Deceased Sea Scrolls, thrown archaeological stays and you may inscriptions, and lots of sources so you’re able to Jews because of the low-Jewish Greek and you can Latin people.
Opinion by the
Adopting the introduction, where Satlow traces his arguments, contributions, means, supply, and you will methodology, the book was divided in to around three bits. Area We, “Considering wedding,” takes into account the fresh ideology, theology, and you can judge underpinnings from marriage. Region II, “Marrying,” actions in the beliefs of old matrimony with the fact, to that’s you are able to: relationship, whom y), betrothal, the wedding, plus unpredictable marriages (e.g. next marriages, polygynous marriages, concubinage, and you can levirate marriage ceremonies). Part III, “Existence Married,” covers this new business economics regarding wedding and also the articulation from Jewish ideals into the ancient literary works and you can inscriptions. Shortly after a last section off conclusions, in which Satlow reorganizes his findings diachronically by the months and part, the book shuts that have detailed stop notes, an intensive bibliography, and about three indexes: subject, premodern present, and progressive article writers.