Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894/Women
IX.—Women.
Social duties form an important subject in the Mishnah. "Women, slaves, and children are exempt from reciting the 'Hear, O Israel,' and from phylacteries; but are bound to pray, to use the Mezuzah on the door post, and to bless after food" (Beracoth, iii, 3). The lighting of the Sabbath lamp and the dough offering (Numbers, xv, 20), were most important duties for wives (Sabbath, ii, 6). The dower for a maiden was £10 and for a widow £5 at least (Kethubim, i, 2; v, 1). The wife's duties included grinding flour, making bread, washing, cooking, nursing, making the bed, and spinning: if she had one servant she need not grind, or make bread, or wash; if two she need not cook or nurse; if three she need not make the bed or spin; and if four "she sits on a chair." But Rabbi Eleazar said that she ought to spin if she had an hundred maids, because evil comes of being idle (Kethubim, v, 5).
The husband was bound to supply a minimum of corn for the wife's use, with vegetables and oil and dried figs, and also at least a bed and a mat. He must also give her a head veil, a girdle, and shoes, from feast day to feast day, and £2 10s. at least for clothes in the year. He must give her the money necessary for the house, and always eat with her when possible (Kethubim, v, 8, 9). If she married a tanner and found she could not endure the smell of tanning it was considered a fair reason for divorce (vii, 10). A man might have four wives at once, like Jacob, if he could support them (x, 5). A king was allowed eighteen wives (Sanhedrin, ii, 2). The vows of wives might be remitted in certain cases by their husbands (Nedarim, x). Though drinking is not a Jewish vice, it seems that cases were not unknown of women becoming drunk (Nezir, ii, 3), but women as well as men might become Nazerites, abstaining for a time, or for life, from wine.
The only causes for divorce, according to the stricter school of Shammai, were misconduct and barrenness; but Hillel is said to have allowed a man to divorce his wife if she spoilt his dinner, or if he considered some other woman prettier (Gittin, ix, 10). The ceremony was, however, only legal when a get, or written document, was properly given. Men were not allowed to be alone with any women but their wives (Kidushin, iv, 14), and the pious were advised not to talk much with women (Pirki Aboth, i, 5). The private property of wives could not be taken by their husbands (Baba Bathra, iii, 3). The duty of the Levirate was strictly enforced.
The women had a gallery in the Temple, at the back of the court called "Court of the Women," the men occupying the floor, and they brought their offerings as far as the Gate Nicanor, leading into the Priests' Court. They also had a gallery at the end of the synagogue furthest from the ark containing the roll of the Law.
The wedding ceremonies of the Jews are not described in the Talmud, but were no doubt much the same as those now in use; for in the Gemara (T. B. Tract Calah) there is a mention of the cup of wine which is dashed down during the ceremony by the bridegroom. The bride appears to have worn a silk veil (Kethuboth, ii, 1). The dance of maidens (Taanith, iv, 8) was accompanied by a song in which they exhorted the young men to choose a wife for her piety, and not for beauty. "All the daughters of Jerusalem walked and danced in the vineyards. And what said they? Look, O young men, and see whom you choose; look not for beauty but for family. 'Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but she who fears the Lord she shall be praised'; and it is said, 'Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gate.'"