Description
Book SynopsisMarriage might be a highly contested topic, but certainly no more than it was in antiquity. This book offers the study of Jewish marriage in antiquity, from ca 500 BCE to 614 CE. Placing Jewish marriage in its cultural milieu, it investigates whether there was anything essentially "Jewish" about the institution as it was discussed and practiced.
Trade Review"[An] illuminating and comprehensive book... The difficult questions of Jewish marriage today, such as a concern over Jews marrying non-Jews and the changing definitions of who constitutes a married couple, may not actually have many new elements. Judaism of the past and present has always been in conversation with its host society about such fluid matters."--Tawny L. Holm, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Table of ContentsAbbreviations and Conventions ix Preface xiii Introduction xv PART I: Thinking about Marriage CHAPTER ONE: Why Marry? 3 CHAPTER TWO: Metaphor and Myth 42 CHAPTER THREE: Marriage and Law 68 PART II. Marrying CHAPTER FOUR: Shreds of Real Marriage 93 CHAPTER FIVE: Making Match 101 CHAPTER SIX: Endogamy and Exogamy 133 CHAPTER SEVEN: Customs and Rituals of Marriage 162 CHAPTER EIGHT: Irregular Unions 182 PART III. Staying Married CHAPTER NINE: The Economics of Marriage 199 CHAPTER TEN: The Ideal marriage 225 CONCLUSIONS 259 Notes to the Chapters 273 Bibliography 367 Subject Index 401 Index of Premodern Sources 410 Index of Modern Authors 425
