Research Catalog

Title

Silence is deadly : Judaism confronts wifebeating / Naomi Graetz.

Author

Graetz, Naomi, 1943-

Publication

Northvale, N.J. : J. Aronson, ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxi, 244 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• The topic of battered women in the Jewish tradition has just begun to be properly explored. The purpose of this book is to present the attitudes on wifebeating that can be found in Jewish tests. As Naomi Graetz shows, rabbinic responses to wifebeating in the Jewish community are not monolithic.
• The author writes: "This work first examines the biblical and post-biblical exegetical (mishnah, talmud, midrash) as sources of the metaphor of battering. Although women are not literally battered in these sources, justification for abuse can be clearly inferred from some of these sources in that they promote an attitude that condones battering, hence the use of the term metaphoric battering."

Alternative Title

Judaism confronts wifebeating

Subject

• Wife abuse (Jewish law)
• Married women (Jewish law)
• Jewish women > Abuse of
• Women in Judaism

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-237) and index.

Contents

Wifebeating and Jewish Society -- Metaphoric battering: The groundwork for domestic violence in Patriarchal Society -- A prophetic metaphor: God is to Israel as husband is to wife -- The metaphoric battering of Hosea's Wife -- The connection between Metaphor and Halakha -- Formative laws and principles in support of wifebeaters -- Formative laws and principles opposed to wifebeating -- Rabbinic acceptance of "lawful" wifebeating -- Rejection: There is no excuse for wifebeating -- Modern attitudes toward wifebeating: Denial and apologetics -- Evasion of responsibility: The problem with jewish divorce laws -- Feminist Halakhic solutions.

ISBN

• 0765760134
• 9780765760135

LCCN

97039350

OCLC

• ocm38016518
• 38016518
• SCSB-1253798

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library