Blond, tall, with honey-colored eyes: Jewish ownership of slaves in the Ottoman Empire

Jewish History

Volumn 20, Issue 3-4, 2006, Pages 315-332

  Ben Naeh, Yaron ^a  

^a HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

Author keywords

Istanbul; Ottoman Empire; Ottoman Jewry; Responsa; Sephrdi Jews; Sijil; Slavery slaves; Slaves

Indexed keywords

EID: 33845984014     PISSN: 0334701X     EISSN: 15728579     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s10835-006-9018-z     Document Type: Article

References (165)

1. The following are a few references to research literature on slavery in the Ottoman Empire, all of which contain further bibliography: Ehud R. Toledano, The Ottoman slave trade and its suppression: 1840-1890 (Princeton, 1982);
2. idem, State and society in mid-nineteenth century Egypt (Cambridge, 1990);
3. idem, Slavery and abolition in the Ottoman Middle East (Seattle and London, 1998), 135-136, n.1;
4. and the volume of essays, Miura Toru and John E. Philips (eds) Slave elites in the Middle East and Africa (London and New York, 2000),
5. esp. Ehud R. Toledano, The concept of slavery in Ottoman and other Muslim societies: dichotomy or continuum;
6. Bernard Lewis, Race and slavery in the Middle East: an historical enquiry (New York, 1990).
7. Toledano's discussion of the state of research is in Toledano, Slavery, 135-154;
8. Suraiya Faroqhi, Ottoman men and women (Eren Press, Istanbul, 2002);
9. Nelly Hanna, Sources for the study of slave women and concubines in Ottoman Egypt, In: Amira El Azhary Sonbol (ed) Beyond the exotic: women 's histories in Islamic societies (New York, 2005), 119-130;
10. Madeline Zilfi, Thoughts on women and slavery in the Ottoman era and historical sources. In: El Azhary Sonbol (ed), Beyond the Exotic, 131-138.
11. Dr. Cengiz Sisman and I intend to publish a collection of documents from the seventeenth-century Hasköy court records.
12. See note 1, above. See also the following: Joseph Schacht, An introduction to Islamic law (New York, 1964), 127-130;
13. Robert Brunschvig, 'Abd, Encyclopaedia of Islam, I, 24-40;
14. Gabriel Baer, Slavery and its abolition,
15. in idem, Studies in the social history of modern Egypt (Chicago 1969);
16. Allen W. Fisher, The sale of slaves in the Ottoman Empire: markets and state taxes on slave sales - some preliminary considerations, Boǧaziçi Universitesi Dergisi 6 (1978), 149-174;
17. idem, Studies in Ottoman slavery and slave trade, II: manumission, Journal of Turkish Studies 4 (1980), 49-56;
18. Halil Sahillioǧlu, Slaves in the social and economic life of Bursa in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Turcica 17 (1985), 43-112.
19. In this respect we should not overlook the impressive testimony of Semsigül, sold into slavery in Istanbul and later resided in Cairo, that emerges from the records of a police inquiry. See Ehud R. Toledano, Şemsigül: a Circassian female slave in mid-nineteenth-century Cairo, In: Toledano (ed), Slavery and abolition, deserving of special mention are the studies of Suraiya Faroqhi, Madeline Zilfi, Leslie Peirce, Yvonne Seng, and others, devoted to urban Ottoman society, women, and slaves of both sexes;
20. Madeline C. Zilfi, Servants, slaves and the domestic order in the Ottoman Middle East, Hawwa 2, no. 1 (2004), 1-33;
21. Yvonne J. Seng, Fugitives and factotums: slaves in early-sixteenth- century Istanbul, Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient 39 (1996), 136-166;
22. id., A liminal state: slavery in sixteenth-century Istanbul, In: Shaun E. Marmon, (ed), Slavery in the Middle East (Princeton, 1999), 25-42.
23. Israeli scholars continue to make significant contributions to research in this sphere. See Dror Ze'evi, My Slave, my son, my lord: slavery, family, and state in the Islamic Middle East, Jama'a 4 (1999), 155-159 (Hebrew). Toledano maintains that slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a continuum of different degrees and not the status of one clearly defined class and stresses that the Muslim prototype of slavery was fundamentally different from that in the western, European world. The slave in a Muslim environment lived in a state of temporary and relative subordination, though not necessarily in a social status inferior to that of free persons, which also explains why slaves integrated well, as will be seen below, into the household. Toledano and Dror Ze'evi note that patronage ties between the master (together with his family) and his slaves, or between him and his freed slaves were often maintained for many years, and might create surrogate family relationships.
24. See also Dror Ze'evi, The abolition of slavery and Kul Identity, In: Essays on Ottoman civilization, Archiv Orientalni Supp. 8 (Prague, 1998), 411-416;
25. Ron Shaham, Masters, their freed slaves, and the Waqf in Egypt (fifteenth-twentieth centuries), Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient 43, no. 2 (2000), 162-188.
26. Simha Assaf, Slavery and the slave trade among the Jews during the Middle Ages, Zion 4 (1939): 91-125;
27. ibid. 5 (1940): 271-280 (reprinted in idem, In the Tents of Jacob [Jerusalem, 1943], 223-256 [Hebrew]).
28. Hayim Gerber, The Jews of the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: society and economy (Jerusalem, 1983), 14-16 (Hebrew).
29. Ovadia Salama, Slaves owned by Jews and Christians in Ottoman Jerusalem, Cathedra 49 (Sept. 1988), 63-75 (Hebrew), notes that Jews did own Muslim female slaves and male slaves from among the dhimmi, see;
30. see also Amnon Cohen and Elisheva Simon-Pikali, Jews in the Moslem religious court: society, economy and communal organization in the XVIth century documents from Ottoman Jerusalem (Jerusalem, 1993), 391 (Hebrew).
31. Ruth Lamdan, Female slaves in the Jewish society of Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in the sixteenth century, In: Minna Rozen (ed) The days of the crescent: chapters in the history of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire (Tel Aviv, 1996), 355-371 (Hebrew).
32. Hasköy Court Records, Istanbul, vol. 3, 80b; 117;
33. vol. 4, 55b;
34. vol. 5, 44;
35. 49; 52; vol. 9, 9;
36. 10; lia; 16; vol. 10, 15;
37. 56a; 62; 70; vol. 11, 48;
38. 58, vol.12, 4;
39. vol. 14, 48;
40. 66; vol. 17, 24a;
41. 35; 46b-c; 57b.
42. See Walter Heffening, Wala, El (e-version); Shaun E. Marmon, Domestic slavery in the Mamluk Empire: a preliminary sketch, In: Shaun E. Marmon (ed) Slavery in the Middle East (Princeton, 1999), 15-16.
43. Hasköy, vol. 7, 93. Rabbinic literature makes more frequent mention of male slaves.
44. Nelly Hanna claims that Cairene Jews owned mainly Falasha (Ethiopian) slaves: Hanna, Sources (New York 2005), 129. These black women are mentioned by Radbaz, as shameless and notoriously sexual: David Ibn Zimra, Responsa, 1, Venice 1749, §196, 34d.
45. On scarred, injured and lame slaves see for example: Hasköy, vol. 5, p. 44, 52, 108;
46. 121; vol. 9, p. 108;
47. vol. 10, p. 56b;
48. vl. 14, p. 48;
49. vol. 17, p. 44b.
50. Maria (hasköy, 2, p. 32b; 7, p. 54);
51. Hana bint Hristola (3, p. 105);
52. Mazaltov bint Patrik (3, p. 115a);
53. Otine bint Pavan (5, p. 49);
54. Eponiya bint Romana (6,9). On the custom to give them Jewish-Judeo-Spanish names see: Yizhak haCohen, Batey Kehunah, 2, Izmir 1736, Beyt Din, §38, 76c.
55. See for example an order from 1022 (=1613), forbidding dhimmis to employ Muslim slaves: Osman Çetin, Sicillere Göre Bursada Ihtida Hareketleri ve Sosyal Sonuçlari, (1472-1909), Ankara 1994, 96.
56. See, e.g., Hasköy, vol. 3, 115b (four brothers are mentioned); vol. 10, 56a (a brother and a sister). For a case of joint ownership by two female neighbors, see Hasköy, vol. 17, 45a. Similar types of ownership can be found in cases described in the responsa literature. See for example: Mosheh Amarillio, Devar Mosheh, 1, (Salonica 1742), Yoreh De'ah, §56, 85b.
57. Again and again appears the phrase 'she served me loyally'. See for example Hasköy, vol. 10, p. 106; vol. 11, p. 4-5, 7.
58. For example, one volume of court records (Beşjktaş. Court Records, Istanbul, vol. 77, for the years 1077-1779/ 1666-1668)
59. contains five deeds of the kitaba type: vol. 77, p. 24 -
60. it was agreed in the contract concerning a Russian female slaves that she would be freed upon the payment of 100 guruş.. Since she had paid ninety, she would serve one more year in lieu of the other ten; p. 78, 2 - the slave Hannah was freed after fifteen years of loyal service (meaning no attempts to escape or betray her owner); p. 127, 1 - the manumission deed of a female slave; p. 128 - a Jew releases his Russian female slave; p. 131, 1 - agreement for release of Rahela, a Russian female slave, after two years of service.
61. One year: ibid. Hasköy, vol. 3, 105;
62. two years: Hasköy, vol. 9, 9;
63. Hasköy, vol. 10, 106. Conditions were the same in Bursa, see Sahillioǧlu, Bursa (1985).
64. Hasköy, vol. 6, p. 9.
65. Hasköy, vol. 7, 96;
66. vol. 10, p. 56a.
67. See also vol. 7, p. 27, p. 54
68. (a combination of the end of a set period and payment). In another case, a Christian bought his cousin from Yasef the Jew and redeemed her: Hasköy, vol. 14, p.66.
69. see also vol. 11, p. 30, p.78, p.80.
70. Hasköy, vol. 14, p. 68.
71. Handing her over is mentioned in page 67. For another case of two slaves becoming Muslim, but without mention of confiscation, see: Hasköy, vol. 7, 42.
72. Cohen & Pikali, Jews, [Jerusalem 1993], no. 457. In another case from Istanbul the Jewess Sultana was warned by the court to turn over her converted slave to the Kethuda of the Bedestan, (Sijil Beşiktaş., vol. 77, 112).
73. For a case, from Sofia, see G.D. Galabov & H.B. Duda, Die Protokollbücher des Kadiamtes Sofia, München 1960, pp. 82, 167-168, 209.
74. For both cases, see Çetin, Bursa, (Ankara, 1994), 95-96.
75. The following are a few relevant references to travel literature of the seventeenth century: William Lithgow, The total discourse of the rare adventures and painful peregrinations...(Glasgow, 1906), 122-123 (journey conducted in 1610; first ed. 1632);
76. Vaiage de Levant fait par la commandement du ray en l'année 1621, par le Sr. D.C. [L. Des Hayes, Baron de Courmenin], 2d ed. (Paris, 1629), 113;
77. Le voyage d'Italie et du Levant de Messieurs Fermanel [et al.] (Rouen, 1664), 52-53 (Journey ca. 1630);
78. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, A voyage into the Levant..., vol. 1 (London, 1718), 382.
79. See, in extenso, Eliezer Bashan, Captivity and ransom in Jewish society in Mediterranean lands (1391-1830) (Ramat Gan, 1980) (Hebrew). For a Jewish saying about the habit of ransoming captives, usually above their market price, see David ibn Zimra, Responsa, 1:§40, 7a. This fact was known to gentiles: See the testimony of the sixteenth-century Frenchman Pierre Belon quoted in Paul Grunebaum, Les Juifs d'Orient d'après les géographes et les voyageurs, Revue des études juives 27 (1888), 134. For a specific episode, the ransom of the 1648-1650 Polish and Ukrainian Jewish captives, see Daniel Carpi, Initiatives of the Paduan Jewish community on behalf of Polish Jews during and after the massacres of 1648-60, Gal-Ed 18 (2002), 41-72, esp. 41-55 (in Hebrew).
80. Simcha Assaf, leToldot haKaraim beArtzot haMizrah, Zion 1,2 (1936), 238-239. (Hebrew).
81. Hasköy, vol. 10, 56, document 3.
82. Shmuel Florentin, Olat Shmuel (Salonica, 1779), Hoshen Mishpat, §7, 53a (Hebrew). See also David Falcon, Beney David, Kuntres Iguna de-Itetah, 33b. A sixteenth century Jewish slave-dealer from Caffa (the Crimea) in Goa, India, is mentioned in Mosheh Mitrani, Responsa (Venice 1630), 2:§78, 39a.
83. For example the book Yad Ne'eman, from the second half of the eighteenth century, includes a Kuntres Get Shihrur' (tract on a deed of manumission) with a detailed description of the process by which a slave is freed, including the exact text of the statements made before the judges during the act of manumission. To this, the author appended the texts of deeds of manumission. See Haim Miranda, Yad Ne'eman (Salonica, 1804), §7, 55c-d (Hebrew). This care in dealing with manumission contrasts with the lack of similar sources for North African communities. An important North African collection of deeds compiled in the nineteenth century contains no text at all relating to the conversion or manumission of a slave; see Abraham Ankawa, Kerem Hamar, 2, [Livomo 1871], 44-62. For the situation in Morocco, see Daniel Schroeter, Slave markets and slavery in Moroccan urban society, slavery and abolition 13 (1992), 200-206.
84. Here are some of the prices 1 found in seventeenth century court records: Hasköy, Vol. 2, p. 7: 40
85. gold coins (=fiorins), which is about 60 guruş; 5, 302: 35 riyal guruş.; 7, 27: 100 riyal guruş; 7, 54: 5,000 akçe = which is about 50 guruş.; 7, 93: 35,500 akçe = which is about 350 guruş for a male slave (a price that indicates that male slaves were rare); 7, 96: 75 gurus; 7, 111: as a collateral for a 150 gurus debt; 11, 30: 60 gurus; 11, 78: 120 gurus; 11, 80: 250 gurus; 13, 14b: a child was sold for 55 guruş; 14, 66: 80 guruş; 17, 45a: 100 gurus.. Data for the eighteenth century indicating that prices ran from 200 to 300, and even 400, guruş. per slave, see Fisher, Manumission, (1980), 53. In the absence of comparative data, especially on purchasing power, it is difficult to judge these sums.
86. Minna Rozen, Jewish cemeteries in Turkey, Jewish Quarterly Review 83 (1992), 100.
87. Evidence that Jews kept well-trained female slaves in their homes is found in both Jewish sources and texts composed by European travelers. A responsa from Salonica in the early seventeenth century notes the receipt of an imperial prohibition against ownership of female slaves by Jews, for "all of the king's servants in the kingdom know that every man and woman [among the Jews] has better female slaves than do the king and his ministers" (Shlomo le-Beit Halevi, Responsa [Salonica, 1652], Hoshen Mishpat, §42, 79b-c). The French traveler Tournefort seconded this, writing that best and most handsome or beautiful slaves are those in Jewish households, Tournefort, A voyage, (1718, 1, 382) and that of Pierre Belon, as quoted in Grunebaum, Les Juifs (1888, 134-135).
88. On clientage and clientel networks see for example, Leslie P. Peirce, The imperial harem: women and sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford and New York, 1993), 139, 143-144. 210.
89. Gerber, Jews, (1983, 14-15). Compare with the data provided by Yvonne Seng about an ordinance dating from A.M. 1021 (=1612) which obligated all dhimmis freed by Jews and Christians during the past six years to apply to the Shari'a court within three days for new documents. The result was that only 60 men and women turned to the court. See Seng, Fugitives, 31, based on the Istanbul record book, vol. 1, 1a.
90. Des Hayes, Voiage de Levant, (1629, 113). The transaction might have been disguised as a loan, or some other payment. See for example David ibn Zimra, 4, Livorno 1652, §48, 8a.
91. As we find in Hebrew source from the turn of the seventeenth century: "When a Turk came bearing a proclamation from the king, may his majesty be magnified, that the Jews shall not keep female slaves, and each lime he came the Jews who owned female slaves gave the bearer of the proclamation a certain sum to keep his mouth shut...," (Shelomo le-Beit Halevi, Responsa, [1652], Hoshen Mishpat, §42, 79b). In 1579, Muslims in Jerusalem were irritated by this practice and complained to the Kadi that Jews were using Muslim slaves and servants; see A. Cohen, Ottoman sources for the history of Ottoman Jews, How Important? In: A Levy (ed) The Jews of the Ottoman Empire (Princeton 1994), 700-702.
92. See, e.g., Gerber, Jews, (1983, 14-15); and see Robert Mantran, Istanbul dans la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle: essai d'histoire institutionelle, économique et sociale (Paris, 1962), 106-109, who mistakenly assumes that permission to hold slaves was a relatively late development.
93. Gerber, Jews, 1983, 14-16.
94. See, for example, the ordinances collected and published by Ahmed Refik Altinay, Onuncu Asr-i Hicri'da Istanbul Hayati (1495-1591) (Istanbul, 1930; repr. 1988), 43, nos. 1-2, 50, no. 11.
95. Gerber, Jews, 16 & doc. 29.
96. Assaf, 209-210; Hayyim Shabbetai, Torat Hayim, 3, Salonica 1722, §44-45.
97. "And in the kingdom of Turkey...the king...gave permission to his servants, that anyone who captured infidels from among the enemy may enslave them and sell them as he pleases. And in the war against Cyprus, conquered by one of the king's servants to whom the king entrusted a force, they took captive infidels as male and female slaves and sold them here [i.e., in Safed] and in Damascus in public and even Jews bought some of them, and if it was the law of the land that Jews were prohibited [from doing so]...then Jews could not have bought them publicly and drawn up a bill before the judges as evidence of their purchase....In Egypt, too, they bought many from among them [the captives] in public and the Ishmaelite ministers and judges did not complain...," Moshe Mitrani, Responsa, 2, (Venice, 1630), §199, 93a ff, esp. 93d-94b (Hebrew).
98. This is also evident from the decree mentioned above issued by the sultan in 1594/1595; see Gerber, Jews, (1983), doc 29. Such incidents are mentioned in the sijil documents and see above. As for Egyptian Jews holding Muslim slaves see Hanna, Sources, (2005) 129.
99. Such as heating food and drinks, opening and operating businesses. For this last aspect, see, e.g., Hayyim Benveniste, Responsa, Orah Hayyim, 2, Constantinople, 1743, §32, 23a.
100. See Yosef David, Beit David, (Salonica 1740), Yoreh Deah, 1:§127, 84b; Yehoshu'a Shonzin, Nahala li-Yehosu'a (Constantinople 1731), §11, lia; Hisday haCohen Perahya, Torat Hesed (Salonica, 1723), §45, 35d. How slaves managed with kosher food preparation is unclear.
101. See, for example, Menahem de Lonzano's criticism of the practice of asking gentile to do something which is forbidden for a Jew on Saturday: Menahem de Lonzano, Shetei Yadot (Venice, 1618), sect. Tova Tochahat, 135a-b (Hebrew). See also the warning given by Venetian Rabbi Samuel Aboab to an emigrant to the land of Israel, based on rumors that reached him about conditions in the Ottoman empire: Samuel Aboab, Sefer ha-Zikhronot, the Ahavat Shalom edition, (Jerusalem, 2001), 293.
102. Maimonides Responsa, Joshua Blau (ed), §211 (Hebrew). Others ruled differently; see Louis M. Epstein, The institute of concubinage among the Jews, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research VI (1934-5), 153-188.
103. Zvi Zohar has recently discussed the possibility of halachically based concubinage arrangements, Zugiyut 'al pi haHalacha lel'o Huppa veKiddushin, Akdamot, 17 (January 2006), 11-31.
104. On concubinage in medieval Canon Law see: James A. Brundage, Concubinage and marriage in medieval Canon Law, Journal of Medieval History 1 (1975), 1-17 [=Sex, law and marriage in the Middle Ages, Variorum, London 1993, VII];
105. also Brundage, law, sex, and Christian society in medieval Europe (Chicago and London, 1987).
106. Indecision on whether intercourse with a non-Jew or with a slave who converted to Judaism, but does not immerse herself in the ritual bath is found in Hayyim Benveniste's reply to Mosheh Ziyyon; Hayyim Benveniste, Ba'ei Hayyei, Yoreh De'ah, (Salonica, 1788), §228, 168a (Hebrew).
107. They may also have known Spanish Jewish practice. Elliott Horowitz notes that cohabitation with female servants is well documented in the Iberian Peninsula: Elliott Horowitz, Between masters and maidservants in the Jewish Society of Europe in late medieval and early modern times, In: Israel Bartal and Isaiah Gafni (eds) Sexuality and the family in history (Jerusalem 1998, 210). For the Iberian Peninsula, see Yomtov Assis, sexual behaviour in medieval Hispano-Jewish Society, In: Ada Rapoport-Albert and Steven J. Zipperstein (eds) Jewish history: essays in honour of Chimen Abramsky (London, 1988), 25-59.
108. These norms included Jews manumitting slaves and then promoting their social integration, as well as concern about the status of slave offspring. For Jewish excuses for cohabitation, see Hayyim Shabbetai, Torat Hayyim, 3 (Salonica, 1722), §44, 72c-d (Hebrew),
109. and see n. 51 below. There is an affinity here with the Muslim custom of Mut'a marriage,
110. see Walter Heffening, Mut'a, Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM edition, v.1.1 (Leiden 2001).
111. A death sentence decreed in Heaven, meaning moral condemnation, but no punishment in fact.
112. "...and more so in this wicked generation when all are licentious, they conduct sexual relations with female slaves, claiming they it is permitted to themselves because the sum with which they bought her is her marriage price. But this is mistaken, for it is well known that marriage is not valid with a female slave, even if she has been freed....Since illegitimate intercourse is so widespread in this generation, it is inappropriate to inform them of cases in which it is permitted, this in order to erect a protective barrier around the Torah." David Ibn Zimra, Responsa, 7, (Warsaw, 1882), §33.
113. Hayyim Shabbetai, Torat Hayyim, 3 (Salonica, 1722), §44, 72c-d (Hebrew).
114. Joseph Karo, Shulhan 'Arukh, Yoreh De'ah (Venice, 1567), §267, 58b-59b (Hebrew).
115. Elijah de Vidas, Reshit Hokhmah (Venice, 1579), sect. Sha'ar Hakedushah, chap. 17, 31 1a-b (Hebrew). I thank Assaf Nabaro for providing me with this information.
116. On which, see: Ezra ben Yehezkel ha-Bavli, Tochehot Musar (Constantinople 1735), 78a, "...he shall desire in his heart a woman slave...on the gentile woman's bed he shall betrothe her and have many boys born...desire enslaved women and time will mock you...those were the bodily lusts Moabites, 'Amonites, Zidonites, Hittites...in copulating with that cursed body and make love to it, and rejoice and enjoy it...; also, there, no. 106b (Hebrew).
117. See, too, Israel Najara, Mesaheket ba-Tevel (Safed, 1587), 4a (Hebrew);
118. and the eighteenth century ethical treatise of Reuben ben Abraham, Sefer Tikkunei ha-Nefesh, 1 (Salonica, 1765), 196a (Hebrew).
119. On the gap between theory and practice, see for example Yaron Ben-Naeh, Moshko the Jew and his gay friends: same-sex sexual relations in Ottoman Jewish society, Journal of Early Modern History, 9.1 -2 (2005), pp. 79-105.
120. See, in illustration, the father of a bride promising a slave as a part of the presents she brings with her; Moshe Amarillio, Devar Moshe, Yoreh De'ah, (Salonica, 1742), 1, §38, 66a. See also Shelomo ha-Levi, Lev Shlomo, (Salonica, 1808), Even ha-'ezer, §36, 50a, among others.
121. One of the most popular subjects in travel literature is the seemingly extraordinary and 'exotic' aspects of Ottoman family life - how marriages and divorces were conducted, polygamy, and cohabitation with slaves and concubines - that caught the imagination of European readers. See, e.g., two of the more reliable works of this genre: Corneille le Bruyn, Voyage au Levant, 1 (Rouen, 1725), 400-404;
122. Paul Rycaut, The present state of the Ottoman Empire (London, 1668), 151-156.
123. Since Hebrew marriage documents and wills are not recorded in the sijil, we will not find references to this practice there. Hebrew sources, however, are clear: Shmuel de Medina, Responsa, Yoreh De'ah (Salonica, 1596), §194, §195;
124. Hisday ha-Cohen Perahya, Torat hesed, (Salonica 1723), §45, 35d.
125. See also note 69. For a story on a manumitted slave who married the son of a Marrano and a slave woman in Safed,
126. see: Radbaz, Responsa, 2, (Warsaw, 1882), §651, 1 Ib-c.
127. For the women of the harem, see Toledano, The Slave Trade (1982, ch. 1-2). On inheritance see Radbaz, Responsa, 4, (Warsaw, 1882), §1220 [=§149], 45a; Yehiel Bassan, Constantinople 1737, §34, 22b.
128. For slaves inheriting their masters when there were no natural heirs as a legal norm in late Ottoman Egypt, see Shaham, Masters.
129. Yehiel Bassan, Responsa §109, 75a-b (Hebrew). Another responsum dealt with the case of the son of a female slave who was bom in Ferrara and lived in Salonica - was he obligated to practice levirate marriage with the wife of his half-brother, and was he entitled to some of her property? The adjudicator, who died in 1592, was inclined to reply in the negative. See Avraham de Boton, Lehem Rav (Izmir, 1660), §44, 26d (Hebrew).
130. Lamdan, Slaves, 367.
131. Karo, Shulhan 'Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, (Venice, 1567), §267, para. 9. This was not a vain fear; and indeed this sin is counted among the moral sins of Cairene Jews: see Morris M. Faierstein, trans. and intro., Jewish mystical autobiographies: the book of visions by R. Hayim Vital (New York, 1999), 69.
132. Lamdan, Slaves, 367-368. One may speculate that a slave-girl would comply with sexual requests his wife refused.
133. Lamdan, Slaves, 367-368.
134. Shelomo haCohen, Responsa, 2, (Venice, 1592), second pagination, §4, 8c. The Englishman Hill claimed that the legal wives did not care that their husbands lay with concubines, as long as they came to their own bed once a week; A[aron] Hill, A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire (London, 1733), 84-85.
135. There were other reasons for selling a slave, like the one caught stealing: Yitzhak Adrabi, Divrey Rivot (Salonica, 1582), §312, 156a; another, who was ill-behaving: Radbaz, Responsa, 3, (Warsaw, 1882), §954 = §520,33 d. If a slave became Jewish, the owner had to sell her to another Jew: Moshe Yisrael, Mas'at Moshe, 1, (Constantinople, 1734), Yoreh De'ah, §21, 80a.
136. Mosheh Benbenesht, Pnei Mosheh, 3, (Constantinople, 1719), §41, 72a;
137. Yitzhak Ibn Shanji, Be'erot haMayim (Salonica, 1755), Even ha'Ezer, §52, 187c;
138. Beyt David, 1, Yoreh De'ah (Salonica, 1740), §125, 82c;
139. Avraham Avigdor, Zekhor le-Avraham (Constantinople 1827), Yoreh De'ah, §15, 20c. Note that Muslim religious law also permits marrying off a slave who had a kitaba contract.
140. There does exist documentation for women's refusal to marry their fathers' choices in the West, notably sixteenth century Rome; on which see, Kenneth Stow, Marriages are made in heaven: marriage and the individual in the Roman Jewish ghetto, Renaissance Quarterly 48 ( 1995): 452-91. For a rare case of a slave-girl refusing her future spouse, perhaps because of his greed and insistence on virginity,
141. see Mosheh ha-Kohen, Kehunat Olam (Constantinople, 1740), §69, 75a.
142. In her study of domestic order in the Ottoman Empire, Zilfi, "Servants, Slaves," sees female slaves as a symbol of subordination and sexual availability that was characteristic of the status of women at the beginning of the modern age. She points to their duties as women and wives and to the blurred boundary between domestic chores and the production of merchandise for sale. Zilfi does not overlook the possibility of social advancement through concubinage or marriage, but emphasizes that mostly the position of women (of all social ranks) was inferior, leaving them open to sexual exploitation on all fronts.
143. "Reuben has a female servant who gave birth a few times, and it was said about her in the city...that she became pregnant by him, and there are those who prove that it was him. And now the time has come that he speaks about a marriage for her [possibly to a friend];" Hayim Benveniste, Baey Hayey, Even ha-Ezer, (Salonica, 1788), §6, 8c [= Mosheh Benveniste, Pney Mosheh, 3, (Istanbul, 1719), §41, 72a)].
144. As recently suggested for Ottoman Cairo: Hanna, Slave women, 125-126.
145. "Reuben bought a male and also a female slave from the idolaters and converted them to the Jewish faith, and married them off to Jews and then he and his wife passed away; are the converts obligated to mourn them as are a son or a daughter.... And if they wish to accept the obligation of mourning, may they do so?" Ephraim ha-Cohen, Sha'ar Ephraim (Sulzbach, 1688), §91, 63d (Hebrew).
146. For cases in which female slaves inherited from their masters, see Meir Melamed, Mishpat Zedek (Salonica 1615), 1:{§52, 165a (Hebrew);
147. Nissim Hayim Mosheh Mizrahi, Admat Kodesh (Salonica 1756), Hoshen Mishpat, 2;§9, 55d (Hebrew).
148. See also Shmuel Yitzhak Modeano, Ne'eman Shemuel (Salonica, 1723), §113, 176a (Hebrew) which clearly mentions the return of gifts to the family of the man who bequeathed them. For wala see above.
149. See the question about a person who insulted another by saying: "Your grandmother was the slave of my grandfather," Eliyahu ibn Hayyim, Responsa (Constantinople, c. 1610), §111, 161b (Hebrew). From the continuation of the responsum (162d), it is clear that the slave also served as a concubine, which leads to the conjecture that such name calling was reserve for descendants of those who had not been completely freed and whose offspring, therefore, were not considered Jews. There is also the possibility that it was known the mother was a loose woman. There were doubts about whether the meat a slave may have slaughtered was kosher, but such meat was not rejected out of hand: "The son of a Canaanite female slave who had not been freed, and he too was not freed, is he fit to slaughter and check the meat for all of Israel?" Shlomo haCohen, Responsa, 2, (Venice, 1592), §175, 128b (Hebrew).
150. Yosef Kaplan, The Portuguese community in seventeenth century Amsterdam and the Ashkenazi world, Dutch Jewish History, 2, (Jerusalem, 1989), 23-45. Kaplan restates this point more sharply, In: From new Christians to New Jews (Jerusalem, 2003), 70-73 (Hebrew). The late Robert Cohen, demonstrated that in the New World, blacks and mulattoes who were the offspring of slaves once owned by Jews and converted to Judaism were relegated to the fringes of the community and made the object of discrimination;
151. Robert Cohen, Another environment: the Jewish nation in Surinam (Amsterdam, 1982), 96;
152. Jonathan Schorsch, Portmanteau Jews: Sephardim and race in the early modern Atlantic World, In: D. Cesarani (ed) Port Jews: Jewish Communities in Cosmopolitan Maritime Centers, 1550-1950 (London 2002), 59-74.
153. For questions of Jewish Identity see Salo W. Baron, Problems of Jewish Identity from a Historical Perspective, A survey, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 50 (1978/9), pp. 34-67;
154. Yosef Kaplan, Wayward new Christians and stubborn new Jews: the shaping of a Jewish identity, Jewish History 8 (1994), pp. 27-41;
155. Minna Rozen, Jewish identity and society in the seventeenth century, Tübingen 1992.
156. For proselytes and their status in the Ottoman Empire see Eliyahu haLevy, Zekan Aharon (Constantinople, 1734), §19, 25d;
157. op. cit. §111, 69d;
158. Binyamin Ben Mattitya, Responsa Binyamin Ze'ev (Venice, 1539), §72, 138a-b.
159. See also Aharon haKohen Perahya, Parah Mateh Aharon, 2, (Amsterdam, 1703), §51, 90a;
160. Yosef Almoshnino, Edut biYehosef, 2:§20, 46b;
161. Shmuel Yosef, Ne'eman Shemuel, §33, 37b. For a question about the qualification of a proselyte to serve as a Parnas see Hayim Benbenesht, Baey Hayei, Hoshen Mishpat, 1, (Salonica, 1788), §2, 1b. For manuals of Judaization,
162. see Yosef David, Beyt David, 1, Yoreh De'ah, §130, 84d-85a;
163. Mosheh Amarillio, Devar Mosheh, 1:§58, 89c-d;
164. Shmuel Florentin, Olat Shmuel, Even haEzer, §13, 40c-d.
165. A rough parallel to what we have been describing comes from Italy, where servants - not slaves; the differences are many - effectively became part of the family. Some servants had sexual relations with their masters, often with the hope of marrying when they left their positions; on which, see Howard Adelman, Servants and sexuality: seduction, surrogacy, and rape: some observations concerning class, gender, and race in early modern Italian Jewish families, In: Tamar M. Rudavsky (ed) Gender and Judaism (New York-London 1995), 81-97. See also Horowitz, Maidservants.