Spanish Ladies from the Cairo Geniza

Mediterranean Historical Review

Volumn 6, Issue 2, 1991, Pages 237-267

  Kraemer, Joel L ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84963196748     PISSN: 09518967     EISSN: 1743940X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09518969108569626     Document Type: Article

References (145)

1. A. Baião, Antonio, Itinerario da Terra Sancta e suas Particularidades, 1927, 284-286, (Coimbra)
2. M. Ish-Shalom, Christian Travels in the Holy Land, 1979, 293-294, see, (Tel Aviv), (Hebrew). Pantaleao de Aveiro, a Portuguese traveller, was a Franciscan priest from the Algarves. He accompained Bonificio de Aragosa on his Journey to Palestine at the head of a group of 60 monks, at the time of Pope Pius IV, dedicating his book to Archbishop Don Miguel de Castro of Lisbon. His visit took place some time around 1565
3. The Population of Palestine and Syria in the 16th Century (according to a Portugal Source), N. Slousch, Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, 1934, 323-328, See, –35), (Hebrew)
4. J. Braslavsky, Studies in Our Country: Its Past and Remains, 1954, 198, (Tel Aviv), (Hebrew)
5. I. Shalom, Ish, Christian Travels, 25-26
6. J. Sambari, Joseph, Sefer Divre Yosef, 1981, 254, The Jewish population of Rosetta (Rashîd) was greatly increased by the influx of Iberian refugees in the sixteenth century, and it ranked just after Cairo and Alexandria in renown. It was then a major port for commerce between Egypt and Turkey. On the settlement of Spanish exiles in Rosetta, see, MS Paris AIU H 130A, fol. 129b (in the offset edition of S. Shtober [Jerusalem
7. Neubauer, Medieval Jewish Chronicles, 1887, 1, 156, Oxford
8. E. Strauss-Ashtor, History of the Jews in Egypt and Syria under the Rule of the Mamlūks, 1944, 2, 445, (Jerusalem, –70), (Hebrew)
9. Egyptian Jewish Settlements from the 16th Century to the 18th Century, A. David, The Jews in Ottoman Egypt (1517-1914), 1988, 26, J. Landau (ed.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
10. Castillian, Portuguese, Ladino: The non-Hebrew Literatures of Sephardi Jewry, Y.H. Yerushalmi, Then and Now: Annual Lectures on the Jews of Greece (1977–1983), 1984, 35-53, See Z. Ankori(ed.), Tel Aviv, (Hebrew), Yerushalmi stresses that Spanish Jews who remained in the West spoke Castilian and those in the East spoke Judaeo-Spanish
11. Baião, Itinerario, 482-484
12. I. Shalom, Ish, Christian Travels, 299-300
13. Pride and Depression — Polarity of the Spiritual and Social Experience of the Iberian Exiles in the Ottoman Empire, R. Hacker, Culture and Society in Medieval Jewry: Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Haim Hillel Ben Sasson, 1989, 541-586, On the despair of the exiles, see, M. Ben-Sasson et al. (ed.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
14. Baião, Itinerario, 471-474
15. I. Shalom, Ish, Christian Travels, 296-298
16. S.W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 1983, 18, 74-86, For a good summary and sources, see, (New York)
17. C. Roth, The House of Nasi: The Duke of Naxos, 1948, and see, (Philadelphia)
18. P. Grunebaum-Ballin, Joseph Naci: Duc de Naxos, 1968, (Paris-The Hague)
19. Money, Love and Power Politics in Sixteenth Century Venice: The Perpetual Banishment and Subsequent Pardon of Joseph Nasi, B. Ravid, Italia Judaica, 1983, 159-181, (Atti del 1 Convegno internazionale, Bari, 18–22 maggio 1981) (Rome)
20. Baron, Social and Religious History, 18, 109ff, especially p. 159, n. 1, for bibliography (my thanks to Benjamin Arbel for orientation). It should be noted that Dona Gracia was very active in the Sultan's court, which explains the lease of land in Tiberias and its vicinity, and the ‘proto-Zionist’ experiment of Jewish settlement there. A good account is given by
21. Consolations for the Tribulations of Israel, 1977, 37, The experiment rested partly on the burgeoning textile industry in the area. Joseph Nasi imported Spanish wool and perhaps Merino sheep. The synagogue Della Senora in Istanbul was named after her. Dona Gracia was also a patron of scholars. Samuel Usque dedicated his famous, to her. See the translation from the Portuguese by M.A. Cohen (Philadelphia)
22. Slousch, The Population of Palestine, 323-324
23. F.F. Guerreiro, Fr. Francisco, Itinerario, 1774, (Lisbon), (1586); and Juan di Jesus Christo, who wrote a travel book on Jerusalem in 1580, published in Lisbon in 1831
24. The Population of Palestine, Slousch, 324, The suggestion was made by
25. Baião, Itinerario, 54-55
26. Baião, Itinerario, 64-65
27. The Jews in Cyprus: New Evidence from the Venetian Period, B. Arbel, Jewish Social Studies, 1978, 41, 23-40, On the Jews in Cyprus during this period, see
28. Y. Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, 1978, 2, 103, See trans. L. Schoffman (New York)
29. Y. Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, 1978, 2, 131-132, About Jewish women's loyalty to their religious creed, see also
30. Baer, History, 2, 509
31. R.J. Jabetz, R. Joseph, Or ha-Hayyim, He cites a well-known text from, Ch. 5: ‘For it was the Spanish women who persuades their husbands to martyr themselves for God, blessed be He, while those who prided themselves on their wisdom exchanged their glory on the bitter day; and this is mighty proof that had they not sought after wisdom, but remained among the simple, their simplicity would have saved them, for God preserveth the simple’. It is significant that Baer returns to this passage on the last page of his chapter on the Expulsion (which is, in fact, the last in the book before the appendix), stressing the verse from Psalms 116:6, ‘God preserveth the simple’. Baer's thesis that the Jewish rationalists had weakened the hold of religion on the faithful cannot be discussed here
32. The Ultimate Challenge: Safeguarding the Crypto-Judaic Heritage, R.L. Melammed, R. Levine, Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research, 1986, 53, 91-109, Meyerson cites
33. Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1974, The author used records of trials of the Inquisitorial Court of Toledo, preserved in the Archivo Historico Nacional in Madrid, and covered the trials of 111 women accused of judaizing between 1492 and 1520. Levine Melammed actually states that ‘more women, namely, conversas, were brought before the Inquisition as judaizantes than were men’ (92, n. 1). Surveying Haim Beinart's, (Jerusalem, –1985), one has the distinct impression that women appear in disproportionately great numbers before the tribunal
34. Conversos on Trial: The Inquisition in Ciudad Real, 1981, 226, See also his, (Jerusalem), 266–8, 275
35. Women in the Converso Community of Fifteenth Century Spain, A.M. Ginio, A. Meyuhas, Pe'amim, 1991, 46, 47, 170-189, Cf., (Hebrew)
36. La femme morisque en Aragon, J. Fournel-Guérin, LesMorisqueset leur temps, 1983, 523-536, (Table Ronde Internationale, 4–7, 1981, Montpellier) (Paris), I am grateful to Dr. Reuven Shaffer for this reference
37. A. Cohen, Jewish Life under Islam: Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century, 1984, (Cambridge, MA-London)
38. M. Rozen, The Jewish Community of Jerusalem in the Seventeenth Century, 1985, See also, (Tel Aviv), (Hebrew), which deals with a later period but is also of value for the previous century
39. Cohen, Jewish Life, 127ff, For details on women, see
40. Rozen, The Jewish Community, 239ff
41. I.M. Goldman, The Life and Times of Rabbi David Ibn Abi Zimra, 1970, The responsa of R. David Ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz) are particularly valuable for the cultural, religious, and socio-economic life in general in Egypt and Palestine in the sixteenth century; see, for example, the material assembled by, (New York)
42. A Correspondence in Yiddish from Jerusalem, Dating from the 1550s, C. Turniansky, Ch., Shalem, 1984, 4, 130-208, (Hebrew)
43. New Geniza Documents on the History of Relations between the Jews of Eretz Israel and the Jews of Egypt in the 16th and 17th Centuries, A. David, Cathedra, 1991, 59, 19-55, See especially, (Hebrew). Avraham David kindly read an earlier draft of this paper and made helpful comments
44. A Judeo-Spanish Letter from the Genizah, I. Benabu, J. Sermoneta, Judeo-Romance Languages, 1985, 127-138, See, (Jerusalem)
45. The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters of Cairo (XVIth-XVIIIth C.), Vierteljahrschrift fur Sozial-und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 1986, 73, 210-215, Ruth Lamdan is working on this material for her Tel Aviv Ph.D. dissertation
46. Life and Times, 11, When women are recorded as giving testimony in court, their actual language was often distorted, as we know from the responsa of Radbaz: ‘I have seen scribes who, being wise in their own eyes, would either add, subtract or interpret of their own accord. I have seen it many times in instances where woman testified and where they gave their testimony in the vernacular [Spanish] or in Arabic, and often the translation of that testimony changed the complexion of the whole case. Be thou among the careful ones’ — cited with slight changes from Goldman
47. Radbaz, Responsa, 1, 98, quoting
48. Strauss-Ashtor, History of the Jews, 2, 441ff, On the waves of emigration from the Iberian Peninsula to Egypt and Syro-Palestine, see especially
49. Baer, History, 2, 103, 158–9
50. A Document from the First Generation of Spanish Exiles in Safed, M. Benayahu, Sefer Assaf, 1953, 109-125, M.D. Cassutto et al. (eds.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
51. The Emigration from Spain to Eretz Yisrael after the Disorders of 1391, B. Dinur, Zion, 1967, 32, 161-174, (Hebrew)
52. The Connections of Spanish Jewry with Eretz-Israel between 1391 and 1492, J. Hacker, Shalem, 1974, 1, 105-154, (Hebrew)
53. Some Letters on the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Sicily, Studies in the History of Jewish Society… Presented to Professor Jacob Katz, 1980, 64-97, E. Etkesand Y. Salmon (eds.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
54. Two 16th Century Emissaries’ Letters from Jerusalem, A. David, Shalem, 1981, 3, 325-332, (Hebrew)
55. On the Intellectual Characterand Self-Perception of Spanish Jewry in the Late Fifteenth Century, J. Hacker, Sefunot, 1983, 2, 21-95, (Hebrew)
56. Spiritual and Material Links between Egypt and Palestinian Jewry in the Sixteenth Century, A. Cohen, G. Baer, Egypt and Palestine: A Millennium of Association (864–1948), 1984, 241-250, (Jerusalem-New York)
57. Strauss-Ashtor, History of the Jews, 2, 493-499, On the three communities see
58. A. Cohen, B. Lewis, Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the 16th Century, 1978, 156, (Princeton), 159
59. The Position of Musta'arabs [sic] in the Inter-Community Relationships in Eretz Israel from the End of the 15th Century to the End of the 17th Century, M. Rozen, Cathedra, 1981, 17, 73-101, (Hebrew)
60. The Jewish Settlement in Palestine at the Beginning of the Ottoman Empire (1517-1599), A. David, The Jewish Settlement in Palestine 634–1881, 1990, 86-141, And see, A. Carmel et al. (eds.), (Wiesbaden), especially pp. 90–117
61. A. Bouhdiba, Sexuality in Islam, 1985, The dynamics of the mother-son relationship in Arab-Muslim society are similar. See, trans. A. Sheridan (London) from La Sexualité in Islam (Paris, 1975)
62. The Child and the Mother in Arab-Muslim Society, A. Bouhdiba, Psychological Dimensions of Near Eastern Studies, 1977, 126-141, L. Carl Brown and N. Itzkowitz (eds.), (Princeton)
63. S.D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1967, 3, 21, (Berkeley-Los Angeles, –88), A Jewish woman from Yemen is cited: ‘A husband— I can get; children — I can bear; but a noble brother — from where shall I get him?’
64. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3, 20-21
65. J. Mann, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine, 1920, 1, 242, The document is preserved in MST-S 13 J 21.10, published by, (Oxford, –22, repr. New York, 1970), Preface and Reader's Guide by S.D. Goitein), Vol. II, p. 309
66. Kobler, Letters of Jews throughout the Ages, 1953, 1, 233-234, and translated by, (London)
67. Strauss-Ashtor, History of the Jews, 2, 83-84, on the basis of the (somewhat erroneous) text in Mann; and see the comments of
68. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 5, 222, MS T-S 13 J 24.22, dates the letter to the sixteenth century, when Mocha became prominent. It is included in his (projected) India Book
69. Mediterranean Society, 3, 240, See also, 478. Mocha (Mukha) is a well-known port on the Red Sea in south-west Yemen, from where coffee (mocca) was shipped. A Jewish community existed there in the sixteenth century
70. Z., al-Zahrī, Zechariah, Sefer ha-Musar, 1965, 40, see, ed. Y. Ratzaby (Jerusalem), 285
71. Goitein, 5-17, 568, See
72. F. Baer, Die Juden im christlichen Spanien, 1936, 2, 413, citing, (Berlin)
73. D.H. Baneth, Epistles, 1946, 123, The expression is newat betkha(literally'housewife'or the like); see Psalms 68:13. It is used consistently as an expression for ‘wife’ in these texts. In the classical period the word ohel (‘tent’, etc.) or bayit (‘house’, etc.) was used. It was considered discourteous to inquire about the welfare (or send greetings) to someone's wife, or even to mention her by name. See, for example, Maimonides’ letter to Judah b. Joseph, (Jerusalem, 2nd edn., 1985), p. 71; trans. Ethical Writings of Maimonides, ed. R. L. Weiss and C. E. Butterworth (New York, 1975), where the sage says that although it is forbidden to ask about the welfare of a woman (according to Bab. Tal. Qiddushin 70b), a prayer is not prohibited, quoting I Sam. 25:6: ‘Greetings to you and to your household and to all that is yours’ (JPS). Note that the wife is alluded to indirectly as ‘household’. The same diffidence is of course exercised in Arab-Muslim society
74. Jews in the Mediterranean Trade in the Later Middle Ages, E. Ashtor, Hebrew Union College Annual, 1984, 55, 176, Candia was the name of Venetian Crete as well as al its capital. The Jews, most of whom were Venetian subjects, traded in wine and other products (sugar, indigo, etc.). See
75. Jewish Life in Crete under the Rule of Venice, J. Starr, Proceedings of The American Academy for Jewish Research, 1942, 12, 88, See also
76. The Connections of Spanish Jewry with Eretz-Israel, Hacker, 126
77. Economic Life from the 16th to the 18th Century, E. Bashan, The Jews in Ottoman Egypt (1517–1914), 1988, 83, And on Candia wine, see also, M. Landau (ed.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
78. E. Gutwirth, A Judeo-Spanish letter from the Genizah, 127-138, Preserved in MS T-S NS 298.11, published and translated by, Gutwirth published a facsimile, a copy in the original Hebrew script and a reconstituted transcription into present-day Judaeo-Spanish and a translation
79. A Judeo-Spanish Letter, Gutwirth, 129, For the identity of Abraham Shalom, see
80. D. Conforte, David, Qore’ ha-Dorot, 1846, 36a, He suggests that this is the Abraham Shalom who was born in Salonica, settled in Safed c. 1530, and died c. 1557. Abraham Shalom was a disciple and colleague of R. Jacob Berav and received ordination from him. Doña Jamīla is the widow of Yom Tov Shalom. On the latter see Joseph Sambari, MS Paris, 73a (Shtober, 142) (=Neubauer, I, 140), ed. D. Cassel (Berlin), 49b
81. The Revival of Ordination in Safed, M. Benayahu, Yitzhak E Baer Jubilee Volume, 1960, 249, And see, S.W. Baron et al. (eds.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
82. Rabbi Yaakob Berab's Academy, H.Z. Dimitrovsky, Sefunot, 1962, 6, 93, 111; 7 (1963), 49, 66 (Hebrew)
83. The Autobiographical and Historical Register of Rabbi Joseph Trani, H. Bentov, Shalem, 1974, 1, 227ff, However, as this was a common name, it is possible that a different Abraham Shalom is intended
84. The Freedom of Trade and the Imposition of Taxes and Custom Duties on Foreign Jewish Traders in the Ottoman Empire, E. Bashan, East and Maghreb, 1974, 105-166, Citing, H.Z. Hirshberg and E. Bashan (eds.), (Ramat Gan)
85. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 4, 145, Sīnī is ‘china’ or ‘porcelain’. See
86. M.B. Eliezer, Moses b., Letters in Yiddish, 153, Cf. the case of, in the Ashkenazi correspondence published by Turniansky, Moses goes with his wife to Egypt, where her family lives. His books, candlesticks, etc., remain with his mother
87. Books in the Private Letters of the Geniza, A. Scheiber, Israel Oriental Studies, 1972, 2, 411-412, The letter is preserved in MS T-S Misc. 35.23. A note in the volume in the Cambridge University Library containing the letter says that this is a ‘letter by a lady. 1 piece papar [sic] Dr. S[chechter]’. A small excerpt, the passage concerning books (see n. 61 below), is given by, (Stern Memorial Volume), (repr. in his Geniza Studies [Hildesheim, 1981]), pp. 409–12, on pp. 392–5
88. A. Grün, 1931, The son's book had been on loan to Abraham. Which commentary on Job is referred to is not stated. Scheiber mentions as possible candidates the commentaries of Sa'adya Gaon, Hai Gaon, Judah b. Bal'am, Moses b. Chikitilla, and an anonymous commentary, (Budapest)
89. Catalogue of the Jack Mosseri Collection, 1990, 193, The document is preserved in MS Mosseri VII, 41.1; see, (Jerusalem)
90. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 1, 15-26, See
91. A. David, New Genizah Documents, 35-36, Preserved in MS Cambridge Or. 1080 J 161, published by
92. R. Yehudah Ḥallēwa and his Ẓafenat Pa'aneah, M. Idel, Shalem, 1984, 4, 119-148, Her husband was the author of Ṣafenat Paneaḥ, completed in 1545. See
93. David, New Genizah Documents, 35, For her two brothers, see, 86
94. Sages in Jerusalem in the 16th Century, A. David, Shalem, 1987, 5, 246-247, See also, (Hebrew)
95. Damascus and Jerusalem, A. Cohen, Sefunot, 1983, 2, 97-104, On contacts, particularly after 1516, between Damascus and Jerusalem, see, (Hebrew)
96. Jews in the Mediterranean Trade, E. Ashtor, 159-178, For Jews in the commerce of Chios, see
97. The Jews in Chios at the Time of the Rule of Genoa (1346-1566), D. Jacoby, Zion, 1961, 26, 180-197, See also, (Hebrew)
98. Jerusalemite Jews in Genoese Famagusta, 1388, B.Z. Kedar, Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, 1979, 198, B.Z. Kedar (ed.), (Jerusalem), 200–201 (Hebrew)
99. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 7, 1151-1152, Samuel b. Moses Ha-Levi Ibn Hakim died some time after 1547; see, s. v.
100. Ashtor, History, 2, 481, He served as rabbi in Egypt, and then moved to Istanbul probably after 1527. See also
101. The Family, Gutwirth, 212-213, MS Cambridge Or. 1080 J 194; see
102. Sambari, Sefer Divre Yosef, MS Paris, 73a (Shtober, 142)(=Neubauer, I, 140), cited by Gutwirth. For the famous Ibn Shoshan family, communal leaders in Toledo from the twelfth century
103. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 8, 1199-1201
104. Hacker, Spiritual and Material Links, 246, Passover was a time of pilgrimages by Egyptian Jews to Palestine; see
105. The Family, Gutwirth, 211-212, Elul began on 9 Aug. that year. See MS T-S 13 J 25.23
106. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 13, 16-17, On the family, see, s.v. Palache
107. I. Daud, Ibn, Sefer ha-Qabbalah, 1967, 66, The name appears in Spain as Palyāj. See, ed. G. D. Cohen (Philadelphia), and n. 64 (Ibn Falija [Palyāj]). The variants Pallache, Palacio, de Palatio, Pallas, Palaggi, Balyash are also attested. Abraham Palieche is signed to a Ladino document from Elul 5324 (began 9 Aug. 1564), preserved in MS T-S 13 J. 25.23a (as pointed out to me by Avraham David). On the other side is a letter to Isaac Palieche, presumably a relative of Abraham and perhaps identical with the Isaac mentioned in our document as is his brother. An Abraham Palieche of Safed, who lived at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is mentioned by Benayahu, ‘The Revival of Ordination in Safed’, 249
108. A. David, New Documents from the Geniza, 33-34, The document is preserved in MS Bodleian Heb. e.94.29, and was published by
109. David, New Documents, 33, See, n. 75. The contract is preserved in MS ENA NS 54.7. Moses Parikh is also mentioned, according to David, in MS ENA 4101. If the identification is correct, then our letter takes us to the beginning of the seventeenth century
110. David, New Documents, 52-53, MS T-S 16.295a, published by
111. Bashan, Economic Life, 232, On living with in-laws, see
112. David, New Genizah Documents, 52, The word is kumasi; see, n. 187
113. Economic Life in Safed and its Vicinity in the 16th Century and the First Half of the 17th Century, Y. Kena'ani, Zion, 1934, 6, 172-217, On the textile business in Safed during this period, see, (Hebrew)
114. Safed — Center of the Manufacture of Woven Woolens in the Sixteenth Century, S. Avitsur, Sefunot, 1962, 6, 41-69, (Hebrew)
115. David, The Jewish Settlement in Palestine at the Beginning of the Ottoman Empire, 89, 101-103
116. David, New Genizah Documents, 54-55, MST-S 16.295b, published by, This is on the reverse side of the previous letter. As both messages were sent to Safed, the senders availed themselves of the same piece of paper. Or perhaps the document is a draft copy, and both senders used the same piece of paper. In any case, there remains the question of how the paper got into the Geniza in Fusṭāṭ if it had been sent to Safed
117. Gutwirth, The Family, 214, MS T-S Ar. 218.151, mentioned by
118. David, New Genizah Documents, 36-57, The letter is preserved in MS Jewish Theological Seminary, ENA 2591.16, and was published by, The large Francofamily was originally from Spain, and dispersed over the Ottoman Empire after the Expulsion
119. On the History of Sages in Jerusalem in the 16th Century, A. David, Shalem, 1987, 5, 236-243, See MS Cambridge Or. 1080 J. 193, published by
120. Settlement, David, 109, See also
121. Bashan, Economic Life, 80, For Sanji, see
122. A Letter from Jerusalem from the Early Ottoman Period in Eretz-Israel, A. David, Jerusalem in the Early Ottoman Period, 1979, 51, For David Ibn Shoshan, see, A. Cohen (ed.), (Jerusalem), (Hebrew)
123. A. David, Te'udah, 1991, 7, MS Oxford Bodl. Heb. e 98.57a, published by
124. On the History of the Family of Sholel in Egypt and Eretz-Israel at the End of the Mamlūk Period and the Beginning of the Ottoman Period, A. David, Galut ahar Golah: Studies in the History of the Jewish People Dedicated to Professor Haim Beinart, 1988, 392-393, MS T-S 8 J 15.30, published by, A. Mirskyet al. (eds.), (Jerusalem), 410–11 (Hebrew)
125. Strauss-Ashtor, History of the Jews, 2, 342ff, See, There are virtually no women's letters from the Mamlūk period. Strauss-Ashtor assigns the letter to Solomon the scribe (above, pp. 247–8) to the fifteenth century (11, 84). But, as noted above, this is not certain
126. Cohen, Jewish Life under Islam, 127-128
127. Rozen, The Jewish Community, 239
128. D.I. Abi Zimra, David Ibn, Responsa, 1, 67, no. 919) dealt with a situation going back to the Mamlūk period whereby indigent Jewish women who worked for Gentile employers in the weaving industry, along with strange men, would lodge there for three or four days and nights. The Nagids pronounced decrees against the practice, but it continued, and the Radbaz bowed to exigency, permitting the women to work but only if they were over forty and did not share worktables with men
129. Strauss-Ashtor, History, 2, 153, See
130. Goldman, Life and Times, 142
131. Bashan, Economic Life, 109
132. Rozen, The Jewish Community, 239-240, For this and the following, see
133. Gutwirth, The Family, 214-215, citing MS NS 264.77. Gutwirth also mentions Misc. 25.76, from the late eighteenth century. The man is asking for charity or repayment: ‘My wife is naked (desnuda), and the dress she wears on the Sabbath is the one she wears all week’. Gutwirth says that this represents freedom in speaking of the wife, although (as he observes) there is extreme need. It may be added, however, that in the classical period women freely spoke of themselves as naked, namely, poverty-stricken
134. Baer, Die Juden im christlichen Spanien, 1-1, 1127, See, Vol. II, p. 566
135. J. Régne, History of the Jews in Aragon, Regesta and Documents 1213–1327, 1978, 695, ed. Yom Tov Assis, with A. Gruzman (Jerusalem)
136. Baer, Die Juden, 1-1, 1117, See, and Vol. II, p. 559
137. Regne, History of the Jews, 687
138. Y.T. Assis, Yom Tov, J.R. Magdalena, J. Ramón, The Jews of Navarre in the Late Middle Ages, 1990, 231, (Jerusalem), It was apparently more common in Castille than in Aragon and Navarre
139. A Correspondence in Yiddish, Turniansky, 153
140. Spiritual and Material Links, Hacker, 243, See
141. Sixteenth Century Egypt and Palestine: The Jewish Connection as Reflected in the Sijill of Jerusalem, A. Cohen, Egypt and Palestine: A Millennium of Association (868-1948), 1984, 234, A. Cohen and G. Baer (eds), (Jerusalem-New York)
142. Spiritual and Material Links, Hacker, 247
143. Sixteenth Century Egypt and Palestine, Cohen, 239
144. Pride and Depression, Hacker, 564-565, See, citing plagues in Damascus (and probably Safed also) in 1513–14, and in Safed in 1533, 1540–43, 1547. And there were more
145. Rozen, The Jewish Community, 241, who notes that only rarely do we find large families of several generations. The second generation often left town