Sex, Marriage and Family in World Religions by Witte Green Browning Page A
Authors: Witte Green Browning
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always preferring sons). First marriages were often arranged by parents, and children usually married in their teens, an option afforded by the concentration of Jews in commercial or financial professions.
Motives for unions, especially in the middle classes, were frequently based on family or business considerations, factors that could also destabilize marriage when relations soured. But other factors undermined Jewish family life, as well, including concern for a family’s reputation, the extended absences of Jewish traders, persecution and its consequences, and conversion of a spouse to the majority’s faith. Furthermore, sexual impropriety, whether with Jews or non-Jews, was not uncommon at different times, especially among the social elite, who also applied their poetic talents to physical pleasures (Docs. 1–40 to 1–42).
All in all, though, the married state was the natural one for adults; widowed or divorced individuals remarried, especially if there were smaller children, but even if they were older. We do not find movements among Jews parallel to the strong ascetic communities found among Christians and Muslims, although some ambivalence over marriage occasionally surfaced in Jewish literature.
Owing to its urban setting, Jewish life in both Muslim and Christian societies was intensely communal. Marriage and divorce assumed a public character: weddings moved to the synagogue, and consent of community leaders was at times required for weddings and divorces. Indeed, most family celebrations (births, circumcisions, deaths) became public events, with many local rituals evolving for each. In medieval Europe the involvement of religious authorities grew (as it did among Christians), leading to increased standardization of both practice and contracts in marriage and divorce to ensure the propriety of all such ceremonies. Codification became its own genre, and handbooks for divorce were common in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. (Doc. 1–43). The community saw itself responsible as well for the education of youth (i.e., boys), ensuring the transmission of traditional values to another generation.
Both medieval Islam and Christianity were marked by dualistic views of the human being, pitting body and soul in an ongoing struggle for dominance— and not infrequently linking the soul with maleness and body with the femi-10
m i c h a e l s . b e r g e r
nine. Perhaps as expressions of a common Zeitgeist, from the twelfth century onward ascetic and body-negating trends emerged in Jewish circles in three different contexts. Rationalists, such as Maimonides, associated Judaism’s goals with the intellectual perfection found in classic philosophy, and in his legal and philosophical writings one finds an unrelenting effort to limit indulgence of the body through food and particularly sex, except to fulfill the commandment to procreate or the wife’s conjugal right (Docs. 1–44 to 1–47). In Spain, and later throughout the Jewish world, mysticism was becoming much more structured and systematic through the Kabbalah and similarly looked to dampen the body’s urges as the soul sought communion (deveikut) with God—although sexual metaphors were constantly used to describe the desired metaphysical state (Docs. 1–48 to 1–51). Finally, German Jewish pietism, perhaps in mimicry of its Christian surroundings, devalued the sexual appetite as a distraction that saps energy for higher purposes (Docs. 1–52 to 1–55). Nevertheless, one does find texts in this period that attempt to infuse sex with sensitivity and spirituality, considering the carnal capable of sanctification (Doc. 1–56).
s e x , m a r r i a g e , a n d f a m i l y
i n t h e m o d e r n p e r i o d
The relatively segregated character of Jewish society and its traditional mores began to erode over the course of the late Middle Ages. Profound political, economic, and social forces, along with powerful charismatic religious movements such as
Motives for unions, especially in the middle classes, were frequently based on family or business considerations, factors that could also destabilize marriage when relations soured. But other factors undermined Jewish family life, as well, including concern for a family’s reputation, the extended absences of Jewish traders, persecution and its consequences, and conversion of a spouse to the majority’s faith. Furthermore, sexual impropriety, whether with Jews or non-Jews, was not uncommon at different times, especially among the social elite, who also applied their poetic talents to physical pleasures (Docs. 1–40 to 1–42).
All in all, though, the married state was the natural one for adults; widowed or divorced individuals remarried, especially if there were smaller children, but even if they were older. We do not find movements among Jews parallel to the strong ascetic communities found among Christians and Muslims, although some ambivalence over marriage occasionally surfaced in Jewish literature.
Owing to its urban setting, Jewish life in both Muslim and Christian societies was intensely communal. Marriage and divorce assumed a public character: weddings moved to the synagogue, and consent of community leaders was at times required for weddings and divorces. Indeed, most family celebrations (births, circumcisions, deaths) became public events, with many local rituals evolving for each. In medieval Europe the involvement of religious authorities grew (as it did among Christians), leading to increased standardization of both practice and contracts in marriage and divorce to ensure the propriety of all such ceremonies. Codification became its own genre, and handbooks for divorce were common in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. (Doc. 1–43). The community saw itself responsible as well for the education of youth (i.e., boys), ensuring the transmission of traditional values to another generation.
Both medieval Islam and Christianity were marked by dualistic views of the human being, pitting body and soul in an ongoing struggle for dominance— and not infrequently linking the soul with maleness and body with the femi-10
m i c h a e l s . b e r g e r
nine. Perhaps as expressions of a common Zeitgeist, from the twelfth century onward ascetic and body-negating trends emerged in Jewish circles in three different contexts. Rationalists, such as Maimonides, associated Judaism’s goals with the intellectual perfection found in classic philosophy, and in his legal and philosophical writings one finds an unrelenting effort to limit indulgence of the body through food and particularly sex, except to fulfill the commandment to procreate or the wife’s conjugal right (Docs. 1–44 to 1–47). In Spain, and later throughout the Jewish world, mysticism was becoming much more structured and systematic through the Kabbalah and similarly looked to dampen the body’s urges as the soul sought communion (deveikut) with God—although sexual metaphors were constantly used to describe the desired metaphysical state (Docs. 1–48 to 1–51). Finally, German Jewish pietism, perhaps in mimicry of its Christian surroundings, devalued the sexual appetite as a distraction that saps energy for higher purposes (Docs. 1–52 to 1–55). Nevertheless, one does find texts in this period that attempt to infuse sex with sensitivity and spirituality, considering the carnal capable of sanctification (Doc. 1–56).
s e x , m a r r i a g e , a n d f a m i l y
i n t h e m o d e r n p e r i o d
The relatively segregated character of Jewish society and its traditional mores began to erode over the course of the late Middle Ages. Profound political, economic, and social forces, along with powerful charismatic religious movements such as
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