Princess or Prisoner?
Jewish Women in Jerusalem, 1840-1914
Margalit Shilo(Author)
Brandeis University Press
Published on 11. March 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
392 pages
978-1-58465-484-1 (ISBN)
Description
This is a fascinating journey into the world of women in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Jerusalem toward the end of Ottoman rule in the Holy Land. Until now, the story of life in the Land of Israel in this period has been told exclusively from the male viewpoint - a story of religious observance and fulfillment confined to the male world of Torah study and prayer. Margalit Shilo sheds new light on female society of the time, a subject nearly untouched by historians. Through painstaking research, Shilo has unearthed a wealth of primary sources, including women's memoirs, letters, and the contemporary Jewish press. The author weaves together the different threads that made up the world of ultra-Orthodox women in Jerusalem: the experience of immigration to the Land of Israel, marriage, the family unit, economic and philanthropic activities, and female scholarship. She also takes a hard look at the adversities of women's lives, such as desertion, poverty and prostitution. By revealing the unheard, unseen female voice, Shilo paints a new and lively picture of Jewish society in Jerusalem around the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
6ill.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-58465-484-1 (9781584654841)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Margalit Shilo is a professor in the Land of Israel Studies Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. This book was first published in Hebrew by Haifa University Press and was awarded the Ya'acov Bahat Prize for "Outstanding Academic Books" in 2000 by Haifa University.