SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is intended to examine the state of women within the Jewish Pale of Settlement during the nineteenth century. The mode of analysis is strictly a literary one, though considerable space is given both to the relevant religious sind historical backgrounds. Chapter One examines the place of women in the traditional Jewish literary sources, both Biblical and Rabbinic, Attention is drawn to the increasingly confined social atmosphere in which Jewish women lived their lives, which explains their apparent subjugation within the kehillot of Eastern Europe. Chapter Two deals with the historical framework germane to the issues that have to be dealt with. It is the main contention of this chapter that the forces of the Enlightenment provided a firm challenge to the hegemony of the male within the community; women sought a certain amount of liberation from traditional constraints and education provided the main impetus for greater individualism. Chapters Three and Four take a look at the way in which two leading 19th century Hebrew novelists treated women in their works: Abraham Mapu and Mendele Mokher Sefarim. The whole spectrum of the social tensions that women faced are to be found via the vivid characterisation of both authors. The conclusion points to the contrasting approach of both these authors and the extent to which their portrayal of women is both a valid and valuable contribution to our knowledge of women in 19th century Eastern Europe.