Pious and Rebellious: Jewish Women in Medieval Europe

Avraham Grossman offers a comprehensive study of Jewish women in Europe during the High Middle Ages (1000-1300). Examining multiple aspects of women's lives in medieval Jewish society, Grossman shows that this period saw a distinct improvement in the status of Jewish women in Europe relative to their status during the Talmudic period and in Muslim countries. Two main factors fostered this change: the transformation of Jewish society from agrarian to "bourgeois," with women performing an increasi…