Marital Relations (2009 Levine), book

Marital Relations in Ancient Judaism (2009) is a book by Étan Levine.

Abstract

This volume surveys the legal and literary references to gender, sexuality and marital relations found in biblical sources and Rabbinic texts until the end of the Tamudic era (c. 600 C.E.). Subject areas include Israel‘s familial historiography, kinship and law in biblical Israel, gender and status, judicial review of law, divine covenant and marriage covenant, conditions mandating divorce, monogamous and polygamous marriage, levirate surrogate marriage, endogamy and exogamy, marital choice, marriage and reproduction as religious imperatives, the home as a ‚small temple‘, the marital writ for ontological security, emotional fi delity, the validation of eroticism, love‘s body: idealization and aesthetics, denial of sexual responsibility as Judaism‘s original sin, sexuality and dignity, conjugal rights and responsibilities, fertility and infertility, contraception and abortion, erotic and reproductive techniques, menstruation: The time to refrain from embracing, the suspected adulteress, children and eternity. (abstract distributed by the publisher)

Editions and translations

Published in Germany (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für altorientalische und biblische Rechtsgeschichte, 10; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009). ISBN: 978-3-447-05868-1

Reviews

A review of the book in German (written by Thomas Hieke) will be published in "Theologische Literaturzeitung".

Table of contents

• Preface VII
• Acknowledgements IX
• Abbreviations XI
• Prologue: Introduction to a People 1

The People of Families – Nomothetic Information: Covenant and Circumcision – Covenant and Continuity – Societal Law and Human Sexuality – Lore Supplements Law – Asking the Right Questions – Crossing the Intellectual Divide

• I. Kinship and Law in Biblical Israel 14

The Family Book – Divine Covenant as Marital Covenant – The People’s Familial Historiography – The People – The Tribe – The Clan – The Family-House – The Marital Unit – The People’s Supervision of the Family – Structures of Monogamy and Polygamy – On the House Divided – The Morality of Biblical Polygamy – Levirate Surrogate Marriage – A People of Two Genders

• II. The Home as a ‘Small Temple’ 40

Becoming a People of Families – The Book, Bookmen and Book Folk – Discourse on Gender: Sex, Marriage and Reproduction – The Jewish People Attends Every Wedding – Marriage as a Religious Imperative – Reproduction as a Religious Imperative – Encouraging Youthful Betrothal – Who Marries Who? Prohibited and Preferred Unions – The Incest Taboo – Levirate Surrogate Marriage – The Ethnicity Requirement – Lineage, Status and Community Preferences – Polygamous Marriages

• III. On Gender and Legal Status 76

Gender Status in Antiquity – The Linguistics of Gender – Women’s Legal Rights and Judicial Review – Marital Law and Gender Status – She Ascends With Him

• IV. Love as a Legal Construct 97

The Loving Bond – Marital Choice in Heaven and on Earth – Infatuation is not Love – Love and Ontological Security – Honor as Protective Care – Loving Laboring – Compassionate Connection: Spousal Dignity – Conflict Avoidance and Resolution – Transcending Ambivalence and Alienation – Divorce as Amputation – The Divorcing Wife – Divorce as Sexual Separation – The Idea of Eternal Existential Unity

• V. Validating Human Eroticism 140

Sexuality in Bible Lore – Conjugal Joy: Liberation from Reproduction’s Tyranny – Transcending Gynophobia – Confronting Sex Negation – Jewish Sexuality and Anti-Semitism

• VI. Free Will, Law and the Moral Imperative 152

Determinism as Judaism’s ‘Original Sin’ – Transcending Temptation – Israel’s Self-Discipline as Self-Definition – Human Dignity and Sexual Modesty – Female Dignity as Legally Inviolate – Pre-Marital and Extra-Marital Sex – The Sweetness of Stolen Waters – Betrothal as Sexual Consecration – ‘You Will Not Covet’ – The Concept of Emotional Fidelity

• VII. Woman as Sexual Suspect 187

On Cross-Cultural Sexual Mistrust – Wifely Fidelity, Children’s Paternity and Israel’s Covenant – Male Control of Female Chastity – The Accused Bride – A Bride’s Presumed Innocence – Sotah: The Suspected Adulteress – Measure for Measure in a Procedure – Emotional Cleansing – Abrogating theah Double Standard – A Wife’s Presumptive Innocence

• VIII. Sexual Relations in Marriage Law 209

‘Onah: the Crux of Marriage – Ramifications for Textual Interpretation – Ramifications Regarding Female Sexuality – A Husband’s Conjugal Responsibilities – A Husband’s Sexual Rights – The Sexual Quantum Meruit – The Marital Couch vs. The Scholar’s Seat – Sabbath and Holy Day Sex – Sex During Pregnancy – Postpartum Sex

• IX. The Time to Refrain From Embracing 232

Wholeness and Holiness – The Menstruating Fountain of Life – Sexual Separation During Menstruation – Female Sexual Empowerment – Niddah: Bodily Purity and Female Dignity – Sanctity, not Anxiety

• X. Love’s Body: Anticipation and Idealization 243

Anticipating Conjugality – Sexual Realities and Cognitive Dissonance – On Bridal Virginity – Conjugality and Age Symmetry – Physical Aesthetics in Jewish Culture – Winning the Genetic Lottery – Aesthetic Subjectivity – The Poetry of Sexual Anticipation – The Idealized Body – Uniqueness of the Beloved – Beautification Necessities – Religious Dispensations for Beauty and Dignity – Aesthetics and the Aging Wife

• XI. Lawful Conjugality: The Loving Embrace 266

Wedding as Entering Eden – Lovemaking Surroundings – Privacy of Conjugal Sex – Cleanliness in Conjugality – Consummating Marriage – Sexual Learning – To Whom Does a Woman’s Body Belong? – Conjugality as Lovemaking – Holistic Sexuality: Emotional Fidelity – The Whole-Body Experience – Over-Knowing as Love’s Executioner – Sanctity in Sexuality – The Consequences of Repugnant Sex – Marital Intercourse as a Free Option – The Concept of Marital Rape – Timing: By Invitation Only – Who Solicits and Initiates an Encounter? – On Sexual Positions – Intercourse: ‘Usual’ and ‘Unusual’ – Woman Comes First: The Female Orgasm – On Masculinity and Virility – Aphrodisiacs and Healthful Behavior – Aging and Virility: The Parade’s End

• XII. Children: Married Life and Eternal Life 313

Conjugality as Eternity’s Portal – How Babies are Born: The Three Parents – The Infertility Dilemma – The Mothering Instinct – How Many Children to Have – The Preference for Sons – On Birth Spacing – Attitudes to Birth Control – The Woman’s Body and the Woman’s Decision – The Crises of Childbirth – Positions for Reproductive Sex – ‘I Can Make All My Children Be Males’ – Repeated Female Orgasms – Repeated Sex During Pregnancy – Blessing For the Person Who Has Everything

• Epilogue 335
• Select Bibliography 339
• Index 347