ThePathofMoses:AScholarlyEssayontheCaseofWomeninReligious Faith The Brill Reference Library of Judaism Editors AlanJ.Avery-Peck(CollegeoftheHolyCross) WilliamScottGreen(UniversityofMiami) EditorialBoard HerbertBasser(Queen’sUniversity) BruceD.Chilton(BardCollege) MayerI.Gruber(Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev) IthamarGruenwald(TelAvivUniversity) ArkadyKovelman(MoscowStateUniversity) BaruchA.Levine(NewYorkUniversity) AllanNadler(DrewUniversity) JacobNeusnerZ”l(BardCollege) MarenNiehoff(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem) GaryG.Porton(UniversityofIllinois) AviezerRavitzky(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem) DovSchwartz(BarIlanUniversity) GünterStemberger(UniversityofVienna) MichaelE.Stone(HebrewUniversityofJerusalem) ElliotR.Wolfson(UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara) volume 73 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/brlj The Path of Moses: A Scholarly Essay on the Case of Women in Religious Faith By MózesSalamon Translated,annotated,andintroducedby JuliaSchwartzmann leiden | boston ThisbookisanannotatededitionoftheoriginalHebrewtextofM.Salamon,NetivMoshe:Maamar MeḥkariʿalMishpathaNashimbaEmunah,Vienna,1899. Coverillustration:ReuvenRubin,BytheSukkah(1923),courtesyofRubinMuseum,TelAviv. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Salamon,Mózes,author.|Schwartzmann,Julia,translator. Title:ThepathofMoses:ascholarlyessayonthecaseofwomeninreligiousfaith /byMózesSalamon;translatedandintroducedbyJuliaSchwartzmann. Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,2022.|Series:BrillreferencelibraryofJudaism, 1571-5000;volume73|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. Identifiers:lccn2022010697(print)|lccn2022010698(ebook)|isbn 9789004514232(hardback)|isbn9789004515000(ebook) Subjects:lcsh:WomeninJudaism.|Jewishwomen–History–19thcentury.| Feminism–Religiousaspects–Judaism–History. Classification:lcc bm729.w6s252022(print)|lcc bm729.w6(ebook)|ddc 296.082–dc23/eng/20220512 lcrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022010697 lcebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022010698 TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill‑typeface. issn1571-5000 isbn978-90-04-51423-2(hardback) isbn978-90-04-51500-0(e-book) Copyright2022byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillNijhoff,BrillHotei,BrillSchöningh,BrillFink, Brillmentis,Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,BöhlauandV&Runipress. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedinaretrievalsystem, ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise, withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.Requestsforre-useand/ortranslationsmustbe addressedtoKoninklijkeBrillnvviabrill.comorcopyright.com. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner. toMichael ∵ Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Introduction 1 1 TheSignificanceofNetivMoshe:MaamarMeḥkariʿalMishpathaNashim baEmunah 1 2 HistoricalBackground 3 3 RabbiMózesSalamon(1838–1912) 8 4 NetivMoshe:MaamarMeḥkariʿalMishpathaNashimbaEmunah 13 5 TheRootsofGenderInequalityinJudaism 16 6 TheMainArguments 17 7 ExamplesofGenderInequality 22 8 OutstandingWomen 34 9 ClosingRemarks 37 10 NotesontheTranslation 38 EnglishTranslationandHebrewOriginal 41 Translator’sNotestotheText 124 Glossary 135 Bibliography 137 Index 146 Acknowledgements Writing these acknowledgements has been my secret fantasy for some time now.Iwouldlieawakeinthemiddleof thenightcountingonmyfingersall thosewhohelpedmegettothispoint.FaithfultomyRussianroots,Iwastoo superstitioustowritedowntheirnames,soIhopeIwillnotforgetanyonenow thatthetimehascome. Iwanttobeginwiththosewhodirectlyhelpedmewiththisbook.TheFanya GottesfeldHellerCenterfortheStudyofWomeninJudaismatBarIlanUniver- sityawardedmetheirprizein2020forthisbook.Asidefrombringingmepride andjoy,theprizealsohelpedfinancepartsoftheproject.ShaniTsoref,whom Inevermetinperson,didanexcellentjobeditingmytranslationofSalamon’s essay.ManythankstoGabrielLanyi,whokindlytookuponhimselftotranslate theHungarianpartsof thematerial.Gabi,youreleganttranslationmademe appreciatewhatisformeamysteriouslanguage. I also want to thank the people who contributed in various ways to this project(inrandomorder): MenachemKellnerforbeingsuchagoodandgenerousfriend,alwaysready tohelp. BerelDovLerner,myfriendandcolleaguewhomIshamelesslyuseasmy advisorandoccasionalEnglisheditor.Berel,thankyouforyourkindness,for ourconversations,andyourabilitytolisten,whichisnottobetakenlightly. TamarZewi,mylongstandingfriend,whoseadviceisalwaysprecious.Tami, overtheyearsIhavewonderedwhatgoodbus-fairyarrangedoursharedbus- ridetoJerusalembackin1988? NaomiDe-Malach,myfriendandlibrary-mate,thankyouforthetimewe spendtogetherattheHaifaUniversityLibrary.WithoutyouIwouldnotroam thelibrary’saisles,andIwouldprobablynothavefoundSalamon’sMaamar. MyfriendsTalia,Olga,Noga,David,Sonia,andmydaughter-in-lawLihi,who tookspecialinterestinmyworkandcheeredmeupwheneverIwasinlowspir- its.Manyotherfriendsmayhavenotfollowedmyworkclosely,butthesheer ideaof havingsomanypeoplecaringaboutmegivesmeaverywarmfeeling ofbelonging. My dear family. My wonderful children Hanna, Samuel, and Eitan.Thank youforyourlove,support,andpatience.Youarenotonlymybelovedchildren, butalsomyfriendsandkindredspirits.Nowyou,Michael.Youaretheengine pullingmeforwardthroughlife.Idon’tcarewhereyouwilltakeme,aslongas youholdmyhand.Ihavesomuchtothankyoufor,butIwillleavethatbetween us.