Marriage Rituals Italian Style: A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies)

534 Pages·2003·1.77 MB·English

by  Roni Weinstein

MARRIAGE RITUALS ITALIAN STYLE
BRILL’S SERIES
IN JEWISH STUDIES
GENERAL EDITOR
DAVID S. KATZ (Tel Aviv)
ADVISORY EDITORS
STUART COHEN (Bar-Ilan)
ANTHONY T. GRAFTON (Princeton)
YOSEF KAPLAN (Jerusalem)
FERGUS MILLAR (Oxford)
VOL. 35
MARRIAGE RITUALS
ITALIAN STYLE
A Historical Anthropological Perspective on Early
Modern Italian Jews
BY
RONI WEINSTEIN
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2004
Cover illustration: Ketubbah.Modena, Italy, 1657 (Friday, 2nd of Nisan 5417 = March 16, 1657).
Parchment. Artist: Judah Frances.
Brill Academic Publishers has done its best to establish rights for the use of the illustration printed on
this volume. Should any other partly feel that its rights have been infringed, we would be glad to hear
from them.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weinstein, Roni.
Marriage rituals Italian style : a historical anthropological perspective on early modern
Italian Jews / by Roni Weinstein.
p. cm. — (Brill’s series in Jewish studies ; v. 35)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13304-6 (alk. paper)
1. Marriage customs and rites. Jewish—Italy. 2. Judaism—Italy—History—16th century. 3.
Judaism—Italy—History—17th century. 4. Anthropology—Italy. I. Title. II. Series.
BM713.W44 2003
296.4’44’0945—dc22
2003057808
ISSN 0926-2261
ISBN 90 04 13304 6
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands
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CONTENTS
Foreword .................................................................................... vii
Acknowledgements ...................................................................... xiii
List of Abbreviations .................................................................. xv
Introduction: The Research Field, The Method,
The Sources, The Research Questions ................................ 1
Chapter One: “An Auspicious Time For Finding Mates”:
Matchmaking (Stage One)—Finding A Partner .................. 52
Chapter Two: “Matchmaking Is Much Like Betrothal”:
Matchmaking (Stage Two)—Signing And Publishing The
Tenaim .................................................................................... 113
Chapter Three: “The Issue Is Not The Ring, But The
Publicity”: Kiddushin—Public And Hidden ............................ 154
Chapter Four: “A Woman’s Voice Is Lewdness”: Gossip,
Honor, and Social Control in the Marriage Ritual ............ 213
Chapter Five: “To Give Her Gifts and Betroth Her by
the Law of Moses and Israel”: Gifts and the Marriage
Ritual ...................................................................................... 262
Chapter Six: “Shame on the Youth who Aches for
Women”: The Marriage Ritual as Seen by the Young .... 311
Chapter Seven: “Mirth And Clowning On This Matter”:
The Wedding Day—Between Pious Joy And Carnival ..... 351
Summary: Marriage Rituals Italian Style ................................ 453
Bibliography ................................................................................ 477
Index ............................................................................................ 505
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FOREWORD
1. The reader of Marriage Rituals Italian Style: A Historical Anthropological
fi
Perspective on Early Modern Italian Jews is rst struck by the vast doc-
umentary structure behind the historical reconstruction. The book
draws from an astonishingly large and diverse range of sources:
responsa of famous and less famous rabbis, letters and letter manu-
als for various life situations, autobiographies, moral tracts, kabbal-
fl
istic literature, prayer books, dialogues documenting family con icts,
legal documents (particularly marriage contracts, often drawn up by
both Jewish authorities and Christian notaries), community ordi-
nances, literature (particularly poetry and plays), as well as a broad
spectrum of non-verbal sources, mainly iconographical documenta-
tion and evidence attesting to the material culture. The originals of
the documents brought together in this reconstruction are preserved
in Moscow and Oxford, Florence and Budapest, Parma, Vienna,
Berlin, Los Angeles, Modena, New York, Cincinnati, Milan, London,
Copenhagen, Mantua, Strasbourg, and obviously Jerusalem, namely,
in a network of libraries spread throughout the Western world. The
evocative power of rabbinic responsa is particularly conspicuous within
this vast panorama of sources and each responsum, perceptively
fl
decoded, reveals the mini-history of a family or a community con ict.
The discerning use of these serial sources, however, does not pre-
vent the author’s use of alternative documentation corroborating the
entire range of the collected evidence. The persistent concern with
fi
diversifying sources and corroborating data ensures the work a rm
solidity of philological and scholarly structure.
On the basis of his vast documentation, Roni Weinstein guides
the reader through seven chapters surveying the successive phases of
fi
the marriage bond, from the rst informal contacts and secret pro-
posals of family alliances, conducted as a rule by a mediator, and
culminating in the solemn wedding celebration and its festive and
public consummation. But the aim of this research is not simply the
reconstruction of the complex of norms and traditions regulating the
behavior of Jewish youth, or the illustration of ritual models inspir-
ing the conduct of their families when searching for marriage part-
ners, signing marriage agreements, and stipulating the wedding
foreword
viii
arrangements. This is only one aspect, and not the most relevant,
of Marriage Rituals Italian Style. The book paints a precise, dense, vital,
and fascinating picture of the social life of families and Jewish Italian
fl
communities, re ecting their complex internal balance and their
dialectic relationship with the tradition and the rules of other Jewish
communities, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, which immigrants established
in Italy. The successful outcome is the fruit of a very prudent method-
ological choice described in the introductory chapter, to which the
author remains rigorously faithful throughout. The attention to the
fl
variety and exibility of ritual norms, the principle of multivalent
symbols, the refusal to regard tradition as a formal system, the view
fl
of ritual as a dynamic and exible interpretation susceptible to con-
fi
tinuous adaptation and transformation according to speci c exigen-
cies and needs—“improvisation in ritual is not only not marginal...
improvisation is essential”—enable Weinstein to look well beyond
the realm of ceremonial events to enter the private realm of fami-
lies as well as the realm of feelings. The result of his investigation
is pervaded by an intellectual tension and a spirit of inquiry that
turns it into spellbinding reading not only for scholars of marriage
and the family but also for researchers of European Jewry.
Italian Jewish communities are captured—and this is the second
element that strikes the reader of Marriage Rituals Italian Style—at
moments of exuberant joy and celebration. We can see nuptial pro-
cessions solemnly celebrating the bride’s entry into the groom’s city;
we glimpse banquets so lavish and festive that they need to be
restrained by sumptuary laws; we hear echoes of music and danc-
ing; we spot signs of ostentatious displays of wealth. The discrimi-
nation, marginalization, and persecution that loomed over these
communities is almost imperceptible, barely a shadow in the mar-
gins. Entire chapters are presented as a succession of festive scenes,
fi
marked by joy and self-con dence. The festivities of the families
entering the alliance are, at the same time, a celebration of the sanc-
tity of life and an homage to the chain of generations beyond death.
Rather than being muted, the moment of the physical, corporeal
reality of the wedding constitutes the point of convergence for all
fl
the threads of the reconstruction. The potential for con ict inherent
in emotional and sexual aspects is not ignored, and children who
do not accept the marriage plans tailored for them by their parents
also feature in the discussion. As a rule, however, the sources sug-
gest that the families’ strategic choices were highly successful in decod-