International Medieval Society, Paris
Société Internationale des Médiévistes, Paris

Symposium 2008 Abstracts

During the eleventh and twelfth century, there is evidence that Jewish women, often defined as pious, began, on their own accord, to limit their ritual activities while menstruating, in opposition to what was accepted based on Jewish menstrual purity laws. During the twelfth and thirteenth century the restrictions these extra-ordinary women took upon themselves became standard behavior, causing all women who were menstruating to be barred from the synagogue. While earlier scholarship argued that these restrictions stemmed from ancient Jewish  traditions that reached Europe from the East during this period, I argue that these women’s behavior is better understood if one examines conceptions of blood, and especially menstrual blood in medieval Europe amongst Christians and in the Jewish-Christian debate during the same period.

At the same time this change was taking place, Jews in their dialogues with Christians began discussing the importance of blood and of the observances of menstrual purity laws as symbols of Jewish women’s inclusion in the covenant with god, often comparing between menstrual purity and the blood of circumcision.This was done concurrently with the introduction of new concepts of bodily cleanliness and the observance of ritual precepts, often barring women from certain ritual participation, because they were not able to ensure their body’s cleanliness at all times. I will demonstrate how questions of gender and religious identity were reformulated through blood symbols during the high middle ages and how this influenced male and female religious practice in the Jewish communities.