Jewish women in the early modern period were a crucial part to all Jewish societies, as they made up half of the population. Living in places such as Italy, Poland-Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire had effects on the role Jewish women played in their society. Different customs and regulations were found in various societies around the world.
Jewish Women in Italy
Public life
Professions
Some Italian Jewish women became published writers. One notable author was Sarra Copia Sullam (1592-1641). She was accused of plagiarism by men that wanted to undermine her written accomplishments. Jewish women also acted as ritual slaughterers. Ritual slaughter can be defined as killing animals for meat, typically in a religious ritual. Although women could act as ritual slaughterers, they had limited circumstances in which they were able to slaughter animals. Only qualified women were allowed to, and usually only in cases in which they needed to provide food for their families. Women also served in the business sphere of Italian society. They acted as financial agents for their husbands, moneylenders, manufacturers of buttons and silk, cosmetic developers, etc. Their business was conducted both privately and publicly. This practice of women in business was disputed by men in society, as they thought women had no place in business.
Worship
Jewish women were not allowed to worship communally in Jewish Italy. However, they did have a separate women's section in synagogue where they could worship and take part in their faith. Those women that could read Hebrew prayed daily. Translations from Hebrew to a more common language later appeared for those that did not know Hebrew—men also benefitted from these translations, as not all could men could read Hebrew. Women played a big role during worship by disrupting it. They would yell curses on their male counterparts and aired grievances they had. Because Jewish Italian women could not access the Torah during worship, they made the mappot, which was a binder with Torah scrolls. Some women even participated in daily fasting, prayer, and even abstaining from all pleasures.
Private life
Education
Some Jewish girls were lucky enough to receive a complete Jewish education in Italy. However, many in society feared educated girls, but realized that illiterate women would not make for good homemakers or mothers. Because of this realization, daughters were taught how to write in Italian and some even learned Hebrew. This education was mainly taken care of at home, but some girls attended school. Occasionally women became teachers of Hebrew—they were called rabbit or rabbinate. These teachers would also get involved with healing, midwifery, and other domestic practices, not just Hebrew teaching.
Marriage
Almost as soon as a young woman would reach puberty, she would become engaged. The usual age of marriage for Italian Jewish women was between fourteen and eighteen, while the typical age of marriage for males was twenty-four to twenty-eight. Marriage typically occurred after an engagement period called the shiddukhin which could last about a year or more. The engagement process was determined by parents; fathers typically made the matches between young men and women. These engagements were considered to be binding legal contracts. Financial considerations were extremely important in determining enagagements, as women brought a dowry to the marriage, and grooms supplied monetary sums if the marriage ended in divorce, he went to jail, or he died. As such, the sums were determined in the engagement contracts.
After the marriage occurred, young women left her family to join her husband's. She then became homemaker and was expected to have children. Jewish women in Italy were unable to initiate divorce, so in order to divorce her husband, a woman would have to either involve her rabbi, violate marital laws, or try to convert either herself or her husband to Christianity, as the marriage would then become null.
Jewish women in Poland-Lithuania
Public life
Professions
Even though Jewish women in Poland-Lithuania were mainly secluded in their homes, they did have access to becoming economically independent and were able to hold jobs of their own in society. They performed as bankers, money-lenders, arendas, inn or tavern managers, peddlers, store owners, and craft-makers, where they would sell at markets under tight restrictions. Families were often dependent on the financial contribution Jewish women made by working in these areas of trade.