Heretics or Daughters of Israel?: The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile [Hardcover]

Renďż1/2e Levine Melammed (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195095804 | ISBN-13: 978-0195095807 | Publication Date: May 20, 1999

Between 1391 and the end of the 15th century, numerous Spanish Jews converted to Christianity, most of them under duress. Before and after 1492, when the Jews were officially expelled from Spain, a significant number of these conversos maintained clandestine ties to Judaism, despite their outward conformity to Catholicism. Through the lens of the Inquisition's own records, this groundbreaking study focuses on the crypto-Jewish women of Castile, demonstrating their central role in the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish society in the absence of traditional Jewish institutions led by men. Renee Levine Melammed shows how many "conversas" acted with great courage and commitment to perpetuate their religious heritage, seeing themselves as true daughters of Israel. Her fascinating book sheds new light on the roles of women in the transmission of Jewish traditions and cultures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...thoroughly researched and brilliantly written." --Midstream

"Melammed has done a fine job of bringing what should have long been a central topic in converso studies from the periphery of the field to its rightful place."--The Jewish Quarterly Review

"Ren�e Levine Melammed has given us an impressive and thoughtful study of the records of the Inquisition, showing how they can serve as an important source for documenting women's religion and demonstrating how, during a difficult period, women perserved Jewish religious expression for men."--NASHIM

"The stories of these valiant women contribute profitably to Jewish and general history and to women's studies."--Choice

"...[A]n interesting and important book that reveals a great deal about the lives of these Christian or Jewish women on whom the Inquisition focused its wrath - in the belief that the flames of the auto-da-fe would save their souls from the fires of hell."--Ha'aretz

"Renee Levine Melammed has given us an impressive and thoughtful study of the records of the Inquisition, showing how they can serve as an important source for documenting women's religion and demonstrating how, during a difficult period, women preserved Jewish religious expression for men."--Nashim

"...Melammed's analysis of the social history of the conversos is invaluable. She uncovers their jobs, servants, social networks, religious practices, and even their diets....[She] makes clear the tragedy of their unstable and precarious existence, a life that was aptly described by one crypto-Jew as 'like a cork [floating] on the water'."--Sixteenth Century Journal

About the Author

Renee Levine Melammed is at Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195095804
• ISBN-13: 978-0195095807
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,173,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Women and Judaism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trauma of Converso Women, August 18, 2001

By 

nancy (mendota heights, mn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heretics or Daughters of Israel?: The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile (Hardcover)

This is an outstanding text. I have extensive experience working on Sephardic culture and the forced conversion of the Jews. In addition the author has been able to focus on one of the leading areas of Inquisitional studies that has gone unresearched for far too long and that is the treatment and experience of Jewish women forced to convert to Catholicism. This is a scholarly book that is a "must" have for anyone who is interested in medieval Spain, western history and nation-building because Spain was the first modern nation-state to come into existence in the West at the expense of minorities - the forced conversion and expulsion of Jews and Moriscos. The women of minority status were of the great risk and often the most abused. Levine Melammed has done a wonderful job in presenting this painful and traumatic experience. I recommend this text without any reservations.