Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
Abstract
One of the most exciting discoveries among the Cairo Geniza, a rich trove of ancient manuscripts discovered in the Ben Ezra Synagogue at Fustat (Old Cairo), is women’s letters. Up until the early modern period, we have no text written by a Jewish woman preserved in traditional channels of transmission—that is, manuscripts copied by scribes and preserved in libraries or personal collections. Yet the Geniza documents preserve over two hundred letters written by women in different languages and spanning several centuries. Twenty-nine of these letters are from mothers to sons. Letters from mothers to sons have some distinctive characteristics when compared to letters of fathers to their sons, letters between siblings, and letters between spouses. Mothers writing to their sons are usually in a much stronger position of authority and are actively involved in their son’s commercial and social undertakings in a way not encountered in letters between siblings or spouses. Most interestingly, several mothers take it upon themselves to instruct their sons in how to be men, offering us a unique glimpse into the role of letters for Jewish women, and how women were involved in the construction of masculinity.
Acknowledgements
This study was carried out within the framework of the following research projects funded by the Spanish government and the European Union: “Writing Religious, Transcultural, and Gendered Identities and Alterities in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean” (RELGEND I), ref.: PG2018- 093472-B-C32, MICIU+AEI +FEDER) 2019–2022, and “Intersections of Religion and Gender in Transcultural Contexts: Premodern Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Iberia and the Mediterranean” (RELGEND II), ref.: PID2022-137836NB-C32, MCIN/aei/10.13039/501100011033/“ERDF” (2023–2026). When citing Geniza manuscripts the following abbreviations are used: NLI = National Library of Israel; BL Or. = British Library, Oriental collections; Bodl. = Oxford University, Bodleian Library; CUL Or. = Cambridge University Library, Oriental collection; ENA = Jewish Theological Seminary, Elkan Nathan Adler collection; Halper = Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Philadelphia; Mosseri = Cambridge University Library, Mosseri collection; T-S = Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter collection.
Keywords
Jewish masculinity, Jewish mother-son relations, Jewish women, Cairo Geniza, Jewish women’s letters
Recommended Citation
Zinger, Oded "“Be Only a Man": Authority, Dependency, and Masculinity in Geniza Letters of Mothers to Their Sons." Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 61, No. 2 (2026)
