Abstract:

This article analyzes rabbinic responsa and court cases from eighteenth-century western Europe to illustrate the central role of Jewish midwives and wise women in halakhic venues where medical information proved decisive. It demonstrates that midwives frequently shared their knowledge with rabbinic figures and contributed specialized medical knowledge to rabbinic questions of Jewish ritual practice, especially in cases concerning female bodies and sexuality. This article thus sheds light on an unrecognized dimension in Jewish legal culture in the early modern era—a consistent phenomenon in which midwives were recognized by rabbinic decision-makers as an important source of knowledge about the female body, and therefore as vital components of the halakhic decision-making process. It argues that the heightened involvement of Jewish medical women in the production of Jewish legal knowledge was due in large part to the value placed upon empirical practitioners beginning in the early modern period. As a shift in epistemic values privileged experience and observation above theoretical prowess, women began to develop more epistemological credibility in medicine. Rabbinic cases that concerned questions of medical knowledge thereby provided an opening for women's expertise and practical experience to become more valuable.

摘要：

本文分析了 18 世纪西欧的拉比回应和法庭案件，以说明犹太助产士和智慧女性在医疗信息具有决定性作用的哈拉克场所中的核心作用。它表明助产士经常与拉比人物分享他们的知识，并为犹太仪式实践的拉比问题提供专业的医学知识，特别是在涉及女性身体和性的案例中。因此，本文揭示了近代早期犹太法律文化中一个未被承认的维度——一种一贯的现象，在这种现象中，拉比决策者认为助产士是了解女性身体的重要来源，因此是女性身体的重要组成部分。 halakhic 决策过程。它认为，犹太医学女性更多地参与犹太法律知识的生产在很大程度上是由于从现代早期开始就赋予经验从业者的价值。随着认识价值的转变使经验和观察高于理论能力，女性开始在医学中建立更多的认识论可信度。拉比案件涉及医学知识问题，从而为妇女的专业知识和实践经验变得更有价值提供了机会。妇女开始在医学上建立更多的认识论可信度。拉比案例涉及医学知识问题，从而为女性的专业知识和实践经验变得更有价值提供了机会。妇女开始在医学上建立更多的认识论可信度。拉比案例涉及医学知识问题，从而为女性的专业知识和实践经验变得更有价值提供了机会。