RT Article
T1 The Legal and Social Bonds of Jewish Apostates and Their Spouses according to Gaonic Responsa
JF The Jewish quarterly review
VO 105
IS 4
SP 417
OP 439
A1 Simonsohn, Uriel
LA English
PB Penn Press
YR 2015
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1802098003
AB This paper seeks to contribute to one of the more unresolved questions in early Islamic history, namely the social ties of converts to Islam with their former coreligionists. Not only did these ties pose a challenge to confessional leaders in their struggle to curve the tide of apostasy, but also to their lay subordinates who were forced to balance between communal discipline and personal sentiments. Through an analysis of gaonic responsa dealing with cases of Jews and their convert spouses the present discussion surveys both gaonic positions towards apostates and a variety of instances in which matrimonial arrangements remained intact despite religious dissent. Accordingly, the discussion revolves around two levels of analysis – legal and social, the former reflected in gaonic opinions and the latter deduced from the social cases which demanded gaonic attention. Thus, the primary premise adopted throughout is of interplay between law and society, with law impacting the social outlooks of its adherents and social realities playing a role in the constriction of legal approaches. However, given the limited reliability of gaonic responsa as historical informants, the historical context of individual cases is further sought in contemporary literary evidence of both Jewish and non-Jewish provenance, most notably Geniza letters, Islamic law, and Eastern Christian historiography.
K1 Geniza
K1 Law
K1 Conversion
K1 Family
K1 gaonic responsa
K1 Classical Islamic period
DO 10.1353/jqr.2015.0024