Dirges for Unusual Female Figures

קינות על דמויות נשיות ייחודיות

Abstract

Though education for women was hardly the rule in medieval Eastern Jewish societies, there were some exceptions. This article presents a critical edition and discussion of four dirges from the Cairo Genizah bemoaning the death of female teachers and learned women. Another poem lamenting the death of a faithful female slave is also included here, alongside some background on the status of slaves in the Mediterranean Jewish societies of the classical Genizah period.