Lena Roos, Institutionen för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, Högskolan i Gävle

2006-2008

The main aim of the project was to study if and how Jewish norms for sexuality changed during the High Middle Ages and how this process can be related to the position of the Jewish minority between integration and segregation in Christian Europe of the Middle Ages. The project was to test two hypotheses:
1. That norms for sexuality served as a means for constructing Jewish identity and to delineate borders against the Christian majority.
2. The these norms, in spite of this, were influenced by views held by contemporary Christians concerning sexuality.
The project originally had a broad approach which remains in the monograph which is now in its final stages. The publications that have been produced up until this point, however, have focused on more limited aspects of this field. One article can be regarded as a pilot study where various aspects of the theme are investigated, but on the basis of just one central text. Another article focuses on the rules around menstruation and their function in order to build religious identity for women. That article also extends further in time, since it also treats early modern and modern adaptations of these medieval norms. Yet another article treats cross-dressing as a practice that transcends gender as well as religious boundaries. Finally, another article treats sexuality as an important aspect in the relationship between Jewish employers and Christian servants.

The three most important results of the project

Sexuality was an important aspect in defining Jewish identity during the Middle Ages and the traces from this process can still be seen in Judaism today. In the medieval sources this can be seen in various ways:

• A controlled sexuality is seen as a sign of piety. This goes for women as well as for men. The opposite, a sexuality that is not controlled, is ascribed to persons outside the Jewish community, for instance Christians, including Jewish converts to Christianity.
• There are similarities between the norms for when it was permitted to transcend boundaries of gender and religion. Situations when this was permitted should not be taken as a sign that the boundary was flexible. Rather, the behavior that transcends the boundaries rather seems to serve to confirm them.
• When it comes to maintaining the boundaries between Jews and Christians, there is often a sexual aspect to norms that superficially seem to relate to something else. Thus distinctive clothing for Jews is explicitly motivated by the idea that this would prevent Jews and Christians from entering into sexual relations "by mistake". There was also a canonical prohibition against Christians being subordinate to Jews in any way, and as a result from this it was forbidden for Jews to have Christian servants in their homes (although in practice this seems to have been very common). In the Jewish sources we can trace a fear that Christian servants may exert a negative influence over Jewish children. A closer examination of the arguments in this matter, however, shows that there are also arguments that indicate that the religious authorities feared that too much proximity, as in living under the same roof, may lead to sexual relations between members of the two groups.

New research questions generated by the project

The most important research question generated by the project is to further examine the importance of sexuality as a component in religious identity. This is an important reminder in our context which is so profoundly influenced by Protestant Christian tradition, which means that religion often equals faith and doctrine, whereas other physical aspects of religion often are perceived as secondary and thereby less important. This is noticeable in the discourse on freedom of religion, where beliefs are rarely addressed, no matter how much they are perceived as being in conflict with modern norms or laws. Physical aspects of religion, however, for instance circumcision or religiously motivated covering clothing, are not in the same self-evident way seen as protected by freedom of religion.

The two most important publications stemming from the project

The two most important publications that have been finished so far are the articles "Sexualitet och judisk identitet från Bibeln till medeltid" and "Cross-dressing among medieval Ashkenazi Jews: Confirming challenged group borders". The first one can be seen as a pilot study where the most important research questions are posed to a central text, Sefer Chasidim. This study shows that sexuality was an important mean for defining Jewish identity in this context, but that sexual behavior, in spite of this, seems to have been influenced by norms among the surrounding Christian majority. The second article shows that there was a parallel between transgression against the boundaries of gender and religion. The norms for when this was allowed are related to other texts that show that in this particular context these boundaries were being challenged. The discourse on permitted transgressions should therefore not be seen as a sign of a more permissive attitude but rather, paradoxically, served to confirm these boundaries.

Apart from the articles listed in under publications I am still working on a monograph which will sum up some of the results that are not accounted for in the more specialized articles. It is in its final stages and will be finished during the year to come. The editors of the series Early European Research (Brepols) have declared themselves "extremely enthusiastic" about publishing it in their series, although we still have not signed a contract.

Other forms of transmission of the results

Throughout the project I have several times lectured, held seminars and presented parts of the results of the project, for instance at: Department of History, Uppsala university; Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala university; the Medieval Seminar, Stockholm university; Nathan Söderblom society; Department of History, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg.

A somewhat unusual result of the project is that the research questions as such inspired me and a number of colleagues to write the book Sex - för Guds skull. Sexualitet och erotik i världens religioner (Sex - for God's sake. Sexuality and erotics in the religions of the world). The book has already sold many copies and inspired such interest that courses on religion and sexuality have been started at the universities in both Lund and Uppsala (I teach at both these courses). The results of the project have also contributed to an increased interest in both the Middle Ages and Judaism at Uppsala university where I am currently based. As a result, the Department of Theology will in the fall of 2012 for the first time offer a multidisciplinary course in Medieval studies. I and a group of colleagues from different disciplines have also taken the initiative to a proposal to form a Forum for Jewish studies at Uppsala university. No decision has yet been made, but it seems likely that such a Forum, pooling scholars from different fields, will be formed.