Researching Hellenistic cultural influences on women's dances during the Second Temple period and women's withdrawal from religious events
A - The dance of the virgins
In the Bible, there is an interesting story about the daughters of Shiloh, who used to go out and play in the vineyards on a certain day of the year (Judges 21:XNUMX) and were called by the nickname "prostitutes". It is possible and the above story is a kind of etiological explanation for the custom that was prevalent in ancient Israel, but we cannot rule on the matter of historical necessity.
This phenomenon, considering a sacred practice that neutralizes a religious instruction in the question of the right of the tribe of Benjamin to survive through this "strange" custom of pre-engagement-marriage, was realized against the background of its sanctity and the fear that the tribe of Benjamin might be removed from all the tribes of Israel. Similar phenomena can be found in the histories of quite a few peoples while giving a kind of religious-etiological justification for such a custom.
Be that as it may, during the days of the Second Temple we became familiar with the practice we learn from the words of the President of the Sanhedrin Rashbagh (Rabbi Shimon b Gamaliel) which were settled in the Mishnah (Taanit 8:XNUMX): "There were no good days for Israel like the fifteenth of Av and the Day of Atonement, in which ) go out in all (clothing) to white Shaolin... and the daughters of Jerusalem go out and get sick (=procreate) in the vineyards. And what would they say (to the potential suitors)? Boy, open your eyes and see what you choose (choose) for you? Don't let your eyes wander. Keep your eyes on the family (that's what the privileged girls who danced in front of them would say..." Although there is no clear evidence of this, it is possible that the words of the free-virgin-girls were accompanied by singing and accompanied by musical instruments.
Parallel sources detailed what the generative virgins were saying, or singing: the beautiful on one hand and the ugly on the other, and of which they took pains to emphasize that it was a trending, somewhat sensual dance, one with which the bachelors chose their heart's choices, considering a regular and common custom.
Sages praised this way of getting to know each other, encouraged the continuation of this practice. And it seems that their way might have rejected any assumption that these were dances saturated and steeped in sex symbols and symbols of fertility, as practiced in the surrounding nations, and maybe not?! And also that there is no reason to believe that the origin of these was rooted in the cult of fertility. However, later, it seems, the sexual element disappeared and its remnants were not enough to arouse the protest of the Sages.
B - wedding dances
I think there is no certainty to say, according to the sources, that during the biblical period the marriage ceremonies were immersed and saturated with dance symbols.
On the other hand, from the Second Temple period onwards, dancing became an important symbol in marriage ceremonies, to such an extent that members of the two more famous schools: Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel - "How dances before the bride" (Talmud Babli Ketubot 16 pp. 2 - 10) 7 p. a). To teach us about the importance that sages attributed to dance, as an important means of course, one that came to crown the head of the queen, i.e. the head of the bride.
Sages wanted, therefore, to turn the marriage ceremony into a ceremony filled with elements of public joy, of social-communal brotherhood, for which the music (as I asked to show in the chapter on the song of the sand) and the dance - as a real stage. Even if it is a legitimate approval of Sages Because it is based on a custom prevalent in the public, this does not detract from the very importance of the involvement of the sages in this matter. This involvement did not end only in a kind of formality and providing halachic backing, but also on a practical level, examining a personal example, such as in the case of Rabbi Yehuda ben Elai, one of the great sages after the rebellion of Ben Kusaba, who "used to take a cloth (branch) of myrtle and dance before the bride" inscriptions , ibid.). This is a custom with Greek-Hellenistic features, such as the "Thirsus" and the Sages allowed it in the context of "Hidor Mitzvah" (such as Genesis Rabbah NT 5).
C - The vineyard dance
Dances that were held at the end of the many works in the vineyard, were a fairly common phenomenon in the ancient world. These dances were interspersed with signs of passionate release to the point of sexual cannibalism. Although it is believed that the vineyard dances took place among the people of Israel in the period in question, because the wine industry was also an important component of the ancient agricultural economy of the Land of Israel. However, the sources available to us do not help us to assume so. This is with the exception of a dim and vague memorial embedded in the writings of the Sages about the "Dance of the Garden".
The sources did not explain what the "dance of the garden" is, except for Shakala-Vatria about its dimensions: a dozen square cubits (=66.58 square meters), or 16 square cubits, which is 118.37 square meters) in the Mishnat Klai'im, for example (1).
It is possible that the aforementioned area, one that was located "between two vineyards", as Rabbi Yehuda said (ibid. 3), was used by the generators during the harvest. However, as mentioned, we cannot determine whether it is one way or the other.
D - Women's involvement
In the Bible, as mentioned, the women took an active and very important part in the dance, but in the days of the Second Temple their role became smaller. There is indeed one memorial about the dance of Judith and her companions following the victory over Holofernes, it is a dance influenced, so it seems, according to the spirit of the source and its external signs, to Greek-Hellenistic motifs. And also, the dance of the women in the royal court, such as the dance of Herodia's daughter, the wife of Philip, Herod's brother, who was so good at molesting, that she was promised "mountains and hills". All in all, before us is a part of the courtly existence, a kind of episode that prevailed among the aristocratic stratum of society, the one that purged the elements of the creation of the Hellenistic culture among the high society. And it is possible that this phenomenon continued even in later periods. And a kind of hint to this, even though it is boring, I find in the words of the midrash (Vikra Rabbah 8) about Pharaoh's daughter who danced in front of Solomon P. various dances...that night".
However, in general, during the period of the Mishnah and the Talmud, that is, the second-fourth/fifth centuries CE, women's dances disappeared in social events. It is possible that the leaders of the generation were behind the absence of the female dance. Keri - Sages. Their taste was probably based on the fear of the pagan, Dionysian-Bacchi dust, which characterized the women's dances and which was saturated with moral intrusions. And for this reason they chose to encourage the male dance, and this in certain events, as we have shown above, and we will mention more This is later, and perhaps a comment/clarification on this matter - in our modern times, in the courts of Hassidim and other religious fanatics, the woman and certainly the pious bride To commit and dance in the presence of the guests and certainly a double and multiple prohibition prevents couples from dancing with anxiety.
We will quote one interesting example here, which was cited as a midrash in the Talmud by Rabbi Elazar ben Pedath, (a sage of the middle of the third century AD) who demanded something about the dance of the biblical virgins, and thus ruled: "The future of God is to make a dance for the righteous, and he will sit among them in Paradise ..." (Talmud Babli, Ta'anit 61 p. 1). In a midrash about the same matter it is said by Rabbi Elazar ben Padat, in the name of Rabbi Hanina, that "God's future will make a sick head (H.V. in Shurok's score as a kind of sweeping dance) for the righteous to come" (Midrash Shi'arim Rabbah 7:2). The leader/leader of the dancers for all the righteous who generate. And the midrash emphasizes it, because a certain amount of agility is required to perform the dances (ibid., 1:23).
"A degree of agility", as if this is not the property of women, as well as the praise of the men's dance as a kind of screen and cover for the choreographic inferiority of the female performers. Also a way to bury a custom and give birth to another custom.
this and more. If we ignore the midrashic symbolism for a moment, we have before us a description of life in the Jewish community - dances of tzaddiks, hassidim and sages, such as are probably involved in public-sacred events of the community such as at the end of the reading of the Torah, at the time of the election of a new leader for the community, and more. Before us is therefore the men's dance, one that involves religious moments, which differ in essence and character from the women's dances.
In conclusion - while in the biblical period dance occupied a prominent place, this changed in the periods that followed. The dance ceased to penetrate the temple and its courtyards, the sacred ritual ceremonies, which indicates the sophistication of the music, and even in the joy of the house of the Shuava - outside the temple. Even dances in the sand lacked signs of sexuality and carnal fertility. These dances such as the virgin dance, wedding dances and more were used as social-collective events. The distinct role of women in the biblical dance became dwarfed and the Sages, in their struggle against foreign ritual symbols, sought to involve the dance, similar to music, in a framework with heavenly-messianic symbolism.
For the series with Israel Sher
More of the topic in Hayadan:
3 תגובות
Nir Shalom Rav. Thank you for your response. And here is my response: First, although I go through a text several times before sending it, I am aware of the writer's errors. Thank you for your response. Second, and this concerns almost all studies concerning the ancient era – the paucity of testimonies and the problematic nature of them, unlike the testimonies of the modern era, which "suffer" from a problematic excess of information and mutual contradictions. In all my research, I am aware of this and try to present my opinions with the utmost caution and with the belief that a significant portion of my conclusions that result from this are founded on a basis that requires examination and diving into the abyss of ignorance and the obvious skepticism.
First, thank you for your response; second, indeed, here and there errors occur even though I go over the text several times; third, since we are engaged in historical research based, what can we do, on the basis of the testimonies of the Sages, which were not written from a historiological and historiosophical starting point, what is more, it is not always possible, and to be precise – for the most part, to make the sources of the Sages accessible in comparison with the testimonies of later Sages, and from this we are left to reach an important decision – whether to publish or not. And why am I running to the ancient era, because nowadays, due to an excess of information and disinformation, we find ourselves in an informative confusion, one that will be, if at all, close to reality, which is also “questionable”. So what do you suggest? On the contrary, on the contrary…
The article is based on many hypotheses that it is not at all certain that the author believes in them, he only offers suggestions. From one source he concludes that the custom may have been common, and as mentioned it may not have been. When you publish something, you can misunderstand it as it is said, "Sages be careful with your words" (Avot 1:11) and see many Pharisees for this mishna.
It's a shame that there are no proofreading for the text, for example "every8mr", I would have let someone else read the article before I would publish it, so there would also be a kind of small peer review that is so needed here.