Curar y cuidar en relación: la práctica sanitaria de las mujeres judías en la Edad Media

Abstract

This paper explores Jewish women's agency in health care, especially in the domestic sphere but also in their occupational practice, taking into account that the boundaries between the two domains were often blurred and usually porous. Based on the categories ῾the relationships between women᾿ and ῾the practice of the relationship᾿, a number of sources are examined which reveal women's tendency to operate in the framework of networks, not necessarily based on kinship, in which knowledge and practices of health care are created, adjusted, transformed and transmitted, both in health and illness. The examples are mostly drawn from Hebrew medical texts which, analysed in the light of other textual and visual testimonies, reveal instances and case histories in which Jewish women provide health care. The study focuses on three specific aspects: food, cleaning, and the treatment of diseases.