ABSTRACT

In the case of Rosa Montalcino and Isaac Danuti, we hear the voice of a woman negotiating her own match and all the terms. It involved wedding arrangements, broken engagements, doubtful betrothals, secret betrothals, dubious gifts, questionable births, forced marriages, divorce, widowhood, and remarriage. Rabbis issued conflicting opinions about whether she was betrothed or free to marry another man, whether they could force her to marry a man to whom she was engaged or to excommunicate her if she did not, whether she needed a divorce to leave the relationship, and whether her offspring from another Jewish husband would be considered Jews. Witnesses adjusted stories to conform to the needs of the moment, often for a fee. The issue was not so much the determination of Jewish law as it was the creation of narratives that met the needs of the participants and preserved the authority, honor, and income of those involved. The case shows Rosa’s presence and her ability to create a strategy by which her voice prevailed, and men with authority took action on her behalf. Interestingly, the voice of the man to whom she was betrothed is hardly heard throughout the proceedings.