Talk:Pilegesh

Ethymology
pilegesh Greek, pallax/pallakis: mistress, lover-girl. The categories are distinguished in the Talmud at b.Gittin daf 6b, which specifies that a pilegesh is a wife without a dowry or ketubah (marriage-document), something like a common-law wife, but of course this legal ruling is at least a millennium later than the text in question. The word in question is not Hebrew in origin at all, deriving from the Greek pallax/pallakis. The gemara (Sanhedrin 21a) asserts that the difference between a wife and a pilegesh is that a pilegesh is “without kiddushin and without kesubah”. This is the canonical definition, accepted by almost all Rishonim. Nevertheless, the views cited in the Yerushalmi (Yevamos 5:2) can be understood as indicating that a pilegesh does get kiddushin. Moreover, the Ramban understands Rashi (Breishis 25:6) as accepting the view that a pilegesh gets kiddushin (although the Ramban himself rejects this view). The Vilna Gaon in Biur HaGra on Even HaEzer 26:1 (note 7) also argues for this view. Still, the dominant view is that the relationship between a man and a pilegesh is not marriage but rather, in RYE’s somewhat indelicate phrase “she is exclusively with him for a fixed period and specified reward as agreed between them”. (It should be added that, contrary to the popular view, a pilegesh is not a “second” wife. A pilegesh is neither a wife nor need she be secondary – the man might be otherwise unattached.) http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:0B9EVuNAq5sJ:www.broca.org/+pilegesh+etymology&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us 71.236.185.58 17:18, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Many of the named women in his piece are not actually called pilegesh (i.e. Hagar etc). Slave wives such as Hagar appear as a separate category. I think the piece should not make assumptions and deal only with women named pilegesh. Later Jewish theology had to make sense of the ancient text and may not be a sound basis for interpretation of the original custom.It is a Jewish orthodoxy POV. There is a problem that the women in the stories date to 1000BCE and earlier, but a Greek loanword would assume no earlier than a 6th century date. However the stories were written down around the 6th century BCE according to the scholarly consensus, so we can see these stories as later fiction rather than historical accounts. The claim that pillakis in Greek is a loanword from Aramaic, given elsewhere in Wiki (concubinage) needs verification and may be a conservative POV. (91.104.214.250 (talk) 18:14, 23 December 2009 (UTC))

Precise Language
Hi. Saying the "highest" blessing or curse was being childless or having many children is too daring. I think the person who wrote this meant that in Judaism children are a blessing and being childless might in some instances be considered as a curse. By the way, the words "Yad VaShem" (Hand and Name, a common expression in Hebrew that is also the name of Yad VaShem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem and one of the most important of them in the world if not the most important one) is a direct quotation of a versicle in the Bible that says God will give people with no children a "hand and a name" in His legacy that is better than sons and daughters. Look it up...

But my point is... please refrain from making generalizations that are not precise when writing in Wikipedia. We want to keep this as close to being professional and top-notch as we can, so although I am very happy someone had the courage to write this article and thank them, I encourage them to think about the meaning of what they are saying when they say things like "the biggest blessing is to have children". Did they do a research on the greatness of each blessing? How can that statement be backed up?

And... by the way... children rock... exprofesso, they are the biggest blessing! But not on the article, please! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mtoussieh (talk • contribs) 20:55, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

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