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Jewish Women in the Ottoman Empire:

During the Ottoman Empire Jewish woman were subjected to solely their private, family lives and nothing much outside of that till the 19th century. Women were secluded in religious life as well, during synagogue a lace veil would be placed inside in order for the women to not be visible to the opposite sex. Jewish women life was focused on their extended families as well as the kortijo, which was the outside courtyard of ones home. The Ottoman homes of jewish families had protected gardens and or a main courtyard which is what the term "kortijo" refers to. In this space Jewish women would complete chores and finish embroideries as well as look over their servants. Jewish women were not educated in contrast to men who were formally educated because they were given the opportunity to learn. However, women were able to speak Judeo-Spanish and that was the only language women knew besides elite women who were much more educated than the majority of Jewish women. Jewish women's lives as mentioned earlier was based on family and focused on conducting an adequate Jewish home. Much like todays generation, traditions were passed down by mothers and rules and ways of life were learned and practiced because of the Jewish women who would instill these practices and rules in their families lives. However, their husbands did not learn the jewish traditions from their wives, instead they had close ties with the rabbis and would learn about the Judaic culture through religious leaders, which gave them (the men) a more in depth understanding of the rules and practices. Before the 19th century Jewish women were only educated in certain aspects of the Judaic culture, they were only taught the "domestic" part of the culture which included things like, keeping kosher, holiday traditions, and life cycle events. Besides having to be educated with the domestic parts of the Judaic culture Jewish women had to also follow a moral code much like muslim women had to follow. Jewish women took a lot of pride in respecting this code because one whom respected the code also had a good reputation within the community, the reputation was not just for the woman itself but for her whole family, so following this code of conduct was important. Jewish women were also placed in certain class and it was pre determined by ones family roots as well as the family roots of her husbands.