Abstract
In the mid-eighteenth century, Jacob Emden wrote the Siddur Beit Yaakov, a prayer book which not only contained prayers, but legal material pertaining to prayer, Jewish holidays, and the Sabbath. At the end of the Sabbath prayers, he inserted a treatise regarding proper sexual behavior between husband and wife. He called this treatise “Mitat Kesef.” This thesis explores the treatise at length by examining earlier Jewish sexual ideals by looking at Biblical, Talmudic and Kabbalistic sources, many of which are quoted in Mitat Kesef. It also deals with the text through a Foucaultian lens, dealing with issues such as male power and female subservience. Finally, this paper attempts to understand Mitat Kesef by looking at the sociohistorical conditions of Altona in the eighteenth century. \r This thesis addresses questions such as what prompted Emden to write this in a Siddur? Why does Emden quote certain texts and not others? What sociohistorical conditions led to his desire to author such a work? How are women viewed in the document? Does Emden add any innovation to mainstream Jewish sexual discourse of the time? How does Jewish sexual discourse shape Judaism’s view of sex within marriage?