GEN934 All of us need to exercise special control over our libidos.   The difficulties rise up when people take it upon themselves to create appropriate methods to guard against untoward sexual practices. True, our tradition has long taught that some modesty must be legislated. But the pre-modern societies in general and some people today still self-righteously assume that women’s immodesty somehow causes men’s wanton and even violent sexual acts. The victim thus becomes responsible for the aggressor’s actions. Blaming the victim violates both individual male and female dignity. If generally condoned, it shows the moral bankruptcy of the greater society as well. Yet the Talmud was a product of its times, echoing the other male-dominated cultures of the Middle East. So its teachings prescribed the segregation of women as the fundamental antidote for womanly provocation. Its standard biblical justification was the verse, “The chief glory of the King’s daughter is that she remains deep within the palace” Psalm 45:14 – 15. Thus Sarah, the first matriarch, serves as a model for all women to follow: “When visiting angels asked Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ he answered, ‘Behold, she is in the tent.’ [this verse]. This is to inform us that Sarah was modest” Bava Metzia 87a A text from the Jerusalem Talmud at least gives those females who practiced seclusion a reward—a prominent spouse and male children [sic]: “A woman who remains at home merits marrying a high priest and being the mother of a line of high priests” Yerusalmi Yoma 4:2 Several hundred years later, the German sage Eliezer b. Samuel of Mainz counsels: “My daughters ought always to be at home, and should not even stand at the door so as to watch whatever passes by” Hebrew Ethical Wills. Yehiel b. Yekutiel also follows this Talmudic theme when he blames physically malformed children on the fact that their mother “weaves in the marketplace, speaking and gazing at all men. Weaving in a public place exposes her arms; because of her misdeeds, one of her children is lame, another blind, another a fool and evil doer” Sefer Maalot Hamiddot. True, Maimonides does grudgingly say about a man’s wife: “She is not in prison where she cannot come and go…” B hiut then he glaringly affirms his patriarchal mentality by stating: “… It is unseemly for a woman to be constantly in the streets. Her husband should not let her go out except once or twice a month, as the need may arise” Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Ishut, 13:11. Even the realm of Jewish folk literature concedes that the appropriate place for women is a private one: “The good woman knows that her kingdom is behind the house door” (Ladino proverb). BOROJMV 156-7