Making Widows: The Patriarchal Guardian at Work

Abstract

Considering two texts that view a widow as having a legal guardian, the article looks at the question of how this might be possible. The Hebrew word for 'widow' ('almanah) suggests that a woman so designated is marginal or peripheral to the kin group and without a male guardian. A woman becomes an 'almanah, not when her husband dies, but when she has no male guardian from the kin group to look out for her interests.