View source for Pilegesh

{{short description|Concubine in Halakha}}{{Judaism}}{{See also|Concubinage}}

'''{{Lang|he-latn|Pilegesh}}''' ({{lang|hbo|פִּילֶגֶשׁ}}, {{IPA|hbo|pʰi.ˈlɛgɛʃ}}, possibly related to {{langx|grc|παλλακή|pallakē|young woman}}) is a term from the [[Hebrew Bible]] for a [[concubinage|concubine]], a female, unmarried [[sexual slave]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rashkow |first=Ilona |date=2023 |title=Jewish Bible Quarterly Vol 51. Issue 1 - Laws Relating to Female Slaves in Ancient Israel |url=https://galeapps.gale.com/apps/auth?userGroupName=fairfaxcps&sid=sitemap&da=true&origURL=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.gale.com%2Fps%2Fi.do%3Fid%3DGALE%257CA758439441%26sid%3Dsitemap%26v%3D2.1%26it%3Dr%26p%3DAONE%26sw%3Dw%26userGroupName%3Dfairfaxcps%26aty%3Dip&prodId=AONE |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Gale Academic OneFile |quote="Several biblical texts suggest that a pilegesh grows up to become an enslaved woman with no other function but to sexually please her master and produce his children"}}</ref> of [[social]] and legal status inferior to that of a wife.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195148909.001.0001/acref-9780195148909 |title=Concubinage - The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History |date=2008-01-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514890-9 |edition=1 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Concubine">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/concubine|title=Concubine|website=Jewish Virtual Library|accessdate=14 February 2019}}</ref>

Among the [[Israelites]], some men acknowledged their ''pilgashím'', who thus had the same rights in the home as legal wives.<ref name="JewEncPil">{{cite encyclopedia|title=PILEGESH (Hebrew, ; comp. Greek, παλλακίς).|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=313&letter=P&search=Pilegesh|encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|accessdate=13 June 2012|author=Staff|year=2002–2011}}</ref>

Despite [[Maimonides]]' notable dissension, Jewish textual scholars, including [[Nahmanides]], [[Jacob Emden]] and the head of the [[beth din]] of ''Akdamot'' in [[Jerusalem]], have concluded that taking a woman as a concubine is allowed in contemporary Jewish culture.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

== Etymology ==
In [[Judaism]], concubines are referred to by the Hebrew term {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} ({{langx|he|פילגש}}). The term {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} appears to be an Indo-European [[loanword]] related to {{langx|grc|παλλακίς}} {{Lang|grc-latn|pallakis}}, meaning '[[concubinage|concubine]]'.<ref>Michael Lieb, ''Milton and the culture of violence'', p. 274, Cornell University Press, 1994</ref><ref name=":0">Marc Lee Raphael, ''Agendas for the study of Midrash in the twenty-first century'', p. 136, Dept. of Religion, College of William and Mary, 1999</ref><ref name=":1">Nicholas Clapp, ''Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen'', p. 297, Houghton Mifflin, 2002</ref>

In the [[Modern Hebrew|Hebrew]] of the contemporary [[Israel|State of Israel]], {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} is often used as the equivalent of the English word [[Mistress (lover)|''mistress'']]—i.e., the female partner in extramarital relations—regardless of legal recognition. Attempts have been initiated to popularise {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} as a form of premarital, non-marital or extramarital relationship (which, according to the perspective of the enacting person(s), is permitted by [[Halakha|Jewish law]]).<ref name=":2">{{cite news |title=Kosher sex without marriage |url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Kosher-sex-without-marriage |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=16 March 2006 |author=Matthew Wagner |accessdate=13 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503230106/http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/Kosher-sex-without-marriage |archive-date=3 May 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>Adam Dickter, "ISO: Kosher Concubine", ''New York Jewish Week'', December 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4826676.html Suzanne Glass, "The Concubine Connection"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130103033314/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4826676.html |date=3 January 2013 }}, ''The Independent'', London 20 October 1996</ref>

There are many definitions for what a {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} relationship is. In the Eastern world, {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} fit into the complex family organization and the woman had more of a distinct legal and social position, whereas in the later Western world, {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} was regarded as a long-term sex companionship between a man and a woman who could not or would not be married. 

== Biblical references ==
Several [[Bible|biblical]] figures had concubines when they were not able to create natural children with their wives. The most famous example of this was with [[Abraham]] and [[Sarah]]. Sarah gave her maidservant [[Hagar]] to Abraham while maintaining ownership of both maidservant and offspring. Their union produced [[Ishmael]]. Hagar gained the status of full wife in regards to Abraham, but nonetheless Sarah retained the status of main wife. 
This type of {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} is recorded in Jewish sources as being a singular case. All later cases of {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} recognized the {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} and guaranteed similar rights in the house as the legitimate wife.

Since having children in Judaism was considered a great blessing, legitimate wives often gave their maids to their husbands so they could have children with them when those women themselves were childless, as in the cases of [[Leah]] and [[Zilpah]] and [[Rachel]] and [[Bilhah]]. Even in the exceptional case of Sarah and Hagar, Abraham would have been obligated to treat Hagar as a full wife and she would have been treated as an equal by Abraham. Sarah's rights would have been regarding the technical legal status of being considered the inheritor and since the other wife and offspring would have been hers by ownership she became the legal albeit not biological mother of Ishmael.<ref>''[[Orach Chayim]]'': Laws of the Handmaiden.</ref>

== Legal characteristics ==
According to the [[Babylonian Talmud]],<ref name="JewEncPil" /><ref>Sanhedrin 21a</ref> the difference between a {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} and a full wife was that the latter received a [[ketubah]] "marriage contract" and her [[nissuin|nissu'in]] or marriage ceremony was preceded by a formal betrothal or [[Erusin|kiddushin]], which was not the case with the former.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12148-pilegesh|title=PILEGESH (Hebrew, ; comp. Greek, παλλακίς).|last=|first=|date=|website=Jewish Virtual Library|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> According to Rabbi Judah, however, the {{Lang|he-latn|pilegesh}} should also receive a marriage contract, but without including a clause specifying a divorce settlement.<ref name="JewEncPil" /> According to [[Rashi]], "wives with kiddushin and ketubbah, concubines with kiddushin but without ketubbah"; this reading is from the [[Jerusalem Talmud]].<ref name="Concubine"/>

Certain rabbis, such as Maimonides, believed that concubines are strictly reserved for [[king]]s, and the [[am ha'aretz]] may not have a concubine;{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} indeed, such thinkers argued that commoners may not engage in any type of [[human sexuality|sexual relations]] outside of a marriage. Maimonides was not the first Jewish thinker to criticize concubinage; for example, it is severely condemned in [[Leviticus Rabbah]].<ref>''Leviticus Rabbah'', 25</ref> Other rabbis, such as Nahmanides, [[Samuel ben Uri Shraga Phoebus]], and Jacob Emden, strongly object to the idea that concubines should be forbidden.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}}

According to [[Mnachem Risikoff]], the institution of the pilegesh is an alternative to formal marriage, which does not have the requirements for a ''[[Get (divorce document)|get]]'' upon the dissolution of the relationship, thus negating the issue of the [[aguna]].<ref>''Between Civil and Religious Law: The Plight of the Agunah in American Society'', Irving Breitowitz, Greenwood Press, 1993. By coincidence, Breitowitz's book was reviewed by Risikoff's grandson, Rabbi Steven Resnicoff, in ''Jewish Action'', Winter 1994, Vol. 55, No. 2.</ref>

Any offspring created in a union between a pilegesh and a man were on equal legal footing with children of the man and his wife.<ref name="JewEncPil" />

== See also ==
* {{Section link|Polygamy|Judaism}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4826676.html |title= The Concubine Connection |work= The Independent |location= London |date= Oct 20, 1996 |first= Suzanne |last= Glass |url-status= usurped <!-- dead:  allows redirect to HighBeam replacement Questia.com apology --> |archive-date= Nov 19, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081119030810/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4826676.html }}
* {{cite web |title= ISO: Kosher Concubine |publisher= New York Jewish Week |first= Adam |last= Dickter |date= Dec 2006 |url= https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/iso-kosher-concubine/ }}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=16328 |title= Kosher sex without marriage |publisher= Jpost |first= Mathew |last= Wagner |date= Mar 16, 2016 }}

[[Category:Jewish marital law]]
[[Category:Concubinage]]
[[Category:Polygamy in Asia]]
[[he:פילגש#פילגשים ביהדות]]
[[Category:Judaism-related lists]]
[[Category:Israelites]]