This chapter clarifies the role played by women in the ritual of laments. The Bible provides ample pertinent material on this ritual. The biblical citations lead to the conclusion that the first two chapters of the Book of Lamentations were composed by women who chanted laments. The Apocrypha offers abundant comparative material on women who chant laments or on laments performed by women. So far, this material has not been subject to scholarly investigation.
Talmudic literature makes references to women lamenters and the contents of their laments.
The chapter investigates the special status of women in burial services. This chapter cites dozens of women's prayers, as elicited from the Bible, the Apocrypha, and talmudic literature, in an attempt to determine to what extent these prayers reflect feminine concerns. A table that sums up all the women's prayers, presented in conjunction with a discussion on the social status of women in ancient prayer, illustrates the individual character of the feminine prayer, which was not part of the liturgy. This chapter examines the feminist aspect of Jewish preoccupation with magic in ancient times. The chapter first discusses the prohibitions against consulting sorceresses, such as the story of the medium at En Dor.