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KINGS OF THE JEWS 180 ALEXANDRA SALOME (76–67 BCE) Alexandra Salome (Shelomtzion) was one of only two women ever to have ruled the Jewish nation in their own right, rather than as the wives of reigning kings. The other was Queen Athaliah who had sat on the throne of the kingdom of Judah eight centuries earlier. Among the extensive reforms that were enacted during Alexandra’s reign, one had especially historic consequences. A unique marriage contract, called a ketubbah , was introduced and made obligatory. One element of the ketubbah was designed to protect the interests of women in an unprecedented fashion: if men divorced their wives, they were required to provide resources to protect their abandoned spouses from being impoverished as a result. That support requirement would evolve in due course into the principle of alimony. The ketubbah also gave women special rights to their husbands’ property if they were widowed, to help them sustain themselves. Alexandra was herself twice widowed. Her first husband was King Aristobulus I who died young after ruling for only one year. She became reigning queen of Judaea, at the age of sixty-four, upon the death of her much-longer-reigning second husband, King Alexander Jannai. It might easily have been otherwise. As Jannai lay terminally ill with malaria while with his troops in action in Transjordan, Alexandra told him she feared what might happen to her and their two sons after his death in view of the “ill will your nation bears you”[87] because of his brutal rule. Jannai knew her fears were well grounded and advised her to keep his imminent death secret until a fortress, under siege by his soldiers, fell to the Judaeans. He said she would then be credited with that victory and, having thereby gained the backing of the army, she should return to Jerusalem and come to terms with the leaders of the Pharisees whom he had persecuted. He said they “had great authority … both to do hurt to such as they hated and to bring advantages to those to whom they were friendly disposed.”[88] Alexandra followed that advice and benefited from it. Favoring the popular Pharisees over the previously prevailing elitist Sadducees was the route to the wide public acclaim her husband had never enjoyed. Besides, although he had persecuted the Pharisees, she had always been sympathetic to them and to their THE HASMONEANS 181 more spiritual style of worship. Now she acted quickly to free Pharisee leaders he had imprisoned and invited those who had fled his wrath to return to Jerusalem from exile. It was enough to shield her from discredit for having been the wife of a despised ruler. Because she was a woman, the queen could not also hold the office of high priest as her husband had. She bestowed that potentially influential position on her eldest son, Hyrcanus II, a lightweight figure little concerned with either politics or priestly duties. Openly favored by the queen, the Pharisees quickly filled the gap the new high priest left open. They ousted Sadducees from the Sanhedrin court and council of elders they had previously dominated, and replaced them with their own appointees . Leading Sadducee figures said to have been implicated in the earlier murder of Pharisees were executed. Among the prominent Pharisees who returned from exile was Simeon ben Shetach who is believed to have been the queen’s brother and who became leader of the Sanhedrin. For the first time, the Pharisees became the dominant political, as well as religious, force in Judaea. They launched a campaign to reinstate longlapsed strict adherence to religious law and observance. Neglected religious holidays were revived and enlivened with torchlight processions, trumpet fanfares, celebratory dancing, and much ceremony. Far-reaching reforms of the religious and legal institutions of Judaea were instituted, as was a vigorous program of education , strong on religious study. Formal schooling for the young was introduced. The administration of justice was reformed, notably to provide legal protection to people falsely accused of crimes, a practice which had grown widespread. With Alexandra’s backing and supported by the instruments of the state, a sense of public responsibility for vulnerable members of society was promoted. The introduction of the ketubbah marriage contract to protect divorced wives was part of that process. At the time, most men possessed only the land on which they lived and/or the livestock by which they earned their livings, so the requirement that they provide for their abandoned...

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