Judaism in practice : from the Middle Ages through the early modern period / Lawrence Fine, editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Fine, Lawrence.

Series:

Princeton readings in religions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Judaism--History--Medieval and early modern period, 425-1789--Sources.

Judaism.

Judaism--Customs and practices--History--Sources.

Women in Judaism--History--Sources.

Women in Judaism.

Jews--Biography.

Jews.

History.

Judaism--Customs and practices.

Genre:

Sources.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 537 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2001]

Summary:

This collection of original materials provides a sweeping view of medieval and early modern Jewish ritual and religious practice. Including such diverse texts as ritual manuals, legal codes, mystical books, autobiographical writings, folk literature, and liturgical poetry, it testifies to the enormous variety of practices that characterized Judaism in the twelve hundred years between 600 and 1800 C.E. Its focus on religious practice and experience -- how Judaism was actually lived by people from day to day -- makes this anthology unique among the few sourcebooks available.

The volume encompasses the broad scope and complex texture of Jewish religious practice, taking into account many aspects of Jewish culture that have hitherto been relatively neglected: the religious life of ordinary people, the role and status of women, art and aesthetics, and marginalized as well as remote Jewish communities. It introduces such remarkable personalities as Moses Maimonides, Leon Modena, and Gluckel of Hameln, and presents extraordinary texts on festival practice, Torah study, mystical communities, meditation, exorcism, the practice of charity, and folk rites marking birth and death.

Representing state-of-the-art scholarship by distinguished academics from around the world, the volume includes many materials never before translated into English. Each text is preceded by an accessible introduction, making this book suitable for college and university students as well as a general audience. Whether read as a deliberate course of study or dipped into selectively for a glimpse into fascinating Jewish lives and places, Judaism in Practice holds rich rewards for any reader.

Lawrence Fine is the Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies and a member of the Religion Department at Mount Holyoke College. He is the editor of Essential Papers on Kabbalah, the translator of Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety, The Beginning of Wisdom, and the author of Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos -- Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship.

"This is a rich collection. Fine has secured contributions, introductions, and a selection of materials from accomplished scholars in each area covered. There is no other volume like it. The book is well suited for an undergraduate readership in Jewish studies, and Fine's introduction is appropriate for readers encountering the study of Judaism for the first time." -- Robert S. Schine, Middlebury College, author of Jewish Thought Adrift: Max Wiener

Contents:

Rituals of Daily and Festival Practice

1. Communal Prayer and Liturgical Poetry / Raymond P. Scheindlin 39

2. Italian Jewish Women at Prayer / Howard Tzvi Adelman 52

3. Measuring Graves and Laying Wicks / Chava Weissler 61

4. Adorning the "Bride" on the Eve of the Feast of Weeks / Daniel C. Matt 74

5. New Year's Day for Fruit of the Tree / Miles Krassen 81

Rituals of the Life Cycle

6. The Role of Women at Rituals of Their Infant Children / Lawrence A. Hoffman 99

7. Honey Cakes and Torah: A Jewish Boy Learns His Letters / Ivan G. Marcus 115

8. Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval Ashkenaz: The Sexual Politics of Piety / Judith R. Baskin 131

9. Life-Cycle Rituals of Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women / Renee Levine Melammed 143

10. Ritualizing Death and Dying: The Ethical Will of Naphtali Ha-Kohen Katz / Avriel Bar-Levav 155

Torah, Learning, and Ethics

11. Moses Maimonides' Laws of the Study of Torah / Lawrence Kaplan 171

12. An Egyptian Woman Seeks to Rescue Her Husband from a Sufi Monastery / S. D. Goitein 186

13. A Monastic-like Setting for the Study of Torah / Ephraim Kanarfogel 191

14. Religious Practice among Italian Jewish Women / Howard Tzvi Adelman 203

15. A Mystical Fellowship in Jerusalem / Lawrence Fine 210

16. The Love of Learning among Polish Jews / Gershon David Hundert 215

Religious Sectarianism and Communities on the Margins

17. Jewish Sectarianism in the Near East: A Muslim's Account / Steven M. Wasserstrom 229

18. Travel in the Land of Israel / Lawrence Fine 237

19. Karaite Ritual / Daniel Frank 248

20. Living Judaism in Confucian Culture: Being Jewish and Being Chinese / Jonathan N. Lipman 265

Art and Aesthetics

21. Defending, Enjoying, and Regulating the Visual / Kalman P. Bland 281

22. Illustrating History and Illuminating Identity in the Art of the Passover Haggadah / Marc Michael Epstein 298

23. The Arts of Calligraphy and Composition, and the Love of Books / Lawrence Fine 318

24. Jewish Preaching in Fifteenth-Century Spain / Marc Saperstein 325

Magic and Mysticism

25. The Book of the Great Name / Michael D. Swartz 341

26. Visionary Experiences among Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women / Renee Levine Melammed 348

27. Mystical Eating and Food Practices in the Zohar / Joel Hecker 353

28. Devotional Rites in a Sufi Mode / Paul B. Fenton 364

29. Pietistic Customs from Safed / Lawrence Fine 375

30. Jewish Exorcism: Early Modern Traditions and Transformations / J. H. Chajes 386

31. Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Personal Practices of a Hasdic Master / Arthur Green 399

Remarkable Lives

32. The Life of Moses ben Maimon / Joel L. Kraemer 413

33. Dolce of Worms: The Lives and Deaths of an Exemplary Medieval Jewish Woman and Her Daughters / Judith R. Baskin 429

34. The Earliest Hebrew First-Crusade Narrative / Robert Chazan 438

35. Leon Modena's Autobiography / Mark R. Cohen 453

36. The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi / Matt Goldish 470

37. The Life of Glikl of Hameln / Paula E. Hyman 483

38. Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov / Dan Ben-Amos 498

39. The Scholarly Life of the Gaon of Vilna / Allan Nadler 513

Appendix The Jewish Holidays 521.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0691057869

0691057877

OCLC:

46935865