Judaism in Practice
From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period
Published on 18. November 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
560 pages
978-0-691-05787-3 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
"Lawrence Fine ... has assembled an impressive array of writings that explore the variegated ways in which Jews have practiced their religion... By giving us a variety of texts and materials that go beyond the boundaries of conventional sources, Fine has opened up ways of thinking about the Jewish experience that are likely to challenge readers' expectations. In doing so, he and his contributors raise essential questions about the nature of Judaism as a religion and a culture, shake readers out of complacency and leave us to wonder at the marvelous scope of the Jewish people's history."--Barry W. Holtz, The ForwardMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
4 Maps
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
935 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-05787-3 (9780691057873)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2022
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€61.49
Available for download
Person
Lawrence Fine is the Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College, and a member of the Religion Department. He is the editor of Essential Papers on Kabbalah, the translator of Safed Spiritulality: Rules of Mystical Piety. The Beginning of Wisdom, and author of Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos - Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship.
Content
Princeton Readings in Religions vii Note on Transliteration and Acknowledgments ix Contributors xv Introduction by Lawrence Fine 1 Rituals of Daily and Festival Practice 1. Communal Prayer and Liturgical Poetry by Raymond P. Scheindlin 39 2. Italian Jewish Women at Prayer by Howard Tzvi Adelman 52 3. Measuring Graves and Laying Wicks by Chava Weissler 61 4. Adorning the "Bride" on the Eve of the Feast of Weeks by Daniel C. Matt 74 5. New Year's Day for Fruit of the Tree by Miles Krassen 81 Rituals of the Life Cycle 6. The Role of Women at Rituals of Their Infant Children by Lawrence A. Hoffman 99 7. Honey Cakes and Torah: A Jewish Boy Learns His Letters by Ivan G. Marcus 115 8. Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval Ashkenaz: The Sexual Politics of Piety by Judith R. Baskin 131 9. Life-Cycle Rituals of Spanish Crypto Jewish Women by Renee Levine Melammed 143 10. Ritualizing Death and Dying: The Ethical Will of Naphtali Ha-Kohen Katz by Avriel Bar-Levav 155 Torah, Learning, and Ethics 11. Moses Maimonides' Laws of the Study of Torah by Lawrence Kaplan 171 12. An Egyptian Woman Seeks to Rescue Her Husband from a Sufi Monastery by S. D. Goitein 186 13. A Monastic-like Setting for the Study of Torah by Ephraim Kanarfogel 191 14. Religious Practice among Italian Jewish Women by Howard Tzvi Adelman 203 15. A Mystical Fellowship in Jerusalem by Lawrence Fine 210 16. The Love of Learning among Polish Jews by Gershon David Hundert 215 Religious Sectarianism and Communities on the Margins 17. Jewish Sectarianism in the Near East: A Muslim's Account by Steven M. Wasserstrom 229 18. Travel in the Land of Israel by Lawrence Fine 237 19. Karaite Ritual by Daniel Frank 24E 20. Living Judaism in Confucian Culture: Being Jewish and Being Chinese by Jonathan N. Lipman 265 Art and Aesthetics 21. Defending, Enjoying, and Regulating the Visual by Kalman P. Bland 281 22. Illustrating History and Illluminating Identity in the Art of the Passover Haggadah by 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 by Marc Saperstein 325 Magic and Mysticism 25. The Book of the Great Name by Michael D. Swartz 341 26. Visionary Experiences among Spanish Crypto Jewish Women by Renee Levine Melammed 348 27. Mystical Eating and Food Practices in the Zohar by Joel Hecker 353 28. Devotional Rites in a Sufi Mode by Paul B. Fenton 364 29. Pietistic Customs from Safed by Lawrence Fine 375 30. Jewish Exorcism: Early Modem Traditions and Transformations by J. H. Chajes 386 31. Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Personal Practices of a Hasdic Master by Arthur Green 399 Remarkable Lives 32. The Life of Moses ben Maimon by Joel L. Kraemer 413 33. Dolce of Worms: The Lives and Deaths of an Exemplary Medieval Jewish Woman and Her Daughters by Judith R. Baskin 429 34. The Earliest Hebrew First-Crusade Narrative by Robert Chazan 438 35. Leon Modena's Autobiography by Mark R. Cohen 453 36. The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi by Matt Goldish 470 37. The Life of Glikl of Hameln by Paula E. Hyman 483 38. Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov by Dan Ben-Amos 498 39. The Scholarly Life of the Gaon of Vilna by Allan Nadler 513 Appendix. The Jewish Holidays 521 Index 523