Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period

Published by Princeton University Press 2002

Judaism in Practice

From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period

Edited by: Lawrence Fine

Volume 20 in the series Princeton Readings in Religions

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691227986

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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 author of Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos--Isaac Luria and his Kabbalistic Fellowship.

Reviews

"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

"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 Forward

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
CONTRIBUTORS Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
INTRODUCTION Lawrence Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Rituals of Daily and Festival Practice
1 Communal Prayer and Liturgical Poetry Raymond P. Scheindlin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
2 Italian Jewish Women at Prayer Howard Tzvi Adelman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
3 Measuring Graves and Laying Wicks Chava Weissler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
4 Adorning the "Bride" on the Eve of the Feast of Weeks Daniel C. Matt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
5 New Year's Day for Fruit of the Tree Miles Krassen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Rituals of the Life Cycle
6 The Role of Women at Rituals of Their Infant Children Lawrence A. Hoffman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
7 Honey Cakes and Torah: A Jewish Boy Learns His Letters Ivan G. Marcus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
8 Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval Ashkenaz: The Sexual Politics of Piety Judith R. Baskin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
9 Life-Cycle Rituals of Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women Renée Levine Melammed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
10 Ritualizing Death and Dying: The Ethical Will of Naphtali Ha-Kohen Katz Avriel Bar-Levav Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Torah, Learning, and Ethics
11 Moses Maimonides' Laws of the Study of Torah Lawrence Kaplan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
12 An Egyptian Woman Seeks to Rescue Her Husband from a Sufi Monastery S. D. Goitein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
13 A Monastic-like Setting for the Study of Torah Ephraim Kanarfogel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
14 Religious Practice among Italian Jewish Women Howard Tzvi Adelman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
15 A Mystical Fellowship in Jerusalem Lawrence Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
16 The Love of Learning among Polish Jews Gershon David Hundert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Religious Sectarianism and Communities on the Margins
17 Jewish Sectarianism in the Near East: A Muslim's Account Steven M. Wasserstrom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
18 Travel in the Land of Israel Lawrence Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
19 Karaite Ritual Daniel Frank Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
20 Living Judaism in Confucian Culture: Being Jewish and Being Chinese Jonathan N. Lipman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Art and Aesthetics
21 Defending, Enjoying, and Regulating the Visual Kalman P. Bland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
22 Illustrating History and Illuminating Identity in the Art of the Passover Haggadah Marc Michael Epstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
23 The Arts of Calligraphy and Composition, and the Love of Books Lawrence Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	318
24 Jewish Preaching in Fifteenth-Century Spain Marc Saperstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Magic and Mysticism
25 The Book of the Great Name Michael D. Swartz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
26 Visionary Experiences among Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women Renée Levine Melammed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	348
27 Mystical Eating and Food Practices in the Zohar Joel Hecker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
28 Devotional Rites in a Sufi Mode Paul B. Fenton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
29 Pietistic Customs from Safed Lawrence Fine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	375
30 Jewish Exorcism: Early Modern Traditions and Transformations J. H. Chajes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	386
31 Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Personal Practices of a Hasidic Master Arthur Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	399
Remarkable Lives
32 The Life of Moses ben Maimon Joel L. Kraemer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	411
33 Dolce of Worms: The Lives and Deaths of an Exemplary Medieval Jewish Woman and Her Daughters Judith R. Baskin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	429
34 The Earliest Hebrew First-Crusade Narrative Robert Chazan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	438
35 Leon Modena's Autobiography Mark R. Cohen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	453
36 The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi Matt Goldish Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	470
37 The Life of Glikl of Hameln Paula E. Hyman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	483
38 Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov Dan Ben-Amos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	498
39 The Scholarly Life of the Gaon of Vilna Allan Nadler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	513
APPENDIX The Jewish Festivals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	521
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	523