Crossing the Jabbok - Illness and Death in Askenazi Judaism in Sixteenth - through Nineteenth-Century Prague

"Brilliant . . . both in its conceptual originality and in its success in opening up a whole new vista onto early modern Jewish history."—Hillel J. Kieval, University of Washington

About the author

Sylvie-Anne Goldberg is Associate Professor at the Center for Historical Research, L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Carol Cosman is a freelance translator.

Summary

To date, remarkably little research attention has been paid to the development of Jewish beliefs and rituals about illness and death. Crossing the Jabbok presents an illuminating study of such views and practices among Ashkenazi Jews (1500s-1800s) and is one of the first works to apply history of mentalités methods to a topic in Jewish cultural studies. Focusing on Prague, then the center of Central and Western European Jewry, the author draws on a rich array of materials to explore what was distinctively Jewish about the approach of Jews to sickness and dying. Her discoveries shed new light on the institution of the hevra kaddisha, or burial society, and many existing customs.

Product details

• Authors: Sylvie-Anne Goldberg, Goldberg Sylvie-Anne
• Assisted by: Carol Cosman (Translation), Cosman Carol (Translation)
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.04.1997
• EAN: 9780520081499
• ISBN: 978-0-520-08149-9
• No. of pages: 336
• Weight: 726 g
• Series: Contraversions: Critical Studies in Jewish Literature, Culture, and Society
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Sociology, Eastern Europe, RELIGION / Judaism / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Death & Dying, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, Sociology: customs & traditions, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Jewish Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Jewish Studies, Judaism, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Central Europe, Cultural studies: customs and traditions, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, c 1500 to c 1600, C 1600 To C 1700, Relating to Jewish people and groups, Sociology: death and dying, Sociology: Death & Dying, C 1700 To C 1800, Social groups: religious groups and communities