This volume describes the major "rites of passage" of the Jewish life cycle. From birth, through circumcision, to marriage, divorce, sickness, death and mourning, Daniel Sperber presents detailed descriptions of the major customs attending these events. These customs are examined in light of their original sources, their integration and evolution in varying Jewish communities, and the popular explanations given for their practice, both historically and today. This book draws on the whole spectrum of rabbinic literature, comparing its stories and explanations with folk beliefs of other cultures throughout the world. Sperber makes use of a wide range of resources--medieval and modern, legal, folkloristic, anthropological and literary-in his discussion of customs, proving that Jewish communities were never isolated from their environment. He also examines in depth the earliest origins of many of our well-known and commonly practiced Jewish customs. This book makes use of iconographic material found in illustrated books written by non-Jews describing Jewish practice. These illustrations are analyzed in detail, constituting yet another rich source for the understanding of the evolution of Jewish customs. Customs, by their nature, are often taken for granted. In this book, Daniel Sperber offers an expert, detailed, and lively analysis of some of the most and least commonly practiced customs in Jewish tradition.

The Jewish Life Cycle Lore and Iconography Jewish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave

Politics & Social Sciences

Sperber, Daniel

Sociology

Oxford University Press

Why Jews Do What They Do: The History of Jewish Customs Throughout the Cycle of the Jewish Year

Religion & Spirituality

Judaism

Ktav Pub & Distributors Inc

Communal prayer has always been a central component in Jewish life. Traditional orthodox services are structured around spatial and functional separation of men and women. In this book, introduced by Dr. Tamar Ross, Rabbi Daniel Sperber presents a halakhic justification for expanding the role of women in communal prayer services. Building on work by Rabbi Mendel Shapiro (included in the volume) in which the legal sources are examined and interpreted to permit women to lead parts of the service and participate in Torah reading, Rabbi Sperber highlights the pivotal importance of kevod ha-beri ot (human dignity) in encouraging fuller participation of women in communal prayer. Because of the relevance and timeliness of the topic, two articles that express opposition to Rabbi Sperber s position are included one by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and one by Professor Eliav Shochetman. This anthology represents an example of a vibrant dialogue between leading scholars on a current issue and highlights the dynamic nature of the halakhic process.

Women and Men in Communal Prayer: Halakhic Perspectives

Riskin, Shlomo

Shapiro, Mendel

Shochetman, Eliav

In "Talmud Study: From Proficiency to Meaning," a noted educator proposes a method of teaching and studying Gemara in today's world. In contrast, a scientist uses quantum theory to answer the age-old dilemma between G-d's omniscience and man's free will. In "Seeing Silence..." the author sees in the work of a contemporary artist the spirit of ma'aseh hoshev and mahaseh horash of the mishkan. In "Marah: Preparing for Kabbolas HaTorah," the author uses the allegorical interpretation of midrash to demonstrate the fundamental principles that Israel needed to understand in order to be prepared for receiving the Torah. In "Rabbinic strategies for dealing with redundant legal passages in Scripture" the author contrasts how the Hachmei HaTalmud and the Rishonim dealt with this issue. In "The Mishneh Torah's Structure and its Meaning," the author asserts "that Maimonides based the Mishneh Torah's 14-book structure on his cosmology". In "The Miracle of the Answered Prayer" the authors ask, "can one ask God to do a miracle that violates natural law to heal a sick individual?... and if we cannot pray for a miracle, what is the focus of our prayers to heal the sick?" In "Bati le-Gani": A Comparison of Discourses by Rabbis Schneersohn and Hutner," the author discerns a discourse between two great leaders expressing their differing philosophies for encountering the modern world. In "On Changes in Liturgy and Customs in General," a noted scholar responds to a Hakirah article and argues for the legitimacy of changes in both Liturgy and Customs. The author of the review responds that the issues in question are those of halakhah and not minhag. In "The Origin of the Custom of Chai Rotl." The author seeks to uncover the source for an ever increasingly popular segulah and concludes that "What began as a spontaneous vow by a childless man in the 1800s has now become a cure-all segulah and fundraising tool directed at a population that is fundamentally unaware that this segulah never existed." In "Is Parchment Klaf?" the author calls for "restoring the original method for producing skins" for the writing of Sifrei Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot. In "Genetically Modified Organisms" the author concludes that genetic modification based on non-kosher species will not affect the kashrut of kosher animals. An abbreviated translation of an article in Chitzei Giborim deals with a new Ben Asher codex that may actually have been the original upon which the Aleppo Codex was compiled. In "A Synagogue on Har Habayit in the 7th Century: Dream or Historical Fact?" the author concludes that "there is overwhelming evidence that there was an active synagogue on the Temple Mount during the Early Muslim period." In "The Itinerary of Emmanuel Levinas’ Thought," a leading expert introduces readers to his work, and shows how it changed over time, while also focusing on the Jewish dimension of his thought. In "Isaac Breuer’s Utopia," the author translates a passage from Rav Isaac Breuer's novel "Falk Neft's Homecoming," which provides insight into the understanding of Torah im Derech Eretz and the attitude to Zionism of this great Jewish writer and philosopher.

Hakirah: The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought

Aviezer, Nathan

Buchman, Asher Benzion

Frimer, Aryeh H.

Gillis, David

Kaplan, Lawrence

Kadish, Alan

Haberman, Moshe

Brandes, Yehuda

Loike, Jphn D.

Hakirah

My Rabbinic Loanwords Card Index of More Than A Half-Century: A Companion Volume to Professor Samuel Krauss’ Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwörter im Talmud, Midrasch und Targum is the result of more than a half-century of collection and research. Professor Sperber had originally intended to produce an annotated edition of the second volume of Samuel Krauss’ classic Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwörter im Talmud, Midrasch und Talmud, Berlin 1899 (reprinted by Olms of Hildesheim in 1964).The 2779 cards that are contained in this volume contain rich bibliographic references to relevant lexical discussions appearing in books and journals (mainly) in English, French and German, published over the last hundred-and-fifty odd years.Samuel Krauss’ classic work contains over two and a half thousand entries, and through Daniel Sperber’s research, some two-hundred and eighty-eight new entries have been added, and writes in the Introduction to this volume: I have no doubt that there are many more yet to be discovered. So this is by no means ‘the final word,’ but merely yet another step forward, in what is, I hope, the right direction, a step which I believe will prove to be useful to all involved in rabbinic and classical scholarship.

My Rabbinic Loanwords Card Index of More Than a Half-Century: A Companion Volume to Professor Samuel Krauss' Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwörter Im Talmud, Midrasch und Targum

Shikey Press

Provides a detailed analysis of etymological issues: citations of sources and translations chronologically and semantically arranged, Hellenistic, Roman and juristic papyrological sources compared, phonology and morphology of rabbinic Graecitas and its dialectological characteristics. So unusual and rich a treatment is not to be found in any earlier rabbinic lexicon.

A Dictionary of Greek and Latin Terms in Rabbinic Literature

Bar-Ilan University Press

Who in our day and age does not know about inflation and devaluation? Well, there is nothing basically new in these phenomena. Already in Roman times people would shudder at the market prices. This was especially the case in the third century CE, a period of monetary devaluation and general economic decline. Politically and militarily it was a period of anarchic instability. The fourth century showed a marked improvement in all these fields, but with it came radical changes in the political, economic and social structure of the Empire. This volume attempts to bring new evidence to bear upon this period from the vast corpus of Rabbinic literature. Texts of economic significance have been analysed and fitted into a chronological framework, and bring a new dimension to this very crucial phase in Roman economic history. The second edition of this book is published in response to popular scholarly request, and includes additional material both on basic Rabbinic monetary texts and further socio-economic analysis.

Roman Palestine, 200-400: Money and prices (Bar-Ilan studies in Near Eastern languages and culture)

A study of the points of contact between Hellenistic-Roman culture and Rabbinic Judaism. The areas examined are the magical and folkloristic motifs found in the literature of the period.

Magic and Folklore in Rabbinic Literature (Bar-Ilan Studies in Near Eastern Languages and Culture)

Gefen Books

Recognizing that certain of the more archaic aspects of Jewish liturgy contain passages and statements that apply more to past eras than to the present day—and can in some cases be offensive to segments of modern society—this book attempts to delineate the parameters of halachically permissible changes in the liturgy. This consideration argues that these changes should have precedents in traditional sources and that they should be made only when they correct anachronisms and defuse potential conflict, thus enhancing the experience of prayer for an ever-widening spectrum of Orthodox Jewry.

On Changes in Jewish Liturgy: Options and Limitations

Urim Publications

Finalist: 2014 National Jewish Book Award, Modern Jewish Thought and Experience This study seeks to examine the relationship between the two major categories of commandments (mitzvot): ritual commands (between man and his Maker) and social interpersonal commands (between man and his neighbor). It is argued here that when there is a clash between these two categories, and one cannot carry out both, the interpersonal mitzvot almost always override those of a ritual nature. Different scenarios from a broad spectrum of Jewish law are cited to prove this contention, and the conclusion is underscored through the examination of the behavior and rulings of several leading Jewish legal authorities. Finally, the implications of this conclusion and their impact on religious educational direction and rationale are also discussed.

On the Relationship of Mitzvot Between Man and His Neighbor and Man and His Maker

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