Biblical women and Jewish daily life in the Middle Ages /
In Biblical Women and Jewish Daily Life in the Middle Ages, Elisheva Baumgarten seeks a point of entry into the everyday existence of people who did not belong to the learned elite, and who therefore left no written records of their lives. She does so by turning to the Bible as it was read, reinterp...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Philadelphia :
University of Pennsylvania Press,
[2022].
|
| Series: | Jewish culture and contexts.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | In Biblical Women and Jewish Daily Life in the Middle Ages, Elisheva Baumgarten seeks a point of entry into the everyday existence of people who did not belong to the learned elite, and who therefore left no written records of their lives. She does so by turning to the Bible as it was read, reinterpreted, and seen by the Jews of medieval Ashkenaz. In the tellings, retellings and illustrations of biblical stories, and especially of those centered around of women, Baumgarten writes, we can find explanations and validations for the practices that structured birth, marriage and death, women's inclusion in the liturgy and synagogue and the roles of women as community leaders, givers of charity, and keepers of the household. Each of the book's chapters concentrates on a single figure or a cluster of biblical women, Eve, the Matriarchs, Deborah, Yael, Abigail and Jephthah's daughter, to explore aspects of the domestic and communal lives of northern French and German Jews living among Christians in urban settings. Running throughout the book are more than forty vivid medieval illuminations, most reproduced in color, that help convey to modern readers what medieval people could have known visually about these biblical stories. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 278 pages : color illustrations ; 27 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780812253580 0812253582 |