Death in Jewish life : : burial and mourning customs among Jews of Europe and nearby communities / / edited by Stefan C. Reif, Andreas Lehnardt and Avriel Bar-Levav.

• Superior document: Studia Judaica Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums, Band 78
• Author: Reif, Stefan C.
• TeilnehmendeR: Reif, Stefan C., 1944-; Lehnardt, Andreas,; Bar-Levav, Avriel,
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin, [Germany] ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : De Gruyter,, 2014.; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: Studia Judaica (Walter de Gruyter & Co.) ; Band 78.; Rethinking diaspora ; Volume 1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (400 p.)
• Notes: Includes indexes.

Jewish customs and traditions about death, burial and mourning are numerous, diverse and intriguing. They are considered by many to have a respectable pedigree that goes back to the earliest rabbinic period. In order to examine the accurate historical origins of many of them, an international conference was held at Tel Aviv University in 2010 and experts dealt with many aspects of the topic. This volume includes most of the papers given then, as well as a few added later. What emerges are a wealth of fresh material and perspectives, as well as the realization that the high Middle Ages saw a set of exceptional innovations, some of which later became central to traditional Judaism while others were gradually abandoned. Were these innovations influenced by Christian practice? Which prayers and poems reflect these innovations? What do the sources tell us about changing attitudes to death and life-after death? Are tombstones an important guide to historical developments? Answers to these questions are to be found in this unusual, illuminating and readable collection of essays that have been well documented, carefully edited and well indexed.

Table of Contents

Front matter -- Editors' Foreword -- List of Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Details of the Contributors, with Summaries of their Essays -- Section 1: On Death in Life -- Jewish Attitudes towards Death: A Society between Time, Space and Texts / Bar-Levav, Avriel -- The Early Growth of the Medieval Economy of Salvation in Latin Christianity / Paxton, Frederick S. -- A Response to Professor Paxton's Paper / Reif, Stefan C. -- From Here to the Hereafter: The Ashkenazi Concept of the Afterlife in a Crusading Milieu / Shepkaru, Shmuel -- Section 2: Texts in Society: Liturgy and Ritual -- Christian Influences on the Yahrzeit Qaddish / Lehnardt, Andreas -- Investigation into the Early European Forms of the Ṣidduq ha-Din / Langer, Ruth -- Ha-Ṣur Tamim be-khol Po'al: On some Italian roots of the Poetic Ṣidduq Ha-Din in the Early Ashkenazi rite / Lehnardt, Peter Sh. -- Av ha-raḥamim: On the 'Father of Mercy' Prayer / Lifshitz, Joseph Isaac -- Liturgy as Personal Memorial for the Victims in 1096 / Gross, Abraham -- When the Grave was Searched, the Bones of the Deceased were not Found': Corporeal Revenants in Medieval Ashkenaz / Schur, Yechiel Y. -- The Early Ashkenazi Practice of Burial with Religious Paraphernalia / Barak, Nati -- Section 3: Re-Placing the Dead -- The Dead as Living History: On the publication of Die Grabsteine vom jüdischen Friedhof in Würzburg 1147-1346 / Reiner, Avraham (Rami) -- Newly Found Medieval Gravestones from Magenza / Hüttenmeister, Nathanja / Lehnardt, Andreas -- The Structures of Hebrew Epitaph Poetry in Padua / Malkiel, David -- The Corpus Epitaphiorum Hebraicorum Italiae (CEHI): A Project to Publish a Complete Corpus of the Epitaphs Preserved in Italian Jewish Cemeteries of the Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries / Perani, Mauro -- Romans in Istanbul Part 1: Historical and Literary Introduction / Rozen, Minna -- Romans in Istanbul Part 2: Texts and Photographs / Rozen, Minna -- Indexes