The fabric of religious life in medieval Ashkenaz (1000-1300) : : creating sacred communities / / by Jeffrey R. Woolf.

• Superior document: Études sur le Judaïsme médiéval ; v. 30
• Author: Woolf, Jeffrey R.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill.; c2015.
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Études sur le judaïsme médiéval 30.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (262 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In The Fabric of Religious Life in Medieval Ashkenaz , Jeffrey R. Woolf presents the first integrated presentation of the ideals and beliefs that comprised the self-image and worldview of Ashkenazic Jews in the Central and High Middle Ages (900-1300). Through careful examination of a wide range of sources (legal, customal, liturgical, artistic), Woolf shows how religious practice played a dual role in creating and sustaining Jewish life in a hostile environment. They instilled these values, and recast religious traditions to reflect them. The author demonstrates how hitherto underappreciated ideals such as Purity, Sanctity, and a palpable sense of Divine In-Dwelling played a central role in Ashkenazic religiousity and merged to form the texture, or the \'Sacred Canopy,\' of their lives.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Community -- 3 The Synagogue -- 4 Purity and Impurity -- 5 Martyrdom -- Bibliography -- Index.