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Mothers and Children

Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe
  • Elisheva Baumgarten and Elisheva Baumgarten
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2013
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About this book

This book presents a synthetic history of the family--the most basic building block of medieval Jewish communities--in Germany and northern France during the High Middle Ages. Concentrating on the special roles of mothers and children, it also advances recent efforts to write a comparative Jewish-Christian social history.


Elisheva Baumgarten draws on a rich trove of primary sources to give a full portrait of medieval Jewish family life during the period of childhood from birth to the beginning of formal education at age seven. Illustrating the importance of understanding Jewish practice in the context of Christian society and recognizing the shared foundations in both societies, Baumgarten's examination of Jewish and Christian practices and attitudes is explicitly comparative. Her analysis is also wideranging, covering nearly every aspect of home life and childrearing, including pregnancy, midwifery, birth and initiation rituals, nursing, sterility, infanticide, remarriage, attitudes toward mothers and fathers, gender hierarchies, divorce, widowhood, early education, and the place of children in the home, synagogue, and community.


A richly detailed and deeply researched contribution to our understanding of the relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors, Mothers and Children provides a key analysis of the history of Jewish families in medieval Ashkenaz.

Author / Editor information

Elisheva Baumgarten is Lecturer in the Department of Jewish History and the Gender Studies Program at Bar Ilan University.

Reviews

"In Elisheva Baumgarten's erudite and captivating chronicle of Jewish family life in the Middle Ages, several surprising revelations may cause us to rethink our presumptions about medieval Jewish women. . . . Baumgarten displays not only mastery of Jewish sources, but a considerable familiarity with Christian texts and anthropological literature."---David Wolpe, The Jerusalem Post --- "[Baumgarten's] scholarship is thorough and meticulous, and her judgment is intelligent and reliable. . . . She has thus made a major contribution in so carefully and convincingly delineating the interconnections of medieval Jewish and Christian family life."---Sarah Lipton, Medieval Review --- "[T]horoughly researched and lucidly written. . . . Baumgarten has opened an erudite and well-constructed window into an area of Jewish life . . . that has long eluded sustained productive treatment by modern scholarship. She has advanced the field considerably in this estimable work."---Ephraim Kanarfogel, American Historical Review --- "Baumgarten's writing of Ashkenaz medieval history as seen through a gender perspective advances a more inclusive reading of Jewish history." --- "Runner-Up for the 2005 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies category, Jewish Book Council" --- "Winner of the 2005 Koret Jewish Book Award in History, Koret Foundation" --- "Winner of the 2008 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Gender Studies, Association for Jewish Studies"

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Illustrations

    ix
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    Acknowledgments

    xi
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    Abbreviations

    xv
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    Introduction

    1
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    Chapter One. Birth

    21
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    Chapter Two. Circumcision and Baptism

    55
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    Chapter Three. Additional Birth Rituals

    92
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    Chapter Four. Maternal Nursing and Wet Nurses: Feeding and Caring for Infants

    119
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    Chapter Five. Parents and Children: Competing Values

    154
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    Conclusions

    184
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    Notes

    191
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    Glossary

    241
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    Bibliography

    243
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    Index

    269
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 24, 2013
eBook ISBN:
9781400849260
Edition:
Course Book
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400849260
eBook ISBN: 9781400849260
Keywords for this book
Jews; Wet nurse; Women in Judaism; Rashi; Responsa; Christianity; Remarriage; Rite; Judaism; Religion; Jewish history; Mother; Suggestion; Infant; Infanticide; Christian culture; Midwife; Baal; Midrash; Writing; Mourning; Gender role; Child care; Literature; Grief; Purim; Jewish Christian; Niddah; Religious education; Christian; Parenting; Spouse; Sefer (Hebrew); Christianity and Judaism; Neglect; Legitimacy (family law); Mishnah; Hebrew University of Jerusalem; The Other Hand; Incest; Rabbi; Sotah (Talmud); Sudden infant death syndrome; Jewish studies; Center for Advanced Judaic Studies; Meal; Childbirth; Medieval literature; Nuclear family; Horowitz; High Middle Ages; Widow; Celibacy; Wedding; R.; Infertility; Breast milk; Wimpel; Gender studies; Elijah; Churching of women; Lying-in; Fasting; Burial; Exclusion; Persecution; Tefillin; Mitzvah; Siddur; Dinah
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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