Table of Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter 1
2. Table of Contents 7
3. Acknowledgments 9
4. Preface 11
5. Introduction : Theory and Method of Minhag 21
6. SECTION 1
7. 1. Voodoo or Judaism?—The Ritual of Kapparot 35
8. 2. Count Your Blessings: Jewish Mourning Rituals During the Spring Season (Sefirat ha-omer) 63
9. 3. Does Judaism Give Women Time Off for Good Behavior? 89
10. 4. Jewish Beards: The Symbolic Representation of the Rabbinic Beard 125
11. 5. Custom is on a Par with a Vow: Custom as Manifested in the Mishnah Berurah 155
12. 6. Social Reality or the Written Word: Minhag as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan 185
13. SECTION 2
14. 7. Contemporary Bar Mitzvah Rituals in Modern Orthodoxy 207
15. 8. A Female Rite of Passage in a Montreal Modern Orthodox Synagogue 223
16. 9. Jewish Mourning Rites: A Process of Resocialization 231
17. 10. Back to the Yeshiva: The Social Dynamics of an Orthodox Sabbath Morning Service 251
18. Bibliography 265
19. Index 277