Routledge Handbook of Jewish Ritual and Practice

Ritual and practice are some of the most defining features of religion, linked with its central beliefs. Discussing the wide range of Jewish ritual and practice, this volume provides a contemporary guide to this significant aspect of religious life and experience. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, this volume describes not only what takes place, but the reasons behind this and the implications both the theory and practice have for our understanding of Judaism. Organized in terms of texts, periods, practices, languages and relationships with the other, the book includes accounts of prayer, food, history, synagogues and the various legal and ideological debates that exist within Judaism with the focus on how they influence practice. Coming at a time of renewed interest in the role of the body in religion, this book aims to bring the theoretical and scriptural issues which arise in this area of Jewish life and culture up to date. This volume is aimed at students and researchers working in Jewish studies specifically, and religious studies in general. Designed to be helpful to those on courses in relevant areas, especially in the United States, this book includes substantial bibliographical material.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Texts 1. The Jewish Bible 2. Midrash 3. Talmud 4. Ambiguity and Notation: Jewish Law and Legal Pluralism Part 2: Periods 5. Archaeology 6. See and Sanctify: Medieval Ashkenaz and Italy 7. Visualizations of Rituals in Medieval Book Culture 8. Material Culture in the Jewish Medieval World of Islam: Books, Clothing and Houses 9. The Ritual Turn in the Early Modern Period 10. Jewish Material Culture in the Modern Age Part 3: Groups 11. A Study of Two Traditions: Sephardi and Ashkenazi 12. Karaites Judaism: An Introduction to its Theology and Practices 13. The Modern Orthodox in America 14. Haskalah : Jewish Practice and Romantic Religion 15. Ritual and Practice in Hasidim 16. Conservative Judaism 17. Reform 18. Jewish Ritual and Social Justice in America 19. The American Jewish Family 20. A Jewish Family on TV: Reflections on Ritual Part 4: Practices 21. Circumcision 22. Body Image and Jewish Rituals and Practices 23. Hair 24. Clothes 25. Food 26. Sanctuary in Time: Shabbat as the Soul of Modern Jewry and the Essence of “Doing” Judaism 27. Sometimes God Sneaks Back In: Jewish Secular Rituals 28. “For the Amen Meal, You Don’t Have to Keep the Religious Duties”: Amen Meals as a New Age Phenomenon 29. Models of Sexuality (and Marriage) in the Jewish Tradition 30. Music and the Experience of Jewish Ritual and Practice 31. The Theological Implications of the State of Israel 32. Death and Dying 33. Between Tradition and Innovation: Alternative Funerals in Israel Part 5: Languages 34. The Hebrew Language as a Source of Ritual and Practice 35. The Role of Judezmo/ Ladino in ‘Ottoman Sephardic’ Jewish Religious Ritual and Practice 36. Yiddish Part 6: Others 37. Jewish Magical Practices 38. Disabilities and Inclusion 39. The Early Christian Reception of Jewish Rituals During the “Parting of the Ways” 40. Christianity 41. Samaritans 42. Interfaith Rituals

About the Author :
Oliver Leaman teaches at the University of Kentucky and his books include Evil and Suffering in Jewish Philosophy (1995); History of Jewish Philosophy, ed. D. Frank & O. Leaman (Routledge, 1996); Moses Maimonides (Routledge, 1997); A Reader in Jewish Philosophy, ed. D. Frank, O. Leaman & C. Manekin (Routledge, 2000); Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy, ed. D. Frank & O. Leaman; Lost in Translation: Essays in Islamic and Jewish Philosophy (2004); Jewish Thought: An Introduction (Routledge, 2006); Judaism: An Introduction (2011). He is editor of the Routledge Jewish Studies Series.