Israel Abrahams – författare

First published in 2010. Long the standard authority on the subject, this classic work is the enlarged and revised edition begun by Israel Abrahams, one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars of his time, and completed after his death by the renowned Anglo-Jewish historian Cecil Roth. Through his writings, Abrahams made many aspects of Jewish culture and history, previously known only to scholars, accessible to a wider audience. In this volume, illustrated with distinctive woodcuts and prints, he deals with Jewish life in Europe from the tenth to the sixteenth century and the influence of Jewish thought on European culture. The work is arranged in twenty four chapters, which deal with the synagogue as the centre of social life; with the inner life of the synagogue; communal organization; the institution of the ghetto; social morality; the slave trade; monogamy and the home; home life; love and courtship; marriage customs; trades and occupations; the Jews and the theatre; the Purim-play and the drama in Hebrew; costume in law and fashion; the Jewish badge; private and communal charities; the medieval schools; the scope of education; medieval pastimes and indoor amusements; personal relations between Jews and Christians; and literary friendships. This magisterial book is a treasury of the rich cultural and historical life of the Jewish people.

First published in 2010. Long the standard authority on the subject, this classic work is the enlarged and revised edition begun by Israel Abrahams, one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars of his time, and completed after his death by the renowned Anglo-Jewish historian Cecil Roth. Through his writings, Abrahams made many aspects of Jewish culture and history, previously known only to scholars, accessible to a wider audience. In this volume, illustrated with distinctive woodcuts and prints, he deals with Jewish life in Europe from the tenth to the sixteenth century and the influence of Jewish thought on European culture. The work is arranged in twenty four chapters, which deal with the synagogue as the centre of social life; with the inner life of the synagogue; communal organization; the institution of the ghetto; social morality; the slave trade; monogamy and the home; home life; love and courtship; marriage customs; trades and occupations; the Jews and the theatre; the Purim-play and the drama in Hebrew; costume in law and fashion; the Jewish badge; private and communal charities; the medieval schools; the scope of education; medieval pastimes and indoor amusements; personal relations between Jews and Christians; and literary friendships. This magisterial book is a treasury of the rich cultural and historical life of the Jewish people.

This classic work of scholarship illustrates the richness, complexity, and fullness of medieval Jewish life. Readers will discover how much was hidden from the inquisitive and often hostile gaze of Christian Europe. Israel Abrahams vividly details the customs, manners, and mores, and delves into the social culture of Jewish life at this time.

The renewed and growing interest in ethical wills today speaks to the attraction they have to people who want to reflect on the deeper meaning of their own lives and share what they have learned with those they love. These very personal documents, with origins in the Bible, grew into a particularly Jewish custom. Hebrew Ethical Wills can teach us much about the past and gives us food for thought for the present. First published in 1926, this expanded edition includes new material: Lawrence Fine's excellent introduction, passages from the autobiography of Gluckl of Hameln (to give expression to a Jewish women's voice), and a bibliography of state-of-the-art scholarship on the issues and themes of ethical wills. The texts included, by Judah ibn Tibbon, Maimonides, the Baal Shem Tov, and the Gaon of Vilna, among others, with Hebrew facing pages, provide us with rich and intriguing evidence of premodern notions of parenthood and childhood. And they offer special insights into the faith and feelings of Jews across the centuries, as well as inspiration for those who want to write their own ethical wills today.