“Rites As Acts of Institution,” Honor and Grace in Anthropology, eds. John G. Peristiany and Ju-
lian Pitt-Rivers (Cambridge, 1992), 81–88.
- For example: Natalie Z. Davis, “The Reasons of Misrule,” in Society and Culture in Early
Modern France(Stanford, 1975), 97–123; Robert Darnton, “A Bourgeois Puts His World in Order:
The City As a Text,” in The Great Cat Massacre and other Episodes in French Cultural History
(New York, 1985), 116–24; Susan C. Karant-Nunn, A Reformation of Ritual: An Interpretation of
Early Modern Germany(London and New York, 1997); Edward Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Eu-
rope(Cambridge and New York, 1997). - Marcus, Rituals of Childhood; Weinstein, Jewish Marriage; Lawrence A. Hoffman, Cove-
nant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism(Chicago and London, 1997); Nis-
san Rubin, The Beginning of Life: Rites of Birth, Circumcision and Redemption of the Firstborn in
the Talmud and Midrash(Tel Aviv, 1995) [in Hebrew]. For a general overview: Harvey E. Gold-
berg, “Coming of Ages of Jewish Studies, or Anthropology Is Counted in the Minyan,” Jewish So-
cial Studies n.s.4(1997): 29–63. - Marcus, Rituals of Childhood.
- For example: Hoffman’s analysis of the circumcision ceremony is not historical. Rather he
discusses the circumcision ritual as an anthropologist, often ignoring historical developments per-
taining to the ritual. See: Nissan Rubin, “Review of L. A. Hoffman, Covenant of Blood: Circum-
cision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism,” Zion63(1998): 225–30, esp. 230. - For a summary of these approaches, see: Ivan G. Marcus, The Religious and Social Ideas of
the Jewish Pietists in Medieval Germany: Collected Essays(Jerusalem, 1986), 11–24 [in Hebrew]. - This approach has been adopted by others who have studied family life, for example: Gross-
man, Pious and Rebellious.Grossman does not discuss this issue in his book, however his broad
use of sources from Sefer H·asidimthroughout the book, illustrates the approach I am describing. - For example: David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Tuscans and Their Families: A
Study of the Florentine Catasto of 1427(New Haven, 1985). - For example: Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance
of Food to Medieval Women(Berkeley, 1987); Barbara Newman, From Virile Woman to Wom-
anChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature(Philadelphia, 1995). - For example: R. Eleazar b. Judah, Sefer Rokeah·haGadol(Jerusalem, 1960), no. 296.
- Men, women, and children frequented the synagogue. Evidence concerning women’s at-
tendance has not yet been studied systematically. See: Löw, Der Synagogale Ritus(Krotoschin,
1884), ch. 5; SHP, no. 464–65, no. 468. Medieval Jews contributed large amounts of money to
beautify their synagogues: Richard Krautheimer, Batei Knesset beYemei haBenayim, trans. Amos
Goren (Jerusalem, 1994), 47–56; Sigmund Salfeld, Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches
(Berlin, 1898), 87–94. The fact that many medieval synagogues were turned into churches after
the Jews were expelled from their cities is evidence of their splendor. See Mary Minty, “‘Juden-
gasse’ into Christian Quarter: The Phenomenon of the Converted Synagogue in the Late Me-
dieval and Early Modern Holy Roman Empire,” in Popular Religion in Germany and Central Eu-
rope 1400–1800, eds. Bob Scribner and Trevor Johnson (Basingstoke, 1996), 58–86. - Supra., n. 23.
- Pinthus was interested in understanding the changes in the relationship between the Jew-
ish quarter and other parts of the city, and only a very small part of his book (43–47) deals with
the living conditions of families. Alexander Pinthus, Die Judensiedlungen, 13–47. Recently
Markus Wenninger has taken up some of these issues: “Zur Topographie der Judenviertel,” 81–
- For comparative work regarding Christian society: Jack Goody, Production and Reproduc-
tion: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain(Cambridge, 1976); Michael Mitterauer, His-
torisch-Anthropologische Familienforschung. Fragestellungen und Zugangsweisen(Vienna, 1990),
26–31, 35–37, 87–100; Pierre Toubert, “The Carolingian Moment,” 383–88. - Martha Howell, The Marriage Exchange: Property, Social Place and Gender in Cities of the