Time and Life Cycle in Talmud and Midrash: Socio-Anthropological Perspectives

by Nissan Rubin

Overview

Focusing on the concepts of time and the life cycle, this collection of articles examines Jewish life in the Talmudic period through the lens of Jewish law and custom of the time. The essays are the work of Nissan Rubin (one of them written in collaboration with Admiel Kosman) and come together to present the cultural perspective of the sages and scholars who produced the stepping-stones of Jewish life and custom. By using a structural approach, Rubin is able to identify processes of long-term change in a society that remains largely traditional and stable. Symbolic analysis supplies an additional dimension to these studies, enabling the reader to experience the cultural subtexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934843079
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Series:	Judaism and Jewish Life
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Nissan Rubin (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University, 1977) is Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University. His published books include: Research Methods in Social Science - Strategy, Design and Measurement. Tel-Aviv: Dekel, 1978 (with Ernest Krausz and Steven H. Miller), The Beginning of Life: Rites of Birth, Circumcision and Redemption of the First-Born in the Talmud and Midrash. Tel-Aviv: Ha-Kibbutz Ha-Meuchad, 1995 The End of Life: Rites of Burial and Mourning in the Talmud and Midrash. Tel-Aviv: Ha-Kibbutz Ha- Meuchad, 1988 and The Joy of Life: Rites of Betrothal and Marriage in the Talmud and Midrash. Tel-Aviv: Ha-Kibbutz Ha-Meuchad, 2004.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements. Part 1: Introduction. 1. the Sociology and Anthropology of Talmudic Texts. Part 2: Time. 2. The Clothing of the Primordial Adam as a Symbol of Apocalyptic Time in the Midrashic Sources (with Admiel Kosman). Part 3: Birth and Marriage. 3. Brit Milah: A Study of Change in Custom. 4. Coping with the Value of the Pidyon Ha'ben Payment in Rabbinic Literature: An Example of a Scoial Change Process. 5. Birth and Marriage Rituals: Women's Status in a Critical Reading of the Texts. Part 4: Death. 6. The Sages' Conception of the Body and Soul. 7. From Corpse to Corpus: The Body as a Text in Talmudic Literature. 8. Birkat Avelim - The Blessing of Mourners: Ritual Aspects of Social Change. Bibliography. General Index. Author Index. Source Index.