Crossing the Jabbok

This is a study of beliefs and rituals about illness and death amongst the Ashkenazi Jews. Focusing on Prague, the book draws on an array of material to explore what was distinctly Jewish about the approach of these people to sickness and dying.

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To date, remarkably little research attention has been paid to the development of Jewish beliefs and rituals about illness and death. Crossing the Jabbok presents an illuminating study of such views and practices among Ashkenazi Jews (1500s-1800s) and is one of the first works to apply history of mentalites methods to a topic in Jewish cultural studies. Focusing on Prague, then the center of Central and Western European Jewry, the author draws on a rich array of materials to explore what was distinctively Jewish about the approach of Jews to sickness and dying. Her discoveries shed new light on the institution of the hevra kaddisha, or burial society, and many existing customs.