Final Judgement and the Dead in Medieval Jewish Thought (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781906764975)

Through a detailed analysis of ghost tales in the Ashkenazi pietistic work Sefer hasidim, Susan Weissman documents a major transformation in Jewish attitudes and practices regarding the dead and the afterlife that took place between the rabbinic period and medieval times. She reveals that a huge influx of Germano-Christian beliefs, customs, and fears relating to the dead and the afterlife seeped into medieval Ashkenazi society among both elite and popular groups. In matters of sin, penance, and posthumous punishment, the infiltration of Christian notions was so strong as to effect a radical departure in Pietist thinking from rabbinic thought and to spur outright contradiction of talmudic principles regarding the realm of the hereafter. Although it is primarily a study of the culture of a medieval Jewish enclave, this book demonstrates how seminal beliefs of medieval Christendom and monastic ideals could take root in a society with contrary religious values-even in the realm of doctrinal belief.


Author: Susan Weissman
ISBN-10: 1906764972
ISBN-13: 9781906764975
Publisher: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization in Ass
Language: English
Published: 08/31/2020
Pages: 456
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.60d

About the Author

Susan Weissman is Chair of Judaic Studies and Associate Professor at Lander College for Women, Touro College and University System.