Simcha Fishbane

Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature

A Collection of Socio-Anthropological Essays

This study of early Rabbinic texts provides fresh and fascinating insights into the attitudes of the Rabbis towards "outsiders."...

Exploring Mishnah's World(s)

Social Scientific Approaches

This book provides a new conceptual and methodological framework the social scientific study of Mishnah, as well as a series of case studies that appl...

Beyond a Code of Jewish Law

Rabbi Avraham Danzig’s Ḥayei Adam

The Ḥayei Adam, an abridged code of Jewish law, was written by Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748-1820) and was first published in 1810. This code spread qu...

Ritual and Ethnic Identity

A Comparative Study of the Social Meaning of Liturgical Ritual in Synagogues

In this innovative and comprehensive collection of essays Jack Lightstone and Frederick Bird document and interpret ritual practice among contemporary...

The Jewish Intellectual Tradition

A History of Learning and Achievement

The Jewish intellectual tradition has a long and complex history that has resulted in significant and influential works of scholarship. In this book, ...

Jewish Mourning Rites

A Sociological Study

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The Impact of Culture and Cultures Upon Jewish Customs and Rituals

Collected Essays

This book discusses the development of practices associated with customs and artifacts used in Jewish ceremonies when viewed from the vantage of anthr...

The Shtiebelization of Modern Jewry

Studies in Custom and Ritual in the Judaic Tradition : Social-anthropological Perspectives

Jewish custom and ritual, or their Hebrew equivalent, minhag, has intrigued rabbis and scholars for generations. The majority of the rabbinical works ...

Witches in the Torah

A Social Anthropological Study

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Jewish Mourning Customs During the Spring Season - Sefirat Haomer

A Ritual Act of Collective Memory

Explores the time exemptions and their literary and historical development incorporated into Jewish observance....

The Boldness of an Halakhist

An Analysis of the Writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein the Arukh Hashulhan : a Collection of Social-anthropological Essays

The Boldness of a Halakhist analyzes the writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein (1829-1908), author of the Arukh Hashulkhan, a bold and unusu...

What Is the Basis of a Rabbi's Authority? Three Case Studies

Rabbi Avraham Danzig; Rabbi Yirsrael Meir Hacohen, the Hafetz Haim; Rabbi Yecheil Mechel Halevi Epstein

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Women's Literacy in Eastern Europe During the 18th and 19th Centuries

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Fire Symbolism in Jewish Law and Ritual

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Why Jewish Women Are Not Permitted to Work on the Festival of Rosh Hodesh

An Anthropological Explanation

Explores the time exemptions and their literary and historical development incorporated into Jewish observance....

Beyond a Code of Jewish Law

Rabbi Avraham Danzig's Ḥayei Adam

The Ḥayei Adam, an abridged code of Jewish law, was written by Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748-1820) and was first published in 1810. This code spread qu...