Publications

The study of foodways of Jews in medieval Ashkenaz reveals the social, cultural and religious significance of meals as part of the life cycle and the cycle of Jewish calendar events. This article examines two meals connected to mourning rituals: the seudat havraʾah, the first meal eaten by the mourners following the funeral, and the seudah mafseket, the meal eaten before the fast of Tisha bʾAv. The seudat havraʾah signified a ritual “reintegrating” the mourners back into the fabric of life, whereas the seudah mafseket was eaten in an attempt to make the destruction of the temple present. While comparing the meals’ design in the domestic space and their components: foods, participants and their roles, and liturgy, the differences between the concepts of private and public mourning will be elucidated. This comparison exemplifies the ritual roles of meals and their contribution to constructing and reinforcing identities and belonging.

Fatherhood in medieval Ashkenaz was a complex sociological phenomenon, manifesting both stern and affectionate attitudes towards children. Fathers were expected to treat misbehaving children harshly, but this disciplinary attitude was inseparable from paternal love and physical contact between fathers and children. Spaces influenced paternal behavior: appropriate fatherly behavior in the synagogue differed from how fathers were expected to treat their children at home. This article focuses on two internal domestic loci: the cellar and the family table. The study of the cellar demonstrates not only harsh paternal behavior, but also the limitations of fatherhood: expelling children from home was a last resort for fathers who could not otherwise exert their paternal authority when paternal attempts to motivate children to internalize normative behavior were not successful. The study of the family table sheds light on the nurturing and educative aspects of domestic fatherhood; it manifests its affectionate characteristics and reveals gender constructions.

In 13th to 15th-century Ashkenazi Jewish communities, preparing candles and food not only created a sanctified domestic space for Shabbat, but also required Jews to interact with urban spaces, often shared with Christians. The preparation of Shabbat candles demonstrates the porous boundaries between synagogue and home. The physical, ritual and symbolic aspects of Shabbat candles emphasized their domesticity, especially when viewed against Christian ritual uses of candles. However, Shabbat candles were also present in synagogues symbolically through liturgy and in the reckoning of candle-lighting time. The need to keep food warm over Shabbat without kindling fire demonstrates the importance of urban settings. Jews used urban or communal ovens to insulate food, even when they were able to do so at home. The urban settings of Shabbat preparations reveal how the entire community, regardless of age, gender, and status, fashioned a temporal – but tangible – “Jewish space” between homes, synagogues, streets and ovens.

This article provides the theoretical and contextual background for Jewish Studies Quarterly 21 nos. 3 and 4 (2021). It situates the Jews of medieval Ashkenaz within their homes and discusses their attachment to and identification with the places where they lived. It surveys approaches to space as used by scholars seeking to understand medieval life and outlines the relevance of these theories to the study of everyday life. Situating the Jews within this area of studies, the article focuses on the tensions and affiliations Jews had within the surrounding Christian space and challenges some of the previous approaches towards these issues. Against this backdrop, the goals of the articles are explained and surveyed, moving from the home to the general environs of medieval towns and cities.