Mothers and Children

Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe

Elisheva Baumgarten

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English

Princeton University Pres
02 October 2007

History; European history; Social & cultural history; Jewish studies

Series: Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World

This book presents a synthetic history of the family--the most basic building block of medieval Jewish communities--in Germany and northern France during the High Middle Ages. Concentrating on the special roles of mothers and children, it also advances recent efforts to write a comparative Jewish-Christian social history. Elisheva Baumgarten draws on a rich trove of primary sources to give a full portrait of medieval Jewish family life during the period of childhood from birth to the beginning of formal education at age seven. Illustrating the importance of understanding Jewish practice in the context of Christian society and recognizing the shared foundations in both societies, Baumgarten's examination of Jewish and Christian practices and attitudes is explicitly comparative. Her analysis is also wideranging, covering nearly every aspect of home life and childrearing, including pregnancy, midwifery, birth and initiation rituals, nursing, sterility, infanticide, remarriage, attitudes toward mothers and fathers, gender hierarchies, divorce, widowhood, early education, and the place of children in the home, synagogue, and community.

A richly detailed and deeply researched contribution to our understanding of the relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors, Mothers and Children provides a key analysis of the history of Jewish families in medieval Ashkenaz.

By: Elisheva Baumgarten
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780691130293
ISBN 10: 0691130299
Series: Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 02 October 2007
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Chapter One. Birth 21 Chapter Two. Circumcision and Baptism 55 Chapter Three. Additional Birth Rituals 92 Chapter Four. Maternal Nursing and Wet Nurses: Feeding and Caring for Infants 119 Chapter Five. Parents and Children: Competing Values 154 Conclusions 184 Notes 191 Glossary 241 Bibliography 243 Index 269

Elisheva Baumgarten is Lecturer in the Department of Jewish History and the Gender Studies Program at Bar Ilan University.

Reviews for Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe

Winner of the 2008 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Gender Studies, Association for Jewish Studies Winner of the 2005 Koret Jewish Book Award in History, Koret Foundation Runner-Up for the 2005 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies category, Jewish Book Council Baumgarten's writing of Ashkenaz medieval history as seen through a gender perspective advances a more inclusive reading of Jewish history. -- Jewish Book World [T]horoughly researched and lucidly written... Baumgarten has opened an erudite and well-constructed window into an area of Jewish life ... that has long eluded sustained productive treatment by modern scholarship. She has advanced the field considerably in this estimable work. --Ephraim Kanarfogel, American Historical Review [Baumgarten's] scholarship is thorough and meticulous, and her judgment is intelligent and reliable... She has thus made a major contribution in so carefully and convincingly delineating the interconnections of medieval Jewish and Christian family life. --Sarah Lipton, Medieval Review In Elisheva Baumgarten's erudite and captivating chronicle of Jewish family life in the Middle Ages, several surprising revelations may cause us to rethink our presumptions about medieval Jewish women... Baumgarten displays not only mastery of Jewish sources, but a considerable familiarity with Christian texts and anthropological literature. --David Wolpe, The Jerusalem Post

Runner-up for Jewish Book Council National Jewish Book Award: Sephardic Studies 2005
Runner-up for Jewish Book Council National Jewish Book Award: Sephardic Studies 2005.
Runner-up for National Jewish Book Award in the Women's Studies category, Jewish Book Council 2005 (United States)
Winner of AJS Jordan Schnitzer Book Award for Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity 2008
Winner of AJS Jordan Schnitzer Book Award for Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity 2008.
Winner of Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in the Category of Gender Studies, Association for Jewish Studies 2008 (United States)
Winner of Koret Jewish Book Award in History, Koret Foundation 2005 (United States)
Winner of Koret Jewish Book Award: History 2005.