Food and Judaism (Studies in Jewish Civilization series) - Softcover

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9781881871460: Food and Judaism (Studies in Jewish Civilization series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1881871460 ISBN 13: 9781881871460

Publisher: Creighton University Press, 2004

Food is not simply a popularly imagined and well-known manifestation of Jewish culture. For Jews, food has been a means of exclusion, persecution, and assimilation by the larger society. Equally important, it has been an instrument of community, reparation, and renewal of identity. Food and Judaism presents a wide range of research on the history and interpretation of Jewish food practices and meanings.

This volume covers a comprehensive array of topics, including American regional manifestations of food practices from little-known Jewish communities in cities such as contemporary Brighton Beach and Memphis; a social history of Jewish food in America by the renowned expert on Jewish food Joan Nathan; and an examination of how the American food industry appealed to early twentieth-century Jews.

Several discussions of the religious meaning and personal advantages of following a vegetarian lifestyle are considered from biblical and historical perspectives. A rescued cookbook text from the Theresienstadt concentration camp is juxtaposed with an examination of how garlic in Jewish cooking served as an anti-Semitic caricature in early modern Europe. Historical perspectives are also provided on the use of separate dishes for milk and meat, the sanctification of Hasidic foods in Eastern Europe, and “mystical satiation” as found in the medieval Kabbalah.

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About the Author:

Leonard J. Greenspoon is a professor of classical and Near Eastern studies and theology and holds the Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University. Ronald A. Simkins is an associate professor of theology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at Creighton University. Gerald Shapiro is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Review:

“A wide-ranging and thought-provoking group of essays. . . . [T]he authors, both scholars and lay researchers, expand the subject of this book far beyond what the title suggest. Fresh ideas and much unfamiliar information, in a generally accessible format, constantly draw the reader in.”—Jewish Book World (Jewish Book World )

“Thought provoking.”—Canadian Jewish News (Canadian Jewish News )

“I would recommend it for Jewish collections because it covers a broad spectrum of topics on a subject of interest to so many.”—Marion M. Stein, Association of Jewish Libraries (Marion M. Stein Association of Jewish Libraries )

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