People of the Body: Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Perspective

406 Pages·1992·67.146 MB·English

by  Howard Eilberg-Schwartz

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PEOPLE OF THE BODY
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SUNY Series, the Body in Culture, History,
and Religion
Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, editor
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PEOPLE OF THE BODY
JEWS AND JUDAISM FROM AN
EMBODIED PERSPECTIVE
EDITED BY
HOWARD EILBERG-SCHWARTZ
SI'ATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
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Cover photo © 1992 C. Herscovici/ARS, N.Y.
Acknowledgment is also given to Phaidon Press Ltd. for permission to use
Entracte from the publication Magritte by Richard Calvocoressi.
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1992 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York
Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12246
Production by Diane Ganeles
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
People of the body : Jews and Judaism from an embodied perspective I
edited by Howard Eilberg-Schwartz.
p. cm.-{SUNY series, the body in culture, history, and
religion)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-1169-9 <CH : acid-free). -ISBN 0-7914-1170-2 (PB
acid-free)
1. Sex-Religious aspects-Judaism. 2. Body, Human-Religious
aspect-Judaism. 3. Purity, Ritual-Judaism. 4. Women in Judaism.
5. Judaism- Doctrines. I. Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard, 1956-
11. Series.
BM720.S4P46 1992
296.3'2-dc20 91-35081
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
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To
Louis, Rivie, Marty and Paul
friends in-deed
and to
Ann
for the courage to heal
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: People of the Body 1
1. The Problem of the Body for the People of the Book 17
Howard Eilberg-Schwartz
2. The Garden of Eden and Sexuality in Early Judaism 47
Gary Anderson
3. The Great Fat Massacre: Sex, Death, and
the Grotesque Body in the Talmud 69
Daniel Boyarin
4. Mi?vot Built into the Body: Tkhines for Niddah,
Pregnancy, and Childbirth 101
Chava Weissler
5. Purifying the Body in the Name of the Soul: The
Problem of the Body in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah 117
Lawrence Fine
6. Images of God's Feet: Some Observations on
the Divine Body in Judaism 143
Elliot R. Wolfson
7. God's Body: Theological and Ritual Roles
of Shi'ur Komah 183
Naomi Janowitz
8. The Body Never Lies: The Body in Medieval
Jewish Folk Narratives 203
Eli Yasi{
vii
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viii Contents
9. The Jewish Body: A Foot-note 223
Sander Gilman
10. (G)nos(e)ology: The Cultural Construction of
the Other 243
Jay Geller
11. Zionism as an Erotic Revolution 283
David Biale
12. Menstruation and Identity: The Meaning of Niddah
for Moroccan Women Immigrants to Israel 309
Rahel Wasserfall
13. Why Jewish Princesses Don't Sweat: Desire and
Consumption in Postwar American Jewish Culture 329
Riv-Ellen Prell
14. Challenging Male/Female Complementarity:
Jewish Lesbians and the Jewish Tradition 361
Rebecca Alpert
Contributors 379
Index 383
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