Authors: Elizabeth Wyner Mark
ISBN-13: 9781584653073, ISBN-10: 1584653078
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Date Published: April 2003
Edition: (Non-applicable)
ELIZABETH WYNER MARK (d. 2006) was a Resident Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. A clinical psychologist, she was formerly a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School and a Clinical Supervisor at McLean Hospital. In recent years she had been exploring the application of psychotherapeutic modes of understanding to the study of biblical texts.
Scholars and rabbis examine the complicated history and contemporary challenges of the Jewish rite of circumcision.
... Mark's excellent introduction is followed by a superb collection of essays by some of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Jewish studies. There is no volume that covers the topic of circumcision so thoroughly, and it will serve an academic audience thirsty for substantial and provocative interpretations of this hotly contested Jewish ritual.
Acknowledgments | ||
Crossing the Gender Divide: Public Ceremonies, Private Parts, Mixed Feelings | ||
Wounds, Vows, Emanations: A Phallic Trope in the Patriarchal Narrative | 3 | |
Foreskin Sacrifice: Zipporah's Ritual and the Bloody Bridegroom | 18 | |
A Brief History of Jewish Circumcision Blood | 30 | |
The Cut of Wholeness: Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Biblical Circumcision | 43 | |
Circumcision, Secrecy, and the Veiling of the Veil: Phallomorphic Exposure and Kabbalistic Esotericism | 58 | |
Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire | 75 | |
Brit Milah: A Study of Change in Custom | 87 | |
Depicting the Ambiguous Wound: Circumcision in Medieval Art | 98 | |
Circumcision and Baptism: The Development of a Jewish Ritual in Christian Europe | 114 | |
Christian Travelers to the Circumcision: Early Modern Representations | 128 | |
Circumcision and Modern Jewish Life: A German Case Study, 1843-1914 | 142 | |
Circumscribed Circumcision: The Motivations and Identities of Israeli Parents Who Choose Not to Circumcise Their Sons | 161 | |
Circumcision in Hungary after the Shoah | 177 | |
Three Rabbinic Perspectives | ||
A Plea for Inclusion | 188 | |
A Covenant Above Reason | 194 | |
Noam's Bris | 197 | |
Epilogue: A Medley of Women's Voices | 201 | |
Notes | 205 | |
Contributors | 245 | |
Index | 247 |