Women as Ritual Experts: The Religious Lives of Elderly Jewish Women in Jerusalem (Publications of the American Folklore Society) - Hardcover

Sered, Susan Starr

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195071611 ISBN 13: 9780195071610

Publisher: OUP USA, 1992

Synopsis

Women as Ritual Experts reveals how in gender segregated religions like Orthodox Judaism women develop their own autonomous religious sphere and activities that sacralize female roles. Until recently, this female world of religion has been all but invisible to both anthropologists and scholars of religion, who typically speak as though the male sphere of religion were the only definition of religion or the sacred. By exploring this separate sphere of women's religion and demonstrating its variety, depth, and dynamism, Susan Sered here attempts to expand the definition of religion, ritual and the sacred. Sered's research was conducted among uneducated, illiterate Kurdish women. She uncovers the strategies these women have used to circumvent the patriarchal institutions of Judaism, the techniques by which they have made their lives meaningful within an androcentric culture, and how they have developed their own `little tradition' within and parallel to the `great tradition' of Torah Judaism.

About this title

Review

This splendid and often lyrical ethnography of Kurdish and Yemenite elderly women expands upon a growing body of scholarship about the experiences of women in patriarchal religions from a more nuanced feminist perspective about the meaning and function of ritual and the sacred in women's lives. From the onset, Susan Starr Sered's work situates itself on the cutting edge of both her discipline and the study of religion. Her contribution is considerable....An engaging account of women bound by tradition but also active in the creation of their own religious experience....Sered not only brings a fresh perspective to the study of women's experiences in traditional religious settings but reflects without polemic on the androcentric biases in the study of religion itself. (The Journal of Religion)

Sered lovingly and graphically portrays how religion permeates the everyday lives of elderly Jewish women in Jerusalem....I recommend Sered's book to my colleagues and would include it in student reading for anthropology, sociology, and religion courses....It is excellent in-depth case studies such as this one that demonstrates the power and necessity of qualitative studies. (Sociology of Religion)

Sered is exactly the person you would have ordered up to write this book: she's smart, sympathetic, quietly humorous, wise, and quite a good writer....Read this book. (Congregation Beth Simchat Torah)

Synopsis

This study reveals how women in gender-segregated religions such as Orthodox Judaism develop their own autonomous religious sphere and activities that sacralize female roles. By exploring this separate world of women's religion and demonstrating its depth and variety, the author attempts to expand the definition of religious ritual. Research was conducted among uneducated Kurdish women. The study uncovers the strategies these women have used to circumvent the patriarchal institutions of Judaism, the techniques by which they give meaning to their lives and how they have developed their own "little tradition" parallel to the "great tradition" of Torah Judaism.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195071611
• ISBN 13: 9780195071610
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192