IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 538: Custom and Representation: Current Research, I

Organiser:	Zsófia Buda, Independent Scholar, Oxford
Moderator/Chair:	Eva Frojmovic, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds
Paper 538-a	Minhag in Medieval Jewish Culture: Rethinking Ashkenazi Exceptionalism and Its Causes (Language: English) Talya Fishman, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania Index terms: Daily Life, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Law
Paper 538-b	Architecture as a Matrix of Custom: On the Bodily Behavior in Medieval Ashkenazi Synagogues (Language: English) Ilia Rodov, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Liturgy
Abstract	Medieval Minhag (Custom) has been the subject of considerable research since Olam ke-minhago noheg was published in 1996. Recently the interdisciplinary research on minhag has gained momentum (see http://calenda.org/208529?lang=en). Minhag was lived in creative tension with Halakhah, especially in medieval Ashkenaz. Also worthy of consideration is the relationship between minhag and custom in the non-Jewish contemporary cultures, for example as 'usus' or 'ritus'. Minhag was lived experience, but is now only to be studied via representations, be they literary or visual. This session welcomes current research about representations of minhag, both in literary texts and visual image.