publication . Other literature type . Article . 2019

Furnishing Piety: Beds in High Medieval Jewish Domestic Devotion

Name: Furnishing Piety: Beds in High Medieval Jewish Domestic Devotion
Creator: Albert Kohn
Keywords: domestic piety, medieval Ashkenaz, beds, Sefer Hasidim , bedtime prayers, family life

Albert Kohn;

Open Access English

Published: 07 Aug 2019 Journal: Religions (issn: 2077-1444,

Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Summary

Abstract

In recent years, pre-modern beds have generated extensive scholarly interest. Their social, religious, and economic importance has been rightfully highlighted in the study of domestic piety. Yet, concern has primarily focused on beds in late medieval English homes. This essay uses Hebrew texts from thirteenth-century Southern Germany, primarily Sefer Hasidim, to further this analysis of the role of the bed in shaping medieval domestic devotion. Jewish notions about the social, moral, and sexual significance of the bed reflect those identified in late medieval Christian culture. These ideas inspired numerous rituals practiced in Jewish homes. Yet, the bed...

Persistent Identifiers

doi: 10.3390/rel10080471

Subjects

free text keywords: domestic piety, medieval Ashkenaz, beds, <i>Sefer Hasidim</i>, bedtime prayers, family life, Christian culture, Judaism, Family life, History, Piety, media_common.quotation_subject, media_common, Hebrew, language.human_language, language, Religious studies, lcsh:Religions. Mythology. Rationalism, lcsh:BL1-2790

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