Central to both biblical narrative and rabbinic commentary; circumcision has remained a defining rite of Jewish identity; a symbol so powerful that challenges to it have always been considered taboo. Lawrence Hoffman seeks to find out why circumcision holds such an important place in the Jewish psyche. He traces the symbolism of circumcision through Jewish history; examining its evolution as a symbol of the covenant in the post-exilic period of the Bible and its subsequent meaning in the formative era of Mishnah and Talmud.In the rabbinic system; Hoffman argues; circumcision was neither a birth ritual nor the beginning of the human life cycle; but a rite of covenantal initiation into a male "life line." Although the evolution of the rite was shaped by rabbinic debates with early Christianity; the Rabbis shared with the church a view of blood as providing salvation. Hoffman examines the particular significance of circumcision blood; which; in addition to its salvific role; contrasted with menstrual blood to symbolize the gender dichotomy within the rabbinic system. His analysis of the Rabbis' views of circumcision and menstrual blood sheds light on the marginalization of women in rabbinic law. Differentiating official mores about gender from actual practice; Hoffman surveys women's spirituality within rabbinic society and examines the roles mothers played in their sons' circumcisions until the medieval period; when they were finally excluded.
#234571 in Books Georges Didi Huberman 2012-05-09 2008-10-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .70 x 5.50l; .65 #File Name: 0226148173248 pagesImages in Spite of All Four Photographs from Auschwitz
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Is there a paperback available?By Jake FI would not rush out to buy this; particularly given the price of the hard-cover. Didi-Huberman is writing in a foreign context (for the American scholar); in that it's more of a public-intellectual debate and less of a strictly academic work. Thus; the text meanders; repeats itself; engages in strange side-polemics with Lanzmann's Les Temps Modernes ... not a terribly memorable work for me; although Didi-Huberman is; to my mind; unfairly assailed by Lanzmann's supporters/flunkies at LTM--his thoughts are interesting and insightful.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Photography as a foundation for philosophical reflectionBy Arturo Ãvila CanoThere are many considerations about the second world war and the crimes committed by the Nazis against the Jews; ranging from historical disciplines to cinema. But there are never enough to understand the excesses to which humanity can itself against. The French philosopher George Didi-Huberman performs all hermeneutical reflection based on four-densefocadas photographs with a poor frame-to reflect on the suffering of the people who were forced to live in a concentration camp and how some groups were forced to bring their own people to the cremation ovens. In this story; Huberman points about the role of so-called Sonderkommando. This is an example of how the photographic image can be used to generate philosophical reflections.
