“A Life for a Life”: a Jewish Anti-Abortive Technique in Early Modern Italy and Its Many Inter- and Intracultural Ramifications
With this article, I seek to demonstrate how the analysis of Jewish magical texts may aid in the identification of hidden aspects of premodern Jewish women’s everyday life and material culture. I do so by focusing on the interplay between magic and childbirth among premodern Italian Jews. I analyze...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
Year: 2025, Volume: 33, Issue: 1, Pages: 151-171 |
| Further subjects: | B
Jewish culture in premodern Italy
B Jewish women B Jewish childbirth rituals B Jewish magic |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | With this article, I seek to demonstrate how the analysis of Jewish magical texts may aid in the identification of hidden aspects of premodern Jewish women’s everyday life and material culture. I do so by focusing on the interplay between magic and childbirth among premodern Italian Jews. I analyze a magical recipe for avoiding a stillbirth preserved in a Hebrew codex of magical interest penned in central Italy at the end of the eighteenth century. Along with providing an edition and English translation of the recipe, I reflect on the trajectories of the circulation and transmission of this childbirth tradition both at an inter- and intra-cultural level. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-285X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of Jewish thought & philosophy
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/1477285x-12341369 |
