Language:
German
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Aschkenas; Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der Juden
Angaben zur Quelle:
31,2 (2021) 325-344
Keywords:
Jewish merchants History 18th century
;
Jewish merchants History 19th century
;
Wigs History
;
Hair Religious aspects
;
Judaism
;
Jews Economic conditions 18th century
;
Jews Economic conditions 19th century
Abstract:
Studies in cultural, religious and social history reveal that hair has diverse socio-religious and symbolic value in Jewish society and tradition. The focus of previous studies has, however, lied on issues such as specific hairstyle or the halakhic justifications for religious wig-wearing The present paper sets out to illuminate a related yet uncharted topic: the social and economic history of the wig trade in which Jews played an important role. The focus is on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period marked by great tensions within the Jewish community. It was these tensions that turned the question of wig-wearing and the dynamics of supply into an issue that reflected the general transformation that Jewish society was undergoing in this period. Hair fashion is, of course, not necessarily a matter of only halakhic interest, and indeed the history of the trade with human hair also reveals new aspects of the economic history of Jews.
Note:
With an English abstract.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink