Language:
English
Year of publication:
2023
Titel der Quelle:
Routledge Handbook on Jewish Ritual and Practice
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2023) 71-92
Keywords:
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Synagogue art
;
Synagogue art
;
Judaism Liturgical objects
;
Judaism Liturgical objects
Abstract:
Ritual objects of Medieval European societies stand as silent witnesses to the beliefs and practices of bygone generations and cultures. While historians employ mostly written documents to examine past events and life, works of art and three-dimensional objects provide no less valuable historical evidence about past societies. Moreover, images and tangible objects reveal at times information that can never be attained from written words. While the known texts of the Middle Ages were regularly composed by an educated elite and intended for a select group of literate people, mostly men, who could also afford to possess costly manuscripts, the surviving objects in particular were produced by ordinary craftsmen and artisans, or even laypersons, for people in all walks of life. Accordingly, they may represent diverse levels of a given society, minority cultures, educated and illiterate, men and women, and at the same time bear witness to myriad aspects of contemporary material culture – daily life and practices, rituals, customs and manners, as well as modes and styles of decoration, and aesthetic values and ideals of the makers and their audiences – aspects that words can never adequately describe.
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