Elisheva Baumgarten’s work stands as a model for students and scholars alike in its comprehensive review of little-known writings and other sources from medieval Ashkenazi Jews as well as in its meticulous analysis of the often ambiguous writings. In Mothers and Children, Baumgarten examines a plethora of primary sources to explore the inner dynamics of Jewish families; she then uses this information to draw objective conclusions about the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities in the middle ages. In Baumgarten’s own words, “The premise of this study is that it is impossible to comprehend the history of medieval Jews without an in-depth understanding of the society in which they lived” (p.7). As the name of the book implies, she focuses on the relationship between Jewish mothers and children as well as their Christian counterparts; she chose women and children for two reasons: first, because there has been less research done on them than on men, and second, because women as a group had more frequent and more intimate contact with neighboring Christian communities (Baumgarten thoroughly explores why this is). Thus, women are better subjects as it relates to the relationship between Jewish and Christian societies. She then uses this information as a metaphoric keyhole through which she can examine their society as a whole. Baumgarten divides the book into five chapters: Birth, Circumcision and Baptism, Additional Birth Rituals, Maternal Nursing and Wet
In America, millions of people are affected by poverty. High-class members of America and companies take advantage of these lower class individuals. Lower class individuals who are able to find a job usually work for less than minimum wage and experience poor working conditions. These lower class workers do not deserve the lifestyle they must deal with. Low class individuals not only have to struggle with finding employment but also have to worry about the U.S. government mistreating them. Whether someone is a low class immigrant or U.S. born citizen, it is evident people in America treat their lower class citizens poorly.
Should Octavia E. Butler’s “Bloodchild” be classified as a slave story? The author claims that “Bloodchild” is not a tale of slavery, but rather a love story and a coming-of-age tale. Does “Bloochild” conform to the conventions of the slave stories, love stories, or coming-of-age tales with which you are familiar? What other classifications—in terms of literary genre, form, or mode—apply to “Bloodchild”?
I have chosen “Mother Tongue” for the subject of my essay. I chose this essay because Amy Tan has a unique writing style which has tone that is clear and identifiable. Tan makes her arguments in a way that is easily understood. While her tone is sometimes humorous and captivating, it still clarifies some serious issues. These qualities among others leave Tan’s work to be desired by almost any reader because her tone and style are both genuine and upfront. This essay will talk about how Tan’s work in her essay “Mother Tongue” uses several different styles and tones to make her point of regarding the differences of her communications with her
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Medieval Yiddish Period is the rise of Yiddish literature and printing. For example, in 1542, “Sefer Mides”, a book for women about morals and manners, was printed. Two years later, in 1544, a Yiddish prayer book was produced. What is notable about this event in particular is the fact this book
In the journal article Medieval Woman Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture, written by Susan Groag Bell, explains the cultural changes in the Middle Ages. She give details on how the increase in lay piety and vernacular literature were both connected with one another. In addition to this, these two topics played key roles in the changes taking place. The increase in lay piety is said to be a response to the political conflicts, religious demographic, and climatological factors. Susan Groag Bell believes that the role of the women have been overlooked, and says their influence can be found by, looking at the women’s special relationship to books. Looking at manuscripts, articles written by other authors, textbooks, and other primary and secondary sources she breaks her points into three parts. First she looks at medieval laywomen’s’ book ownership, then special relationship the women have to the books, and lastly the influence that the woman had on the cultural changes because of their relationship to the books.
The history of the Jewish people in Spain is certainly a pivotal time period that changed the future of the Jews and specifically, the Sephardic Jews. At the time of the issuing and signing of the Edict of Expulsion on March 31, 1492, Spanish Jews were experiencing the most persecution that had been felt in the many centuries of which the Jews had been in Spain. Spanish Jewry came to a dramatic end after almost a millennium of Jewish presence in the country. Spanish Jewry’s golden age, however, the Jews experienced almost no persecution, resulting in a new centre of Talmudic study, before suffering from a relapse of anti-Semitism that eventually led to the Inquisition and the Edict of Expulsion. (SOURCE 1) This essay will discuss and analyze
The here and now is a novel written by Ann Brashare, about a seventeen years old girl named Prenna James that had immigrated to New York when she was 12 years old. Prenna James was not from a specific place but, she was from a different time. She and her mother were from the future, where there was an illness caused by mosquitoes, there was no food and the environment was a catastrophe. The plague had killed millions of people and it left the world in ruins. It novel took place in new york, where the main characters lived. Prenna knows that there were 12 important rules that they can’t break but the most important rule was “we must never, under any circumstances develop a physically or emotionally intimate relationship with any person outside
This story resembles other stories, such as The Pieces by Teresa Milbrodt, in categories like plot, character, setting and symbolism. Hills like White Elephants is about a couple in the midst of deciding to have an abortion or not. This compares to the pieces in plot and character with the male figure being difficult and somewhat controlling towards the main female. The relationships that these characters hold are both rocky and uncertain, but both stories end on a positive note, being that in The Pieces that her relationship with her father with their clashing perspectives are in a repairing stage, and in the Hills like White Elephants, the protagonist is getting on the train, leaving the readers to decide whether or not she is leaving the
Though high-level trends concerning Jewish migration and cultural exchange in Ptolemaic Egypt are easier to trace, it is much more difficult to determine the specifics of daily life for Jewish families. Archeological evidence is extremely scare for this time period and geography, limiting what scholars can learn from it (notes 10/6). However, Egypt’s papyrological evidence provides direct data as to what Jews were doing once in Egypt. Complied in 1957, the corpus papyrorum judaicarum consists of over 500 pieces of Papyri that directly concern Jews or people related to Jews. Using 5 criteria, researchers at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem filtered papyri concerning Jewish persons, creating the first ever collective of papyrological evidence
Eva an 89 year old widow, was introduced to me through a collogue. I met Eva at her apartment, which was part of an assisted living community. Eva is of European decent and identifies herself as an active and proud member of the Lutheran Church. Eva lives alone and is reportedly able to attend to all of her activities of daily living.
is able to have an actual life that isn’t dominated by constantly living in fear and she is able to
As you mature in life, you are likely to find that you may dislike a certain group of people more than others. Most of the time, this is an innocent distrust or dislike, however it can lead to worsening conditions between you and this group or individual. Over the ages, a group that has been put into the role of the hated group in such a petty disagreement repeatedly are the Jews. Since the rise of Catholicism, Jews have, at more points in history than just one, been hunted and slaughtered. In this paper, we will take a closer look into a time when Jews were killed by the thousands, known simply as the Spanish Inquisition.
Eavan Boland’s poem “It’s a Woman’s World” illuminates the fact that history has shaped an unfair role for women in today’s society. Boland criticizes the gender bias with regards to the limitations placed on women and their job choices despite their ability to be just as successful in the workplace as men. Regardless of the fact that the bias against women in the workplace is often overlooked, Boland aims to show the shared reaction of women to the gender bias prevalent in our society by using short sentence fragments, repetition, and a fire motif throughout the poem.
Cleaning up down South: supermarkets, ethical trade and African horticulture is a piece by Susanne Freidberg published in Social and Cultural Geography journal in 2003 (Freidberg, 2003). Susanne Friedberg holds PhD from UC Berkely and is a Professor of Geography in Darmouth College, New Hampshire (“Susanne Freidberg,” n.d.). In the article the author argues that the ethical standards have become fetishised. The UK supermarkets compliance with such standards edges on paranoia. It does not mean that the supermarkets care about these standards from moral point of view but that the compliance is driven by fear of bad
The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.