Cover -- Half-title Page -- The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization -- Title Page -- Copyright -- To my husband Allan -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Note on Sources -- Note on Transliteration -- Introduction -- Part I: The Dead Of Sefer Ḥasidim -- 1. The Dangerous Dead -- 2. The Sinful Dead -- 3. The Holy Dead -- 4. The Neutral Dead and the Pietist Dead -- Part II: The Afterlife In Sefer Ḥasidim -- 5. Status in the Hereafter -- 6. On Sin, Penance, and Purgation -- 7. Bonds Between the Living and the Dead I -- 8. Bonds Between the Living and the Dead II -- 9. Conclusion -- Bibliography
Summary
Attitudes to death and the afterlife underwent significant transformation in high medieval Europe. Through a detailed analysis of ghost tales in the Ashkenazi pietistic work Sefer Hasidim, this highly original study discusses the profound Christian influence on a Jewish religious enclave that led to a radical departure from traditional rabbinic thought
