Preliminaries; CONTENTS; List of illustrations; Preface and Acknowledgments; Glossary; List of abbreviations; 1 The presence of death; 2 Jewish death customs before the rabbis; 3 Early rabbinic death-practices; 4 Early expansions and commentaries; 5 Jewish death-practices in reality; 6 Jewish death-practices in early Byzantine Palestine; 7 Law as commentary: The Bavli on death and burial; 8 The Bavli interprets the mourner; 9 Post-Talmudic developments in Jewish death-practice; 10 A personal theological postscript; Notes; References; Index
Summary
This is the first study of the death and mourning practices of the founders of Judaism - the Rabbis of late antiquity. The author outlines the rituals described in early texts and interprets them to uncover the beliefs which caused their foundation
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 160-163) and index
