Daily Life of the Jews in the Middle Ages (Daily Life Through History Series)

Roth (Jewish history, Hebrew literature, and Jewish studies, U. of Wisconsin, Madison) presents a comprehensive and well researched picture of the daily life of Jews during the Middle Ages, which he defines as the time between the completion of the Babylonian Talmud, approximately at the end of the 5th century, and 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain. He begins with a discussion of what defines the Medieval Jew, and then addresses many facets of Jewish life at that time: education, marriage and family, community, synagogues and observances, professions, medicine, and literature and the arts. He concludes with a chapter on the dangers of being Jewish, and another on the relationships between Jews and Gentiles. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR