Women As Ritual Experts

This ethnography explores the religious beliefs of a group of elderly Jewish women living in Jerusalem. By analyzing their rituals, daily experiences, life-stories and non-verbal gestures, it uncovers the strategies these women have developed to circumvent the patriarchal institutions of Judaism. A paperback reprint of a title originally published by OUP in 1992, this ethnography explores the religious beliefs and rituals of a group of elderly Jewish women, originally from Kurdistan and Yemen, who now live in Jerusalem. By analysing their rituals, daily experiences, life-stories, and non-verbal gestures, Sered uncovers the strategies these women have developed to circumvent the patriarchal institutions of Judaism, and how they have developed their own 'little tradition' within and parallel to the 'great tradition' of Torah Judaism.