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Children and Childhood in Jewish Culture (Jewish Studies)

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  1.  
  2. Introduction
  3. The study of children and childhood in the past and present is relatively new to Jewish studies. While interest in Jewish education and the history of Jewish education can be traced back to the 1940s, corresponding research on children and their lives began only in the 1990s. Inspired by the controversial thesis of Philippe Ariès regarding the absence of a concept of childhood prior to the 18th century, medievalists resolved to check the relevance of this claim to Jewish society. In the first stage of research, scholars began by comparing Ariès’s findings to their own, but in the late 1990s, scholarship in Jewish history, as in that of European history in general, diverged from Ariès and began looking at the internal codes and specific understandings of the place of children and understanding of childhood in their respective areas of study. Following the medievalists, some research was done on the biblical world and Late Antiquity. In the modern era, scholars studied children mainly in the context of the Enlightenment, Zionism, and the Holocaust. While most of the studies can be classified as “history,” some systematic work was done in other fields. Scholars of Jewish law were concerned primarily with parental obligations toward children and children’s own observance of commandments. Scholars of folklore and anthropology have examined life cycle rituals that concern children. The study of Hebrew and Yiddish literature has some relevance to the study of children and childhood, particularly research on literature written for children in Israel and abroad, as well as the representation of children in adult literature. As a new field in Jewish studies, much of the research that has focused on or related to children cannot yet be classified into the category of “history of childhood” or “childhood studies,” either because it fails to use the theories and methodologies of the field or because children are not the central focus of the study.
  4.  
  5. Anthologies
  6. Sources about children and childhood can be found scattered throughout Jewish texts in all periods. Some efforts have been made to collect various sources. The Hebrew collections of sources concentrate primarily, though not exclusively, on education throughout the ages. The first and most comprehensive, by Simcha Assaf (1925–1943), was later revised and continued in Glick 2002–2009. A collection of sources about education from the Cairo Geniza can be found in Goitein 1962. The collected works of Israel Ta-Shma (Ta-Shma 2010) contain sources from the Middle Ages, and Baumgarten 2009 has English translations of sources relevant to these topics.
  7.  
  8. Baumgarten, Elisheva. “Judaism.” In Children and Childhood in World Religions: Primary Sources and Texts. Edited by Don S. Browning and Marcia J. Bunge, 15–81. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009.
  9.  
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  11.  
  12. The section on Judaism contains an introduction to and selection of sources translated into English.
  13.  
  14. Find this resource:
  15.  
  16. Glick, Shmuel, ed. Mekorot le-toldhot ha-Hinukh be-Yisrael. 6 vols. New York and Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 2002–2009.
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. This monumental six-volume project, initiated by Assaf and revised and expanded by Glick, includes sources (in Hebrew) on Jewish education and related topics, from the Middle Ages through the 20th century.
  21.  
  22. Find this resource:
  23.  
  24. Goitein, S. D. Jewish Education in Muslim Countries: Based on Records from the Cairo Geniza. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1962.
  25.  
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  27.  
  28. In Hebrew. Many of the sources in this Hebrew-language collection on education from the Cairo Geniza provide material for research on children.
  29.  
  30. Find this resource:
  31.  
  32. Ta-Shma, Israel M. Studies in Medieval Rabbinic Literature. Vol. 4. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2010.
  33.  
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  35.  
  36. In Hebrew. The last volume of Ta-Shma’s collected articles includes a collection of sources on children and childhood from medieval Ashkenaz (pp. 359–395).
  37.  
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  39.  
  40. Bibliographies
  41. Several bibliographies have been dedicated to child-related topics, both primary and secondary sources. Lists of books for children—textbooks as well as literature—were compiled in Ofek 1979, Ofek 1988, Rappel 1995, and Shavit and Ewers 1996. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has an online annotated list of studies on children in the Holocaust (Children). A list of studies on Jewish education can be found in Glick 2002.
  42.  
  43. Children. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. An annotated bibliography of pivotal studies on children under the Nazi regime, during the Holocaust, and after the war.
  48.  
  49. Find this resource:
  50.  
  51. Glick, Shmuel, ed. Mekorot le-toldhot ha-Hinukh be-Yisrael. Vol. 3. New York and Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 2002.
  52.  
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  54.  
  55. This volume, in Hebrew, contains a comprehensive bibliography of studies on Jewish education throughout the ages, arranged according to geographic location, subject, etc.
  56.  
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  58.  
  59. Ofek, Uriel. Hebrew Children’s Literature: The Beginnings. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press, 1979.
  60.  
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  62.  
  63. In Hebrew. A survey of the foundations and beginnings of Hebrew literature for children. Includes a bibliography of books for children published between 1505 and 1906.
  64.  
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  66.  
  67. Ofek, Uriel. Hebrew Children’s Literature, 1900–1948. Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1988.
  68.  
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  70.  
  71. In Hebrew. A survey of the history of Hebrew children’s literature. Includes a bibliography of children’s books published between 1908 and 1948.
  72.  
  73. Find this resource:
  74.  
  75. Rappel, Dov. “Bibliography of Jewish Textbooks (1488–1918).” Dor Ledor: Studies in the History of Jewish Education in Israel and the Diaspora 8 (1995).
  76.  
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  78.  
  79. In Hebrew. A bibliography with some annotations of textbooks published between 1488 and 1918, from all countries and several languages.
  80.  
  81. Find this resource:
  82.  
  83. Shavit, Zohar, and Hans-Heino Ewers. Deutsch-jüdische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur von der Haskalah bis 1945: Die deutsch- und hebräischsprachigen Schriften des deutschsprachigen Raums; Ein bibliographisches Handbuch. In collaboration with Ran Hacohen and Annegret Völpel. 2 vols. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1996.
  84.  
  85. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-476-03639-1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  86.  
  87. A bibliography, in German and Hebrew, of texts written for children in Germany from the late 18th century till 1945.
  88.  
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  90.  
  91. History
  92. Interest in the history of Jewish children began even before Philippe Ariès presented his study on childhood in France, yet the systematic study of childhood began with some pioneering studies on the Middle Ages in the 1990s, continuing later with studies on other periods. Most of the scholarship concentrates on medieval and modern European communities, with some studies dedicated to the Geniza society and others to research on the ancient world. The study of childhood in non-European communities still awaits scholarly interest. Comprehensive works that give a full picture of Jewish childhoods in a specific time or place are rare and exist mostly in the form of PhD dissertations. Cooper 1996 is an attempt to write a comprehensive history of Jewish childhoods.
  93.  
  94. Cooper, John. The Child in Jewish History. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996.
  95.  
  96. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  97.  
  98. A pioneering attempt to write a comprehensive history of Jewish childhood, this volume gives a brief description of some key elements in the history of childhood from biblical times to the 20th century.
  99.  
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  101.  
  102. Biblical
  103. Although there is much information throughout biblical and post-biblical texts, it has yet to be compiled. The limited research done in this field often utilizes a cross-cultural or comparative view. Fleishman 1999 and Garroway 2009 situate Jewish attitudes within the Near East and Mediterranean world. In Fleishman 1999 and Fleishman 2011, parent-child relationships are the primary focus, while Leeb 2000 and Parker 2013 clarify terms and legal statutes regarding children. The collection of essays in Bunge, et al. 2008 follows current efforts to place children in the center of scholarly concern.
  104.  
  105. Bunge, Marcia J., Terence E. Fretheim, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, eds. The Child in the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2008.
  106.  
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  108.  
  109. One of the very few attempts to adopt the perspective of childhood studies within Bible studies, this volume of collected essays looks at different aspects of biblical narrative and law in the Old and New Testaments and analyzes them while using “the child” as the central category of analysis.
  110.  
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  112.  
  113. Fleishman, Joseph. Parent and Child in Ancient Near East and the Bible. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1999.
  114.  
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  116.  
  117. In Hebrew. This is a comparative study of biblical and post-biblical law with contemporary law from the Near East. On the basis both of biblical law and narrative, the writer relates to questions such as legitimate versus nonlegitimate children and parental obligations toward their children.
  118.  
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  120.  
  121. Fleishman, Joseph. Father-Daughter Relations in Biblical Law. Bethesda, MD: University Press of Maryland, 2011.
  122.  
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  124.  
  125. Fleishman provides a comparative perspective of biblical law, on the basis of biblical texts from Exodus and Leviticus regarding a father’s rights over his daughters.
  126.  
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  128.  
  129. Garroway, Kristine Sue Henriksen. “The Construction of ‘Child’ in the Ancient Near East: Towards an Understanding of the Legal and Social Statutes of Children in Biblical Israel and Surrounding Cultures.” PhD diss., Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, 2009.
  130.  
  131. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  132.  
  133. Based on textual as well as archaeological sources, this study looks at the category of “not yet adults” and examines the social construction of this category in Near Eastern societies.
  134.  
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  136.  
  137. Leeb, Carolyn S. Away from the Father’s House: The Social Location of the Na’ar and Na’arah in Ancient Israel. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 2000.
  138.  
  139. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  140.  
  141. A detailed exploration of the terms usually understood as “boy” or “lad” in the Hebrew Bible, with an attempt analyze anew the stories in which this term appears.
  142.  
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  144.  
  145. Parker, Julie Faith. Valuable and Vulnerable: Children in the Hebrew Bible, Especially the Elisha Cycle. Brown Judaic Studies 355. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2013.
  146.  
  147. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt14bs6dbSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  148.  
  149. Along with a detailed study of the different contexts in which children appear in the Elisha cycle, this book also includes an analysis of the different terms used to describe children in the Bible.
  150.  
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  152.  
  153. Second Temple and Late Antiquity
  154. Although rabbinic literature played a key role in defining the legal category of the minor and redefining the legal obligations of parents toward their children and vice versa, Tropper 2006 shows that very little has been written about children in the Second Temple period and Late Antiquity. Both Kraemer 1989 and Tropper 2007 offer a basic picture on which further research can build. Sivan 2013 contributes important material to our understanding of the place of children in the public sphere. See also Jewish Thought and Halakhah for discussions of Talmudic law.
  155.  
  156. Kraemer, David. “Images of Childhood and Adolescence in Talmudic Literature.” In The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory. Edited by David Kraemer, 65–80. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  157.  
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  159.  
  160. Kraemer discusses the methodological problems and limitations of rabbinic text in the study of childhood, while examining some key questions in the study of childhood, such as the age range of childhood and the existence of adolescence in rabbinic thought.
  161.  
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  163.  
  164. Sivan, Hagith. “Pictorial Paideia: Children in the Synagogue.” In The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World. Edited by Judith Evans Grubbs and Tim Parkin, 532–555. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  165.  
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  167.  
  168. This is a rare example of the use of material culture for the history of Jewish childhoods; through analysis of archaeological findings, mainly mosaics, Sivan claims that the synagogue was a main locus of education and initiation for children.
  169.  
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  171.  
  172. Tropper, Amram. “Children and Childhood in the Light of Demographics of the Jewish Family in Late Antiquity.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 37.3 (2006): 299–343.
  173.  
  174. DOI: 10.1163/157006306777923052Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  175.  
  176. The author collects demographic data regarding mortality, fertility, and the age of marriage from rabbinic and archaeological sources. On the basis of these data he attempts to reconstruct a picture of the Jewish family and the treatment of children in Late Antiquity.
  177.  
  178. Find this resource:
  179.  
  180. Tropper, Amram. “On the History of the Father’s Obligation to Maintain His Children in Ancient Jewish Law.” Zion 72.3 (2007): 265–299.
  181.  
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  183.  
  184. Based on rabbinic writings, this study focuses on the historic moment when the obligations of a father toward his offspring became law.
  185.  
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  187.  
  188. Medieval
  189. Inspired by Ariès’s theory regarding the lack of a concept of childhood in the middle ages, Ta-Shma 1991 and Goldin 1998 examine this thesis from a Jewish perspective. Breaking away from Ariès’s views, Baumgarten 2004 points to the great investment and clear definition of infancy and early childhood in Jewish sources. Goldin 1997 examines the place of children in Ashkenazic communal life. Frenkel 2001 and Krakowski 2012 expand the research on Jewish childhood and youth to the Geniza society, while Horowitz 1997 offers an overview on youth in Ashkenaz and Italy. See also Jewish Thought and Halakhah and Life Cycle Rituals for discussion of specific customs.
  190.  
  191. Baumgarten, Elisheva. Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe. Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.
  192.  
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  194.  
  195. Baumgarten offers a unique and detailed history of pregnancy, childbirth, and infancy in Ashkenaz in the High Middle Ages. At its core the book is an analysis of birth rituals: circumcision and name giving (Hollekresich).
  196.  
  197. Find this resource:
  198.  
  199. Frenkel, Miriam. “Adolescence in Jewish Medieval Society under Islam.” Continuity and Change 16.2 (2001): 263–281.
  200.  
  201. DOI: 10.1017/S0268416001003836Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  202.  
  203. On the basis of documents from the Cairo Geniza, Frenkel claims that Jewish society found ways to ease the transition from childhood to adulthood.
  204.  
  205. Find this resource:
  206.  
  207. Goldin, Simha. Uniqueness and Togetherness: The Enigma of the Survival of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Tel Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuchad, 1997.
  208.  
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  210.  
  211. In Hebrew. Although children do not stand at the center of this book, Goldin makes here an important contribution to the discussion of the places of children in the public sphere and the roles of the community in the lives of children.
  212.  
  213. Find this resource:
  214.  
  215. Goldin, Simha. “Jewish Children and Christian Missionizing.” In Sexuality and Family in History. Edited by Israel Bartal and Isaiah Gafni, 97–118. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar, 1998.
  216.  
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  218.  
  219. In Hebrew. Looking at Ariès’s thesis from a Jewish perspective, Goldin attempts to explain why Ashkenazic communities tended to treat children as “small adults” due to their position as a persecuted minority.
  220.  
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  222.  
  223. Horowitz, Elliott. “The Worlds of Jewish Youth in Europe, 1300–1800.” In A History of Young People in the West. Vol. 1, Ancient and Medieval Rites of Passage. Edited by Giovanni Levi and Jean-Claude Schmitt, 83–119. Translated by Carol Volk. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
  224.  
  225. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  226.  
  227. In this survey article, Horowitz offers a definition of youth for the medieval and early modern Jewish communities. He maps the various sources that can be used for the history of youth, marking some of the main areas of research, such as service, work, sexuality, and others.
  228.  
  229. Find this resource:
  230.  
  231. Krakowski, Eve. “Female Adolescence in the Cairo Geniza Documents.” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2012.
  232.  
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  234.  
  235. Krakowski’s work is the only full-length study dedicated to girls in any premodern Jewish society. On the basis of Geniza documents, she depicts the lives of middle- and upper-class girls and young women.
  236.  
  237. Find this resource:
  238.  
  239. Ta-Shma, Israel. “Children in Medieval Germanic Jewry: A Perspective on Ariès from Jewish Sources.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, n.s. 12 (1991): 261–280.
  240.  
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  242.  
  243. Mostly on the basis of sources from Sefer Hasidim, Ta-Shma examines Ariès’s thesis from a Jewish perspective, claiming that Jewish society held different values and ideas regarding children than those of the surrounding Christian populations.
  244.  
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  246.  
  247. Early Modern
  248. Although research on children in early modern Jewish communities has caught up only since the year 2000, it has expanded the scope of medieval research in terms both of topic and geographic location. Lamdan 2007 looks at the Ottoman Empire, while Graizbord 2011 and Lieberman 2011 use the rich sources of inquisition files to study childhood among the conversos. Weinstein 1995 contributes to the study of life cycle rituals, and Berner 2010, Berner 2013, and Berner 2014 delve into the understanding of childhood in the public sphere. See also Jewish Thought and Halakhah and Life Cycle Rituals for discussion of specific customs.
  249.  
  250. Berner, Tali. “Children and Childhood in Early Modern Ashkenaz.” PhD diss., Hebrew University, 2010.
  251.  
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  253.  
  254. The only full-length work dedicated to Jewish childhood in any premodern community, this study covers the position of children in the family, the community, and their everyday life and tracks some changes and developments from the Middle Ages into the modern period.
  255.  
  256. Find this resource:
  257.  
  258. Berner, Tali. “Children in the Synagogue and in Communal Life in Early Modern Ashkenaz.” Zion 78.2 (2013): 183–206.
  259.  
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  261.  
  262. This article, in Hebrew, offers a case study of the ways in which research on children can add to the understanding of early modern communities by studying the role of children in the synagogue.
  263.  
  264. Find this resource:
  265.  
  266. Berner, Tali. “Children and Rituals in Early Modern Ashkenaz.” Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 7.1 (2014): 65–86.
  267.  
  268. DOI: 10.1353/hcy.2014.0013Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  269.  
  270. By looking at a series of life cycle rituals and communal celebrations, Berner claims that Ashkenazic communities had a clear understanding of the nature of childhood.
  271.  
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  273.  
  274. Graizbord, David. “Researching the Childhood of ‘New Jews’ of the Western Sephardi Diaspora in Light of Recent Historiography.” In Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora. Edited by Julia R. Lieberman, 225–246. HBI Series on Jewish Women. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2011.
  275.  
  276. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  277.  
  278. Using inquisitional documents, Graizbord focuses on the socialization and early education of children in the new Jewish communities of the western Sephardic diaspora.
  279.  
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  281.  
  282. Lamdan, Ruth. “Lo Kol HaYeladim Shavim VeLo Kol HaMekomot Shavim: Chachmei Eretz Yisrael UMitzraim Al Yaldut VeYeladim Bamea HaShesh Esre.” In Turkey: The Ottoman Past and the Republican Present. Edited by Michael Winter and Miri Sheffer, 171–196. Tel Aviv: Moshe Dayan Center, 2007.
  283.  
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  285.  
  286. A survey article in Hebrew, covering topics such as childbirth and the custody over children, as reflected in responsa literature.
  287.  
  288. Find this resource:
  289.  
  290. Lieberman, Julia R. “Children and Family among the Western Sephardim in the Seventeenth Century.” In Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora. Edited by Julia R. Lieberman, 129–176. HBI Series on Jewish Women. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2011.
  291.  
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  293.  
  294. The article focuses on the Jewish household in three Sephardic communities and studies life cycle rituals and parent-child relationships.
  295.  
  296. Find this resource:
  297.  
  298. Weinstein, Roni. “Yaldut Ve-hitbagrut Ba-hevrah Ha-yehudit Be-italia Be-reshit Ha-et Ha-hadasha: Reshito shel Tekes Bar Hamitzvah.” Italia 11 (1995): 77–98.
  299.  
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  301.  
  302. Following Arnold Van Gennep’s and Victor Turner’s theories on the structure of life cycle rituals, this article offers a detailed and careful reading of the Italian bar mitzvah ceremony, claiming that the development of the ceremony in the Early Modern period marks a new understanding of childhood.
  303.  
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  305.  
  306. Modern
  307. With a much-larger pool of sources of greater variety, the study of children and childhood in the modern era has great potential. Scholarship has concentrated on the impacts of some of the major trends in Jewish life and thought, such as Zionism and the Enlightenment alongside the principal Jewish communities in eastern Europe, Germany, and the United States. The major changes in Jewish education have been the focus of many studies, and numerous sources about girls as well as marginal groups enable scholars to dedicate more attention to these topics. In the eastern European context, some earlier work such as Biale 1983 and Hundert 1989 focused on questions of demography and family structure. Zipperstein 2002 dedicated his study to the heder (traditional Jewish school) in Russia. Bassok 2011 and Bassok 2015 use autobiographical essays to reconstruct the world of Jewish youth in Poland between the two world wars. The radical changes in the status of German Jewry attracted much scholarly attention that manifests in several studies on children and youth. A unique study on conversion can be found in Helbig 2013, while the collection of articles in Hotam 2008 looks at 20th-century German Jewish youth. Livnat 2009 studies the last stage in the history of Jewish children prior to the Holocaust. See also History of Education, Enlightenment, Zionism, the Holocaust, and United States.
  308.  
  309. Bassok, Ido. Youthful Plots: Autobiographies of Polish-Jewish Youth between the Two World Wars. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2011.
  310.  
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  312.  
  313. This volume, in Hebrew, includes twenty autobiographical essays written by young people for the Yivo competition in Poland in the 1930s. These essays testify to the life of young people at the time and serve as sources for the history of adolescence.
  314.  
  315. Find this resource:
  316.  
  317. Bassok, Ido. A Revival of Jewish Youth. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2015.
  318.  
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  320.  
  321. This book, in Hebrew, explores the lives of adolescents in Poland between the two world wars. Based on 150 autobiographical essays from the Yivo competition, it relates to issues such as family life, the educational system, youth movements, etc.
  322.  
  323. Find this resource:
  324.  
  325. Biale, David. Childhood, Marriage and the Family in Eastern European Jewish Enlightenment. New York: American Jewish Committee, 1983.
  326.  
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  328.  
  329. On the basis of autobiographical writings, Biale addresses some of the main characteristics of childhood and youth among the leaders of the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment).
  330.  
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  332.  
  333. Helbig, Annekathrin. “Konversion, Kindheit und Jugend—Taufen jüdischer Kinder im 18. Jahrhundert.” Werkstatt Geschichte 63 (December 2013): 45–60.
  334.  
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  336.  
  337. Based on archival sources, this article looks at the much-neglected phenomenon of the conversion of Jewish children into Christianity.
  338.  
  339. Find this resource:
  340.  
  341. Hotam, Yotam, ed. “The Age of Youth”: German-Jewish Young Generation and Modern Times. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2008.
  342.  
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  344.  
  345. The articles in this volume, in Hebrew, address the usage of images and youth as well as the daily life and realities of Jewish youth in 20th-century Germany.
  346.  
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  348.  
  349. Hundert, Gershon David. “Jewish Children and Childhood in Early Modern East Central Europe.” In The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory. Edited by David Kraemer, 81–94. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  350.  
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  352.  
  353. Hundert gives an overview of some of the topics and issues encountered in researching the realities of children in eastern Europe. On the basis of demographic changes, he stresses the growing presence of children and youth in these communities.
  354.  
  355. Find this resource:
  356.  
  357. Livnat, Hanna. Jews and Proud: Shaping Identity for Jewish Children in Germany, 1933–1938. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2009.
  358.  
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  360.  
  361. The study, in Hebrew, is based on text written for and by children in Nazi Germany in an attempt to reconstruct a new Jewish identity in the face of the changing realities of Jewish life.
  362.  
  363. Find this resource:
  364.  
  365. Weinreich, Max. Der veg tsu undzer yugnt, yesoydes, meṭodn, problemen fun Yidisher yugnt-forshung. Vilna, Poland: Kreines, 1936.
  366.  
  367. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  368.  
  369. A rare Yiddish sociological exploration of the problems of 1930s Polish adolescents. The book is psychoanalytically informed and developed as an outgrowth of Weinreich’s exposure to American sociology.
  370.  
  371. Find this resource:
  372.  
  373. Zipperstein, Steven. “The Heder in Russia at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.” In Studies in East European Jewish History and Culture in Honor of Professor Shmuel Werses. Edited by David Assaf, Israel Bartal, and Avner Holtzman, 153–165. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2002.
  374.  
  375. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  376.  
  377. Based on memories and protocols, the article studies the debate regarding the nature of Jewish education in turn-of-the-20th-century Russia. In Hebrew.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381. Enlightenment
  382. One of the major foci of the Jewish enlightenment, the Haskalah, was an attempt to bring a radical change in the form and content of Jewish education. Programs for change were shaped both according to the ideal of the Jewish scholar, educated both in Jewish and non-Jewish subject matters, and an evolving understanding of the needs of children and the nature of childhood. Kogman 2013 and Shavit 1993 focus their studies on the textbooks written by Maskilim. See also History of Education.
  383.  
  384. Kogman, Tal. The “Maskilim” in the Sciences: Jewish Scientific Education in the German-Speaking Sphere in Modern Times. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2013.
  385.  
  386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387.  
  388. The book, in Hebrew, traces the origins and beginnings of modern Jewish education, especially scientific education.
  389.  
  390. Find this resource:
  391.  
  392. Shavit, Zohar. “Furnishing a Jewish “Enlightened” Room in Berlin—the Case of the First Modern Reader for Jewish Children.” In Studies in Jewish Culture in Honour of Chone Shmeruk. Edited by Israel Bartal, Ezra Mendelsohn, and Chava Turniansky, 193–207. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 1993.
  393.  
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395.  
  396. The article, in Hebrew, focuses on what the author sees as a turning point in the history of Jewish childhood—the appearance of the first reader for Jewish children, the Lesenbuch Fuer Juedische Kinder.
  397.  
  398. Find this resource:
  399.  
  400. Zionism
  401. Children played a central role both in Zionist ideology and practice, though the field still awaits a comprehensive study of the treatment of children and the place of childhood in these areas. Shteiman 2002 studies the image of the child in early Zionist thought and practice. Two main groups of children in pre-state Palestine have drawn scholarly attention: Amitay 2012 and Dror 2001 study the children of the Kibbutzim, while Razi 2009 and Schenkolewski 2009 look at the children of the New Hebrew city. The education systems in pre-state Palestine are studied in Rosenberg-Friedman 2002, with more studies on education and other topics in Darr, et al. 2010. The Youth Aliyah draws scholarly interest in Hacohen 2011, as one of the central Zionist projects concerning children.
  402.  
  403. Amitay, Einat. A Gift for Our Children: Culture for Children in Kibbutzim. Ein Harod, Israel: Ein Harod Museum of Art, 2012.
  404.  
  405. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  406.  
  407. A collection of essays in Hebrew, following an exhibition at the Ein Harod Museum of Art on the material culture created for children in Kibbutzim.
  408.  
  409. Find this resource:
  410.  
  411. Darr, Yael, Tal Kogman, and Yehudit Shteiman, eds. Children as Avant-Garde: Childhood and Adolescence in Times of Crises and Social Change. Tel Aviv: Mofet, 2010.
  412.  
  413. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  414.  
  415. In Hebrew. A collection of articles mostly about children in pre-state Palestine and about Zionist education.
  416.  
  417. Find this resource:
  418.  
  419. Dror, Yuval. The History of Kibbutz Education: Practice into Theory. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2001.
  420.  
  421. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  422.  
  423. In Hebrew. A history of the educational system of the Kibbutz, from the founders in the 1910s through 2000.
  424.  
  425. Find this resource:
  426.  
  427. Hacohen, Dvorah. The Children of the Time: Youth Aliyah, 1933–1948. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2011.
  428.  
  429. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  430.  
  431. In Hebrew. A comprehensive study of the Youth Aliyah, arguably the most prominent voluntary rescue project ever carried out for Jewish children and youth.
  432.  
  433. Find this resource:
  434.  
  435. Razi, Tammy. Forsaken Children: The Backyard of Mandate Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2009.
  436.  
  437. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  438.  
  439. Based on sources from the Tel Aviv and central Zionist archives, this book, in Hebrew, draws a picture of the much-neglected topic of street and marginal children of Tel Aviv in the 1930s.
  440.  
  441. Find this resource:
  442.  
  443. Rosenberg-Friedman, Lilach. Women in Judaism: Discussion Papers. Vol. 10, The Genesis of Religious-Zionist Education for Girls. Edited by Tova Cohen. Ramat Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University, 2002.
  444.  
  445. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  446.  
  447. This study, in Hebrew, is about the attempts to create educational frameworks for girls and young women, including the girls’ own voices and initiatives in the creation of such institutions.
  448.  
  449. Find this resource:
  450.  
  451. Schenkolewski, Zehavit. “Vision, Reality and Construction of a Nation: Childhood and City Children in Pre-state Israel (1919–1948).” PhD diss., Bar-Ilan University, 2009.
  452.  
  453. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  454.  
  455. This comprehensive study of the daily life of city children includes much statistical information.
  456.  
  457. Find this resource:
  458.  
  459. Shteiman, Yehudit. “The Formation of the New Hebrew Child as Part of a Culture-Building Process in the Beginning of 20th Century in Eretz Israel.” PhD diss., Tel Aviv University, 2002.
  460.  
  461. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  462.  
  463. Based on a case study of one school in Jaffa, this dissertation, in Hebrew, examines the vehicles used to construct the character of the new Zionist child in the first two decades in the 20th century.
  464.  
  465. Find this resource:
  466.  
  467. United States
  468. With no comprehensive history of children and childhood in colonial America and the United States, some studies have covered main topics: Klapper 2008 offers a survey of Jewish education in America, Mykoff 2002 looks at the history of summer camps, and Friedman 1994 covers the history of orphan care. The early-21st-century interest in girls and gender history, as well as in more marginal groups among American Jewry, is manifested in Ginsparg 2009. The writings of girls enabled the authors of Klapper 2005 and Brumberg 2003 to write history from the points of view of the children themselves.
  469.  
  470. Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. “The ‘Me’ of Me: Voices of Jewish Girls in Adolescent Diaries of the 1920s and 1950s.” In American Jewish Women’s History: A Reader. Edited by Pamela S. Nadell, 223–236. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
  471.  
  472. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  473.  
  474. Comparing two generations of diary writers, this article traces the developments and changes in the social status of Jewish girls in America.
  475.  
  476. Find this resource:
  477.  
  478. Friedman, Reena Sigman. These Are Our Children: Jewish Orphanages in the United States, 1880–1925. Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 1994.
  479.  
  480. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  481.  
  482. Looking at the peak of the orphanage phenomenon, this book uses the annual reports and other archival material of several principal orphanages to reconstruct the roles and places of these institutions in the Jewish welfare system and community.
  483.  
  484. Find this resource:
  485.  
  486. Ginsparg, Leslie M. “Defining Bais Yaakov: A Historical Study of Yeshivish Orthodox Girls High School Education in America, 1963–1984.” PhD diss., New York University, 2009.
  487.  
  488. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  489.  
  490. This study follows the process by which the Bais Yaakov schools for girls adopted a more rigid and narrow educational line.
  491.  
  492. Find this resource:
  493.  
  494. Klapper, Melissa R. Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860–1920. New York: New York University Press, 2005.
  495.  
  496. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  497.  
  498. This book is an attempt to write about Jewish girls from their own perspective, on the basis of ego documents such as letters and diaries, as well as school records and periodicals.
  499.  
  500. Find this resource:
  501.  
  502. Klapper, Melissa R. “The History of Jewish Education in America, 1700–2000.” In The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America. Edited by Marc Lee Raphael, 189–216. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
  503.  
  504. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  505.  
  506. This short survey of the history of Jewish education in America from its outset focuses on the debates about its form, content, student populations, and methods for the creation of Jewish identity.
  507.  
  508. Find this resource:
  509.  
  510. Mykoff, Nancy Aleen. “A Jewish Season: Ethnic-American Culture at Children’s Summer Camp (1918–1941).” PhD diss., New York University, 2002.
  511.  
  512. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  513.  
  514. This study looks at the Jewish summer camp as a means of acculturation, in the face of the Great Depression and interwar anti-Semitism.
  515.  
  516. Find this resource:
  517.  
  518. The Holocaust
  519. The fate of children before, during, and after the Holocaust has occupied a central place in the popular memory of the Holocaust and in teaching and educating about it, yet child-centered research of the Holocaust is a rather new area of interest. A few comprehensive studies of children in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, such as Nicholas 2005 and Stargardt 2005, include Jewish as well as non-Jewish children, thus putting the Jewish childhood in context, a rare attempt in the history of childhood. Others, among them Dwork 1991, are dedicated to Jewish children only. The significant rescue operation called the Kindertransport is studied in Baumel-Schwartz 2012 and Benz, et al. 2004. Kirsh 2012 and Doron 2015 work to highlight the important place of children in the postwar attempts to reconstruct the Jewish world. Patt 2009 studies the attraction for youth of Zionism after World War II.
  520.  
  521. Baumel-Schwartz, Judith Tydor. Never Look Back: The Jewish Refugee Children in Great Britain, 1938–1945. Shofar Supplements in Jewish History. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2012.
  522.  
  523. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  524.  
  525. A comprehensive study of the Kindertransport, including the roles of governmental agencies and the Jewish community and the point of view of the children.
  526.  
  527. Find this resource:
  528.  
  529. Benz, Wolfgang, Claudia Curio, and Andrea Hammel, eds. Special Issue: Kindertransporte 1938/39—Rescue and Integration. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 23.1 (2004).
  530.  
  531. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  532.  
  533. A special volume dedicated to the Kindertransport, with articles covering various issues of the rescue operations of Jewish children.
  534.  
  535. Find this resource:
  536.  
  537. Doron, Daniella. Jewish Youth and Identity in Postwar France: Rebuilding Family and Nation. Modern Jewish Experience. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2015.
  538.  
  539. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  540.  
  541. Doron traces the debate regarding the fate of orphaned Jewish children in postwar France, to argue that the question of their fate stood at the center of their attempts to create a new Jewish French identity after the war.
  542.  
  543. Find this resource:
  544.  
  545. Dwork, Debórah. Children with a Star: Jewish Youth in Nazi Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991.
  546.  
  547. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  548.  
  549. Based on oral histories and other sources, this social history of the daily life of children in Nazi-occupied Europe traces a few patterns of existence for children during this period.
  550.  
  551. Find this resource:
  552.  
  553. Kirsh, Mary Fraser. “The Lost Children of Europe: Narrating the Rehabilitation of Child Holocaust Survivors in Great Britain and Israel.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2012.
  554.  
  555. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  556.  
  557. This dissertation uses the relief and rehabilitation processes instituted by Palestine/Israel and Great Britain, to examine the complex and contradictory identities of Jewish child survivors after the Holocaust.
  558.  
  559. Find this resource:
  560.  
  561. Nicholas, Lynn H. Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web. New York: Knopf, 2005.
  562.  
  563. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  564.  
  565. This is a comprehensive study based on archival materials, oral history, and other documents, looking at the fates both of Jewish and non-Jewish children of Nazi-occupied Europe.
  566.  
  567. Find this resource:
  568.  
  569. Patt, Avinoam J. Finding Home and Homeland: Jewish Youth and Zionism in the Aftermath of the Holocaust. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2009.
  570.  
  571. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  572.  
  573. Stressing the predominance of young people among the so-called displaced persons (DPs) in the aftermath of World War II, the author examines the choice to join the Zionist movement and prepare for immigration to Palestine as an act influenced by youth.
  574.  
  575. Find this resource:
  576.  
  577. Stargardt, Nicholas. Witnesses of War: Children’s Lives under the Nazis. London: Jonathan Cape, 2005.
  578.  
  579. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  580.  
  581. Stargardt presents a comprehensive history both of Jewish and non-Jewish childhood during World War II.
  582.  
  583. Find this resource:
  584.  
  585. History of Education
  586. The history of Jewish education has been studied more extensively than any other aspect in the lives of Jewish children. Nevertheless, this is an example of how studies that focus on aspects in the lives of children are not necessarily studies in the history of childhood or childhood studies. Often concentrating on structural facets, teachers, or curriculum, some scholars neglected to relate to the children themselves. Some early studies covered long periods of time (e.g., Fishman 1944, Elboim-Dror 1986). Though most of the attention focused on dramatic changes in Jewish education in the 19th and 20th centuries (e.g., Asaf and Etkes 2010, Zalkin 2008), some studies (e.g., Kanarfogel 1992) address earlier periods. While most works examine the education of boys, some research, such as in Turniansky 1999 and Manekin 2004, concentrates on the little-known education of girls. See also Enlightenment and Zionism.
  587.  
  588. Asaf, David, and Immanuel Etkes. The Heder: Studies, Documents, Literature and Memories. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press, 2010.
  589.  
  590. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  591.  
  592. In Hebrew. A collection of primary sources, mostly autobiographical accounts of study in the heder (traditional Jewish school) and scholarly work on the heder in eastern Europe in the 19th century. Includes a bibliography on the heder.
  593.  
  594. Find this resource:
  595.  
  596. Elboim-Dror, Rachel. Hebrew Education in Eretz Israel. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1986.
  597.  
  598. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  599.  
  600. This is a study of the emergence of modern, Zionist, and other educational systems in pre-state Palestine. In Hebrew.
  601.  
  602. Find this resource:
  603.  
  604. Fishman, Isidore. The History of Jewish Education in Central Europe: From the End of the Sixteenth to the End of the Eighteenth Century. London: E. Goldston, 1944.
  605.  
  606. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607.  
  608. A pioneering attempt to write a comprehensive history of Jewish education.
  609.  
  610. Find this resource:
  611.  
  612. Kanarfogel, Ephraim. Jewish Education and Society in the High Middle Ages. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1992.
  613.  
  614. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  615.  
  616. The first two chapters of this book include a discussion of primary education in medieval Ashkenaz and attitudes toward children as expressed in medieval rabbinic literature.
  617.  
  618. Find this resource:
  619.  
  620. Manekin, Rachel. “The Development of the Idea of Religious Education for Girls in Galicia in the Modern Era.” Massekhet 2 (2004): 63–86.
  621.  
  622. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  623.  
  624. The article, in Hebrew, examines the historical context that enabled the creation of a religious-schooling system for girls in eastern Europe.
  625.  
  626. Find this resource:
  627.  
  628. Turniansky, Chava. “Mejdlech in the altjidischer literature.” In Jiddische Philologie: Festschrift für Erika Timm. Edited by Walter Röll and Simon Neuberg, 7–20. Tübingen, Germany: M. Niemeyer, 1999.
  629.  
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631.  
  632. Turniansky collected data about girls, primarily indicators of their education and knowledge for different genres of Yiddish literature. In Yiddish.
  633.  
  634. Find this resource:
  635.  
  636. Zalkin, Mordechai. From Heder to School: Modernization Processes in 19th-Century East European Jewish Education. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2008.
  637.  
  638. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  639.  
  640. This study, in Hebrew, describes the central roles played by the changes in the structure and content of Jewish education in transforming eastern European Jewish society.
  641.  
  642. Find this resource:
  643.  
  644. Life Cycle Rituals
  645. While no one study includes a comprehensive review of Jewish rituals for children, childhood rituals, or the participation of children in Jewish rituals, many scholars from various fields have dedicated much attention to the intersection between children and rituals since the late 20th century. Nonetheless, the participation of children in life cycle and other rituals, as well as rituals in non-Ashkenazic communities, still requires further research. This list includes mostly scholarship regarding historical research, yet a few studies regarding modern rituals are included as well. Marcus 1996 is a pioneering study, remaining the first and only study dedicated exclusively to a single childhood life ritual. The ritualistic and artistic aspects of the Ashkenazi birth rituals are studied in Baumgarten 2003 and Feuchtwanger-Sarig 2005. The question of the first appearance of the bar mitzvah ritual, and its connection to the definition of childhood, lies at the center of Weinstein 1995 (cited under Early Modern). Gartner 2011 contributes a more recent addition to the history of the bar mitzvah celebrations, while Marcus 1996, a book-length study, focuses on the unique Ashkenazic school initiation ritual. Bilu 2003 provides an anthropological perspective, utilizing the research tools of the author’s field in the study of life cycle rituals.
  646.  
  647. Baumgarten, Elisheva. “Circumcision and Baptism: The Development of a Jewish Ritual in Christian Europe.” In The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite. Edited by Elizabeth Wyner Mark, 114–127. Brandeis Series on Jewish Women. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press, 2003.
  648.  
  649. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  650.  
  651. A comparative study of the development of the rituals around circumcision and baptism in medieval Europe.
  652.  
  653. Find this resource:
  654.  
  655. Bilu, Yoram. From Milah (Circumcision) to Milah (Word): Male Identity and Rituals of Childhood in the Jewish Ultraorthodox Community. Ethos 31.2 (2003): 172–203.
  656.  
  657. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. In this article, Bilu uses the circumcision ritual as a case study to examine the limits and limitations of using anthropological tools in the study of Jewish sources.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663. Feuchtwanger-Sarig, Naomi. “‘May He Grow to the Torah . . .’: The Iconography of Torah Reading and Bar Mitzvah on Ashkenazi Torah Binders.” In Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer. Edited by Ruth Langer and Steven Fine, 155–170. Duke Judaic Studies 2. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2005.
  664.  
  665. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  666.  
  667. Although this study comes from an art history perspective and is therefore primarily an analysis of the artistic aspects of the unique Ashkenazic “Wimple” ceremony, it includes much valuable historical information about this ritual.
  668.  
  669. Find this resource:
  670.  
  671. Freehof, Solomon B. “Ceremonial Creativity among the Ashkenazim.” In Beauty in Holiness: Studies in Jewish Customs and Ceremonial Art. Edited by Joseph Gutmann, 487–491. New York: Ktav, 1970.
  672.  
  673. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  674.  
  675. Using the bar mitzvah as a case study, the writer points out the unique creativity of medieval Ashkenazic communities in developing new rituals, and he studies the reasons for this tendency.
  676.  
  677. Find this resource:
  678.  
  679. Gartner, Yaakov. “Celebrating Bar Mitzvah: The Background and Emergence of the Custom.” In Ta Shma: Studies in Judaica in Memory of Israel M. Ta-Shma. Vol. 1. Edited by Avraham Reiner, Joseph R. Hacker, Moshe Halbertal, Moshe Idel, Ephraim Kanarfogel, and Elchanan Reiner, 235–256. Alon Shevut, Israel: Tevunot, 2011.
  680.  
  681. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  682.  
  683. Breaking away from the debate regarding the connection between the bar mitzvah ceremony and the definition of childhood, Gartner traces the origins of the bar mitzvah ceremony back to the 11th century. In Hebrew.
  684.  
  685. Find this resource:
  686.  
  687. Marcus, Ivan G. Rituals of Childhood: Jewish Acculturation in Medieval Europe. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
  688.  
  689. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  690.  
  691. The first and only full-length study dedicated to a childhood ritual, this book offers a detailed and close reading of the medieval school initiation ritual, read through anthropological theories and comparative history.
  692.  
  693. Find this resource:
  694.  
  695. Rubin, Nissan. The Beginning of Life: Rites of Birth, Circumcision and Redemption of the First-Born in the Talmud and Midrash. Tel Aviv: Hakkibutz Hameuchad, 1995.
  696.  
  697. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  698.  
  699. In Hebrew. An anthropological and social analysis of the ancient birth rituals based on Talmudic literature.
  700.  
  701. Find this resource:
  702.  
  703. Jewish Thought and Halakhah
  704. The question of parental obligations toward children and children’s obligations toward their parents, both in theory and in practice, is studied in Gilat 2000, Gris 2008, and Bashan 2005. Ta-Shma 1995 and Ta-Shma 2003 dedicate some articles to child-related customs in synagogue, and Glick 1999–2000 gives a comprehensive review of law regarding education. The halakhic and cultural categories of age are discussed in Meacham 1999. Gilat 1990 is a discussion of the development of the halakhic concept of bar mitzvah.
  705.  
  706. Bashan, Eliezer. Parents and Children as Reflected in the Literature of North African Rabbis. Tel Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuchad, 2005.
  707.  
  708. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  709.  
  710. In Hebrew. Mostly a collection of sources with some commentary, this book brings valuable information from rarely researched communities and thinkers.
  711.  
  712. Find this resource:
  713.  
  714. Gilat, Yizkhac Dov. “Ben Shlosh Esre Le-Mitzvot?” Mekhkarei Talmud 1 (1990): 39–53.
  715.  
  716. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  717.  
  718. In this article, Gilat argues that until the Early Modern period the age of thirteen was not conceived as the defining point of religious maturity.
  719.  
  720. Find this resource:
  721.  
  722. Gilat, Israel Zvi. The Relations between Parents and Children in Israeli and Jewish Law. Tel Aviv: Choshen Lamishpat, 2000.
  723.  
  724. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  725.  
  726. In Hebrew. This is a comprehensive study of family laws, mostly parental obligations, in Jewish legal sources, covering sources from the Bible to the modern state of Israel.
  727.  
  728. Find this resource:
  729.  
  730. Glick, Shmuel. Education in Light of Israeli Law and Halakhic Literature. 2 vols. Jerusalem: Schocken, 1999–2000.
  731.  
  732. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. This comprehensive two-volume study, in Hebrew, examines and compares modern Israeli law with halakhah and community regulations from various places and times.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738. Gris, Zeev. “Kibud Av VaEm Besifrut Hamusar Byn Hamea HaAsirit LaMea HaArba Esre.” In By the Well: Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Halakhic Thought Presented to Gerald J. Blidstein. Edited by Uri Erlich, Howard T. Kreisel, and Daniel J. Lasker, 83–96. Goldstein-Goren Library of Jewish Thought 8. Beer Sheva, Israel: Ben Gurion University, 2008.
  739.  
  740. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  741.  
  742. In Hebrew. Gris examines the references to the commandment to honor and respect one’s parents in medieval moral literature.
  743.  
  744. Find this resource:
  745.  
  746. Meacham, Tirzah. Sefer Habagrut LeRav Shmuel Hofni Gaon VeSefer Hashaen LeRav Yehuda HaCohen Rosh Haseder. Jerusalem: Yad HaRav Nissim, 1999.
  747.  
  748. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  749.  
  750. The introduction to this scholarly edition of two manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza offers a discussion of the definitions in post-Talmudic literature of ages and periods in a human life.
  751.  
  752. Find this resource:
  753.  
  754. Ta-Shma, Israel. “By the Power of the Holy Name—the History of a Forgotten Custom.” Bar-Ilan 26–27 (1995): 389–399.
  755.  
  756. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  757.  
  758. Ta-Shma traces the Talmudic origins of the medieval practice of including boys under the age of thirteen in the minyan.
  759.  
  760. Find this resource:
  761.  
  762. Ta-Shma, Israel. “Ha’ala’at Yeladim LeKriat Hatorah ve LaHaftara.” In The Early Ashkenazi Prayer: Literary and Historical Aspects. By Israel Ta-Shma, 227–236. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2003.
  763.  
  764. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  765.  
  766. A discussion, in Hebrew, of the different customs concerning the calling of boys under the age of thirteen to the Torah.
  767.  
  768. Find this resource:
  769.  
  770. Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
  771. The study of the images of childhood in Hebrew and Yiddish literature combines both historical reality and literary analysis. In the Hebrew literature written between the late 1800s and the 1950s, most attention was drawn to the depiction of Jewish education and the young restless student (Holtzman 2006a, Holtzman 2006b, Lerner 1989). Wagner 2013, an unpublished dissertation, is an attempt to cover various aspects of the representation of childhood in early Hebrew literature. Sokoloff 1992 offers a study both of Hebrew and Yiddish literature.
  772.  
  773. Holtzman, Avner. “Shirat Hakera Shbalev: HaHeder Basifrut Haivrit.” In Loves of Zion: Studies in Modern Hebrew Literature. By Avner Holtzman, 11–43. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2006a.
  774.  
  775. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  776.  
  777. Holtzman provides an analysis of the portrayal of the traditional educational experience in early Hebrew Literature.
  778.  
  779. Find this resource:
  780.  
  781. Holtzman, Avner. “Hashivu Lanu et HaYaldut: Hatalush KeYeled.” In Loves of Zion: Studies in Modern Hebrew Literature. By Avner Holtzman, 44–50. Jerusalem: Carmel, 2006b.
  782.  
  783. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  784.  
  785. This article looks at the new young “Anti-hero” in the writings of Hebrew-language authors in the last decade of the 19th century.
  786.  
  787. Find this resource:
  788.  
  789. Lerner, Anne Lapidus. “Lost Childhood in East European Hebrew Literature.” In The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory. Edited by David Kraemer, 95–112. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  790.  
  791. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  792.  
  793. This article is dedicated to the study of the image of childhood and its place in the writings of a few Hebrew-language authors of the first decades of the 20th century.
  794.  
  795. Find this resource:
  796.  
  797. Sokoloff, Naomi B. Imagining the Child in Modern Jewish Fiction. Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
  798.  
  799. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  800.  
  801. Dedicated to 20th-century literature in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English, Sokoloff’s book offers a discussion of the image of children and childhood and the construction of the child’s voice.
  802.  
  803. Find this resource:
  804.  
  805. Wagner, Rotem. “‘That Child Is I and No Other’—the Emergence of the Child Figure and the Idea of Childhood in Nineteenth-Century Hebrew Fiction.” PhD diss., Ben Gurion University, 2013.
  806.  
  807. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  808.  
  809. This unpublished dissertation is an in-depth study of the appearance and development of childhood as represented in early (mainly 19th-century) Hebrew literature, with some historical background for context.
  810.  
  811. Find this resource:
  812.  
  813. Children’s Literature
  814. Hebrew and Yiddish literature specifically intended for the joy and pleasure of children, though it first appeared only in the last decades of the 19th century, has drawn much scholarly interest. Of these studies, many have restricted themselves to poetic aspects of this genre, while others have shown more interest in contextual analysis. A survey of children’s literature written in Hebrew can be found in Ofek 1988 (cited under Bibliographies), while one on German-language texts can be found in Völpel and Shavit 2002. The beginnings of children’s literature in the form of textbooks are researched in Shavit 1988 and Nagel 1999. Darr 2006, Darr 2013, Mashiach 2000, and Shikhmanter 2014 approach the pre-state and early-state literature from a cultural point of view, while Baruch 1991 offers a comparative study of Hebrew literature for children.
  815.  
  816. Baruch, Miri. Children Then—Children Now. Tel Aviv: Sifriat haPoalim, 1991.
  817.  
  818. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  819.  
  820. This comparative study, in Hebrew, evaluates variance of different facets of Israeli children’s literature, such as sex education and parent-child relations, between texts published in the 1940s and the 1980s.
  821.  
  822. Find this resource:
  823.  
  824. Darr, Yael. Called from Our School-Desks: The Yishuv in the Shadow of Holocaust and in Anticipation of Statehood in Children’s Literature of Eretz Israel, 1939–1948. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2006.
  825.  
  826. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  827.  
  828. A cultural study of children’s literature and its role in helping children cope with the dramatic and tragic events of the 1940s. In Hebrew.
  829.  
  830. Find this resource:
  831.  
  832. Darr, Yael. A Canon of Many Voices: Forming a Labor Movement Canon for Children in Pre-state Israel. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2013.
  833.  
  834. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  835.  
  836. A cultural study, in Hebrew, of the publication of books for children in the 1930s and 1940s, mostly among the circles of the labor movement.
  837.  
  838. Find this resource:
  839.  
  840. Mashiach, Celina. Childhood and Nationalism: Imagining Childhood in Hebrew Children’s Literature, 1790–1948. Tel Aviv: Cherikover, 2000.
  841.  
  842. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  843.  
  844. A Hebrew-language study of the construction of different images of children as builders of the nation and the nation as a builder of childhood in Hebrew literature.
  845.  
  846. Find this resource:
  847.  
  848. Nagel, Michael. “The Beginnings of Jewish Children’s Literature in High German: Three Schoolbooks from Berlin (1779), Prague (1781) and Dessau (1782).” Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 44 (1999): 39–54.
  849.  
  850. DOI: 10.1093/leobaeck/44.1.39Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  851.  
  852. Reflecting the transformation from a traditional to a modern education system, Nagel dedicates this article to the first three German-language textbooks for children.
  853.  
  854. Find this resource:
  855.  
  856. Shavit, Zohar. “From Friedländer’s Lesenbuch to the Jewish Campe: The Beginning of Hebrew Children’s Literature in Germany.” Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 33 (1988): 385–415.
  857.  
  858. DOI: 10.1093/leobaeck/33.1.385Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  859.  
  860. This article traces the beginning of Hebrew literature written specifically for children in the last decade of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century in the circles of the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment), including the writers and the readership.
  861.  
  862. Find this resource:
  863.  
  864. Shikhmanter, Rima. Paper Friend: Israeli Children’s Journalism in the First Decade of the State. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2014.
  865.  
  866. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  867.  
  868. A study of the three leading children’s periodicals published during the first decades of the state and their central role in forming the image of modern Israeli childhood. Mostly in Hebrew.
  869.  
  870. Find this resource:
  871.  
  872. Völpel, Annegret, and Zohar Shavit. Deutsch-jüdische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur: Ein Literaturgeschichtlicher Grundriß. Kompendien zur Jüdischen Kinderkultur. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2002.
  873.  
  874. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-476-05253-7Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  875.  
  876. A comprehensive study of literature for children from 1100 through the Nazi period, including textbooks, fiction, retelling of biblical stories, and other genres.
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