The meanings of death in Rabbinic Judaism - Kraemer, David Charles (Routledge, 2000)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 160-163) and index
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
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