Ritual Objects in Ritual Contexts

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In this volume of the Erfurter Schriften zur jüdischen Geschichte, the ensemble of medieval material evidence in Erfurt, with its unique representation of Jewish culture in Central Europe, is placed in the local and contemporary historical context of ritual objects and ritual events - for the first time accompanied by insights into the hitherto rather undiscovered Rudolstadt Judaica collection. This is an exciting and sensually fascinating process that opens up something new. It gains in multidimensionality through an explicitly interdisciplinary perspective. It is the attempt to see anew, beginning with the ritual object rather than the ritual itself. Taking up the concept of a »new materialism« in the social and historical sciences, the particular ritual object is perceived, not beginning with the idea of it, but as reality. The ritual objects discussed here address the sensually concrete existence of things in the context of their pragmatic use: the Erfurt wedding ring, Hebrew gravestones, Torah scrolls, a tuning key, belts, candleholders, a prayer tablet, a mizrach. They all have a high symbolic value and at the same time a unique aesthetic appeal. Nevertheless, the coexistence of objects is linked to their embedding in writing, tradition, and contextualization. By emphasizing in particular the Jewish ritual object in its use, the present volume celebrates the cultural richness and identity of the Jewish communities past and present.