Description: Jews have been active participants in shaping the healing practices of eastern Europe. This wide-ranging survey of sources in Yiddish, Hebrew, and many other languages fills a gap in the study of folk medicine in eastern Europe while also shedding light on little-known aspects of Ashkenazi culture and on cross-cultural contacts between Jews and their neighbours.
Review Quotes:
'Tuszewicki's nuanced approach to the analysis of his data is evident. Rather than rigidly evaluating rituals or beliefs according to one or another interpretive system, he allows the sources to speak for themselves, it is a testament to his intimate familiarity with the inner world of Ashkenazic Jewry that he is able to shape a huge corpus of sources into a work as legible and authoritative this one.' Natan M. Meir, The Polish Review