In and out, between and beyond: Jewish daily life in Medieval Europe

"This book, produced for the exhibition In and Out, Between and Beyond, presents the scholarly work of a group of historians who study the Jews of medieval Ashkenaz at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in dialogue with the work of contemporary Israeli artists. This is one of the culminating projects of the European Research Council-funded research group Beyond the Elite: Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Europe. Since the inception of the project (fall 2016), the team has worked to construct a history which includes those who were not part of the learned elite as well as those who were learned, about whom we know more. The research team trained its sights on everyday moments, investigating daily routines and the ways medieval Jews understood their lives amidst their host cultures. At the heart of this work is the complexity of the circumstances in which medieval Jews lived: the integration of Ashkenazic Jews within their Christian surroundings, alongside their maintenance of a distinct religious identity. To complement the medieval study underlying this endeavor, the exhibit’s curator, Dr. Ido Noy, orchestrated a fruitful exchange between the research team and seven Israeli artists, who then produced contemporary expressions of the historic ideas under discussion. This book, mirroring the structure of the exhibit, is comprised of sixteen articles. Each one is built around a primary source from a particular literary genre. The colorful catalogue at the end of the volume documents the objects created especially for the exhibition that was displayed physically at the gallery on the Mount Scopus campus of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and can still be viewed virtually." -- back cover.