Initiation into Torah November 27 2012 What a change in method or perspective can do I The Intellectual Background a Acculturation i Inward transformation or creation of new reforms and practices that are product of interaction with the larger culture but aren t simply becoming part of it vs outward being more like the dominant society b Anthropological History a focus has shown the failures of an outward acculturation model we can t explain the rise of fundamentalisms at home models of inward acculturation are the way in which we can explore the rise of other religious movements i Focus away from elites only whole society focus how can we get past the narrow band of literate elites who wrote the texts to a broader picture of the society ii Ritual as a cultural practice for analysis patterns iii thick description what historians were trying to figure out what to do with their data how can we get a rich description of the rituals and what is going on c One ritual as point of entry into the whole society intersects with i Cultural heritage ii Impact of the crusades II III Initiation into Torah Three Sources of the Ritual a Ancient Jewish pedagogical practices what do we know from ancient rabbinic literature about when where how children s education began b Magical memory rites c Medieval Jewish cultural production putting the pieces together delaying Baptism i Putting the elements together ii Child as sacrifice iii Acculturation to Christian norms confirmation IV Initiation into Torah Native Practice or Acculturation How does the impact of living side by side enter into the lives of the people living in the side by side population Jewish custom passed on by our Jewish fathers that is specifically for Jewish children in keeping with the Jewish customs for Marcus it is BOTH the development of native practices AND acculturation
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