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Fishbane, Simcha

Professor Simcha Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Studies in the Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Touro College, New York.

Fire Symbolism in Jewish Law and Ritual
2021 1-4955-0867-6
Dr. Fishbane explores the nature and importance of fire in Jewish rituals, and its roots in Jewish religious text.

Jewish Mourning Customs During the Spring Season (Sefirat Haomer): A Ritual Act of Collective Memory
2017 1-4955-0617-7
Dr. Fishbane’s monograph seeks to employ social scientific theory to understand the significance and evolution of Jewish mourning customs practiced between Passover (Pesach) and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) holidays.

Jewish Mourning Rites: A Sociological Study
2022 1-4955-0876-5
Dr. Simcha Fishbane describes the history and background of Jewish mourning rituals. It includes insights from history, culture, and important Rabbis.

Menstruating Women and Menstrual Blood in the Mishnah: A Social Anthropological Study
2018 1-4955-0686-X
Dr. Simcha Fishbane examines the topic of menstruation and menstrual blood in the Torah. The study focuses on the views of Rabbis and other members of rabbinical culture in the second century C.E. Dr. Fishbane examines the relevant passages from the Torah on menstruation and menstrual blood and interprets them.

Prostitutes in the Talmud: A Social Anthropological Study
2018 1-4955-0685-1
Dr. Fishbane examines the treatment of prostitutes in the Babylonian Talmud, focusing on their status in the community. The book will consider cases cited in the Talmud looking at various mentions of prostitutes and prostitution, with a consideration of the different treatment given to Israelite women versus gentile women.

The Meaning of the Jewish Festival of Purim: What Its Rituals and Customs Symbolize
2017 1-4955-0616-9
Dr. Fishbane’s monograph seeks to decode the implicit message encoded within some of the practices and customs of the holiday of Purim.

The Pilgrimage to the Temple and the Giving of the Torah: Rabbinical Interpretations of the Festival of Shavuot
2017 1-4955-0620-7
Professor Fishbane explains the Jewish festival of Shavuot, a holiday heavily associated with harvests and the Temple. once the Temple was destroyed the traditions of Shavuot continued to be celebrated thanks to Rabbinical interest that kept the traditions of the festival alive.

The Rabbinic Discussion About Bat Mitzvah Celebrations: Girl Puberty Rites in Judaism
2017 1-4955-0540-5
Author examines girl's puberty rites or rather the lack of such rites in rightwing Orthodox circles. The historical beginnings and cultural impact of the Bat Mitzvah and its development in Israel and the United States are explained.

The Slaughter of a Rooster at the Jewish Festival of Yom Kippur: An Explanation of the Ritual of Kapparot
2017 1-4955-0619-3
Dr. Fishbane’s monograph explores the development and history of the Jewish tradition and custom of kapparot, where a rooster is sacrificed before Yom Kippur. The sacrificed fowl is given to the poor or the money that is the fowl’s worth.

What is the Basis of a Rabbi's Authority? Three Case Studies: Rabbi Avraham Danzig; Rabbi Yirsrael Meir Hacohen, The Hafez Haim; Rabbi Yecheil Mechel HaLevi Epstein
2022 1-4955-1020-4
The author states, "Max Weber, the well known early sociological theorist, presents us with the three classical types of leadership-traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational. I would like to suggest a fourth, namely the written word. ...I will focus on three leading Eastern European rabbinical authorities of the 19th and early 20th century whose writings both established their leadership during their lifetime, and posthumously continued to place them in the forefront of Jewish life and halakhic behavior. ...Leadership comprehended in rabbinic leadership is that of influence especially for educators. ...The rabbis discussed in this essay were all educators and thus leaders who influenced their followers both through their frontal (oral) lectures and their written works."

Why Jewish Women are not Permitted to Work on the Festival of Rosh Hodesh: An Anthropological Explanation
2017 1-4955-0618-5
Dr. Fishbane's monograph explores the cultural and theological reasons behind the Jewish ritual of not allowing women work on the festival of Rosh Hodesh. Rabbinic Judaism is patriarchal in nature and the ritual appears to be an exemption to cultural norms.

Witches in the Talmud: A Social Anthrological Study
2018 1-4955-0684-0
Dr. Fishbane suggests that in the patriarchal world of the Torah and Talmud, society perceives women as being liminal in its social order or on the fringe of the male centered society and this excluded from most central rituals. Women are regarded as threats to the patriarchal social structure if they do not act in accordance to traditional gender roles. Such women are regarded as witches or sorceresses.

Women's Literacy in Eastern Europe During the 18th and Early 19th Centuries: The Case of Haye Adam
2019 1-4955-0790-4
Dr. Fishbane and Dr. Stern describe the Haye Adam, a legal text about the nature of Jewish law and women within the Jewish community. It was composed by Rabbi Abraham Danzig (1748-1820) in Prague.