Jewish custom and ritual, or their Hebrew equivalent, minhag, has intrigued rabbis and scholars for generations. The majority of the rabbinical works devoted to minhag primarily encompass lists of sources and reporting of old and new customs. Some have explored the historical development of the minhag. Here, Simcha Fishbane treats minhag from a socio-anthropological perspective. The Shtiebelization of Modern Jewry discusses the theory and model of minhagim using the Mishnah Berurah and the Arukh Hashulkhan, analyzes rabbinic texts concerned with custom, and describes current rituals from a socio-anthropological viewpoint, enabling both scholars and general readers to come to a better understanding of minhagim in Jewish culture.

In his book, Simcha Fishbane presents the reader with a series of studies that combine an expertise in the textual intricacies of the rabbinical literary tradition and a mastery of the scholarly field of the anthropology of religion to create an interesting and important perspective on custom and ritual in the Judaic tradition. This book is a substantial contribution to our understanding of how and why Jews do what they do in the present as well as in times past. -- Ira Robinson

Simcha Fishbane (PhD Concordia University) is an associate professor of Jewish Studies and executive assistant to the president of Touro College. His recent publications include Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature, Brill, 2007; Jewish Studies in Violence, edited by and introduced by Simcha Fishbane, UPA, 2006; and Voodoo or Judaism, the Ritual of Kapparot: People Medicine and Magic in Jewish and Slavic Cultural Tradition, Moscow, 2007.