Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Todd M. Endelman
Introduction
Part I—The Way Jews Loved Each Other
1. Overview Over Time
2. Marriage: Good, Better and Not So Good
3. The Bible In and Out of Love
4. The Family: More Questions Than Answers
5. The Golden Middle Ages
6. Midrash and Magic
7. The Many Languages of Love
8. Age of Reason—Challenge of Tradition
9. Chasing Modernity
10. Tracing Modernity
11. How God Coped with Sex
Part II—The Way Jews Loved Tradition
12. Essen un Fressen
13. Artisanship and Crafts
14. Laughing at Love
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Constance Harris, formerly an active part of the Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles, served as president of the Women’s Conference and organized the Women’s Interfaith Committee. She lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Reviews

“Constance Harris guides the reader through the many layers of Jewish texts with charm, wit, and a clear love for the wild and wonderful world of Jewish story telling. The Way Jews Loved is an important reminder of the vitality and variety of embodied Jews who, throughout history, have given life to the words on the page”—Rabbi Jay Asher LeVine, Temple Isaiah, Lafayette, California

“Constance Harris has written a book that explores Judaism’s breadth and depth. An impressive achievement that is sure to captivate many readers.”—Deborah E. Lipstadt, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

“Constance Harris has written a book about a subject of great complexity and importance in which she weaves together the often compartmentalized academic and personalized dimensions of the study of Jewish life, past and present. Culling together a broad array of interesting sources, and weaving them together with her own experiences and observations, she has produced a monograph that is at once interesting, illuminating, and engaging; that is accessible to lay readers of a variety of educational backgrounds. Her familiarity with the subject is impressive and well-constructed; her ability to identify and cite a variety of Jewish texts is equally impressive. Her analysis of works of art is terrific!”—Howard Lupovitch, Professor of History and Director of the Cohn Haddow Center for Judaic Studies, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.