Stepchildren of the shtetl : the destitute, disabled, and mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800-1939 /
Natan M. Meir.
- Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, (c)2020.
- 1 online resource (xiv, 343 pages) : illustrations.
- Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Jewish marginal people in premodern Europe -- Blind beggars and orphan recruits : the Russian state, the kahal, and marginal Jews in the early nineteenth century -- "A pile of dust and rubble" : poorhouses, real and imaginary -- The cholera wedding -- A "republic of beggars"? : charity, Jewish backwardness, and the specter of the Jewish idler -- Madness and the mad : from family burden to national affliction -- "We singing Jews, we Jews possessed" : the Jewish outcast as national icon.
"Stepchildren of the Shtetl considers marginal peoples in East European Jewish society and culture--the disabled, mentally ill, and indigent--and how stereotypes and self-perceptions of Jewish marginality have in turn shaped modern Jewish culture, society, and politics"--
9781503613065
2020004505
Jews--Social conditions--Europe, Eastern--19th century. Jews--Social conditions--Europe, Eastern--20th century. Marginality, Social--History.--Europe, Eastern Poor--History.--Europe, Eastern Mentally ill--History.--Europe, Eastern People with disabilities--History.--Europe, Eastern