On the Functions of Miniaturizing Books in Jewish Religion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.35820Keywords:
Jewish, book history, miniature book, miniaturization, scripture, book format, comparative perspective, artifactual use, scroll, prayer book, Psalms, Haggadah shel Pesach, Purim Megillot, Hebrew Bibles, Torah, sensory effectsAbstract
The purpose of this article is to offer a functional approach to miniaturized books as a religious phenomenon. Moving beyond mere descriptions of size and aesthetic quality, it asks about the functions of miniaturized religious books and asks how size comes to matter. To be able to treat miniaturized books as a religious phenomenon, the article wants to transcend prevailing size criteria that privilege the codex form used for religious texts in relatively young religions such as Christianity and Islam, and thus prevent a global, comparative perspective. Empirically, the article searches for answers within the context of the history of the book and in particular within Jewish religion, not only because it happens to be the field of this author’s specialization, but also because Judaism, if we include Israelite religion, covers all phases of alphabetic literate culture relevant to the phenomenon of books, and because Jewish rituals and festivals are marked by readings and the possession of small books. The article conjoins the author’s own distinction between the hermeneutical and artifactual use of scripture with theoretical reflections by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Jonathan Z. Smith, Danièle Dehouve, Steven J. Gores, and Ian Reader. This platform has explanatory potential with regard to the analysis of miniaturized religious books in Jewish religion, but also to future analyses of miniaturized books in any religious context.
References
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Anderson, Sean Eron and Marc Levoy. 2002. “Cuneiform Tablets.” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 22(6): 82–88. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2002.1046632
Ben-Amos, Dan (ed.). 2011. Folktales of the Jews – Volume 3: Tales from Arab Lands. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Bondy, Louis W. 1981. Miniature Books: Their History from the Beginnings to the Present Day. London: Sheppard.
British Library. n.d. “Golden Haggadah.” Online Gallery. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/golden.html
Bromer, Anne C. 1988. “Art for Miniature Art’s Sake.” Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 7: 88–95.
Coffey, Heather. 2009. “Between Amulet and Devotion: Islamic Miniature Books in the Lilly Library.” In The Islamic Manuscript Tradition, edited by Christiane Gruber, 78–115. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2005ssv.8
Dehouve, Danièle. 2016. “A Play on Dimensions: Miniaturization and Fractals in Mesoamerican Ritual.” Journal of Anthropological Research (Winter): 504–529.
eBay, 2017a. “1946 Djerba Tunisia MINIATURE SHABBAT PRAYER BOOK Antique/Judaica/Jewish/Hebrew.” http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1946-Djerba-Tunisia-MINIATURE-SHABBAT-PRAYER-BOOK-Antique-Judaica-Jewish-Hebrew-/390779900010?hash=item5afc4c106a:g:IIkAAOxydlFS~LSD
eBay, 2017b. “LOT IDF Judaica Tefillin Bag Antique Tfilin Teffilin JEWISH Phylacteries Rare.” http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LOT-IDF-Judaica-Tefillin-Bag-Antique-Tfilin-Teffilin-JEWISH-Phylacteries-Rare-/202015933502?hash=item2f0916843e:g:zz0AAOSwrqlZiDO6
eBay, 2017c. “Miniature Travelling Torah Scroll Parchment Wimpel Wooden Case Tik Balkan Ca1750.” http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-Travelling-Torah-Scroll-Parchment-Wimpel-Wooden-Case-Tik-Balkan-Ca1750-/371248960666
Edgren, James Sören. 2013. “The History of the Book in China.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S. J. and H. R. Woudhuysen, 573–592. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edison, Julian I. 1967. “World’s Oldest Printing on Paper.” Miniature Book News 8: 1–2.
Facsimile Editions, 2017. “Me’ah Berachot.” http://www.facsimile-editions.com/en/mb/
Feffer, Solomon. 1969. “Hebrew Miniature Books.” Jewish Book Annual 27: 35–41.
Ferber, Alona, 2014. “Defying Regulations, Women of the Wall Sneak Tiny Torah Scroll into the Kotel.” Hareetz. October 24. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.622560
Friedman, Jen Taylor. N.d. “Milestones.” www.hasoferet.com
Goldberg, Harvey E. 2013. “The Ethnographic Challenge of Masorti Religiosity Among Israeli Jews.” Ethnologie Française 43(4): 583–590. https://doi.org/10.3917/ethn.134.0583
Gores, Steven J. 1997. “The Miniature as Reduction and Talisman in Fielding’s Amelia.” Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 37(3): 573–593. https://doi.org/10.2307/451050
Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. 2006. “Armed Forces Operational Service and Prayer Book.” London: Ministry of Defense. http://health.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/JSP587-BritishArmedForces-Prayer-Book.pdf
Hunter, Dard. 1943. Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. New York: Dover.
The Israel Museum Jerusalem. 2017. “Miniature Passover Haggadah.” http://museum.imj.org.il/imagine/collections/item.asp?itemNum=354497
Kallendorf, Craig. 2013. “The Ancient Book.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, 39–53. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kedem Auction House. n.d.a. “Miniature Siddur—Amsterdam, 1739—Variant.” Books and Manuscripts. https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/miniature-siddur-amsterdam-1739-variant
———. n.d.b. “Avraham Haba—Passover Haggadah - Micrography on an Egg.” https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/avraham-haba-passover-haggadah-micrography-egg
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1966. The Savage Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
MBS Presentations. n.d. Miniature Book Society. https://www.mbs.org
Morse-Harding, Chloe. 2015. “Miniature Books.” Brandeis Special Collections Spotlight. http://brandeisspecialcollections.blogspot.dk/2015/07/miniature-books.html
Moyer, Ian S. and Jacco Dieleman. 2003. “Miniaturization and the Opening of the Mouth in a Greek Magical Text (PGM XII.270-350).” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 3: 47–72. https://doi.org/10.1163/1569212031960320
Nongbri, Brent. 2005. “The Use and Abuse of P52: Papyrological Pitfalls in the Dating of the Fourth Gospel.” Harvard Theological Review 98(1): 23–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816005000842
PBS. 2008. “Miniature Hebrew Bible, ca. 1850.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/13/dallas-tx/appraisals/miniature-hebrew-bible
-ca-1850--200802A39
Pearson, David. 2013. “Bookbinding.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, 245–257. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reader, Ian. 1988. “Miniaturization and Proliferation: A Study of Small-Scale Pilgrimages in Japan.” Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 1: 55–66.
Rickard, Kathryn I. 1988. A Lady and Her Books: The Biography of Doris Varner Welsh. Montreal: du Parnasse.
Rivkin, Isaac. 1939. “A Pocket Edition Prayer Book for German Jewish Emigrants to America, 1842.” American Jewish Historical Society 35: 207–212.
Rizel, Shlomo. 2016. “From Auschwitz to Israel, the Saga of a Long-Lost Mini-Torah: How a Journalist Made a Priceless Personal Discovery.” Chabad.org News. January 11. http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/3193812/jewish/From-Auschwitz-to-Israel-the-Saga-of-a-Long-Lost-Mini-Torah.htm
Robson, Eleanor. 2009. “The Clay Tablet Book in Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia.” In A Companion to the History of the Book, edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose, 67–83. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Roemer, Cornelia. 2009. “The Papyrus Roll in Egypt, Greece, and Rome.” In A Companion to the History of the Book, edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose, 84–94. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sabar, Shalom. 2009. “Torah and Magic: The Torah Scroll and Its Appurtenances as Magical Objects in Traditional Jewish Culture.” European Journal of Jewish Studies 3(1): 135–170. https://doi.org/10.1163/102599909X12471170467448
Schleicher, Marianne. 2017. “Engaging All the Senses: On Multi-sensory Stimulation in the Process of Making and Inaugurating a Torah Scroll.” Postscripts 8(1/2): 39–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.32694
———. 2010. “Accounts of a Dying Scroll: On Jewish Handling of Sacred Texts in Need of Restoration or Disposal.” In The Death of Sacred Texts: Ritual Disposal and Renovation of Texts in World Religions, edited by Kristina Myrvold, 11–29. London: Ashgate.
———. 2009. “Artifactual and Hermeneutical Use of Scripture in Jewish Tradition.” In Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon, edited by Craig A. Evans and H. Daniel Zacharias, 48–65. London: T&T Clark.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1995. “Trading Places.” In Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, edited by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, 13–27. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004283817_003
Stewart, Susan. 1993. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Durham: Duke University Press.
Vera, Eugenia Roldán. 2013. “The History of the Book in Latin America (including Incas and Aztecs).” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S. J. and H. R. Woudhuysen, 656–670. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Welsh, Doris V. 1987. The History of Miniature Books. Albany: Fort Orange Press.
Wiseman, Donald J. 1955. “Assyrian Writing-Boards.” Iraq 17(1): 3–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/4241713
Woollaston, Victoria. 2013. “The World’s Oldest Jewish Prayer Book? Hebrew Text Predates Earliest Known Copy of the Torah by Four Centuries.” Mail Online. October 2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2441588/The-worlds-oldest-Jewish-prayer-book-Hebrew-text-predates-earliest-known-copy-Torah-CENTURIES.html
World of Judaica. 2017. “Sterling Silver 2 Gigabyte Disk on Key with Digital Book of Tehillim.” http://www.worldofjudaica.com/jewish-jewelry/necklaces-pendants/p_925_sterling_silver_8_gigabyte_disk_on_key_with_digital_book_of_tehillim
Yeshiva World. 2014. “World’s Smallest Torah Scroll Up for Auction.” https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/218946/worlds-smallest-torah-scroll-up-for-auction.html
Znidersic, Martin. 2004. “Small is Beautiful (But is It Useful?): Miniature Books through the Ages.” Logos 15(3): 144–146.
Anderson, Sean Eron and Marc Levoy. 2002. “Cuneiform Tablets.” IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 22(6): 82–88. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCG.2002.1046632
Ben-Amos, Dan (ed.). 2011. Folktales of the Jews – Volume 3: Tales from Arab Lands. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Bondy, Louis W. 1981. Miniature Books: Their History from the Beginnings to the Present Day. London: Sheppard.
British Library. n.d. “Golden Haggadah.” Online Gallery. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/golden.html
Bromer, Anne C. 1988. “Art for Miniature Art’s Sake.” Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 7: 88–95.
Coffey, Heather. 2009. “Between Amulet and Devotion: Islamic Miniature Books in the Lilly Library.” In The Islamic Manuscript Tradition, edited by Christiane Gruber, 78–115. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2005ssv.8
Dehouve, Danièle. 2016. “A Play on Dimensions: Miniaturization and Fractals in Mesoamerican Ritual.” Journal of Anthropological Research (Winter): 504–529.
eBay, 2017a. “1946 Djerba Tunisia MINIATURE SHABBAT PRAYER BOOK Antique/Judaica/Jewish/Hebrew.” http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1946-Djerba-Tunisia-MINIATURE-SHABBAT-PRAYER-BOOK-Antique-Judaica-Jewish-Hebrew-/390779900010?hash=item5afc4c106a:g:IIkAAOxydlFS~LSD
eBay, 2017b. “LOT IDF Judaica Tefillin Bag Antique Tfilin Teffilin JEWISH Phylacteries Rare.” http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LOT-IDF-Judaica-Tefillin-Bag-Antique-Tfilin-Teffilin-JEWISH-Phylacteries-Rare-/202015933502?hash=item2f0916843e:g:zz0AAOSwrqlZiDO6
eBay, 2017c. “Miniature Travelling Torah Scroll Parchment Wimpel Wooden Case Tik Balkan Ca1750.” http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-Travelling-Torah-Scroll-Parchment-Wimpel-Wooden-Case-Tik-Balkan-Ca1750-/371248960666
Edgren, James Sören. 2013. “The History of the Book in China.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S. J. and H. R. Woudhuysen, 573–592. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edison, Julian I. 1967. “World’s Oldest Printing on Paper.” Miniature Book News 8: 1–2.
Facsimile Editions, 2017. “Me’ah Berachot.” http://www.facsimile-editions.com/en/mb/
Feffer, Solomon. 1969. “Hebrew Miniature Books.” Jewish Book Annual 27: 35–41.
Ferber, Alona, 2014. “Defying Regulations, Women of the Wall Sneak Tiny Torah Scroll into the Kotel.” Hareetz. October 24. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.622560
Friedman, Jen Taylor. N.d. “Milestones.” www.hasoferet.com
Goldberg, Harvey E. 2013. “The Ethnographic Challenge of Masorti Religiosity Among Israeli Jews.” Ethnologie Française 43(4): 583–590. https://doi.org/10.3917/ethn.134.0583
Gores, Steven J. 1997. “The Miniature as Reduction and Talisman in Fielding’s Amelia.” Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 37(3): 573–593. https://doi.org/10.2307/451050
Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. 2006. “Armed Forces Operational Service and Prayer Book.” London: Ministry of Defense. http://health.nzdf.mil.nz/assets/Uploads/JSP587-BritishArmedForces-Prayer-Book.pdf
Hunter, Dard. 1943. Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft. New York: Dover.
The Israel Museum Jerusalem. 2017. “Miniature Passover Haggadah.” http://museum.imj.org.il/imagine/collections/item.asp?itemNum=354497
Kallendorf, Craig. 2013. “The Ancient Book.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, 39–53. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kedem Auction House. n.d.a. “Miniature Siddur—Amsterdam, 1739—Variant.” Books and Manuscripts. https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/miniature-siddur-amsterdam-1739-variant
———. n.d.b. “Avraham Haba—Passover Haggadah - Micrography on an Egg.” https://www.kedem-auctions.com/content/avraham-haba-passover-haggadah-micrography-egg
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. 1966. The Savage Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
MBS Presentations. n.d. Miniature Book Society. https://www.mbs.org
Morse-Harding, Chloe. 2015. “Miniature Books.” Brandeis Special Collections Spotlight. http://brandeisspecialcollections.blogspot.dk/2015/07/miniature-books.html
Moyer, Ian S. and Jacco Dieleman. 2003. “Miniaturization and the Opening of the Mouth in a Greek Magical Text (PGM XII.270-350).” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 3: 47–72. https://doi.org/10.1163/1569212031960320
Nongbri, Brent. 2005. “The Use and Abuse of P52: Papyrological Pitfalls in the Dating of the Fourth Gospel.” Harvard Theological Review 98(1): 23–48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816005000842
PBS. 2008. “Miniature Hebrew Bible, ca. 1850.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/13/dallas-tx/appraisals/miniature-hebrew-bible
-ca-1850--200802A39
Pearson, David. 2013. “Bookbinding.” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H.R. Woudhuysen, 245–257. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reader, Ian. 1988. “Miniaturization and Proliferation: A Study of Small-Scale Pilgrimages in Japan.” Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 1: 55–66.
Rickard, Kathryn I. 1988. A Lady and Her Books: The Biography of Doris Varner Welsh. Montreal: du Parnasse.
Rivkin, Isaac. 1939. “A Pocket Edition Prayer Book for German Jewish Emigrants to America, 1842.” American Jewish Historical Society 35: 207–212.
Rizel, Shlomo. 2016. “From Auschwitz to Israel, the Saga of a Long-Lost Mini-Torah: How a Journalist Made a Priceless Personal Discovery.” Chabad.org News. January 11. http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/3193812/jewish/From-Auschwitz-to-Israel-the-Saga-of-a-Long-Lost-Mini-Torah.htm
Robson, Eleanor. 2009. “The Clay Tablet Book in Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia.” In A Companion to the History of the Book, edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose, 67–83. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Roemer, Cornelia. 2009. “The Papyrus Roll in Egypt, Greece, and Rome.” In A Companion to the History of the Book, edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose, 84–94. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sabar, Shalom. 2009. “Torah and Magic: The Torah Scroll and Its Appurtenances as Magical Objects in Traditional Jewish Culture.” European Journal of Jewish Studies 3(1): 135–170. https://doi.org/10.1163/102599909X12471170467448
Schleicher, Marianne. 2017. “Engaging All the Senses: On Multi-sensory Stimulation in the Process of Making and Inaugurating a Torah Scroll.” Postscripts 8(1/2): 39–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.32694
———. 2010. “Accounts of a Dying Scroll: On Jewish Handling of Sacred Texts in Need of Restoration or Disposal.” In The Death of Sacred Texts: Ritual Disposal and Renovation of Texts in World Religions, edited by Kristina Myrvold, 11–29. London: Ashgate.
———. 2009. “Artifactual and Hermeneutical Use of Scripture in Jewish Tradition.” In Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon, edited by Craig A. Evans and H. Daniel Zacharias, 48–65. London: T&T Clark.
Smith, Jonathan Z. 1995. “Trading Places.” In Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, edited by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, 13–27. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004283817_003
Stewart, Susan. 1993. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Durham: Duke University Press.
Vera, Eugenia Roldán. 2013. “The History of the Book in Latin America (including Incas and Aztecs).” In The Book: A Global History, edited by Michael F. Suarez, S. J. and H. R. Woudhuysen, 656–670. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Welsh, Doris V. 1987. The History of Miniature Books. Albany: Fort Orange Press.
Wiseman, Donald J. 1955. “Assyrian Writing-Boards.” Iraq 17(1): 3–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/4241713
Woollaston, Victoria. 2013. “The World’s Oldest Jewish Prayer Book? Hebrew Text Predates Earliest Known Copy of the Torah by Four Centuries.” Mail Online. October 2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2441588/The-worlds-oldest-Jewish-prayer-book-Hebrew-text-predates-earliest-known-copy-Torah-CENTURIES.html
World of Judaica. 2017. “Sterling Silver 2 Gigabyte Disk on Key with Digital Book of Tehillim.” http://www.worldofjudaica.com/jewish-jewelry/necklaces-pendants/p_925_sterling_silver_8_gigabyte_disk_on_key_with_digital_book_of_tehillim
Yeshiva World. 2014. “World’s Smallest Torah Scroll Up for Auction.” https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/218946/worlds-smallest-torah-scroll-up-for-auction.html
Znidersic, Martin. 2004. “Small is Beautiful (But is It Useful?): Miniature Books through the Ages.” Logos 15(3): 144–146.
Published
2019-03-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Schleicher, M. (2019). On the Functions of Miniaturizing Books in Jewish Religion. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 9(2-3), 114-138. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.35820
