The Shabbat Elevator and other Sabbath Subterfuges: An Unorthodox Essay on Circumventing Custom and Jewish Character

(Paperback)

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This book focuses on the topic of circumventing custom with special emphasis on the ingenious ways Orthodox (and other) Jews have devised to avoid breaking the extensive list of activities forbidden on the Sabbath. After examining the sources of Sabbath observance as set forth in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and rabbinical writings, some of the most salient forms of circumvention are described. Then drawing on Freud's insights as to the obsessive nature of religious ritual and his persuasive delineation of anal erotic character, an attempt is made to analyze such facets of Jewish character (in addition to circumvention) as an undue concern with purity, and a long-established tradition of indulging in nit-picking and argumentation.

Reviews

This is a creative, lively, rich, and entirely novel theoretical approach to a vexing topic. The book is truly unique in Jewish and Biblical studiesa real tour de force. It is full of wonderful parallels and interpretations, and excellent creative integration of jokes into religious matters. -- Eric Silverman, professor of anthropology, DePauw University
Dundes' greatest strength as a scholar is his vast erudition. The Shabbat Elevator is a remarkable book-length essay on Sabbath subterfuges. * Western Folklore *
In [Dundes's] latest book, The Shabbat Elevator, there is much material to recommend. . . . Although the research is book-based, rather than ethnographic, it reveals a depth of scholarship that is accessible, yet scholarly and discursive. * Journal of American Folklore *
To the voluminous literature on Jewish resourcefulness and Sabbath observance Professor Dundes has added a most engrossing discussion of the 'Sabbath subterfuge' the ways traditionalist Jews legitimate their sidestepping of burdensome Sabbath restrictions in the modern world. The author's psychoanalytic and folkloristic background makes for a refreshingly humanistic perspective. -- Stanley F. Chyet, professor of history, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, and secretary to the Board of Trustees, Sk

Author Bio

Alan Dundes, professor of anthropology, and a leading authority in the study of folklore, at the University of California, is the author or editor of more than thirty books including Two Tales of Crow and Sparrow: A Freudian Folkloristic Essay on Caste and Untouchability, Holy Writ as Oral Lit: The Bible as Folklore, and International Folkloristics.