The Hebrew-Aramaic term Ḥevrah Kaddisha literally means “sacred brotherhood” or also “sacred society”; it originally denoted an exclusive group of men within the community to whom care for the sick and the burial of the dead was reserved. “Sacred societies” first appeared among Sephardic Jews in the Middle Ages, and spread throughout Europe at the beginning of the early modern period. Conceptions of the …
Ḥevrah Kaddisha(3,324 words)
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Goldberg, Sylvie Anne, “Ḥevrah Kaddisha”, in: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online, Original German Language Edition: Enzyklopädie Jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur. Im Auftrag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig herausgegeben von Dan Diner. © J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart/Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland 2011–2017. Consulted online on 03 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-8894_ejhc_COM_0310>
First published online: 2017
First print edition: 20200106
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