Red Threads, Amulets, and Chewing Buttons: Are Modern Jewish Women Practicing Magic?
Professor Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, from the London School of Jewish Studies, on recent research into Jewish women in London — and on the question of whether the practices and customs she encountered can be described as magic.
Professor Taylor-Guthartz presents her recent research on Jewish women in London, and on how it reveals a wide array of practices and customs that are still being used to protect babies, remove the evil eye, and keep the angel of death far away. Can these activities be described as magical? She investigates Jewish and anthropological definitions of magic and sees whether they match in order to come to a verdict.
About the speaker
Professor Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz comes to Vassar from the London School of Jewish Studies.
This event was sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, and was open free to the public.