Gyulai Éva - Viga Gyula (szerk.): Történet - muzeológia : Tanulmányok a múzeumi tudományok köréből a 60 éves Veres László tiszteletére (Miskolc, 2010)

ÜVEGMŰVESSÉG - ÜVEGTÖRTÉNET - Vincze Kata Zsófia: Káshrut és üvegfal?

loopholes do glass vessels provide in terms of interaction between Jews and Gentiles and of Jewish identity? What is the all-persuasive rationale behind rigorously observing the strict dietary laws in current ritual practice? Why has the observation of kashrut becoming increasingly important for the rabbinate, the rabbinical courts, the organisations promoting the keeping of Jewish identity and, not least, for the third and fourth generation after the Shoah? Why are stricter laws enforced by European, Ashkenazi rabbinical laws regarding the kashering of glass, especially the glass vessels of Gentiles, while the decisions brought by Sephardic rabbis are far more lenient concerning the glass vessels of Gentiles? What is the social significance of glass vessels in this respect? The study demonstrates that the laws of kashrut provide an answer to the social significance of defining the boundary, the "separation" between Jewish and non-Jewish, of kashrut as a Jewish trait and of travf as a Gentile trait, as well as for the immense ritual efforts with which Jewish tradition protects its integrity, its distinctiveness and - hardly an understatement - its essentialism. The hedge erected around essent\a\ist kashrut-while seemingly politically incorrect-was designed to protect the collective ethnic and national identity by preventing exogamous marriages and by demanding a continuous reflection on one's Jewish identity, a constant effort, and a reminder of the dissimilarity from other peoples. The more innocent and diverse the forms of acculturation in the currents of modernisation, the stronger (and, for the unbiased onlooker, intolerant) the efforts to clearly draw the boundaries - an activity performed with a far from liberal, egalitarian or PC attitude. The newer rabbinical decisions - often unconsciously - place ever newer obstacles and raise physical and - I would even say - political walls around observant Jews. Kata Zsófia Vincze 105