ABSTRACT
Central to early modern Jewish religious life were core beliefs and practices derived from biblical and rabbinic texts, medieval case law, and local conditions and customs. Religious and communal customs shaped communal identity and provided cohesion across time, and both continuity and distinction across geography. Customs could be related to various aspects of religious praxis as well as to key communal events. Jewish practices could be shaped and inflected by those of non-Jewish society. Certain amulets and incantations, for example, borrowed from non-Jewish practices. At other times, standard Jewish practices might be curtailed for fear of negative reaction from or the disapproval of non-Jews. The level and focus of Jewish education depended on social level and gender. Increasingly in the early modern period, larger communities established centralized educational boards and schools, with set curricula and paid teachers. Sabbath observance was extremely important in early modern Judaism and accusations of Sabbath desecration are rarely recorded in rabbinic responsa or communal ledgers.
