ABSTRACT
Jewish attitudes toward the human body differed significantly from Christian attitudes in late antiquity. In contrast to the Christian emphasis on the soul and its survival after death, rabbis insisted that body and soul constituted an inseparable unity. Rather than expecting salvation through belief and spirituality, one’s bodily practices in the material and social world of daily life reflected one’s relationship with God. The great significance of the body and procreation made rabbis devise complex rules to govern sexuality and ritual purity. For males, circumcision was the foremost physical marker of Jewishness. The preservation of a healthy body became a religious value and ethical questions concerning abortion and euthanasia were subjects of halakhic discussions.
