In this volume of the Erfurter Schriften zur jüdischen Geschichte the ensemble of medieval
material evidence in Erfurt with its unique representation of Jewish culture in Central Europe
is placed in the local and contemporary historical context of ritual objects and ritual events
- for the first time accompanied by insights into the hitherto rather undiscovered Rudolstadt
Judaica collection. This is an exciting and sensually fascinating process that opens up
something new. It gains in multidimensionality through an explicitly interdisciplinary
perspective. It is the attempt to see anew beginning with the ritual object rather than the
ritual itself. Taking up the concept of a »new materialism« in the social and historical
sciences the particular ritual object is perceived not beginning with the idea of it but as
reality. The ritual objects discussed here address the sensually concrete existence of things
in the context of their pragmatic use: the Erfurt wedding ring Hebrew gravestones Torah
scrolls a tuning key belts candleholders a prayer tablet a mizrach. They all have a high
symbolic value and at the same time a unique aesthetic appeal. Nevertheless the coexistence of
objects is linked to their embedding in writing tradition and contextualization. By
emphasizing in particular the Jewish ritual object in its use the present volume celebrates
the cultural richness and identity of the Jewish communities past and present.
