When Near Becomes Far

When Near Becomes Far explores the representations and depictions of old age in the rabbinic Jewish literature of late antiquity. Through close literary readings and cultural analysis, the book reveals the gaps and tensions between idealized images of old age on the one hand, and the psychologically, physiologically, and socially complicated realities of aging on the other hand. The authors argue that while rabbinic literature presents various statements on the qualities and activities that make for good old age, on the respect and reverence that the elderly should be awarded, and on harmonious intergenerational relationship, it also includes multiple anecdotes and narratives that portray aging in much more nuanced and poignant ways. These anecdotes andnarratives relate, alongside fantasies about blissful or unnoticeable aging, a host of fears associated with old age: from the loss of beauty and physical capability to the loss of memory and mental acuity, and from marginalization in the community to being experienced as a burden by one's own children. Each chapter of the book focuses on a different aspect of aging in the rabbinic world: bodily appearance and sexuality, family relations, intellectual and cognitive prowess, honour and shame, and social roles and identity. As the book shows, in their powerful and sensitive treatments of aging rabbinic texts offer some of the richest and most audacious observations on aging in ancient world literature, many of which still resonate today--