Madmen, Possessed Women, and Town Fools: Mentally Ill People in Jewish Eastern Europe / Prof. Natan M. Meir,
ההמרכז ללימודי מוגבלות, האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים
East European Jewry was no more or less neurodiverse than any other human community. Then why did so many people in the early twentieth century—both Jews and non-Jews—take it for granted that Jews were more prone to madness and neurosis than their neighbors? And what was traditional Jewish society’s understanding of mental illness and cognitive disorders? We will examine a variety of historical sources in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the role of mentally ill people in Jewish society in pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe.