Perfecting Community as "One Man": Moses Ḥayim Luzzatto's Pietistic Confraternity in Eighteenth-Century Padua.

Scholars have generally depicted kabbalists within an air of exclusivity. During the second quarter of the eighteenth century, however, a handful of Jewish mystics in Padua, led by Moses HayimLuzzatto, opened their secret society to others interested but not adept in Kabbalah in an attempt to establish a "perfected community" and attain the long-awaited messianic redemption. This article explores the social factors and intentions that drove the group's activity, specifically how Luzzatto's thoughts of the unity of creation played out in life and community.

Joint effects of advancing age and number of potentially inappropriate medication classes on risk of falls in Medicare enrollees.

Background: Injurious falls among older adults are both common and costly. The prevalence of falls is known to increase with age and with use of fall-risk drugs/potentially inappropriate medications (FRD/PIM). Little is known about the joint effects of these two risk factors.