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Jewish Community and Identity in the Early Modern Period

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EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Table of Contents Technology, Preservation, and Freedom of Expression · Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA A ruling against rabbis who have sought to delay the printing of the Zohar Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona The "imprimatur" by Isaac de Lattes A publisher in service of his readers: prefaces to Amsterdam 1711 edition of the Tsene Rene · Shlomo Berger, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tsene Rene Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov · Moshe Rosman, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov: Likutei Amarim Leon Modena's Ari Nohem Between Print and Manuscript · Yaacob Dweck, Princeton University, USA The Roaring Lion The Paratexts of Judah Marcaria: Addressing the (Imagined) Reader in Mid-Sixteenth-Century Italy · Adam Shear, University of Pittsburgh, USA Abraham Klausner, Minhagim Levi ben Gershon (Gersonides) The Book of Rabbi Mordecai 1 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 Putting Hebrew Books in Order · Avriel Bar-Levav, The Open University of Israel, Israel The lips of those who are asleep Jews under Surveillance: Censorship and Reading in Early Modern Italy · Federica Francesconi, University of California-Los Angeles, US 1. Rules for the expurgation of the Hebrew Books 2. Report regarding Hebrew Books sent by the Reverend Father Inquisitor 3. Commentary by R. Salomon [Rashi] on the laws 4. Testimony by Aaron Berechia da Modena The Power of Texts in the Conversion of an Old Christian Hebraist · Miriam Bodian, University of Texas at Austin, USA Inquisition file of Lope de Vera y Alarcón From Apologetics to Polemics · Adam Sutcliffe, King's College London, UK Divine Warnings against the Vain Idolatry of the Gentiles Israel Avenged Early modern Yiddish readers · Ruth von Bernuth, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US Wonderful, adventuresome and highly comical stories and deeds of the world-famous people of Schildburg in Mesopotamia beyond Utopia Wonderful, strange, entertaining and amusing stories and deeds of the world-famous people of Schildburg Wonderful, strange, entertaining and highly comical stories and deeds of the world- famous people of Schildburg Sefer Or le-Et Erev: a history of a misunderstanding · Pawel Maciejko, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Light for the Evening 2 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 The Hebrew library of a Renaissance humanist. · Theodor Dunkelgrün, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, U.S.A. Here follow the names of the Hebrew authors and books which Andreas Masius used in writing these commentaries Broadsheet of Koheles Shlomo · Shalhevet Dotan-Ofir, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Merciful and benevolent children of Israel Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 3 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Video Listing You willl need the free Quicktime player or browser plugin to view these videos. Ann Blair Welcome Address and Opening Remarks Harvard University, USA Duration: 1:12:16 Avriel Bar-Levav The Open University of Israel, Israel Duration: 1:06:52 This video is for the following text(s): The lips of those who are asleep Shlomo Berger University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Duration: 1:00:04 This video is for the following text(s): Tsene Rene Miriam Bodian University of Texas at Austin, USA Duration: 52:38 This video is for the following text(s): Inquisition file of Lope de Vera y Alarcón Bernard Cooperman University of Maryland, USA Duration: 58:43 4 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 This video is for the following text(s): A ruling against rabbis who have sought to delay the printing of the Zohar Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona The "imprimatur" by Isaac de Lattes Yaacob Dweck Princeton University, USA Duration: 56:28 This video is for the following text(s): The Roaring Lion Federica Francesconi University of California-Los Angeles, US Duration: 1:04:20 This video is for the following text(s): 1. Rules for the expurgation of the Hebrew Books 2. Report regarding Hebrew Books sent by the Reverend Father Inquisitor 3. Commentary by R. Salomon [Rashi] on the laws 4. Testimony by Aaron Berechia da Modena Pawel Maciejko The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Duration: 1:00:03 This video is for the following text(s): Light for the Evening Moshe Rosman Bar-Ilan University, Israel Duration: 57:20 This video is for the following text(s): Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov: Likutei Amarim Adam Shear University of Pittsburgh, USA Duration: 59:39 This video is for the following text(s): Abraham Klausner, Minhagim 5 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 Levi ben Gershon (Gersonides) The Book of Rabbi Mordecai Adam Sutcliffe King's College London, UK Duration: 1:01:57 This video is for the following text(s): Divine Warnings against the Vain Idolatry of the Gentiles Israel Avenged Ruth von Bernuth University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US Duration: 56:47 This video is for the following text(s): Wonderful, adventuresome and highly comical stories and deeds of the world-famous people of Schildburg in Mesopotamia beyond Utopia Wonderful, strange, entertaining and amusing stories and deeds of the world-famous people of Schildburg Wonderful, strange, entertaining and highly comical stories and deeds of the world-famous people of Schildburg Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 6 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Technology, Preservation, and Freedom of Expression Isaac de Latters as Printer in Sixteenth-Century Italy Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA ABSTRACT: The presentation discusses broader questions of the relationship between technology and freedom of expression in sixteenth-century Italy. It takes into account the Counter-Reformation context and its impact on Jewish printing and culture. This presentation is for the following text(s): A ruling against rabbis who have sought to delay the printing of the Zohar Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona The "imprimatur" by Isaac de Lattes Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 7 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona שאלות ותשובות רבנו נסים 1546 Translated by Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA I saw the responsa of the great sage, Rabbenu Nissim , so satisfying to the soul of the inquirer and so enlightening to the simpleton, waving from the dust where they had been thrown. [Now] they are lifted up to the highest heavens through this print technology. At this the spirit of the Lord, my banner, moves me to raise my voice powerfully and to tell the people how great are the accomplishments of Nissim who dwells on high, elevated by his broad knowledge. I cannot accomplish it; my tongue grows weary at extolling it. Silence is fitting praise. The walls of his study house demonstrate his insights, and the force of his strength and his other strong deeds bear witness and relate his goodness and beauty. Still I thought that I would sing a friendly song to arouse the hearts of those who come to buy, thus to credit the printers who were generously moved to publish secret wisdom. Those who inscribe with a pen of steel and lead laid out lodes of gold to correct and straighten the crooked. May their strength be directed for they have enlarged and strengthened the Torah. May God grant them the privilege (as they have privileged the community) to produce unlimited numbers of books . Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 8 EMW -Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA שאלות ותשובות רבנו נסים Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona 1546 Prepared by Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA רוח הש[ם] נסי נוססה1 בי אשר ראיתי תשובות הגאון רבנו נסים משיבות נפש השואל מחכימות פתי מתנוססות מן העפר אשר הושלכו שם מתנשאות עד שמי מרומים במעשה הדפוס הזה להרים בכח קולי להשמיע לעם כמה גדולים מעשי נסים אשר מרומים ישכון בדעתו הרחבה נשגבה לא אוכל לה תלאה לשוני לגדלה כי לו דומיה תהלה וכותלי בית מדרשו יוכיחו בחדושיו ושאר תקפו ויתר גבורותיו יעידון יגידון מה טובו ומה יפיו. אך אמרתי אשירה נא שירת דודים להעיר לב הבאים לקנות לזכות למדפיסים אשר נדבה רוחם להוציא לאור תעלומות חכמה. ירדו מחוקקים בעט ברזל ועופרת ועפרות זהב הוציאו להגיה ולשים העקוב למישור. יישר כחם שהגדילו והאדירו התורה. השם יזכם כאשר זִכּו הרבים לעשות ספרים הרבה אין קץ עד עת קץ הפלאות יתבררו ותלבנו הדברי' הסתומים החתומים אמן.... Publisher: Rome 1 Isaiah 59: 19, and cf. Exod. 17:15. The entire sentence provides an elaborate play on the name of the volume's author, Nissim of Gherona. Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 9 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA A ruling against rabbis who have sought to delay the printing of the Zohar Isaac de Lattes, 1558 Translated by Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA Document 3.
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    The Humanity of the Talmud: Reading for Ethics in Bavli ʿAvoda Zara By Mira Beth Wasserman A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Daniel Boyarin, chair Professor Chana Kronfeld Professor Naomi Seidman Professor Kenneth Bamberger Spring 2014 Abstract The Humanity of the Talmud: Reading for Ethics in Bavli ʿAvoda Zara by Mira Beth Wasserman Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, chair In this dissertation, I argue that there is an ethical dimension to the Babylonian Talmud, and that literary analysis is the approach best suited to uncover it. Paying special attention to the discursive forms of the Talmud, I show how juxtapositions of narrative and legal dialectics cooperate in generating the Talmud's distinctive ethics, which I characterize as an attentiveness to the “exceptional particulars” of life. To demonstrate the features and rewards of a literary approach, I offer a sustained reading of a single tractate from the Babylonian Talmud, ʿAvoda Zara (AZ). AZ and other talmudic discussions about non-Jews offer a rich resource for considerations of ethics because they are centrally concerned with constituting social relationships and with examining aspects of human experience that exceed the domain of Jewish law. AZ investigates what distinguishes Jews from non-Jews, what Jews and non- Jews share in common, and what it means to be a human being. I read AZ as a cohesive literary work unified by the overarching project of examining the place of humanity in the cosmos.
  • Chapter Fourteen Rabbinic and Other Judaisms, from 70 to Ca

    Chapter Fourteen Rabbinic and Other Judaisms, from 70 to Ca

    Chapter Fourteen Rabbinic and Other Judaisms, from 70 to ca. 250 The war of 66-70 was as much a turning point for Judaism as it was for Christianity. In the aftermath of the war and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple Judaeans went in several religious directions. In the long run, the most significant by far was the movement toward rabbinic Judaism, on which the source-material is vast but narrow and of dubious reliability. Other than the Mishnah, Tosefta and three midrashim, almost all rabbinic sources were written no earlier than the fifth century (and many of them much later), long after the events discussed in this chapter. Our information on non-rabbinic Judaism in the centuries immediately following the destruction of the temple is scanty: here we must depend especially on archaeology, because textual traditions are almost totally lacking. This is especially regrettable when we recognize that two non-rabbinic traditions of Judaism were very widespread at the time. Through at least the fourth century the Hellenistic Diaspora and the non-rabbinic Aramaic Diaspora each seem to have included several million Judaeans. Also of interest, although they were a tiny community, are Jewish Gnostics of the late first and second centuries. The end of the Jerusalem temple meant also the end of the Sadducees, for whom the worship of Adonai had been limited to sacrifices at the temple. The great crowds of pilgrims who traditionally came to the city for the feasts of Passover, Weeks and Tabernacles were no longer to be seen, and the temple tax from the Diaspora that had previously poured into Jerusalem was now diverted to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome.