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Notes Introduction 1. See A. Mittelman, The Politics of Torah (New York: SUNY, 1996), pp. 69 ff.; also the sixteenth-century legal code Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat, Laws of Judges, 2:1. 2. See M. Elon, ‘Le-Mehutan shel Takkanot Ha-Kahal Ba-Mishpat Ha-Ivri’, in S. Tedeschi (ed.), Mehkarei Mishpat le-Zekher A. Rosenthal (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1964), pp. 1–54. 3. See B. J. Bamberger, ‘Individual Rights and the Demands of the State: The posi- tion of Classical Judaism’, Central Conference of American Rabbis, vol. 44 (1944), pp. 197–211. 4. L. Strauss, What is Political Philosophy? (Westport, 1973), p. 84. 5. See R. Judah Loewe b. Bezalel, Netivot Olam ii, repr. (London: Honig, 1961), pp. 38, 81; also the material quoted in B. L. Sherwin, Mystical Theology and Social Dissent (London: Associated University Presses, 1982), p. 165. 6. Joseph Dan, Jewish Studies in a New Europe, Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of the European Association for Jewish Studies, Copenhagen (1998), p. xxx; see also R. Loewe, The Position of Women in Judaism (London: SPCK, 1966), pp. 51–2; and Mittelman, Politics of Torah, pp. 76–7. 7. For sources of these and similar statements, see S. W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, XII (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), pp. 198–9; R. Israel Isserlein, Trumat Ha-Deshen, repr. (Bnei Brak, 5731 [1971]), No. 342. 8. R. Isaiah Horovitz, Shnei Luhot Ha-Brit (end commentary on pericope Va-Yishlach [Gen. 32:4–36:43]), repr. (Jerusalem, 1963), Bk II, Pt 3. 9. B. Ravid, Economics and Toleration in 17th-Century Venice (Jerusalem: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1978), p. 98. 10. D. Kaufmann, ‘Rabbi Zevi Ashkenazi and his Family in London’, TJHSE, III (1899) pp. 102–25, here pp. 102–3. 11. For the standard work on this subject see Samuel Shiloh, Dina de-malkhuta Dina (Jerusalem: Academic Press, 1974); see also N. Rakover, Shilton Ha-Hok be-Yisrael (Jerusalem: Sifriyat Ha-Mishpat Ha-Ivri, 1989), pp. 65ff.; and G. Blidstein, A Note on the Function of the ‘Law of the Kingdom Is Law’ (Jerusalem: Centre for Jewish Community Studies, n.d). 12. D. Carpi (ed.), Pinkas Va’ad Padua 1577–1603 (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences, 1973), No. 436; I. Halperin (ed.) and I. Bartal (rev.), Pinkas Va’ad Arba Aratzot (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1945); No. 297; Dov Avron (ed.), Pinkas Ha-Ksherim shel Kehillat Pozna (Jerusalem, 1961), pp. 132, 136; S. Schwarzfuchs (ed.), Le Registre des Délibérations de la Nation Juive Portugaise de Bordeaux 1711–1787 (Paris: Fundacao Gulbenkian, 1981), No. 74, para. 2 (hereafter Registre, with the relevant document or page number); see also E. Carlebach, ‘Attribution of Secrecy and Perceptions of Jewry’, JSS, II (1996), pp. 115–136. 13. Quoted Sylvie-Anne Goldberg, ‘Temporality as Paradox: The Jewish Time’, Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies, pp. 284–92; see also R. Bonfil, Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy (Stanford: California University Press, 1994), p. 225. 309 310 Notes 14. D. Krochmalnik, ‘Das Neue Weltbild in jüdischen Kontexten’, in M. Graetz (ed.), Schöpferische Momente des europäischen Judentums (Heidelberg: Winter, 2000), pp. 249–70. 15. R. Moses di Trani, She’elot u-Tshuvot (Venice, 1629), No. 307. 16. R. Judah Loewe b. Bezalel, Derekh Hayyim, repr. (London: Honig, 1961), ch. 6, p. 305; see also Jacob Katz, ‘Between 1096 and 1648–49’, in S. Ettinger (ed.), Sepher Yovel le-Yitzhak Baer (Jerusalem: Israel Historical Society, 1960), pp. 318–37, esp. pp. 328–9. 17. Quoted E. Fram, Ideals Face Reality (Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 1997), p. 32. 18. See B. Ravid, ‘The First Charter of the Jewish Merchants of Venice, 1589’, AJS Review, 1 (1976), pp. 187–222. 19. For an analysis of La Livornina, see Lionel Lévy, La Nation Juive Portugaise (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1999), pp. 25ff.; Deborah Hacohen, ‘Ha-Kehillah be-Livorno u-Mosdotehah’, in R. Bonfil (ed.), In Memoria di Umberto Nahon (Jerusalem: Fondazione Sally Meyer, 1978), pp. 107–27. 20. E. Mayer, Die Frankfurter Juden (Frankfurt am Main: Kramer Verlag, 1966), p. 19. For a similar demographic pattern but with different estimates, see M. Awerbuch, ‘Alltagsleben in der Frankfurter Judengasse’, in K. Grözinger (ed.), Jüdische Kultur in Frankfurt am Main, (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1997), pp. 1–24, esp. p. 2. 1 Central Europe in Peace and War, 1600–48 1. J. F. Battenberg, ‘The Jewish Population in the Holy Roman Empire’, WCJS, XI, Div. B, iii (Jerusalem, 1994), pp. 61–8. 2. Idem, ‘Des Kaisers Kammerknechte’, HZ, 245 (1987), pp. 545–9, esp. p. 584 ff. 3. G. Veltri, ‘Ohne Recht und Gerechtigkeit – Kaiser Rudolf II und sein Bankier Markus Meyzel’, in G. Veltri and A. Winkelmann (eds), An der Schwelle zur Moderne (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 233–55; see also Fugger Newsletter, 5 April 1601, in J. R. Marcus (ed.),The Jew in the Medieval World, A Source Book (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), nos. 325–6; G. Bondy and F. Dworsky (eds), Zur Geschichte der Juden in Böhmen, Mähren and Schlesien von 906 bis 1620 (Prague, 1906), nos. 968, 971–3. 4. Daniel Cohen, ‘Die Entwicklung der Landesrabbinate in den deutschen Territorien bis zur Emanzipation’, in A. Haverkamp (ed.), Zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1981), pp. 221–42, here pp. 235–6; see also R. Juspa Shamash, Minhagim de-Warmeisa, ed. Eric Zimmer, 2 vols, repr. (Jerusalem:Makhon Yerushalayim, 1992), no. 293. 5. Rabbi M. Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen (with additions by R. Josef Unna), repr. (Jerusalem, 1969), pp. 40 ff.; I. Kracauer, Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt am Main 1150–1824, 2 vols (Frankfurt am Main: Kauffmann, 1925–27), I, pp. 337 ff. 6. The issues are examined in V. Press, ‘Kaiser Rudolf II und der Zusammenschluss der deutschen Judenheit’, in Haverkamp (ed), Geschichte der Juden, pp. 243–93; and in A. Herzig, ‘Die Jüdischheit teutscher Nation’, Aschkenas, III (1994), pp. 127–32; see also Cohen, ‘Die Entwicklung der Landesrabbinate’, p. 224. 7. Joseph Hahn, Yosef Ometz (Frankfurt am Main, 1723), p. 170b. 8. I. Kracauer, Die Geschichte der Judengasse in Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt am Main: Kauffmann, 1906), p. 320. 9. H. Turniansky, ‘The Events in Frankfurt am Main (1612–1616) in Megillas Vints’, in M. Graetz (ed.), Schöpferische Momente des Europäischen Judentums (Heidelberg: Winter, 2000), pp. 221–37); S. Eidelberg (ed.), R. Juspa, Shammash of Warmaisa Notes 311 [Worms] (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991), Engl. Sec., pp. 71–5 (Heb. Sec., pp. 71–4); G. Wolf, Zur Geschichte der Juden in Worms (Breslau: Schletterscher, 1862), pp. 16 ff. 10. Kracauer, Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt, I, p. 397. 11. Press, ‘Kaiser Rudolf’, pp. 283 ff.; C. R. Friedrichs, ‘Jews in Imperial Cities’, in R. Po-Chia Hsia and H. Lehmann (eds), In and Out of the Ghetto (Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 275–88. Friedrichs also writes (‘Anti-Jewish Policies in Early Modern Germany and the Uprising in Worms 1613–1617’, Central European History, xxiii (1990), pp. 91–152): ‘In the short term the Jews could never resist the acts of violence visited upon them in Worms and elsewhere. But they were just as capable as their Christian enemies of trying to use the institutions of the Holy Roman Empire to their advantage. Above all, they were able to secure the support of the Emperor himself with results that were eventually to their benefit.’ 12. L. Rosenthal, Zur Geschichte der Juden im Gebiet der ehemaligen Grafschaft Hanau (Hanau: Hanauischer Geschichtsverein, 1963), pp. 50–2; G. Marwedel, Die Privilegien der Juden in Altona (Hamburg: Christians, 1976) pp. 119/120; G. Wolf, Geschichte der Juden in Wien (Vienna: Hölder, 1876) pp. 260–1; W. Laubenthal, Die Synagogengemeinden des Kreises Merzig (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücken Druckerei, 1984), pp. 27–9. 13. Battenberg, ‘Jewish Population’, p. 61. 14. R. Dunn, The Age of Religious Wars, 1559–1689 (London: Weidenfeld, 1970), p. 111. 15. See H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, x (Leipzig: Leiner, 1868), ch. 2; J. Israel, ‘Central European Jewry during the Thirty Years’ War’, Central European History, XVI (1983), pp. 3–30; W. McCagg, A History of Habsburg Jews (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989), p. 15; Eidelberg, R. Juspa, Heb. Sec., pp. 91–2. 16. Kracauer, Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt, II, p. 29; E. Zimmer (ed.), Minhagim de K. K. Wermaisa, 2 vols (Jerusalem: Makhon Jerusalem, 1992), II, nos. 264–5; R. Joel Sirkes, Tshuvot Ha-Bakh Ha-Yeshanot (Frankfurt am Main, 1697), No. 103. 17. R. Juspa Hahn, Yosef Ometz, p. 166b. 18. Kracauer, Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt, II, pp. 32–5. 19. See his responsa, Havot Ya’ir, repr. (Jerusalem, 1987), no. 60. 20. A. Kober, ‘Die deutschen Kaiser und die Wormser Juden’, in Ernst Roth (ed.), Die alte Synagoge zu Worms (Frankfurt am Main: Ner Tamid, 1961), pp. 189 ff.; G. Wolf, Geschichte der Juden in Worms, Beilage XXV. 21. A. Landau and B. Wachstein (eds), Jüdische Privatbriefe aus dem Jahre 1619 (Vienna: Braumüller, 1911). Some of the letters are available in an English translation in F. Kobler (ed.), Letters of Jews through the Ages, 2 vols (London: East and West Library, 1953), pp. 449–79. 22. See M. Popper, ‘Les Juifs de Prague Pendant la Guerre de Trente Ans’, REJ, nos. 29–30 (1894–5), pp. 127–41; G. Klemperer, ‘The Rabbis of Prague’, HJ, XII (1950), pp. 33–66, esp. p. 65. 23. K. Spiegel, ‘Die Prager Juden zur Zeit des dreissigjährigen Krieges’, in S. Steinherz (ed.), Die Juden in Prag (Prague: Bnai Brith, 1927), pp. 107–86, esp. pp. 138–43; H. Schnee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat, III (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1955), pp.
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  • Literacy in Medieval Jewish Culture1

    Literacy in Medieval Jewish Culture1

    Portrayals of Women with Books: Female (Il)literacy in Medieval Jewish Culture1 Katrin Kogman-Appel Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva The thirteenth century saw a new type of Hebrew book, the Passover haggadah (pl. haggadot). Bound together with the general prayer book in the earlier Middle Ages, the haggadah emerged as a separate, independent volume around that time.2 Once the haggadah was born as an individual book, a considerable number of illustrated specimens were created, of which several have come down to us. Dated to the period from approximately 1280 to 1500, these books were produced in various regions of the Iberian peninsula and southern France (Sepharad), the German lands (Ashkenaz), France, and northern Italy. Almost none of these manuscripts contain a colophon, and in most cases it is not known who commissioned them. No illustrated haggadah from the Islamic realm exists, since there the decoration of books normally followed the norms of Islamic culture, where sacred books received only ornamental embellishments. The haggadah is usually a small, thin, handy volume and contains the liturgical text to be recited during the seder, the privately held family ceremony taking place at the eve of Passover. The central theme of the holiday is the retelling of the story of Israel’s departure from Egypt; the precept is to teach it to one’s offspring.3 The haggadah contains the text to fulfill this precept. Hence this is not simply a collection of prayers to accompany a ritual meal; rather, using the 1 book and reading its entire text is the essence of the Passover holiday.
  • Sammelrezension

    Sammelrezension

    SAMMELREZENSION Mirjam Thulin Doppelrezension: Die Frankfurter Judengasse von innen und außen. Neuerscheinungen zur Geschichte der Juden in Frankfurt in der Frühen Neuzeit Verena Kasper-Marienberg: „vor Euer Kayserlichen Mayestät Justiz-Thron“. Die Frankfurter jüdische Gemeinde am Reichshofrat in josephinischer Zeit (1765-1790) (= Schriften des Centrums für Jüdische Studien, Bd. 19), Innsbruck u. a.: StudienVerlag 2012, 504 S., ISBN: 978-3-7065-4974-5, EUR 49,90. Edward Fram: A Window on Their World. The Court Diaries of Rabbi Hayyim Gundersheim. Frankfurt am Main, 1773-1794, Cincinnati: HUC Press 2012, 660 S., ISBN: 978-0-87820-253-9, USD 65,00. Im frühneuzeitlichen Europa war Frankfurt am Main als Wahl- und Krönungsstadt der deutschen Könige und Kaiser und als bedeutender Handels- und Messeort weithin bekannt. Während der Messen und Kaiserwahlen wurde das Städtchen ein internationales Zentrum für den Geld- und Warenverkehr sowie den Informationsaustausch. Auch jüdische Händler waren regelmäßige Messebesucher und bis zum Beginn des 17. Jahrhundert lebten einige jüdische Familien in der Stadt. Schließlich, nach Erlass der „Stättigkeit“ im Jahr 1616, welche nach blutigen Ausschreitungen gegen die Juden das Alltagsleben der Stadtbewohner fortan vergleichsweise zuverlässig regelte, wurde Frankfurt zu einem Zentrum des aschkenasischen Judentums. Wie alle jüdischen Gemeinden in dieser Zeit, verwaltete sich auch die Frankfurter Gemeinde weitgehend selbst. Die von Kaiser und Reich gewährte Autonomie erlaubte es den ansässigen Juden, das Zusammenleben nach den eigenen Rechtsvorstellungen zu regeln. Das städtische Ghetto, die Frankfurter Judengasse, hatte nicht nur ein Lehrhaus (Klaus), sondern ebenso ein einflussreiches Rabbiner- gericht (Beit Din), das über die Grenzen der Stadt hinaus bekannt war. Dieses Rabbinatsgericht entschied über die Streitigkeiten in der Frankfurter Judengasse.