UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO The Formation of Ottoman Sephardic Communal Identity in the Levirate Marriage Discourse A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Binyamin Cohen Committee in Charge: John A. Marino, Co-Chair David Goodblatt, Co-Chair Jeffrey Howard Chajes Jack Greenstein Deborah Hertz Lisa Lampert-Weissig 2014 Copyright Binyamin Cohen, 2014 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Binyamin Cohen is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication in microfilm and electronically: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Co-Chair ________________________________________________________________________ Co-Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii Table of Contents Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments................................................................................................................v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Abstract of the Dissertation ............................................................................................... ix Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Part I: Historiography and Methodology ...........................................................................13 Chapter 1 Iberian Jewry to the Expulsion of 1492 and Its Aftermath ........................ 13 Chapter 2 Belief in Hybrid Offspring (Products of Demonic Copulation) ............57 Chapter 3 Historiography, Methodology, and Chronological Boundaries ............88 Part II: Ottoman Sephardic Logic of Levirate Marriage ..................................................145 Chapter 4 Biblical and Rabbinic Interpretations of Levirate Marriage ...............145 Chapter 5 The Logic of Yibbum (Levirate Marriage) ..........................................179 Chapter 6 The Logic of Halitsa (Levirate Divorce) ............................................199 Chapter 7 The Logic of Levirate Marriage: Alternate Explanations ...................233 Chapter 8 The Originality of the Ottoman Sephardic Yibbum Discourse ...........270 Part III: 1492 and Its Aftermath: The Social Context ......................................................321 Chapter 9 From Iberia to the Ottoman Empire ....................................................321 Chapter 10 The Diasporic Predicament: In the Ottoman Empire ........................355 Chapter 11 The End of a Formative Period: A New Social Context ...................388 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................432 Appendices .......................................................................................................................435 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................445 iv Acknowledgments I could not have been able to complete my education without the guidance of teachers and supervisors, advice and encouragement of colleagues, and support of friends and family. First and foremost I thank Professor John Marino. The research took many turns since my early years at UCSD when I contemplated early modern Italian attitudes toward the dead body. Professor Marino’s kindness, patience, vast knowledge, and invaluable support sustained me during my winding academic journey. It is safe to say that this journey would not have led me to study early modern Jewry if not for Professor Deborah Hertz. Professor Hertz consistently and constructively pushed me outside of my comfort zone as a thinker and a writer. One of these pushes inspired me to write what I thought was to become a research paper comparing perceptions of bad death in early modern Italian Christian and Jewish communities; little did I know that this limited comparative exercise would result in a dissertation-length exploration of the Ottoman Sephardic social imagination. I thank Professor David Goodblatt for his guidance, especially during the early stages of my primary research. Professor Goodblatt introduced me to several indispensable resources for studying early modern Jewry without which I could not have completed my research. I also thank Professor Jack Greenstein for our stimulating conversations. Professor Greenstein’s unique world of associations and deep knowledge of the period always revealed new layers of meaning when I entered his office to discuss my ideas. I also thank Professor Jeffery Howard Chajes for his assistance and generosity. Although I asked Doctor Chajes to join the committee quite late in the game, his v pathbreaking scholarly work guided me from the early stages of my research. Lastly, I am ever in debt to my M.A. adviser Professor Joseph Ziegler for his inspiration and guidance. As a true teacher, Professor Ziegler taught me the historian’s craft and the professional’s conduct, both by telling and showing. The Revelle College Humanities writing program has been my second home at UCSD both intellectually and socially. I learned much about teaching, learning, and life from the brilliant professionals comprising this organization. It is impossible to list all of the colleagues, staff, and supervisors from whose company I benefited greatly. However, I must mention by name the program’s director Professor Stephen Cox as the program and its people are all made in his image. Professor Cox’s guidance and support nourish me still, constantly revealing new shades of wisdom even in advice given years ago. So many friends and colleagues lent a helping intellectual or social hand during my time in San Diego that it would be impossible to list them all here. My views on cultural history are the result of countless discussions with many colleagues, most frequently with Aytek Soner Alpan, B. Harun Küҫük, Kate McDonald, Andrea Davis, Bob Long, Annie Marino, Matt Crotty, Ryan Reft, Sören Fröhlich, and Ryan Zroka. Special thanks go to Judd Kinzley, a colleague and a friend who, in addition to our lively conversations about the profession, opened his home to me and introduced me to his lovely family. Finally, my most heartfelt thanks go to my parents, Moshe and Lea Cohen—without their unwavering support I never could have completed my education. vi Vita 2003 Bachelor of Arts University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel 2006 Master of Arts Summa cum laude, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel 2009 CPhil University of California, San Diego Major Field: Early Modern History Minor Fields: Medieval History; Early Modern Jewish History 2006–2013 Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego 2014 Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego PUBLICATIONS “The Vitality and Sensitivity of the Corpse in Northern Italy, 1450–1550” (M.A. Thesis, University of Haifa, 2006). HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2006 University of Haifa, Israel. M.A. Research Grant 2008 University of California, San Diego. The Gumpel Fellowship 2009 University of California, San Diego. The History Department Research Grant 2010 University of California, San Diego. The Judaic Studies Program Travel Grant 2011 University of California, San Diego. The Judaic Studies Program Summer Research Grant 2012 University of California, San Diego. The History Department Conference Travel Grant vii PRESENTATIONS 4/1/2011 “Of the Book or of the Body? The Late Medieval Jewish Interpretation of Wasteful Emission and the Hybrid Offspring Phenomenon.” 4th Annual Visual Arts PhD Conference: “The Body & Self,” University of California, San Diego. 4/11/2011 “Late Medieval Jewish Attitudes toward the Body: The Case of the Hybrid Offspring,” Western Jewish Studies Association Conference, San Diego, CA. 4/14/2012 “(Re)drawing the Borders of Ottoman Sepharadic Identity: Levirate Marriage, 1450–1550,” Graduate Student Conference: “Renaissance Borders,” Program in Renaissance Studies, Princeton University. 10/14/2012 “Ottoman Sepharadic Communal Identity and the Rise of the Sabbatian Movement,” The annual meeting of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association hosted by York University, Toronto Canada. 4/4/2013 “Sepharadi Families and Communal Identity at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century,” The Fifty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, San Diego, CA. viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Formation of Ottoman Sephardic Communal Identity in the Levirate Marriage Discourse by Binyamin Cohen Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, San Diego, 2014 Professor John Marino, Co-Chair Professor David Goodblatt, Co-Chair In the aftermath of the expulsion in 1492, the Sephardic expellees in the Ottoman Empire developed a unique interpretation of levirate marriage (yibbum), a commandment obligating the brother of a man who has died without an heir to marry the deceased’s widow. Heavily influenced