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The Herem As the Source of Authority of the Lay Governing Council

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The Herem As the Source of Authority of the Lay Governing Council EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 5: Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period, 2008, Yeshiva University, New York, NY The Herem as the Source of Authority of the Lay Governing Council Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA ABSTRACT: A treatise on the herem composed by Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, the head rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam. Specifically, this pamphlet defends the authority of the lay leadership council to do so, arguing against unnamed members of the community who are causing scandal by denying that authority. This presentation is for the following text(s): Exhortation to those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law. Anne Oravetz Albert University of Pennsylvania, USA Duration: 56:25 Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 87 EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 5: Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period, 2008, Yeshiva University, New York, NY Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA At a time when English, French, Spanish, and Dutch pamphleteers and philosophers were hotly contesting the legitimacy of their governments and the role of religious authority in the state, Amsterdam Jews were also engaged in internal debates about the authority of their leaders and the relative preeminence of rabbinic and lay leadership. No lesser figure than Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (1605-1693), the head rabbi of the city’s Spanish and Portuguese Jews, published a treatise in 1680 defending the status quo of the community’s practices regarding the herem (excommunication or ban). Strikingly, Aboab argued that the herem was not his own prerogative as a rabbi, but rather represented the political rule of the community, and thus was rightly wielded by the lay leadership as its government. Aboab’s treatise opens a window onto political differences among the Amsterdam Sephardim at the time of its composition, including sharp disagreement over the validity of the lay government and the role of the rabbi in communal affairs. It thus reveals an ideological dimension of disputes that are already known to have taken place in the community around this time. In addition, Aboab’s formulation of the Mahamad’s authority is unusually authoritarian, as he suggests that the members of the community irrevocably transferred their political authority over to the Mahamad. The arguments Aboab presents seem to mirror contemporary non-Jewish debates about the social contract and the rights of subjects to rebel against illegitimate or ineffective rulers. Copyright © 2012 Early Modern Workshop 88 EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 5: Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period, 2008, Yeshiva University, New York, NY Exhortation to those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law. Exortaçaõ, Paraque os tementes do Senhor na observança dos preceitos de sua Sancta Ley, naõ cayaõ em peccado por falta da conviniente inteligencia. 5440 (1679/80) Translated by Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA Greetings to those who love Torah, may they not stumble. EXHORTATION To those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law. Composed by the learned Senhor Hakham, Morenu ha-Rav Isaac Aboab, Av Bet Din and Rosh Yeshivah of the holy congregation Talmud Torah. Printed in Amsterdam, in the house of David Tartas, 5440 [1680] Prologue to the Reader: I announce and truly affirm that I do not intend to cause a scandal with this treatise, and I was moved to publish it neither by passion, nor by anything other than love for the individuals and generality of this holy community, and zeal for the sanctity of the Holy Law. I write so that they will not listen to the sycophants who wrap themselves in the mantle of the law in order to exploit it, abusing many with their doctrine. They ought to 89 EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 follow the example of those in other congregations, who are afraid to hear the name herem spoken, and who would rather be insulted with the greatest and most ignominious name than be called ‘banned’ or ‘son of an banned one’.1 May the Lord protect us from such a punishment and bless His people with peace. H[akham] I[saac] Aboab [3] Greetings to those who love Torah, may they not stumble. Exhortation to those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law. Composed by the learned Senhor Hakham, Morenu ha-Rav Isaac Aboab, Av Bet Din and Rosh Yeshivah of the holy congregation Talmud Torah. “What ends in deed begins in thought”2: a truly rational statement of the sages, in accordance with which the beginning of this tract must contain its end, which is to disillusion the illusioned, and disabuse the abused. It will show that no power can annul or invalidate the herem that the holy Kahal took upon itself when everyone signed in the presence of the four Hakhamim.3 There is no way to lift the ban on a violator of this herem, aside from the Kahal itself absolving him, which requires at least as many people as the original [4] signers. Even this, though possible, ought not to be done in my opinion, since it goes against the unity and conservation of the Kahal and feeding of the poor.4 We find an example of this in the holy scripture: when six hundred Benjaminites escaped in flight, whereas all the rest perished in the war caused by the concubine of the Levite, Israel repented and tearfully lamented their total extermination of a tribe of Israel (as they thought they had done),5 because they understood the mystery of the number twelve, and feared that the Lord’s divinity would desert them. And they said in Judges 21:7, What will we do for those who remain to give them wives, and to try to rebuild this broken stalwart of the fortress of Israel? Because we swore by the Lord not to give them wives from among our daughters. It then continues, explaining how they condemned the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead because they violated the herem by not agreeing to enter into that war with the rest.6 Thus they determined to pass all of them through with a sword, without sparing anyone except [5] the young women who were still in a marriageable state. Once they had these four hundred women to give as wives to the surviving Benjaminites, they asked, “what will we do for the other two hundred?” It is difficult to understand how, in such an urgent case, the very people who created the herem could not dissolve it, freeing themselves up to help these two hundred, but this proves our claim: they could have dissolved it, but to do so would have been wrong without first seeing if the problem could be solved another way, without touching the sacred herem. In the end, they managed to find another solution, giving the rest of the Benjaminites permission to go into the fields and hide in the vineyards on the day when 90 EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 the virgins of Israel danced and celebrated as part of a festival (the day we call day of the maidens), and take maidens for their wives. They judged that this considerable violence was a lesser evil than violating their herem, even by dissolving it. If that is the case, then good judgment shows there can be no excuse for failing to uphold the herem of our holy Kahal, or for considering trying to dissolve it. Those who would argue it should not be done in ordinary cases of the herem, or in a case of nidui,7 should avoid it that much more when it is a matter of a mitzvah, imposed for the better observance of the holy law.8 This can be seen in R. Moshe Gerundense’s [6] Treatise on the Herem, 288.9 As I already declared this to be the end of this treatise, it seems appropriate at the beginning to define the herem, how far it extends, if it can be revoked, and how. First, we reprove, as R. Gerundense did, that which some congregations do in order to absolve the herem, that the cantor stands on the tevah and says, “Let the herem be dissolved,” by which they understand this to be accomplished. This is incorrect because only the Hakham can dissolve it, or three people in his place, except if the revocation is made with the consent and in the presence of the whole Kahal. Equally incorrect are those who bind themselves together with a herem that they themselves can dissolve. This is proved by our sages, who say that when the tribes sold Joseph they agreed among themselves with a herem that none of them would reveal it to their father. Judah said it was not possible because without Reuben there were only nine of them, an insufficient number, and so they bound themselves together with the Lord. The Blessed God respects the honor of men, and particularly that of those who fear Him, so much that he agreed to be counted among them to create a herem. Eventually Reuben subjected himself to the same obligation, and it is reasonable to think [7] that this would have freed the Lord, as the royal Psalmist says, reveal his words to Jacob (Psalms 1:47).
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