ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEWSLETTER No. 10 January 1974 Editor: A. J. Band

IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL

Editorial 1 I

AJS Regional Conference Program (Series II) 3 Viewed from the other side of the October War, the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies held in last summer New AJS Members 3 seems coldly remote and its concerns, dimly trivial. The serenity and confidence of August have been dissipated by the shock and despair of November and December — as anyone who reads the New Appointments 4 Israeli press or corresponds with Israeli colleagues knows only too well. And yet, just as the war has forced us to put the Congress in AJS FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE its perspective, the Congress and the cultural achievement it implies can help us put the war in its proper perspective. After Conference Resolutions 4 two centuries of cultural erosion in open societies, after the Russian Revolution and the Holocaust, after successive agonies of Abstracts of Papers the new community in , Zunz' predictions concerning the future of Judaism and its study have not come true. For all its The Structure of the Commandments of the Torah natural shortcomings, the Sixth Congress emerged as a bold in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah and his Guide of affirmation of cultural vigor. No matter how the future borders the Perplexed (Lawrence V. Berman) 5 of Israel shall be drawn, there shall be in the future many congresses of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. The Siddur of R. Jacob Emden (David Shapiro) 5 An adequate assessment of a scholarly congress of such Non-Jewish Sources for Jewish History dimensions is the task of a broad committee of experts in various disciplines. Confronted with sue hundred papers, often twelve (Joseph Shatzmiller) (Hebrew) 7 being read simultaneously, an individual can only hope to follow sessions in his own area. The blind man feeling the elephant is Sherrow Prize Essay (Abstract) probably a better judge of reality since the elephant, we assume, stands still. A few subjective observations, nevertheless, are in Conceptions of History in Zionist Thought order. The inevitable change of the guard was more apparent in this than in previous congresses perhaps because of the absence of (Steven Bayme) . 8 some of the great scholars who have dominated the scene by their very presence since the 1930's. Though nineteenth-century Sherrow Memorial Prize Competition for 1974 8 philological scholarship is still the dominant mode, the impressive representation of linguistics, folklore, archaeology, and more Graduate Association for Jewish History 9 structural handling of traditional materials indicates that new vistas have been opened. Perhaps this is why so many looked forward to the opening address by Prof. Urbach who had replaced BIBLIOGRAPHIA JUDAIC A the late Prof. Dinur as president of the congress. With the historical perspective highlighted by the twenty-fifth anniversary Book Reviews (Nahum M. Sarna, Arnold J. Band) 10 of the State of Israel, one expected an exhortation to explore new areas or to review well-studied fields with new methodol- More on EJ ogical tools as a continuation of the great progress made over the past two generations. Instead one heard praise of the past masters The Study of the Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages: Some Brief Observations and advice to check bibliographies thoroughly. A discussion of the function of critical methodology in Judaic scholarship is long (Frank Talmage) 13 overdue; we must examine what we mean by "scientific scholar- ship." EJ on Jews of Latin America (Judith Elkin) 15 continued on p. 2 Summer Programs in Jewish Studies 3,15

Election of AJS Officers and Board of Directors 16 2

EDITORIAL (continued from p. I) an increased program of publications we are opening and facilitating means of communication without which no scholarly The participation of American scholars was widely noticed, discipline oan flourish. but not accurately described. The approximately one hundred and fifty Americans constituted the largest group of non-Israeli m scholars (there were less than fifty other non-Israeli scholars), but The lengthy list of new appointments published in both the only half of them are ordinarily recognized as Judaic scholars in last and the present Newsletter is concrete evidence of the this country, and less than half are members of the Association encouraging growth of Jewish Studies on the American campus for Jewish Studies. Paradoxically, the Israelis, who usually even in a period marked by stringent budgets in most areas. specialize narrowly in their academic work, consider as Judaic Obviously, university administrators are convinced of both the scholars a large group of Americans for whom this area is demonstrable need and the solidity of this academic discipline. tangential to their other intellectual concerns. Unfortunately, the How long this favorable situation will obtain is difficult to youngest group of American specialists who received their degrees predict. By the middle of the 1960's, unheeded predictions were in the past five years was not well represented. From correspond- published warning against the overproduction of university ence and conversations we have learned that some were not professors who would find no employment in a period of invited and others could not afford the trip. We hope that both diminished student enrollment and support for higher education. obstacles will be eliminated by the next congress in 1977. Four sobering Decembers have proven the wisdom of the demographers. In Jewish studies, however, the opposite is true: n the number of budgeted positions has tripled or quadrupled since Size and its problems are clearly the dominant theme in 1966. Though the simple facts of the past seven years bode well, discussions of the state of the field of Jewish studies in America the example of other disciplines counsels caution. Ihe time has today. This was apparent in the sessions of the Fifth Annual perhaps come for a careful study of the situation, particularly by Conference of our association held at the Harvard Faculty Gub directors of graduate studies. With about one hundred and twenty on October 21 and 22. Gone is the intimacy of past meetings, of graduate students in various stages of their professional training the days not so distant when everyone knew everyone else. The and many scholars, who find their progess in other areas blocked, one hundred and fifty scholars attending (slightly more than one declaring themselves as Jewish Studies specialists — at times, quarter of our membership) can no longer be accomodated in specialists in all the many areas of Jewish Studies — responsibility plenary sessions. Only yesterday we were a small learned society; dictates concerted action. One step must be avoided: we must today we are middle sized. As in all scholarly conferences, the never adopt the attitude of the 1930's which resulted in the level of papers read was uneven — but certainly compared drastic curtailment of the training of Judaics scholars. Jewish studies are broadly-based in American universities today; all favorably with the level of those read in Jerusalem. comparisons with the 1930's are therefore pointless. A slow-down Though a relatively new association, we are ever cognizant of in the rate of growth would not take us back to 1935; it would, our predecessors whose contribution to the field was manifest in however, allow the universities to demand higher academic every session and, especially, in Prof. Nuham Glatzer's banquet qualifications as they always do when supply exceeds demand. address. The obvious comparisons one could draw between the state of the art in Germany in the 1920's and that fifty years later SOS (Of SOS SOS X3S **** SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS SOS in this country or in Israel inspire admiration for the achievement AJS SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE of our predecessors and hope for the future. Prof. Harry Wolfson, who attended most of the sessions of the conference, murmured 27-28 October 1974 to me: "If I believed in miracles, I would place this conference in HARVARD UNIVERSITY that category. When I began my career sixty years ago, there was Harvard Faculty Club no evidence that this could have happened, particularly in this 20 Quincy Street country." Cambridge, Massachusetts

The success of the conference was largely due to the devoted Conference Program Chairman: efforts of Prof. Michael Meyer, the conference chairman, and Dr. Charles Berlin, our executive secretary. Both are already working Prof. Michael A. Meyer on next year's national conference which will attempt to Hebrew Union College - incorporate suggestions offered during and after the conference: Jewish Institute of Religion parallel sessions, a more leisurely schedule, a broader spread in Cincinnati, Ohio areas represented. By these national conferences, the regional conferences, the interchange with our colleagues in Israel, and by Program details and registration information will be announced in the next issue of the Newsletter. 3

Second Series of AJS Regional Conferences New AJS Members

Series II of the AJS Regional Conference Program has been Curtis M. Arnson Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem scheduled for the Spring of 1974. The four conferences of this Roberta M. Balkan SUNY College at Purchase Series will take place as follows: Conference 1 at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, on 27-28 March 1974; Kalman 0. Bland Duke University Conference 2 at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio, on 31 Bernhard Bhimenkranz Centre National de la Recherche March -1 April 1974; Conference 3 at University of Pennsylvania, Scientifique, Paris Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3-4 March 1974; and Conference 4 at University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, on 28-29 April 1974. Daniel Carpi University Edna A. Coffin University of Michigan Conferences 1-2 deal with "Ancient Hebrew Prayer" and are under the direction of Moshe Greenberg (Hebrew University, Sol Cohen Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Jerusalem). Participants in the Duke Conference include Roland Seymour Epstein McGill University Murphy, O. Carm. (Duke Divinity School), James Sanders (Union Theological Seminary, New York), Michael Fishbane (Brandeis), Robert E. Fine Brooklyn College, CUNY Kalman Bland (Duke), Jeffrey Tigay (Univ. of Pennsylvania) and Frederick M. Garber SUNY, Bingham ton Eric Meyers (Duke), Conference Coordinator. The program includes a panel discussion on "Hebrew Bible Study at the Edward M. Gershfield Jewish Theological Seminary University." Participants in the Conference at Hebrew Union Samuel Greengus Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati College indude Matitiahu Tsevat (Hebrew Union College), Eugene Mihaly (Hebrew Union College), and Bruce Vawter (DePaul). Janet R. Hadda University of California, Los Angeles Herbert Brichto (Hebrew Union College) is Conference Coordin- Warren Harvey McGill University ator. Judith Hauptman Jewish Theological Seminary

Conferences 3-4 have as their theme "The Role of Religion in Lawrence J. Kaplan McGill University Modern Jewish History" and are under the direction of Jacob Harold Kasimow Grinnell College Katz (Hebrew University, Jerusalem; visiting professor, Harvard). Participants in the Conference at the University of Pennsylvania Morton M. Leifman Jewish Theological Seminary indude Marshall Sklare (Brandeis), Zosa Szajkowski (YIVO), and Yale University Isaiah Friedman (Dropsie). Jeffrey Tigay (University of Pennsyl- Sid Z. Leiman vania) is Conference Coordinator. Participants in the Toronto Arthur M. Lesley Ohio State University Conference indude Michael A. Meyer (Hebrew Union College) Jews' College, London and Marvin Fox (Ohio State University). Frank Tdmage (Univ. of Aaron Lichtenstein Toronto) is Conference Coordinator. Arieh R. Loya University of Texas, Austin

Joseph S. Lukinsky Jewish Theological Seminary Detailed programs and registration forms will be sent in advance of each conference. For further information, contact the Baruch B. Margalit University of Haifa appropriate Conference Coordinator. Sadok H. Masliyah Oberlin College

Victor A. Mirelman Hebrew University Summer Program in Jewish Studies at Brooklyn Shimon Redlich University of the Negev

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York will Yona Sabar University of California, Los Angeles offer the following courses during the first summer session, 14 Lawrence Schofer University of Pennsylvania June-26 July 1974: Jonathan P. Siegel University of Texas, Austin Land and Cultures of Israel; Jewish Religion and Tradition; Avrom L. Udovitch Princeton University Landmarks in Jewish Thought; Hasidism: Movement and Theology; Period of the Holocaust. Bernard Wax American Jewish Historical Society

William L. Weiler University of Munster In addition, Brooklyn College in cooperation with the Hebrew University offers a Summer Institute in Israel during the months Leon J. Weinberger University of Alabama of July and August. Lenore E. Weissler Library of Congress 4

New Appointments Conference Resolutions

Joseph G. Adler Touro College Resolutions passed by the Association for Jewish Studies at its Fifth Annual Conference, October 21-22, 1973, at Harvard Avraham Avi-Hai University of Rochester University. (visiting prof.)

Mark R. Cohen Princeton University

Marvin Fox Brandeis University (Sept. 1974)

Harriet P. Freidenreich University of Judaism Resolution on the War in the Middle East Libby Garshowitz University of Toronto As at this hour the "Yom Kippur War" seems finally to be Markham Geller Jews' College, London coming to an end, the Association for Jewish Studies at its Fifth Annual Conference: Nahum M. Glatzer Boston University 1. Condemns the unprovoked attack made on the State of William Green University of Rochester Israel by the armies of Egypt and Syria on the holiest day of the Jewish year; Sheldon Isenberg University of Florida 2. Expresses complete solidarity with our brethren in the Stanley Isser SUNY, Binghamton State as they struggle for physical and national survival;

Aaron Katchen Indiana University (Sept. 1974) 3. Calls upon the United States government to use its best efforts to achieve a peace negotiated directly between the two Marc Kellner College of William & Mary sides, a peace which will assure the security of the State of Israd and promote the best interests of all nations in the Middle East; Martin Kessler SUNY, Albany 4. Urges its members generously to support and work for the Joseph Lukinsky Jewish Theological Seminary Israel Emergency Campaign of the United Jewish Appeal.

Morris Moskowitz Rutgers University

Moshe Nahir University of Wisconsin, Madison

Alexander Orbach Oberlin College Resolution on Soviet Russia Jack N. Porter Boston College The Association for Jewish Studies at its Fifth Annual Stefan C. Reif Cambridge University, England Conference:

Joseph P. Schultz University of Missouri, Kansas City 1. Expresses its solidarity with all those struggling for intellectual and academic freedom in the Soviet Union and Moshe Schwarcz Queens College, CUNY (visiting prof.) specifically calls for the right to pursue Jewish scholarship in Russia freely and without constraint; Bernard Septimus Yale University (Sept. 1974) 2. Calls upon the Soviet Union to allow Russian Jews who so Emanuel White State University College, New Paltz desire to emigrate without hindrance. 5

The Structure of the Commandments of the Torah in The Siddur of R. Jacob Emden Maimonides' Mishneh Torah and his Guide of the Perplexed by David Shapiro (Harvard) by Lawrence V. Berman (Stanford) Abstract of paper delivered at AJS Fifth Annual Conference, 22 October Abstract of paper delivered at AJS Fifth Annual Conference, 22 October 1973. 1973. Jewish historiography on R. Yaakov Emden has focused One of the major early attempts at achieving an ordering of almost exclusively on his Sabbatian polemics. This paper will the subject matter of the Torah and the related Rabbinic material characterize one of his rabbinic works, the three-volume Siddur, is the Mishnah of Judah the Prince. The picaresque nature of the and, in the process, call attention to many facets of R. Emden's Babylonian and Palestinian amoraic commentaries on the Mish- creativity which have not yet been the subject of serious study. nah, along with the Geonic and other extra-Talmudic materials made a recording of the totality of the law imperative. Maimon- The Siddur was R. Emden's response to his three-fold critique ides' Mishneh Torah is the first attempt since that of the Mishnah of all available siddurim: (a) there were nearly as many variant of Judah the Prince at just such a structuring of the law. readings of the liturgy as there were siddurim; (b) commentaries were either prolix to the point of confusion or succinct to the As a preliminary to his code, Maimonides composed the Book point of obscurity; (c) the halakic directives were either inad- of Commandments in order to identify exactly the composition equate or irrelevant. Emden identified these three factors, of the 613 commandments mentioned in Rabbinic literature. The respectively, with the verse in Deuteronomy (30:14): "this thing order of the commandments in the Book of Commandments is very near to you, in your mouth (liturgy), and in your heart differs radically from the order of the commandments according (Kavvanah), so that you may do it (Halakah)." to the subject classifications of the materials of the law put forward in the Mishneh Torah. A survey of earlier siddurim yields a graph of oscillating emphases on one or another of these three considerations, and An examination of the fourteen books of the code reveals a points up the uniquely comprehensive nature of R. Emden's general distinction between theoretical and practical command- siddur in its attention to all three. A closer look at each of these ments (Book I and Books II-XIV). Within the practical category, components will underscore his comprehensive treatment of each one discerns the traditional Rabbinic distinction between com- individual aspect. mandments concerning the relationship between man and God (Books II-X) and those concerning the relationship between man The original three volumes — differently arranged from, and and man (Books XI-XIV). Within the category of man and God without the interpolations of, the Siddur Beit Yaakov which is one can see three further groups: those concerning prayer (Books popularly but erroneously attributed to R. Emden — were struc- n-m), those concerning forbidden matters (Books IV-VI), and tured as follows: Vol. I (Ammudei Shammayim) presents the those concerning the temple (Books VII-X). In order to clearly prayers for weekdays and Shabbat; Vol. II (Sha'arei Shammayim) appreciate the innovative element in Maimonides' structuring of contains the special liturgy for each holiday, in turn; Vol. m the commandments of the Torah, it is instructive to compare the (Migdal Oz) is an uncompleted "from the cradle to the grave" Mishneh Torah with the Mishnah. handbook.

In the third part of the Guide, Chapters 35-49, Maimonides The first of the three aforementioned considerations (the text sets forth a different structure of the commandments of the of the liturgy) provided the immediate impetus for the Siddur. R. Torah. In both the Mishneh Torah and the Guide, the command- Emden proceeded both by analysis and by extensive manuscript ments are divided into fourteen categories, but the content of research to try to reconstruct a critical edition of the liturgy. these categories and their arrangement in the Guide differ widely Although within the Ashkenazic tradition, the Siddur consist- from the Mishneh Torah. The anomalous prominence of the ently calls attention to the Sephardic nusah ha-tefillah and Guide's category four may perhaps be explained by Maimonides' customs. Emden regularly assesses the relative merits of each increasing sensitivity to the need for compassion in order to tradition in an unbiased manner. provide for the unity of society which was in danger of becoming divided into two classes, the rich and the poor. The categories The commentary (corresponding to "in your heart" - i.e. themselves are found to be divided into two parts of seven each. understanding — in the verse from Deuteronomy) is multi-dimen- The first part comprises the rational, universal core of the Mosaic sional, incorporating both exoteric and esoteric levels of meaning, legislation, whereas the second set of seven contains the cere- and reflects diverse intellectual interests of the author, such as, monial, particular laws of the legislation which are rational in a Biblical and Aggadic exegesis, philology, mysticism and history. secondary sense. Here what corresponds to Books II-X of the Emden also emerges as a self-conscious pedagogue in his Mishneh Torah is placed at the end. continued on p. 6 continued on p. 6 6

L. V. Berman (continued from p. 5) J. Shatzmiller (continued from p. 7)

The major point to be considered is the different position of •?o IDD inns K1?! - H»1 N*3T*IP3R^ the ceremonial, particular commandments in the scheme of the l^a1? m-nn'n i»ao o»on»n 3»o two works. The explanation of the difference lies in the different 0DT1D mns R*7 13V O'l 111 .0n*330 functions that Maimonides is fulfilling in them. In the Mishneh Roa1? 13R o'Vis* n*?RD 0*0900 DIKD Torah Maimonides is acting as jurisprudent, in the terminology of :li33 ni*7Ro *?v nisionn nit o'noooa Alfarabi, whose task is to follow the guidelines laid down by the *?v ?D»nn»n n'oooo naan nn»n o*n first legislator and interpreted by his followers, the Rabbis. The o»tin» iK»in n*r»o ir'na ?on*niRiVn function of the Introduction to the Mishneh Torah is in fact to *70 mKDTB^ DDSS7 1 03*30 0»3»3» spell out the rigid Rabbinic ideology which Maimonides takes as ma1? nn"»n ORH - 130 *im*i .o»*ia J his guiding principle in the Mishneh Tbrah. Accordingly, there ?a*»Tin*n nn njnV m^onV n*oa ogoon can be no essential difference between the commandments of the o*ni3a niosps IT n»o3 mtoann nun | Torah, whether of a universal or non-universal nature. They are HIT Ao*oa»a ?DN»'7» MI* i equally of divine provenance. Therefore the ceremonial, parti- iaiD3 no*p aim ?a*iai3n on*3*i* cular commandments are not clearly set off in the Mishneh •a no - nr loin *?w ni»3*3L**n n*?RO Torah. im*o Kin o*noo*an *7o nm «IOIRHO 109KB rn^Kon iD ?*?n Va* - laioa , 1 In the Guide, one of Maimonides' principal roles is that of *iBSK "o »'poi3D"n o*3in3n 'as ? a*snV the theologian, in the Alfarabian sense, who is interested in ORI) nm* Vna m*o napan fa*anV defending the Torah from attacks on it on the part of the '33*7 (hni' m?"no maion*? nisis^ philosophers. In order to defend the Torah, he has to try to make i^ms TOR N*?R - o*op3 9 *?m aio it philosophically viable. Certainly from a philosophic point of no**?on fT3o ,ni3^on *T3T3 *"» view, the ceremonial, particular laws are much less important NPD NN'N O*OSRI O**I» *?V n*0900n than those directly based on reason. Now, it is these latter which 133 TOR nioapn .ini'l 7333 n 03 371 form the core of the Mosaic legislation. Therefore, they are o*t*pon iDB*I3 o*3ion o*n3T3n placed first in the scheme of the Guide, while the ceremonial, mo3p on n^R .'to1? n3T ni3p»»ia particular commandments which serve to reinforce the first seven 03 *7 3R 0 * *^9 0*09003 13330 categories come last. Accordingly, one may conclude that the •?o oi^ona ni3»9'? o*»ai3n 0*09003 commandments in the Guide are ordered hierarchically according mo**? • T0*7OV 3N*O*7 IR NIRI^N to a philosophic scale of values, in contrast to the Mishneh Torah. TD11 13) **0T0 *?0 'Tinon 11*3TR3 Whether the differences in structure which have been pointed out (a"n*a 03Ran9n »naT3 *?m HT noin represent a substantive change in Maimonides' general concept of oio*in .n^RS nioap *?\a man mo*on the commandments and their relative value, or merely reflect a :nm*3 Tap Rin ooasa o*np*on Vo different approach adopted for the purpose of polemic with the noBRi) o*a*i*n o'fran moo o*»*9io "enemy," remains a matter for discussion. 1 noaa TRINO t(o**nn*n nR m^pa nim ? naia Tioa1? i**iaoi npi^non Roia O'VO D. Shapiro (continued from p. 5) nsoo nT nsao na'p *?v .Voino 03pn systematic introduction to the principles of Kabbalah and in the *9^R nnos 13*7 o* *3 Rtaisn laniR 1 various pedagogic techniques he employs throughout the work. 1300 T»3O ngipnn 'aa ? n*?R3 cams o*sai3n o»3»3sn o*an .1350 1 The third component of the Siddur - the halakic one — ranges niosp iniRa Taios "Tin'a ,0'Tin* ? 1 1 over the entire gamut of Tur Orah Hayyim. Here the interests of son ?© *33on oon) niRiiVn ? o*sai3n the Mor u-Ketziah (Emden's commentary on the Turirri) and the TpnD*? laaa Tpon HT oa . (Lattes Lehem Shammayim (his commentary on the Mishnah) converge. N*7R o*3in3 *9*7R3 Vgo*? 01*3 'iioonn np*noi nomoD naion T'S*? TITBIT In its multi-faceted complexity, the Siddur provides a micro- •70 *manm '^s^sn t*>D90Dn oaao *7o cosm of R. Emden's wide-ranging interests and creativity of •73 13*7 mo Tno nm»n nnRa o^Tin'n thought. The halakist, the liturgist, the mystic, the exegete, the ORN'S* 'IS O"I3S D'TIB N3M T3 historian, the grammarian, the philologist — all stand fully reveal- .n'^Riop^DSRni n'innn ed in the three volumes of R. Jacob Emden's Siddur.

Abstract of paper delivered at AJS Fifth Annual Conference, 21 October 1973. 7

TDV R.W. finery 'KP'IDKH ipmn Dj? nn^ui'? D"nm R*7 nnipn n3B O'IDJ *3B*7 US I1K T n9 Bin i»»n o^'si^TDisn n»noo»jna i»i?no ;ns»n no'oT3»3iK) n^'nao «IOT» pkd , , iman o»K3»i»sn » >an > IOK Perpignan (iBnnii no'ona'3iK ,mi» 'sns mm*o n»BKnai3iD aina1? iniK n'snoa »nn* *?w n*^3*?3n oni^is Qinnsn 'b'jr #13-n nKon Vo n^aon TDIN1? Tonm TKD nppT3 ,?KTO» nnan 1 nivsm 11 DITSA Koa ? I1? ITDSK KSOO nisoai - o*nn* k1? 'T»a anaso nm?D nn^ann o^io iiaa ni'^a'Jai ni'inan o'lin'n »3'3» noKi - ni'Tin* K1? jn*»n »nn» *7a »on*n "^a^an losoni I'D TDtn^ K*7 tff 10BK 'K .Dna D'S'BID im»nn»n niKi^nn *?w saioon ^nin OOTB TOK ,TI7a pns' "70 I'JPBD nK , MB^ *|RI - to»n ?n ^o N'AI^IK*AION n'^'oopai 1 13K*IKa ma'pon »3i*aiKD 1 m»R^pnn nuamn nn N'onsn 'ons ? IS ni»oTB ipoi oin mna TRHO an noin 1 ono nm^nn a»m o'nVn *?o ni'm'sm .VKTO' O» nnVina mo ?©

ma 'mpD nmn1? on^ns IT nnsnna :m»aix»»n n*?Ko lama no'»p DiKaiisa o»3Tnoi3n "»o?39a 'ison OMN1? i»n o'a»na O»VHT o»aio*n Tin 'na 'opssa 'ison m1? ia rnai 1 mns ? 1350-1250 f»ao o»3o HRD IMRA *?v o'sioon o'naTan ^o o'noo'anai . N*7R3 0»»31»1013 0*0?3B O^BVK O'LOIJD i3'nn .IT TTK3 ni3io*7on niosan 0 •» 21 on o»3TDixa DT: d*KSD3 urn ona 13"»3B^ niB'BIDn niB**!'1? ia OK o'on'no ^a^ inK Tin*3 i3"n .HRD ma'aoa - ni'aoD'Dsip nis'T» - ni^na nmoa nam - ?psoo oa-ro nr OKn .-im»n mrsa o'sinsa ^BO1? 13*7 nnoBKon , 1 n*?Kn d K3DDn n« niton ? nns -ipnnn nissin - o'Tsooa KoaVi ,np'00'0D0n o*»ison o**inK o*»3in3 uv IK'3*BTBD ni'DBOD «iki m'man jni'Va'ja Manosque - a TTIBB o*»3i'loian *o?3sa .ni'D'^iBi 131 Aix, Orange, Marseilles 1 Aries 1 Salon a inv mniKD nsipn ? * n»»i»n n* a'mn1? n»n* "pna 13 aaK •70 *on*n ddipd n^xni nn a'sn^i n'ST'^'a^n •JO nmnnsnn OB oa»a o»on»m niKi^nn o^isa o-»nn*n TOK fn*»Dmn nsn'Ka N'M'SN 1 nn»a to»*nn» K*?n o'l^on Ta ? n'^Kiop'jos'R ninnsnn n*7 nnnVns DT»n nop n'ls^ao IOK n*?Ko jO'pVo'Kn n*?K o'liT'Ka B'BID - in' oa n'osooi .IT n^A'JA M^'JS *?o PBOD HKn nn1? 1250 o'son t*a ,'iiasn ii'noisn «1K IK N'313'A TJ nn»n K1? 1350-1? * nDa na IKSO3 KVO n'Dimn nsnaa nsop 0*1 BOO nas ni'oKnn onja ,o'3i'noi3 pn on n^nn o»»3i*ioi3n o^noo^a-in nann IPPTS o^nn'n .io*mn nK 1 1 TOK N'OBODN N*3T»>»A»SN INN DPBOK nK oion ? "»ia o"»3i*-ioi3n on'mno ? 1 • naipn nniKa n'onin nana nK ns^'BK o^33iano OK .on'sao ? isnso niKiVnn - DBDOn 'D3 *70 DIH^SS *?V *?0 0*»31'T013n *? O 0"»3l0Kin 0'0P3Bn

13K o»^ia» - rni»Di c'jR'n *»3on #n'omn nans3) Manosque T®n "Curia"-n ^o o'opssn nmoo nam •no1?'? 0*»»ai3 D * D9 3*7 '3 "IT 3nD (O'BVKn osKamaa n-i"B nniK - Manosque *?o O'OPKn TinK 0 * 0*7 O O'lin'1? 0^0 na n»nn» n'Mnp nn*n na n'^^sn 0*B3TR *JK 1 (O'lOD 0?3B3 CISDn lino .nmnon ns'aon an* nioas niKD 194 nnD :*?00*7 .o'TinK o'o'om ona onn'ani o»oaoon niKoa ii»y li'Toisn ^o io?3B3 o'oionn o*»o?Kn 03*30 0*3*353 oa) D'nn' o*s*aio K"? 1267 n3 0D Bernardus Bituriscensis 1 o*ns n»an> ISK o^ia* (oni^a ? 13'^n .o^iin''? o*oai3 109-o nins •fiaiK ioa - o»»D»:*Bn o**nn 0*310 .56%-o nnT» nsoVm D'TDID "?o ni'sa ,n'?*npn 8

Conceptions of History in Zionist Thought The concluding section of the essay analyzes the impact of by Steven Bayme (Columbia) these historical views upon Zionist historiography. Ben-Tzion Dinur, in his historical writings, has consistently stressed the twin Abstract of essay awarded the Fred Solomon Sherrow Memorial Prize at Zionist themes of the continued unity of the Jewish nation and the AJS Fifth Annual Conference, 21 October 1973. the denial of the exile. Joseph Klausner has bequeathed the ideological programme of his mentor Ahad Haam with historical "Conceptions of History in Zionist Thought" originated in a models and legitimacy through his writings on the second JewiA graduate colloquium on problems in Zionist historiography and commonwealth. Zionist historians innovated the emphasis upon ultimately was submitted to Columbia University in fulfillment of as the locus of continued Jewish settlement. Palestine the requirements for the Master of Arts degree. The essay never attained such crucial significance for the theorists of attempted to demonstrate the unique theories and perspectives Zionism. upon Jewish and general history inherent in the writings of Zionist thinkers. Generally all Zionist thinkers accepted the The paper essays to demonstrate that the Zionist theory of "lachrymose" conception of Jewish history. They differed history was eclectic in nature. In many ways the theory borrowed primarily in their conceptions of general history and in their from the leading European minds of the nineteenth century. In applications of Zionist theories to particular phases of Jewish still other ways Zionist theoreticians looked to the internal history. Jewish past for models and inspiration. In this respect the Zionist theory of history exemplifies the contradictory nature of Zionism Leon Pinsker applied the theme of "denial of the Exile" to the itself. On the one hand, the Zionist movement sought to align emancipation of the Jews. Under the impact of emancipation the itself with the entire tradition of Jewish messianism. On the other Jews have lost their unity and nationhood. He urged the Jews to hand, the movement developed on the soil and Zeitgeist of the shed the image of Shylock and don that of Judah Maccabee. post-enlightenment world in which tradition had ceased to exert undue influence. Consequently the movement leaned heavily Theodore Herzl invoked the Hegelian philosophy of history to upon the modern theories of nationalism emanating from justify his dream of a Jewish state. Statehood became an nineteenth-century Europe. Similarly the Zionist theory of historical necessity to fulfill the destiny of the Jews and solve the history looked to both the Jewish past and the modern world of Jewish Question. In this latter respect Jewish statehood became a European thought. necessity for Gentiles even more so than for Jews.

For Moses Lilienblum, Jewish history evoked a primarily religious image. Judaism must respond to historical changes that have befallen the Jewish people. Emancipation necessitated certain religious changes, but anti-semitism necessitated a return to the land of historical Jewish settlement. The emancipated, enlightened Jew, however, had no need for the archaisms of the Jewish past, such as the Holy City of Jerusalem. History has Sherrow Memorial Prize Competition for 1974 taught the Jews to unite. In the past religion has served as their preservative. The new religion of Zionism can and will unite and The Association for Jewish Studies announces the second annual preserve the Jews in the future. competition for the Fred Solomon Sherrow Memorial Prize. The Prize, with a stipend of $250, is awarded annually for an Dissenting from the political Zionism of Herzl, Pinsker, and outstanding research paper (in English, Hebrew or Yiddish) by a lilienblum, Asher Ginzburg advanced a full-blown philosophy of graduate student or an advanced undergraduate on a topic related Jewish history to buttress his programme of cultural Zionism. to Contemporary Jewish Studies. The paper may be in the area of Following the Hegelian model of the German nation, Ahad Haam history, philosophy, political science or sociology. Entries must declared that the Jews have constituted a single organic unity be submitted in four copies together with an abstract of 600-800 throughout all generations. Moreover, he endowed the Jews with words. All copies will be retained by AJS. Deadline for the "mission" of fulfilling the prophetic ideal of uniting ethics submitting papers is 9 September 1974, with the award to be with politics. Jewish history has united the two extremes of announced at the AJS Annual Conference on 27-28 October "Flesh and Spirit" or "ethics and politics." To succeed, the 1974. The Association reserves the right not to make an award if Zionist movement must continue to pursue that ideal. no entry is judged worthy.

k 9

National Graduate Association for Jewish History Formed The following statement was adopted by the Graduate Association for by Arnold Scribner (Columbia) Jewish History at its first conference, held at the American Jewish Historical Society on 27-28May 1973. The Graduate Association for Jewish History had its second annual conference at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New Proposal on Defining Jewish History as a Field of Inquiry York on December 23 and 24, 1973. The theme of the Conference was Convergence and Divergence within Jewish We, as graduate students in Jewish history, prefer to have a History. As the letter describing the Conference noted, "While it formal affiliation with a history department, either as a member may be argued that there are certain norms within Jewish or as an associate, as well as with a department of Jewish Studies, History, there are also numerous instances of divergence; we should one exist. This preference is based on the following would like to deal with the latter. It will be up to the speaker to understanding of the academic enterprise in which we are engaged set his own criteria for normative and divergent Jewish history." and on a specific model of graduate training which we advocate.

Over forty graduate students in Jewish history attended the Jewish history is a field of inquiry within the discipline of Conference. Among the schools represented were Columbia, history. The field of Jewish history may be defined as the Harvard, Brandeis, New York University (NYU), Yeshiva Univer- historical investigation of any aspect of the past experience of the sity (YU), Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), Hebrew Union Jews. The history of Judaism is but one dimension of that College, New School for Social Research, and University of experience which embraces social, political, economic, and Judaism in Los Angeles. The informal atmosphere and the ample cultural factors as well. opportunity for discussion allowed for a fruitful exchange of ideas in the following sessions: The group "Jews" consists of all individuals and aggregates which evidence a consciousness of sharing some common histor- ical past as Jews. This minimal common identification exists side Religious Diversity: Wallace Greene (YU) and Isaiah Kuperstein by side with real and significant differences in time and place (Columbia); attributable to processes of acculturation at work throughout Jewish history. The existence of some common factors allows one A Comparative Analysis of Jewish Political Activity in Western to regard Jewish history as a single field of historical inquiry; the Europe in the Post Emancipation Era: Paula Hyman presence of differences makes for areas of specialization within (Columbia); that field. The Am Olam Movement: Marvin Feuerwerger (Harvard); The training of scholars for this field should include three objectives: a familiarity with the entire sweep of Jewish history; New York Jewry: Debbie Moore (Columbia), Tully Neuman an area of specialization in research; and a training in general (YU); history which corresponds to the area of specialization. Historiographic Comparison of Medieval Arabic and Jewish In undergraduate teaching, each scholar should be familiar Sources: Moshe Sokolow(YU); enough with the historical secondary literature of all periods so as to be able to give survey courses on the entire sweep or on The Use of Quantified Techniques for the Study of Jewish selected major periods or thematic units in the field. This requires Religious Movements: Bob Liberies (JTS); that each scholar have a well-informed familiarity with all of Jewish history, its major trends and developments and their The Abba HiHel Silver-Stephen Wise Controversy in the American interrelationships in the field as a whole. Zionist Movement 1934-35: Philip Schoenberg (NYU); In pursuing research, it is theoretically possible to master The Conflicts within the American Jewish Anarchist several research areas and to carry out projects covering more Colony: Jack Kugelmaas (New School). than one period. However, in view of the diversity of past Jewish experience and the growing proliferation of scholarship in a After the first session a business meeting was held. It was variety of well-defined research fields, we think that some form decided that the organization would become the national of specialization is desirable. Therefore, our model of graduate Graduate Association for Jewish History and that representatives education requires that each scholar be trained to carry out from the Boston and New York groups would keep each other research within the well-defined limits of one period and one informed of local events. The next meeting of the group as a geographical or cultural area. In light of this need of specializa- whole will be in Boston next year with continuing local meetings tion, each scholar should ideally also be expected to train in the respective areas. The meeting ended with an intense graduate students only within the same area of specialization. discussion of the job market. continued on p. 10 10

Graduate Association (continued from p. 9) The increasing need to ensure intact the preservation of the hoary tradition of Scriptural liturgical readings ultimately Finally, each scholar should be trained in the area of general mothered the invention and encouraged the development of history which corresponds to his or her area of specialization in varying systems of graphic representation of the vowel sounds Jewish history. A scholar is expected to read widely in general as and musical accents. The sophisticated Hberian mode eventually displaced the rival Palestinian and Babylonian sign systems* well as Jewish literature in the research area and to establish although the latter achieved a fairly wide diffusion in Persia, the professional contacts with a variety of non-Jewish as well as Arabian Peninsula and Yemen. In fact, it survived as a living Jewish specialists. tradition in Yemen until fairly recently. This model of training Jewish historians, involving breadth as well as depth, is to be preferred to any other because of these The revival of Masoretic studies in this century, largely advantages. First, specialization is a distinct necessity. Second, a spurred by the pioneer work of Paul Kahle, aroused renewed broad competence in all of Jewish history as well as a grounding interest in the study of the Babylonian supralinear vocalization. It in the general history of one's specialization promote two types is thoroughly appropriate that Kahle's work, in which many of comparative approaches. On the one hand, a familiarity with Jewish scholars were involved, should have been carried on and Jewish past experience outside one's research area may provide brought to fruition in the State of Israel where, incidentally, the helpful comparisons for one's research within that area. On the largest microfilm collection of Biblical manuscripts is now housed other hand, a training in general history will suggest contexts and where the study of the Masora, of Hebrew linguistics, and of within which Jewish experience can become more fully intelli- the history of the is flourishing. gible. The two volumes here under review constitute the indispens- As members of the next generation of Jewish historians, we able tools of Masora scholarship and they are the latest addition affirm our commitment to this definition of the field of Jewish to Makor's imaginative and adventurous publishing program to History and to this model of graduate training in that field. which most Jewish scholars must, by now, be personally indebted. Handsomely produced and hand-bound in leather, they contain 452 facsimile pages of fragments of the Pentateuch with the Babylonian vocalization. The Cairo Geniza collections scatter- ed throughout the world's libraries are the major source for the reproductions, but some additional non-Geniza manuscripts of the same type have also been included. Professor Israel Yeivin, the distinguished Masora scholar and member of the Academy of BOOK REVIEW Hebrew Language, collated and classified the fragments. He also provided a twelve page Hebrew introduction which covers such Israel Yeivin, ed., Genizah Bible Fragments with Babylonian topics as the importance of the Geniza for understanding the Massorah and Vocalization. Edited with an Introduction by Israel Babylonian vocalization system, the history of research into that Yeivin. Jerusalem, Makor, 1973.2 vols. topic, the classification of the manuscripts, the typology of the Reviewed by Nahum M. Sarna (Brandeis) sources, particularly as reflecting varying pronunciations of Hebrew, the systems of vocalization used and the modes of Li the ninth century C.E. the origin of the vowel and accent accentuation, the Masora and its mnemotechnic devices, the signs in Hebrew Bibles had already been forgotten and so they must vocalized Targumim, notes on the fragments in the present by then have been very ancient. Natronai Gaon was, however, collection and a description of the indexes. well aware of the fact that they did not issue from Sinai, although this did not prevent both Judah Halevi and the Karaite Judah Yeivin writes as a "scholar's scholar", which means that he Hadassi from later subscribing to the contrary view. It is presupposes a considerable technical knowledge of the field. For incontrovertible that no vocalization appeared in Hebrew Bible this reason, students who want background material before manuscripts before the sixth century C.E. This is quite clear from tackling his Introduction would be advised to read P. Kahle's The the explicit testimony of Jerome (b. 347) about the absence of Cairo Geniza (2nd ed., N. Y. 1959), pp. 57-66, A. Dotan's vowel signs among Jews and from the silence of the two "Masorah" in , vol. 16, 1408-1482, and Talmudim and the earliest Midrashim in contexts where some Sh. Morag's "Pronunciations of Hebrew" (ibid.) in vol. 13, mention of them would be called for. 1120-1145. 11

BOOK REVIEW The two most radical revisions and assertions in the volume before us involve two of the most crucial junctures in the histoiy EWg Silberschlag, From Renaissance to Renaissance: (though they are not described as such): The assignment of the Hebrew Literature from 1492 to 1970. beginning to the aftermath of the exile from Spain; the New York, Ktav, 1973.431 pp. preference of Tchernichowsky over Bialik, e.g. "the historian of Reviewed by Arnold J. Band (UCLA) Hebrew literature must say, after all due evaluation of the respective merits and flaws of the two poets that the Jews The first part of a projected two-volume study, which purports produced one major poet toward the end of the nineteenth to enhance the structure and scope of an entire academic century. And his name was Tchernichowsky (p. 196)." Bialik's discipline — here, Modem Hebrew Literature — must, by its very imposing position in modern Hebrew is the foil for Silberschlag's claim, command our attention and awe. Silberschlag's most revisionism: it was Bialik's prestige which supported the position recent study, the climax of a life of writing and research, that the beginning should be placed in the eighteenth century and addresses itself, and implicitly claims to solve, "Two problems attributed to Moses Hayyim Luzzatto; it was Bialik, as poet and [which] vitiate the study of modern Hebrew literature: An general cultural impressario, who dominated the literary scene in arbitrary beginning has been accepted by most historians of the first three decades of this century. Like the late poet Hebrew literature; it has been studied by itself and for itself Avraham Shlonsky his contemporary, Silberschlag finds it neces- rather than in contextual comparison with other literatures, and sary to reject Bialik in order to assert his own position. it has been reduced to the status of a parochial literature (p. VII)." Summarily dismissing the periodization of Bialik, Klaus- The rejection of Bialik would not be objectionable if Silber- ner, Lachower, Zinberg, Shaanan, Sadan, Schapiro and Kurzweil schlag had succeeded in documenting his assertions. But he has which places the beginning of modern Hebrew literature in the not and the failure of his "four-dimensional" method is manifest eighteenth century, Silberschlag opts for the exile from Spain: throughout. The first two chapters of the book (Humanism and "The great event in the last few centuries of Jewish history is the Mysticism, pp. 1-56; The Apocalyptic Age, pp. 57-71) endeavor exile from Spain. It is the root of a mystical and — subsequently- to cover the period between the Expulsion of 1492 and — rationalist revolution in Hebrew literature. It colors the first Mendelssohn's Kohelet Musar in 1750. While one can sympathize blush of dawn in the cultural regeneration of Jewry in Turkey with the need to encompass so much material in so few pages, and in Palestine, in Italy and in Holland — in the countries which one is startled to find here no awareness of the need to develop absorbed the influx of Jewish refugees from the Iberian penin- an argument to prove the point of the revision: no real discussion sula. That cultural regeneration reaches its full fruition in Italy in of the problems of periodization or historiography; no clear idea the eighteenth century, later in Eastern Europe in the nineteenth of what is literature and what isn't; no consistent demonstration century, and in Israel and in America in the twentieth century. of the evolution of themes, of genres. Passing reference, often Luzzatto is not the beginning but the end of an epoch, not the adorned with interesting tidbits of information, is made but not progenitor, but the descendant (p. IX)." examined. The first chapter begins with the sweeping statement: "The year 1492 is an end and a beginning in the history of the As a remedy to the parochialism of the histories of modern world: an end of the so-called middle ages and a beginning of the Hebrew literature, Silberschlag prescribes a "four-dimensional" so-called modern era. Though the terms "middle-ages" and method which must encompass: internal development, compar- "modern era" are imprecise, they are useful because they are ison with other literatures, esthetic judgement, and "sensibility roughly synonymous with a god-centered and a man

A. J. Band (continued from p. 11) talmudic academies and over their burning hopes for a resus- citated Land of Israel. It was he who marked out a new road by A historian of literature should attempt to demonstrate the his attachment to a vigorous past and by his epic insight into the evolution of forms and concerns from period to period, or, if healthy elements of diaspora Jewry (p. 196)." One could argue at evolution is not evident, to elucidate the discontinuity. To begin most critics and scholars have for the past twenty-five years, that with, it is never clear what "cultural regneration" means in this the great leap forward in poetic expressiveness as manifested in book, a major failing in a work titled From Renaissance to the internal dynamism of the poem — its polysemous metaphors, Renaissance. What regeneration, for instance, took place in the its interconnected referents, its ambiguous nuances — was made Jewish cultural centers of Ottoman Turkey in the sixteenth and by Bialik. The linguistic vigor of many Bialik poems describing seventeenth centuries? What part of that regeneration was decay and despair is, in itself, an artistic affirmation of life. It is literary, or affected subsequent literary works? Did the "cultural by no means insignificant that Bialik's poetry has elicited far regeneration" of Turkey, Palestine, Italy, and Holland of this more sophisticated analytical studies than have those of Tcherni- period really reach full fruition in Italy of the eighteenth chowsky. century? One could make a point that it did, if one is willing to accept the centrality of Moses Hayyim Luzzatto. What about the magnificent growth of centers in the Kingdom of Poland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Were these centers also Though the Bialik-Tchernichowsky studies are among the best products of the expulsion of 1492 or is their rise attributable to in this volume, they are characteristically insensitive to the | other causes? Again, what is literature? What should a literary intrinsic scholarship and criticism of the past twenty-five years. history include? Why Joseph Karo, or the Maharal, or Menasheh One is astounded to discover how unimportant Halkin, Sadan, ben Israel? What about the language problems? Hebrew, after all, Kurzweil, Shaked, Miron, or Hrushovski are in this volume. We was not a spoken language with wide expressive capacities until were told in the preface that one of the four dimensions of the 1930's. critical method is "sensibility and sensitivity which accompanies thorough and precise analyses of literary works." Unfortunately, there is little evidence that Silberschlag has done the arduous, pain-staking, close reading of the texts or has read much of those Once past the first of his four periods — pre-enlightenment, colleagues who have done so. It is hoped that this will be done for enlightment, nationalism, and Israelism — Silberschlag follows the the second volume which "will be devoted to the literature of beaten path of previous historians by building his chapters around former [sic!] Palestine and present-day Israel from 1890 to 1967 short descriptions of individual authors, thus losing the one new (p. X)." (What rationale, one may ask, is there for this strange pattern of structuring his pre-enlightenment preoccupations could division?). have contributed to a study of modern Hebrew literature after 1750. The material between 1492 and 1750 was treated first generically and, then, within the genres, chronologically. The geographical division was not prominent. It would be interesting The reader is confronted by a question which follows him to read a restructuring of modern Hebrew literature which relentlessly throughout the book: What is the putative audience diminishes the importance of geographical divisions, but considers of this study? The seasoned scholar might find occasional the community of Hebrew writers as one and international. We interesting insights or concise, encyclopedic descriptions of could then trace developments decade by decade; the "four- certain authors, but cannot be satisfied either with the unfounded dimensional" method would then be more manageable. revisionism, or the cavalier tone, or the precious labels attached to authors, e.g. Brainin the Anomalous; Cahan: Singer of Insouciance; Gnessin: Embodiment of Sensitivity. The under- graduate Jewish Studies major might find it useful for its Silberschlag's second major revisionist contention — Bialik information but might also be overwhelmed by so many passages marks the end of a road; Tchernichowsky the beginning — is on which read like annotated bibliographies — especially Chapter 15, more solid ground. At least it is interesting and arguable. In a dedicated to the Minor Center of Hebrew Literature in America. chapter devoted to The Three Stars of the Modern Hebrew The absence of chronological tables or maps, however, would Renaissance: Bialik, Tchernichowsky, Schneour (when will we diminish its use as a textbook. ever escape this meaningless habit of matching disparate writers?), Silberschlag contends that since Tchernichowsky introduced new poetic genres, an affirmation on life, and a Hellenic vitalism into Hebrew poetry, he was more innovative than Bialik. "... Tcher- nichkowsky wafted a brilliance of sonnets, ballads, and idylls over the shattered youth of his contemporaries in the disintegrating 13

HK Study of the Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages: Shelomo Yizhaqi (Warsaw, 1913) stands out as a respectable Some Brief Observations treatment of an exegete qua exegete. Yet even here we have only by Frank Talmage (University of Toronto) one or two chapters in a brief volume largely devoted to other matters. Secondly, as an intermediate stage, we have little analysis Culture often behaves deviously towards its creators: "Rabbi of trends or "schools" of exegesis such as we find in B. Smalley's Ben Ezra" is probably better known to the modern student of treatment of Christian Bible study. Once again, we must go back English literature than to the student of the Bible. The current to 1913 to S. Poznanski's Mavo al Hakhme Zarefat Mefareshei growth of interest in biblical studies on both the scholarly and ha-Miqra in his edition of Perush al Yehezqeel u-tere asar le-Rabbi popular levels has not stimulated research and exploration into Eliezer mi-Belgenzi to find a study of the school of Rashi. Yet the medieval exegetical tradition. Hebrew remains the only here we have primarily an amassing of raw materials rather than language in which one is considered an expert if he can read only an analytic study as such. Outside of Franco-Germany, we do not one book of its literature. The example of such scholars as Driver even have this. Before any Major Trends in Jewish Exegesis can be who had a solid grasp of post-biblical materials and who even written, account will have to be taken of other such schools edited little known commentaries has not been followed. Even in which are nonetheless real even if still unlabelled. the State of Israel, where the Bible is the alleged national pastime, medieval parshanut has not been widely taught in any disciplined fashion at the university level. Unquestionably, a further obstacle to advance in the field is the lack of availability of reliable texts. Anyone who has worked with the mss. and printed editions knows the shortcomings of the A significant index of this state of affairs is the new Rabbinic Bibles and indeed of some of the critical editions. Often Encyclopaedia Judaica. Most of the articles dealing with this these editions are based on too limited a number of mss. and so subject — be it the main article or those on individual exegetes — • will often concur in an unintelligible or incorrect reading. With are sketchy. Few are the entries, such as those on Ibn Ezra and few exceptions, the existing editions of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Kimhi Nahmanides, which succeed in going beyond bibliography. This and Nahmanides must usually be double-checked in the light of is, to be sure, not necessarily the fault of the contributors. To one mss. The beginning of wisdom then would seem to be the exegete of first rank, the Encyclopaedia allotted five hundred preparation of critical editions based on — wherever possible — all words. When the editors were informed that even a general or most of the existing mss. and early editions. Yet how to encyclopedia might allow more space, the length was doubled. prepare such editions? Is one to "establish" the text, i.e. attempt Even so, considering the fact that the subject was active in other to reconstruct the alleged original formulation of the author? Or areas as well, a thousand words permit only a brief cataloguing. will one present a coherent base text, such as an authoritative In such ways the EJ represents a considerable step backward from first edition, with perhaps minor modifications and the variants the Jewish Encyclopedia in which the article on "Biblical collated in the apparatus? Hie general practice has been the latter Exegesis" still serves as the best survey of the topic. and in most cases this would seem to be the most prudent course. Unlike the biblical scholar, the medievalist cannot claim guidance of the holy spirit in determining what was in the mind of his Sadly, it must be confessed that the EJ is an accurate indicator subject. An example: Even in as lucid an author as David Kimhi, of the state of the field in general. On no level have significant one encounters ambiguities which cannot be easily decided. In his advances been made since the early part of this century. The comment at I Samuel 18:24, Radak discusses the necromancy of teacher still finds himself embarrassed not to be able to compile a the witch of Endor citing rabbinic and medieval authorities but minimal reading list for an undergraduate course. The pioneering avoiding any definitive statement of his own. The Rabbinic Bibles studies of Bacher, while valuable for the specialist, are not and the Soncino ed. close this discourse with "but my explana- appropriate for the general reader or student. D. Druck's Di tion is correct." This phrase does not exist in any mss. or other Meforshim fun der Toyreh (Warsaw, 1936) is somewhat popular early editions I have seen. The situation is rendered even more and inaccessible because of language. The survey in the Cam- confusing when we find that some mss. begin the passage with "I bridge History of the Bible (II. 252-79) is, appropriately of see fit (va-ani roeh) to explain the necromancy according to what course, oriented towards the general reader. Usually, one relies on is written concerning it (le-fi mah she-nimzah katuv bo)," while M. H. Segal's skeletal Parshanut ha-Miqra (Jerusalem, 1943; others read "I do not see fit (ve-eini roeh) to explain the abridged in his Mevo ha-Miqra, pt. 4) and the far more necromancy since it is written ... (le-fi she-nimzah ...)." Here meaningful chapter "Restudy of the Bible" in Baron's Social the tossing of a coin would be as scientific a means as any to and Religious History, vol. 6. decide the issue. In addition to internal ambiguity, scribal prejudice may prove treacherous. Thus while our editions of Radak speak of 'Torah and science" at Isaiah 55:1, one Bodleian ms. gives "science" pride of place. Another is more revealing In all justice, however, to expect a definitive overall study at this point would be unrealistic. To date, only E. Lipschuetz's R. continued on p. 14 14

F. Talmage (continued from p. 13) needs to be done. After all the efforts of such scholars as Backer and Lipschuetz to explain exegetical terminology, one can stffl however. The first time the phrase appears the scribe writes read such a distinction between peshat and derash: "In the "science" first, strikes it out, and then writes "Torah and former the commentator bases himself on the plain meaning of science." In the second appearance of the phrase, he simply the text and on the context and the interpetation is objective. In writes "science and Torah." On the other hand, a third ms. omits the homiletic approach the commentator strives to interweave his the word "science!" In the scribal treatment of these three words, ideas with the text, even if the simple meaning of the language we have perhaps one of the pithiest summaries of a central and the context are at variance with his interpretation and his chapter in Jewish intellectual history. interpretation is subjective." (EJ 4:898f.) Now peshat may be "plain," "objective," or "literal," but as least as often as not the opposite is the case. For many exegetes, "you shall not boil a kid If this be the case with Radak, what is to be done with writers in its mother's milk" is not the peshat of the verse. For hardly far more obscure? Such an author as Shem Tob ben Isaac Shaprut any exegete would "God said," "God walked," "God grew wrote in one of the most difficult of the medieval styles in which angry" be peshat. Rather, peshat must be seen as not a fixed but Arabisms and Hispanicisms vie for obfuscation of the Hebrew. In a variable concept and the study of individual exegetes and their addition to this problem, his polemical work, The Touchstone, "modes of interpretation" must be pursued in that light. exists in two recensions. In preparing an edition of the "exege- tical" chapters of this work, Mrs. Libby Garshowitz of the University of Toronto decided upon synthesizing the Vatican and Florence mss., neither of which alone presents an eminently Turning to the historian, we may take note of what he has to readable text, and collating the variants in the apparatus. In this learn from the exegete. The latter, in interpreting the biblical way, the researcher may make his own decision as to the reading world, could not help but see it in terms of his own. For one such he wishes to employ. as David Kimhi, the prophets speak to the faithless of his own time; the Psalmist cries his own plaints. Rashi brings into relief the social and religious milieu of his time within the framework of his commentaries. (See Y. F. Baer, "Rashi ve-ha-meziut Finally, note should be taken of the increasing use of ha-historit shel zemano," Tarbiz XX (1949), 320-332). Extremely computers in medieval text editing. Latest developments in the instructive in this regard is the polemical material in biblical field (including Hebrew) are surveyed in Computers and Medieval commentaries. It is no coincidence that scholars who have Data Processing, ed. Jean Gagne, Institut d'Etudes Medievales, specialized in biblical exegesis have often cultivated the study of Universite de Montreal, C.P. 6128, Montreal 101, P.Q. polemics as well. The implicit in the anti-Christian polemic is often greater than the explicit. The place of midrash or allegory for example may often be determined by polemical considera- Of course, beyond the proper preparation of text editions lies tions. Thus Jacob ben Reuben's alleged anti-allegorical remark interpretive study of the material. Briefly, one can think of three (cited in EJ 4:895f.) is directed towards Christian allegory and areas (all of which overlap with each other) in which this does not necessarily reflect his own stance with respect to literature would be of prime interest: biblical studies and the allegorization of the text. In a similar fashion, Ibn Ezra, in the history of exegesis, social history, and intellectual history and introduction to his Torah commentary, or Radak in his turn do biography. not permit Christian "riddles." Yet they both allow themselves to allegorize when it suits their purposes. Similarly, an "anti- midrashic" pose in such polemicist-exegetes as Meir ben Simeon For the contemporary biblical exegete, the study of medieval ha-Meili or Radak may reflect more of an embarrassment in the exegesis has the value that the study of history of medicine has face of Christian attacks on the aggadah rather than a dissatis- for the physician. It lends perspective and insight into the faction with aggadic commentary as such. exegetical process. (See H. Ginsburg, "New Trends in Bible Criticism," Commentary X (1950), 276-284). Often too the insights of the medievals in understanding a verse or a passage are far from outdated. (For adroit use of rabbinic and medieval Finally, medieval exegesis is a mine of information concerning commentaries by a modern biblicist, see M. Greenberg, Under- the exegetes themselves. Our scholarly literature is not rich in standing Exodus, New York, 1969). For the study of the history biographies of our forebearers — especially where documentary of the text and massorah, it goes without saying that the evidence is lacking. In the absence of "confessions" or 'letters," commentaries are replete with testimonia. (See U. Simon, scholars must utilize other, perhaps less obvious, genres to see the "RABA ve-RaDaQ, Shte Gishot li-Mehemanut Nusah ha-Miqra," man behind the book. The biblical commentary is such a source. Shenaton Bar Han VI (1967-8), 191-236). With respect to (See, for example, H. H. Ben Sasson, "Ishiyuto shel ha-GRA understanding the nature of commentary itself, much basic work ve-hashpaato ha-historit," Zion XXXI (1966), 39-86). 15

Encyclopaedia Judaica on Jews of Latin America How much can be accomplished in the field of Latin American by Judith Elkin (Albion College) Jewish studies becomes clear in the article on Brazil, which makes use of the work of Arnold Wiznitzer, whose book on the Jews of Encyclopaedia Judaica (EJ) introduces into general Jewish colonial Brazil is one of the few to win itself a place in both Latin acholarship for the first time a systematically-organized body of American and Jewish scholarship. The article on Chile includes information concerning the Jewish communities of Latin Amer- information which will have to be incorporated into any history ica. The strengths of the entries are two-fold: they present in of the Allende era. organized form the total data now available concerning these communities; and 2) the best of them integrate available Small communities fare less well than large in EJ, lacking the knowledge concerning Latin American Jewry into the history and capacity for self-study or the scope to attract the attention of sociology of their matrix societies. The weakness of the entries is foreign scholars. The bibliography of the Central American due to the very uneven state of knowledge. countries, as well as those for certain larger communities such as that of Venezuela, expose the paucity of available knowledge. The novelty of this subject may be established by comparison Much of what we know continues to be derived from the work of with the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901, which devoted less than a Jacob Schatzky, who compiled the first directory of Latin column to contemporary Jewish life in "South and Central American Jewry in 1952. America," with two pages on Jews and conversos of the colonial period. Only Brazil rated individual treatment; information on Ihe EJ articles accurately reflect our knowledge of Latin the nascent Argentine community was to be found under American Jewish communities at this time: a melange of "Agricultural Colonies in —." conscientiously compiled (but necessarily incomplete) data; of insightful but unsystematic observation; and of some very exciting new scholarship targetted on areas of densest Jewish The contrasting extensive treatment of Latin American Jewish settlement. communities in EJ reflects both the growth in size of these communities and increased scholarly attention to them. This is Far and away the best entry of the series is that for Argentina, all the more noteworthy in that, as one Latin American historian no doubt for the reason that this largest of the Jewish observed, Europeans tend to look upon his countrymen as communities has been the object of the most study, both by its castaways from a shipwreck. Until recently, the same observation own communicants and by outside scholars. It is in fact the best was even more apt as applied to Latin American Jews. I can think precis of Argentine Jewish history extant, and in this character is of no other field in which a serious bibliography might list such a able to stand on its own. title as "Mexican Jewry in the Land of the Aztecs" (published in 1967, not 1567); or in which so much reliance is placed upon the The entry for Mexico provides us with a useful summary of observations of itinerant journalists (Jacob Beller's entertaining knowledge of the colonial period, but is less adequate for modern Jews of Latin America is cited throughout); or in which Israeli times. One could wish that more material, now available only in diplomats peripherally accredited to the region in question are unpublished PhD dissertations, had been incorporated and ac- called upon to add their expertise. knowledged.

All these and more are brought into EJ's Latin American round-up. And of necessity, since many Latin American Jewish communities are no more than geographical expressions. Summer Program in Jewish Studies at Harvard The Harvard University Summer School is having an expanded Ihe overview article on Latin America provides an excellent program in Jewish Studies in the Summer 1974 session (1 July - summary of the position of Jews from colonial times to the 23 August 1974). Courses to be offered include: Religion and present, condensing their varied experience in different parts of Philosophy in Medieval Judaism and History of the Jews in the continent into generalizations which fairly embrace far-flung Europe to the End of the Eighteenth Century (Prof. Isadore and distinct communities. The problem is the same as in general Twersky, Harvard); History of the Jews of Poland and Jews in Latin American studies: how to conceptualize concerning two Modern Times, from the French Revolution to 1880 (Prof. Yosef dozen different polities, with differing ethnic, economic, and Hayim Yerushalmi, Harvard); Modern Hebrew Literature: 1870 ecological components. Inherent in the approach is susceptibility to the Present and Hasidism in Modem Hebrew Literature (Prof. to errors of detail. But in the main, the authors avoid these, and Arnold J. Band, University of California-Los Angeles). in fact such statements as H.A.'s on the economic and social position of contemporary Latin American Jews is as applicable to Summer school announcements received after this issue went to press will Guatemala, with its 1100 Jews, as it is to Brazil with its 140,000. appear in the next Newsletter. 16

AJS Officers and Directors Bernard Reisman (Brandeis) Elected at Annual Meeting •Ruth Wisse (McGill) To serve until the annual meeting in 1975: President: Robert Alter (UC Berkeley) •Arnold J. Band (UCLA) Charles Berlin (Harvard) Vice-Presidents: Robert Chazan (Ohio) •Daniel J. Elazar (Temple) Michael Fishbane (Brandeis) •Marvin Fox (Ohio State) Jonathan Paradise (Minnesota) •William W. Hallo (Yale) Benjamin Ravid (Brandeis) •Michael A. Meyer (HUC-JIR) Melvin Scult (Vassar) •Frank Talmage (Toronto) Jeffrey H. Tigay (Penn) Secretary-treasurer: To serve until the annual meeting in 1976: •Nahum Sarna (Brandeis) •Marvin I. Herzog (Columbia) Board of Directors: •Avraham Holtz (JTS) The officers and the following •Lou H. Silberman (Vanderbflt) To serve until the annual meeting in 1974: •Marshall Sklare (Brandeis) Lawrence V. Berman (Stanford) •Yosef H. Yerushalmi (Harvard) •Barry M. Gittlen (Baltimore Hebrew College) Honorary Directors: Nahum N. Glatzer (Boston University) Leon A. Jick (Brandeis) Sheldon Isenberg (Florida) Baruch A. Levine (NYU) Alfred Ivry (Cornell) Stephen A. Kaufman (Chicago) Eric M. Meyers (Duke) *New terms of office.

ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES Widener Library M Harvard University Cam bridge, Mass. 02138

FIRST CLASS

AJS NEWSLETTER No. 10 January 1974