Rethinking Diaspora – serie

Jewish customs and traditions about death, burial and mourning are numerous, diverse and intriguing. They are considered by many to have a respectable pedigree that goes back to the earliest rabbinic period. In order to examine the accurate historical origins of many of them, an international conference was held at Tel Aviv University in 2010 and experts dealt with many aspects of the topic. This volume includes most of the papers given then, as well as a few added later. What emerges are a wealth of fresh material and perspectives, as well as the realization that the high Middle Ages saw a set of exceptional innovations, some of which later became central to traditional Judaism while others were gradually abandoned. Were these innovations influenced by Christian practice? Which prayers and poems reflect these innovations? What do the sources tell us about changing attitudes to death and life-after death? Are tombstones an important guide to historical developments? Answers to these questions are to be found in this unusual, illuminating and readable collection of essays that have been well documented, carefully edited and well indexed.

The Nuremberg Miscellany [Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Bibliothek, 8° Hs. 7058 (Rl. 203)] is a unique work of scribal art and illumination. Its costly parchment leaves are richly adorned and illustrated with multicolour paint and powdered gold. It was penned and illustrated in southern Germany – probably Swabia – in 1589 and is signed by a certain Eliezer b. Mordechai the Martyr. The Miscellany is a relatively thin manuscript. In its present state, it holds a total of 46 folios, 44 of which are part of the original codex and an additional bifolio that was attached to it immediately or soon after its production. The book is a compilation of various Hebrew texts, most of which pertain to religious life. Others are home liturgies, Biblical exegeses, comments on rites and customs, moralistic texts, homiletic and ethical discourses, and an extensive collection of home liturgies, its major part being dedicated to the life cycle.The unparalleled text compilation of the Nuremberg Miscellany on the one hand, and the naïve, untrained illustrations on the other hand, are puzzling. Its illustrations are hardly mindful of volume, depth or perspective, and their folk-art nature suggests that an unprofessional artist, possibly even the scribe himself, may have executed them. Whoever the illustrator was, his vast knowledge of Jewish lore unfolds layer after layer in a most intricate way. His sharp eye for detail renders the images he executed a valid representation of contemporary visual culture.The iconography of the Nuremberg Miscellany, with its 55 decorated leaves, featuring 25 text illustrations, falls into two main categories: biblical themes, and depictions of daily life, both sacred and mundane. While the biblical illustrations rely largely on artistic rendering and interpretation of texts, the depictions of daily life are founded mainly on current furnishings and accoutrements in Jewish homes. The customs and rituals portrayed in the miscellany attest not only to the local Jewish Minhag, but also to the influence and adaptation of local Germanic or Christian rites. They thus offer first-hand insights to the interrelations between the Jews and their neighbors. Examined as historical documents, the images in the Nuremberg Miscellany are an invaluable resource for reconstructing Jewish daily life in Ashkenaz in the early modern period. In a period from which only scanty relics of Jewish material culture have survived, retrieving the pictorial data from images incorporated in literary sources is of vital importance in providing the missing link. Corroborated by similar objects from the host society and with descriptions in contemporary Jewish and Christian written sources, the household objects, as well as the ceremonial implements depicted in the manuscript can serve as effective mirrors for the material culture of an affluent German Jewish family in the Early Modern period.The complete Nuremberg Miscellany is reproduced in the appendix of this book.

The role of Jews in the economic and material culture of medieval Europe has become an important focus of modern Jewish Studies. Scholars have increasingly emphasized the shared or entangled character of Jewish and Christian culture, noting that Jews used many of the same objects as their Christian neighbors. Yet these objects are generally assumed to have been produced primarily by Christian craftspeople organized in guilds. Jewish artisans, however, are also attested in a wide range of sources, although this field has thus far received insufficient scholarly attention.Although evidence for medieval Jewish craftspeople appears relatively scarce in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean regions preserve a broader and richer documentary base. Even so, sources from across medieval Europe reveal Jews working as turners, dyers, window makers, weavers, goldsmiths, armorers, dicers, belt makers, glaziers, playing-card makers, bricklayers, tailors, watchmakers, and mousetrap makers, among many other professions. These references raise important questions concerning the most common occupations pursued by Jews, their clientele, and their relationships with Christian artisans and guild structures. Bringing together an interdisciplinary range of approaches and regional perspectives, this peer-reviewed volume seeks to address these questions and to reassess the place of Jewish craftspeople in medieval European society.

Given Leopold Zunz’s difficult German style and the tight conciseness of his presentation, it is hardly surprising that no English translation of his Die Ritus (1859) has been published. The Hebrew edition of 2016 does not aim to place this pioneering work in the context of Jewish liturgical history, sometimes opts for a paraphrase, rather than a literal translation, and does not always make it easy to distinguish Zunz from later scholarship. There are undoubtedly English-speaking scholars in current academia who are unacquainted with German and Modern Hebrew but would benefit from reading this classic study. This volume therefore links Die Ritus with Zunz’s other scholarly works by way of a brief introduction, provides a faithful translation, without the result reading more like German than English. It reproduces Zunz’s footnotes in his own highly abbreviated form but offers as an appendix to the introductory essay a bibliographical list that explains references that may not be obvious even to a learned reader. Readers of English will now be able to reach their own conclusions about the stature of Zunz, about his contributions to the study of Jewish liturgy, and, indeed, about any shortcomings that there may have been in his scholarly, theological and political tendencies.

Being the first established prayer in Jewish history, the Amidah prayer serves as a faithful reflection of the circumstances in which it emerged and developed. This book endeavors to elucidate the intellectual necessity behind this significant liturgical evolution, as well as the internal theological and liturgical intricacies, and the external political dilemmas faced by Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the “Yavneh Period.”The transition from the first to the second century CE was marked by the violent conclusion of the Second Temple period, culminating in the Great Revolt's suppression and the Temple's destruction in Jerusalem, and the emergence and evolution of Judaism from its ruins.A key milestone in this period was the early development of the Amidah prayer, which became a central pillar in forming and reinforcing the concepts of community and nationhood. As communal prayer, it encapsulated the essence of Judaism as understood by the Tana'im and the ideology of the nascent Jewish leadership. It also represented the Tana'im leadership's strategic navigation amidst the dominion of the Roman Empire and the ongoing theological engagement with the evolving Christian faith. The enduring legacy and success of the Yavneh period are still evident in Judaism today.

This monograph deals with the contribution of Soviet Jews, soldiers and commanders in the Red Army, to the victory over Nazi Germany as reflected through the private correspondence between the front and the civilian rear. The basis for the research is the author's unique collection of personal items (letters, diaries, documents, and photographs) of Jews who served in the Red Army and members of their families. This collection was supplemented by archival documents and information obtained from academic and popular publications, periodicals, and memoirs of the participants in the war and their families.The book elucidates a wide spectrum of topics related to the work of the military field post. The topics encompass not only battles but also everyday military life, soldiers' personal lives, relations between men and women, the work of the military censorship, letters of Soviet soldiers and officers in Yiddish, and Soviet Jews’ correspondence with foreign entities.

The volume offers a broad introduction to the rabbinical literature written in the two major traditional Jewish languages of Europe: Yiddish, the language which arose in the Middle Ages amongst the Jews of the German lands and was brought to many other lands, and Ladino (or Judezmo or Judeo-Spanish), the language which originated amongst the Jews of medieval Iberia and after their expulsions was carried to many other places.The scope is wide-ranging. Some of the contributions highlight the lives and work of outstanding rabbinical figures who wrote in Yiddish or Ladino, and the crucial role they played in the transmission of rabbinical knowledge among the more popular sectors of their communities, as well as in the shaping of the Yiddish and Ladino reading public. Close attention is paid to long-established genres such as the highly-popular Biblical commentaries, as exemplified by the Me'am lo'ez in Ladino (1730‒1899); prayer books and liturgical compositions in prose and verse; responsa collections; guides to religious observance; moralistic works; as well as more modern genres having rabbinical content such as the periodical press that appeared from the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Jewish communities of the Diaspora underwent radical cultural, religious, social and political changes

Jacob Mann (1888–1940), a major figure in the fields of medieval Jewish history and rabbinic literature, was an early user of the Cairo Genizah materials to improve our understanding of these fields. This volume, based on papers delivered at a conference at St. John’s College, Cambridge, assesses his scholarly contributions in the light of more recent developments in these areas. Yosef Ofer, Moshe Lavee, and Gila Wachman deal with Mann’s work on the triennial Torah-reading cycle and hafṭarot, synagogue homilies, and a previously unknown midrashic work from the land of Israel. Ruth Langer and Stefan Reif appraise Mann’s liturgical studies. Adiel Breuer, Sacha Stern, and Jennifer Grayson evaluate Mann’s work on halakhic literature, the rabbinic calendar, and the history of the Babylonian yeshivot. Menahem Ben-Sasson reviews Mann’s article on messianic movements during the Crusades. Miriam Frankel and Yoram Erder deal with Mann’s contributions to Karaite studies. Richard Sarason provides an updated biography of Mann and bibliography of his scholarly writings. Together, they portray Mann as a scholar who was captivated by the riches of the Cairo Genizah and devoted his academic career to their exploration and publication.