Front Matter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. i-340 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486696 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:29 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
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AJS VOL, XXI,NO. 2 1996
t''i SPi
TheJournalof the Associationfor JewishStudies
('I
REVIE
Volume XXI, Number2
1996
ASSOCIATION FORJEWISHSTUDIES WALTHAM,MASSACHUSETTS
AJS Review EDITOR:
NormanA. Stillman,University of Oklahoma EDITORS: ASSOCIATE
Nehama Aschkenasy,University of Connecticut,Stamford Rela Geffen, GratzCollege RobertGoldenberg,State University of New Yorkat Stony Brook BenjaminC. I. Ravid, BrandeisUniversity MarshaRozenblit,University of Maryland EDITOR: CORRESPONDING
Lloyd P. Gartner,Tel-Aviv University BOOKREVIEWEDITOR:
GaryRendsburg,CornellUniversity ASSISTANT: EDITORIAL
JohnBorrego TheAJSReview(ISSN 0364-0094) is publishedtwice annuallyby the Association
forJewishStudies.
forconsideration shouldbe sentto Prof.NormanA. Stillman,History Manuscripts 455 W.Lindsey,Universityof Oklahoma, Norman,OK73019-0535. Department, Booksforreviewshouldbe sentto Prof.GaryA. Rendsburg, Dept.of NearEastern Hall,CornellUniversity, Studies,360Rockefeller Ithaca,N.Y.14853-2502. forJewishStudies C 1996by theAssociation IN THEUNITEDSTATES OFAMERICA MANUFACTURED
AJSREVIEW FORJEWISHSTUDIES THEJOURNALOFTHEASSOCIATION VOLUMEXXI,NUMBER2, 1996 Articles 273
L. SATLOW MICHAEL "Textsof Terror":RabbinicTexts, Speech Acts, and the Controlof Mores
299
FRAM EDWARD PerceptionandReceptionof RepentantApostatesin MedievalAshkenaz and PremodernPoland
341
YORAM BILU DybbukandMaggid:TwoCulturalPatternsof AlteredConsciousness in Judaism Book Reviews
367
David A. Glatt.ChronologicalDisplacementin Biblical and Related Literatures SCOTTNOEGEL
369
RichardA. Henshaw.Female and Male: The CulticPersonnel: The Bible and the Rest of the AncientNear East AVIGDORHUROWITZ
372
FrederickE. Greenspahn.WhenBrothersDwell Together:ThePreeminenceof YoungerSiblingsin the HebrewBible BRIN GERSHON
376
LeilaLeahBronner.FromEve to Esther:RabbinicReconstructions of Biblical Women MAYER GRUBER
379
in the Bible:A FeministApproach IlanaPardes.Countertraditions ANNEKROOK
CONTENTS
ii
381
MosheAberbach.Labor,Craftsand Commercein AncientIsrael H. CORBETT JOHN
384
SaulM. Olyan.A ThousandThousandsServedHim:Exegesisand the NamingofAngels in AncientJudaism JOHNREEVES
386
JamesH. Charlesworth,ed. TheDead Sea Scrolls:Hebrew,Aramaic, and Greek Textswith English Translations.Vol. 1: Rule of the Communityand RelatedDocuments GARYA. RENDSBURG
389
BilhahNitzan. QumranPrayerand ReligiousPoetry HANANESHEL
392
Daniel Sperber.Magic and Folklorein RabbinicLiterature RIVKAULMER
394
RichardG. Marks.TheImage of Bar Kokhbain TraditionalJewish Literature:False Messiahand NationalHero STEPHENBENIN
396
MarkR. Cohen. UnderCrescentand Cross: TheJews in the Middle Ages BOWMAN STEVEN
400
Arie Schippers.Spanish Hebrew Poetry and the Arabic Literary Tradition:Arabic Themesin HebrewAndalusianPoetry ROTH NORMAN
402
MichaelFishbane.TheKiss of God: Spiritualand MysticalDeath in Judaism IRAROBINSON
403
Elliot Wolfson. Througha SpeculumThatShines: Visionand Imaginationin MedievalJewishMysticism GILLER PINCHAS
406
RobertBonfil.JewishLife in RenaissanceItaly HOWARDADELMAN
CONTENTS
408
iii
Allan Arkush.MosesMendelssohnand the Enlightenment COHEN JONATHAN
413
AlanSilverstein.AlternativestoAssimilation:TheResponseofReform Judaismto AmericanCulture,1840-1930 ALAN LEVENSON
416
David Cesarani. The "JewishChronicle" andAnglo-Jewry, 1841-1991 MILTONSHAIN
418
AronRodrigue.ImagesofSephardiandEasternJewriesin Transition: TheTeachersof theAllianceIsraelite Universelle,1860-1939 MALINO FRANCES
421
LauraZittrainEisenberg.My Enemy'sEnemy:Lebanonin the Early ZionistImagination,1900-1918 MEIRZAMIR
423
Tony Kushner. The Holocaust and Liberal Imagination: A Social and
CulturalHistory MELVINSHEFFTZ
426
MosheY. Herczl.Christianityand theHolocaustof HungarianJewry A. JELINEK YESHAYAHU
429
ReenaSigmanFriedman.TheseAreOurChildren:JewishOrphanages in the UnitedStates, 1880-1925 PAMELAS. NADELL
432
Guy H. Haskell.FromSofiato Jaffa: TheJews of BulgariaandIsrael STEVENBOWMAN
434
EthicsofResponsibility:PluralisticApproaches WalterS. Wurzburger. to CovenantalEthics Louis E. NEWMAN
437
Eliezer Schweid. Democracy and Halakhah MICHAELWYSCHOGROD
441
Collected Studies
iv
465
CONTENTS
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"Texts of Terror": Rabbinic Texts, Speech Acts, and the Control of Mores Author(s): Michael L. Satlow Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 273-297 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486697 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:40 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
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"TEXTSOF TERROR": RABBINICTEXTS,SPEECHACTS, AND THE CONTROLOF MORES by MICHAEL L. SATLOW In 1962, J. L. Austin publisheda set of lectures entitledHow to Do Thingswith Words.'In this foundingdocumentof speechact theory,Austin arguesthatlanguagenot only can say things,but it can also do things(what he calls the illocutionaryforce of language).2Austin'ssignalexampleof the illocutionaryforce of languageis the wedding ceremony,in which words properlyrecited actually create a marriage.3Later studentsof speech act theoryhave expandedthe applicationof this insight:all language,writtenor spoken,has an illocutionaryforce thatdependson the contextof the speech act.4All languagenot only, or even primarily,says; it also does. Referencesto theMishnah,Tosefta,SipreNumbers,SipreDeuteronomy, BabylonianTalmud andPalestinianTalmudare indicatedrespectivelyby m., t., SipreNum.,SipreDeut., b. andy., followedby an abbreviationfor the nameof the tractate.A versionof this paperwas readat the 1993 AAR/SBLAnnualMeetingin the "HistoryandLiteratureof EarlyJudaism"section. In additionto the participantsof thatsectionandthe two anonymousrefereesfor thisjournal, I owe thanksto severalpeople who readthis paperin one or anotherof its variousformsand offeredmany helpfulsuggestions:Shaye Cohen,RichardKalmin,Benny Kraut,Holt Parker, Amy Richlin,BenjaminSommer,RichardSarason,and JudithRomneyWegner.I, of course, remainresponsiblefor the ideasandremainingerrors. 1. J. L. Austin, How to Do Thingswith Words(Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1962). 2. Ibid.,pp. 4-11, 94-107. 3. Ibid.,pp. 5-6. 4. I returnbelow to this issue in greaterdetail.The scholarlycontroversyover the limits of the applicationof speech act theoryis beyondthe scope of this paper,but see especially
AJSReview21/2 (1996):273-297
273
274
MICHAEL L. SATLOW
Rarely have scholars applied the questions developed in speech act theoryto the rabbinictexts of late antiquity.5What did rabbinictexts do? Recent scholarship,especiallyin anthropologicaland sociologicalliterature on religion and in feminist film criticism,has shown that one thing that texts (however broadly defined) do is to constructand reproducesocial relationswithina culture.6Movies, for example,by representingas "normal" or glorifyingculturalnorms--even (or perhapsbetter,especially)on a deep level--serve to reinforcecurrentculturalnormsand to reproducethem for the future.Even ostensiblyobjectivescientificdiscoursehas been shownto be a culturalproduct:the modempresentation,for example,of reproductive theoriesuses languagethatreflectsandperpetuatesgenderstereotypes.7 If visualmediaarethe primarymode for the transmittalof culturalnorms in thepresentday,textswerean importantmodeof transmittal amongthe elite in antiquity.If we assumethatthe rabbisformedsmall social groupswithin a much largersocial context,and were distinguishedby theirtextualstudy thentheserabbinictextsmay havebeentheprimary and"text-centeredness," meansby which the rabbisattemptedto reinforceand reproducesanctioned culturalnorms.8Thatis, a groupthatgives muchauthorityto receivedtexts John R. Searle,SpeechActs: An Essay in the Philosophyof Language(Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversityPress, 1969). Throughoutthis paperI follow the conclusionsof Petrey, who arguesthatall language,includingtextuallanguage(for which Austindid not allow), is thatis, has illocutionaryforce(SandyPetrey,SpeechActsandLiteraryTheory "performative," York: Routledge, 1990],pp. 22-41). [New Torahand 5. One notableexceptionis StevenD. Fraade,FromTraditionto Commentairy: in the MidrashSifreto Deuteronomy(Albany:StateUniversityof New York Its Interpretation Press, 1991).FraadearguesthatSifreDeuteronomyhadan illocutionaryeffecton its audience, helpingrabbisto establishgroupidentificationandsolidarity:"Ina sense,as theyworkthrough the commentarythe commentaryworksthrought[sic] them,"(p. 19). I argueherethatdisparate force. traditions,like a fixed text, can also havea transformative 6. See forexamplesLauraMulvey,"VisualPleasureandNarrativeCinema,"Screen16, no. 3 (1975):6-18; Teresade Lauretis,AliceDoesn't:Feminism,Semiotics,Cinema(Bloomington: IndianaUniversityPress, 1984);JudithMayne,"FeministFilm Theoryand Criticism,"Signs 11 (1986): 81-100. 7. See Emily Martin,"TheEgg andthe Sperm:How Sciencehas Constructeda Romance Basedon StereotypicalMale-FemaleRoles,"Signs 16 (1991):485-501. 8. Rabbinicsocialorganizationis poorlyunderstood.Lee Levinepostulatesthatin Palestine in themid-latethirdcenturytherabbisformeda "class,"althoughhis use of thetermis somewhat vague (Lee Levine, TheRabbinicClass of RomanPalestine [New York:JewishTheological Seminaryand Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1989], pp. 13-14). Goodblattand Gafni have debated whetherrabbisin Babyloniawere organizedin disciple circles or largerlearningacademies.
TEXTSOFTERROR
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would most likely attempt,consciously or unconsciously,to embed, and thus perpetuate,its societal strategieswithinits own literaryproductions.If we accept the premisethat the rabbisin late antiquityhad limitedjuridical power,then the only way by which they could have promotedtheirvalues and normswould have been throughrhetoricalpersuasion.9Rabbinictexts, in this context,can be seen as agentsof persuasion."0 One areathatthe rabbisattemptedto regulateand controlwas sexuality. In even the most coercivesociety,a complexmix of strategiesmustoperate in orderto enforceculturalsexualnorms.A society mightemploystrategies as diverseas honorand shame,invective,and even ideals of truth,in order to promotesanctionedsexualbehaviorof the individualwithinthatsociety."I These"technologiesof sex,"as Foucaulttermsthem,areintendedto penetrate into domainsthatthe law cannot. See DavidGoodblatt,RabbinicInstructionin SassanianBabylonia(Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1975); and idem, "New Developmentsin the Study of the BabylonianYeshivot,"Zion 46 (1981): 14-38 (in Hebrew);IsaiahGafni,"YeshivaandMetivta,"Zion43 (1978): 12-37 (in Hebrew). Both of these alternativessharethe assumptionthatthese groupswereorganizedexpresslyfor the purposeof studyandlearningof texts.The intendedreaderof rabbinictexts, especiallythe Talmudim,is also not well understood.For some preliminarycomments,see DavidKraemer, "TheIntendedReaderandthe Bavli,"Prooftexts13 (1993): 125-140, esp. 132-133. 9. Rabbinicjurisdictionover the punishmentof offenderswho did not voluntarilysubmit to the rabbiniccourtsis not well understood.It appears,however,thatonly in exceptionalcases did the rabbisadministerpunishmentsotherthan flogging, and even then they were said to have actedillegally.See Origen,Ep. ad Africanus14 (PatrologiaGraeca,11:41);b. Git. 67b; b. B. Qam. 59a-b. See furtherIsaiahM. Gafni, TheJews of Babyloniain the TalmudicEra (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter1990), pp. 99-100 (in Hebrew);JacobNeusner,A History of theJews in Babylonia(5 vols.; Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1965-70), 2:282-287, 3:220-29; Martin Goodman,State and Society in Roman Galilee, A.D. 132-212, (Totowa,N.J.: Rowman& Allanheld,1983),p. 123. 10. I makeno argumentthroughoutthis paperon the thornyissue of whether,andwhen, these "texts"circulatedin oral or writtenform. While my argumentis neaterif we assume assume that they circulatedin writtenform at a fairly early stage of their genesis, it is not invalidatedif we assume an oral circulation(whetherin a ptiblic context via sermonsor a narrowercontext in individualrabbinicschools or academies).Althoughit strikesme as unlikelythatthe texts consideredhere,manyof which arehighly stylized,circulatedorally,it is likely thatthe attitudesexpressedin themwerepartof publicdiscourse.I thanka refereefor raisingthis issue. 11. Fora statementon how thesestrategiesof control,amongothers,weremanipulated and trans.Robert deployed,see MichelFoucault,TheHistoryof Sexuality,vol. 1,An Introduction, Hurley(New York:RandomHouse, 1980).
MICHAEL L. SATLOW
276
Withinthe extantrabbinicdocumentsproducedin lateantiquitytoo there exist "technologiesof sex," or similarly,"technologiesof gender,"texts that soughtto assertsome nonlegalmeasureof controlover sexualitywhile fortifyingandreproducingexistentgenderrelations.12In this paperI analyze one suchtechnology:the constructionof womenas sexualobjects.Rabbinic texts thatdiscussmale sexualbehavioremploydifferentrhetoricalstrategies than those that discuss female sexual behavior.Whereasthe rabbinictexts on male sexualconductspeakto and directlythreatenmen, those on female sexualconductspeakaboutwomen,oftenwith a violenceof language.After demonstratingthe formaldifferencesbetweenrabbinictexts thatattemptto controlmale and female sexualbehavior,I arguethatthe insightsof speech act theory,especially as used in modem feministcriticism,can be applied fruitfullyto these sources.
Talkingabout Women Rabbinictexts that discuss female sexualbehaviorare oblique.Women, in these texts, are portrayedas objects.Insteadof addressingthemselvesto women, the texts are about women. Moreover,these texts furtherobjectify women by comparingfemale sexualityto food, and often these discussions use violent language. Nowhere in these rabbinictexts do violence and unsanctionedfemale sexual behaviorintersectmore clearly than they the treatmentof the so.ta. Accordingto Numbers5, a man who suspectshis wife of adulteryhas a rightto bringher to the priest,who conductsa ritualand forcesher to drink a potion, "the water of bitterness.""The suspectedadulteressis called the sota. Rabbinic,especiallytannaitic,discussionof the so.tago farbeyondthe biblicalprescriptionsin threerespects:(1) theyemphasizethatthesota ordeal is public;(2) they exaggeratethe humiliationof the sota; and (3) they apply 12. See Teresade Lauretis,Technologiesof Gender(Bloomington:IndianaUniversity Press, 1987),pp. 1-30. 13. Whatthispassagemeansin its biblicalcontext--especially its similarityordissimilarity to trialsby ordeal- is not ourconcern.In this articleI deal only with the rabbinicuse of this "TheStrange passage.Forsome commentson its biblicalcontext,see TikvahFrymer-Kensky, 34 (1984): 11-26. Case of the SuspectedSotah(NumbersV 11-31)," VetusTestamentum
TEXTSOFTERROR
277
the principleof "measurefor measure"to the ordeal.14Thesediscussionsare also markedwith gory and vivid detailand violence of language.Since the rabbis,by their own admission,are describinga ritualthat has long since becomeobsolete(if it was everin factenacted),thesetextsbecomethe actual producersof meaning." Accordingto theBible,theso.taordealinvolvesthreeactors:the suspicious husband,the suspectedwife, and the priest who conductsthe ordeal.The ordealitself takesplace beforethe priest(Num5:15), wherehe "bring[s]her forwardand [has] her standbeforethe Lord,"(Num 5:16). Thereare hints thatthe ordealbegins insidethe Tabernacle(Num5:17) andends at the altar (Num 5:25). Thereis no hint of publicparticipationin the biblicalaccount. Accordingto the Mishnah,however,the suspectedwife is adjuredby the GreatCourt(insteadof by a single priest),beforebeing led outsidewhere "anyonewho wantsto see comesandsees... andall thewomenarepermitted to see her, as it is said, '... and all the women shall take warningnot to imitateyourwantonness'[Ezek23:48]."16The publicnatureof the ordealis essential:forthe women,at least,she is madeexample.Eventhe suspicionof adulteryputsa womanat risk of publicdisplayandhumiliation.17Thisaspect of the rabbinicconstructionof the ordealis emphasizedin the Babylonian Talmud:"Rabasaid, 'All who wantto see hersee' [citingthe mishnah],there is no differencebetweenmen and women but women are obligatedto see
14. Milgromarguesthat(2) and(3) maybe inherentin thebiblicaltext.See JacobMilgrom, JewishPublicationSociety,1989),p. 303, Numbers,TheJPS TorahCommentary (Philadelphia: nn. 55, 64. 15. See t. Sot. 14:2(ed. S. Lieberman,TheTosefta[4 vols.; New York:JewishTheological Seminaryof America,1955-88], 3.2:235-236). 16. m. Sota 1:4, 6 (ed. H. Albeck,TheMishnah[rpt.6 vols.; Tel Aviv:Dvir, 1988],3:234, 235). All translationsof rabbinictexts are my own. All translationsof biblicaltexts are from Tanakh:A New Translationof the Holy Scripturesaccordingto the TraditionalHebrewText JewishPublicationSociety,1985).Sometranslations havebeenslightlymodified. (Philadelphia: 17. Foranotherexampleon thelinkbetweenthesuspectedadulteressandpublichumiliation, see SipreDeut.26 (ed. L. Finkelstein,SipreonDeuteronomy [rpt.New York:JewishTheological Seminary,1969], 36-37); SipreNum. 137 (ed. H. S. Horovitz,SipreNumbers[rpt.Jerusalem: Shalem, 1992], 183); b. Yoma76b. On this tradition,see Saul Lieberman,Greekin Jewish Palestine (New York:Jewish TheologicalSeminary,1942), pp. 162-164; Steven D. Fraade, HebrewUnion "SipreDeuteronomy26 (ad Deut. 3:23): How Consciousthe Composition?" CollegeAnnual54 (1983):245-301. The rolethathonorandshameplayedin Jewishsocieties in late antiquityis obscure.
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her..."'"Womenmust see the suspectedadulteressto scarethem into proper behavior. Rabbinicsourcesgo beyond the public shamingof the adulteress,prescribingactualhumiliationand physicalabuse.Accordingto the Bible, the priestbegins the so.taordealby baringthe woman'shead (Num 5:18). The discourseof the Mishnahis farmoreviolent: Thepriestgrabshergarments-iftheyrip,theyrip;if theytearopen,theytear open- untilhe revealsherheartandloosensherhair.... If shewascovered inwhitegarments, hecoversherinblackgarments; if shehasgoldjewelryand andrings-theystrip[them]fromher,in orderto disgrace her. chains,earrings Andafterwards he bringsEgyptian ropeandbindsheraboveherbreasts.'9 The Mishnah'sdescriptionof the ordealfinds no biblical support.Not only is the woman publicly accused of her transgression,but she is first subjectedto physicalviolence and then disfigured.She is forcedto hold her offering"in orderto oppressher."20This languageresurfaceslater:when the Mishnahdescribeswhathappensto the potion(whichhas a sanctifiedstatus) if the so.taconfesses in the middle of the ordeal,it statesthatalthoughshe has confessed,"theycajole her and force her to drinkagainsther will."21R. Yehudahexpandson this in the Tosefta,saying that "theyforce her mouth openwith tongs."22 The Mishnah,attemptingto link the illnesses incurredby the guiltysota to her activities,delineatesa theoryof "measurefor measure."23Everyone receivesjust andequalrecompensefor theiractions.The Toseftaexpandson this theme: A. Thusyoufindwiththesotathatthemeasure withwhichshemeasured they measureoutto her.Shestoodbeforehim[i.e.,herlover]so thatshe would the prieststandsherbeforeall, to showher be prettybeforehim,therefore 18. b. Sota 8b, my emphasis. 19. m. Sota 1:5-6 (ed. Albeck,3:234-235). See alsoy. Sota 1:7, 17a. 20. On this phrase,see m. Sota 2:1 (ed. Albeck,3:237);b. Sota 14a;y. Sota 2:1, 17d. On the meal offering,see AdrianaDestro, TheLaw of Jealousy:Anthropologyof Sotah(Atlanta: ScholarsPress, 1989),pp. 89-106. 21. m. Sota 3:3 (ed. Albeck,3:240). 22. t. Sota 2:3 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:159). The same phraseis used in m. Sanh. 7:2 (ed. Albeck,4:189-190), to describehow executionby burningis carriedout. 23. m. Sota 1:7 (ed. Albeck,3:235),citedbelow.
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disgrace,as it is said, "[andthe] priestwill have her standbeforethe Lord,"
[Num5:16]. forhim,24 thusthe priesttakesthe covering B. Sheputon a head-covering fromherheadandplaces it at her feet. C. She braidedher hairfor him, thusthe priestloosens it. D. She adornedher face for him, thus her face turnsgreen [fromthe potion]. E. She paintedher eyelids for him, thusher eyes bulge. F. She pointedat himwith a finger[thusdesignatinghim as herlover],25 thushernails are clipped. G. She showedhim herflesh,thusthe priestripshergarmentandshows her disgraceto many. thus the priest brings H. She girded herself in an undergarment,26 her above her and binds breasts, Egyptianrope I. And all who wantcome and see. J. She offeredhim herthigh,thusherthighfalls off. K. She receivedhim on her stomach,thusherbelly withers. L. She fed him dainties,thusher offeringis the food of beasts. M. She gave him fine wine to drinkin fine cups, thusthe priestcauses herto drinkbitterwatersin a vessel of clay.27 Whereas the Mishnah progresses according to the order of the ordeal (each
part of the ordeal is shown to have a correspondencein the suspected adulteress'sbehavior),the Toseftaprogressesaccordingto the suspectedact of adultery,linkingeach activityto a partof the ordeal.Thus,althoughthe effects of the potion (D, E) obviously result from her drinkingthe potion (M),
the Toseftaplaces the formerfirst. The effect of the passageis to highlight the violent punishmentsthat result from every (suspected)activity of the (suspected)adulteress.Everyactivityleadingto the suspectedact of adultery is violentlypunished.28 24. This follows Lieberman'ssuggestion(Saul Lieberman,ToseftaKi-fshutah:A ComprehensiveCommentaryon the Tosefta[10 vols.; New York:Jewish TheologicalSeminary, 1955-88], 8:637 [in Hebrew].HereafterabbreviatedTos.Kip.). The force of this action--a womanputtingon a head-coveringfor her lover-is obscure,but seemsto implythatthis is a formof dressingup for her lover. 25. FollowingLieberman,ibid.
ibid.: y'?sr. 26. Following Lieberman,
27. t. Sota 3:2-4 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:159). 28. See also t. Sota 4:10 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:174).
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In fact, the Toseftaandothertannaitictexts go beyondthe articulationof "measureformeasure".Theadulterouswife is punishedbeyondhermeasure. "Becauseshe set her eyes upon anotherwho is not fittingfor her,what she What requestedis not given to her and what she has is taken fromher."29 she has, accordingto the midrash,is her honor.3" A baraitaemphasizesthis: "Shimonben Eleazartaught,even if it is a pure woman who drinks[the ordeal],her end is that she will die by evil diseases because she caused It does notmatterthatthesota was in herselfto enterthis greatuncertainty."3' factinnocent:the punishmentsandhumiliationthatshe enduredas partof the ordealarejustifiedby the very fact thatshe put herselfunderthe suspicion thatled to the ordeal.Whetheror not she is guilty of adultery,she is guilty of at least acting like an adulteress,and this alonejustifiesher humiliation, even death. Writtenat a time when the ordealhad long been obsolete,these rabbinic in tannaiticandamoraic,PalestinianandBabylonian discussionsof the so.ta, sources,are markedby violent language.The violence of the treatmentof the sota is accompaniedby an objectification:she becomes an examplefor all Jewishwomen.Herdisplayanddisfigurementaredesignedto go beyond individualpunishment.The texts themselves,and perhapsthe producersof them,seem to takepleasurein the vividnessof the accounts.Theymakethe suspectedadulteressinto a didacticobject. If the case of thesota is exceptionalbecauseit refersto adultery,a similar (althoughless violent)patterncan be seen with referenceto premaritalsex. sex is, in theHebrewBible,prohibitedforneithermennorwomen. Premarital The rabbistoo do not prohibitpre-maritalsex, but they clearlydisapproved of females (and to a lesser extent, males too) engagingin it. One of the rhetoricalstrategiesby which they expressedthis disapprovalwas by use of the termzonah. The term appearsfrequentlyin the Bible, and commonly In rabbinicliterature,the termis mostoften means"whore"or "adulteress."32 withreferenceto the restrictionon a priestmarryinga zonah(Lev interpreted 21:7):whompreciselymay a priestnot marry?Severalrabbinicsourceslabel 29. t. Sota 4:16 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:175-176). 30. SipreNum.21 (ed. Horovitz,25). 31. y. So.ta3:5, 19a. See alsoy. Sota 1:5, 17a;4:1, 19c. 32. See, for examples,Lev 21:7, 14; Josh 2:1, 6:17, 22, 25; Ezek 16:30,35. See further S. Loewenstamm,"mlT,triat", EncyclopediaBiblica (9 vols.: Jerusalem:Bialik Institute, 1964-88), 2:935-937 (in Hebrew).
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a woman who has had some type of nonmaritalintercourseas a zonah.33 In fact, there is a strongtraditionthat a woman who has had any kind of non-maritalintercourseis termeda zonah: "RabbiEleazarsays, even an unmarriedman who has intercoursewith an unmarriedwoman not for the At the same time, the termis sake of marriage[engagesin be'ilat zenut]."34 As a result,womenwho engagedin pre-marital used to referto prostitutes.35 intercoursewere labeled as "whores,"and in some cases even suffered legal disability.Hence, althoughin rabbinicsourcesboth men and women were discouragedfrom premaritalintercourse,only the female partnersof these liaisons acquireda derogatoryepithet(zonah)and legal disadvantage (disqualifiedfrommarryinga priest). Thelinguisticobjectificationof womengoes beyondthatof theapplication of the termzonah. One of the most prevalent,and clearest,exampleof this tendencyis the "euphemistic,"or metaphorical,languageby which female sexualityis discussed.Womenare "fields"to be "sown";"bread"or "fish" Womenare also constructedwithin to be "eaten";a "cup"to be "used."36 these sourcesas objectsof male sexualdesire:they are frequentlyportrayed as sexualtemptationsto men.37Unlike men, women are portrayedas having 33. For examplesof types of intercoursethatrendera womana zonah,see m. Yebam.8:5 (ed. Albeck,3:43) (levir andhis leviratewife when one of themis sterile);m. Ketub.5:1 (ed. Albeck, 3:103-104) (manand a "wife"to whom he pledgedless thanthe minimummarriage settlement);SipreDeut. 213 (ed. Finkelstein,247). 34. SipraEmor 1:7 (ed. J. H. Weiss,Sipra [Vienna:JacobSchlossberg,1862], 94b). See also, SipraKod.7 (ed. Weiss,90d).The statementis citedthreetimesin the PalestinianTalmud, and in each is consideredauthoritative: y. Yebam.6:5, 7c; 7:5, 8b; 13:1, 13b. Its citationin b. Yebam.59b, 61b, 76a; b. Sanh.51a;b. the BabylonianTalmudis alwayscounter-normative: Tem.29b, 30a. On this, see further,MichaelL. Satlow,TalkingaboutSex: RabbinicRhetorics of Sexuality(BrownJudaicStudies;Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1995]),pp. 121-23. 35. For examples, see Sipre Num. 115 (ed. Horovitz, 128-129); y. Ta'an. 1:4, 64d; b. TalmudBabli, Ber. 23a; b. Sanh. 82a. See further,M. Jastrow,Dictionaryof the Targumim, and MidrashicLiterature(2 vols.; London:Duckworth,1886-1903), 1:388, s.v., Yerushalmi 36. "Fields":m. Ketub. 1:6 (ed. Albeck, 3:90-91); "Bread":b.Sabb.62b; b. Yoma18b; "Fish":b. Yoma75a;"Cup":t. Sota 5:9 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:178-79);b. Ketub.75b. Therabbis regularlyuse euphemismswhen discussing female sexuality.See J. Nacht, "Euph6mismes sur la femme dans la litteraturerabbinique,"Revues des EtudesJuives 59 (1910): 36-41; E. Z. Melamed,"LashonNikiyyah v'Kinuyimb'Mishnah,"Leshonenu47 (1982-3): 3-17, esp. 7-10 (in Hebrew).See also Page duBois,Sowingthe Body:Psychoanalysisand Ancient Representations of Women(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress, 1988). 37. See, for examplesof womenas temptresses,t. Qidd.5:14 (ed. Lieberman,3.2:297);m. 'Avot1:5 (ed. Albeck,4:354);SipreNum. 139 (ed. Horovitz,185);y. Ketub.1:8, 25d;y. Sabb.
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Womenarethusportrayedas sexualobjects virtuallyno sexualself-control.38 whose own sexual desiresare relevantonly in respectto the effect thatthey exerton male sexualdesire. One rabbinictext exhibits a strikingintersectionbetween the violent languageand objectificationof femalesexuality: A.... anythingthata manwantsto do withhis wife,he maydo.A parable: If he wants [Thematteris similarto] meatthatcomes fromthe slaughterhouse. to eat it salted,he eats it [thatway]; [if he wantsto eat it] roasted,he eats it
[if he wantsto eatit]boiled,he eatsit [boiled];[if hewantsto eatit] [roasted]; Thus[too]a fishthatcomesfromthenets... he seethed, eatsit [seethed].
B. A certainwomancame beforeRabbi[Yehudahha-Nasi].She said to him,
andhe overturnedit!"He saidto her,"My I setmytableforhim39 "Rabbi, has the Torah permitted you [to him in this way], whatcan I daughter, do for you?" C. A certainwoman came before Rav. She said to him, "Rabbi,I set my tablefor him andhe overturnedit!"He said,"Isthis differentfrom a fish? [i.e., just as a man can eat a fish in any way he desires,so too can he "overturnthe table"if he desires]."40 The comparisonof female sexualityto food (to be consumedby men) is commonbothin rabbinicandclassicalliterature,whereit servesto objectify female sexuality.41(B) and (C) relate stories of women going to rabbisto 14:4, 14d (par.y. 'Abod.Zar 2:2, 40d); b. Sanh. 75a. Occasionallywomen are portrayedas moreactivelyseducingmen. Seey. Sota 3:4, 19a;b. Ketub.65a;b. Sabb.62b (par.b. Yoma9b). 38. m. Sota 3:4 (ed. Albeck,3:240-241);b. Qidd.80b;b. Ketub.51b, 54a, 62b. Yad 39. See TheBabylonianTalmudwith VariantReadings:TractateNedarim(Jerusalem: HaRavHerzog,1991),part1, p. 174, esp. n. 56. Fromthis passage,it is not clearwhatposition is being referredto. The dictionariesand commentatorstake it to meananal intercourse.See Jacob Levy, Wrrterbuchiber die Talmudimund Midraschim(reprinted4 vols.; Berlin and Wien:B. Harz, 1924), 1:485, s.v., Ipin;and Kohut'sremarksin A. Kohut,AruchCompletum ad AruchCompletum, (Vienna, (8 vols.; Vienna,1878-92), 3:232, s.v., tprn;idem,Additamenta 1937),p. 81, n'htD. 40. b. Ned. 20b. 41. Forotherexamplesof womencomparedto food in rabbinicliterature,see aboveandb. Sanh. 100b;b. Sota 11b; b. Sabb. 13a. Such comparisonswere commonin the ancientworld. See Athenaeus 10, 457d; MadelineM. Henry,"The Edible Woman:Athenaeus'sConcept of the Pornographic,"in Pornographyand Representation,ed. Amy Richlin (New York: runs counterto two recent OxfordUniversityPress, 1992), pp. 250-268. My interpretation commentson this passage.Accordingto Biale, R. Judah,"by symbolicallythrowingup his
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complainaboutthe positionin which theirhusbandswantto have sex. Here it is the womenwho areportrayedobjectifyingthemselvesthroughtheirown comparisonsto "set tables."The resultsof these encountersare chilling:the women are simply turnedaway, without recourse,left as objects of their husbands'sexualwhims.RabbiYehudah'sanswerin (B) is not a realanswer, for thejustificationfor this positionis foundin a baraita(A), not the Torah. Rav's answer in (C) might even have been read as humorous.Although Rav's comparisonof the womanwith a fish mighthave been a dry,legalistic comparisonbetweenthe womanandthe case of (A), it is difficultto imagine thatthis passagewould have been readso dryly:the text seems to "wink"at its male audience.The text leaves womenwithoutprotection. A similar type of rabbinictraditioncan be found in the Babylonian Talmud: Ourrabbistaught:Once it happenedthata womancamebeforeRabbiAkiba. She said to him, "Rabbi,I had intercourseduringmy thirdyear,[can I marry] a priest?"He said to her, "Youare permitted[to marry]a priest."She said to him, "Let me make an analogy.To what is the mattersimilar?To a child who sticks his fingerin honey.The firstand secondtimes he rebukesit [i.e., cries], the thirdtime he sucks it."He said to her,"If so, you arenot permitted [to marry]a priest."He saw his studentslookingat each otherand he said to them,"Whyareyou troubled[withthis decision]?"They said to him, "Justas the whole Torahis halakah[given]to Moses fromMountSinai,so too [is the law that]a womanunderthreeyearsold is permitted[to marry]a priesta law [given] to Moses from MountSinai."RabbiAkibaonly said [whathe did to the womanin order]to test his students.42
hands... implicitlycriticizessuch practices"(DavidBiale, Erosand theJews:FromBiblical Israel to Contemporary America[New York:Basic Books, 1992],p. 51). This readingstrikes me as forced.Boyarinexaminesthis text in more detail,arguingthatthe contextin which it occursservesexactlyto counterthe idea of femalesexualobjectification.See DanielBoyarin, CarnalIsrael: ReadingSex in TalmudicCulture(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1993),pp. 109-122. Boyaringoes so faras to labelthistext"averyembryonicars erotica,"(p. of classicalsources.See MichelFoucault, 132), followingFoucault'smistakenunderstanding TheHistoryof Sexuality,vol. 1, An Introduction,pp. 57-8. Cf., Holt N. Parker,"Love'sBody Anatomized:The AncientEroticHandbooksand the Rhetoricof Sexuality,"in Pornography andRepresentation, pp. 90-111, esp. 103-4. 42. b. Nid. 45a.
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This traditionends a long discussionon whethera priest,who is prohibited frommarryinga womanwho has engagedin be 'ilatzenut,canmarrya woman who has hadintercoursebeforeshe was threeyearsold. In the mishnahupon whichthistraditioncomments,intercoursewitha girlunderthreeis compared to "puttinga fingerin the eye";this is interpretedin the BabylonianTalmud The narrowlegal problemis whethera to meanthatherhymenregenerates.43 her girl who has had intercourseduring thirdyear is treatedlike one who is over threeyears(forbiddento marrya priest)or underthreeyears(permitted to marrya priest)who has hadintercourse.At first,R. Akibagives the proper legal response,that she is permittedto marrya priest.Whenshe confesses, however,thataftera few unenjoyabletimes she did enjoy intercourseat this age, he retractshis permission.Althoughtechnicallypermittedto marrya priest,the womanis prohibitedbecauseshe is said to have enjoyedherrape. Theredactorof thesugyaaddsa twistto this story:R. Akiba,recognizingthat he was actingbeyondthe limits of the law, did so only to test his students. The entireincidentis presentedas a pedagogicexercise.As in the passage presentedabove, a woman is portrayedas going to a rabbiwith a question only dealingwith illicit sex (makingherthe agentof herown objectification), to be rebuffedand eithermocked or used didactically.Here, the statement that"rapecan be enjoyable"is placedin the mouthof the woman.44 Althoughthese two passagesare attributedto Palestinianrabbis,thereis reasonto doubtthat they really are of Palestinianprovenance.Neitherthe stories in b. Nedarimnor the one in b. Nidd. are paralleledin Palestinian documents.The parallelin the PalestinianTalmudto the latterstory,in fact, has an almost opposite thrust.45There, the discussion is about rape, and althoughthe woman ends up admittingthat she enjoyed the rape, Rabbi Yohanan(beforewhom the case was presented)permitsher to returnto her husband.Only in the BabylonianTalmudis her enjoymentstigmatizedto the point where she is legally penalizedfor it. Moreover,the legal category thatboth storiesattemptto illustrate-the statusa womanwho is rapedbut In these enjoys it-is developedat lengthonly in the BabylonianTalmud.46 43. m. Nid. 5:4 (ed. Albeck, 5:390);b. Nid. 45a. Alternatively,the mishnahmightmean thatthereis no hymen. 44. My thanksto JudithRomneyWegnerwho broughtthis factto my attention. 45. y. Sota 4:5, 19d. nioi ona'w Fora full discussion,see b. Ketub.51b. 46. Theprincipleis termed pri" n,•innn. amoraim. Mostof the discussionis attributedto Babylonian
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Babyloniansourcesthereappearsto be an anxietythata rapevictim might enjoythe experience. Like the sota texts, these texts too exhibit objectificationof female sexuality,markedby discussionsabout,ratherthanaddressedto, women;and an impliedviolence.47All of these texts portraywomen as powerlesssexual objects. One reason for this portrayal,I arguebelow, is to controlfemale sexuality.A comparisonof thesetexts to thosewhichattemptto controlmale strategiesemployedby sexualityfurtherhighlightsthe gender-differentiated the rabbisin controllingsexualmores. Talkingto Men Themostcommonway by whichthe rabbisattemptto dictatemalesexual mores is throughlegislation.48Severalrabbinictraditions,however,take a differenttack.Thesepassagesattemptto frightenmen into sanctionedsexual behavior,withoutexplicitlylegislatingagainstthe condemnedbehavior.That is, they do not presentthemselvesas normativetexts. One exampleof this strategyis foundin the mishnaictreatmentof the sota. thatpersonmeasures, tothemeasure sotheymeasure him.She A.According her. She revealed herselfforthesakeof transgression---God adorned disgraces her bare. She her first herselffortransgression-God lays began transgression with [her]"thigh,"andthenwith [her]"belly"----therefore [her]"thigh"is of herbodyis notspared afflictedfirst,then[her]"belly,"andtheremainder [fromaffliction]. the Philistines B. Samsonwentafter[what]his eyes [beheld],therefore seizedhimandgouged gougedouthis eyes,as it is written,"ThePhilistines 47. To the sourcesalreadydiscussedmay be addedseveralothertexts of generallymore legal flavor.Womenare legally penalized,for example,for immodestbehaviorin m. Ketub. 7:6 (ed. Albeck,3:112);they are, accordingto some authorities,forcedto tendto those needs of theirhusbandsthathave sexual overtoneseven when they themselvesare in mourning(b. Mo'ed Qat. 19b);and they are threatenedwith deathin childbirthif they do not informtheir husbandsthatthey aremenstruating (m. Sabb.2:6 [ed. Albeck,2:23], especiallyas interpreted in b. Sabb.31lb-32a). My thanksto ShayeCohen,who directedme to some of these sources. 48. Most scholarswho have writtenon rabbinicconstructionsof sexualityhave confined themselvesprimarilyto examinationsof rabbiniclegislation.See LouisEpstein,SexLawsand Customsin Judaism(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversityPress, 1948).Moresophisticated is DavidBiale, Erosand theJews, pp. 33-59; Boyarin,CarnalIsrael.
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out his eyes" [Judg 16:21].Absalomwas proudof his hair,thereforehe was hung by his hair;and becausehe had intercoursewith the ten concubinesof his father,ten javelins were put in him, as it is written,". .. when ten of Joab'syoung arms-bearers[closed in and struckAbsalomuntil he died]"[2 Sam 15:6] ..49
Accordingto (A), the entireritualis constructedaroundhertransgression: her guilt is assumed.If she really did commitadultery,the biblicalaccount says, then"herbelly shall distendandherthighshall sag"(Num5:27). Why are only thighandbelly mentioned?Accordingto the mishnah,it is because the woman'stransgressionwas committedthroughher "thigh"(understood as vagina) and "belly"(understoodas womb or uterus).This, as discussed above,is an exampleof the principleof measurefor measure. Passage (B) then suddenlyshifts.50Insteadof continuingto discuss the sota, themishnahsuddenlyappliesthissameprincipleto twobiblicalmenwho exemplifyprofligacy,Samsonand Absalom.Because Samsonwas attracted to (see Judg 14:3)andpursuedforeignwomen,he lost his eyes. As Absalom "pierced"his fatherDavid'sten concubines,so too was he piercedten times.5' This samethemeis repeatedlaterin the tractate. Whenadulterersincreased,the"waterof bitterness"[ritual]ceased,andRabban Yohananben Zakai stoppedthem, as it is written,'I will not punish their for committingadultery; daughtersfor fornication,nor theirdaughters-in-law for they [themselvesturnaside with whoresand sacrificewith prostitutes...],' [Hos 4:14].52 49. m. Sota 1:7-8 (ed. Albeck,3:235-236). 50. This shift is partlyto be accountedfor by the associativegroupingof m. Sota 1:7-9 (ed. Albeck,3:235-236). All of these passagesare linkedby theirdiscussionof "measurefor measure."Such associativegroupingsare commonin the Mishnah.See H. L. Strackand G. Introductionto the Talmudand Midrash(Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1992),pp. Stemberger, 137-138. Nevertheless,thisparticular groupingappearsnotto be coincidental,butto havebeen intentionallyconstructedin orderto conveyits point.It is interestingto note,althoughbeyond the scope of this paper,thatthe nextpericope,1:9,shiftssuddenlyagain.Thispassagenot only appliesthe "measurefor measure"principleto rewardratherthanpunishment,butbeginswith Miriam.Thepurposeof beginningwith Miriammightbe to contrastthe "bad"womanwiththe "good"woman. 51. Accordingto 2 Sam 16:22,Absalomhadintercoursewithhis father'sconcubines.The numberof concubinesis inferredfrom2 Sam 15:16. of this passageofferedin t. 52. m. Sota 9:9 (ed. Albeck,3:258-259). See the interpretation Sota 14:2(ed. Lieberman,3.2:235-236).
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The message of these mishnaicpassagesis clear:men who are involvedin any promiscuity,but especially adultery,risk both death and their wives' betrayal.Male promiscuity,which the rabbisnever explicitly prohibit(althoughadultery--definedformen as intercoursewithanotherman'swife-is prohibited)is stronglydiscouraged.Samsonand Absalomare presentedas threateningparadigms,intendedto scare men into sanctioned,more chaste behavior. Whereasthesemishnaicpassages-among the very few tannaiticsources that deploy this strategyof scaring men into sanctionedsexual behavior ratherthan legislatingit-are shortand somewhatcryptic,the Babylonian Talmud'sdeploymentof this strategyis muchmorestriking.One text,which polemicizesagainstintercoursebetweena Jewishmananda Gentilewoman, begins by citing a tannaitictraditionaboutthe activityof Pinhas.According to the Bible, immediatelyafterthe propheciesof Balaamthe Israelitesbegan "whoringwith the Moabitewomen"(Num 25:1) and turningto othergods. God ordersMoses to kill the instigatorsof this idolatry. womanoverto Justthenone of the Israelitescameandbroughta Midianite in the sightof Mosesandof thewholeIsraelitecommunity, his companions, of theTentof Meeting.WhenPinhas,son whowereweepingat theentrance of Eleazarsonof Aaronthepriest,sawthis,he lefttheassemblyand,taking a spearin his hand,he followedthe Israeliteintothe chamberandstabbed thebelly.Thentheplague bothof them,theIsraeliteandthewoman,through Israelites was checked." the against The tannaitictraditionbased on this biblicalaccountis concernedwith the question of authority:does Pinhas act alone, or does he consult with his The sole concern eldersor in some way know thathe has God'sapproval?54 of this tradition,and of the sugya that cites it in the PalestinianTalmud,is so that other that of zeal and its control.55Pinhasmust be "domesticated," would-bezealotsdo not thinkthatthey aresanctionedto act withoutrabbinic permission. Precedingthecitationof thistraditionin theBabylonianTalmud,however, is the followingdiscussion: 53. Num 25:6-8. 54. SipreNum. 131 (ed. Horovitz,172). 55. y. Sanh. 10:2,27d. See also,y. Sanh.9:11, 27b.
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A. RavKahanaaskedRav[82a],"Ifthezealotsdo notinjurehim[whohas intercourse witha Gentilewoman],whatis thelaw?" B. Ravcompletely readin a dream,"Judah hasbroken forgot,andRavKahana have been in done Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judahhas faith;abhorrent things profanedwhatis holy to the Lord--whatHe desires-and espouseddaughters of alien gods"[Mal2:11]. C. He [RavKahana]came,andsaidto him,"Thisis whatI read.Ravcompletely remembered[theanswerto (A)]." D. [Rav interpretseach clause of Mal 2:11, ending with:] "and espoused daughtersof alien gods"--this is one who has intercoursewith a Gentile woman(kutit),and it is writtenafterit, "Maythe Lordleave to him who does this no descendants('er ve 'onah)dwellingin the tentsof Jacobandpresenting offeringsto the Lordof Hosts,"[Mal2:12]- if he is a scholar,he shallhave no light ('er) [= teaching]amongthe sages, noranswer('onah)in disciples.If he is a priest,he will not have a son to offer the meal offeringto the Lordof Hosts. E. R. Hiyya bar Abuyahsaid, "Any man who has intercoursewith a Gentile woman(kutit),it is as if he wed (Tnnro)an idol, as it is written,"andespoused daughtersof alien gods." What daughterdoes an idol have? Rather,this [refers]to one who has intercoursewith a Gentilewoman"[Anunrelatedstory involvingR. HiyyabarAbuyahfollows]. F. When Rav Dimi came he said, "The Courtof the Hasmoneansdecreed that one who has intercoursewith a Gentile56woman transgressesthe law prohibiting[the mnemonicfor intercoursewith a menstruant,slave-woman, Gentile woman, and marriedwoman]."When Ravin came he said, "[He transgressesthe law prohibiting]nsgz [the mnemonicfor intercoursewith] a menstruant,slave-woman,Gentilewoman,and z6nah, but not becauseof marriage[i.e.,adultery,designatedby thea inNSGA],becausethey[= Gentiles] do not have it [= the institutionof marriage]."And the other[R. Dimi, how wouldhe reply]?Certainlythey [= Gentiles]do not leave theirwives open [to all]. G. R. Hisdasaid, "If one comes for counsel[whetherto kill a manengagedin intercoursewith a Gentilewoman],we do not advisehim [to do so]." H. It was also stated,Rabahbarbar Hanahsaid in the nameof R. Yohanan, "Ifone comes for counsel[whetherto kill a manengagedin intercoursewitha Gentilewoman],we do not advisehim [to do so]." fromintercourse] I. Andnot only this,butalso hadZimriseparated[withdrawn and Pinhaskilled him, he [Pinhas]would have been killed [for killing] him [Zimri].Had it been reversed,and Zimrikilled Pinhas,he [Zimri]would not 56. The printededitionreadskutit.I am followingMS Munich95.
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have been killed [for killing Pinhas],becausehe [Pinhas]was a pursuer[and could thusbe killed in self-defense]. J. "So Moses said to Israel'sofficials,'Eachof you slay thoseof his men who attachedthemselvesto Baal-peor'" [Num25:5]. The tribeof Shimonwent to Zimriben Salu.They said to him, "Theyare sittingin a capitalcourt,andyou sit in silence?"Whatdid he do? He stoodandgathered24,000 men fromIsrael and went to Kozbi. He said to her,"Submitto me" [i.e., have sex with me]. She said to him, "I am the daughterof a king, andmy fathercommandedme to submitonly to the greatestamongthem."He said to her, Even he is [= I am] the princeof a tribeand not only thatbut he is greaterthanhim [Moses], for he [Zimri'stribe]is second-born,andhe [Moses'stribe]is third-born." He grabbedher by her braidand broughther to Moses. He [Zimri]said to him [Moses], "Son of Amram,is she forbiddenor permitted?And if you say that she is forbidden,who permittedthe daughterof Yitroto you?"[Moses]forgot the law [concerningthe right of zealots to harmone engagedin intercourse with a Gentilewoman].All the peopleburstout crying,as it is written,"[Just then one of the Israelitescame and broughta Midianitewoman over to his companions,in the sight of Moses and the whole Israelitecommunity,]who were weepingat the entranceof the Tentof Meeting"[Num25:6]. K. "WhenPinhas,son of Eleazarson of Aaronthe priest,saw this .. ." [Num 25:7]. Saw what?
L. Rav said, "He saw the act and rememberedthe law. He [Pinhas]said to him [= Moses], 'Brotherof my father'sfather,did you not teachme whenyou descendedfromMountSinai,thatif one has intercoursewitha Gentilewoman thatzealotsarepermittedto attackhim?'He saidto him, 'Lethimwho dictates the letterbe its carrier.'" M. Shmuel said, "He saw that 'No wisdom, no prudence,and no counsel can prevailagainstthe Lord' [Prov21:30]. Everyplace God's name is being desecrated,one does not accordhonorto his teacher."57 The Babylonian Talmudfirmly recontextualizes the story of Pinhas, which follows the cited passage. The tannaitic tradition of Pinhas is now used to illustrate the potential harm that can come to those Jewish men who dare to have intercourse with Gentile women. The Babylonian Talmud too is uneasy with Pinhas's unrestrained zeal: sections (G) and (H) say that if a zealot comes to ask a rabbi whether or not he is permitted to slay such a person, he is to be told that he is not. Yet these sections, as well as the rest of the sugya, also display an ambivalence. Men are not prohibited from being zealots; if 57. b. Sanh.81b-82b. See also b. 'Abod.Zar.36b.
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they do not ask, they will not necessarilybe told to refrainfrom such an act. To be sure, zealots are warnedof the danger(I) of takingthe law into theirhands,but ultimatelythe choice is left to them. Correspondingly, this heightensthe dangerto men who choose to participatein such liaisons. Even if the Jewishlover escapespunishmentat the handsof the zealots, he still faces a varietyof divine punishmentsinflictedby God (D). Section (F) defines intercoursewith a Gentilewoman as a violationof a negative Note also that here, and only here, is Moses himself indictedfor precept.58 andpunishedby forgettinghis own teachingandlosing honor intermarriage, fromPinhas(J). A similar compositionis b. Nid. 13a-b, an extendedpolemic against which I examinein detailelsewhere.59 The redactor(s)of male masturbation this sugya drawupontannaiticandamoraicsources,of bothBabylonianand Palestinianprovenance,often reshapingtheir originalmeaningsthrougha varietyof editingtechniques.The resultis a long, coherentcompositionthat, going well beyondsimple expositionof the mishnah(m. Nid. 2:1), proffers masturbation is a varietyof threatsintendedto keep men frommasturbating: accountedas seriousa transgressionas murder,idolatry,or adultery;it can cause communalpunishment;it can cause personaldamnation;it warrants death.Holy men,accordingto thissugya,refrainfromtouching,even looking upon,theirgenitals,lest they be led to masturbate. There can be little doubt that the redactor(s)carefullycomposedthis passagein orderto frightenits male readersinto sanctionedsexualbehavior. The redactor(s)of the BabylonianTalmudresort(s)to a panoplyof vague threatsto enforcesanctionedsexualbehaviorformen. Bothof thesetexts are relativelyuncomplicated:they appearintendedto be readby men, in order 58. To my knowledge,this is the only place in the literaturethat such a claim is made, althoughthe storiesin the BabylonianTalmudof rabbisfloggingmenwho havehadintercourse with Gentilewomen seem to assumeit. See b. Ber. 58a (attributedto R. Shila).The printed editionreadsthathe was caughtwith an Egyptianwoman,but manuscriptsreplacethis with the more general"Gentilewoman."See J. Rabbinovicz,DikdukeSoferim(reprinted14 vols.; to Court BrooklynandJerusalem:Me'ainHahohmah,1959/60),1:326;b. Ta'an.24b (attributed of Raba);y. Ta'an. 3:4, 66c (a rabbicastigatesthe Jews of Sepphorisfor their"actsof Zimri." The act of Zimrias recordedin the Bible and discussedin talmudicliteraturewas intercourse with a Gentilewoman.But thetalmudicuse of thisphraseis not necessarilyconsistent.See, for example,b. Sota. 22b, which appearsto use "actsof Zimri"to referto generaltransgressions. Thereferencein thistraditionto theplague,however,echoesthatof thebiblicalstoryof Zimri). 59. See Michael L. Satlow,"'WastedSeed': The Historyof a RabbinicIdea,"Hebrew UnionCollegeAnnual,65 (1994): 137-75.
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to scare them from unsanctionedsexual behavior.In contrastto the texts on female sexuality,they directlythreatenmen with punishment,ratherthan objectifyingthemandportrayingthemas sexuallypowerless.60 " SpeechActs and Rabbinic"Pornography Accordingto Austin,the illocutionaryforce of a speechact is grounded in contextandconvention.61Exactlythe samewordssaidin differentcontexts often have very different"meanings."The success (its "felicity,"in Austin's words) of an illocutionaryspeech act thus depends upon its context. To modify Austin's example of marriage,this concerncan be seen clearly in much of tractateQiddushin.It is not enoughfor a man to give a womana certainamountof money to betrothher, or to recite a fixed text to marry her;he mustperformthis acts undervery specificconditionsfor the intended force(betrothalor marriage)to be felicitous.Moreover,all partiesin a speech act must sharethe same conventionsin orderfor the illocutionaryact to be felicitous:the statement"Ibet you that.. .,"loses its illocutionaryforcewhen said to someonewho does not understandthe culturalmeaningof betting. The applicationof speechact theoryto the rabbinictexts surveyedabove forcesus to questionthe illocutionaryforceof thosetextsthatdiscussfemale sexuality.Whatwere these texts intendedto do?Whatconventionsgoverned the receptionof these texts?Werethe texts, as illocutions,felicitous? Modemcriticaldiscussionsof pornography can serveas a usefultheoretical frameworkfor approachingthesequestions.Abandoningthe identification of pornographywith the prurient,scholarshave recently emphasizedthe degradingcharacteristicsof pornography.SusanneKappelerhas arguedthat the distinguishingfeature of pornographyis representation:whenever a "text" (or movie or picture) objectifies a woman for consumptionby a male audience,that text can be called pornographic.62 AlthoughKappeler's 60. Not surprisingly,the only passages in rabbinicliteraturewhere, to my knowledge, men are sexually objectifieddiscuss pathicmale homoeroticism,i.e., situationswhere men are thoughtto be behavinglike women. See MichaelL. Satlow,"'They AbusedHim Like a Woman':Homoeroticism,GenderBlurring,andthe Rabbisin LateAntiquity,"Journalof the Historyof Sexuality5 (1994): 1-25. 61. Austin,How to Do Things,pp. 25-38. 62. SusanneKappeler,The Pornographyof Representation(Minneapolis:Universityof MinnesotaPress, 1986), esp. pp. 18-62. The androcentricnatureof representationis also discussedby de Lauretis,Alice Doesn't,pp. 12-36.
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position might be extreme,definitionsof pornographynow emphasizethe dehumanizationand objectificationof women.63That is, there is a move towarddefiningpornographynot accordingto its formalcharacteristics, but instead its illocutionaryforce. The connectionbetween pornographyand effects speechact theoryis madeexplicitlyby Rae Langton:"Pornography's may be best explainedby supposingthat it has the illocutionaryforce of subordination."64 becomesa usefulmodelfor considering Definedin this way,pornography contextandconvention therabbinicmaterial.Austininsiststhatunderstanding force. for While answersto these is necessary understandingillocutionary questionsmustbe speculative(as forall rabbinicmaterialfromlateantiquity), we can probablysafely assume that these texts were producedby men for a male audience,be that audiencein synagogueor the academy(with the lattermorelikely).And while the sharedconventionsareeven moreobscure, classical(especiallyLatin)sourcesprovideintriguingparallels. Severalclassical sourcesmay help to providea frameworkin which to view these rabbinictexts. Rapesdescribedby Livy and Ovid have the same effect as the sota texts: they portraya violence of languageand the objecMartial"wittily" tificationof women,who are seen as sexuallypowerless.65 almost makes womenandfood Athenaeus sexual female behavior.66 denigrates The and Lucian Golden Ass) (in Dialogues Apuleius(in interchangeable.67 of Courtesans)regularlyexpressviolence towardwomen. Cicero and later Romanlegal texts silence women by presentingthemaccordingto negative stereotypes(e.g., adulteress,whore).68Richlin says that the recurrenceof the following themes are definingfactorsof pornographyin antiquity:"(1) inequitybetweenpartners;(2) objectificationof women,with some emphasis 63. This position is most often identifiedwith CatherineMacKinnon.See Catherine MacKinnon,FeminismUnmodified(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversityPress, 1987). See furtherSusan Gubar,"RepresentingPornography:Feminism,Criticism,and Depictionsof FemaleViolation,"in For Adult Users Only,ed. SusanGubarand JoanHoff (Bloomington: IndianaUniversityPress, 1989),pp. 47-67. 64. Rae Langton,"SpeechActs and UnspeakableActs,"Philosophy& PublicAffairs22 (1993):313. 65. See, forexamples,Livy 3.44-58; Ovid,ArsAmatoria,1.99-134. See alsoAmyRichlin, pp. 158-179. "ReadingOvid'sRapes,"in PornographyandRepresentation, 66. See, for example,Martial3.85, 86; 6.23. 67. See Athenaeus13.605f4-10. See furtherHenry,"TheEdibleWoman." and the Silencingof Anita Hill," 68. See Amy Richlin, "RomanOratory,Pornography, SouthernCaliforniaLawReview65 (1992): 1321-32.
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of theposition as food;(3) problematizing on (a) nudityand(b) representation of the femalespectator."69 These characteristicsalso appear,althoughless frequently,in Jewish writingsfrom the Second Templeperiod.Many of these texts were written as "wisdom"literaturedirectedtowardmen, with the result that men are bluntly advised to be .cautiousof the sexual behaviorof their wives and however,has pointedout that Pseudo-Philo's daughters.70Halpern-Amaru, BiblicalAntiquitiespresentswomen as stock characters,objectifiedin order to convey certainmodels of behavior.71In the books of TobitandJosephand Asenethalso--not to mentionthe GreekAdditionsto Esther--toothe women areportrayedwoodenly,as didacticobjects.72 Despitewide differencesin chronology,genre,andcontext,theseparallels to the rabbinicmaterial suggest that there were shared conventionsfor such literature.In late antiquityin at least RomanandJewish understanding texts for othermen who knew how circles, men produced"pornographic" to readthem.Now we can ask, how then did they readthem?Whatexactly were these texts doing? Scholarshavelongnotedthatlanguageandpoliticsareinseparable. Hence, becausetheauthorsof theprivilegedtextsarefrequentlyin positionsof power, the social relationsthatthesetexts promoteareoftenthoseof dominanceand subordination.73 Texts are not innocuous.Severalscholarshave arguedthat 69. Pornographyand Representation, p. xviii. 70. See for examplesSir 23:22-26, 26:10-12, 41:22, 42:9-10. Campsees 26:10-12 as a Patriarchy: Womenin SecondCentury (ClaudiaV. Camp,"Understanding "pornographic" Like This':New Perspectiveson Jewish JerusalemThroughthe Eyes of Ben Sira,"in 'Women Womenin the Greco-RomanWorld,ed. Amy-JillLevine [Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1991], pp. 1-39, esp. 22). "Portraits of Womenin Pseud-Philo'sBiblicalAntiquities," 71. See Betsy Halpern-Amaru, in "WomenLike This ", pp. 83-106.
72. Paul, especiallyin 1 Cor 7, also appearsto objectifywomen.This is not to suggest Far fromit: this literature, that all Jewish literaturefromthis time had these characteristics. bodies of literature,gives remarkableexpressionto female morethanmost contemporaneous characters.See, for examples,Judithand Testamentof Job. See furtherRichardI. Pervo, "AsenethandHer Sisters:Womenin JewishNarrativeandin GreekNovels,"in "Women Like This",pp. 147-160, esp. 155-159;PieterW.vanderHorst,"Imagesof Womenin the Testament of Job,"in Studieson the Testamentof Job (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1989), pp. 93-116. 73. See FrancesE. Mascia-Lees,PatriciaSharpe,andColleenBallerinoCohen,"ThePost ModernistTurnin Anthropology:Cautionsfroma FeministPerspective,"Signs 15 (1989): 11; Susan Gal, "BetweenSpeech and Silence: The Problematicsof Researchon Languageand
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the woman male writershave "killed"the female voice: "Metaphysically, readerof a literarytraditionthat inscribesviolence againstwomen is an abuseddaughter.Likephysicalabuse,literaryviolenceagainstwomenworks to privilegethe culturalfather'svoice and story over those of women, the culturaldaughters,and indeedto silencewomen'svoices."74 I suggest that these rabbinictexts on female sexualitywere intendedto promotean atmosphereof intimidationwhose functionit was to enforce female sexual mores. Thatis, the violence and objectificationof women in thesetextswouldserveto influencetheirmalereaders'views of women.Much talk"or subtleformsof sexualharassment likemodemday"locker-room (e.g., off-colorhumor),these texts would have been one factorin the promotion of a societal outlook that would have indirectlydiscouragedwomen from unsanctionedsexual behavior.The rabbis directly discouragemen from engagingin unsanctionedsexualbehavior;theyattemptto discouragewomen (whoarenotamongtheirimmediateaudience)by promotingcertain(probably preexistent)attitudesand genderhierarchies. Forexample,by thetimeof thecompilationof therabbinicdocuments,the sota ordealthereindescribedhad long ceased.75The coherenceof the picture that these texts paint--the violence and humiliationto which a suspected adulteressis subjected-suggest thatthe texts are "doing"morethanmerely preservingthe historicalrecord.These texts may have been "intended"to create an atmospherein which female adulterywas discouragedthrough threatof public humiliation.That is, true violence or an actual ordeal or humiliatingceremony was not necessary:none of these texts encourage actualphysicalviolence, whetherphysicalabuseof the adulteressor marital
in thePostmodern Gender,"in Genderat the CrossroadsofKnowledge:FeministAnthropology Era, ed. Micaeladi Leonardo(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1991), pp. 175-203. of culturalnormsare intrinsicallyrelatedto Bourdieutoo notes thatstrategiesof reproduction strategiesof social domination.See PierreBourdieu,Outlineof a Theoryof Practice,trans. RichardNice (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1991),p. 70. 74. ChristineFroula,"TheDaughter'sSeduction:SexualViolenceand LiteraryHistory," Signs 11 (1986): 633. See also SandraM. Gilbertand SusanGubar,TheMadwomanin the Attic:The WomanWriterand theNineteenth-Century LiteraryImagination(New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 1979),pp. 16-17. 75. Althoughin latertimes, differentkindsof humiliatingceremoniesdo appearto have existedin Jewishcommunities.See Saul Lieberman,"Shavingof the HairandUncoveringof the FaceAmongJewishWomen,"in his TextsandStudies,(New York:Ktav,1974),pp. 52-56.
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rape.76The rabbisin fact consistentlycontextualizedstatementsthatcouldbe readas encouragingsuchabusein orderto makeclearthatsuchbehaviorwas unacceptable.Rather,these texts convey underlyingvaluesanda violence of languagethatbothhusbandsandfatherswouldhavetakento heart,influencing theirbehaviortowardwives anddaughters.Femalesexualbehaviorwas thus controlledby influencingthe behavior of those men under whose legal guardianshipthey fell." Similarly,the passagefromb. Nedarimwould help to preservea genderhierarchyin whichmenwereencouragedto view women as sex-objects.Men who readthese texts were left to feel more securewith theircurrent,asymmetricalsocial relationships. like its modem cousin, thus played a subtle Rabbinic"pornography," but importantrole in the controlof femalesexuality.The illocutionaryforce of this literaturewas to reproduceand reinforcea certain set of gender relationshipsby encouragingmen to view women in certainways (objects, zonot, etc.). The resultwas a "silencing"of women's voices. As soon as a womanis seen, for example,as an object,herown sexualdesiresandwishes are erased.These texts need not have even been transmittedto women in orderto scare them; they "worked"as soon as they were said, read, and assimilatedby theiraudience.78
Conclusions How did the rabbis,a juridicallyweak (if not powerless)groupwith an apparentlylimitedfollowing,attemptto coerceandpersuademen andwomen 76. Therelationshipbetweenpornography andactualviolenceagainstwomenis, of course, a still unansweredquestion.Otherrabbinicdicta, however,are clear in prohibitingmarital rape.See Boyarin,CarnalIsrael,pp. 113-131;NahumRackover,"CoerciveMaritalRelations Between a Man and His Wife," ShenatonHa-MishpatHa-Ivri:Annualof the Institutefor Researchin Jewish Law 6-7 (1979-80): 295-317 (in Hebrew).We might also presumethat womenhad recourseagainstabusivehusbandsin theirown families,as appearsto have been the case in ancientRome. See SarahB. Pomeroy,"TheRelationshipof the MarriedWoman to HerBlood Relativesin Rome,"AncientSociety7 (1976):215-27. The relationshipbetween Jewishwomenandtheirfamiliesin late antiquity,however,requiresfurtherinvestigation. 77. Hencealso the troublethatthe rabbis,like othermen in antiquity,hadin legislatingand regulatingwomen who had no male guardians,such as widows. See JudithRomneyWegner, Chattelor Person? TheStatusof Womenin theMishnah(New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1988),esp. pp. 114-144. 78. My thanksto a refereefor encouragingme to clarifymy argumentat this point.
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into sanctionedsexual activitiesand liaisons?For men, they took the direct route:legislationand explicitthreats.These texts may have been welcomed by segmentsof the male community,for they helpedmen to fight the "evil For women, however,who were not explicitly enjoinedto fight desire."79 the "evil desire,"the rabbisrelieduponthe rhetoricalmanipulationof social the rabbiswere attempting(on some, attitudes.By writing"pornography," not necessarilyconscious,level), to reinforceand perpetuatethatsystem of genderrelationshipswith whichthey were comfortable. To this point I have mainly avoided the messy business of redaction criticism.Rabbinic"culture"was not monolithic.We shouldnot assumethat Palestinianrabbisof the thirdcenturysharedthe assumptionsandrhetorical strategiesof Babylonianrabbisof thethesixthcentury.Thevastmajorityof the sourcescited here are attributedto Palestinians,althoughthe major,stylized texts are confinedto the BabylonianTalmud.It may be thatbothPalestinian and Babylonianrabbis objectifiedwomen (as with many other cultures, ancient and modem), but they did so for differentpurposes.Palestinian of adultery rabbisweremoreconcernedwiththe possibilityandramifications than were andmaritalsexuality Babylonians,who had otherconcernsabout writingswas without sexuality.s0The rabbinicsocial use of "pornographic" doubtmore complicated,with more variations,thanI have indicatedin this paper.Redactioncriticismalonehowever,withoutin-depthanalysisof other evidencefor genderrelationshipsin bothPalestinianandBabylonianrabbinic culture,will not go far. I have also avoidedasking whetherthe texts were felicitous.Did these texts actuallysucceedin doing the thingsthatI claimthey were intendedto do? How did readersrespondto them (or, in Austin'slanguage,what was These questionstouch two much broaderissues: who the "perlocution")? exactly listenedto the rabbisin late antiquity?and,whatdo we know about the actuallives of women?It is importantto rememberthatthese texts, by virtueof theirpresencein the canon,makeclaimsof authority;who did (and would later)take those claims seriouslyis a significantquestion.Although we cannotat presentanswerthese questions,my suspicionis that if these 79. For some other methodsrecommendedby the rabbisin the fight againstthe "evil desire"('vrn io), see EphraimE. Urbach,TheSages: TheirConceptsandBeliefs,trans.Israel Abrahams(Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversityPress, 1987),pp. 475-483; Boyarin,Carnal Israel,pp. 134-166. 80. Thiswouldcoincidewiththe generalPalestinianrabbinicemphasison the reproductive functionof sex, in contrastto the Babylonians.Cf. Satlow,TestingtheDish, pp. 317-20.
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texts succeeded,they did so in only a very small circle. Rabbinicliterature itself hintsat disapproved,butreal,femalesexualfreedom,as well as female social cliques in which,presumably,femalescould act as free subjects. In herbook Textsof Terror,PhyllisTribleanalyzesseveralbiblicalscenes of terroragainst women.8"She never, however, defines exactly what she and does not takethe next step:thatdescriptionsof terror meansby "terror," do things,usuallythemselvesterrorize.Austin'sinsightis thatthatnext step, askingaboutthe illocutionaryforce of a text, is a necessaryone. The related issues of authorialintentionandsocialpurposeandfunction,whenappliedto rabbinictexts, are extremelydifficult,since nearlyall of ourdatamustderive from the texts themselves.Rabbinictexts do not exist in a vacuum.These texts "did"things;as "technologiesof sex andgender,"they had social roles and functions.Reinforcementand reproductionof genderrelationshipswas one, but merelyone, of the social functionsplayedby these rabbinictexts. of Virginia University Va. Charlottesville,
81. Phyllis Trible, Textsof Terror:Literary-FeministReadings of Biblical Narratives (Philadelphia:Fortress,1984).
Perception and Reception of Repentant Apostates in Medieval Ashkenaz and Premodern Poland Author(s): Edward Fram Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 299-339 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486698 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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PERCEPTIONAND RECEPTION OF REPENTANTAPOSTATES IN MEDIEVALASHKENAZ AND PREMODERNPOLAND by EDWARDFRAM Convertsto the faithhave oftenbeen perceivedas somewhatproblematic by Judaism;apostateseven more so.' This was especiallytrue in medieval ChristianEurope,where the adversarialrelationshipbetween Christianity andJudaismmadeapostasy,particularlyapostasyby choice,morethanmere defection;it cast aspersionson the rejectedreligion. Perceptionsof thosewho left the faithwereno differentamongChristians. Alreadyin the earlyfifthcenturythe TheodosianCoderuledthat"itis graver than death and cruelerthan massacrewhen someone abjuresthe Christian faith and becomes polluted with the Jewish incredulity"2The notion of This paperwas originallypresentedin a muchdifferentformto the ColumbiaUniversity Centerfor IsraelandJewishStudiesSeminar.It has benefitedfromthe wisdomof membersof the seminaras well as the commentsof ProfessorsGeraldBlidstein,ElishevaCarlebach,and HaymSoloveitchik.The shortcomingsthatremainareobviouslybuta reflectionof the author's own deficiencies. 1. Regardingconverts,see, for example,the famousquipof RabbiHelbo,B.T., Yebamot 47b, thatconvertsarelike a scabto Israel.ThetannaRabbiIsaac,for one, was willingto posit that apostateswere the enemy referredto in Exodus23:4, "If you meet your enemy'sox or donkeygoing astray,you mustreturnit to him"(Mikilta'de-RabbiYishma"el, H. Horovitzand I. Rabin,eds., 2d ed. [Jerusalem:Bamberger& Wahrman,1960],Mishpatim20, p. 324). 2. Codex Theodosianus16.8.19, cited and translatedby Amnon Linder,The Jews in RomanImperialLegislation(Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress, 1987),p. 258. While the TheodosianCode was abandonedin 529, the sixteenthbook of the Code was acceptedby the
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abandoningChristianityfor Judaismwas repugnantto the Church;it was also perceivedto be a dangerto those who remainedwithinthe fold. To protectthe faithfuland punishthe heretic,severepenalties,including loss of property,banishment,anddeath,weredecreedagainstChristianswho joined the Jewish faith as well as for "theinstigatorsof the deed with their accomplices."3The warningagainstleavingthe Churchappliednot only to those born into the faith but also to Jews who had been splashedwith the baptismalwatersandlaterdemurredandtriedto returnto Judaism.Catholics believedthatbaptismwas ineffaceable. Overthe centuriestherewere suggestionsamongChristianthinkersthat Jewswho hadbeen baptizedbut secretlyclungto variousaspectsof Judaism shouldnot be consideredChristians.Such an argumentwas advancedat the Second Council of Nicaea (787) but failed to receive papalapprovalfrom AdrianI (r. 772-795).4 Fromthe perspectiveof Jewishjurists,the apostate'sstatusas a Jew was somewhatdubious.Naturnaiben Hil'ai, head of the rabbinicacademyat Sura,Babylonia(853-858), as well as a numberof his successors,regarded the apostateas having left Judaism:"becausehe apostatizedhe has left the sanctityof Israel and the sanctityof his father"'Yet Naturnailimited the practicalapplicationof this ruling to mattersof inheritance;with respect to personalstatus, Jewish law took a stringentposition and continuedto
sourceof canonlaw (Linder,p. 33). Linderpointsout that"general Churchas an authoritative prohibitionsagainstconversion"of Christiansto Judaismexistedfromthe fourthcentury(p. 81). 3. Linder,pp. 258 and261, nn. 7, 9. 4. See EdwardSynan,ThePopes and theJews in theMiddleAges (New York:Macmillan, 1965),pp. 55, 58. 5. Teshubotha-ge'onim,Y. Musafia,ed. (1924; reprint,Jerusalem:Ha'emunim,1967), no. 23. The responsum,which was sent to Spain,has appearedin variousrecensions,some thathavebeencollectedin Ozarha-ge'onim,B. M. Lewin,ed. (Jerusalem: greatlyabbreviated, Central,1939),vol. 9 (Qiddushin),pp. 30-35, nos. 78-88. Onthis responsum,also see Ya'aqob Blidstein,"Ma'amadanha-ishi shel nashimshebuyotu-meshumadotbe-halakahshel yemey ha-beynayim,"Shanatonha-mishpatha-'ibri 3-4 (1976-77): 56-57, who in additioncites a similarruling of Naturnaiwith respectto a husbandinheritinghis apostatewife (Ozar ha-ge'onim,vol. 8 [Ketubbot],p. 356, no. 790). OdedIr-Shai,"Mumarke-yoreshbe-teshubot haShanaton shel ha-nokri," ba-mishpat ha-ge'onim-yesodotehah pesiqahu-maqabbiloteyha mishpatha-'ibri 11-12 (1984-86): 438-455, discussesthe possible social-economicbasis of Naturnai'sposition,his successors'views, andtheircritics.
ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN APOSTATES IN MEDIEVAL POLAND 301 REPENTANT
recognizeapostatesas Jews (i.e., the Jewishwife of an apostaterequireda bill of divorcebeforeshe couldremarry).6 On a popularlevel, however,thereappearsto have been a notionamong Jews thatbaptismwas indeedefficacious, eleventh-centuryFranco-German andwhile the rabbinicleadershipmay have been open to receivingpenitants backintothecommunity,be theyforcedorvoluntaryconverts,few otherswere so generous.RabbiGershomben Judahof Mainz(d. 1028)ordained,perhaps with unusualharshnessand withoutapparentconcernfor the circumstances of the apostasy,that no one may insult a repentantJew.7PresumablyR. Gershomwantedto encourageapostatesto returnto Judaismby limitingthe potentialshame that could be heapedupon them by unkindcoreligionists, would not cause a repenter as well as to try and ensurethat embarrassment to leaving the fold again. Jews must have insultedrepentantapostatesas a matterof course,otherwisetherewouldhave been no need for the ordinance or the apparentharshnessof tone.8 It was left to RabbiSolomonben Isaac(d. 1105;knownby the acronym Rashi)to refutein halakhictermsthe commonlyacceptednotionthatbaptism indeedcut one off fromthe Jewishcommunity.Accordingto JacobKatz,this of the talmudic was preciselythe motivationbehindRashi'sreinterpretation has remains Israel" from a reference even sinned, though[it] phrase"Israel, the "Israel to a reference to individual a to the group Jew; [i.e., Jew], even
6. See GeraldBlidstein,"WhoIs Not a Jew?-TheMedievalDiscussion,"IsraelLawReview 11 (1976): 374-378. 7. Louis Finkelstein,Jewish Self-Governmentin the MiddleAges, 2d ed. (New York: PhilippFeldheim,1964),pp. 30-31, andAvrahamGrossman,HakmeyAshkenazha-ri'shonim, 2d ed. (Jerusalem:Magnes, 1989), pp. 122-123 and n. 68. The "meyha-shemad"referred to by Rashi in his responsum(see TeshubothakmeyZarfatu-Lotir,Joel MUller,ed. [1881; reprint,Jerusalem:n.p., 1967],p. 11b, no. 21), citedby FinkelsteinandGrossman,may bestbe translatedas "thewatersof baptism."On sucha meaningof the wordshemad,see EliezerBen Yehuda,Millonha-lashonha-'ibrit,N. Tur-Sinai,ed. (New York:ThomasYoseloff,1959),s.v. shamad,seconddefinitionandthe sourcescited. 8. Also see Grossman, Ashkenazha-ri' ohnim,p. 406. Therewere limits to R. towardrepentantapostates.WhileR. Gershomgenerallyallowed Gershom'spermissiveattitude H.akmey repentantapostatesto performthe priestlyblessingin the synagogue,he wouldnot allow a Jew who had apostatizedof his own volition andbecomea Christianteacher(priest?)to bless the did not concurwith R. Gershom's community.R. Eleazarben Isaac,a youngercontemporary, view. See ShlomoEidelberg,"Teshubahlo' noda'atme-RabbeynuGershomme'or ha-golah," Talpiot6.1-2 (March1953): 153-155.
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though [he/she] has sinned,remainsIsrael [a Jew]."9 Rashi'sinterpretation meant that despite behaviorto the contrary,accordingto Jewish law the baptizedJew had neverapostatized.'0 While Rashi's view flew in the face of the official Churchdoctrine that one who voluntarilyacceptedbaptismcould not escape it," his stand Jewry.12In practicethe posed little threatto contemporaryFranco-German Church-with the notableexceptionof VisigothicSpain--generallydid not aggressivelyseek to bringrelapsedJews backinto the Christianfold.13After the FirstCrusade,RabbiMoses of Speyerwas saidto havesoughtpermission for GermanJews who had been forcibly baptizedto returnto Judaism. 9. Jacob Katz, "Yisra'elaf 'al pi she-hata'-Yisra'el hu'," reprintedin his Halakah ve-qabbalah(Jerusalem:Magnes,1984),p. 264. 10. Katz, "Yisra'elaf 'al pi she-hata',"p. 266. As Katz points out, from the Jewish perspective,Rashi'spositionleft an ongoingburdenof repentanceon the Jewwho hadtriedto leave the fold. 11. The tenet thatbaptismmust be voluntaryappearedalreadyin the late fourthcentury in a law barringthe acceptanceinto the Churchof Jews who wished to convertto escape theirdebtsor prosecutionfor crimesthatthey mighthave committed(Linder,Jews in Roman ImperialLegislation,pp. 199-200). In416 the Churchpermittedconvertswho werelax in their observanceof Christianityto returnto Judaismif theirconversionswere knownto have been motivatedby somethingotherthandevotionto the Christianfaith(Linder,pp. 275-276), but this was not repeatedin AlaricII's Breviarium(promulgated506), nor was it acceptedby the FourthCouncilof Toledoin 633, whose positionwas endorsedby AdrianI (see JeanJuster, "TheLegal Conditionof the Jews underthe VisigothicKings,"translatedand annotatedby AlfredoM. Rabello,Israel Law Review 11 [July 1976]:409-410, and SolomonGrayzel,The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, vol. 1, 2d ed. [New York: Hermon, 1966], p. 15, n.
14). 12. AvrahamGrossman,"Shorashavshel qiddushha-Shembe-Ashkenazha-qeddumah," in Qiddushat ha-hayyim ve-hiruf ha-nefesh, qobez ma 'amarim le-zikro shel Amir Yequti'el,
IsaiahGafniandAviezerRavitzky,eds. (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter,1992),p. 125, has arguedthatapostasywas one of the centrallegal issues of the eleventhand twelfthcenturies for Franco-German Jewry.Also see JacobKatz,Exclusivenessand Tolerance(Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress, 1961),pp. 68, 73. The scope of the problemis difficult,if not impossible,to was the significantlegalproblemfor gauge(see Katz,pp. 67-68). Clearly,apostasy/martyrdom Jews duringthe Crusades.Priorto and afterthe Crusades,the matteris less certain.One does erain Franco-Germany not get the impressionfromthe sourcesthatin thepre-andpost-Crusade apostasiesever reachedthe proportionsthatthey did in Englandin the 1240sand 1250swhere therewereconcertedeffortsat convertingthe Jewsandperhapsup to ten percentof the Jewish populationof 3,000 apostatized(see RobertStacey,"TheConversionof Jewsto Christianityin ThirteenthCenturyEngland,"Speculum67, no. 2 [April1992]:p 269). 13. Solomon Katz, The Jews in the Visigothic and Frankish Kingdoms of Spain and Gaul
(1937; reprint,New York:Kraus, 1970), pp. 13, 15; Solomon Grayzel,"Popes,Jews, and Inquisitionfrom 'Sicut' to 'Turbato,'reprintedin his The Churchand the Jews in the XIIIth
REPENTANT IN MEDIEVAL APOSTATES ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN POLAND 303
Permissionwas grantedby Henry IV on his returnfrom Italy in 1097, apparentlywith the acquiescenceof Pope UrbanII (althoughthe anti-pope ClementIII objectedstrenuously).14Evenwhen Louis VII of Franceruledin 1144 that Jews who had been baptizedand, then "at the instigationof the devil," had returnedto Judaismwere to be punishedwith exile, or capital or corporalpunishment,no threatwas made againstthe Jewishcommunity itself."•Accordingto an anonymousHebrewchroniclerof the eventsof Blois (1171), afterthe killings Jews successfullybribedthe archbishopof Sens to release Jewish prisonersand allow those who had been forciblyconverted to returnto Judaism.'6Those who acceptedan apostateback were not held responsiblefor his actionsand apparentlyfacedno sanctions.Consequently, rabbinicleaders continuedto demonstratean open view towardreturning apostatesduringthe courseof the twelfthcenturyregardlessof whetherthe apostasyhad occurredunderduressor by the convert'sfree will." Rabbi Jacob ben Me'ir Tam (1100-1170), for example, made lenient overturestowardthose who wantedto returnto Judaism.In the case of a marriedwomanwho hadapostatizedandhadsexualrelationswitha non-Jew, thenreturnedto Judaismandwas divorcedby herhusband,R. Jacoballowed her to marrythe non-Jewwith whom she had had adulterousrelationsand who had subsequentlyalso embracedJudaism.'8Accordingto one tradition, Century,vol. 2, KennethStow,ed. (New York:JewishTheologicalSeminary,1989),p. 4 and nn. 12 and 13. 14. On the First Crusadesand Henry IV's position, see Julius Aronius,Regestenzur GeschichtederJuden(1902;reprint,Hildesheim:GeorgOlms, 1970),pp.93-94, nos. 203, 204. The chroniclerstatesthat"throughhis [R. Moses']effortsall the forcedconvertswho remained scatteredaboutin Henry'skingdomreturned[to Judaism]"(A. M. Habermann, Sefergezerot Ashkenazu-Zarfat[Jerusalem:Tarshish,1946], p. 94). The Latinreportof Henry'sdecision makesno referenceto any requestfromthe Jewishcommunity.Regardingpapalreaction,see Grayzel,"Popes,Jews, andInquisition,"p. 12. 15. Recueildes Historiensdes Gauleset de la France, L6opoldDelisle, ed., new edition Publishers,1968),vol. 16, p. 8, no. 19. (1878; reprint,Farnborough: GreggInternational 16. Habermann, SefergezerotAshkenazu-Zarfat,p. 145. 17. Accordingto one version, those who had been forciblyapostatizedduringthe First Crusadehad neveracknowledgedChristianityand hadtriedto observethe commandments to the best of theirabilitieswhile withinthe reachof the Church.Forthis the chroniclerSolomon ben Simondeemedthempraiseworthyandsaidthat"hewho speaksevil of them,it is as if he speaks[against]the Holy Presence"(Habermann, SefergezerotAshkenazu-Zarfat,p. 57). 18. Citedin EphraimUrbach,Ba 'aleyha-tosafot,4th ed. (Jerusalem: MossadBialik, 1980), p. 82.
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even the Germanpietists of the late twelfth and early thirteenthcenturies, who generallyrequiredpenancesthatwere commensuratewith sins (nrain ?pvnil)were lenientwith respectto returningapostates.Returningto sharein the fate of the minorityreligionin the Diasporaand recitingits creedtwice daily were proof enough of complete repentance.'9Despite some distrust and disrespectof the apostate,Franco-German Jewry,or at least its rabbinic spokesmen,generallyapprovedof apostatesreturningto Judaism.20 In the twelfth century,Christiansjuristsexpandedthe definitionof who was a Christian.WhileCalixtusII (r. 1119-1124)reaffirmedin his bull Sicut Judeis that no Jew should be convertedby force, but that those who had Theoutstanding beenforciblyconvertedwerenot allowedto leavethe faith.21 Christianlegalistof the century,JohnGratian(fl. ca. 1140),whoseDecretum becamethe standardreferencemanualof canonlaw in the WesternChurch, wrote, in thedays Those,however,whohadalreadybeencompelled--ashappened as by acceptingthegraceof of theveryreligiousprince,Sisebut-inasmuch baptismthey had become associatedwith the divine sacraments... it is only 19. See Urbach,Ba'aley ha-tosafot,p. 407, a citationof Rabbi Eleazarben Judahof Worms'sprescriptionsby Rabbi Isaac ben Abraham.However,YedidyaDinari, Hakmey Ashkenazbe-shalheyyemeyha-beynayim(Jerusalem:MossadBialik, 1984), p. 86, n. 74, has noted that in R. Eleazarof Worms'sown writingsthereare long penancesfor the repentant by apostate.Also see Judahhe-hasid,Seferhasidim,YehudahWistinetzki,ed., withintroduction AronFreimann,2d ed., (1924; reprint,Jerusalem:Wahrmann,1969),nos. 208, 209, a product of the same school as R. Eleazar,where some form of penanceis expectedof the returning apostate. 20. Simhah Goldin, "Ha-yahasimbeyn ha-yahidve-haqebuzahbe-qehillahha-Yehudit be-zafonZarfatve-Germanyah(1100-1300)"(Ph.D.diss., Tel Aviv University,1991,p. 147), has arguedthat in Germanlands therewas a harsherattitudetowardthe returningapostate, requiringpenancesand rejectingRabbiJacobTam'sallowancewith respectto the continuing Nevertheless, relationshipbetweenthe marriedwomanandherpreviousnon-Jewishparamour. in at least one case, Germancommunitiesmadeeffortsto bringrepentantapostatesback into the community(see, for example,Hayyimben Isaac,Sefershe 'elotu-teshubotmoreynuha-rab Hayyimor zaru'a [Leipzig,1865], no. 103, a case of a voluntaryapostatewho was extricated fromChristiansocietyby theJewishcommunityandwho was allowedto returnto herhusband). 21. Forthe text (withEnglishtranslation),background to, andsignificanceof SicutJudeis, see SolomonGrayzel,"ThePapalBull SicutJudeis,"reprintedin EssentialPaperson Judaism and Christianityin Conflict,JeremyCohen,ed. (New York:New YorkUniversityPress,1991), pp. 231-259. Grayzelsuggeststhe possibilitythatSicutJudeiswas connectedwiththe episodes of forcedconversionof Jews duringthe FirstCrusade(pp.233, 235-236).
ANDPREMODERN IN MEDIEVAL APOSTATES ASHKENAZ POLAND 305 REPENTANT
to retainthefaiththeyhadaccepted, whetherby properthattheybe compelled forceornecessity,lestthenameof theLordbe blasphemed andthefaiththey vile andcontemptible.22 hadassumedbe considered In 1201 InnocentIII expandedthe meaningof "voluntary"baptismto include those who were "drawnto Christianityby violence, throughfear andthroughtorture,andreceivedthe sacramentof baptismin orderto avoid loss." Such convertsexpressedwhatInnocenttermedconditionalitervolens, "though,absolutelyspeaking,he [i.e., the convert]was unwilling"to convert (licet absolute non velit).23"Shortof dying when threatenedwith apostasy, therewas littlethata Jewcoulddo to convincetheChurchof his unwillingness to be baptized. By the late twelfth or early thirteenthcentury,not only was the Church seekingto compelthosewho hadbeenbaptizedto retaintheChristianfaith,but or some communitiesin Germany,withoutany knownpapalpronouncement to supporttheiractions,threatenedto punish, establishedlegal interpretations or indeed did-or at least led the Jews to fear that they would---punish anyonewho aided relapsedconvertsescape the Christiancommunity.This led to a change in attitudeamong Jews, or at least among membersof Hasidey Ashkenaz, a partiallydisenfranchisedpietistic group within the Jewishcommunity,with respectto how to deal with apostates,presumably willing apostates,who wantedto returnto Judaism.24 22. Citedandtranslatedin Grayzel,"Popes,Jews,andInquisition," p. 7. Even churchmen couldfalterin observingGratian'sstatute.When,on thedayafterhis baptismin September1189, the badlywoundedBenedictof YorkstoodbeforeRichardI andwas askedto identifyhimself, he responded,"Ego sum BenedictusJudaeustuus de Eboraco."Incensed,the archbishopof lashedback, "Ille Christianusesse non vult,(homoDiabolisit," seeminglygiving Canterbury Benedict leave to returnto Judaism.Accordingto Roger of Howden,Benedictdied soon thereafter.The Jewishcommunity,however,would not accepthis body for burialbecausehe hadapostatized.See ChronicaMagistriRogeride Houedene,WilliamStubbs,ed., vol. 3 (1870; reprint,Wiesbaden:Kraus,1964), pp. 12-13, as well as R. B. Dobson,TheJews of Medieval York,BorthwickPapers,no. 45 (York:St. Anthony's,1974),pp. 24-25. 23. Citedandtranslatedin Grayzel,Churchand theJews,vol. 1, pp. 101-103. Theposition was repeatedby NicholasIIIin 1277 andincorporated intocanonlaw by the end of the century (see SolomonGrayzel,"TheConfessionof a MedievalJewishConvert,"HistoriaJudaica 17, no. 2 [October1955] 92-93). 24. Concerningthe place, or lack thereof,of HasideyAshkenazin the GermanJewish communityof the late twelfth and earlythirteenthcenturies,see Haym Soloveitchik,"Three AJSReview1 (1976): 336-338. Themesin the SeferHiasidim,"
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The pietistic authorof section 200 of Sefer hasidim describedthe following case: And these [questions]were also [asked] of the [pietistic]sages: Someone apostatizedandaftersome time inquiredof the Jews, sayingthathe wantedto returnto being a Jew but had very little money. [Since]the non-Jewstrusted him, he would like to take [money]from them and afterwardsflee with all the money to become a Jew. One [sage] said, "Sinceyou want to repent,do not take [fromthem] and do not steal."A [second]sage said, "Sincehe only apostatizedbecausehe did not have the desiresof his heart,it is betterthathe shouldtakefromthe non-Jewsandflee andnot eatporkorprofanethe Sabbath. And if they catchhim andkill him,his deathwill be a penanceforall his sins." The thirdsage said, "Knowthatit is best thatyou do not instructhim andtell him whatto do, becausewe will causeevil [since]he will immediatelytell the non-Jewsthatthe Jews advisedhim on this matterand it will be a danger[to the Jewishcommunity],thereforedo not speakto him."And so it happened. He told the non-Jewsand they almost killed the Jews, [and the Jews] gave muchmoney [i.e., fines, bribes]over this.25 Whether the story be true or hypothetical, the author was not against the notion of an apostate returning to Judaism; however, he did not want to become involved with an apostate whose actions might imperil the Jewish community, particularly one was thought to have ulterior motives. The very next passage in Sefer hasidim reinforced this idea. And if thereis an apostateandit is knownto the importantpeoplein the town and the sages in the town thathe is willing to repent,but if he flees therewill be a dangerto the people [i.e., Jews]of the town because[theChristians]will say that the Jews causedhim to flee, then he can fool the non-Jewsand say thathe wantsto go on a pilgrimage[prtI]. And he shouldtakeuponhim the crossuntilhe leaves the place wherepeopleknow him and [then]remove[the cross]andtherewill be no complaintsagainstthe Jews.26 shel'Sefer "Le-ta'arik seeHaymSoloveitchik, hibburo 25. Onthedatingof Seferhasidim,
hasidim',"in Tarbutve-hebrahbe-toledotYisra'el be-yemeyha-beynayim,qobez,ma'amarim Hillel Ben-Sasson,MenahemBen-Sassonet al., eds. (Jerusalem:Zalman le-zikroshel ShazarCenter, .Hayyim 1989),pp. 383-388, who is ableto establishthatsectionsdealingwitheconomic practices(and perhapscharity)predate1225. Ivan Marcus,Piety and Society(Leiden:Brill, Seferhasidim 1981), pp. 136-137, 153 n. 88, asserts"thataside fromobviousinterpolations"
1217. (aftersection16)predates 26. Seferhasidim,no. 201.
IN MEDIEVAL APOSTATES ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN REPENTANT POLAND 307
Here it was possible for the apostatewho sincerelywantedto repentto returnto Judaismwithoutendangeringthe local Jewishpopulation.Thehasid assumedthatlocal Christianswould not suspectthata convertleavingtown carryingthe cross on a pilgrimagehad no intentionof bearingthe Christian faithto his destination.However,when the potentialrepenterrepresenteda possiblethreatto the community,as in the formercase, the hasidabjuredany contactwith him. Even advisinghim not to stealwas too risky.It was better to have nothingto do with such a person.27 Despite the risks, subsequentgenerationsof GermanJewrycontinuedto demonstratea tolerantattitudetowardrepentantapostates,but the reception thatthey accordedthemwas influencedby the apostates'behavior. Althoughthe vast majorityof Jews in Frankfurt,more than 150 people (over 75 percentof the local Jewish population),died martyrs'deaths in the wake of the May 1241 persecutions,a numberof girls (one said to have been less thantwelve years old) were possiblyrapedand then forcibly converted.28Thesegirlsrefusedto acceptlife as Christiansandmadenumerous unsuccessfulattemptsto flee, bothon theirownandwiththehelpof Christians, before finally escaping with the aid of the Jewish community.29 Although the girls had failed to die a martyr'sdeath when forcibly converted,they Jewsthroughtheirdefiant redeemedthemselvesin the eyes of contemporary in the of to face Judaism commitment greatpressurefrom their Christian rabbiseven viewedthe girlsas something captors.A numberof contemporary of heroines.Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (ca. 1180-ca. 1250) wrote regardingthem,
called on Jews to 27. While the apostateremainedin the Christiancommunity,the to praythatGod would insulthim (Seferhasidim,no. 192), althoughthe hasid did allow Jews.hasid lightenthe punishmentof an apostatewho did good thingsfor Jews(no. 1571).Thehasid was not just reticentabouthelping apostateswho physicallyendangeredthe Jewish community; spiritualdangerwas also a concern(no. 183). 28. The attackwas ostensiblythe resultof local Jewsnot allowinga boy to apostatize(see I. Kauffmann,1925], I. Kracauer,Geschichteder Juden in Frankfurta.M., vol 1 [Frankfurt: p. 7). On the numberof martyrsand the size of the community,see GermaniaJudaica,Zvi Avneri,ed., vol. 2.1 (Ttibingen:J. C. B. Mohr[PaulSiebeck], 1968), p. 239 andthe sources cited in n. 6. 29. Hayyimben Isaac,Responsa,,no. 221 with comparisonto 103. The Christianresidents of Frankfurtacted illegally in attackingthe Jews and were forcedto seek a royalpardonfor theiractions(see GermaniaJudaica,p. 239).
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Andthemodestgirlswhowereforciblyconverted andtheirheartswere [103m] to heavenas theirendprovedabouttheirbeginning, it is prohibited to speak againstthemandit is a mitzvahto telltheirpraise... becauseI donotintendto condemnthegirlorto speakill of herbecauseit is a greatprohibition to speak ill of heranda greatpunishment is on onewhowishesto condemnher...30 Whilerepentantapostateswho did not ardentlyproclaimtheirfaithwere acceptedbackintothe Jewishcommunity,RabbiAsherbenYehi'el(d. 1322), forone, affordedthema cool reception.R. Asherviewedmarriedwomenwho hadapostatizedto savetheirlives andlaterrepentedandreturnedto theJewish communityas nothingless thandeserters.Theyhadnot only abandonedtheir Godbuthadcompoundedtheirtreacheryby doingso publicly.31 Thewomen's from the Christian was not a subsequentescape community publicdeclaration of Jewish faith comparableto martyrdom,or even to the effortsof the girls of Frankfurtin 1241, that it might atone for theiroffense. Nevertheless,R. Asher,like almostall otherAshkenazicauthorities,was willingto acceptsuch womenbackintothe communityandallow themto returnto theirhusbands.32 While GermanJewry may not have renouncedcontactwith repentant apostates,it continuedto be cautious in dealing with them. One of the studentsof the pietist RabbiJudahhe-hasid,R. Isaacben Moses of Vienna, was asked to decide a disputeconcerninga woman who had convertedto Judaismand served as a handmaidfor a certainJew.33At some point, her Jewish owner suspectedher of stealing from him and, likely sensing his 30. Isaac ben Moses, Sefer or zaru'a, vol. 1 (1862; reprint,n.p.: Ma'orha-gadol,1976), no. 747. R. Isaacwas not alone in praisingthe girls. See the commentsof R. Isaac'steachers R. Judahben Moses of Friedberg,R. Meshulamben David, and R. David ben Sha'alti'el in Hayyimben Isaac, Responsa,nos. 103, 221. Blidstein,"Ma'amadanha-ishi shel nashim shebuyot,"p. 92, correctlynotes, however,thatR. Isaac'sacclaimof the girls did not match his praiseof the martyrs. 31. Asher ben Yehi'el, She'elot u-teshubotha-R'osh (1881; reprint,n.p., n.d.), no. 32.8, wrote,"it is truethatthey did somethingterribleandthey mustbe remorsefuland repentand acceptsufferingsmorethanthose who apostatizedin peacefultimes becausethey apostatized in public." 32. See Blidstein,"Ma'amadanha-ishi shel nashimshebuyot,"pp. 98-99, regardingthe general trendto allow these women to returnto their husbands.If, however,the women lingeredin the Christiancommunitywhen they had the opportunityto escape, rabbiswere quitewilling to prohibitthem fromreturningto theirconjugalrelationships.See the opinion of RabbiAbrahamKatzcited in JacobMollin,She'elotu-teshubotMaharil,YitzchokSatz,ed. (Jerusalem:MachonYerushalayim,1979),no. 72, p. 92 andthe sourcescitedin n. 35. of the 33. Isaacben Moses, Sefer or zaru'a, vol. 1, no. 758. In R. Isaac'sreconstruction litigants' claims there is no mentionof her having being a convert.However,in his own
ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN IN MEDIEVAL APOSTATES POLAND 309 REPENTANT
mood, the woman fled to the court of a "greatnoble,"a lieutenantof the king, whereshe "converted"to Christianity.She remainedwith herprotector for over two years, then returnedto the Jewish communitycomplainingof havingbeen mistreatedand (ab?)usedsexuallywhile a Christian.According to her originalowner'saccount,she returnedto him, buthe was not allowed to keep her. Whetherhe feared for his own life if he were to be caught harboringa lapsedChristian,or whetherthe communitypreventedhim from The owner keepingherbecauseit fearedthe ramifications,remainsunclear.34 sentheroff (accordingto the otherlitigant,she fled of herown accordwithout ever returningto the owner)to the Hungarianvillage of Irek,whereshe was unknownand could hide moreeasily.35All includingR. Isaac,assumedthat if she had been caughtshe would have been killed. The ineffaceablenatureof baptismin canon law meant that from the Church'sperspectivea forcibly convertedJew could not legally returnto Judaism.Canonlaw called for the punishmentnot only of relapsedconverts but of those who assisted them. This was made explicit in the papal bull Turbatocordeissuedby ClementIV on July27, 1267 whichequatedrelapse into Judaismwith heresyand called for appropriate legal proceedings whomyou shallhavediscovered to havecommitted such againstChristians Jews, things[i.e.,joinedtheJewishfaith]in thesamewaysas againstheretics; of eithersex however,whomyou shallhavediscoveredinducingChristians intotheirexecrablerite,beforethis,or in thefuture,theseyou areto punish withduepenalty,curbingby ecclesiastical censurethosewhocontradict this, appeal being denied, and the help of the secular arm, if need be, invoked for this purpose.36
The few born-Christianswho convertedto Judaismin the thirteenth centurywere likely only a secondaryconcernof Turbatocorde; its primary discussion,R. Isaaccites Pesiqta' rabbati22, "do not trusta convertuntilthe twenty-second generation,"andaddsof his own accord,"andall the moreso a convertwho has apostatized." 34. The owneris purportedto have said,"'`x nninx ovDn'NV-'n"rI ,)." 35. On the identificationof pj• with Irek,a village nearNitra,see J. Wellesz,"Isaakb. MoseOr Sarua,"Monatsschriftjfir Geschichteund Wissenschaft des Judentums48 (1904):449. Also see I. Kahan,"OrSaruaals Geschichtsquelle," Jahrbuchder GesellschaftJir Geschichte derJudenin der Cechoslovakischen Republik9 (1938): n. 88. Welleszdatesthe responsumto some time before 1233 (p. 450). 36. Citedandtranslatedin Synan,Popes and theJews in theMiddleAges, p. 118.
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focus, and the reasonfor the renewalof the bull by subsequentpopes, was If therewas any doubt the backslidingconvertwho returnedto Judaism.37 whetherTurbatocordeincludedrelapsedconvertsin its dicta,it was clarified by GregoryX, who reissuedthe bull in 1274 and made specificmentionof rejudaizantesandthose who aidedthem.38 The equationof relapse into Judaismwith heresy moved the question of relapsi into the midst of the Church'sbattleagainstheresiesand heretics that had begun in the twelfth century.Relapsed convertsand those who aidedthem fell underthejurisdictionof the courtsof the Inquisitionas well as the state.39Accordingly,the influentiallegal code of southernGermany, the Schwabenspiegel(ca. 1275), followed the papacy'slead and authorized secularpowerstojoin withecclesiasticalauthoritiesin uprootingtheperceived scourgeof relapsedconverts.40Yetthe Inquisitionwas neverableto establish itselfas a significantforcein Germansociety,wheremanypeopledidnotview heresy as an urgentproblem.41Thus, for the most part,the threatsof canon law remainedpreciselythat,threats.In southwesternEurope,however,where et les juifs de Provenceau XIIIes.," Provence 37. See JosephShatzmiller,"L'inquisition see Yosef Also 328. 93-94 Yerushalmi,"TheInquisitionand the Jews of (1973): Historique Francein the Timeof BernardGui,"HarvardTheologicalReview63, no.3 (July 1970):340, n. 55. et 38. See Grayzel,"Popes,Jews, and Inquisition,"pp. 15-16. Shatzmiller,"L'inquisition les juifs de Provenceau XIIIes.," p. 328, pointsout thatNicholasIV used the same language when he reissuedthe bull in 1288. 39. The ThirdLateranCouncil(March1179) approvedthe use of secularpower against heretics.InnocentIIIwent furtherby threateningnobleswho did not help in the battleagainst heresy with excommunicationand interdictions.Previouslytherewas little occasion for the collaborationof churchand state againstreligiousdissenters,since therewas no consensus on how to deal with such people. See WalterWakefield,Heresy,Crusadeand Inquisitionin SouthernFrance, 1100-1250 (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1974),pp. 82, 85, 88. andthework'ssubsequent 40. OnrelapsingintoJudaismandheresyin theSchwabenspiegel influence,see GuidoKisch, TheJews in MedievalGermany(Chicago:Universityof Chicago Press, 1949),pp. 39, 203-204. 41. HenryC. Lea, in his classic A Historyof the Inquisitionof the MiddleAges (1888; reprint,New York:RussellandRussell,1955),arguedthatlocalGermanauthoritiesopposedthe Inquisitionon politicalgroundsandthereforepreventedit fromestablishingitself(vol. 1, p. 332; vol. 2, p. 388). WhenCharlesIV finallysupportedthe Inquisitionin 1369, its activitieswere aimedat beghardsandbeguinesbut even these limitedeffortselicitedlocal opposition(vol. 2, pp . 393-395). RichardKieckhefer,Repressionof Heresyin MedievalGermany(Philadelphia: Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 1979), challengedLea's contentionsand suggestedthat the reason for the Inquisition'sweaknessin Germanylay in its own institutionalstructure. Inquisitorslackedthe institutionalmechanismsfor interregionalcooperationand,unliketheir
REPENTANTAPOSTATESIN MEDIEVALASHKENAZAND PREMODERNPOLAND
311
the fear of heresy provokeda strongand effective responseby inquisitors, relapsedconvertsfacedthe specterof punishmentand,in addition,endanger, those who harboredthem.Yet not only did apostatesin the regioncontinue to returnto Judaism,they were often encouragedto do so by local Jews. In 1284 Abrahamde Grasseandhis wife Rosa, of Manosque,Provence, were accusedand laterchargedby the Inquisitionwith encouraging,aiding, and harboringRosa's daughter,who had been a Christianfor more than five years, in her returnto Judaism.42 In southernItaly in early 1290, where Jews had the supportof the Angevin king, CharlesII, a Jew was "merely" fined for bringinga relapsedapostateback into the fold, althoughwithout doubtthe Inquisitionwouldhave likedto imposea harsherpunishment.43 To the northwest,in Aragon,therewere a small numberof Jews in 1307 and 1308 who had apostatizedin the midstof the expulsionof Jews fromFrance These FrenchJews, who had apostatized and wantedto returnto Judaism.44 when faced with expulsion, not death, and were thereforeconsideredby Jewish law to be voluntaryapostates,had come to Aragonspecificallyto returnto Judaism.They were able to locate membersof the local Jewish populacewho, in many cases, would not only harborthem but help them and"rejudaization." undergoa processof both"dechristianization" Although such ritualswere not requiredby Jewish law, they were popularattempts to remove the stain of baptismfrom the Jewishbody and soul and restore the apostateto religiouspurity.45 However,these effortsput the local Jews in southernEurope,inquisitorsin Germanywereappointedoverregionstoo large counterparts to administereffectively(p. 26). et lesjuifs,"pp. 330-331, 335, as well as his Recherchessur 42. Shatzmiller,"L'inquisition la Communitjuive de Manosqueau MoyenAge 1241-1329 (Paris:Mouton,1973),pp. 58-62. 43. JoshuaStarr,"TheMassConversionof Jewsin SouthernItaly(1290-1293),"Speculum 21, no. 2 (April 1946):206. Such apostateswere not forciblybaptizedbut ratherforcedinto apostasyby excessivetaxation(p. 208). 44. On the conversionof such Jews duringthe expulsion,see Yom Tov Assis, "Juifsde Francerefugiesen Aragon(XIIe-XIVesiecles),"Revuedes etudesjuives142 (1983):291-292, 299; Yerushalmi,"Inquisitionandthe Jewsof France,"pp. 322-323; RobertChazan,Medieval Jewryin NorthernFrance (Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress, 1973), pp. 195-196; William ChesterJordan,The French Monarchyand the Jews (Philadelphia:Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 1989),p. 236. 45. See Joseph Shatzmiller,"Convertsand Judaizersin the Early FourteenthCentury," HarvardTheologicalReview74, no. 1 (January1981):63-6, 69; Yerushalmi, "Inquisitionand the Jews of France,"pp. 363-374; Goldin,"Ha-yahasim beynha-yahid,"p. 174. The notionof washingaway the effects of an earlierreligiousrite of passagewas not withoutparallelin the
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at graverisk.46The FrenchInquisitionsoughtthe extraditionof relapsi,and local authoritiestook measuresagainstthose who harboredreturningJews in orderto make an example of them. Nevertheless,Jewish communities continuedto grantapostatessanctuary.47 By 1311 the Inquisitionin Aragon hadbegunan investigationof the effortsbeing extendedby Jewsto relapsi.48 Justfouryearslater,the atmospherewas so tensethatrumorsthatthe Jewsof Majorcawere assistingthe returnof apostatesreturnto Judaismwereenough to endangerthe community.49 Theeffortsof Jewsin Aragonto help apostatesreturnto Judaismendured despite threatsand interdictions.In 1320 and 1321, many Jews who had convertedto Christianityduringthe PastoureouxuprisingenteredAragon and openly returnedto Judaism,some with the supportof local Jews.5oIn 1326 (ulema de Quatorzeof Calatayudand his son were condemnedfor encouragingandhelpingforcedconvertsfromFranceto abandonChristianity andreturnto Judaism.Theireffortswerenot unusual.LocalJewsencouraged apostatesto returnto Judaism,apparentlywilling to sufferthe harassmentof the Inquisitionas well as possiblecondemnation.5 The Inquisitiondid not carefullysingle out fautorsandrelapsedconverts for punishmentbut exploited its jurisdictionover relapsi and those who harboredthem to harassentireJewishcommunities.52 Ultimately,the wrath of the Inquisitioncontributedto the pauperizationand even ruin of the Nevertheless,more than a century importantJewish center in Saragossa.53 later, in the 1460s, Jewish communitiesin Aragon continuedto provide refuge for conversosfleeing Castilein orderreturnto Judaism.The leaders of the Jewishcommunitiesin Huescawho hadacceptedsuchconversosback Christiancommunity.EstherCohen,The Crossroadsof Justice(Leiden:Brill, 1993), p. 184, describinghow the fingersof two condemnedmonks "werescrubbedto removethe chrism used at theirordinationandthey were declareddevoidof all ecclesiasticalauthority." 46. See YitzhakBaer,A Historyof the Jews in ChristianSpain,Louis Schoffinanet al., JewishPublicationSociety,1966),p. 9. trans.,vol. 2 (Philadelphia: 47. See Assis, "Juifsde Francer6fugi6sen Aragon(XIIe-XIVesiicles),"pp. 299-302. 48. Yerushalmi,"Inquisitionandthe Jews of France,"p. 323. 49. Baer,Historyof theJews in ChristianSpain,vol. 2, p. 10. 50. See ibid., 51. See Assis, "Juifsde Francer6fugies,"p. 313. 52. See JeremyCohen,TheFriars and theJews (Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress, 1982), p. 48, andStarr,"MassConversionof Jews in SouthernItaly(1290-1293),"p. 203. 53. Baer,Historyof theJews in ChristianSpain,vol. 2, pp. 13-14.
IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN APOSTATES POLAND 313 REPENTANT
couldnot escapethe and saw themthroughthe ritualof "dechristianization" and burnt at of were the stake(1489-90) the Inquisition eventually scrutiny for theirparticipationin this rite.54 Thestarkdifferencein attitudebetweentheGermanpietistsandAragonese Jewrytowardtheapostatewhosereturnto Judaismposeda threatto theJewish communitywas in part a result of differentcircumstances.The repentant apostatewho came to the Germanpietist clearly faced risks in leaving Christianitybut could reducethe dangerto himself and othersby fleeing to anotherregion,an optionthatthe pietistexploited.It is unclearthatthe Jews of Aragonhad such options.The relapsihad alreadyfled the region where theyhadlived as Christiansandnow lookedto Jewsin theirnew surroundings to help them.Certainlythey could not be sent off to Germany,which during the late thirteenthand early fourteenthcenturieswas hardlya havenfor any Jew,let alonereturningapostates.In the wake of the Rindfleishpersecutions, Jewswere fleeingthe Germanlandsfor the relativesafetyof SpainandItaly. Jews in Aragon were faced with a challenge that they could not escape: endangerthemselvesby helpingapostates,manyof whomhadbeen forcibly baptizedandnow werewilling to putthemselvesin gravedangerby returning to Judaism,or leave them to a life of sin as Christians.Apostatescould not returnto Jewish life withouta Jewish community.AragoneseJewry often chooseto help suchapostateseven in the face of the Inquisition.The German pietistsdid not have to face the falloutfromlarge-scaleconversions,whether forced or voluntary,and so were not compelledto confrontthe problem. Historicalevents did not challengetheirbelief thatthe welfareof the Jewish communityoutweighedthe spiritualwelfareof individualapostates.TheJews of Aragondid not have this luxury. Despite the concerns of the Germanpietists and the ruling of the Schwabenspiegel,therewere Jewishapostatesin thirteenth-century Germany who returnedto the Jewish community.In some cases, however, their contritionwas dubious at best and they drifted back and forth between the Jewish and Christiancommunities.In the second half of the thirteenth century,RabbiMe'irbenBaruchof Rothenburg complainedthatsome"empty who even had ritual immersionas partof the rites undergone people"(t',in), went fromtown to town, sometimesappearingas Jews and of "rejudaizing," in other instancesas Christians.R. Me'ir, for one, did not accept them as 54. See ibid.pp. 295-299, 384-389; Yerushalmi,"Inquisitionandthe Jewsof France,"pp. 369-370.
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fullyreturnedJewsandclaimedthat"itwas well known"thatthe only reason they portrayedthemselvesas Jewswas so thatJews wouldgive themfood to eat, and so they would be able to steal and fulfillall theirbase desires." Thephenomenonwas notunknownin neighboringFrance.RabbiSolomon benAbrahamAdret(ca. 1235-ca. 1310)reportedthathis teacher,RabbiJonah ben AbrahamGerondi(ca. 1200-ca. 1263), who in his youthhad studiedin France,hadconveyedto him a rulingthathe hadheardfromFrenchscholars concerningJews who wanderedfrom town to town, posing as Christians to Christiansand as Jews when enteringthe homes of Jews.56Nor did the problemof suchvagrantsendwiththethirteenthcentury.RabbiIsraelIsserlein (1390-1460), who servedas rabbiin Marburgand laterin WienerNeustadt, also complainedof derelicts(tn~pi)who sometimesreturnedto Judaismwith less thancompletecontrition.57 In 1475 suchan apostatewas caughtstealing by the authoritiesin Regensburg.The Jew Isaac,then Reichartof Mospach, toldhis interrogators how he hadwanderedfromplaceto place,feigningto be a Jewhereanda Christianthere,havingacceptedbaptism--andin at leastone instancein Holland,the vil guldenthatwentwithit--three times.He admitted to having marriedseveral women in differentplaces and to stealing from Christianand Jew alike. Of greatersignificanceto the Jewish community, he also had accused Jews from Krautheimand Bambergof havingbought and extractedblood from the host.58Little wonder that such people were 55. TeshubotMaymoniyyot,,Nashim 10; also cited in IsraelIsserlein,Terumatha-deshen, Pesaqim u-ketabim(Bene Beraq: n.p., 1971), no. 230. A shorterversion of R. Me'ir of Rothenburg'sresponsumappearsin Mordecaiben Hillel, Ketubbot306. The text seems to indicatethat R. Me'ir thoughtthat these people would steal and fulfill their base desires while feigningto be Jews.A late-fourteenth-century Jewishvagrantin Francedid exactlythat, exploitinghospitalityto steal from his Jewish hosts (see EstherCohen,"Posh'imYehudim be-Zarfatbe-shalheyha-me'ahha-14,"Zion46, no. 2 [1981]: 151-152). 56. SolomonbenAbrahamAdret,She'elotu-teshubotha-Rashba'(1868;reprint,Jerusalem: n.p., 1958), vol. 7, no. 179. The Frenchscholarsbelieved that such Jews pretendedto be Christiansonly to indulgetheirevil inclinationsbutdid not reallybelieve in Christianity. 57. Isserlein,Pesaqimu-ketabim,no. 138. In Isserlein'scase the "waffling"apostateseems to have triedto avoid Jews who might have recognizedhim, runningfrom a town when he foundout thatpeople who knew him were coming.The Churchcertainlydid not approveof apostatesminglingwith Jews,let aloneactingas Jews.See FMlixVernet,"LePapeMartinV et les Juifs,"Revuedes questionshistoriques51 (1892):405. 58. See RapahelStraus,Urkunden zurGeschichtederJudenin Regensburg undAktenstiicke 1453-1738 (Munich:Beck'sche, 1960), no. 211, pp. 64-66. The materialis cited and the importanceof the accusationsregardingthe host are put in theirproperhistoricalperspective
IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ APOSTATES ANDPREMODERN REPENTANT POLAND 315
consideredapostatesratherthan repentantJews by contemporaryrabbinic authorities.59 Even apostateswho ostensiblycompletelyreturnedto Judaismdid not have the full confidenceof R. Me'ir of Rothenburg'sstudentand the outstandingjuristof his age, R. Asherben Yehi'el.R. Asherwas askedregarding a disputeconcerningthe inheritanceof a man,his father,andhis grandfather, who hadbeen murderedtogether.In the courseof accusationsregardingwho had been killed first,the defendant'sguardianrejectedthe plaintiff'suse of repentantapostatesas witnesses to testify aboutwhat they had seen while they were apostates.The defense chargedthat "we have not seen sufficient '9mi] repentancefromthemthatthey shouldbe allowedto testify."With ['m no objective criteriaon exactly how much repentancewas necessary,the defense attemptedto exploit lingeringdoubtsabout returningapostatesto theiradvantage. That someone trying to hold on to assets would grasp for a plausible argumentto disqualifyopposingevidenceis to be expected;thatR. Ashertoo entertaineddoubtsaboutreturningapostatesis much more revealingabout just how they were viewed by the Jewishcommunity. While R. Asheroffereda concertedlegal effortto extendthe parameters foracceptingtestimonyfromreturningapostates,he closedhis legalargument with a note of wariness. intended to transfer to be verycarefulwithtestimony However,it is necessary are because there forced one to another from who, many apostates party money even beforethe decrees[thatresultedin theirapostasy]weresuspect.And inheritances causethemto changetheirmindsandthemindof their moreover, matters[i.e.,theybelievedthattheycould Creator[i.e., to sin] in monetary andit is enoughthatthey[therabbis] fromtheirtestimony], profitpersonally werelenientaboutacceptingtheirtestimony[i.e.,thatof returned apostates]
by R. Po-chiaHsia, TheMythof RitualMurder(New Haven:YaleUniversityPress, 1988),p. 70. 59. The Jewishelementamongthe vagrantpopulationwas not insignificant.It influenced the language of the vagrantsand thieves both in Germany(Rotwelsch)and France (see Liber Vagatorum[Strasbourg,1858], glossary,pp. 55-57; my thanksto the fifteenth-century ProfessorEstherCohenfor bringingthe workto my attention).
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R. Asher,who hadled GermanJewrybeforefleeingto Spainin 1303in his mid-fifties,was not alone in believingthatmany of those who apostatized, even undercoercion, were of dubiousintegrity.61 An unknownquestioner Rabbi ben Samuel of addressing Yedidyah Nuremberg(d. early 14 cent.) rejectedthe notionof acceptingtestimonyin a monetarymatterfrompeople who hadfailedto die a martyr'sdeath,somethingthateven "derelicts[04p4'] amongus"do. "Andalso theworldconsidersthem[i.e.,thosewhoapostatized insteadof being martyredand who laterreturnedto the community]to be awful and they do not marrythem or their relatives,[even] more so than AshkenazicJewryviewed these people as traitors,a stain other sinners."62 thattaintedeven innocentrelatives. Given the doubtsaboutthe integrityof apostates,it is unclearwhether the Jews of fifteenth-century Germanyactivelysoughtto persuadeapostates to returnto Judaism.Even if they did not, there is nothingto suggest that they discouragedthose who wantedto return.Like othersbeforehim, Rabbi JacobMollin(ca. 1360-1427;Austria)believedthatsexualdesiresometimes led apostatesto embraceChristianitywithoutacceptingits religioustenets. Mollin believed that those who had apostatizedfor such reasons would 60. Asher ben Yehi'el, Responsa,no. 54.1. The final phrase,"p~ ," is a double lly7' entendre.Not only does the case requireinvestigation,butthe legalpermissibilityof accepting theirtestimonyin this regarddoes as well. 61. R. Asher was willing to accept the testimonyof repentantapostateswith respectto whetherwomen could remarry(i.e., were theirhusbandsdead).Concludinga responsumR. Ashernoted,"andhis testimonyappearsto me to be validbecausehe repented.Andso we did nmvn), we allowedwomen [to remarry]based in Germanyat the time of the decrees(nnmTa on the testimonyof those who repentedand I wrotea lengthyresponsumon this"(no. 54.5). As for the lengthyresponsum,like manyof R. Asher'sresponsawrittenin Germany,it has, to the best of my knowledge,yet to be located(see IsraelTa-Shema,"RabbenuAsheru-benoR. Ya'aqobba'al ha-Turim:beyn Ashkenazle-Sefarad,"Pe'amim46-47 [Spring1991]: 80-82, 88). 62. Teshubotba'aley ha-tosafot,IrvingAgus, ed. (New York:Talpioth,1954), p. 238, a source kindly broughtto my attentionby ProfessorBlidstein. There is no doubt that these observationswere made in the courseof a prejudicedresponse.If the testimonyunder questionwas disqualified,the money at issue wouldbe used to redeemchildrentakenby the Christiansandforciblyconverted.However,R. Yedidyah'ssocialcomments,even if somewhat exaggerated,remainindicativeof commonperceptions.
IN MEDIEVAL REPENTANT APOSTATES ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN POLAND 317
indubitablyreturnto Judaismwhenthey hadthe opportunity, apparentlywith
hisblessing.63
Afterthe Edictof Vienna(1420-1421), someJewswho hadbeenforcibly apostatizedimmediatelyreturnedto Judaism,encounteringno official opposition from the Jewish community.64 Perhapslike Jewishcommunitiesin Aragon, it felt obliged to help forced apostatesto return;perhaps,more importantly,the Churchhad given the forcedconvertsits tacitpermissionto returnto Judaism.Thus therewas less dangerfor the Jewishcommunityin accepting.65 That the Churchallowed forced convertsto returnto Judaismdid not mean that it would not punishrelapsi if they fell into Christianhands.In a responsumIsserleinrelatedthe followingcase thattookplace sometimeafter 1421. A groupof menandwomenandmanysoulswentfromonetownto another to celebratea wedding,andtheypassedthroughthetownof a wickedruler,all of whoseservants werewicked.AndtheyfalselyaccusedtheJewsin orderto condemnthemto deathandmurder[them].Andtheycaptured all [theJews], andtheburghers divided[andheld]themin theirhomesthroughout the city, eachmanandeachwomanalone.Andtheytortured themwithsevereholds andothertortures andalsoalwaystempted in orderthatthey them;everything mightconvertandthentheywouldreleasetheirbodiesandmoney.Andthey 63. Jacob Mollin, Responsa,no. 100, pp. 192-193. Mollin believedthat since some of these apostateswere "merciful"(i.e., essentiallygood husbands),it may havebeen betterfor a Jewishwomanto have remainedmarriedto such an apostatein the hopethathe mightreturn thanbe divorcedandfree of him. 64. See Isserlein,Terumatha-deshen,Responsa,no. 241. Also Mollin,Responsa,no. 72, pp. 89-104. Even R. Asher had foundthe pious who had been forciblyconvertedand who returnedas soon as possiblequiteacceptable(Asherben Yehi'el,Responsa,no. 54.1). 65. On the Edict of Vienna in general,see Samuel Krauss,Die WienerGeserahvom Jahre 1421 (Vienna:WilhelmBraumuller,1920). KraussassertsthatMartinV's bull, "Licet to excommunicate omnium"issuedon December23, 1420,whichthreatened Judaeorum anyone baptizingJewishchildrenunderthe age of twelve againsttheirparents'wishes,was issuedto the Jews of Austriaand the Venetianterritoriesin responseto the Edictof Vienna(p. 107). R. JacobMollin certainlybelievedthatthe papalresponsewas aimedat headof the Viennese community(Responsa,p. 102, no. 72). One is left with the impressionthat Kraussbelieved thatMartinV would have allowedall forcedconvertsto returnto Judaismdejure but,bound by Christiantheology,could not do so, so the Churchsimplyturneda blind eye. The dating of "LicetJudaeorum," however,remainsproblematic.See Vernet,"LePapeMartinV,"p. 422, no. 81.
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remained heldforsometime,husband andwife.Andit happened thatafterthey forsometime,a minority hadbeentortured of themenapostatized, as wellas someof thewomen,somewiththeirhusbands andsomewithout.Andanother Jews.Andall thosewho minorityescapedfrombeingheld[whileremaining] to the truereligion[i.e.,Judaism]exceptthatsomeof returned apostatized themdelayedfleeing,amongthemwomenwhohadalreadyapostatized once returned to thetruereligion.Andthiswastold[to beforeandhad[previously] whohadcaptured themrecognized andtheChristians themand theircaptors], these women because of this. And the addedan accusation against majority thetestandwerekilled,sanctifying God'sname, withstood [ofthosecaptured] mayHebe praised.66 In his responsum,Isserleintacitlyacknowledgedthatrepentantapostates could have been indictedby the Christiansfor relapsingback into Judaism; TheotherJewsbeingheld thattheywerenot was dueto a legaltechnicality.67 were not accusedof harboringrelapsiin theirmidst. aboutheresyweredecliningin Germany, In a periodwhenapprehensions Ashkenazichalakhicliterature as were activitiesagainstit, fifteenth-century evidencedno hint of concernthatthe fautorsof relapsimightbe punished.68 When asked whethera repentercould be shavedon the intermediatedays for his ritualimmersion,Isserleinpermittedthe of the festivalin preparation take place as soon as possible so that immersion shavingand urgedthatthe the repentercould begin to fulfill all the commandments.69 Surely,if there hadbeen a dangerto the Jewishcommunity,Isserleinwouldhave movedto prohibita folk custom insteadof tryingto find a biblical source for it. As an ideal, Isserleinhimself followed in the traditionof leniencein penances for apostates,afraidthattoo arduousa penancewould preventthe returnof an individualwhose very naturehe believed to be evil [Yi r1o] and who 66. Isserlein,Responsa,no. 241, was asked aboutthe permissibilityof these women to theirhusbands. 67. Isserleinbelieved that the women could not be chargedbecausethey had originally been detainedon otherpretenses.WhetherIsserlein'sassumptionwas corrector not remains unclear. 68. On the declineof heresyin fifteenth-century Germany,see Kieckhefer,Repressionof Heresy,p. 83. 69. Isserlein,Responsa,no. 86, notes that while accordingto the letter of the law the repentercould fully participatein Jewishlife withoutimmersion,the "customof our fathers" demandedritualimmersionbeforea malerepentercouldbe includedin a quorumor any "holy matter."
IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN REPENTANT APOSTATES POLAND 319
was used to doing "as his heartdesired"amongthe Christians.Leavingthe securityand pleasuresof the Christianworld for life amongthe Jews was punishmentenough.70 If Isserlein,like R. Gershomof Mainz,Rashi,and R. JacobTambefore him, indeedfavoredencouragingapostatesto returnto the Jewishcommunity easier,his approachdidnot leavean indelible by makingtheir"rejudaization" impressionon the spiritualheirsof medievalGermany,the Jewishcommunity in Poland.
HistoricallyPolandhad been quite tolerantof Jews, and the privileges extendedto Polish Jewry by monarchsduringthe Middle Ages generally protectedJews from forced conversions.71 Over the course of the mainly peacefulsixteenthandmost of the firsthalf of the seventeenthcentury,there Those who did apostatizeusually were relativelyfew apostatesin Poland.72 became Catholics,73 some for personalgain, others to escape punishment at the handsof Jewish or state authorities,and still othersundoubtedlyfor altruisticreasons.74 In one of Lublin'smajorchurches,The ArchangelSaint the almost 3,500 pages of baptismalrecordsspanningthe years Michael, 70. Isserlein,Responsa,no. 198. On the apparentcontradiction betweenIsserlein'slenient rulinghere and the stringenttraditoncited in his name two generationslaterby Josephben Moses,Seferleqetyosher,JacobFreimann,ed. (1904;reprint,Jerusalem: n.p., 1964),p. 49, see the very questionablesuggestionof Dinari,HakmeyAshkenazbe-shalheyyemeyha-beynayim, p. 91, n. 102. JacobElbaum,Teshubatha-leb u-qabbalatyesurim(Jerusalem:Magnes,1993), p. 28, nn. 21-22, maintainsthatIsserlein'sresponsabest reflecthis position,but it is difficult to drawany conclusionsaboutIsserlein'sgeneralview withoutknowingthe circumstancesof each case and withoutsolving the long standingquestionregardingthe natureof Isserlein's responsa(i.e., were the questionsactuallyaskedof him). 71. See Ignacy Schipper,"Zydzi neofici i prozeliciw Polsce do r. 1569,"Kwartalnik posawiqoconybadaniomhistoriiZyd6ww Polsce 2 (1912):66. I thankProfessorCarlebachfor sendingme a copy of Schipper'sarticle. 72. A numberof Jewschoseto convertratherthanleavetheirhomesduringtheexpulsionof JewsfromneighboringLithuaniain 1495.See TeodorJeske-Cholfiski, NeoficiPolscy (Warsaw: PiotrLaskauer,1904),pp. 11-13, a polemicalworkthatshouldbe usedwith some caution. 73. The few who convertedto Lutheranismwere more likely to have done so out of conviction,for therewas little profitin becominga Lutheranin Poland.See JacobGoldberg, be-mamelket Ha-mumarim Polin-Lita'(Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter,1985),pp. 9, 20. 74. Onthe ennoblementof convertsto Catholicismin PolandandLithuaniain the sixteenth of Converts century,see AndrzejCiechanowiecki,"A Footnoteto the Historyof the Integration in TheJews in Poland, intothe Ranksof theSzlachtain the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,"
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1583-1650, albeitwith gaps totalingfifteenyears,list twelve Jewsas having less than 1 percentof the total numberof Jews who lived in converted,75 Lublinduringthose years.76Polish courtrecordsfrom Cracowalso suggest that there were relatively few Jewish apostatesduringthis period.77The situationwas similarin the town of Nawaria,nearLw6w,whichhad a very small Jewishpopulationand where only five cases of Jews convertingare listed in the churchrecordsspanning1600-1800.78As far as faithfulJews were concerned,worldlyconsiderationswere the explanationfor voluntary apostasy;conversionout of conviction was inconceivableor at least not somethingthatcould be publiclyadmittedto.79 ChimenAbramskyet al., eds. (Oxford:Basil Blackwell,1986),pp. 64-65. On attemptsto use apostasyas a means to escape punishment,see, for example,AbrahamRapoport,She'elot u-teshuboteytanha-ezrahi(1796; reprint,Jerusalem:n.p., 1986), end no. 45, who notedthat priests"always"triedto temptJewsawaitingpunishmentto convertwiththe promisethattheir sentenceswould be commuted.In the second half of the seventeenthcentury,a numberof condemnedJewishcriminalswho withstoodthe temptationto convertwereconsideredmartyrs R. Shakna',Qera'qa'1682-rishum by theJewishcommunity(see ChoneShmeruk,"Ha-qadosh be-pinqasshel ha-hebrahqaddisha'le-'umat'Shir histori,"'Gal-Ed7-8 [1985]: 63 and the sourcecited in n. 15). 75. RomanSzewczyk,Ludnos'a Lublinaw latach 1583-1650 (Lublin:KUL, 1947), p. 107. Amongthe convertswere two children,one aged aboutfive, the otheraroundtwelve (p. 109, n. 3). 76. Therewere sixty-nineJewishhomes in the Jewishsuburbof Lublinin 1570, which, accordingto Bella Mandelsberg-Schildkraut, Mehqarimle-toledotYehudeyLublin(Tel Aviv: Circleof Friendsof the LateBella Mandelsberg-Schildkraut, 1965), p. 66, representedabout 1,035 Jews. Even if one assumesthatthe Jewishpopulationof Lublinreplaceditself butonce duringthe sixty-seven-yearperiodof the records,twelve representsless than 1 percentof the Jewswho lived in Lublinduringthoseyears. 77. See MajerBalaban,HistorjaZyd6ww Krakowiei na Kazimierzu1304-1868, vol. 1 (1912;reprint,Cracow:KrajowaAgencjaWydawnicza,1985),pp. 426-428. 78. See MajerBalaban,ZydziLwowscynaprzelomieXVIgoi XVIIgowieku(1906;reprint, Cracow:Orbita,n.d.),p. 527, n. 2. OntheJewishcommunityin Nawaria,seePinqasha-qehillot, Poland, vol. 2 (Jerusalem:Yad ve-shem, 1980), s.v. Nawaria.It is, of course,possible that potentialapostatesfromNawariamayhaveleft thetownfora moreprestigiouscenterin which to undergobaptism. 79. Joel Sirkes,Bayithadash(Cracow,1635),Yorehde'ah268, wrotethat"everyonenow knows thatmost apostatesconvertonly so thattheirappetitesmay be satiated,to allow them to steal,to have illicit sexualrelationships,andto eat forbiddenfoods in publicwithouthaving the rabbiniccourtof the Jews chastisethem for it" (also see 340 [end]). Sirkes'sview was not surprisingconsideringthat he believed that it was the "way of most apostatesthat all their actionsare to troubleand irritate"the Jewishcommunity(She'elotu-teshubotha-bayit
ANDPREMODERN POLAND 321 ASHKENAZ IN MEDIEVAL APOSTATES REPENTANT
Whenapostasydid take place, it did not always cut off familialfeelings Rabbi and ties, and effortsto entice the apostateback were not unknown.80 SolomonLuria(d. 1574) noted that in his youth a father(or perhapsother relative)came to the local rabbinicauthoritiesaskingthatthe courtobtaina bill of divorcefromthe husbandof his apostatizeddaughterin the hope that, if freedfromher husband,she mightreturnto Judaism.The communitywas sympatheticto the father'sefforts and, to the best of Luria'srecollection, forced the husbandto give the bill of divorce.8'Yet even if the family succeededin persuadingthe Jewessto returnto herold faith,it is unclearthat she could have remainedin Poland. Jews believed that it was both physicallyand spirituallydangerousfor repentantapostates to stay in Poland, and so they encouragedthem to leave for the OttomanEmpire,where they could abandonChristianityand The Jewish printerSamuelHalicz of Cracow, openly returnto Judaism.82 for example, convertedto Catholicismtogetherwith his two brothersin 1537. As an apostate,PaulHaliczpublisheda numberof works,includinga translationof the New Testament(1541), intendedto entice Judeo-German more Jews to the baptismalfont; by mid-century,Samuel Halicz was a wherehe printed repentantJew openlypracticingJudaismin Constantinople, Hebrewbooks.83Halicz's flight to the OttomanEmpirewas hardlyunique. Accordingto a sixteenth-centuryGermanapostate,Victorvon Karben,the hadash [Frankfurt,1697], no. 102). Sirkes'scontentionthat apostateswere seekingphysical pleasuresreflectsa much earliertradition(see Luria,Yamshel Shelomoh,Yebamot[Altona, 1740], chap. 1, no. 6) as well as JudahRosenthal,"MarcinCzechowicand Jacobof Belyce Arian-JewishEncountersin 16thCenturyPoland,"Proceedingsof theAmericanAcademyfor JewishResearch34 [1966]:87. 80. Eventhe Germanpietistwas facedwith parentswho wantedto bribetheirapostateson to returnto the Jewishcommunity(Seferhasidim,no. 183). 81. Luria,Yamshel Shelomoh,Yebamot,chap.1,no. 6. couldonlyconvertfromChristianity 82. Accordingto a numberof Muslimlegalists,dimmTs or Judaismto Islam.The Ottomanschoolof law (madhab),however,followedthe view of Abo to convertto anytoleratedreligion.See Antoine Hanifaal-Nu'min(d. 767) thatalloweddimmTs en des non-Musulmans Le statut pays d'Islam (Beirut:ImprimerieCatholique, Fattal, legal to IslamicLaw(Oxford:Clarendon,1964), 1958),p. 165, andJosephSchacht,An Introduction pp. 89-90. 83. See A. M. Habermann, "Ha-madpisim beneyHayyimHa'liz,"Qiryatsefer 33 (September 1958):509-511, who notes thatSamuelHaliczpublishedhis firstworkin Constantinople in 1550,andMajerBalaban,"ZurGeschichtederHebriischenDruckereienin Polen,"SoncinoNew Blatter3, no. 1 (July 1929):2-3, 7-9. On the date of publicationof the Judeo-German Testament,see Balaban,n. 44.
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Jews' tenacity often led to success in convincing apostates to flee Germany for Turkey, where they could returnto Judaism.84 The hazards of being a backsliding apostate in Poland, even from the Greek Orthodox rite, were alluded to by Nathan Hanover in his Abyss of Despair, a work describing the fate of Polish Jewry during and shortly after the Chmielnicki uprisings in 1648-49. Writing about life in the immediate aftermathof the destruction, Hanover said, In thosedays,the king,may his gloryincrease,issuedan ordinancethroughout the statesof his kingdomthatwhomeverhad been forcedto changehis faith might returnto his former faith. And all the forced apostatesreturnedto Judaism,and they lived in all the cities wherethey had been apostatized,and they publicly became Jews in all [those] places where Jews lived. And in the places where the Cossacksresided,where Jews did not live at that time accordingto the decreeof the king uponthem,the forcedapostatesfled from there.And the [Jewish]women whom the Cossacksmarried[by force] also fled to the cities whereJews lived.Anda few hundredforcedapostatesbecame Jews [again].85 That king Jan Kazimierz assented to the petition of the Jewish community and decreed that Jews "forced into the Ruthenian faith, partly through various torments and partly out of fear for their well-being," must be allowed to return to Judaism can only mean that he accepted the premise that converts requiredroyal protection to safeguard their rejoining the Jewish community.86 In describinghis travelsthroughTurkeyin 1553-55, Hans Dernschwamm,an agent of the Fuggerbank, reportedmeeting Samuelfrom Cracow,who, he said, had left Polandfor the OttomanEmpireafter convertingto Judaism(cited in MateuszMieses, "Judaizanciwe wschodniejEuropie,"Miesiqcznik2ydowski4 [1934]: 157, 254). Dernschwammdescribed Samuelas an apprentice,but, given the small numberof converts,one wonderswhetherthe converthe met was none otherthanSamuelHalicz. Yehu84. See Hava Frankel-Goldschmidt, "Be-shuleyha-hebrahha-yehudit---mumarim in Tarbutve-hebrahbe-toledotYisra'el diyim be-Germanyahbe-tequfatha-reforma'ziyah," be-yemeyha-beynayim,qobezma'amarimle-zikroshel HlayyimHillel Ben Sasson,Menahem Ben-Sassonet al., eds. (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter,1989),pp. 638, 639-640. 85. NathanHanover,Yevenmezulah(Venice, 1653), pp. 10a-b. The flight of Jews who had been forcibly convertedfrom the Ukraineand their subsequentreturnto Judaismis corroborated by at leastone Ukrainiansource.See YoelRaba,Beynzikkaronle-hakhashah(Tel Aviv:DiasporaResearchInstitute,1994),p. 163. 86. An English translationof King Jan Kazimierz'sedict of May 5, 1649 as recorded in Pinsk (1650) can be found in MordekhaiNadav,"TheJewishCommunityof Nemyrivin
IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN APOSTATES POLAND 323 REPENTANT
While many Jews may have died a martyr'sdeathwhen faced with the choice of apostasyor death, duringboth the Chmielnickiuprisingand the Swedishinvasionsof Poland(1655-58), manyhad apostatized.Whilerabbis lamentedthis courseof action,thereis nothingto suggestthatsuchJewswere not receivedback into the communityas anythingless thanfull members.87 Rabbi Menahem Mendel Krochmal(d. 1661), a Cracow native who studiedand taughtin Polish talmudicacademiesbefore becomingrabbiof Mikulov(Nikolsburg)and othertowns in Moravia,was anxiousfor apostate Jews to returnto Judaismin the wake of 1648-49. Writingin late December 1649, Krochmalrefusedto allow a man whose wife was rumoredto have been forcibly convertedin 1648 to give a bill of divorce to an agent of the court (that would have acceptedit on the woman's behalf). Krochmal believed that if the womanhad apostatized,she would returnto Jewish life as soon as the dangerhad passed, and that she would be acceptedback by her husbandand community.88 If, however,she or any otherforcedapostate, failed to flee when given the opportunity,she would be considereda willing
1648: TheirMassacreand LoyaltyOathto the Cossacks,"HarvardUkrainianStudies8, nos. musthave emboldenedJews, for 3-4 (December1984): 394-395. The king'spronouncement Hanovercontinued,"And in all the places where killings took place there remaineda few hundredyoung childrenandbabieswho had [been]apostatized.And the Jews took themback by forcefromthe handsof the Gentiles"(p. 10b). 87. JacobKatz, "Beyn TaTN"Ule-Ta"H-Ta"T,"reprintedin his Halakahve-qabbalah, pp. 313-317, 326, arguedthattherewas no expectationof martyrdomin 1648 and therefore when Jews failedto die a martyr'sdeath.See, however,Josephof Zaslaw, no disappointment Sefer rekebEliyyahu(Cracow,1638), p. 14b,who maintainedthe demandfor martyrdomand wrote"andwhenthe evil inclinationrisesup one shouldthinkthatif it was a time of religious persecutionhe wouldbe killedon a smallmatterof observance,even on changinga shoe strap" (see B.T., Sanhedrin74a-b). Also see the implieddissatisfactionof R. Hanochthe Preacher with Jews who convertedratherthan died duringthe Swedishinvasionsin GreatPolandin 1656 (in She'elot u-teshubotharereyqedem,I. Herskovitz,ed. [Brooklyn:n.p., 1988], no. 95, pp. 407-408). 88. MenahemMendelKrochmal,She'elotu-teshubotzemahzedeq(Amsterdam,1675),no. 70. Soon afterwritinghis responsumKrochmalwas informedthatthe womanwas alive and well, had indeedneverapostatized,had been held as a prisoner,redeemedin Constantinople, andhadreturnedto Lublinfromwhereshe madecontactwithherhusbandandjoyouslyrejoined him.
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The halakhahtakesno notice of any circumstancesin this matter apostate.89 beyondphysicalduress.90 In the wake of the catastrophetherewas greatconfusionregardingboth maritalstatusandinheritances.Whohadbeenkilledfirstin the massacres,the husbandor the wife?91Amongthe few availablewitnesseswho had survived the carnageand could testify to suchmatterswere Jewswho hadapostatized and then returnedto Judaism.Litigantsquickly acceptedformerapostates backinto the fold, at least when it was in theirown intereststo do so.92 Yetnotall contemporary rabbinicauthoritieswerereadyto let suchpeople return to the simply community.RabbiHanochthe Preacher,who duringhis careerservedas head of rabbiniccourtsin a numberof Polish communities, wrote in 1656, duringthe Swedish invasionsof Poland,"whenthe killing was great,becauseof our numeroussins, in the landof GreatPoland,"that duresswas no excuse for failingto die a martyr'sdeath.93 Thevery natureof martyrdomdemandedthat one give up one's life underduress.Those who failedto do so violatedtwo biblicalprecepts:"Andyou will not profaneMy HolyName,"and,"andI will be sanctifiedamongthechildrenof Israel"(Lev. 22:32). R. Hanochwould only acceptbackthose who hadapostatizedunder duresswhen they underwentpenancesfor violatingthese commandments. 89. Accordingto one mid-fifteenth-century Germanhalakhist,if a child was forcibly convertedbut failed to repentwhen it reachedthe age of legal majority,his statuschanged to that of a willing apostate.See ShelomohSpitzer,"Teshubahme'et RabbeynuNatanIgra' be-dinmeshumadim yoreshet abiyv,"Moriah7, no. 1 (Fall 1977):6. 90. See Isserles, Shulhan 'aruk,Yoreh de'ah 157.1. Also see the commentsof Yosef Yerushalmi,From Spanish Courtto Italian Ghetto(New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1971),p. 28. 91. If, for example,the husbandhad been murderedfirst, then the wife's fatherwould inherither insteadof the husband'sfamily. 92. Thequestionof whethera repentantapostatecouldgive testimonyon eventsseen while an apostatewas addressedby Moses Isserles,Shulhan'aruk,Ebenha-'ezer17.6, with respect to testimonythatmightallow a woman,the fate of whose husbandwas unknown,to remarry. on this passage,Davidben Samuelha-LeviexpandedIsserles'sphrase In his supercommentary "m=2x itV in"(Davidben Samuelcites Isserles'sphraseas "n'ra•rnr in")beyond ayinv n• its originalintent(see also Asherben Yehi'el,Responsa,no. 54.1) to allow forcedapostates who returnedto Judaismto testify not only aboutwhat they had seen at the time of their apostasywhenthey wereunderduressbut also duringtheirapostasy(Tureyzahab,n. 4). 93. R. Hanoch,She'elot u-teshubotharereyqedem,no. 95, pp. 407-408. On the attack on Jewishcommunitiesin GreatPolandin 1656, see GershonHundert,TheJews in a Polish PrivateTown(Baltimore:JohnHopkinsUniversityPress, 1992),pp. 27-28.
REPENTANTAPOSTATESIN MEDIEVALASHKENAZAND PREMODERNPOLAND
325
The only allowanceshe would makewere not requireritualimmersionand to not makethemformallyreaffirmtheircommitmentto the commandments. WhilePolishJewrymay havebeen willing to acceptbackthosewho had been convertedby force duringthe Chmielnickiuprisingand the Swedish invasions,the attitudetowardapostateswho apostatizedof theirown volition in more peaceful times was markedlydifferent.In the mid-seventeenth century,in a fit of anger,an unnamedRuthenianJew vowed to convertto for his apostasy,and Christianity(perhapsGreekOrthodoxy).In preparation unbeknownto the Jewishcommunity,he stayedwith local priestsfor a few weeks. He latermaintained,however,thathe had changedhis mindandhad fled withoutapostatizing,fearingthat if he were caughtby the Christians he would face deathby torture,an assumptionacceptedby the authorof a responsumdealingwith his legal status,RabbiSamsonBachrach(d. 1670).94 Seekinga way to repent,the Jew claimedto have soughtthe adviceof a rabbi"in anotherland,"who gave him a few penancesthathe carriedwith him. A long time thereafter,the Jew beganto wander,eventuallyarrivingin Worms,probablyin 1647. The Jew in questionwas not an ignoramus.He was familiarwith the Hebrewliturgyandan expertTorahreader.In a poorcommunitylike Worms thatcouldneitheraffordthe expenseof bringinga cantorfromafarnoroffer an attractivesalary,these skills, togetherwith a pleasantvoice, soon brought the RuthenianJew, who closely guardedthe secretsof his past, the job of cantor. A few daysafterthey appointedthe new cantor,the communityin Worms found out about his past; they could hardlycontaintheir outrage.Arguing that accordingto the halakhah,thinkingof idol worshipis tantamountto idol worship,the townspeoplechargedthe RuthenianJew with committing a severe sin. They accusedhim of eatingnon-kosherand disgustingfoods, profaningthe Sabbath,and other such things while living with the priests. Aghast,they summarilyfiredhim. Bachrach,who would serveas rabbiof Wormsfrom 1650untilhis death, was asked to consider the matter.Admittedlystrugglingto find a single compellinglegal argumentto allow the penitentto serveas permanentcantor, Bachrachmustereda litanyof reasonsto acceptthe manback. By his own admission,Bachrachwas followingthe lead of R. Gershom ben Judahof Mainz, whom he understoodto have ruled that one should 94. Sefer hut ha-shani, Ya'ir Bachrach, ed. (Frankfurt, 1679), no. 75.
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alwaystryto justify a repentantJew'spreviousactions.Bachrachinterpreted this as a general directive to accept repentantJews, includingapostates, back into the fold and not to rejectthem out of hand,as he claimedsome unnamedpeople did.95So stronglydid Bachrachbelieve in the principleof the verse "All the sins acceptingbackrepentantsinnersthathe reinterpreted thathe committedwill not be rememberedagainsthim:he will live on in his righteousness"(Ezekiel 18:22) to mean that throughrepentance,all of the sinner'ssins would be transformedand consideredmerits.96Witha twist of the formerapostatewas metamorphosed fromthe epitomeof interpretation, evil, an idol worshipei,into someonewho mightjust have a morefavorable docketin theheavenlycourtthantheveryhouseholderwho wantedto dismiss him. Following the view of Isserlein,who contendedthat abandoningthe pleasuresof life amongthe non-Jewsand acceptingthe restrictionsimposed by Judaismwerepunishmentenoughforthe repentantJew,Bachrachasserted that if the RuthenianJew could substantiatehis claims that he had indeed performedthe penancesaskedof him, the community,whichdid not believe that he had ever done penance,must accept him back as a repentantJew. that he had endured,Bachrachsuggested, The miseriesand embarrassment were atonementenough for his sins. The communitymust ease his return to Judaismin ordernot to preventothersfrom repenting.Bachrach'sview was clearlyopposedto the publicopinionthatnot only hadrejectedthe man as the community'srepresentativein prayerbut had forcedthe man, whose claimsBachrachinitiallybelieved,to flee the town. Bachrachmust have realizedthat his rulingwould gall the community, yet before he was able to sign the responsumtwo witnessescame and told a somewhatdifferentstory about the RuthenianJew. Accordingto their account, had indeed apostatizedbut had been an unsuccessfulapostate. The Disliked by Christians,he tried to returnto the Jewish community.97 that had but had never fulfilled them. claimed he witnesses soughtpenances 95. Bachrachwas certainlynot unique in following in the traditionof leniency.Rabbi MordecaiJaffe,one of the importantPolishhalakhistsof the late sixteenthcentury,ruledthat one mustbe lenientwith an apostatewho comes to repent(Sefer 'ateretzahab [1825;reprint, New York:GrossBrothers,n.d.], 158.2). 96. A similarnotionappearsin MidrashRabbah(Exodus)31.1, but basedon a verse in Ezekiel33, not this particularverse. Convertsin the 97. Discussingthe Italianmilieu,KennethStow,"A Taleof Uncertainties: et al., eds. (Tel RomanGhetto,"in SholomoSimonsohnJubilee Volume,AhronOppenheimer Aviv:Tel Aviv University,1993),pp. 258-259, notesthatthe Christianworldtrustedconverts
REPENTANT APOSTATES IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN POLAND 327
Bachrachwas furtherinformedthatafterabouttwo weeks in Wormsthe man, who had feigned to be the paradigmof a repentantJew had begun to act frivolously,swear,and get drunkregularly.Bachrachbanishedhim fromthe region.Savedgreatanguish,Bachrachneverthelessconcludedhis responsum by reaffirmingthathe believedhis positionto be legally correctif a repentant was trulycontrite. Bachrachwent to great lengths to try and ease the way for repentant apostates,but clearly there were contemporaryJews, as he himself alluded to, who wantednothingto do with such people. The effortsof R. Gershom and Rashi in the eleventh centuryand many other subsequentAshkenazic authoritiesto encouragethe returnof apostatesandto changepublicattitudes toward them were ultimatelyunsuccessful.R. Solomon Luria,writing in Poland, observed that R. Gershom'sordinancethat mid-sixteenth-century no one insult a repentantJew "did not spreadto all these lands.""9 One that this it was because never hold took conjecture really might amongthe Rabbinic efforts and the Ashkenazic tears of some population. family general membersnotwithstanding,the Jewish communitywould not readilyaccept those who had apostatizedof theirown volitionbackinto the community. As a religious minority some Jews most certainlyrejected apostates as traitorswho had shirkedthe travailsof Jewish belief and identity,and who could never be welcomed back into the community.Othersmust have seen them as permanentlytainted by the stain of idolatryand other sins associatedby Jews with life among the Christians(e.g., forbiddenfoods, sexual promiscuity).AshkenazicJews had traditionallycursedsuch people; their returnto Judaismwould not quickly erase such feelings." Yet Polish Jewryof the mid-seventeenthcenturyhad a much more immediateconcern little morethanthe Jews did, often abandoningthemfinanciallyonce they hadbeen baptized. Frankel-Goldschmidt, "Be-shuleyha-hebrahha-yehudit,"pp. 635-637, adds that the Jewish an of derisionin sixteenth-century was Germany,perhapsno less thanthe Jew object apostate himself.In seventeenth-century France,an anonymouspoetremindeda descendantof Marranos thathe still reekedof thefoetor iudaicus(see GilbertDahan,"Contreun Juif,"ArchivesJuives 16, no. 1 [1980]:6, 7). Thereis littlereasonto suspectthatattitudesweresignificantlydifferent in easternEurope. 98. SolomonLuria,Yamshel Shelomoh,Baba' Qamma'(Prague,1606-08), chap. 8, no. 55. 99. See the sourcescited by Katz,Exclusivenessand Tolerance,pp. 73-74. Seferhasidim, no. 193, found a biblical proof text (Psalms 115:8) demandingsuch name-calling.Haym Soloveitchik,"Beynhevel 'arable-hevel Edom,"in Qiddushatha-hayyimve-hirufha-nefesh, qobez ma'amarimle-zikro shel Amir Yequti'el,Isaiah Gafhi and Aviezer Ravitzky,eds.
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in shapingits attitudetowardrepentantapostates:would the non-Jewsallow apostatesto returnto the Jewishcommunityunmolested? Between the years 1642 and 1648, RabbiNathanKahanaof Ostrog(d. after 1650) was asked about a Jew who had willingly apostatized,later regrettedhis decision and decided to repent, and then secretly fled the Christiancommunity.'"The Christiansnoted his absence and accused the Jews of enticinghim and stealinghim away.They fetteredmembersof the local Jewishcommunity,promisingto releasethemonly when the Christian If he was not returnedit, seems thata Jew neophytewas safely returned.'0t would be killed.102 Having no idea of his whereabouts,the Jews began a search for the individual.After numerousinquiriesthey foundhim wandering"in a field like a lost sheep ...in a distantland"with sackclothon his head,repenting his past deeds. Kahana,an authorityof some staturein his own day,103was askedwhetherthe Jewishcommunitycould legally returnthe repentantJew to the Christians.Y?4 (Jerusalem:Zalman Shazar Center, 1992), p. 151, n. 9, draws attentionto the fact that the cursesso commonlyheapedon apostatesin the Ashkenazicworldwerenotpervasivein the Muslimworld. 100. NathanKahana,She'elot u-teshubotdibreyrenanah,I. Herskovitz,ed. (Brooklyn, N.Y.:n.p., 1984),no. 54. Somebiographicalinformationon Kahanais providedin the firstfew pages of Herskovitz'sunpaginatedintroduction. i see Psalms 101. On the meaningof Kahana'sphrase"~rt'r irva rv 7tyownt) "n1'1n31" 105:18. 102. The question, reformulatedby Kahana,states that many Jews were held. In his responseKahanarefersto a Jew being killed if the repentantrunawaywas not returnedto the Christiancommunity. 103. WhenRabbiShabbetaiha-Kohenpublishedhis commentaryon a portionof Joseph Karo's Shulhan 'aruk(Cracow, 1646), he badly needed the approbationsof contemporary rabbinicauthoritiesto assureboth the publicationand purchaseof the work of such a young scholar.Kahanawas the thirdsignatory,afterthe rabbiand rabbinicjudge of Cracow,among the eighteento sign. 104. Herskovitz'stranscriptionis faulty on a crucialword in the questionaddressedto Kahana.The text as printedsuggests that the Jewish communitydid not want to returnthe 'lV t). However,BodleianHebrewManuscriptNeubauer833 repenter(1nim 5P~r v's 1i0•ob5 error;Opp.75) fol. 174b,clearlyreads (Herskovitz'slabelingas 388 is simplya typographical i oln "if be turned over to their hands against his will." ini b [sic] they may v'v na •'n T Since the responsumonly discusses the surrenderof the apostate,I have assumedthat the third-personmasculinepluralendingof the word ino~nbis simplya mistakeandshouldbe a thirdpersonmasculinesingularending.
POLAND 329 IN MEDIEVAL ANDPREMODERN REPENTANT APOSTATES ASHKENAZ
Kahanaformulatedhis position by drawingon a numberof talmudic sources,the most importantof whichwas the following. A groupof peoplewerewalkingon thewayandencountered non-Jewswho saidto them,"Giveus one of you andwe will kill him,andif [youdo] not we willkillall of you."Theymustallbe killed,andtheyshouldnotgiveover one Jewishsoul.If theysingledoutone of them,like ShevabenBikri,they shouldturnhimoverandnotbe killed.ReishLaqishsaid,Andthatis onlyif he deservesthedeathpenaltylikeShevabenBikri,andRabbiYohanan said, Eventhoughhe doesnotdeservethedeathpenaltylikeShevabenBikri.o05 Generally,rabbinicauthoritiesfollowed R. Yohananin disputes with Reish Laqish,but in this case RabbiMoses Maimonides(1135-1204) had concludedthatthe lawwas as ReishLaqishsaid,andruledthatif thenon-Jews specifiedan individualwho was not deservingof death(i.e., was not guilty of a capital crime), then "they should all die and not give them one soul fromIsrael."'6 While some Ashkenazic(andSephardic)authoritiesfollowed R. Yohanan,R. Me'ir of RothenburgacceptedMaimonides'view and thus helpedmake it the normativeopinionin Ashkenaziclegal thought.107 The halakhahappearedto demandthat the Jewish communityprotect the repentantJew and bearthe consequences,but this was a conclusionthat Kahanacould not endure.He immediatelytriedto limit the talmudiccase to a situationwherethe personsingledout by the non-Jewswould certainly be killed by his captors.Accordingto Kahana,even Reish Laqishwould agreethatin any otherinstanceJews couldsimplyhandover the personwho hadbeen requestedby the non-Jews.Since, in the matterbeforeKahana,the 105. J.T.,Terumot5.10; 46b. On Shevaben Bikri,see 2 Samuel20. 106. Moses Maimonides,MishnehTorah,Yesodeyha-Torah5.5. JosephKaro,in his Kesef to Maimonides'code, and in his Beyt Yosef Yorehde'ah 157, mishneh,a supercommentary to Maimonides' rejectionof R. Yohanan. attempts explain 107. See RabbiMe'irha-Kohen,HagahotMaymoniyyot, Yesodeyha-Torah5.5, n. 6. Inthe Venice,1524 edition,as well as the Bragadini(Venice,1551)editionof Maimonides'Mishneh Torah,R. Me'iraddsthathis teacher,R. Me'irof Rothenburg, explainedto himwhy the lawwas like Reish Laqishwhile R. Me'irof Rothenburgwas himselfbeingheld hostagein Ensisheim (Germany).Thisinformationis missing,however,fromtheGuiustiniani(Venice,1551)edition. The entiregloss does not appearin the Constantinople,1509 editionof the MishnehTorah. Authoritieswho ruledlike R. Yohananarecitedby Sirkes,Bayithadash,Yorehde'ah 157. Isserles'sfailureto give anunequivocalrulingon thematter(Shulhan'aruk,Yorehde'ah 157.1) only left the matteropen for further,albeitlimited,discussion.
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communitywas not being asked to turnover the repentantapostateto be killed,"only"to be forcedto live as a Christian,an idolaterby Kahana'sown admission,the communitycould surrenderhim.'" Kahanawas well awarethata Jewwas requiredto die beforebecomingan idolater,butthat,he argued,was the ideal.If someonewas forcedto become an idolaterandsuccumbedratherthanallowinghimselfto be killed,he would not be subjectto punishment,humanor divine,becausehe had sinnedunder duress,and that, Kahana,argued,was no differentthanviolatingany other prohibitionunderduress.'"Yet idolatryunderduresswas the very offense thatAshkenazicJewsthroughoutthe MiddleAges haddiedrathertransgress! However,the weightof historydid not have a discernibleimpacton Kahana. Idolatryandidolatryunderduresswere legally separatematters,andhe fully exploitedthe difference.He even addedthatthe situationwas not so dire,far as time passed,the repentantJew mightbe able to escapefromthe Christian worldandreturnto Judaism;if a hostagewas killed,he wouldneverbe able to fulfillthe commandmentsagain--a fate muchworsethanalmostany sin. Kahana'sworkingassumptionwas thatthe repentantJew would not be killed if he was returnedto the Christiancommunity.Yet Kahanaacknowledged that accordingto canon law an apostatecould be killed even if he agreedto returnto Christianity.If so, there was a legal loophole to close so thatno one could arguethatreturningthe repentantJew to the Christian communitywas essentiallygiving him over to death. Kahanaagain returnedto the JerusalemTalmud,singling out Reish Laqish'sphrase,"andthatis only if he deservesthe deathpenaltylike Sheva benBikri."Wasit notobvious,Kahanaasked,thata mancondemnedto death, who wouldultimatelybe executedby the rabbiniccourt,couldbe turnedover to be killedto save a groupof innocentJews?He was goingto die at anyrate. If so, Kahanacontinued,whatwas Reish Laqish'spoint?Kahanasuggested thatwhen Reish Laqishsaid thatthe individualmustbe deservingof death, he meantthathe must be deservingof deathin non-Jewishsociety even if totally innocentin Jewish society. So rendered,the case before Kahanafit Reish Laqish'sparadigmperfectly.The repentantJew did not deserve the penaltyin a Jewishcourt;quitethe contrary,he had done whatthe halakhah of the case in the JerusalemTalmudcould simplybe 108. Awarethathis reinterpretation labeleda textual"quickfix"by critics,Kahanaattemptedto show thathis explanationsolved othertextualproblemsnot connectedto the case underconsideration. 109. See Maimonides,MishnehTorah,Yesodeyha-Torah5.4.
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demandedand repented.Accordingto canon law, however, as a relapsed converthe was deservingof death,andas suchthe Jewishcommunitycould handthe man over in clearconscience. Forcedto exclude all possibilitiesthat might be raisedin the repentant apostate'sdefense,Kahanaoffereda numberof otherargumentsas to why he shouldbe returnedto the Christiancommunity,amongthemthatthe apostate hadbroughtabouthis own predicament.Kahanahadlittlemercyfor someone who had endangeredhimself and the Jewish communitythroughvoluntary apostasy. Still not satisfied,Kahanatriedto underminethe repentantJew'sposition even further.Noting that it was the custom of Christiansto take another Jew for a lapsed convert,Kahanadeclaredthe repentantJew was a rodef (someone who threatenedthe life of a fellow Jew and who, accordingto Jewish law, may, if necessary,be killed by either the intendedvictim in self-defenseor by bystanders).It was thereforepermittedto turnhim over to the Christianseven if it meantthat he would certainlybe killed.10This rathersubjectivedefinitionof the repentantJew only highlightedKahana's efforts to overcome the halakhicrequirementthat the Jewish community protectthe repentantJew.Kahanaresistedthis demandwith all the halakhic argumentshe could muster.He even addressedthe religioussensibilitiesof the hostage(s),unequivocallystatingthatanyonewho allowedhimselfto be killed to save the repentantJew would be guilty of suicide and would lose his portionin the worldto come. Kahanawas not the only authorityof the time to deal with the issue of turningJews over to the Christianauthorities.RabbiDavidben SamuelhaLevi, writingat aboutthe sametimeas Kahana,ruledin his supercommentary to Karo'sShulhan 'arukthat one could only handover a personrequested by the non-Jewsif he was indeeddeservingof deathlike Shevaben Bikri." Yet R. David enjoyeda luxurythatKahanadid not have; he was writinga commentaryon a code of law. He could write what he believed to be the of the biblicalrationalefor killing a rodef see B.T., 110. On the rabbinicunderstanding Sanhedrin73a. 111. Even if, based on the JerusalemTalmud,the Jew demandedby the non-Jewswas deservingof death,R. David ben Samuelha-Levidid not believe thata sage shouldbecome involvedbut shouldsimply let the masses do as they please, which he believedwould be to save themselvesby turningover the individual.See Davidben Samuelha-Levi,Tureyzahab, Yorehde'ah 157, n. 7.
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ideal;he was not pressuredto reexaminethe parametersof the law by a case thatinvolvedthe sufferingsof real humanbeings.112 What happenedto the hostage(s) and the repentantJew that Kahana dealt with remainsunknown.Yet there was a troublinglegal implication to Kahana'sviews. If the Christianswere ever to demandthat the Jewish communityturnover an innocentJew to be forciblyconvertedor else the entire community(or anotherindividual)would be killed, the community would have to give over the innocentperson.This was not a hypothetical issue. Kahanaconcludedwith a chilling observation.He himself had seen Christianscome to the Jewishcommunityin Cracowand demandthatthey give them a particularinnocentJewishchild fromthe school for "idolatry." The child was given to the Christians."'3 The problemof dealing with repentantapostateswho had endangered Jewspersisted.In the secondhalf of the seventeenthcentury,a certainJewess swore to convertto Christianity.The woman,who apparentlyhad informed theChristiansbutnotherfellow Jewsof herdesigns,waswhiskedawayby her relatives"becauseof the shame"once they heardabouther machinations.114 Theiractions,however,provokedthe ire of the local ruler."'Demandingthe returnof a potentialconvert,the rulerof the unnamed(Lithuanian?)town was faced 112. In 1620, RabbiJoel Sirkes,R. David ben Samuelha-Levi'sfather-in-law, with a case in which the king'sministersruledthatthe Jewishcommunitymustturnover the sextonof Kaliszto standtrialbeforethe wojewodacourton chargesconnectedto a host.If the the leadersof the Jewishcommunitywouldstandtrialin his place. sextonwas not surrendered, See Joel Sirkes,She'elotu-teshubotha-bayitha-hadash(Frankfurt,1697), no. 43, an English translationand commentaryof which has been preparedby ElijahSchochet,A Responsumof Surrender(Los Angeles:Universityof JudaismPress, 1973),as well as Sirkes'sBayithadash, Yorehde'ah 157. Althoughsome of Sirkes'srationalesanticipatedthoseproposedby Kahana, Kahanaquotesneitherof Sirkes'sworks. 113. Althoughthe churchhad alreadyin the thirteenthcenturyprohibitedthe involuntary baptismof Jewish childrenas a violationof Jewishparentalrightsas well as the belief that baptismmustbe acceptedvoluntarily,the legal debateamongcanonistsandtheologiansover the issue continuedwell into the fifteenthcentury(see WalterPakter,MedievalCanonLaw and theJews [Ebelsbach:Rolf Gremer,1988],pp. 322-330, andR. Po-chiaHsia, TheMythof RitualMurder,pp. 112-118). 114. Accordingto informationaddedby R. Isaacben Abrahamof Poznan,the sourceof the community'sinformationaboutthe woman'soathandintentionscamefromthe Christians. me-Pozna',Ya'aqob See Isaacben Abrahamof Poznan,She'elotu-teshubotRabbeynu Y.haq 38, p. 56. 1982),no. Aharonfeld,et al., eds. (Jerusalem:MachonYerushalayim, 115. Whetherthe rulerwas himself aggravatedby the actionsof the Jews or whetherhe was proddedinto actionby the local clergyis not specifiedin the responsum.
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jailed the communalleadersand the local rabbi,a certainSamuel,torturing themuntil they finallyagreedto relinquishthe woman."' Once released,R. Samuelwroteto an unnamedrabbifromSielec asking him to confirmhis decisionto turnoverthe woman.Arguingthatthe woman hadbroughtherproblemsuponherself,R. Samuelmaintainedthatsince she had acceptedidolatry,she was deservingof deathlike Shevaben Bikriand could thereforebe surrenderedeven if it meant certaindeath."'The case before him was legally simplifiedby the local ruler'spromiseto give her the option of remaininga Jew before he dealt with her. Her relatives(and everyoneelse, it seems) fearedthat she would not be able to withstandthe temptationof the bribesthatwould invariablybe offeredto drawher into the Christianfaith.This, R. Samuelmaintained,was herproblem.Individualsin the communityshouldnot be endangeredto shieldher fromtemptation. To R. Samuel'schagrin,the rabbifrom Sielec refusedto concurwith his position.Moreover,R. Samuellearnedthatone of the outstandingauthorities of the day,RabbiIsaacben Abrahamof Poznan(d. 1685), also opposedhis actions(otherssaid thatR. Isaacendorsedthem).Concerned,R. Samuelsent his responsumto R. Isaac,askinghim to removethe "shamefromhis head" as well as to try and establishlegal precedent. R. Isaac of Poznan respondedby rejectingpart of R. Samuel's legal Relying on Rabbi Joel argumentbut acceptinghis practicalconclusion."11 Sirkes's (d. 1640, Cracow) opinion that the communityneed not protect someonewho had broughtherproblemsuponherself,R. Isaacruledthatthe communitycould turnthe womanover to the noble. It was herresponsibility to withstandany enticementthatmightbe offeredherto apostatize. R. Isaac believed that contemporaryChristianscould not force Jews to apostatizeand thereforedid not believe that he was sendingthe woman to certainapostasy.Since the noble had promisedto ask her if she wantedto remaina Jew first, therewas a chancethat she might indeedwithstandthe ordealand remaina Jew, but that was her responsibility.R. Isaac was not directlybringingabouteitherher apostasyor her death. 116. Isaac ben Abrahamof Poznan,Responsa,no. 37, p. 53. Rabbi Samuel'sdecision to send the letterto "the rabbifrom Sielec" as well as to R. Isaac of Poznan,who, before assuminghis positionin Poznanin 1667,servedin GrodnoandLuck(priorto 1664)andVilnius (1664-67), suggests,but does not demand,a Lithuanianprovenance. 117. See B.T.,Sanhedrin60b. 118. Isaacben Abraham,Responsa,,no. 38, pp. 55-59.
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The need to protectthe communityled R. Isaac to declarethat anyone whose actionscausedothersto threatenthe Jewishcommunitywas a rodef even if the individualacted withoutany intentionof bringingharmto the community.Once labeled a rodef,everyonehad the right,indeedthe duty, to do whateverwas necessary,even killing the woman,to removethe threat thatshe posed."9 Such a rulingclashedwith one of the classic talmudiccases of rodef a childwhose birththreatensthe mother'slife. In the talmudiccase, so long as the child's head has not emergedfromthe womb, its life mustbe sacrificed to save the mother's.-20 However,once the child'sheadhas emergedfromthe womb, the child cannotbe harmed.Accordingto R. Isaac'sdistinction,the threatenedthe mother'slife even when its head child, albeitunintentionally, and had emergedand thus shouldbe killed. R. Isaacrejectedinterpretation because of case childbirth the Talmud that the specificallybrought explained it is an exception.The child is but the agentof a heavenlydecreeagainstthe mother,andthereforeone may not interfere.However,R. Isaacreasoned,in any othercase when someone'sactionsunintentionallythreatena Jew, even thoughthe personis not activelythreateninganyone,he is categorizedas a rodefandone may kill him. R. Isaacdid not believe thathe was being innovative.He hadheardfrom his teacher,Rabbi Jacob Schor, perhapsthe leading rabbinicauthorityin Lithuaniain the mid-seventeenthcentury,that therehad once been a case in Jaroslawin which a small child (Qp ) had apostatizedand had later, nn• followingthe demandsof Jewishlaw, returnedto Judaism.'21The Christians him came to the communitydemandingthe child;the Jews had surrendered withoutany recordof a fuss. 119. Therodefdefenseis not simplya legal excuseforthe victim(orbystanders)to kill the aggressorbut is legally requiredof them if stoppingthe aggressorby some othermeans(e.g., wounding)is not possible.For a briefdiscussionof this particularaspectof the laws of rodef see MarilynFinkelman,"Self-DefenseandDefense in the parlanceof Americanjurisprudence, of Othersin JewishLaw:TheRodefDefense,"WayneLawReview33 (1987): 1262-1263. of the child had left the womb;B.T., Sanhedrin72b 120. Ohalot7.6 readsthe "majority" reads"his head"had emerged.I have followed R. Isaac in citing the BabylonianTalmud's version. 121. It is notclearwhetherthe case occurredin Jaroslaw,whichhosteda verysmallJewish populationpriorto the mid-seventeenthcentury(see Mojzesz Steinberg,Zydziw Jaroslawiu do polowyXIXwieku[Jaroslaw:Littman,1933],pp. 9, 10, 12), or od czasdwnajdawniejszych whetherSchorwas referringto a case thathadtakenplaceelsewhereandwas discussedby the Polishrabbinicleadershipduringtheirregulargatheringsat the Jaroslawfair.
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Schor left his student with no (convincing?)rationalefor what had happened.R. Isaac arguedthat the communityhad surrenderedthe child becausein followingthe demandsof the halakhahandreturningto the Jewish communitythe child had unwittinglycaused othersto threatenthe Jewish community.While totally well intentionedand laudablefrom the Jewish standpoint,the boy was halakhicallya rodef!As such, R. Isaac argued,the community was well within its rights to surrenderhim to the Christians.'22 While R. Isaac's definition of rodefwas an expansion of the parameters of the talmudic definition that demanded that someone be currently and personally threatening an innocent individual, it was in well in keeping with Ashkenazic tradition. Already in the thirteenth century, Rabbi Hayyim, son of R. Isaac ben Moses of Vienna, had ruled that anyonewho deals in forgedcoins or similaritems or anythingelse thatmight causeharmto the community,if the communitywarnedhimnot to do so andhe did not listen,they may tell the non-JewsthatX deals in thesehorriblethings. And if he did it only once andstopped,thenit is certainlyprohibitedto inform on him.Therefore,if thecommunitywas endangeredby this,even if one person was endangeredby this becausethe non-Jewsbelieve thathe did this [as in a case where]it is knownto the them[i.e., the non-Jews]with certaintythatone Jewdid so, buttheydo not knowwho did it andtheycome andaccuseone Jew, [saying]"youdid it," it is permissiblefor him to tell the non-JewsthatX did it andnot me. And even if he who did the deed did not intendharmbut rather to performa mitzvah,such as the case of our masterIsaac,who circumcised convertsandbecauseof this the communitywas endangered.. .123
Jacob Schor was a prominentsignatoryto decreesof the Lithuanianrabbinicleadership from at least 1649 to 1662. See Pinqas ha-medinah,Simon Dubnow,ed. (Berlin:Ajanoth, 1925),personindex,s.v. Ya'aqobben EfrayimZalmanSchor. 122. R. Isaac'sconclusionsmacksof the necessitydefense (i.e., the choice of the lesser evil in cases of conflictingvalues),a defensenot usuallyadmittedin halakhah.GeorgeFletcher, "Self-Defenseas a Justificationfor Punishment,"CardozoLaw Review 12 (1991): 863, has correctlynoticedthat "Absenta generaltheoryof necessity,Jewishlaw has revealedcertain tendenciesto expandthe law of 'pursuit'well beyondthe core cases of aggressionanalyzedin the Talmud." 123. Hayyim ben Isaac, Responsa,no. 142. J. Wellesz, "Hayyimb. Isaac Or Zaroua," Revuedes etudesjuives 53 (1907): 77, n. 2, maintainedthis to be a responsumof R. Me'ir of Rothenburg,but the conclusionof this responsum,"andthe case is writtenin Or zaru'a andI have alreadywrittenaboutit," pointsto a work thatpostdatesR. Isaacben Moses of Vienna
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While R. Hayyimdid not specificallycategorizethe personwho endangeredthe communityas a rodef in the contextof his discussionhe compared unrepentantperpetratorsof violent acts againstmembersof the community to a rodef R. Hayyim fearedthat if not checked,like violent personswho could returnto tormenttheirvictims and perhapskill them, those engaged in illegal activitiescould ultimatelythreatenthe community.Individualshad the right to informthe non-Jewishauthoritiesabout such people-even if only one individualwas threatened,andeven if the accusedwas not currently engaged in such activities--knowingfull well that therecould be frightful consequencesfor them (i.e., loss of all assets-capitalpunishmentis not suggested). R. Hayyim'srulingmay have hadits antecedentsin the workof R. Me'ir of Rothenburg.In a responsumdealing with appealingto the non-Jewish of Isaiah51:20, "Your authorities,R. Me'ir cited the Talmud'sinterpretation childrenhave fainted,they lie at the beginningof every streetas an antelope in a net"Focusingon the biblicalphrase"asan antelopein a net"the Talmud explained,"Justas this antelopefell into the net andthey have no mercyon it, so too the money of Israel,when it falls into the handsof the non-Jews they have no mercyon it."•24R. Me'irexpanded,"Thatis to say,whenIsrael falls into theirhandswith regardto anything,they [i.e., the non-Jews]falsely accusehim [Israel]so muchthatit oftenresultsin mortaldanger." Jews in thirteenth-century Germanynot only did not wantthe non-Jewish of authoritiesto interferein theirinternalaffairs;they fearedthe ramifications suchintervention.Thehalakhah,however,offeredno clearmethodof dealing with individualswho might give the non-Jewscause to intrudeinto Jewish life. R. Me'irwas so fearfulof the potentialharmthatsuchinterferencemight wreakon the communitythathe was willing to expandtalmudicdefinitions and brandanyonewho might bringit abouta rodef.Since accordingto the halakhaha rodef must be stoppedby all possible means, even if it means killing him, R. Me'ir had effectively found a legal rubricthat freed the andcertainlyR. Me'ir.I have been unableto locateany suchreferenceeitherin Orzaru'a or in R. Hayyim'sown work. 124. B.T., Baba' Qamma' 117a; Mordecaiben Hillel, Sefer Mordekay,Baba' Qamma' 195; TeshubotMaymoniyyot,Neziqin, no. 15. Also see R. Me'ir ben Baruch,Sefer she'elot u-teshubotMaharambar Barukh,M. Bloch, ed. (1895; reprint,Tel Aviv:n.p., 1969),no. 485 andSefershe 'elotu-teshubotRabbiMe'ir (Cremona,1557;reprint,Jerusalem:n.p., 1969),no. 232.
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withregardto the individual(s) fromall legalrestraints thatit community a That R. labeled in to threat. Hayyim peopledealing forged perceived pose to theauthorities wasquite coinsdangerous peoplewhocouldbe surrendered in keepingwithR. Me'ir'sviews. in Ashkenazic therewereotherprecedents Undoubtedly, exegeticaland to R. Hayyim'sruling.RabbiJosephKara(11 legalthoughtthatcontributed cent.)mayhavebeenof theopinionthatShevabenBikriwaskilledby the because others,not necessarily peopleof Abelbecausehe hadendangered he was guilty.'25Seferhasidimruledthatif a Jewpersistedin endangering evenafterhavingbeingwarnedto desist,he couldbe turned thecommunity it upon overto thenon-Jewish community, seeminglybecausehehadbrought himself.126Yetthesesourcesdidnotmaketheconnection betweensomeone thecommunity whounwittingly anda rodefR. Me'irdid. endangered RabbiMenahem R. Hayyim'srulingdidnotgo unnoticed. of Merseburg R. into his own 14th work,a workthat cent.)copied Hayyim'sopinion (fi. RabbiJacobWeildeclaredwas thebasisof all customsin Saxony.127 From thereit foundits way into RabbiMosesIsserles's(d. 1572)authoritative glosseson Shulhan'aruk.Isserlesruled,"Whoever endangers manypeople, suchas someonewhodealsin forgeriesin a placewherethegovernments are strict[aboutthismatter],his statusis likea rodefandhe maybe turnedover to thegovernment.""'28 suchpeople"likea rodef'andinvoking Categorizing wastheonlyhalakhic meansof purging theperceived theideaof self-defense 129 aggressor. facednumerous Ashkenazic atforcedconverJewryundoubtedly attempts in two of coercedconversion, sionoverthecenturies, yet the majorinstances receivedpermissionfor thosewho had in 1096and 1648,the community 125. See Saul Liberman,Tosefta'ke-feshuta",Commentaryto Zera'im,pt. 1, 2d ed. JewishTheologicalSeminary,1992),p. 420. (Jerusalem: 126. Sefer hasidim,no. 253, with comparisonto paralleltext in Sefer hasidim,Reuben Margoliot,ed. (Jerusalem:Mossadha-RavKook, 1957), no. 700, concludesthathe could be "becausehe putbothhimselfandeveryonein danger." surrendered 127. R. Hayyim'sworkwas unknownto most authoritiesuntilthe mid-nineteenth century; R. Menahem'sworkwas knownto authoritiesin fifteenth-century Germany,butmuchof it was eventuallylost. An abbreviatedformof his work,entitledNimuqeymoreynuha-rabMenahem mi-Rezburq,appearsat the end of most editions of the responsaof R. Jacob Weil. On R. Menahem'sinfluence,see YizhaqZimmer,"R. Menahemme-Mirzeburq ve-nimuqab,"Sinai 78 (1976): 76. 128. Moses Isserles,Shulhan'aruk,Hoshenmishpat425.1. See also his gloss to 388.12. 129. See Fletcher,"Self-Defenseas a Justification," p. 864.
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been forciblyapostatizedto returnto Judaism.If, duringany otherinstance of forcedapostatismof Jews in Ashkenazin the MiddleAges, Ashkenazic communitieswere ever willing to endangerthemselvesby tryingto bring forcedapostatesbackintothe foldagainstthewill of Churchandmonarch,not only did they leave no recordof suchvaliantefforts,butthey left no imprint of such an attitudein the minds of subsequentgenerations.WhenR. Me'ir of Rothenburgexpressedhis fear of non-Jewsinterferingin Jewishaffairs, he likely only formallyacknowledgedwhat was alreadywell established. The communityfearedgiving Christians,be it the Churchor lay authorities, any pretensefor becominginvolvedin Jewishaffairs.At times, in orderto maintaincommunalorder,it could not be helped,but generallytherewas a workingassumption:keep Christiansout of Jewishcommunalaffairs. Rabbinicattitudestowardacceptingrepentantapostateswere not based upon objectivejudicial considerationsof the person'slegal status.If they were, almostevery repentantapostatewould have been acceptedregardless of the consequences.Few were deservingof deathin Jewishlaw like Sheva ben Bikri, and so, accordingto the Mishnah,Jews should have sacrificed theirown lives to protectthem.However,the overarchingconcernof Polish rabbinicauthoritieswas communalwelfare,not individualsalvation.If rabbis sympathizedwith apostateswho wantedto returnto Judaism,they did not darelet such feelings sway them. This was not new. Halakhicauthoritieswho weighedthe statusof conversos who had taken the daringstep of fleeing the Christiancommunity and returningto Judaismalmost always concentratedon how the returnof the conversowould affect their local community.130Therewere, of course, limits to such considerations.An AlgerianJew (himself a formerapostate fromthe Iberianpeninsula)objectedto acceptingsuch people back into the communityon the basis of the economicharmthatit wouldcause,a position rejectedin no uncertaintermsby RabbiIsaac ben Sheshet(1326-1408).131 Economicissues were not sufficientcause to rejecta returningapostate. However,in many instancesSpanishJewryas well as Jews in Muslim landswerewilling to endangertheirown lives andcommunitiesto helpJews No suchideahadwide currencyamongPolishJewry.The returnto Judaism.132 FromSpanishCourtto ItalianGhetto,p. 25. 130. See Yerushalmi, 131. Citedin SimhahAssaf, "AnuseySefaradu-Portuga'lbe-safrutha-teshubot," reprinted in his Be-ohaleyYa'aqob(Jerusalem:MossadHa-RavKook, 1943),pp. 164-165. 132. No less a figurethanthe greatIberianHebrewpoet Judahha-Leviwas apprehended by Muslimauthoritiesin Alexandriain 1141 for tryingto convincean apostateto travelwith
IN MEDIEVAL ASHKENAZ ANDPREMODERN APOSTATES POLAND 339 REPENTANT
notion of protectingthe communityso permeatedthe Jewishconsciousness that Jews in Poland were willing to surrenderhalakicallyinnocentJewish childrento a life thatPolish Jews themselvesdefinedas idolatry. Ben-Gurion of theNegev University Israel Beersheva,
him to the Landof Israel,where,underChristianrule, he could safely returnto Judaism.It was ha-Levi'sgreat fortuneto be saved from possible executionby his fame; a fellow Jew Egyptwas not as fortunate.See S. D. Goitein,A engagedin similaractivitiesin contemporary MediterraneanSociety,vol. 5 (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1988), pp. 236-237, 461.
Dybbuk and Maggid: Two Cultural Patterns of Altered Consciousness in Judaism Author(s): Yoram Bilu Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 341-366 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486699 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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DYBBUKAND MAGGID: TWOCULTURALPATTERNED OF ALTEREDCONSCIOUSNESS IN JUDAISM by YORAMBILU Introduction Formanyyearsscholarsof Judaismwerereluctantto employthe analytic tools distilledin anthropologyfor studyingJewishculture.Onereasonforthis reluctancewas thatthe classicalethnographic field,consistingof a small-scale tribalsociety with no writtentradition,did not appearpertinentto the study of the text-informed"greattradition"of Judaism.In addition,the notion of comparativeresearchimplicit in most anthropologicalstudies appeared dubiousto many scholarsof Judaism,who were alarmedby the sweeping, methodologicallyunfoundedcomparisonsevidentin the treatmentof biblical materialby suchprecursorsof modemanthropologyas RobertsonSmithand Frazer.'This methodologicalconsiderationwas augmentedby an emotional religioussystemsof "savage"societies unwillingnessto equatethe"primitive" with conceptsandritualspertainingto the oldestmonotheisticreligion.2 1. J. G. Frazer,Folklore in the Old Testament(London:Macmillan, 1919); William RobertsonSmith, Lectureson the Religion of the Semites (1889; reprinted., New York: MeridianBooks, 1927). 2. HowardEilberg-Schwartz,The Savage in Judaism(Bloomington:IndianaUniversity Press, 1990); Harvey E. Goldberg,ed., Judaism Viewedfrom Withinand from Without: AnthropologicalPerspectives(Albany:State Universityof New York Press), 1987); idem, andthe Studyof TraditionalJewishSociety,"AJSReview15 (1990)): 1-22. "Anthropology
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Over the years a more benign ambiancefor cooperationand mutual enrichmenthas been createdby significantdevelopmentsin bothdisciplines. In anthropology, the comparativemelangeof nineteenth-century evolutionists was refinedby in-depthinvestigationsin boundedculturalsettings.Sorting out the similaritiesand differencesbetween"others"and "us"remainedthe tacitagendaof most (thoughdefinitelynot all) anthropological research,even when it focused, as it usually did, on one particularculturalenvironment. But this comparativeventurehas becomemorecontextualizedanddefensible methodologically.In addition,the settings studied,which in the formative yearsof ethnographicfieldworkwere limitedto remote,preliteratesocieties, were graduallybroadenedto includecivilizationsboasting"greattraditions," like BuddhismandIslam. The "text-context"division that separatedanthropologyfrom most humanisticdisciplines,includingJudaicstudies,came to be blurredas leading anthropologistsbeganto turnto these disciplinesfor inspirationandguiding models. While the emphasison contextremainedthe trademarkof modem ethnography,the metaphorof culture as text gained prominencein the anthropologyof the 1970s. The practice of subsumingthe ethnographic and "inenterpriseundertitles like "reading,""translating," "deciphering," and cultural "dramas" "scripts,""narratives," terpreting" lucidly conveys this textual-hermeneutic turn.3The new paradigmcontestedthe formerly dominantmechanisticand organismicmetaphorsin anthropologyand made its discoursemorecongenialto scholarsof Judaicstudies. A similarloweringof disciplinarythresholdshas been noted in Judaic studies in the growingreadinessof scholarsto move from text to context. One recent example is the attemptby scholars of Jewish mysticism to researchparadigmby analyzing augmentthe dominantphilological-historical and the phenomenological behaviorallayers of mysticalphenomena.4The presentessay seeks to contributeto this line of researchby examiningthe mysticalphenomenaof dybbuk(dibbuq)andmaggidthroughanalyticlenses cultivatedin psychologicalanthropology. 3. The most well known exponent of the culture-as-text paradigm is Clifford Geertz. See his now classic collection of essays, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973); see also Goldberg, "Anthropology and the Study of Traditional Jewish Society," p. 5. 4. Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988); Yehuda Liebes, "New Directions in the Study of Kabbalah," Pe'amim 50 (1992): 150-170 (Heb.).
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As an interdisciplinary realm,the goal of psychologicalanthropologyis to explorethe relationshipbetweenindividualand socioculturalphenomena by makingsystematicuse of psychologicalconceptsandmethods.5Thus,the interfacebetweencollectiverepresentations (e.g., ideologies,discourses,and and mental symbols) representations (e.g., personalschemas,dispositions,and is a concern to On the individual desires) major psychologicalanthropology.6 seek to elucidate the level, psychologicalanthropologists processesthrough whichculturalmessagesaresubjectivelyevaluatedanddifferentiallyencoded. On the collective level, they seek to discernconsistentgroupdifferencesand to account for their origins, but at the same time they are also interested in delineatingthe psychologicaland culturaluniversalsthat underliethese differences. This dual perspective,seeking to illuminategroup differencesagainst the backdropof human universals,is characteristicof the present study. Withoutunderestimatingthe Jewish-specificcontents of the dybbukand maggid phenomena,my aim is to ponderthem in the wider comparative context of alteredconsciousness,as representingthe two majorcategories employedcross-culturallyto articulatetranceexperiences. CulturalPatternsofAlteredConsciousness Alteredstatesof consciousnessarea naturalfieldof studyforpsychological anthropologists.Emergingfroma panhumanpsychophysiologicalmatrix, they manifest themselves in a multitudeof culturalforms and contexts. In contrastwith the aura of psychopathologyassociatedwith them in the West,7in most societies alteredstates of consciousnessappearas socially 5. Philip K. Bock, Continuities in Psychological Anthropology (San Francisco: Freeman,
1980);ErikaBourguignon,PsychologicalAnthropology (New York:Holt,Rinehart& Winston, 1979). 6. Roy D'Andrade and Claudia Strauss, eds., Human Motives and Cultural Models (Cam-
bridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1992);GananathObeyesekere,Medusas Hair (Chicago: and Mental Universityof ChicagoPress, 1980); MelfordE. Spiro,CollectiveRepresentation Representationsin Religious MeaningSystems,"in Cultureand HumanNature,ed. L. L. LangnessandBenjaminKilborne(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1985),pp. 161-184. 7. John Leavitt,"Are Tranceand PossessionDisorders?"Transcultural PsychiatricResearchReview30 (1993):51-57; ColleanA. Ward,"TheCross-Cultural Studyof AlteredStates of Consciousness and Mental Health," in Altered States of Consciousness and Mental Health,
ed. ColleanA. Ward(London:Sage Publications,1989),pp. 15-35.
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endorsedand rituallyelaboratephenomenaservingimportantreligiousand therapeuticfunctions.8Accordingto ErikaBourguignon,two principaltypes of indigenous categories are employed as explanatorymodels for trance phenomenaacrossthe globe.' One explanatorytype, designated"possession trance,"attributesaltered states of consciousnessto possession by spirit entities, while the other, "nonpossessiontrance,"views them as resulting froman encounterwith the spirit.This encountermay occurby sendingone's soul on a spiritvoyage orby havingthe spiritscometo visit.10It is againstthis bifurcationof alteredstatesof consciousnessproposedby Bourguignonthat I would like to evaluatethe phenomenaof dybbukand maggid.But before detailingthe featuresof these Jewish variantsof alteredconsciousness,a closer look at possessiontranceandnonpossessiontranceis in order. It would be erroneousto view the two forms of trancemerely as explanatorymodels imposing divergenttheories of causationon a common core of experiencesand behaviors.Rather,they are culturalidioms through whichexperiencesarearticulatedandbehaviorsareconstructedso as to form culturallydivergentconfigurations."In this sense, the terms "possession as they imply trance"and"nonpossessiontrance"are somewhatunfortunate, a separationbetween native theory("possession")and behavior("trance"). In addition,a critiquemay be launchedagainstthe very attemptto subsume the dazzlingdiversityof alteredstates of consciousnessundertwo general categories.While possession tranceand nonpossessiontrancetake note of intraculturalinterpretivesystems of altered states of consciousness,they are also the end-productof a cross-culturalendeavorto distill regularities and uniformitiesfrom highly contextualized,culturallyheterogeneous phenomena.12
8. ErikaBourguignon,ed., Religion,AlteredStatesof Consciousness,and Social Change (Columbus:Ohio State University Press, 1973); idem, Possession (CortaMadera,Calif.: Chandler& Sharp,1976). 9. Bourguignon,ed., PsychologicalAnthropology, p. 243. 10. This division is roughlyparallelto possessionand shamanism.See Luc De Heusch, WhyMarryHer?SocietyandSymbolicStructures(London:CambridgeUniversityPress,1981), pp. 151-164. 11. VincentCrapanzano,introductionto Case Studiesin SpiritPossession, ed. Vincent andVivianGarrison(New York:JohnWiley, 1977),pp. 1-40. Crapanzano of 12. MichaelLambek,"FromDisease to Discourse:Remarkson the Conceptualization Tranceand SpiritPossession,"in Ward,AlteredStatesof Consciousness,pp. 36-61.
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or generalizations,lumpingtogetherthe Indeed,as broadapproximations enormouslyricharrayof trancephenomena,possessiontranceandnonpossession trancecannotserve as preciseconceptualtools. Followingthe two-path schemesuggestedby Bourguignoninevitablyentailssomeoversimplification, giventhemalleabilityof trancephenomenaandthepossibilityof hybridforms. Therefore,in applyingBourguignon'scategorizationto the Jewishvariants of alteredconsciousness,I would like to use it as a heuristicdevice in the context of a preliminaryexploration.Even if tranceexperiencesare not so categorical,I believethatthe divergentnatureof theJewishphenomenaunder studycan be betterunderstoodthroughthe prismof the two-pathmodel. It is importantto notethatbothpossessiontranceandnonpossessiontrance may be positively or negativelydefined,in accordwith the moralqualities ascribed to the spirit." "Positive"cases, steeped in ritual and religious symbolism,are willfully sought,as the encounterwith the spiritis believed to contributeto the well-being of the tranceror of othersin his environs. "Negative,"spontaneouslyemergingformsof alteredstatesof consciousness are often evaluatedas an affliction,and in consequencestrictmeasuresare takento disengagethe tormentedtrancerfromthe spirit(e.g., exorcism).In some societies,wherespecialculturalavenuesareavailablefordomesticating the engaging spirit, involuntarydisruptivestates may be transformedinto ecstatic,divinatory,or otherreligiouslybaseddissociativebehavior.It should be notedalso thatthetwo culturalcategoriesunderdiscussionmaynotinvolve alteredconsciousnessat all. Possession,for example,may be used to explain a plethoraof humanconditions,from chronicillness to artisticinspiration, which do not necessarilyentaila discernibleshift in consciousness. While possession tranceand nonpossessiontrancecan be found in the same society, as the case underdiscussionwill show, they seem to be in a relationshipof structuralinversion.'4Indeed,the contrastsbetweenpossession tranceand nonpossessiontrancein termsof geographicaldistribution, in societal and ecological variables,morphology(continuity/discontinuity consciousness),modesof interaction,gender,andsymbolismseemto fashion theminto sharplydistincttypes of experiences. Geographically,nonpossessiontrance has been predominantin North and South America,while possession trance is positively correlatedwith 13. I. M. Lewis, EcstaticReligion:Anthropological Studyof Spiritand Shamanism(Baltimore:Penguin,1971). 14. See De Heusch,WhyMarryHer,p. 152.
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basin.Thisdifferentialdistribution Africaandthe Mediterranean sub-Saharan is associatedwithtwo otherrelatedvariables.Possessiontranceis moretypical of societieswith higherlevels of societalcomplexity(indicated,for example, by class stratificationandjurisdictionalhierarchy)and subsistenceeconomy (food productionthroughagricultureand animalhusbandry),while nonposin simplerandmoreegalitariansocietiesof sessiontranceis overrepresented How should these correlationsbe accountedfor?The huntersand gatherers. positiveassociationbetweenpossessiontranceandsocietalcomplexityseems to be mediatedby social rigidity.In hierarchical,stratifiedsocieties,where social boundariesare rigidlydelineated,possessiontranceprovidessocially deprivedindividuals,mostly women, with a golden opportunityto assume the spirit'sidentityand temporarilyescape, underthe spirit'sauspices,the confines of their social roles.'"Following various cross-culturalstudies,16 Bourguignonsuggests that the associationbetween huntingand gathering andnonpossessiontrancemay be mediatedby socializationpressurestoward self-reliance,independence,and individualachievementtypicalof societies relying on this mode of subsistence.The particularways in which the encounterwith the spirit is pursuedand realized,especially in the Native Americanguardianspiritcomplex, seem to directlyreflectthese culturally commendedpersonalitytraits.At the sametime, the acquisitionof a lifelong spiritualally may compensatefor the stress arisingin these societies from unsatisfieddependencylongings in childhood.Men's predominancein the culturalpatternsof nonpossessiontranceis congruentwith the factthatmost of the socializationpressurestowardself-relianceareexertedon them.In the samevein, it was foundthatsocietiesheavilydependentfor theirsubsistence on hunting,gathering,and fishing, where pressuresfor independenceare powers."7 great,aremorelikelyto use dreamsto seek andcontrolsupernatural dreamsarequiteakinto nonpossessiontrancestates,as Phenomenologically, bothareprivate,internalexperienceswith a stronghallucinatorycomponent. 15. LeoraGreenbaum,"SocietalCorrelatesof PossessionTrancein Sub-Saharan Africa," in Bourguignon, Religion,AlteredStatesof Consciousness,andSocial Change,pp. 39-57. Also see Lewis, EcstaticReligion. 16. HerbertBarryIII,IrvineL. Child,andMargaretK. Bacon,"Religionof ChildTraining 61 (1959):51-63; GuyE. Swanson,"The to SubsistenceEconomy,"AmericanAnthropologist in SimplerSocieties," Enthnology Searchfor a GuardianSpirit:A Processof Empowerment 12 (1973):359-378. Studiesof Dreams,"in PsychologicalAnthro17. Roy G. D'Andrade,"Anthropological Ill.: K. Hsu L. Francis ed. (Homewood, Dorsey,1961),pp. 296-332. pology,
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Incontrastto huntingandgatheringsocieties,thesocializationpressuresin societies (dependenton agricultureand food production) high-accumulation Thesepersonalaretowardcompliance,obedience,reliability,andnurturance. in the socialization of girls.It is not more are attributes stronglyemphasized ity in are that women overrepresented possessiontrance,where surprising,then, the relationshipbetweenthe invadingspiritand the possessedappearsto be stronglyinformedby these attributes.In addition,the penetrationof the spirit into the host'sbody andits temporaryresidencethere,stronglyresonantwith female-specificmodes of experience(female sexuality,pregnancy),make the possession idiom particularlyconducive to the articulationof female concerns.'"As a form of encounterwith the spirit, nonpossessiontrance essentially is an interactionbased on visual and auditoryexperiences.In contrast,possessiontranceis a performancein whichthe trancerbecomesthe spirit.Typically,nonpossessiontranceis a privateexperience,andin orderto Possession becomea communicableculturalresourceit hasto be remembered. trance,as a performancecarriedout in frontof an audience,can be culturally registeredand socially employedwithoutthe recollectionof the individual trancer.Accordingly,episodes of possession tranceare typically followed by amnesia.Nonpossessiontranceis likely to be inducedby fasting(which hypoglycemiaand dehydration),sensory producesdissociation-facilitating while possessiontranceis generallyinduced deprivation,and mortification, by drumming,singing,dancing,and crowdcontagion.In termsof Ludwig's typologyof meansof tranceinduction,19it seemsthatnonpossessiontranceis associatedwith the reductionof sensorystimulationandmotoractivity,while possession trance generally involves the increase of sensory stimulation, motoractivity,and emotionalarousal. Since nonpossessiontranceis basicallyan intrapsychicexperience,the tranceroften appearsphysicallypassive.Yet his interactionwith the spiritis repletewith active imagerycongruentwith the fact thathe achievesmastery withoutloosinghis identityandindividuality.Incontrast,thephysicallyactive possessiontrancerremainspsychologicallypassive, since, in the processof obtainingthe gift of the spirit(in positive possessiontrance),her own self 18. YoramBilu, "The Tamingof the Deviantsand Beyond:A PsychoculturalAnalysis of DybbukPossessionand Exorcismin Judaism,"PsychoanalyticStudyof Society 11(1985): 1-32. 19. ArnoldM. Ludwig,"AlteredStatesof Consciousness,"in AlteredStatesof Consciousness, ed. CharlesT. Tart(New York:AnchorBooks, 1972),pp. 11-24.
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andidentityare temporarilyeradicated.Theseoppositepatternsappearto be linkedwith the sex-typeddistributionof possessiontranceandnonpossession trance. Having discussedthe majordifferencesbetweenpossessiontranceand nonpossessiontrance,20we turn now to the Jewish variantsof the altered statesof consciousnessunderdiscussion.
Dybbukand Maggidin Judaism Thetermdybbuk(dibbuq)was usedin Jewishmysticalcirclesto designate a spiritof a deadperson,a notorioussinnerin his lifetime,thattooktemporary possessionof a humanbeing,usuallya female,by inhabitingherbody.21The spiritannouncedhis presenceinsidethe victimin variousways.Afterstriking her down and committingher to violent convulsions,the spirit's strange voice couldbe heardfromthe mouthof the possessed.His lewd andimmoral characterwas indicatedby the forbiddenacts of libidinal,aggressive,and religiouslysubversivebehaviorthatthe possessedwas compelledto commit. Giventhis repugnantdisplay,it is not surprisingthatdybbukpossessionwas always conceived as an afflictionor an illness and the possessingagent as a foreign,dangerousintruderthathad to be expelled.The uniquelyJewish, natureof the dybbukwas prominentlyexpressedin the public culture-bound exorcisticritual.The exorcist was always a reveredrabbiwho confronted the spiritwith variousreligiouslyinformedmeasuresused in a fixed, graded order.Oftenthe exorcismwas performedin the synagogueand involvedthe activeemploymentof Jewishsacredparaphernalia by the congregants. Duringthe highly structuredsequenceof steps of the ritual,the spirit was compelledto identifyhimself, to confess his transgressionsduringhis lifetime and disclose the heavenly penaltyinflictedon him in retribution, to specify his conditionsfor departure,to give his consentto leave through a minororgan (usuallyone of the big toes), and then to departfor good.22 20. See Bourguignon,PsychologicalAnthropology, pp. 233-269. 21. Sincewith only a few exceptions,the spiritsbelongedto malesinners,I use masculine pronounsin discussingthem.Femininepronounsareusedto describethe possessed,given the of femalesin this group. predominance 22. See Bilu, "Tamingof the Deviants,"pp. 16-20; GedalyahNigal, DybbukTales in JewishLiterature(Jerusalem:RubinMass, 1983)(Heb.).
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Judgingfrom the reportedcases, successfulexpulsionof the spiritwas the outcomeof most exorcisticrituals. Documentedcases of dybbukpossessionappearin Jewishsourcesfrom the mid-sixteenthcenturyto the firstdecadesof the twentiethcentury.Only basin) mysticallyorientedcommunities,firstSephardic(in the Mediterranean and then also Ashkenazi(in HasidicEasternEurope),were exposed to the phenomenon,and this selective distributionatteststo the strong mystical basis of the dybbukphenomenon.The majorkabbalisticdoctrineunderlying of souls, which dybbukpossessionwas that of gilgul, or the transmigration emergedin the twelfthcentury.In the late thirteenthcenturythe doctrineof transmigrationwas expandedto include the entry of a spirit into a living personafterhe was born.This addition,designatedibbur("impregnation"), paved the way for the appearanceof dybbukpossession. Specifically,it contendedthat dybbukimwere spiritsof the wicked who, in retributionfor their mortal sins, were doomed to remain in limbo, exposed to ruthless persecution,withouteven being allowedto enterhell, wheretheirsins could be eventuallyrepented.The inhabitationof humansgave these tormented spiritsa temporaryshelteras well as an opportunity(realizedthroughthe intercessionof the exorcist)to gain access to the worldof the dead.23 The disappearanceof the dybbukin the firsthalf of the twentiethcentury of the Jewishtraditionalcentersin was apparentlyrelatedto the disintegration Europeand the MiddleEast due to modernization,emigration,and physical extermination. In Jewish mysticism the term maggid was used to indicatea celestial entity, usually an angel, who delivered mystical secrets to a kabbalist. Unlike the relativeuniformityof dybbukpossession episodes,the ways in which maggidimrevealedthemselvesto mystics were quitevaried.Dreams constituteda fertilegroundformaggidicvisitations,butno less commonwere wakeful apparitionsin which the kabbalistsaw the heavenlymessengeror heardhis voice, or both.Automaticspeechand,to a lesserdegree,automatic writingwere also meansof maggidicrevelation. The maggidphenomenoncould be seen as one chapterin a long-lasting chain of propheticrevelationsin Judaismwhich were relatedto diverse celestialpowers,fromRu'ahHa-Qodeshandthe heavenlyvoice (bat-qol)to Elijahthe Prophetand the archangelMetatron.24 Historically,revelationsof 23. GershomScholem,s.v. "Gilgul,"EncyclopaediaJudaica(1971),vol. 7, cols. 573-577. 24. JosephDan, s.v. "Maggid,"EncyclopaediaJudaica(1971), vol. 11, cols. 699-701.
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maggidimin mysticalcircles spanneda two-hundred-year period,fromthe to sixteenth the eighteenthcentury.Subsequently,the termcame to be used mainly as a designationfor sermonistsor preachers,particularlyin Hasidic communities,a meaning of maggid that also dated back to the sixteenth century.In this essay,however,the nonrevelatorydesignationof maggidwill not be discussed,even thoughit is unlikelythatthe two meaningsof the term were entirelyunrelated. The figureof the maggidas an angelicmessengerwas apparentlycrystallizedin the firstdecadesof the sixteenthcenturyin the circleof kabbalists aroundRabbiJosephTaytazakin Salonica.25Fromhim maggidicrevelations spreadto Safed in the Galilee,which at thattime was emergingas a world centerof Jewishmysticism.Some of the most renownedmysticsof the era, Rabbi Solomon Alkabets,Rabbi Moses Cordovero,and even Rabbi Isaac LuriaAshkenazi,the prominentfounderof the Lurianicschool of Kabbalah, areknownto have hadmaggidim,butthe natureof theirrevelationsremains virtuallyunknown. The most famous maggid of sixteenth-centurySafed, and perhapsof all times, was that of Rabbi Joseph Karo, one of the greatestfigures of rabbinicJudaismand the authorof ShulhanArukh.26A talmudistby day and a kabbalistby night,Karoleft a diary,MaggidMesharim,recordingthe messages fromhis heavenlymentor,who was none otherthanthe Shekhina embodied in the anthropomorphized figure of the Mishnah.Aside from the Torah of and mystical secrets,these messages included interpretations personalcommunicationswhich moved from agonizing chastisementand harshdemandsfor self-mortification to aggrandizingpraisesandpromisesof the greatestachievements. Throughoutthe first half of the seventeenthcentury,maggidim kept appearingto mysticallyorientedrabbisin Italy and Poland,but the number grew with the rise of the messianic movementof SabbataiSevi around 1665--66,and the exuberanthopes for redemptionthathe stirred.Manyof the Sabbatean"prophets,"includingNathanof Gaza,the primemoverof the 25. Accordingto various sources from the seventeenthcentury,Sefer ha-Meshiv("The Book of the Responding[Entity]"),a famousmysticalcompilationof maggidicrevelations and the techniquesto obtainthem, was writtenby Taytazak.See Moshe Idel, "Inquiriesin the Doctrineof Sefer ha-Meshiv,"Sefunot 17 (1983): 185-266 (Heb.); GershomScholem, Kabbalah(Jerusalem:Keter,1974),p. 67. JewishPubli26. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, JosephKaro:Lawyerand Mystic(Philadelphia: cationSociety,1977).
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movement,claimedto have had maggidicrevelations.Maggidimplayed an importantrole in Sabbateangroupsafterthe deathof SabbataiSevi. Among otherthings,they servedto reconcilethe shockedbelieversto theirMessiah's conversionto Islamfollowedby his imprisonmentandexile, andthento his prematuredeath.A particularlybusy periodof maggidicactivityoccurredin the religiousacademyof RabbiAvrahamRevigo in Italy.AnotherSabbatean circle where maggidic revelationswere prominentwas that of Avraham Kardozoin Turkey.27 The maggidicepochwas sealedin the firsthalf of the eighteenthcentury with the mystical revelationsof Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzattoin Padua, Italy.The secretMessianicgroupthatformedaroundthis brilliantkabbalist andwriterreceivedits inspirationfromthe revelationsof Luzzatto'smaggid. However, the social and religious climate in the post-Sabbateanera was very inauspiciousfor maggidim.Luzzatto'smessianicfervorwas viewed by many of his contemporariesas nurturedby hereticalSabbateansources.He was persecutedand excommunicatedby the rabbinicalauthoritiesand was forcedto forsakehis mysticalstudies,not to mentionhis involvementwith his maggid.28Since Luzzatto'stime, the steadyflow of propheticrevelations reportedfromHasidicand othermysticallyorientedcircleshas not included apparitionsof maggidim.
DybbukandMaggidas CulturallyPatternedAlteredStatesof Consciousness The obvious contrastsbetweendybbukandmaggidonly seem to accentuatetheiraffinityandcommontemplate.They emerged---ormoreprecisely, appearedin written sources--at the same time and in the same area: in the first half of the sixteenthcenturyin the Sephardiccommunitiesof the Mediterranean basin.Moreover,the two phenomenapeculiarlyconvergedin the life historiesof some prominentmystics of thatera.Thus,RabbiJoseph Karo, whose heavenly mentorwas the most well known in the history of maggidim,was recently identifiedas the exorcist in the first documented 27. GershomScholem,SabbataiSevi (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1973), pp. 645-647. 28. Meir Benayahu,"The Maggid of R. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto,"Sefunot5 (1961); 297-336 (Heb.).
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case of dybbukexpulsion,which took place in Safed in 1545.29In the same vein, RabbiShlomoAlkabets,Karo'sclose friend,who in a detailedepistle describedthe impressivemanifestationsof the latter'smaggid,andwho was knownto have a maggidof his own,30was also the firstwitnessto sign one of the earliestreportsof dybbukexorcism,dated 1571.31It is interestingto note that the term dybbukwas first employedin the context of a specific case of controversialmaggid-likepropheticrevelations.It was RabbiJacob Emden, one of the fiercest opponentsof the Sabbateanmovement,who describeda Sabbateanprophet,Zaddokof Grodno,as "anignorantrudeman .. who in all probabilitywas possessedby some dybbukfromthe foreign AnotherSabbateanprophet, [demonic]beings,like all his derangedfriends."32 RabbiLeib Prossnitz,who claimedto have enlistedSabbataiSevi andRabbi Isaac Luria as his maggidim,was compelledto admit, after having been interrogatedby the rabbinicalauthorities,thatthe sourceof his prophecies was none other than a dybbukin the guise of dog.33Thus, it appearsthat at a time of dispute, the boundariesbetween these seemingly contrasting phenomenacould become blurred.Maggidicrevelationsand prophecies,a source of highly cherishedmystical secrets and spiritualinsights for the believer,could easily be defamedby opponentsand relabeledas negative possessionby a demonor a dybbuk. Scholarsof Jewish mysticism could not fail to notice the parallelism betweendybbukand maggid. Scholem,who was not fond of psychological analysisof mysticalphenomena,neverthelessstatedthat: Froma psychological pointof view,thesemaggidimwereproductsof the on the consciouslevel of the level of the psyche,crystallizing unconscious mindsintopsychicentities.Maggidim, kabbalists' holyangelsorthesoulsof hismouth... often orthrough saints,speakingeitherto thekabbalist departed demonsorevilsouls on the"otherside"in thedibbuks, hadtheircounterparts 29. MosheIdel, "JewishMagicfromthe EarlyRenaissancePeriodto EarlyHasidism,"in Religion,Science, and Magic, ed. JacobNeusner,ErnestS. Frerichs,and Paul V. M. Flesher (New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1989),p. 108. 30. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,pp. 19-21. 31. Nigal, DybbukTales,p. 65. 32. GershomScholem,Researchesin Sabbateanism(Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1991), p. 575 (Heb.). 33. YehudaLiebes,"TheAuthorof theBook TsaddikYesodOlam-The SabbateanProphet RabbiLeibProssnitz,"Da 'at2-3 (1978-79): 159-174 (Heb.)
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thatpossessed some unhappyor mentallysick creature.... Psychologically, the twophenomenahave commonroots.34
Idel has emphasizedthe historicalconcurrenceof dybbukand maggid as well as the "invertedaffinity"between them."3Some of the contrasts he highlightedwill be discussed below. As statedbefore, I would like to make this invertedaffinitymeaningfulby anchoringdybbukand maggidin Bourguignon'sworldwidetypificationof culturallypatternedalteredstates of consciousness.The textualevidenceindicatingthatthese two phenomena indeedinvolveddissociationis ample.The reportson dybbukpossessionand exorcism leave little doubt as to the profoundshifts in consciousnessthat the possessed underwentonce the spirit invadedher body. No less abrupt and dramaticwas the returnto normalconsciousnessupon the exit of the spirit.Wheredetailedreportsof maggidicapparitionsexist, behavioraland phenomenalmanifestationsof tranceor dissociationcanbe easily recognized duringthe revelatoryperiod. Yet there is room to assume that not all the cases subsumedunderdybbukandmaggidcan be definedas alteredstatesof consciousness. In linking the two phenomenato Bourguignon'sbifurcation,the association of the dybbukwith possession trance appearsself-evidenton all relevant dimensions. The very essence of the dybbukphenomenonwas groundedin the idiom of possession, with the mysticaldoctrinesof gilgul and ibburas "naturalmodels"for shapingthe behaviorof the possessed in manner.As a negativepossession forcedon the victim a taken-for-granted and deemed an afflictionor an illness, it did not include religious rituals for summoningthe spirits,so centralin positive possession. Ritualscame to the fore in the exorcisticphase, which was designedto put an end to the possession episode. As in otherculturalformsof possessiontrance,the spirit took absolute control of the victim by temporarilyobliteratingher individualidentity.In mostof the cases the dissociativeepisodewas followed by amnesia,andas a resultthe reportson the caseswereneverprovidedby the victims themselves.The public characterof dybbukpossession,particularly salient in the dramaticexorcistic ritual, providedmany eye-witnesses to documentthe cases. 34. Scholem,SabbataiSevi,p. 82. The italicizedfinalsentenceof the quotedpassagedoes not appearin the English version of Scholem'sbook and was translatedfrom the Hebrew original. 35. Idel,"JewishMagic,"pp. 107-108.
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The near-universalpreponderanceof females in possession trance is echoed in the case of the dybbuk,as the ratio of females to males among the possessed was approximately2:1. One of the distinctivefeaturesof the male possessed was their significantlyyounger age. In fact, most of the possessed males were childrenand adolescents.Like otherpossession trancecases, dybbukpossessionexhibitedan inherenttensionbetweenactive performance,repletewith hypermotorandaggressivebehaviors,andpassive imageryemergingfrom the absoluteloss of individualityand controlvisA-visthe spirit. Since dybbukpossession has never been transformedinto a positive, willfully sought state, it altogetherlacked inductionrituals.Yet the spontaneouslyemergingfactorsunderlyingthe possession attackscan be identifiedas emotionalintensificationor arousal.In terms of Ludwig's these factorsclearly belong to the classificationof inductiontechniques,36 categoryof stimulationincrease,so typicalof possessiontrancestates. Whereasdybbukpossession appearsas a clear-cutcase of possession trance,the position of the maggid as an alteredstate of consciousnessis more complicatedand requiresa thoroughexamination.Scholarsof Jewish mysticism,while emphasizingthe aforementionedinvertedaffinitybetween dybbukand maggid,tendedto place the contrastsbetweenthem withinthe domainof possessionby designatingthe maggidas positivepossession."In whatfollows, I proposea criticalexaminationof this view by evaluatingvarof maggidicrevelationagainstBourguignon'sdichotomy ious characteristics of sociallypatternedalteredstatesof consciousness. A strongsupportfor viewingmaggidicrevelationsas positivepossession comes from the main mystical accountsof these phenomena.A pertinent exampleis the doctrineof propheticrevelationdevelopedby RabbiMoses Safed. Cordovero,one of the mysticalluminariesof sixteenth-century Fortheholyspiritcanrestuponman... andthiswasthecasewithallprophets him." ... andtheoppositeis thecaseof Saul,where"anevil spirittroubled or an evil be another soul-a man entered can one-and holy by Similarly them. menandtroubling we haveseendemonsorevilspiritsentering similarly ... Similarlyan angelmay entermanandspeakwithinhim wordsof wisdom,
calledmaggid.38 andthisis whatis generally
36. Ludwig,"AlteredStatesof Consciousness," pp. 12-14. 37. Idel,"JewishMagic,"p. 107. 38. Quotedin Werblowsky, JosephKaro,p. 80.
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The classificationof mysticalassociationswith positiveandnegativebeings proposedby Cordoverorestssolely on thenotionofpossession.Itis interesting that even when he deals with the mysticalrevelationsof Elijahthe Prophet (gilluy Eliahu), which he describedas an internallygeneratedinsight or version of illumination,Cordoverostill sticks to an intellectual-abstract without trance at all: the intellect of possession,apparently "Elijahentering It seems thatCordoverowas totally man and teachinghim hiddenthings.""39 engulfedin the possessionidiom, which he employedto accountfor a wide spectrumof propheticrevelations. It shouldbe emphasized,however,thatCordoveropresenteda theory,or conceptualscheme,thatwas designedto accountforempiricalfacts(prophetic revelations)but was not identicalwith them.True,the articulatorypowerof explanatorymodels like Cordovero'smay have a significantbearingon the behaviorallevel. But in this case it is not at all clear whetherCordovero's esoteric doctrinestemmedfrom a widespreadfolk-modelof maggidismor subsequentlybecomeone. At any rate,otherdoctrinalaccountsof maggidim held by noted kabbalistswere not necessarilylinked to possession as the guiding idiom. Thus the maggidic theory of Rabbi Hayyim Vital, Luria's great disciple and the promulgatorof his teachings,assertsthat the study of the Law and dutiful performanceof the commandmentsby the mystic bringaboutthe creationof an angel who revealshimself to his creatorand discloses mysticalsecretsto him. Vital's formulationleaves it entirelyopen whetherwe are dealinghere with a nonpossessiontranceexperience(i.e., a boundedencounterwith the angel)or with a possessiontrance.40If we move level to the phenomenological-behavioral fromthe doctrinal-theoretical one, the strongestsupportfor definingthe maggidas a case of positivepossession is automaticspeech, one of the most commonpathsof maggidicrevelation. Manyreferencesin MaggidMesharim,Karo'smysticaldiary,attestto the fact thathis maggidrevealedhimselfthroughautomaticspeech(e.g., "Beholdthe voice of my belovedknockethin my mouthandthe lyre soundedof itself').41 Alkabets,in his famousepistle,testifiedthat"we heardthe voice speakingin Automaticspeechwas quitecommonamongthe the mouthof the virtuous."42 Sabbateanprophets.One of them, JosephBen-Surof Meknesin Morocco, 39. 40. 41. 42.
Ibid.,p. 81. Ibid.,p. 79. Ibid.,p. 260. Ibid.,p. 21.
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reportedin amazementthat"Ido not knowwho speakswithme, andI neither see nor speak but my lips are speakingand I hearthe voice that proceeds fromthem."43 The importanceand central place of automaticspeech in prophetic revelationswas manifestedin variousreligiouscommentariesin whichit was arguedthatMoses and the otherprophetsused this methodto communicate with heavenly forces.44Some kabbalistsleft us vivid descriptionsof the experienceof automaticspeech. Consider,for example,the excitementof the authorof Sha'areySedeq("TheGatesof Justice"),a mysticaltext of the thirteenthcentury,after he had experiencedautomaticspeech: "And then, some utterancescame out frommy heartand reachedmy lips, forcingthem to move. And I was worriedlest this was a senselessspirit,but then I found out thatthe talk was sagacious.And I cameto the conclusionthatthis was a wise-heartedspirit."45 Again, this self-testimonyapparentlyconstitutesstrongevidence for the presenceof the speakingforcewithinthe bodyof the mystic.It seemsthatthe author'spersonalnotion of automaticspeechis consistentwith Cordovero's maggid-as-possessiontheory.A similar notion appearsin the doctrineof propheticrevelationof Nathanof Gaza,theprominentSabbateanprophetand SabbataiSevi's harbinger:"Andthenhe [theprophet]sees the speech[sic] of the prophecyin the formof lettersprotrudingin frontof him. ... afterthat, an angel is created[fromthese letters]andinhabitsthe body of the manwho sees this vision. And [the angel]uttersthroughhis [theprophet's]mouththe lettersthathe had seen abovehim."46 Note that in this passage the phenomenologyof prophecyand its interpretationare confounded.The propheticsequence,accordingto Nathanof Gaza, begins with a visual message, more typical of nonpossessiontrance than of possession trance,and ends with automaticspeech. The mediating link between these two sets of experience is a theory of possession. I believe that this separationbetween theory and subjectivereality reflects the natureof the an epistemologicalgap which is crucialfor understanding Before of consciousness. further as an altered state elaboratingon this maggid 43. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 897. 44. Idel,"Inquiries," pp. 220-221. 45. Ibid.,p. 221. 46. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 206. Seeingthe speechis not a case of synesthesia(fusion formthe letters of sense modalities).The prophetis imaginedto see in a three-dimensional fromwhichthe wordsof the prophecyarecomposed.
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gap (but in line with the argumentthatunfoldspresently),it shouldbe noted that RabbiHayyimVital contendsin his Sha'ar ha-Gilgulim("TheGate of that the spiritualvoice of the Divine cannotbe heardby Transmigrations") the prophetbecauseit lacksmaterialdimensions.Hence,to be communicated it mustbe embodiedin the corporealvoice of the prophet.47 Does the embodimentof the spiritualvoice in the humanvoice of the prophetimply a possession trancestate?The phenomenologyof automatic speech, so lucidly demonstratedin the above-citedpassage from Sha'arey Sedeq,leadsme to a negativeanswer.Thereflexiveawarenessexpressedhere indicatesthatthe individualidentityof the kabbalistwas far fromabolished in the courseof automaticspeech.In manyof the reports,the trancer'sability to be attentiveto the utterancesthat his own lips generatedand to process them correctlywas taken for granted.Furthermore, the state of automatism did not involve dissociationstrongenough to obliteratethe recollectionof the messages thus delivered,as many mystics were able to rememberthem long afterwards.Karo's ability to rememberthe messages that the maggid deliveredto him on Fridaynight, the preferredtime for revelations,was particularlyimpressive,since he could write them down only many hours later,afterthe holy Sabbathhad ended. Thus, although maggidic revelations often involved automatic speech-after all, this was the only way to hear the spiritualmessage of the Divine accordingto influentialkabbalistslike Vital-and althoughthe phenomenonof automaticspeechwas oftenexplainedin termsof possession, the boundariesbetweenthe trancerandhis divinementorwerenot dissolved. The associationwith the maggid generallytook the form of an encounter in which the humanand spiritualparticipantsappearedas distinctentities. Karo'smaggid demonstratedthis point by stating,"I am talkingto you as If we add to this dimensionof clearly a man (would talk) to his friend."48 the persistenceof the cognitive interaction revelation demarcated during attributesof reflexivity,attention,andmemory,it seemsthatwe cannotescape the conclusionthatphenomenologicallythemaggidis closerto nonpossession trancethanto possessiontrance. The associationof the maggid with nonpossessiontrancegains further supportwhen we examine other forms of maggidic revelation.Dreaming, a state of alteredconsciousnesssharingmany affinitieswith nonpossession 47. Werblowsky,JosephKaro,pp. 78-79. 48. Ibid.,p. 258.
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trance,constituteda fertile matrix for germinatingmaggidim.In fact, the context in which the termmaggidfirst emergedwas that of she 'elat halom (dreamquery),a magicaltechniqueforinducingdreamrevelations.49Thewide varietyof dreamrevelationsled Werblowskyto arguethat"allknownforms and kinds of mystical experiencecould be doubledon the dreamlevel."50 Indeed, the phrase "dreamingor awake"appearsin many descriptionsof maggidicrevelation.Thatthe dreamprecedesthe wakingstatein this phrase is indicativeof its perceptionas the "natural"settingfor apparitions.In the mysticaltextSeferha-Meshivmentionedabove,the dream'sprimacyis stated quiteexplicitly:"[onecan ask questions]first manytimes in the dream,then laterin wakingstate."5'It is possiblethatmaggidicapparitionsin dreamsare in the texts becausethe dreamingandwakingstatesare so underrepresented oftenconfoundedin mysticalexperiences,particularlyif the dreamapparition underwentmassiverevisionafterthe dreamerawakened.The fact thatmany maggidic visitationsoccurredat night lends supportto this conjecture.In addition,many revelationstook place in twilight states,just before falling asleep (hypnagogicstates)or, more frequently,immediatelyafterwakingup (hypnopompicstates). The first visitation of the maggid of Rabbi Moses HayyimLuzzattobelongedto the second type: "Andas I woke up, I heard a voice speaking."In anotherpassage he statedthat "I do all these things (incantationsfor summoningthe maggid)whenI fall downandI see all of the The SabbateanprophetJosephBen-Surwas holy souls as if I am dreaming."52 in a twilightstate,when he was "neitherdreaming frequentedby his maggid He reporteda clear-cutdissociativestate ("all my senses are nor awake."53 in abeyance,and I do not know whetherI am in Heavenor on earth")of a hypnopompicnature("andhe wants to open his eyes and he cannot,as if they are coveredwith lead").54 As a privatehallucinatoryexperience,the dreamis akinto nonpossession trance.Indeed,the two tracksof visual and auditorysense modalitiesthat weredominantin visitationaldreamsprevailedin wakingrevelationsas well. The only differenceis thatthe auditorymode, inferiorto the visual mode in dreamrevelations,was more dominantin wakefulness.The doubletrackof 49. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 222. 50. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo, p. 41.
51. Idel, "Inquiries," p. 204. 52. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 897; Benayahu,"Maggidof Luzzatto." 53. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, 897. 54. Ibid.
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sensemodalitiesin nondreamrevelationsis evidentin Seferha-Meshiv,which was designatedby Cordovero"a book speakingaccordingto a maggid,"55 while anothermystic, RabbiOvadiahHamon,called it "thebook of visions Againstphrasesin this text emphasizingvocal accordingto the maggid."56 discourse(e.g., "Youwill come at once to have a face-to-facedialoguewith me"),57otherexpressionsstressthe visual mode (e.g., "Youwill see in your eye thefigureof the angelhimself')."5Needlessto say,theauditoryandvisual tracksdid not exclude each otherand could be integratedinto one coherent system.59 Sefer ha-Meshivspecifies an interestingtechniquefor summoningmaggidim in which the visual andauditorytrackswere separated.Therevelation here entailed a conjurerwho was able to see the summonedangel, and a naive scribe who was called upon to write down the maggid's spoken communicationbut could not see him.60Whetheror not the voice that the scribe was supposed to hear was in fact the conjurer's(in the form of automaticspeech) is left an open question. The auditorysense modalitywas salient in the maggidicrevelationsof Luzzatto,who, like Karo, could not see his heavenly mentor.However, Luzzatto'smystical experienceapparentlywas not automaticspeech, even though he explicitly stated that "I could hear his voice speaking in my Based on the reportof one of Luzzatto'sstudents("This angel mouth."''61 speaks out of his mouth,thoughwe, his disciples, do not hear anything"), Werblowskycogently concludes that his was a case of endophasia(inner speech).62A strongemphasison the visual mode was typical of Kardozo's maggidicrevelations.To a modemreader,his techniquesappearto havebeen to guidedimagery) basedon massivehypnoticsuggestions(almosttantamount his to see the in his mystical to But disciples maggidim. designed bring 55. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 189. 56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.,p. 190. 58. Ibid.
59. Some mysticaltechniquesfor inducingprophecyincludedan elaboratemultisensory systemencompassingvisual, auditory,olfactory,tactile,and gustatorysensations.See Moshe Idel, The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988), pp. 33-34
(Heb.). 60. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 219. 61. Benayahu,"Maggidof Luzzatto." 62. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,p. 23.
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circle the latter could also be heard. To conclude, the sensory-perceptual dimension,so prominentin maggidic revelationboth in ("hallucinatory") dreamsandin wakefulness,once againsituatesthe maggidin the categoryof nonpossessiontrance. A differentkind of revelation,regardedby most mystics as superiorto maggidism,was the revelationof Elijah(gilluyEliahu).As mentionedbefore, some mystics believed thatElijahcould impingehimself on the intellectual faculties of a sage and create an experiencefelt as an abruptinsight or inspiration.But the typical way in which he disclosed himself was in his figure,eitherin a dreamsor in a wakingstate.The idealrevelationof Elijah, as depictedin Karo'sMaggidMesharimandin Seferha-Meshiv,was a private encounter,based on a clearlydemarcatedinteraction,in which Elijahwould reveal himself to the mystic and talk to him "mouthto mouth."Cordovero arguedthat before his earthlyvisitationsElijah incarnatedin his material body and appearedto his mortalcompanion"in his body and soul."63This notion,which highlightsthe natureof Elijahas a distinct"embodied"entity duringapparitions,makes him, in fact, incapableof taking possession of humans.Like maggidicrevelations,then,gilluy Eliahuappearsto be firmly linkedwith nonpossessiontrance. Let us explorenow the inductiontechniquesfor summoningmaggidim. While these techniqueswere less rich and elaboratethan those employed by mysticsinvolvedin ecstaticKabbalah,like the thirteenth-century Spanish kabbalistRabbi AvrahamAbulafia and his circle,64they were based on structuredmethodswhich had to be meticulouslyfollowed. These methods includedthe ceremonialrecitationof appropriatescripturalverses, passages fromthe Mishnah,or Divine Names (yihudim).Sometimesspecificincantations were employedto summonthe angel duringsleep ("dreamquery")or in wakefulness.65The seriouspreparations requiredfor conjuringthe maggid are evidentin the case of Luzzatto,who "wascompelledto preparehimself for threedays ... by takingritualbathsandotherthingsdesignedto appease the maggidicangel who was speakingto him."66 Beyond these techniques,seclusion,penance,and abstinencewere also used to establishan auspiciousbackgroundfor summoningmaggidim.The 63. 64. 65. 66.
Ibid., p. 270. Idel, Abraham Abulafia, pp. 15-42. Idel, "Inquiries,"pp. 201-218. Benayahu, "Maggid of Luzzatto," p. 307.
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includedsleepdeprivation,fasting,andself-mortification. asceticpreparations From Alkabets'sepistle, it comes out that the dramaticrevelationsof the maggid of Karo during the vigil of Shavuot occurredin the context of two sleepless nights. Karo's maggid pursuedthe notion of asceticism to the extreme.He pushedKaroto ever-increasingself-inflictedsufferingand castigatedhimharshlyforthe tiniestdeviationfromhis Spartandemands.The ultimaterewardhe promisedKarofor maintainingthis penitentialdiscipline was martyrdomon the stake("Ishallmaketheeworthyto be publiclyburned in Palestine,to sanctifymy namein public"),followingthe exemplarymodel of the messianic martyrSolomon Molkho, who was burnedin Mantuain 1532.67Againstthisasceticlifestyle,Werblowsky's psychodynamic readingof themaggidas theproductof Karo'sdemandingsuperegoappearswell-taken.68 The ascetic preparationsfor summoningmaggidimmay be psychologically interpreted,then, as stemmingfrom the unconsciousneed to appease tormentinginternalizedobjects crystallizedin a harshsuperego.From the native mystical perspective,these activitieswere consideredto be suitable meansof purifyingthe soulbeforemeetingwithdivineforces.Theperspective espousedin this essay putsthe mainemphasison yet anotherlevel of analysis, the preparatory inspanningthe psychophysiologicalandthe psychocultural: ductionsmay have createdphysicalandpsychologicalconditionsconducive to enteringa culturallyfashionedstate of alteredconsciousness.It should be notedthateven the apparitionof Elijah,which accordingto Werblowsky was in factfacilitated "wasnot amenableto anymystico-magicalcoercion,"''69 by lengthyfasts. Karo'sasceticallyorientedmaggid,who urgedhim to fast seven times for three consecutive days each, in orderto see Elijah, only echoed an old traditiongoing backto the talmudicera.70 While the techniquesfor summoningmaggidimwere varied, most of them belong to the cluster of inductionmeans based on the reduction of stimulationand motor activity. The abstinenceand seclusion, together with the engrossmentin nightly prayersand incantations,were likely to increasesensorydeprivation.In addition,the lengthyfastsmayhaveproduced hypoglycemiaanddehydrationconduciveto analteredstateof consciousness. 67. Werblowsky,JosephKaro,p. 98. 68. Ibid.,p. 285. 69. Ibid.,p. 50. 70. Louis Ginzberg,TheLegendsof the Jews (Philadelphia:JewishPublicationSociety, 1913),vol. 4, p. 215.
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All of theseinductionsaretypicalof nonpossessiontrance.Possessiontrance, as mentionedabove, is more likely to be inducedby stimulationincrease, eitherexternalor internal. Positive Possession Trance in Judaism
If maggidicrevelationsarenot instancesof positivepossessiontrance,as has been commonlyassumed,where in Jewishmysticalcircles can we find positivelyevaluatedmanifestationsof thistypeof dissociation?Afterreviewing many historicalcases of propheticrevelationin Judaism,I would like to suggestthatthe groupand individualrevelationsof entrancedSabbatean prophetsbore significantresemblancesto the behavioralmanifestationsof possessiontrance. The messianic fervor of 1666, the year of redemptionaccordingto SabbataiSevi, gave birthto a mass movementof prophetsthatencompassed men and women, childrenand adults.The ecstatictranceinto which these prophetsenteredstartedwith a comatosestate and continuedwith violent convulsions,excessive foaming,andloudutterancesof mysticalformulae.It is importantto note thatthese stateswere followedby amnesia:"Thereafter whattheyhaddoneor said."7'Thistype theywouldrisewithoutremembering of collectiveprophecyappearsakinto dybbukpossessionin termsof boththe populationinvolved(whichincludedwomen,children,andthe ignorant)and thebehaviorsexhibited(coma,convulsions,foaming,amnesia).As in thecase of dybbukim,here too epilepsy ("fallingsickness")was used as a common frameof reference.It is hardto determinethe extentof femaleparticipation in Sabbateanprophecy,but in any case the stronglyfelt presenceof women stood in sharpcontrastto the near-absenceof femaleswith maggidim.72 The individualpropheticperformancesof Sabbateanmystics were also quite similar to possession trance.In the propheciesof Nathanof Gaza, for example,hypermotorexcitationwas partof the inductionto the trance state. In one of the reportshe is describedas wobblingand dancingwildly 71. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, p. 420.
72. I have been able to locate only one case of a womanwho had maggidicrevelations. This woman, La Francesa,lived in Safed at the beginningof the seventeenthcentury,and amazedthe town's sages by her abilityto foretellthe future.H. Z. Hirschberg,"TheAuthor of Divrey Yosefand His AttitudeTowardthe Duty of Settlingin EretzIsrael,"in SeferShazar (Jerusalem:IsraelExplorationSociety,1971),pp. 132-137 (Heb.).
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in the room while taking his clothes off. Following a particularlyfrenetic movement,he collapsedinto a comatosestate so deep thata physicianwas calledfor andannouncedhis death.Onlythen,to the surpriseof all attendant, was his voice heard from underneaththe sheet that coveredhim, uttering praisesof SabbataiSevi.73AnotherSabbateanprophet,RabbiMoses Suriel, entereda trancein a stimulus-loadedsetting. of the Sabbatean Andthey[adherents weresittingwithhimand movement] Sabbatai and of for Sevi, singingsongs praises theywereplayingtheharpand Andin the midstof all that,RabbiMoseswould othermusicalinstruments. startdancinglikea youngman,andin themiddleof thedancehe wouldfall heavenforbid,thefallingsickness.Aftersome downas if he hadcontracted, he wouldcommence onhisface talking.Andtheyputa handkerchief agitation ... andhe woulddisclosesecrets.... Andtwoscribesweresittingathis side, he made.74 quicklywritingdowneveryutterance Again,RabbiMosesSuriel'spropheticbehaviorcorrespondsto thebehavioral configurationof possession.Themobilizationof thetwo scribesto writedown his revelationsat the momenttheywereutteredmaybe takenas an indication thatSurielwas unableto recallthem. Even thoughthe associationof Sabbateanecstaticprophecywith possession trancestrikesme as quite sound,two reservationsare appropriate here. this association is on based behavioral and First, solely phenomenological criteria.We do not know whether Sabbateandoctrinehad any notion of In any case, note thatmy analysisof maggidimas prophecy-as-possession. nonpossessiontranceis based in parton the existenceof some discrepancy or incongruencebetweennativetheoryandbehavior. Second, some of the literatureon Sabbateanismwas writtenby antiSabbateanrabbis after the fall of the false Messiah. In these sources the explanationfor the salvo of propheciesin 1666 is often presentedin terms of possessionby evil spiritsor demons.Interestinglyone of theseopponents, RabbiJacobSasportas,suggestedthreepossibleways of accountingfor these prophecies-psychological ("theirlust and desirearousedtheirimagination 73. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 423. 74. Leib Ben Ozer,TheStoryof SabbataiSevi (Jerusalem:ZalmanShazarCenter,1978), pp. 59-60 (Heb.).
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until they beheld visions"), medical ("fallingsickness"),and demonological ("possiblythe spirit also rested upon them accidentally,speakingand announcingvariousthings,as does one who is possessedby a demon").7 Summaryand Conclusions Dybbuk and maggid were portrayedas representingtwo contrasting paths of culturallyshaped altered states of consciousnesssimilar to the universaldivision of possessiontranceand nonpossessiontrancesuggested by Bourguignon.Even though some mystical accountsof maggidimwere basedon thepossessionidiom,andeventhoughthephenomenonof automatic speechapparentlylends supportto this association,most of the experiential attributesof maggidismwere akin to nonpossessiontrance.If one looks for positive possession trancein Jewish mysticism,the ecstatic individual and collective propheciesprevalentin the Sabbateanmovementoffer an appropriate example.Let us summarizethe differencesbetweendybbukand maggid.The dybbukwas a negativeandinvoluntarypossessionphenomenon in which an evil spiritimposedhimself on the victim, usuallya womanor a child, and was eventuallyexpelled aftera public and dramaticexorcistic ritual.Duringthe possessionepisode,the alteredconsciousnesswas clearly manifestedin the realizationof the identity of the invadingspirit to the exclusionof thevictim'sself-identity.Theepisodewas apparently precipitated by a strongemotionalarousalandwas followedby totalor partialamnesia. Themaggidwas a positiveandwillfullysoughtencounterwithanangelor anotherspiritualaide experiencedmostlyby male mystics.The maggidwas summonedby variousritualinductionscharacterized by sensorydeprivation and self-mortification,and his presencewas experiencedas an interaction based on visual or auditorysense modalitiesor both. The experiencewas typicallyprivateand "internal,"and thereforehad to be remembered.Since the associationwith the maggidwas desirable,unlikethe compelledpresence of the dybbuk,we find summoningritualsin the instanceof the former,as opposedto exorcisticritualsfor the latter. The contrastsbetweenthe two Jewishvariantsof alteredstatesof consciousnesshighlightthe differentsocial positionsandculturalevaluationsof the typicaltrancersin the two pathsof alteredconsciousness-a mystically 75. Quoted in Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, p. 423.
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orientedrabbior sage on the one hand,an ignorantwomanor a young lad on the other.The fact thatthe principalculturaloptionopento womenin trance, unequivocallynegative, was conceived as an illness is a gloomy reminder of female inferiorityin Jewish traditionalsociety. Note that in Judaism into the ceremonial negative possession did not undergoa transformation context of a possession cult, wherein possession is not stigmatizedbut socially approved.76In Lewis's terms,77the dybbuk spirits were amoral, and the peripheralityof their carrierswas objectifiedby the possession idiom. Moreover,dybbukpossession left the victim as a passive object, temporarilybereft of self-awarenessand withoutself-controlvis-a-vis two externalauthorities:the possessingspiritwho deprivedthe possessedof her individualidentityandthe rabbi-exorcistwho compelledthe spiritto leave. In the maggidicexperiencethe trancermaintainedhis identity,reflexivity, andindividuality.Evenif we espousethe possessiontheoryof Cordoveroand acceptthatthe angel inhabitedthe mysticwhenhe spokethroughhis mouth, we mustconcedethathe did not eliminatehis soul as in the dybbuk. From a psychologicalviewpoint, it might be arguedthat the extreme passivityof the possessedin dybbukcaseswas nothingbuta convenientguise for rebelliousacting out, amply manifestedin the aggressive,sexual, and grotesquebehaviorof the spirits.But this subversiveaspectwas confronted and effectively eliminatedby the exorcisticritual.In a dramaticseries of movements,the spiritswere overpoweredby the exorcists,confessed their sins, andvividly reportedthe persecutionsthatwere theirlot in the afterlife. In doing all this, the rebelliousspiritswere transformedinto conservative agents of the social order,promotingconformityand religiousobservance. Paradoxicallyit was the positivelyevaluatedmaggidthathadthe potentialto become trulysubversive,as the revelationsinitiatedby him could facilitate mysticalinnovationsand stirmessianicexpectations.The recognitionof this subversivepotentialsometimesled rabbinicauthoritiesto stigmatizesuch revelationsand excommunicatethe mystics who were involvedwith them, era (e.g., Luzzatto). particularlyin the post-Sabbatean Finally, after discussing the points of similaritybetween maggid and nonpossessiontranceandbetweendybbukandpossessiontrance,I wouldlike to risk a speculationregardingthe ecologicalvariablethatdifferentiatedthe 76. YoramBilu, "TheMoroccanDemonin Israel:The Caseof Evil SpiritDisease,"Ethos 8 (1980):24-39. 77. Lewis,EcstaticReligion,p. 127.
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two types of alteredstatesof consciousness-huntingandgatheringsocieties (associatedwith nonpossessiontrance)and agriculturalsocieties(associated with possession trance).Needless to say, this distinctiondoes not apply to traditionalJewish society. Yet it is worth asking whetherthe socialization pressurestowardcompliance,obedience,and conformitythatwere evident in agriculturalsocieties were not also the fate of the Jewishfemale victims of dybbukim?And in this vein, is it not possible to metaphoricallyponder the Jewishmysticsas hunters,relentlesslypropelledby the adventurousdrive to find their own path to the Divine and to stalk mystical secrets?In this independentpursuitof esotericknowledge,the maggidservedas a kind of a guardianspiritor a spiritualally, a chaperonand guide in the dangerous orchardof mystical enigmas, who helped to dispel doubt and insecurity amongthe kabbalistsand suffusedthemwith assurancein theircalling. HebrewUniversity Israel Jerusalem,
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Scott B. Noegel Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 367-369 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486700 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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BOOKREVIEWS David A. Glatt.ChronologicalDisplacementin Biblicaland RelatedLiteratures.Societyof BiblicalLiteratureDissertationSeries139.Atlanta:Scholars Press, 1994. xii, 220 pp. For centuriesbiblical scholarshave employedthe talmudicdictum 'en muqdamu-me'uharba-torah, literally "thereis nothing early or late in the Torah,"as a rationale for the "anomaliesin the Bible's sequential (i.e., whatmodernswould call the patternsof formulationand arrangement Bible's 'editorial'practices)"(p. 2), even thoughit fails to explainwhy such displacementexists. It is this questionwhich DavidGlattattemptsto answer in this insightfulcontribution. ThroughoutGlattcarefullydistinguishesbetweenchronologicalmisplacement, or accidentaldislocationof textualdata,and chronologicaldisplacement,by whichhe means"asituationin whichanauthororeditorintentionally transfersan episodefromits originalchronologicalcontext(of whichhe knew throughgeneralhistoricalawarenessor from anotherwrittensource)into a exists "wherever differentsetting"(p. 1). ForGlatt,empiricaldocumentation one text divergesfromthe chronologicalframeworkof an extantearliertext, was demonstrablyaware"(p. 8). or externaldata,of whichthe author/editor As for those non-empiricallydemonstrableexamplesof displacement, Glattcontendsthat"patternsemergingfromempiricallyrecognizedexamples of chronologicaldisplacementcan pointthe way to the elucidationof similar patternswhich appearto be presentin the examplesthat lack an empirical basis" (p. 9).
Withthis in mind, Glattbegins by discussingexamplesof chronological displacementin Mesopotamianmaterials,specificallySargonII's Nineveh annals(edition Babylonianinscription,theAssurbanipal prisms,Esarhaddon's the Nabonidus' and Sipparcylinder, Adad-guppiinscription, theAtrahasis A), text. FromhereGlattmoves into the biblicalmaterial,specifically2 Sam 5-6, 2 Kgs 2:1-9, 2 Kgs 22:49-50, and2 Kgs 22-23, andtheirparallelaccountsin 367
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Chronicles.Glattthen illustratesthe presenceof chronologicaldisplacement in otherpericopesby comparingthem with theirpostbiblicalcounterparts. Thus Gen 35-41 is comparedwith Jub 34-41, Josh 8:30-35 with T. Sotah 8 and Josephus'Antiquities5:68-70, Judg 17-21 with Seder 'Olam 12 and Josephus'Antiquities5:132-179, 1 Kgs 14:1-18 and 1 Kgs 20-22 withLXX 3 Reigns 12:24,20-22, Ezra1-6 with 1 Esdras2-7 andJosephus'Antiquities 11:1-113,andEsther2:21-23 with the LXX's EstherAdditionA. Afterwards,Glattexaminesthoseinstancesof chronologicaldisplacement for which there are no extantcomparativesources,namely Gen 35:27-29, Exodus 18, Judges17-21, 1 Kgs 11, Ezra2:1-4:5, 1 Chronicles11:4-9, and 2 Chronicles20:1-30, 25:25-27. Despite the lack of comparativematerial, Glattconcludesthat "featureswhich are characteristicof empirically-based displacementsare recognizablein cases of internally-derived displacements as well" (p. 185). Glatt's approachis refreshingand appropriatelycautious.When confrontedwith conflictingevidencehe refrainsfromimposingpersonalbiases. Forexample,regardingthe ambiguousevidenceof the Nabonidusstele from Harranhe concludes:"as long as the evidencein favorof the Harranstele isn't crystalclear,we must proceedalong the assumptionthat eitherof the varianttime framescouldbe correct"(p. 28). One of Glatt's most interestingdiscoveriesis that the Mesopotamian instances of chronologicaldisplacementtend to date events before they actually occurred(p. 53), and that chronologicaldisplacementhas as a motivationa desireto boost the ruler'smilitaryprowess,quellopposition,or boastof the king's culticpiety (p. 54). Anotherof Glatt's contributionsis that chronologicaldisplacementin Josephusoften resultsfrom his tendencyto employ the logic of a military commander(pp. 88 [withn. 40], 92). Also of some importanceis his insightthatthe ancientscribessometime employedambiguousterms,e.g., Akkadianpalh "yearof reign,"ina umes-u "on that day,""andHebrewbayydmimhahim "in those days,"to achieve chronologicaldisplacement. Glatt'swork is well organizedand thoroughlydocumented.Only two criticalremarksseem warranted.First,the readershouldknowthatthe study is not exhaustive.Missing, for example,are severalwell-knownexamples of the phenomenon,e.g., the mysterioussettingof the sun in Gen 15:12(cf. 15:5),the conquestof Rabbahin 2 Sam 12:26-31 (cf. 11:1;did it reallytake two years, i.e., two of Bathsheba'sfull-termpregnancies,and then some?),
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and Saul's lack of recognitionof David in 1 Sam 17:55-58 (cf. 1 Sam 16:18-23). Second,when highlightingliterary"associativelinks,"especiallyin the book of Genesis, e.g., the deathand burialof Abraham(Gen 25:7-11) and the deathandburialof Isaac(Gen35:27-29) (pp. 151, 186),Glattcouldhave garneredadditionalsupportby citing GaryA. Rendsburg,TheRedactionof Genesis(WinonaLake,Ind., 1986),pp. 75-76. Finally,andthis is not a criticism,the authormakesreferenceto Tremper (p. 44, n. 150)which Longman'sworkon fictionalAkkadianautobiographies illustratesfeaturessimilarto some of his texts. Thoughpublishedtoo late to be included,the readershouldknow that a few Sumerianexamplesalso Journalof exist; see the reviewer's"FictionalSumerianAutobiographies," theAssociationof GraduatesofNear EasternStudies4, no. 2 (1993):46-55. In all, Glatt'sworkis a welcome additionto the morecursorystudieson the subjectthat precededit. The chartswhich concludeevery chapterand outlinethe comparisonsmadeare extremelyhelpful.One now would like to see otherstake up Glatt'smethodologyand applyit to Sumerian,Egyptian, and Greek sources (e.g., the New Testament)which display evidence of chronologicaldisplacement. ScottB. Noegel RiceUniversity Houston,Tex.
RichardA. Henshaw.FemaleandMale: TheCulticPersonnel.TheBible and the Rest of the AncientNear East. PrincetonTheologicalMonographSeries 31. Allison Park,Pa.:PickwickPublications,1994. xiii, 385 pp. Womenwere marginalizedin the cult of ancientIsrael,as reflectedin the HebrewBible in general,and in the legislationof the PentateuchalPriestly sourcein particular.This practicewas a precedentfor the minorrole granted women in Jewish communalworshipuntil this day. Yet marginalizationin templeritualdoes not entailexclusionfromreligiouslife. Recentscholarship, sensitizedby feminist concerns,has done much to place women in their properpositionin ancientIsraelitereligiouspractice.Althoughwomenwere excludedfrom the priesthood,they participatedin sacrifice,made and paid
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Victor Avigdor Hurowitz Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 369-372 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486701 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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and Saul's lack of recognitionof David in 1 Sam 17:55-58 (cf. 1 Sam 16:18-23). Second,when highlightingliterary"associativelinks,"especiallyin the book of Genesis, e.g., the deathand burialof Abraham(Gen 25:7-11) and the deathandburialof Isaac(Gen35:27-29) (pp. 151, 186),Glattcouldhave garneredadditionalsupportby citing GaryA. Rendsburg,TheRedactionof Genesis(WinonaLake,Ind., 1986),pp. 75-76. Finally,andthis is not a criticism,the authormakesreferenceto Tremper (p. 44, n. 150)which Longman'sworkon fictionalAkkadianautobiographies illustratesfeaturessimilarto some of his texts. Thoughpublishedtoo late to be included,the readershouldknow that a few Sumerianexamplesalso Journalof exist; see the reviewer's"FictionalSumerianAutobiographies," theAssociationof GraduatesofNear EasternStudies4, no. 2 (1993):46-55. In all, Glatt'sworkis a welcome additionto the morecursorystudieson the subjectthat precededit. The chartswhich concludeevery chapterand outlinethe comparisonsmadeare extremelyhelpful.One now would like to see otherstake up Glatt'smethodologyand applyit to Sumerian,Egyptian, and Greek sources (e.g., the New Testament)which display evidence of chronologicaldisplacement. ScottB. Noegel RiceUniversity Houston,Tex.
RichardA. Henshaw.FemaleandMale: TheCulticPersonnel.TheBible and the Rest of the AncientNear East. PrincetonTheologicalMonographSeries 31. Allison Park,Pa.:PickwickPublications,1994. xiii, 385 pp. Womenwere marginalizedin the cult of ancientIsrael,as reflectedin the HebrewBible in general,and in the legislationof the PentateuchalPriestly sourcein particular.This practicewas a precedentfor the minorrole granted women in Jewish communalworshipuntil this day. Yet marginalizationin templeritualdoes not entailexclusionfromreligiouslife. Recentscholarship, sensitizedby feminist concerns,has done much to place women in their properpositionin ancientIsraelitereligiouspractice.Althoughwomenwere excludedfrom the priesthood,they participatedin sacrifice,made and paid
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vows, playedauxiliaryroles,etc.' Theywerealsomajorplayersin community events,such as victorycelebrationsor publicandprivatemourningrites. The restrictionof women in the cultic spherecontrastsmarkedlyto the cultic systemsof contiguoussocieties,such as thatof ancientMesopotamia, in whichwomen assumedmajorroles. RichardA. Henshawnow offersus a massivevolume intendedto place women'sroles in Israelitereligiouslife in cults.It casts a wide properperspectiveagainsta backdropof contemporary net, identifyingandexaminingall religiousfunctionariesof bothgendersand various sexual inclinationsfrom ancientIsrael,ancientMesopotamia,and Ugarit.The purposeis to point out and,presumably,to explainthe varying in thesesocietiesandgeographical extentof women'sandmen'sparticipation areas. The majorsource for this study is a host of professionaltitles gleaned fromMesopotamianlexical lists. The titles in these ancientthesaurusesare examinedindividually,explainedwith relationshipto adjacenttermsin the lists, and illuminatedby evidenceferretedout fromhundredsof nonlexical texts. This huge amount of materialis presentedin four chaptersdealing, respectively,with the main cultic functionariesresponsiblefor conducting divine worshipand caringfor the temples,performersof cultic music and dance, practitionersof magic and mantic ritualsaimed at communicating with and influencingthe divine sphere, and roles relatedto sexuality or fertility.The last-mentionedchapteraddressessacredmarriagerites, cultic prostitution,and the use of harlotryas a metaphorfor Israel'sinfidelityto God.In each chapterthe Mesopotamianevidenceis comparedandcontrasted with parallelmaterialfoundin the Bible. The subject of the book is fascinating,significant,and of great contemporaryinterest.It may be said to its creditthat the volume reflectsno particularsocial agenda.It makes availablehuge amountsof raw material, much of which is novel and strangeto anyonewho is not an Assyriologist. Studyingcultural,social,andeconomicphenomenaby analysisof therelevant nativevocabularytakes its cue fromsuch classics of Assyriologyas Benno Landsberger'sstudy on the date-palmindustryor A. Leo Oppenheim's volumeson glass-makingandbeer-brewing.2 1. See especially the philologicallysound study of M. Gruber,"Womenin the Cult Accordingto the PriestlyCode,"in JudaicPerspectivesofAncientIsrael,ed. J. Neusner,B. A. Fortress,1987),pp. 35-48. Levine,andE. S. Frerichs(Philadelphia: 2. B. Landsberg,TheDate-Palmand Its By-products Accordingto the CuneiformSources
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UnfortunatelyHenshaw'sbook is seriouslyflawed. The orderin which the materialis presentedis vague. Chapterdivisionsareclear,butindividual sections are in a serious state of disarray,the titles studiedin the various chaptersappearinghaphazardly.Titles are not arrangedfully by topic, nor do they consistentlyfollow the order found in any particularlexical text. So, for example,the discussionof Akkadiansangu (highpriest)is followed immediatelyby a forayintothe Bible.Not only is the high priestinvestigated here, but all otherfunctionariesin the Israelitecult, majorand minor.Two sectionsdealingwithwitchcraftinterrupt treatments of thefunctionallysimilar and diviners. Numerous ecstatics,prophets, scholarlyopinionsaboutsacred and cultic in no obviousorder,without are reviewed prostitutes prostitution any attemptto combinethe suggestionsof authoritieswith similarpointsof view. Biblical materialhas been slighted.Thereis no systematicstudyof the Levites who performedcultic and paraculticroles, amongthem singersand musicians,nor is thereany thoroughdiscussionof the high priest'srole. Castingaroundtryingto catchevery fish in the sea, Henshawinevitably dredgesup some boots, bottles,and tires. For example,the Akkadianword palihtu,"fearer"(feminineparticiple)is presentedas if it werea professional title,whereasit is clearlyonly an adjective.Hebrew'Ildmot,"youngwomen" is includedas if it were a cultictitle andnot a designationof the youngladies coincidentallyengagedin culticsinging.Thereareoccasionalconfusionsand inconsistenciesin the use of Englishtermssuchas witchcraftanddivination. Goddessesworshippedin the cult arebarelydistinguishedfromfemalecultic functionaries. The most serious shortcoming,however,is a lack of synthesis.Indeed, the centralproblemof the book-that of the relativeroles of women in the cults of the variouscultures-is neveraddressedin a sustainedmanner.It is butno well-developedconclusions alludedto sporadicallyandperfunctorily, are presented.Althoughthe plethoraof women's roles in Mesopotamiais occasionallyrelatedto the existenceof numerousgoddessesin the pantheon, this correlationis never developed seriously.Since the role of goddesses seems to have diminishedin Mesopotamiancult over the years,thereshould (Graz, 1967); A. L. Oppenheim,Glass and Glassmakingin AncientMesopotamia(Corning, N.Y., 1970);L. F. HartmanandA. L. Oppenheim,"OnBeerandBrewingTechniquesin Ancient Mesopotamia,"Journal of the AmericanOrientalSocietySupplementSeries 10 (Baltimore, 1950).
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have been a decreasein women's roles. Was there?In general,thereis no historicaldimensionto the work. A gold mine of informationlies buriedbetweenthe covers of this book, butmuchpatienceis demandedto extractit andgive it speech. VictorAvigdorHurowitz Ben-Gurion University Israel Beersheva,
FrederickH. Greenspahn.WhenBrothersDwell Together:ThePreeminence of YoungerSiblingsin theHebrewBible.New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1994. xi, 193 pp. This book surveysbroadlyand in depthvarioussourcesfromthe Bible, and from extrabiblicalmaterialof Israelite and foreign origin, with the intentionof investigatingthe positionof the firstbornandbirthrightas well as the youngersiblings in the frameworkof the Israelitefamily duringthe biblicalperiod.F. E. Greenspahn presentsvarioussourcesaccordingto which the hegemony in certain families was in the hand of the youngest child ratherthanin thatof the firstborn.The authorexaminesthe relevantbiblical material,some of which belongs to the judicial areaand otherto narrative sources.An importantpartof Greenspahn's or historiographical monograph is occupied by the numerousparallelsfrom differentsources includedin the book. These parallelshave judicial implications,on the one hand,and sociologicalones, on the other. Thisstudyis baseduponnarratives,laws,historicalmaterial,mythological materials,andthe like. Theauthordrawscomparisonswithvarioustextsfrom the ancientNearEast,talmudicliterature,classicalsourcesfromGreeceand Rome,medievallegend,andthe modemera.The outcomeof this methodis a rich monographfull of very importantand interestingdetailsdealingwith the mainissues of this research. The book opens with a valuablesurveyof the historyof the researchon family hegemony.The authormentions,interalia, J. Jacob'sinterpretation of the junior's rights in ancient Israelitesociety as against the common conceptionof the hegemony of the firstborn.Greenspahndoes not accept Jacob'sview regardingthis issue and seeks a differentsolution. The bibliographyat the end of the book is very richandno doubtcovers most of the items availableon the subject.However,the authordoes not
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Gershon Brin Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 372-375 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486702 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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have been a decreasein women's roles. Was there?In general,thereis no historicaldimensionto the work. A gold mine of informationlies buriedbetweenthe covers of this book, butmuchpatienceis demandedto extractit andgive it speech. VictorAvigdorHurowitz Ben-Gurion University Israel Beersheva,
FrederickH. Greenspahn.WhenBrothersDwell Together:ThePreeminence of YoungerSiblingsin theHebrewBible.New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1994. xi, 193 pp. This book surveysbroadlyand in depthvarioussourcesfromthe Bible, and from extrabiblicalmaterialof Israelite and foreign origin, with the intentionof investigatingthe positionof the firstbornandbirthrightas well as the youngersiblings in the frameworkof the Israelitefamily duringthe biblicalperiod.F. E. Greenspahn presentsvarioussourcesaccordingto which the hegemony in certain families was in the hand of the youngest child ratherthanin thatof the firstborn.The authorexaminesthe relevantbiblical material,some of which belongs to the judicial areaand otherto narrative sources.An importantpartof Greenspahn's or historiographical monograph is occupied by the numerousparallelsfrom differentsources includedin the book. These parallelshave judicial implications,on the one hand,and sociologicalones, on the other. Thisstudyis baseduponnarratives,laws,historicalmaterial,mythological materials,andthe like. Theauthordrawscomparisonswithvarioustextsfrom the ancientNearEast,talmudicliterature,classicalsourcesfromGreeceand Rome,medievallegend,andthe modemera.The outcomeof this methodis a rich monographfull of very importantand interestingdetailsdealingwith the mainissues of this research. The book opens with a valuablesurveyof the historyof the researchon family hegemony.The authormentions,interalia, J. Jacob'sinterpretation of the junior's rights in ancient Israelitesociety as against the common conceptionof the hegemony of the firstborn.Greenspahndoes not accept Jacob'sview regardingthis issue and seeks a differentsolution. The bibliographyat the end of the book is very richandno doubtcovers most of the items availableon the subject.However,the authordoes not
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actuallyuse all the items in the courseof his discussion.Hadhe done so, he would have given fullercreditto some importantandpertinentstudies(e.g., see p. 18, n. 30; p. 24, etc.). In the firstchapter,the authorsurveysselectedscriptureswhich describe the hegemony of the firstborn.He also providessome sociologicaljustificationsfor this situation.He examinesthe term"I= fromvariouspoints of view, e.g., for its usage in texts concerninginheritance,transferof family hegemony,etc. On the basis of this discussion,one can see the importanceof the statusof thosewho hold the title 11m.I muststatethatI cannotacceptthe author'sinterpretation regardingthe issue of thosewho hold the title 11•3.In my opinion,this title belongsto the firstbornalonethroughouthis entirelife, and none of his close relatives,not even his father,was allowedto appoint any otherpersonto hold it in his place. One of the most importanttexts regardingthis issue is 1 Chr5:1-2: "The sons of Reuben,the firstbornof Israel,for he was the firstborn;but because he pollutedhis father'scouch,his birthrightwas given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel,so thathe is not enrolledin the genealogyaccordingto the birthright,thoughJudahbecamestrongamonghis brothersanda princewas fromhim, yet the birthrightbelongedto Joseph." Accordingto this source,Reubencontinuesto be consideredthe firstborn This is so even thoughthe privileges of the familyandto hold the title •i~. of the birthrighthad alreadypassed to Joseph.There is a furthertension betweenJoseph,who receivesthe birthright,andJudah,who "becamestrong amonghis brothersand a princewas fromhim." Accordingto this,one may statethatthetitleIa= cannotbe removedfrom the originalfirstborn,who is entitledto it as the real and historicfirstborn. On the otherhand,the privilegesof the birthrightcould have passedto one of the othersons of the family,even if he was not really the firstborn.The complicatedsituationin 1 Chr 5:1-2 arises from the fact that some of the rightshave been given to an additional,thirdparty,namely,Judah. In the case of Hosahof the sons of Merari(1 Chr26:10-11), it is said: "AndHosah... had sons: Shimrithe chief (wvin), for thoughhe was not the firstborn,his fathermadehim chief; Hilkiahthe second,Tebaliahthe third. ." The phrase"his fathermadehim chief (VKni)"clearlyrefershereto the appointmentof one who was not a firstbornto the office of chief; generally applyto the samefigure.Thus,the intention speaking"chief"'and"firstborn" of this sentenceis to designateShimrias chief (t•KI;i.e., appointed)andnot as firstborn(nan; natural).Hencethis verseindicatessomethingof the power
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that the fatherhad to appointone of his other sons as heir insteadof the firstborn. One may neverthelessinfer from this and from othercases that even a firstbornwho has been removed from his task as head of his brethrenis still calledthe firstborn(11n): thatis, the naturalfirstbornretainsthe title of firstborneven in those cases wherethe title has been emptiedof its contents, followingthe transferof the privilegesof the birthrightto another. The case of Hosahandhis son Shimrilikewiseindicatesthathegemony andthe titleof firstbornarenotnecessarilyidentical.Theversereads,"Shimri the chief, for thoughhe was not the firstborn,his fathermade him chief." indicatesthe need felt by the The comment"thoughhe was not the firstborn" authorof these lines to explainwhy Shimriwas made chief despitethe fact thatthis was not the usualpractice. Nevertheless,this commentis insufficientlyclear,as it does not clearly explain to whom it refers. On the one hand, it may have been intended as generalinformation,statingthat therewas no firstbornin this particular familyfor whateverreason:e.g., thatthe firstbornwas a daughter,or thatthe naturalfirstbornhaddied or beendeposed,or the like. Onthe otherhand,the commentmay referto Shimri,who is the last personmentionedpriorto the in the verse. appearanceof the word"firstborn" It seems reasonableto assumethatthe choice of Shimrifor the position of chief was connectedwith arrangementsof birthright.Even before he was appointedchief, Shimriwas second to the firstborn,being perhapsthe firstbornof anotherwife of Hosah,etc. Once he was appointedchief of the brothers,he was called chief (•t•i; "Shimrithe chief... his fathermade him chief') and not firstborn.For all the implicationsof this case, compare Greenspahn,pp. 60-61, 66, 79.' We turnnow to the issue of the preeminenceof the youngersiblings. Greenspahndemonstratesgreatindustryherein collectinga largequantityof of Israeliteandforeignorigin)representing sources(biblicalandextrabiblical, the phenomenonof the preeminenceof youngersiblings in their families. The sourcesthathe discussesreferto variousperiods,no doubtreflectinga cleartendencythatwas dominantin the frameworkof social structureof the biblicalperiod. 1. For variousissues pertainingto the firstbornin Israel,see my recentbooks,Studiesin Biblical Law: From the Hebrew Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls, JSOT Monograph Series 176 (Sheffield, 1994), pp. 166-281, and Issues in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew) (Tel
Aviv, 1994),pp. 13-75.
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In the opening chapter,and more especially in the concludingone, Greenspahnsees theological as well as ideological-sociologicalfactors in the hegemony of younger siblings. He interpretsthis phenomenonas an expressionof God's tendencyto arrangehistory and society. This means, accordingto Greenspahn,thatone can explainthese eventsneitheras mere coincidencenor as the resultof the abilitiesof the personalitiesinvolvedin them, nor as an outcomeof the historyof these families.Accordingto his everythingis perceivedas a resultof God'splan. interpretation, is I thinkthatin manycases the attemptto providesuchan interpretation ratherartificial.To be clear:I do not disagreewith the data broughtby the author,but with his, interpretationof the sources in several places. One cannotdeny thatIsraelitesociety-in its broadform,and on the level of its leadershipand the heads of families-did not consist of firstbornsalone. Therefore,as the people at large compriseda minorityof firstbornsand a majorityof ordinarychildren,there is no doubt that many othershad an opportunityto enhancetheir social position. Withinthis frameworkthere was no impedimentagainstyoungersiblingsreachingan importantposition. However, one cannot see a uniform principle acting in all those cases in which younger siblings became the leaders of their families or of the country. Even if God's hand is involved in everythingthathappens,there is no justificationfor findinga systemof choosingthesepersonsto becomeleaders on the basis of theirfamilystatus.Nor can I see any good reasonto combine the issues of primogenitureand ultimogeniture,which belong to the family framework,with the generalandnationalcontexts,as the authordoes in the last chapter. Despite these reservations,Greenspahn'sbook is a very basic and importantmonographregardingthe issues of the structureof family and society in Israelduringthe biblicalperiod.It is rich with many sourcesof variousorigins, and will doubtlessserve as an importantsource for future research. GershonBrin Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv, Israel
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Mayer I. Gruber Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 376-379 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486703 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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LeilaLeahBronner.FromEve to Esther:RabbinicReconstructions ofBiblical Women. GenderandtheBiblicalTradition.Louisville:Westminster JohnKnox Press, 1994. xxii, 214 pp. Thepurposeof thisbookis bestpresentedby the authorherselfatthe very on p. 186:"Thereconsideration endof her"Conclusions" andreinterpretation of texts is an excitingproject,and I hope thatthis studymightbe takenas partof a largertrendtowardlookingat the womenof the Bible andTalmud afresh, and that it encouragesfurtherstudies in the emergingtraditionof interpretation." depatriarchalizing LeilaLeahBronnerseeksto contributeto thegoal of assemblingnonpatriof some of the narrativesconcerningwomenin Hebrew archalinterpretations Scriptureby presentingandanalyzingsome of thematerialsconcerningthese womenfoundin rabbinicliterature.Inadditionto anautobiographical preface, introduction,conclusion,bibliography,and indices of names, subjects,and rabbinicreferences,the book containseightchaptersdealingwiththe following topics respectively:Eve, Serahdaughterof Asher,Hannah,the ups and downs of daughterhood(Dinahdaughterof Jacob,Tamardaughterof King David, the daughtersof Lot, the daughtersof Zelophehad,the daughterof Jephthah),harlots(TamarandRahab),andprophetesses.In herfirstchapter, "AggadicAttitudestowardWomen,"Bronnerpointsout: HuldahandEsther... achieveda stature Deborah, unparalleled byanywoman literature.... of rabbinic wasnotasinflexibly Thepreceding examples suggestthatbiblicalliterature as was the Talmud.... there Moreover, leadership regarding gender-conscious thepropriety is nomentioninbiblicalsourcesof anyoneinauthority discussing of womenactingin a leadership role,as the latertalmudicsageswoulddo andothers.... laterwhendiscussing centuries Huldah, Deborah, Thesocietalandreligiousstructure [oftherabbinic period]placedwomen of influenceandpowerandgavethemonlythe limited outsidethe corridors instruction theywouldneedto functionas homemakers.... thattheaggadic Giventhissocietalandhalakhiccontext,it is remarkable of biblicalwomenwhoventured treatment beyondthesecircumscribed spheres wasso forthcoming. (pp.14-16) Inthebodyof herbookBronnerassemblesanddiscussesvariouspassages fromrabbinicliterature,fromthe Aramaictranslationsof HebrewScripture,
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and even from the Zohar, some of which enhance the status, role, and alleged accomplishmentsof female charactersin Hebrew Scripture,and some of which denigratethe status, roles and alleged accomplishments of female charactersin Hebrew Scripture.Especially intriguingare the variousquotationsfromancientandmedievalJewishandSamaritanliterature assembledin chapter3, "Serahbat Asher: The Transformative Power of that of which the to Invention," alongside suggest tendency denigrate Aggadic biblical heroines there operateda tendencyto create heroinesalmost out of whole cloth. Since, however,as Bronner'sset of quotationsshows, the treatmentof SerahbatAsheras heroinewas sharedby earlyandlaterabbinical C.E.SamaritanMemarMarqah,perhapsthe literatureand the fourth-century specialtreatmentof Serahbat Asherderivesnot fromimaginationbut from Jewishscholars to ancientoraltraditions.Morefundamentalist subordination would see an abundanceof traditionand a minimumof imaginationat the root of the rabbinicretellingsof biblicalnarrative,while nonfundamentalist scholarstend to maximize imaginationand minimize tradition.It should go without saying that for the primarilyChristianaudienceto which the publisherof Bronner'sstudyaddressesitself,it wouldbe mostusefulto know which of the exegeses and/oreisegeses quotedby Bronnercould be shown to representauthenticoral traditionsgoing back to the Israeliteperiodand whichrepresentsimplythe opinionsof some Jewishleadersof late antiquity andthe MiddleAges, whichhave no compellinginterestformost studentsof the sacredbooks commonlycalledthe Old Testament. Had Bronnerchosen to examine in depth, either for any one heroine or for a group of heroines, who are the rabbis or schools of rabbis or documentsor periods which tend to denigrateheroines,and who are the persons,schools,or documentswhichtendto enhancethe imageof heroines, we mighthavethe beginningsof anhistoricalcriticismof rabbinicalliterature or nonpatriarchalizing fromthe standpointof patriarchalizing exegesis. Such an examinationof the various Targumim,the Talmudim,and the various midrashicworks accordingto their respectiveprovenancewould be most and usefulfor whatit mightbe abletell us aboutthe prehistoryof patriarchal feministhermeneutics.Sucha studymightalso providehistoricalperspective debateas to whetherthe study betterto understandthe ongoingcontemporary of the status of women in the world of Hebrew Scriptureis a legitimate branchof the academicstudyof the Bible. however,Bronner'sworkdoes not in any way distinguish Unfortunately, between individualrabbiswho may have been open to depatriarchalizing
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exegesis andthose who may have engagedin misogyniceisegesisof biblical narrativesconcerningwomen who achievedhigh status.Nor does she tell her readersvery much aboutthe relativedatingof the sourcesshe uses. It mightbe usefulto know,forexample,thatthe Aramaicrenderingof the Early and LaterProphets,TargumJonathan,is alleged in the BabylonianTalmud to have been composedearly in the tannaiticperiod,and thatsages quoted in BabylonianTalmud,Megillah 14b, who find difficultywith the fact that Huldahandnot Jeremiahwas consultedconcerningthe meaningof the book of the Torahfound in the Templein 622 B.C.E. belong to the early amoraic period. The worst thing aboutBronner'sbook is that it containsassertionsfor which thereis no textualbasis. Typicalis the following:"TheTargumlooks favorablyupon Huldah'spublicrole and explainsthe word bamishnehas a placeof studywhereshe instructedmenin thelaw"(p. 175).Inthe end-noteto this statementBronnerrefersthe readerto Tg. Ps-J.on 2 Kings22. In factTg. Ps.-J. is the commonscholarlydesignationof an Aramaicparaphrase of the from the seventh to Pentateuch eighth centuryC.E.,the printededitionsof which commonly attributeit to a disciple of Hillel named Jonathanben Uzziel, the traditionalauthor(accordingto BabylonianTalmud,Megillah 3a) of the Targumon 2 Kgs. 22, which is called not Ps.-J but Targum Jonathan.It would have been extremelyuseful for English readershad Bronnerstated2 Kgs 22:14 ratherthanleavingthe readerto go throughthe Hebrewtext looking for mishnehand the AramaicTargumlooking for the traditionattributedto it by Bronner.In fact,the Targumuses two words,bet is, it shouldbe noted,a 'ulpdnd' "houseof study."TheTargum'sinterpretation of mishneh,which reasonablealthoughprobablyan incorrectinterpretation canmean"placeof studying(Torah),"althoughin its originalbiblicalcontext in both 2 Kgs. 22:14 and Zeph 1:10 it means"thesecond(district),"and it probablydesignatesthe suburbsof the City of Davidwhichdevelopedon the WesternHill of Jerusalemtowardthe close of the FirstTempleperiod.'In fact, the traditionattributedto the Targumby Bronneris found in printed editions of the medieval biblical commentaryof Rashi (1040-1105 C.E.). It is absent,however, from the authoritativemedievalmanuscriptsof his commentary. At the end of chapter8 Bronnerstates,"Therewas no monolithicview 1. See, forexample,MordechaiCoganandHayimTadmor,IIKings,AnchorBible,vol. 11 (NewYork:Doubleday,1988),p. 283.
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amongthe sages regardingwomanleadersany morethantherewas on other topics."It is abundantlyclearthatforBronner,who grewup in a Hasidichome where "the [Hebrew]Bible was never taughtby itself; its every word was mediatedthroughrabbinicsources"(p. ix), a summaryof what some rabbis from the beginning of the Christianera to the High Middle Ages said about biblical heroines is a naturaloutgrowthof her biography.It is not clear what value this collection of data has to offer the largerworld of Bible scholars,Bible readers,andthejust plaincurious,beyondthe author's making accessible in one handy volume a collection of statements,some of them philogynic and some of them misogynic, found in Jewish and Samaritanwritings spanningroughlythe first fifteen hundredyears of the Christianera. MayerI.Gruber Ben-Gurion University Israel Beersheva, in the Bible: A FeministApproach.CamIlana Pardes.Countertraditions Harvard Mass.: UniversityPress, 1992. x, 194 pp. bridge, Feministapproachesto religiousstudieshave so frequentlymet hostility from within and without religious and academiccommunitiesthat many feminist religious scholars have turnedlargely away from the canonical texts like the HebrewBible, insteadcreatingand recreatingthe sourcesand resourcesof a religiouscultureperceivedto be morehospitableto feminism. Some feminist literarycritics, however,consideringthe Bible ratherthan religious practicesderivedfrom it, have found traces of hospitalityin the in text. In this tradition,Ilana Pardes'srewardingbook Countertraditions the Bible: A FeministApproachexplores"the tense dialoguebetweenthe discoursesof the Bible andcounterfemalevoices which dominantpatriarchal forth other truths"(p. 4). to attempt put Pardesinterpretsa rangeof texts fromthe HebrewBible, referringto the Noting,for example, originalHebrewas well as variousEnglishtranslations. that most women in the Bible are not shown as well-developedcharacters, Pardesdiscusses Ruth, a rare exceptionto this generalrule. Pardescalls her "doublyother-both a foreignerand a woman.As such, her honorable withinthe house of Israelcalls for a differentperceptionof this incorporation house and a greaterrecognitionof its female 'builders"'(p. 99), for though
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Anne K. Krook Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 379-381 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486704 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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amongthe sages regardingwomanleadersany morethantherewas on other topics."It is abundantlyclearthatforBronner,who grewup in a Hasidichome where "the [Hebrew]Bible was never taughtby itself; its every word was mediatedthroughrabbinicsources"(p. ix), a summaryof what some rabbis from the beginning of the Christianera to the High Middle Ages said about biblical heroines is a naturaloutgrowthof her biography.It is not clear what value this collection of data has to offer the largerworld of Bible scholars,Bible readers,andthejust plaincurious,beyondthe author's making accessible in one handy volume a collection of statements,some of them philogynic and some of them misogynic, found in Jewish and Samaritanwritings spanningroughlythe first fifteen hundredyears of the Christianera. MayerI.Gruber Ben-Gurion University Israel Beersheva, in the Bible: A FeministApproach.CamIlana Pardes.Countertraditions Harvard Mass.: UniversityPress, 1992. x, 194 pp. bridge, Feministapproachesto religiousstudieshave so frequentlymet hostility from within and without religious and academiccommunitiesthat many feminist religious scholars have turnedlargely away from the canonical texts like the HebrewBible, insteadcreatingand recreatingthe sourcesand resourcesof a religiouscultureperceivedto be morehospitableto feminism. Some feminist literarycritics, however,consideringthe Bible ratherthan religious practicesderivedfrom it, have found traces of hospitalityin the in text. In this tradition,Ilana Pardes'srewardingbook Countertraditions the Bible: A FeministApproachexplores"the tense dialoguebetweenthe discoursesof the Bible andcounterfemalevoices which dominantpatriarchal forth other truths"(p. 4). to attempt put Pardesinterpretsa rangeof texts fromthe HebrewBible, referringto the Noting,for example, originalHebrewas well as variousEnglishtranslations. that most women in the Bible are not shown as well-developedcharacters, Pardesdiscusses Ruth, a rare exceptionto this generalrule. Pardescalls her "doublyother-both a foreignerand a woman.As such, her honorable withinthe house of Israelcalls for a differentperceptionof this incorporation house and a greaterrecognitionof its female 'builders"'(p. 99), for though
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the marriageto Boaz marksherinclusionwithinIsraelitesociety,Ruthnever loses the nameof a foreigner:she "remains'Ruththe Moabite'untilthe very end" (p. 115). Pardesdemonstratesjust how otherthis woman Ruth is by showingthatthe book's authoror authorsdescribeRuth'srelationto Naomi, her mother-in-law,with the word"cling,"sometimestranslatedas "cleave," the same Hebrewtermused to describethe relationbetweena man and a womanin Genesis2:24. Pardesarguesthatthe bookof Ruththuschallenges as Genesis, showing a relationshipbetweentwo women as interdependent thatbetweena man and a woman,andnot primarilyinvolvingrivalry,as do the relationshipsbetweenRachelandLeah,and SarahandHagar. The Song of Songspresentsan even sharperchallengethanRuthto tradiof biblicalwomen.Pardespointsout "theconspicuous tionalinterpretations absenceof God;the lack of nationalthemes;andthe daringeroticcharacter of the dialoguebetweenthe two lovers,"as well as "anotherdeviantfeature. bent"(p. 118).She speculateson how allegorical . . the Song'santipatriarchal have made the readingsmay Song'seroticismandantipatriarchalism palatable, of the male lover as God and the even attractive.Allegoricalinterpretations female lover as the Israelitenation may have made the Song's eroticism acceptablein a religious context (pp. 122-126). Similarly,Pardesargues, "theantipatriarchal model of love in the Song"may have "function[ed]as a countervoiceto the misogynistpropheticdegradationof the nation"(p. 127), forprophetsrepresentthe covenantas a relationbetweenIsraeltheunfaithful wife and God the superiorhusband,but the Song shows a relationbetween two morenearlyequalpartners. While her interpretations of such storiesare persuasiveand interesting, they do not provide an integratedapproachto the Hebrew Bible as a whole or indicatewhetherPardesconsiderssuch an approachpossible or desirable.The absence of an articulated,overarchingapproach,combined with the heterogeneityof her critical terms, often allows those terms to retaintraditionalpatriarchalimplications,seeminglycontradicting her stated that For she writes the narrator of Ruth interpretivegoals. example, privileges "notthe all-powerfulfather,but an adoredmother.Whatthe Book of Ruth thus completes in its rewritingof Genesis is the possible impact of the preoedipalphase on women's relations"(p. 103). Preoedipalimplies an oedipalphase to come, and Ruth does end with a traditionalfather-to-son genealogy pointing toward David, the predominantmale monarchin the HebrewBible. Yet the genealogyand the male-centeredevents that follow the book of Ruth need not dictatethe descriptivetermsPardesapplies to
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it. "Preoedipal" places the book of Ruthfirmlywithinan oedipalteleology, but Ruth'sown irreducibleforeignnessindicatesthat the book resists such inclusion.A term such as "heteroglot,"which Pardesbrieflydiscusses (p. 4), mightbetteracknowledgethe powerful,anomalouscharacterof this book Pardes'schoice of translationslikewiserefers thana termlike "preoedipal." thatdoes not alwayscoincidewith herown. Her to a systemof interpretation well-foundedreservationsaboutthe dangersof uncriticallyusing Christian concepts to describeelements of the HebrewBible might have precluded hergeneralrelianceon the King JamesVersion,long the dominantChristian translationin the English-speakingworldbutby no meansthe most accurate renderingof the HebrewBible. Pardes'sstimulating,intelligentanalyThesedifficultiesnotwithstanding, ses providerewardingfeministchallengesto moretraditionalways of reading theBibleandhoneourabilityto hearvoices andnarrativeswe maybe tempted to neglect. AnneK. Krook of Michigan University AnnArbor,Mich. MosheAberbach.Labor,Craftsand Commercein AncientIsrael. Jerusalem: MagnesPress, 1994. xii, 294 pp. This book opens with a clear statementof purpose:in the face of antisemiticchargesthat Jews are parasites,and unwillingto work, Moshe Aberbachassertsthe high moral value associatedin Jewish traditionwith manualworkas a meansof earningone'slivelihood.Hispurposeis to "correct widespreadmisconceptionsconcerningJewisheconomicactivitythroughout history;to demonstrateJewishparticipationin every facetof economiclife . .. aboveall, to emphasizethe moralsignificanceattachedto laborin biblical andrabbinicliteraturealike"(p. xi). This seemsto promisea studyof biblical and rabbinicattitudesto labor,based on a surveyof Jewishinvolvementin economicactivity.Whatwe get is somewhatdifferent:a vast compendium of anecdotalevidencerelatingto labor,crafts,andtrade,muchof it of great intrinsicinterest.But seriousdeficienciesof substanceand methodmake it unlikelythatAberbachhas achievedhis statedaim. To begin with issues of substance,Aberbachhas here assembledan
Review: [untitled] Author(s): John H. Corbett Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 381-384 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486705 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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it. "Preoedipal" places the book of Ruthfirmlywithinan oedipalteleology, but Ruth'sown irreducibleforeignnessindicatesthat the book resists such inclusion.A term such as "heteroglot,"which Pardesbrieflydiscusses (p. 4), mightbetteracknowledgethe powerful,anomalouscharacterof this book Pardes'schoice of translationslikewiserefers thana termlike "preoedipal." thatdoes not alwayscoincidewith herown. Her to a systemof interpretation well-foundedreservationsaboutthe dangersof uncriticallyusing Christian concepts to describeelements of the HebrewBible might have precluded hergeneralrelianceon the King JamesVersion,long the dominantChristian translationin the English-speakingworldbutby no meansthe most accurate renderingof the HebrewBible. Pardes'sstimulating,intelligentanalyThesedifficultiesnotwithstanding, ses providerewardingfeministchallengesto moretraditionalways of reading theBibleandhoneourabilityto hearvoices andnarrativeswe maybe tempted to neglect. AnneK. Krook of Michigan University AnnArbor,Mich. MosheAberbach.Labor,Craftsand Commercein AncientIsrael. Jerusalem: MagnesPress, 1994. xii, 294 pp. This book opens with a clear statementof purpose:in the face of antisemiticchargesthat Jews are parasites,and unwillingto work, Moshe Aberbachassertsthe high moral value associatedin Jewish traditionwith manualworkas a meansof earningone'slivelihood.Hispurposeis to "correct widespreadmisconceptionsconcerningJewisheconomicactivitythroughout history;to demonstrateJewishparticipationin every facetof economiclife . .. aboveall, to emphasizethe moralsignificanceattachedto laborin biblical andrabbinicliteraturealike"(p. xi). This seemsto promisea studyof biblical and rabbinicattitudesto labor,based on a surveyof Jewishinvolvementin economicactivity.Whatwe get is somewhatdifferent:a vast compendium of anecdotalevidencerelatingto labor,crafts,andtrade,muchof it of great intrinsicinterest.But seriousdeficienciesof substanceand methodmake it unlikelythatAberbachhas achievedhis statedaim. To begin with issues of substance,Aberbachhas here assembledan
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uncriticalcollectionof storiesconcerningvariouscrafts,trades,andprofessions, organizedchronologicallyinto seven chaptersdealingwith biblical, Hellenistic,rabbinic,andtalmudicmaterialsin order;two chapters(4 and6) explicitlyaddressattitudestowardphysicallaborandvarioustrades,desirable and undesirable.The last chapterassemblesanecdotesconcerningthe relationshipbetweenmastersand apprentices.Thereis no explicit conclusion; similarlywe areplungedin mediasres withoutthe benefitof an introduction discussingmethodologicalissues or the historyof the subject. Perhapsno study of this sort could be meaningfulif it did not present us with a mass of detail about a wide variety of occupations.And the of evidencecertainlydemonstratesthatJews did participate superabundance in every facet of economiclife. Too often Aberbachappearsto digressinto the studyof the occupationsthemselves-a vast inquirywhichis necessarily superficialand largelyderivedfrom the traditionalmodernauthorities(M. Jastrow,S. Krauss,J. Preuss,for example)andfromsome specializedstudies (especiallyevidentis Aberbach'sdebtto M. Wischnitzer). Manyof the storieswhich Aberbachassemblesareamusingandinstructive, thoughtheirdeepermeaning,as often, seems hiddenfromAberbach's passingglance:thefulleron theroofwho committedsuicidebyjumpingdown soon afterthe deathof R. Judahthe Patriarch,for instance(p. 216)-what does knowledge of his trade add to our understandingof the story--or knowledgeof this storycontributeto an evaluationof the fullingtrade?"It close relationsbetweenthe Patriarchandan ordinaryfullerwho demonstrates him"(ibid.).This mightsuggestthatthe fullingtradewas visited frequently perfectlyrespectable-or thatthe relationshipwith the Patriarchtranscended the barrierof social status!The anecdotalstructureof this collectionandthe lackof any sophisticatedmethodologytoo oftenleadsthe authorto pass over issues of substancein favor of a patronizingor flippantremarkwhich tells us more aboutthe attitudesof the authorthanaboutthe values implicitin the "sources"(e.g., pp. 47, 99, 100, 128, 141, 188, 202 n. 1052, 237--to list only the egregious examples).The readerwill searchin vain for any protractedcriticaldiscussionof ancientattitudestowardmanuallabor,crafts, or professions.Also missing is any systematicstudyof texts which have as theirexplicitpurposethe expressionor evaluationof ancientattitudestoward work. To what extent can we expect texts to provideanswersto questions which are not on theiragenda(the storyof the saintlyshepherdretoldon p. 230 does not intendto cast light on the shepherd'strade-nor does it do so Wouldit not be wiser to focus our attentionon texts which unintentionally).
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have more to offer? Inspectionof the index of sourcescited by Aberbach revealsa characteristic propensityto cite one set of textsmorefrequentlythan from Kiddushinin the BabylonianTalmud,forinstance, others.Severalpages speakrathereloquentlyof the worthof variouscraftsor occupations;similar "clusters"of citationsare found from Baba Batraand Berakhot.It would seem moreefficientto focus on thesemajortextswhichdealdirectlywiththe valueof laborandto examineclosely theirstructureandcontents,ratherthan attemptingto infer the values and the agendaimplicitin a whole collection of anecdotes. Aberbach'sworkis also flawedby methodologicaldeficiencies.He shows no awarenessof the rhetoricalvalues,practices,andstructuresof his "source" documents.In particular,many of these anecdotesshow a markedtendency to hyperbole;amusingmisconceptionsarisefromreadingthemwith a naive literalism (e.g., pp. 67, 112, 187; by contrastthe role of hyperbole is recognizedon p. 122). Again each text has its own agenda;some few deal directlywith the issues in which Aberbachis interested,but most contribute only indirectlyto thisdiscussion.A moresubtlemethodologywouldfacilitate the classificationand use of most of these anecdotes,as I have suggested. The tendencyto assess all anecdotesas a priori equalin value regardlessof theircontextandpurposein thatcontextoften leads to an amusingimpasse: camel-driversare eitherrobbersor worthymen;sailorsare uniformlypious, unless we are to readone text as referringto sailorsratherthanbarbers(pp. 220, 232). Of course, paradoxis a rhetoricaldevice much favoredby the rabbis;but many apparentcontradictionsmay best be understoodas arising from the apologeticneeds of differentcontexts--or simply from the fluid natureof oral tradition.On one occasiona "fullerwas sent by the rabbison a confidentialmissionto R. Eleazarben Azariah";but "accordingto another version it was R. Akiba (who is not known ever to have been a fuller) who carriedout this task"(p. 215). How are we to assess these narrative variations?Familiarto every studentof rabbinicliterature,they representan insolubleproblemfor a scholarwho takesevery traditionliterallyand as of equalvalue. Aberbach'sstudy provokes a very fundamentalquestion: Can these sourcesbe madeto answerthequestionswhichhe addressesto themregarding changingattitudesto labor,craftwork,andthe professionsin ancientJewish tradition?The innocentor naive reader,howeverdelightedby the narrative richeson displayhere,may be temptedto despair.Eventhe greatestoptimist will concedethata moresophisticatedmethodologymustbe broughtto bear
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on these data,if they are to help us understandwhat value was attachedto laboramongJews in ancienttimes. JohnH. Corbett of Toronto University Ont. Scarborough, SaulM. Olyan.A ThousandThousandsServedHim:ExegesisandtheNaming ofAngels in AncientJudaism.Texteund Studienzum AntikenJudentum36. Ttibingen:J. C. B. Mohr(PaulSiebeck),1993. xiv, 148 pp. A vexing conundrumthat has periodicallypuzzled studentsof Jewish angelologyinvolves the originof the angels' propernames.Whilethe older strataof biblicalliteratureseem contentwith anonymity,SecondTempleand postbiblicalsourcesattesta veritableexplosionof interestin the identification of individualsubordinatesupernalentities. Scholars(predictably)have put forwarda varietyof proposalsin theirattemptsto explainthis phenomenon. Some stress the persistentinfluenceof prolongedcontactwith Babylonian and/orIranianideasregardingthe corporatestructureof heaven.Othersview the emergenceof angelsto be a logicalconsequenceof an allegedconceptual shift away froman anthropomorphic deity;divineactivityin the cosmosand be could thus simultaneouslypreserved.Still others supernatural integrity andpersonification the for a processinvolving gradualhypostatization argue of particulardivineattributesor qualities. The presentvolume by Saul Olyan is a significantcontributionto the discussion about the origin of and impetusbehind angelic nomenclature. Thereinhe hasmounteda carefulandsustainedargumentforthecrucialroleof biblicalexegesis in the generationandapplicationof propernamesfor certain individualangelsand for certainangelicbrigadesor groups.The cogencyof character Olyan's thesis is bolsteredby the demonstrably"text-centered" of both Second Temple-eraand postbiblical Jewish literature,whether "classical"or "sectarian"in provenance.As long as the biblical text is regardedas a well-nigh inexhaustiblesource of continuingrevelationby variousreligious communities,it will invariablyattractinterpretiveefforts bent upon extractingthe divine mysteriesthoughtto be encoded therein, including, as Olyan ingeniously demonstrates,new informationabout angels.
Review: [untitled] Author(s): John C. Reeves Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 384-386 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486706 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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on these data,if they are to help us understandwhat value was attachedto laboramongJews in ancienttimes. JohnH. Corbett of Toronto University Ont. Scarborough, SaulM. Olyan.A ThousandThousandsServedHim:ExegesisandtheNaming ofAngels in AncientJudaism.Texteund Studienzum AntikenJudentum36. Ttibingen:J. C. B. Mohr(PaulSiebeck),1993. xiv, 148 pp. A vexing conundrumthat has periodicallypuzzled studentsof Jewish angelologyinvolves the originof the angels' propernames.Whilethe older strataof biblicalliteratureseem contentwith anonymity,SecondTempleand postbiblicalsourcesattesta veritableexplosionof interestin the identification of individualsubordinatesupernalentities. Scholars(predictably)have put forwarda varietyof proposalsin theirattemptsto explainthis phenomenon. Some stress the persistentinfluenceof prolongedcontactwith Babylonian and/orIranianideasregardingthe corporatestructureof heaven.Othersview the emergenceof angelsto be a logicalconsequenceof an allegedconceptual shift away froman anthropomorphic deity;divineactivityin the cosmosand be could thus simultaneouslypreserved.Still others supernatural integrity andpersonification the for a processinvolving gradualhypostatization argue of particulardivineattributesor qualities. The presentvolume by Saul Olyan is a significantcontributionto the discussion about the origin of and impetusbehind angelic nomenclature. Thereinhe hasmounteda carefulandsustainedargumentforthecrucialroleof biblicalexegesis in the generationandapplicationof propernamesfor certain individualangelsand for certainangelicbrigadesor groups.The cogencyof character Olyan's thesis is bolsteredby the demonstrably"text-centered" of both Second Temple-eraand postbiblical Jewish literature,whether "classical"or "sectarian"in provenance.As long as the biblical text is regardedas a well-nigh inexhaustiblesource of continuingrevelationby variousreligious communities,it will invariablyattractinterpretiveefforts bent upon extractingthe divine mysteriesthoughtto be encoded therein, including, as Olyan ingeniously demonstrates,new informationabout angels.
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The book begins with an informativeintroductionwhich surveys and assesses previous theories regarding"the articulationof the angelic host" (p. 11), and which also includesan initialpresentationof the author'smain argument.This is followed by four chaptersof "case-studies"that support his thesis, each chapterconvenientlyarrangedarounda particulartheme: "Patternsin Angelic Exegesis" (chap. 1), "The ExegeticalOriginsof the AngelicBrigades"(chap.2), "Exegesisandthe Namesof IndividualAngels" (chap. 3), and "AngelicNames Derived from Divine Attributesand Cultic Terms"(chap.4). A final chapter("Conclusion")summarizesthe resultsof the investigationand restatesthe author'sthesis of the primacyof biblical exegesis in creatinga frameworkthat supportedthe developmentof Jewish angelology.An appendix,bibliography,and indicesof passagesand authors completethe book. Olyanshows thatthe most fruitfulbiblicalpassagesfor the textualgenerationof angelicgroupsor individualnamesarethose featuringhierophanies, particularlyones exhibitingmilitaryterminology,a textualcrux, or a rare word. Althoughmost of his examplesare convincingto this reader(a tour of the exegeticallink between de force is Olyan'sexemplarydemonstration Psalm 78:49 and LXX Job 40:11 [pp. 98-100]!), thereare a few instances wherehe resortsto specialpleadingor goes beyondthe availableevidence. For example,since 4QShirShabdoes not mentionthe Hayyotas an angelic brigade,butdoes cite the Cherubim,it "maysuggestthatthewriter.. accepted [Ezekiel's]equationof Hayyot and Cherubin"(p. 33). Perhaps.Yet given the extremelyfragmentarynatureof the QumranShirShabremnants,this constitutesa dangerousargumentfrom silence. Olyan'sidentificationof the Ma'asim(pp.42-47; cf. Ezekiel 1:16)as "angels"in the ShirShabfragments, although derivative from Newsom, seems peculiarlyforced. Could they d la the not be viewed simplyas personifiedcultic articlesor appurtenances, in his 4? A own similar demonstrated dissatifaction chapter emerges tendency fromhis suggestedexegeticaloriginforthe grouptermedDegelimfromSong of Songs 5:10 ( pp. 55-58); here one suspectsthat the evidence is being unnecessarilyforcedinto a Procrusteanbed. Finally,the author'sdiscussion of the intriguingentity named Azazel (pp. 109-111) would have profited from a fresh considerationof the relatedlaterformslike Asael, Azael, and Uzziel. As is, it presentsno new insights,exegeticalor otherwise. The following misprintswere noticed:(1) p. 45, n. 58: Newsom's transcriptionis rqy'pl') not rqypl') andthe page referenceto the 11Qfragment shouldread364, not 264; (2) p. 62, n. 117:readde Jongefor de Jong;(3) p.
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it does not match 65, n. 128:the wrongclausefromDaniel7:9 is transcribed; the translationprovided. JohnC. Reeves University Winthrop RockHill,S.C. JamesH. Charlesworth,ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls:Hebrew,Aramaic,and Greek Texts with English Translations.Vol. 1: Rule of the Community and RelatedDocuments.PrincetonTheologicalSeminaryDead Sea Scrolls Project.Tibingen:J. C. B. Mohr(PaulSiebeck),andLouisville:Westminster JohnKnox Press, 1994. xxiii, 185 pp. The work underreview is the first volume in a series designedto be "the first comprehensiveedition of texts, translations,and introductionsto all the Dead Sea Scrolls that are not copies of the [biblical]books" (p. xi). Accordingly,we are dealing with a massive project,especially since every fragment,no matterhow small in size, is to be includedin the series. has assembleda fine andwide array ProjectdirectorJamesH. Charlesworth of scholars(the list of contributorsto the entireprojectincludesforty-five names)to assisthim in this undertaking. Ten volumes are planned,as follows: (1) Rule of the Communityand Related Documents(i.e., the present volume); (2) Damascus Document, WarScroll, and RelatedDocuments;(3) DamascusDocumentFragments, More Preceptsof the Torah,and RelatedDocuments;(4) Angelic Liturgy, Hymnsand RelatedDocuments;(6) Prayers,and Psalms; (5) Thanksgiving and Related on Documents;(7) TempleScroll and Pesharim, Job, Targum RelatedDocuments;(8) GenesisApocryphon,New Jerusalem,and Related Documents;(9) CopperScroll, GreekFragments,andMiscellanea;and(10) BiblicalApocryphaand Pseudepigrapha.The divisionof the texts into these volumesseems generallysound,butone mustquestionwhy the CairoGeniza text of the DamascusDocument(alongwith two fragments5Q12 and6Q15) will appearin volume2, while the nine DamascusDocumentfragmentsfrom Cave 4 will appearin volume 3 (this explicit informationis suppliedon p. 184 in a list of all the texts to be presentedin the series). Themainintentof theprojectis "topresentanimprovedcriticaltext-with andpossible--to all the non-biblical an apparatuscriticuswhereappropriate documentsfound in the eleven Qumrancaves" (p. xiii). The translations
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Gary A. Rendsburg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 386-389 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486707 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:33 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
386
BOOKREVIEWS
it does not match 65, n. 128:the wrongclausefromDaniel7:9 is transcribed; the translationprovided. JohnC. Reeves University Winthrop RockHill,S.C. JamesH. Charlesworth,ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls:Hebrew,Aramaic,and Greek Texts with English Translations.Vol. 1: Rule of the Community and RelatedDocuments.PrincetonTheologicalSeminaryDead Sea Scrolls Project.Tibingen:J. C. B. Mohr(PaulSiebeck),andLouisville:Westminster JohnKnox Press, 1994. xxiii, 185 pp. The work underreview is the first volume in a series designedto be "the first comprehensiveedition of texts, translations,and introductionsto all the Dead Sea Scrolls that are not copies of the [biblical]books" (p. xi). Accordingly,we are dealing with a massive project,especially since every fragment,no matterhow small in size, is to be includedin the series. has assembleda fine andwide array ProjectdirectorJamesH. Charlesworth of scholars(the list of contributorsto the entireprojectincludesforty-five names)to assisthim in this undertaking. Ten volumes are planned,as follows: (1) Rule of the Communityand Related Documents(i.e., the present volume); (2) Damascus Document, WarScroll, and RelatedDocuments;(3) DamascusDocumentFragments, More Preceptsof the Torah,and RelatedDocuments;(4) Angelic Liturgy, Hymnsand RelatedDocuments;(6) Prayers,and Psalms; (5) Thanksgiving and Related on Documents;(7) TempleScroll and Pesharim, Job, Targum RelatedDocuments;(8) GenesisApocryphon,New Jerusalem,and Related Documents;(9) CopperScroll, GreekFragments,andMiscellanea;and(10) BiblicalApocryphaand Pseudepigrapha.The divisionof the texts into these volumesseems generallysound,butone mustquestionwhy the CairoGeniza text of the DamascusDocument(alongwith two fragments5Q12 and6Q15) will appearin volume2, while the nine DamascusDocumentfragmentsfrom Cave 4 will appearin volume 3 (this explicit informationis suppliedon p. 184 in a list of all the texts to be presentedin the series). Themainintentof theprojectis "topresentanimprovedcriticaltext-with andpossible--to all the non-biblical an apparatuscriticuswhereappropriate documentsfound in the eleven Qumrancaves" (p. xiii). The translations
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are secondary,then. They are "dependenton the text"and serve as "an aid to comprehendingit" (ibid.). But since so many individualsare working on the texts and translations,variousgroundrules had to be laid to ensure presentsa "Consistency consistencyin thisregard.Accordingly,Charlesworth Chart"to indicatehow varioustechnicaltermsare renderedthroughoutthe series.Forexample,rTn'i= "theCommunity"; i~fain= "Examiner"; ptwrrini• = "RighteousTeacher";'wrn = "Master";andso on. The texts treatedin this openingvolume of the series, and theireditors andtranslators,areas follows: 1QS(E. QimronandCharlesworth); 1QSaand L. T. and Stuckenbruck); 4Q159 (= 4QOrda),4Q513 (= 1QSb(Charlesworth 4QOrdb),and5Q13 (L. H. Schiffman);and4Q514 (= 4QOrdc)(J. Milgrom). Each text receives an introductionof severalpages (except for the very smalltexts, whose introductionsmay be only a page or so in length)treating such issues as the contentsof the document,the extanttexts, the language, the date, the theology of the document,relationto other writings, and a selected bibliography.Then on facing pages appearthe text itself and the Englishtranslation;below the Hebrewtext (orthe Aramaicor Greekin future volumes)is the criticalapparatus,and below the translationare notes to the translationjustifyingthe renderingor offeringalternativerenderings. The criticalapparatusdiffers dependingon the text. In a case such as 1QS, with ten fragmentsfrom Cave 4 as a guide, the apparatusoffers all the variantsfromthese fragments.In a case such as 1QSa,our only witness to this document,the apparatuspresentsothersuggestions;for example,at 1QSa1:5the maintext readsiat' 1(translatedas "theyerr"),anda note states "Licht:tw5"(thoughno additionalinformationis presented,noris a workby J. Lichtlisted in the SelectedBibliographyto this scroll). The notes to the translationsare both numerous(e.g., there are 307 of themto 1QS) and unusuallyrich (e.g., thereare referencesto otherQumran texts, biblicaltexts, bibliographiccitations,and so on). Most of the popular one-volume compendiumsof the Dead Sea Scrolls in translationdo not provide such information,so the readercannot always determinehow a translatorarrivedat a particularrendering.Not so in this volume, where the notes guide the user throughthe Englishtranslation.So while the final productis not a commentary,it is morethana meretranslation.And though the main purposeof this work is to presenta criticaledition of the Dead Sea Scrolls,many users of the series will referto the translationsprovided, especiallysince so muchcarehas gone into them. It is in thatspiritthatI offerhere extendeddiscussionsof the translations
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of two Qumranpassages. The first is 1QS, 7:15 which has elicited much discussionover the years.Abouta dozen differentinterpretations have been translateit as "torecline" given to the wordmnv?.QimronandCharlesworth and the whole passage as "Whoeverstretchesout his left hand in orderto reclineon it shallbe punished(for) ten days"(p. 33). Oddly,thereis no note on the rendering"to recline,"thoughon "lefthand"the authorsstate,"'Left hand' is apparentlychosen to distinguishfromthe euphemisticuse of yd in line 13" (p. 33, n. 188). Indeedtwo lines earlierT'is used for "penis,"and Qimronand Charlesworthjustify this meaningwith a very long note. But given the diverse attemptsby scholarsthroughoutthe years to understand mrn, it is strikingthatno commentis addedto theirrendering"to recline." My own approachis to translatethis crucialword as "to defecate,"based on biblicalusage and an Arabiccognate,andthusto explainthe "lefthand" which in variousrabbinictexts (and indeedin many culturesworldwide)is the preferredhandfor defecation.'But whethermy approachis acceptedor not, Qimronand Charlesworthshouldhave includeda note at this point. of the Qumransect is 1QS 9:12-21, More crucialfor our understanding delineatingthe dutiesof the Master.Thewordnzi appearsthreetimesin this elect to renderit as "theEndtime,"so that section.QimronandCharlesworth the pericoperefersto an eschatologicalera. But othershave translatednum simply as "the time," and this yields an altogetherdifferentinterpretation. Contrastthe followingtwo renderingsof 1QS9:17-18, t?~tni n ~x nr ,nnmi ) "Onemust arguewith true rnwmnrn 7p= irni~~: t•~r ',nw , 1 P•T: ,•r the chosen of the each Way, knowledgeand righteousjudgment(only with) accordingto his spiritandaccordingto thenormof theEndtime"(Qimronand Charlesworth, p. 41), with the last two wordsattachedto the next sentence; and "He shall guide them all in knowledgeaccordingto the spiritof each andaccordingto the rule of the age,"2with the firstseven wordsattachedto the previoussentence.Herethereis a majordifferencenot only as to where to divide the sentences,but also as to the intentand meaningof the crucial wordnun.As statedabove, the formerrenderingpointsto an eschatological intention.But the latter suggests somethingvery similar to the Pharisaic positionthatTorahwas to be interpreted"accordingto the rule of the age." And while thereis no doubt,especiallyafterthe publicationof 4QMMT,that 1. See G. A. Rendsburg,"mrntin 1QS 7.15," Journalfor the Studyof Pseudepigrapha (1989): 83-94. 2. G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 4th ed. (London, 1995), p. 83.
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the law at Qumranfollowed Sadduceanpractice,this may have been in a practicalsense only. But in a theoreticalsense, the Qumransect, whichI and mostothersconsiderto havebeenEssene,agreedwith the Pharisaicapproach (a) thatthereexistedlaw beyondthewrittenTorahof Moses(forthe Pharisees this wouldbe the Mishnah;for the Qumrangroup,witnesstexts suchas 1QS, CD, and 11QT),and (b) thatthe law could be interpreted"accordingto the rule of the age."Again, I understandthatCharlesworth's mainvision in this series is a criticaledition of the texts, and not a translationto replace all othertranslations.But because so much work has gone into producingthe translations,I have takenthe time to highlightthese two specificpassages, the formerof little importance,andthe latterof greatsignificance. Therecanbe no doubtthatforyearsto comethis serieswill be the starting has put point for many scholarsresearchingthe Qumrantexts. Charlesworth us all in his debtfor this undertaking,andwe wish him andhis colleaguesall success in bringingthe projectto completion. GaryA. Rendsburg CornellUniversity Ithaca,N.Y. BilhahNitzan.QumranPrayerand ReligiousPoetry.Studieson the Textsof the Desertof Judah,vol. 12. Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1994. xxi, 415 pp. This revised and translated1989 dissertationfrom Tel Aviv University (directedby J. Licht) is a comprehensiveform-criticalstudy of the prayers found at Qumran.Bilhah Nitzan's book is dividedinto threeparts:In part I, the developmentfrom occasionalprayersin the Bible to fixed prayersin rabbinicliteratureis described.In partII, Nitzan studiesthe uniqueprayers of the Qumransect. In partIII the prayersfoundat Qumranare contrasted with the Hodayothymns. thatthe Qumranprayersexhibita transitional InpartI Nitzandemonstrates the occasional between spontaneousprayersfoundin the Bible andthe stage worship throughfixed prayersestablishedby the rabbis.Nitzan describes prayersfoundin the Bible, Apocrypha,andrabbinicsourcesin chapter1. In chapter2 she shows that the people at Qumranused regularpublicprayers at fixed times. In chapter3 she compares4QDivreiha-Me'orot(which she calls Tehinnot)with the fixed rabbinicprayers(ShemonehEsreh)and finds strikingparallelsbetweenthem.
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Hanan Eshel Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 389-392 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486708 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:33 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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the law at Qumranfollowed Sadduceanpractice,this may have been in a practicalsense only. But in a theoreticalsense, the Qumransect, whichI and mostothersconsiderto havebeenEssene,agreedwith the Pharisaicapproach (a) thatthereexistedlaw beyondthewrittenTorahof Moses(forthe Pharisees this wouldbe the Mishnah;for the Qumrangroup,witnesstexts suchas 1QS, CD, and 11QT),and (b) thatthe law could be interpreted"accordingto the rule of the age."Again, I understandthatCharlesworth's mainvision in this series is a criticaledition of the texts, and not a translationto replace all othertranslations.But because so much work has gone into producingthe translations,I have takenthe time to highlightthese two specificpassages, the formerof little importance,andthe latterof greatsignificance. Therecanbe no doubtthatforyearsto comethis serieswill be the starting has put point for many scholarsresearchingthe Qumrantexts. Charlesworth us all in his debtfor this undertaking,andwe wish him andhis colleaguesall success in bringingthe projectto completion. GaryA. Rendsburg CornellUniversity Ithaca,N.Y. BilhahNitzan.QumranPrayerand ReligiousPoetry.Studieson the Textsof the Desertof Judah,vol. 12. Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1994. xxi, 415 pp. This revised and translated1989 dissertationfrom Tel Aviv University (directedby J. Licht) is a comprehensiveform-criticalstudy of the prayers found at Qumran.Bilhah Nitzan's book is dividedinto threeparts:In part I, the developmentfrom occasionalprayersin the Bible to fixed prayersin rabbinicliteratureis described.In partII, Nitzan studiesthe uniqueprayers of the Qumransect. In partIII the prayersfoundat Qumranare contrasted with the Hodayothymns. thatthe Qumranprayersexhibita transitional InpartI Nitzandemonstrates the occasional between spontaneousprayersfoundin the Bible andthe stage worship throughfixed prayersestablishedby the rabbis.Nitzan describes prayersfoundin the Bible, Apocrypha,andrabbinicsourcesin chapter1. In chapter2 she shows that the people at Qumranused regularpublicprayers at fixed times. In chapter3 she compares4QDivreiha-Me'orot(which she calls Tehinnot)with the fixed rabbinicprayers(ShemonehEsreh)and finds strikingparallelsbetweenthem.
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Nitzan deals with blessings and cursesat the beginningof partII. She believes that the curses found in the War Scroll were used as a magical weaponagainstthe Sons of Darkness.Thenext chapterdiscussesthe priestly blessingandits appearancein differentQumranprayers.Nitzananalyzesthe literaryformsof the Qumranprayers,dividingthemby liturgicalfunctionas follows: songs of praise(chap. 6), eschatologicalpoetry(chap. 7), magical poetry (chap. 8), and mystical poetry (chap. 9). In partIII (chap. 10), she comparesthe Hodayot to the other Qumranprayersand emphasizesthe individualcharacterof the Hodayot. Nitzanconcludesthatthe parallelsshe findsbetweenthe Qumranprayers and the rabbinicprayersindicatethe existence of fixed prayersin Second TempleJudaism"alongside"sacrificesat the Temple.Nitzanbelievesthatall the prayersfoundat Qumranareof sectarianauthorship.Bothof thesepoints may be contested.Recently E. Fleischerproposedthat duringthe Second TempleperiodJewishprayerswere not fixed.' Fleischernoted that the use of fixed prayersby groupsthat left Jerusalemcannotprovethe existenceof suchprayersamongpeople who took partin the worshipat the Temple. Nitzan'ssecondclaim,thatall theprayersfoundin Qumranareof sectarian Nitzanbelieves,forexample,that authorship,is anunfoundedpresupposition. the "Songsof the SabbathSacrifice"were composedin Qumran.However, the discovery of this compositionin both librariesof the Second Temple periodknow to us, namely, Qumranand Masada,points to the likelihood thatthis was a popularprayerused by differentgroupsduringthis period.2 C. Newsom proposesnon-Qumranicauthorshipfor the "Songs of Sabbath Sacrifice"as well as fortheDailyPrayers(Divreiha-Me'orot)andtheFestival Nitzandealswith Qumranprayersthatwerepublishedpriorto 1990 Prayers.3 and thereforedoes not discuss 4Q448 "the Prayerfor the welfare of king Jonathan,"which seems to prove thatprayerscomposedoutsideof Qumran
1. E. Fleischer,"On the Beginnings of ObligatoryJewish Prayer,"Tarbiz59 (1990): 397-441. 2. H. Eshel,"ThePrayerof JosephfromQumran,a PapyrusfromMasada,andtheSamaritan Templeon APFAPIZIN,"Zion56 (1991): 129, n. 9. 3. C. Newsom, "'SectuallyExplicit'LiteraturefromQumran,"in TheHebrewBible and Its Interpreters,ed. W. H. Propp,B. Halpern,andD. N. Freedman(WinonaLake,Ind., 1990), pp. 167-197. On Divrei ha-Me'orot,see also E. Chazon,"Is Divrei ha'me'orota Sectarian Prayer?"in TheDead Sea Scrolls:Forty Yearsof Research,ed. D. DimantandU. Rappaport (Leiden,1992),pp. 3-17.
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werebroughtto the Qumranlibrary.4 Anotherprayerwhichdoes not seem to have been composedat Qumranis IlQPsApa.5 I would observethatthereseems to be a gap betweenthe Furthermore, researchdoneby severalscholarswhose maininterestis the Qumranprayers and that of others who focus on the biblical scrolls. Some scholarshave identifiedthree scrolls of Deuteronomyfrom cave 4-4QDeutn, 4QDeutj, and 4QDeutkl-as collections of prayers.Two of these scrolls includethe Decalogueand Shema.6Otherscholarsarguethatsome of the PsalmsScrolls found in caves 11 and 4 were copied in order to be used for liturgical purposes.'If we acceptthese conclusions,we shouldask ourselveswhy we find such a difference,in the same community,betweencomposedprayers (suchas Divreiha-Me'orotandthe "Songsof SabbathSacrifice")andprayers consistingof biblicalquotations.We shouldconsiderthe possibilitythatthe differentkindsof prayersoriginatedin differentgroups.8 Despite these specificpoints,Nitzan'sbook representsa significantcontributionto the interpretationof the Qumranprayers.She is the first to 4. E. Eshel,H. Eshel,andA. Yardeni,"A QumranCompositionContainingPartof Ps. 154 anda Prayerfor the Welfareof King JonathanandHis Kingdom,"IsraelExplorationJournal 42 (1992): 199-229. 5. As noted by E. Puech, "11QPsApa:Un ritueld'exorcismes:Essai de reconstruction," Revue de Qumran14 (1990): 377-408. In her discussionof this prayer,Nitzan accepts all of the reconstructionsmade by Puech. In general,Nitzan acceptsmost of the readingsand of theeditorsof theprayersfoundin Qumran,andthusdoesnotoffercorrections reconstructions of her own. or reconstructions 6. For the assumptionthat these scrolls were used for liturgicalprayers,see E. Eshel, "4QDeuta:A TextThatHas UndergoneHarmonisticEditing,"HebrewUnionCollegeAnnual 62 (1992): 151-152; M. Weinfeld,"PrayerandLiturgicalPracticein the QumranSect,"in The Dead Sea Scrolls:Forty Yearsof Research,ed. D. Dimantand U. Rappaport(Leiden,1992), of the Textof 4QDtjin Lightof the 'All Souls pp. 229-240; andJ. A. Duncan,"Considerations Deuteronomy'and Cave 4 PhylacteryTexts,"in TheMadridQumranCongress:Proceedings of the InternationalCongresson the Dead Sea Scrolls,Madrid,18-21 March 1991,, ed. J. TrebolleBarreraandL. VegasMontaner,vol. 1 (Madrid,1992),pp. 199-121. "ThePsalmsScrolls(1lQPsa):A Problemof CanonandText," 7. M. H. Goshen-Gottstein, Textus5 (1966): 22-33; P. W Skehan,"A LiturgicalComplexin llQPsa,"CatholicBible Quarterly35 (1973): 195-205; andM. Haran,"I1QPsaandthe CanonicalBook of Psalms,"in Minhale-Nahum:Biblical and OtherStudiesPresentedto NahumM Sarna in Honorof His 70thBirthday,ed. M. BrettlerandM. Fishbane(Sheffield,1993),pp. 193-201. 8. It is very hardto acceptthe view thatthe same groupof peoplewho recitedthe Grace over the Meal on a regularday by quotingversesfromDeuteronomywouldhave,in a case of mourning,a fixed prayeras Graceafterthe Mealwhichis not basedon biblicalverses.See M. Journalof BiblicalLiterature111(1992):417-439. Weinfeld,"GraceafterMeals in Qumran,"
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classify these prayersaccordingto theirliterarytypes. This classificationis of Jewishprayersin the SecondTemple very importantfor ourunderstanding period. HananEshel Bar-Ilan University Israel Ramat-Gan, Daniel Sperber.Magic and Folklorein RabbinicLiterature.BarHan Studies in Near EasternLanguagesand Culture.Ramat-Gan:Bar Ilan University Press, 1994. 256 pp. Thiscollectionof essays is a significantcontribution to the understanding of some terms and motifs in rabbinicliterature.The authorexplainsthese termsby utilizing comparablephenomenain other cultures.These cultural borrowingsand transformationsof concepts derive from Greek, Roman, Egyptian,and Persianloci, as is to be expected,and additionallyfrom the moredistantareasof the FarEast,suchas china.DanielSperber'sperspective in investigatingvirtuallyincomprehensible expressionsin rabbinicsourcesis In and folkloric. these multipleapproachesthe author philogical,historical, is able to drawupon his extensiveknowledgeof textualand archaeological sources, which is evident from his other works in the field of applies philology.'The firstpartof Magic and Folkloreaddressesissues of folklore, magic, historicalallusion, and the datingof midrashicpassages,while the second part of the book has a lengthy analysis of Yerushalmi,Berakhot, chapter1. The book contains indices, includinga very valuableindex of terms. In many cases the authorprovidesthe readerof rabbinictexts with new and meaningfuldefinitionsof truly misunderstoodterms.For example,the meaningof nwtv in connectionwith storiesaboutthe originof the festivalof Hanukkah,as foundin MegillatTa'anitandPesiqtaRabbati,in analyzedand redefined.The Hebrewtv,'T~r (plural)had been translatedas "rodsof iron which they [the Maccabees]groovedout and then kindledwicks in the oil which they pouredinto the grooves."2Sperberpostulatesthat these "rods" 1. See, forexample,hisA Dictionaryof GreekandLatinLegalTermsin RabbinicLiterature Bar-IlanUniversityPress, 1984). (Ramat-Gan: 2. W. G. Braude,Pesikta Rabbati:Discoursesfor Feasts, Fasts, and Special Sabbaths (New Haven:YaleUniversityPress, 1968)p. 50.
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Brigitte (Rivak) Kern Ulmer Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 392-394 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486709 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:33 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
392
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classify these prayersaccordingto theirliterarytypes. This classificationis of Jewishprayersin the SecondTemple very importantfor ourunderstanding period. HananEshel Bar-Ilan University Israel Ramat-Gan, Daniel Sperber.Magic and Folklorein RabbinicLiterature.BarHan Studies in Near EasternLanguagesand Culture.Ramat-Gan:Bar Ilan University Press, 1994. 256 pp. Thiscollectionof essays is a significantcontribution to the understanding of some terms and motifs in rabbinicliterature.The authorexplainsthese termsby utilizing comparablephenomenain other cultures.These cultural borrowingsand transformationsof concepts derive from Greek, Roman, Egyptian,and Persianloci, as is to be expected,and additionallyfrom the moredistantareasof the FarEast,suchas china.DanielSperber'sperspective in investigatingvirtuallyincomprehensible expressionsin rabbinicsourcesis In and folkloric. these multipleapproachesthe author philogical,historical, is able to drawupon his extensiveknowledgeof textualand archaeological sources, which is evident from his other works in the field of applies philology.'The firstpartof Magic and Folkloreaddressesissues of folklore, magic, historicalallusion, and the datingof midrashicpassages,while the second part of the book has a lengthy analysis of Yerushalmi,Berakhot, chapter1. The book contains indices, includinga very valuableindex of terms. In many cases the authorprovidesthe readerof rabbinictexts with new and meaningfuldefinitionsof truly misunderstoodterms.For example,the meaningof nwtv in connectionwith storiesaboutthe originof the festivalof Hanukkah,as foundin MegillatTa'anitandPesiqtaRabbati,in analyzedand redefined.The Hebrewtv,'T~r (plural)had been translatedas "rodsof iron which they [the Maccabees]groovedout and then kindledwicks in the oil which they pouredinto the grooves."2Sperberpostulatesthat these "rods" 1. See, forexample,hisA Dictionaryof GreekandLatinLegalTermsin RabbinicLiterature Bar-IlanUniversityPress, 1984). (Ramat-Gan: 2. W. G. Braude,Pesikta Rabbati:Discoursesfor Feasts, Fasts, and Special Sabbaths (New Haven:YaleUniversityPress, 1968)p. 50.
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were in all likelihoodhollow spearheads.He supportshis positionby citing Greekandtalmudicsourcesandby a quotationfromthe Dead Sea Scrolls. Inanotherapproachto a difficulttextualpassageconcerningtheinstrument whichwas usedin the tortureof Manasseh,Sperbertracesa Persianwordthat appearsin Palestinianrabbinictexts andimmediatelyaddressesthe question of why such a loan-wordappearsin such an unlikely context.The partial answerthathe providesis thatthe text (Midrashha-Gadolon Genesis)is a Babylonianredactionof a Palestiniantext. Sperber'sfindingsare in accord withthe earlierideasof WilhelmBacherandothersaboutthe idol-likeanimal imageinto whichManassehwas place.However,Sperbersuppliesadditional textualand culturalevidencefor his readings. Persiansourcesareagainconsideredin the storyof R. Yohananin Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana.One of the characteristicsof the rabbi was that he had droopingeyelids that needed to be lifted up; Sperbermainly relies upon TheodorNoeldeke's contentionthatthe raisingof the eyelids relatesto the Sassaniantale of a generalnamedWahriz.As reportedby Tabari,Wahriz could only shoot his arrowswhen his droopingeyelids were lifted. This to a new, rabbiniccontextandused motif was transferred Persian-Sassanian to describe R. Yohanan,who was able to kill with his gaze only when his eyelids were raised.Anotherinterestingexampleof an "alien"motif in rabbinicliteratureis the derivationfromChinesesources.Sperbercontends thatsome passagesin Palestinianrabbinictexts referringto "stonethatshine by night"owe their origin to a Chinesework of the fifth centuryC.E.The criticalquestionin all comparativestudiesis, whatis the methodologyupon which the comparisonsaremade?Sperberinuitivelyconnectscertainmotifs andrejectsothers;he exhaustivelysearchesdifferenttypesof sourcessharing a commontheme. On the otherhand, Sperbercalls special attentionto the dangerof emendationsof texts relying upon presumedscribalerrors;e.g., of galeotae, as foundin emendingtrril (whichhe views as a transcription He to furthermore De divinatione Cicero, 1.39) wlut,. objectsto emending tl~nn(habarin= Magi, as in J. Neusner,A Historyof theJews in Babylonia, vol. 2 [Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1966],p. 149) to an'1an. Accordingto Sperber,a majorreasonfor the appearanceof incomprehensible terms in rabbinicliteratureis that some words were transcribedback and forthfrom one languageto another.SuchwordsincludeHebrewwords thatweretranscribedinto Greekandthereaftertranscribed backinto Hebrew, as demonstratedin manymagicaltexts. The book containsa few minorerrors,mainlywhen secondaryliterature
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is cited (e.g., the List of Abbreviationsshouldread:Blau, Das Altjiidische
Zauberwesen. . ., not "Blum;" p. 128, nn. 4 and 5 should read: Krauss,
Griechen,not "Griecher;"p. 13, n. 1 should read:"the referencethere is to Vl•'u
vS," not "the reference there is to 1""n= Midrash Rabba"). These
minorproblemsdo not in any way diminishthe qualityof the book, andthe scholarlyreaderis still able to findthe referenceswithoutdifficulty. However,the rationalefor the inclusionof the secondpartof the book, a translationand explanationof Yerushalmi,Berakhot,chapter1, was not clearto this reader.Said passageis primarilyoutsidethe realmof "folklore and magic."Itwas include,in the wordsof the author,"to give the readera of the natureof Rabbinicliterature" (p. 175). greaterunderstanding Sperberis a masterof the sources and secondaryliteraturein diverse languages,andhe is a creativethinkerwho skillfullyconnectselementsfrom non-Jewishcontextsto rabbinicliterature.This book by Sperberis essential in the referencesection of any rabbiniclibraryand will be of benefit to scholarsinterestedin the literatureof late antiquity. Brigitte(Rivak)KernUlmer, HebrewUnionCollege-Jewish Institueof Religion NewYork,N.Y. JewishLiterature. RichardG. Marks.TheImageofBar Kokhbain Traditional False Messiah and National Hero. University Park: PennsylvaniaState UniversityPress, 1994. xiii, 266 pp. of the events The complexhistoricalimagesanddisparateinterpretations of Bar Kokhba'slife and deathare the subjectof this volume. It seeks to be a "historyof perceptionsand meanings"(p. 3). RichardMarksstrives to understandand evaluatethe differentperceptionsthatJewishwriters,in diversetimesandplaces,formedof BarKohkba,andthe changingmeanings which disparateages attachedto this enigmaticfigure.We readof "political andreligioushistoryrevealedin the changinggarbof a legendaryhero-villain andhis story"(p. 4). Marksbegins with an overview of miscellaneousimages and interpretationsof Bar Kokhba,and assertsthatrabbinicliteraturecame to see him eitheras a messianicimpostor"associatedwith eschatologicalexpectations" or a flawedhero"associatedwith the downfallof Betaras it was retoldeach Ninthof Av"(p. 56). Bothtraditionspointto an anxietyaboutself-determined
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Stephen D. Benin Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 394-396 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486710 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:33 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
394
BOOKREVIEWS
is cited (e.g., the List of Abbreviationsshouldread:Blau, Das Altjiidische
Zauberwesen. . ., not "Blum;" p. 128, nn. 4 and 5 should read: Krauss,
Griechen,not "Griecher;"p. 13, n. 1 should read:"the referencethere is to Vl•'u
vS," not "the reference there is to 1""n= Midrash Rabba"). These
minorproblemsdo not in any way diminishthe qualityof the book, andthe scholarlyreaderis still able to findthe referenceswithoutdifficulty. However,the rationalefor the inclusionof the secondpartof the book, a translationand explanationof Yerushalmi,Berakhot,chapter1, was not clearto this reader.Said passageis primarilyoutsidethe realmof "folklore and magic."Itwas include,in the wordsof the author,"to give the readera of the natureof Rabbinicliterature" (p. 175). greaterunderstanding Sperberis a masterof the sources and secondaryliteraturein diverse languages,andhe is a creativethinkerwho skillfullyconnectselementsfrom non-Jewishcontextsto rabbinicliterature.This book by Sperberis essential in the referencesection of any rabbiniclibraryand will be of benefit to scholarsinterestedin the literatureof late antiquity. Brigitte(Rivak)KernUlmer, HebrewUnionCollege-Jewish Institueof Religion NewYork,N.Y. JewishLiterature. RichardG. Marks.TheImageofBar Kokhbain Traditional False Messiah and National Hero. University Park: PennsylvaniaState UniversityPress, 1994. xiii, 266 pp. of the events The complexhistoricalimagesanddisparateinterpretations of Bar Kokhba'slife and deathare the subjectof this volume. It seeks to be a "historyof perceptionsand meanings"(p. 3). RichardMarksstrives to understandand evaluatethe differentperceptionsthatJewishwriters,in diversetimesandplaces,formedof BarKohkba,andthe changingmeanings which disparateages attachedto this enigmaticfigure.We readof "political andreligioushistoryrevealedin the changinggarbof a legendaryhero-villain andhis story"(p. 4). Marksbegins with an overview of miscellaneousimages and interpretationsof Bar Kokhba,and assertsthatrabbinicliteraturecame to see him eitheras a messianicimpostor"associatedwith eschatologicalexpectations" or a flawedhero"associatedwith the downfallof Betaras it was retoldeach Ninthof Av"(p. 56). Bothtraditionspointto an anxietyaboutself-determined
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attemptsfor redemption,and both images"askpeopleto look beyondhim . . . and turntheireyes to heaven,fromwhich alonewould come redemption andthe powerto attainit" (ibid.). The secondchaptersurveysthese imagesin the writingsof IbnDaudand Maimonides.Forthe former,BarKokhba"stoodas a warningagainstsupport for anymessianicclaimant"(p. 97), while the lattertriedto reducethe danger of messianic movementsby seeking to discover laws that made support "foreven a tentativemessiahunlikely"(ibid.).Marksthenexaminesmaterial fromIsaacAbravanelandseveralsixteenth-century authors,includingSamuel A Usque, Azariahde' Rossi, and David Gans. very shortchapterconsiders the images of Bar Kokhbain the "laterKabbalah,"and a brief summary completesthe volume. Marksconcludes that up to the seventh century,the two rabbinictraditions about Bar Kokhba-that he was a false messiah and a military hero-dominatedJewishthought.ForIbnDaudandMaimonides,BarKokhba seemed to assume the characteristicsof a humanruleracting throughthe natural,politicalprocess.While Abravanelsaw Bar Kokhbaas "a divinely historiansdiffered appointedagentof vengeance"(p. 202), sixteenth-century widely in theirviews of him.Laterkabbalists--HayimVital,JacobSasportas, and Nathanof Gaza---cameto see in Bar Kokhbadifferentshades of the messianicsoul developingtowardfull messianicstatus. Throughoutthe millennia,Jewishwritersdidnot ignorethe darkerside of the flawedherowho appearsbeforeus wartsandall-failing to throwoff the yoke of Romanoppression,falsely appearingas a messianicpretender,and, throughhis failed rebellion,unleashingdire and catastrophicconsequences uponhis people.YetJewishwritersneverleftBarKokhbawhollyunredeemed. Subsequentliteraturefoundhope and significancein the agony andruinsof Betar.History,theodicy,the yearningfor redemption,andpoliticalquietism could all be defendedby appealto BarKokhba'slife anddeath. Even thoughMarks'smonographreliablyexploresthe myriadfacets of Bar Kokhbaas reflectedin the sourcesunderscrutiny,each chapterseems somewhatlimitedin scope andintellectualdaring.Perhapsthe volumewould have been morecompelling,the imagesmorememorable,the overallimpact greater,had the materialbeen presenteddifferently.For example,Ibn Daud seemsto fit betterin the chapteron historicalwritingsthanwith Maimonides. And a broaderanalysis of Maimonideswould have revealed,more clearly and vividly than does the presentarrangement,how Maimonidesadapted andinterpretedrabbinicdictain his writings.Also, a deeperconsiderationof
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the whole issue of messianismwithinthe Maimonideancorpuswouldhave enrichedimmeasurablythe section on Rambam,and located Bar Kokhba withintherichvein of Maimonides'thought.Thefew pageson laterkabbalism also needto be situatedwithinthe broadercontextof Jewishmessianismand generalJewishmysticalthought,especiallythose areasdealingspecifically with messianicideas. Because the authormentionsa children'sgame, "BarKohkbaand the Romans,"playedearlierin this centuryin EasternEuropeand nowadaysin Israel,he perhapshints at the uses andabusesof BarKokhbain the modern period.PerhapsMarkswill go on, in futurestudies,to explorehow Zionist thinkersand their opponentsappropriatedor discreditedthe past, thereby addinga rich chapterto this engagingtopic. His even-handedand objective volume illuminatesthe treatmentof this most enigmaticfigureby Jewish authorsthroughthe centuries. StephenD. Benin of Memphis University Tenn. Memphis, MarkR. Cohen. UnderCrescentand Cross. TheJews in the MiddleAges. Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1994.xxi, 280 pp. In the last generationa somewhatstrangeargumenthas developedamong Jews (primarilyin Israel) that has translatedinto a propagandaweapon and an intellectualproblem.It revolves aroundthe questionwhetherJews suffered or flourishedmore under medieval Christiansor Muslims. The who debateinvolvesAshkenazisurvivorsof the Holocaust,proud.Sephardim were amongthe staunchestZionistseven if they did not succeedto political power,andOrientalJews who were absorbedinto the Stateof Israelafterits reactionto the "other"in creation;and althoughit reflectsa contemporary the infelicitous it based on is comparisonsintroducedby principally power, GermanJewishscholarsto promotetheirown apologyfor nineteenth-century emancipation(pace IsmarSchorsch).In a way, this argumentis a contemin poraneouslygeneratedresponseto the reawakeningof the "Sephardim" Israel(the lattertermbeing a misnomerthatdeservesits own essay) during the 1980s. WhatMarkCohenhas donewith this book is to raisethe level of the debateto thatof scholarlyinquiry. Once the reason for the inquiryhas been cogently stated,the question
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Steven Bowman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 396-400 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486711 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:33 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
396
BOOKREVIEWS
the whole issue of messianismwithinthe Maimonideancorpuswouldhave enrichedimmeasurablythe section on Rambam,and located Bar Kokhba withintherichvein of Maimonides'thought.Thefew pageson laterkabbalism also needto be situatedwithinthe broadercontextof Jewishmessianismand generalJewishmysticalthought,especiallythose areasdealingspecifically with messianicideas. Because the authormentionsa children'sgame, "BarKohkbaand the Romans,"playedearlierin this centuryin EasternEuropeand nowadaysin Israel,he perhapshints at the uses andabusesof BarKokhbain the modern period.PerhapsMarkswill go on, in futurestudies,to explorehow Zionist thinkersand their opponentsappropriatedor discreditedthe past, thereby addinga rich chapterto this engagingtopic. His even-handedand objective volume illuminatesthe treatmentof this most enigmaticfigureby Jewish authorsthroughthe centuries. StephenD. Benin of Memphis University Tenn. Memphis, MarkR. Cohen. UnderCrescentand Cross. TheJews in the MiddleAges. Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1994.xxi, 280 pp. In the last generationa somewhatstrangeargumenthas developedamong Jews (primarilyin Israel) that has translatedinto a propagandaweapon and an intellectualproblem.It revolves aroundthe questionwhetherJews suffered or flourishedmore under medieval Christiansor Muslims. The who debateinvolvesAshkenazisurvivorsof the Holocaust,proud.Sephardim were amongthe staunchestZionistseven if they did not succeedto political power,andOrientalJews who were absorbedinto the Stateof Israelafterits reactionto the "other"in creation;and althoughit reflectsa contemporary the infelicitous it based on is comparisonsintroducedby principally power, GermanJewishscholarsto promotetheirown apologyfor nineteenth-century emancipation(pace IsmarSchorsch).In a way, this argumentis a contemin poraneouslygeneratedresponseto the reawakeningof the "Sephardim" Israel(the lattertermbeing a misnomerthatdeservesits own essay) during the 1980s. WhatMarkCohenhas donewith this book is to raisethe level of the debateto thatof scholarlyinquiry. Once the reason for the inquiryhas been cogently stated,the question
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arises:can it be done?Is this not a case of comparingapplesandoranges,a comparisonwhose bitterfruithas been allowed to putrefypolemicallyand apologeticallyin the wake of the most recentdemographicdisasterto smite the Jewishpeople?Onlyrarelydoes one see comparativestudiesof this kind carriedout satisfactorily.One successful example is JonathanSteinberg's All Or Nothing: TheAxis and the Holocaust, 1941-1943 (London, 1990), where he asks why the Italianarmy protectedJews, whereasthe German army assisted the process and even destroyedJews in the same occupied areas.His investigationleads to a deep and fascinatinghistoricalanalysisof the respectivesocial charactersof bothsocieties.Similarly,ShlomoShoham, in his forthcomingValhalla,Auschwitz,and Calvary,contraststhe polar froma varietyof oppositesof the Germanand Jewish social characteristics disciplinesto explainthe inevitabilityanduniquenessof the Holocaust.These two books, then, can be used as models for the studyof the effect opposite social characteristicshave on the functioningof analogousinstitutionsin similarhistoricalsituations. Cohencourageouslymakes an attemptto comparehow people with the same religious and culturallegacies faredunderdifferentcivilizations.He divides his inquiryinto five topics. In the firstparthe offers a statementof the myth and countermyththatnecessitatethe study.Herehe accumulatesa broadstreamof literaturethat indicateshow far the problemhas permeated contemporarysociety.This is most valuableto the readerwho is unawareof the dimensionsof the question.It is very like theKhazar-Ashkenazi argument originallyproposedby Jews that laterbecamea fickle fingerof Soviet and Arab propaganda,or even like the vicissitudes surroundingthe Elders of Zion phenomenon.Most recentlythe polemichas been extendedby Ammiel Alcalay in his vitriolic yet stimulatingAfter Jews and Arabs: Remaking LevantineCulture(Minneapolis,1993). Part2 is a survey of the religious disputes among the three monotheisticreligions and, after the respective conquests,the legal statusof the Jews in differentorbits(althoughit ignores Zvi Ankori'sthesisthattheCarolingianchartersreflectJewishconcernswhich were negotiatedinto the structureof the charters).Parts3 and 4 deal with economic and social phenomena,i.e., how the systemsworkedin practice, while Part5 summarizespolemicsandpersecutions,namely,how each group (Jews vs. Christiansand Jews vs. Muslims)developeda fightingspirit,the "bully-victim"fights,andthe respectivememoriesof those involved. Thisbook is a firsteffortat a difficulttask,as the authorcorrectlyadmits. Whereit succeedsis in forcingspecialistsin one areaof the MiddleAges to
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confrontanotherareawithwhich,morelikelythannot,theyareunfamiliar,let alone competent.Thus,for its surveysandbibliographical critiques,Cohen's essay will be of significantuse to teachersand studentsstrugglingto make some sense out of the cosmopolitanrangeof medievalJewishstudieswhose prior "masternarratives"are being challengedby a younger generation of deconstructionists.In addition,the intermixof contemporarymedieval sourceswiththe author'scommentarybringsalive forthereadera senseof the medievalJewishdilemma:how to live as a toleratedyet despisedminority.On a broadernotetheauthorhasintroducedintohis narrativea "new"sociological approachthathas long been familiarto studentsof othermedievalhistories. or an Americanizationof the French Thejargonis thatof multiculturalism, Annales school, now tendingto lose its appealin generalmedievalstudies (pace NormanCantor'sInventingTheMiddleAges). Cohen deftly weaves thisnew (i.e., Englished)languageof marginalityandhierarchyintothe older conceptsof aliennessand feudalism.Again studentswill be gratefulfor the hard-earned,well-explicated,self-taughtlessons he offers in this area. He readsdeeplyandwell, andhis sharingis welcome. It is perhapstime to ask whethertherewas one medievalJewishhistory or many,and, if therewas one, whetherit can be writtenindependentlyof the general frameworkof a Middle Ages dating from ca. 300-1500. The RomanEmpireand its attendantcivilizationwas divided,like Gaul,among threeheirs:a ruralGermanicLatinChristianwest, a polyethnicurbanGreek Orthodoxeast, and a cosmopolitanArabic Muslim south. To understand the vicissitudes of the Jews in the Middle Ages (however defined),one has to understandthe legacies of the three heirs (Byzantiumis noticeably absentfromthe book), and only then can comparisonsand valuejudgments be usefully made about the powerless Jews who influencedpower. What relationship,if any, did the Byzantinepersecutionsof the seventhto tenth centurieshaveon thewest fromthe tenthto thirteenthcenturies?Whywas the OrthodoxGreekChurch'sattitudeoppositeto thatof the LatinChurchwith respectto baptism,forcedconversion,and the use of apostatesto challenge professingJews? Can the Islamic Jewish revolts of the seventhto eighth centuriesbe usefully comparedwith the situationin the west? Whatof the Spains:Visigothic,Islamic,the Reconquistakingdoms,andthe denouement attendingunification?To whatcan the millenniumof Spainbe compared,or must it be dissectedfor synchroniccomparisonwith the easternmarchesof ArabIslamin southernRussiaor Persia? Thereareotherproblemsthatarisefroma comparisonof disparatetopics.
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Already in his chaptercomparingthe attitudesof Christianityand Islam towardJudaism,the problemof chronologicalsymmetrymanifestsitself. In earlierpublicationsCohen restrictedhis inquiryto the Islamic society of the Geniza world, in which he is eminentlyat home, and to the northern Christianlands of CrusaderAshkenazisociety.While he bows to the more tolerantChristiansocieties, e.g., Poland,Spain,Italy,one looks in vain for Byzantium,where therewere far more Jews thanever were in the lands of medievalAshkenaz.Herea synchronicstudywouldshowhow contemporary contendingreligious states (the empire and the caliphate)forced attitudes towardthe Jews that were similarlyreligiouslybut opposedpolitically.In Cohen'sconstruct,however,the diachronicdifferencesraiseseriousquestions aboutthe efficacyof comparingsuch disparatephenomenaas fourth-century Christiansin vituperativecompetitionwith Judaismand fourteenth-century Muslims who were in power and comfortablypossessive of "the truth"; hence, the latterwere contemptuouslytolerantof both Jews and Christians. In generalthe argumentwould have been strengthenedif the persecutions in west and east had been periodized,placedin context,andthen compared MuslimSpainandtheCrusadesin western (e.g., eleventh-andtwelfth-century Europeand the Levant).Thereseems also to be a hint of apologyaboutthe treatmentof JewsunderIslamthatis totallylackingin the descriptionsof the Jews in the west. Recourseto theByzantinecenterwouldhighlightotherperspectiveson the Jewish situation and provide links for more fruitful comparisons.Islam inheritedRomanJewrylaw (pertainingto synagogueconstructionandmany fromByzantium,as well as its earlycoinage otherdisabilities)andmartyrdom and classical wisdom. Byzantiumcontinuedto influencethe Islamicworld, especiallythroughthemediumof theTurkicleaderswhoultimatelyforgedthe bothamong Ottomansultanate.Byzantium,inwesterneyes,wastheimperium, the CentralEuropeanSalian emperorsand the Hebrew authorof Sepher Yosippon(the lattermuchmore influentialthanCohensuggests).On certain pointstheauthoris ambiguous:was it UmarI orUmarIIto whomthenotorious Inanothervein:thelegalsystemsof western Pactof Omarshouldbe attributed? Europeanchurch and state deserve a fuller treatmentin regardto their mutualrelationshipsvis-a-vis the Jews, if not in general.Othersubjectsare lacking:the questionof women in the Jewish world and a comparisonof the effects of the local majoritycultureupon their situation;the lack of persecutionsin the era of Mongol expansion(the latter thirteenth-century were seen in the west as the avenging Ten Lost Tribes)comparedto the
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twelfthand fourteenthcenturies;the Davidic exilarchyand the receptionof Jewishpowerby Muslimscomparedto the fearof Jewishpowerby western churchmen(Agobardshouldbe readthroughthe filterof his hyperbolerather thanliterally). These questionsaside, the authorhas shownus thatputtingold wine in new bottles does not give a satisfactoryoverallpictureof the periodafter Rome/NewRome and until the Expulsion.For that we shouldbe grateful. of thewholeperiod, Now perhapswe canmove on to a new conceptualization one that looks at the Middle Ages from the totalityof its experiencesand at the Jewish role within those worlds as distinctfrom our contemporary projections. StevenBowman
of Cincinnati University Ohio Cincinnati, Arie Schippers.SpanishHebrewPoetry & the Arabic LiteraryTradition: Arabic Themesin HebrewAndalusianPoetry.Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1994. 345 pp. Seriousscholarshipon medievalHebrewsecularpoetryfromSpainis still verymuchin its infancy.Withthe exceptionof somefinework,mostlyarticles but includingsome books, by Israelischolars(whose work,nevertheless,is mostly limited to translationsand anthologieswith little or no analysis), virtuallyno substantialinvestigation,especially monographs,exists. Thus, the appearanceof an English-languagebook with the promisingtitle of this one, by a Dutch scholarwhose researchis primarilyon medieval Arabic poetry but who neverthelesscommandsan acceptablelevel of Hebrew,is most welcome. The introductionpromisesan analysisof "most"of the themesandmotifs from of medievalHebrewsecularversewhich(supposedly)were"borrowed" in few studies to date Arabic.In fact, therehave been very any languageof the motifs of Hebrewpoetry,and the authoradmitsthat the same is true, to a lesser degree,with respectto Arabic.Therefore,the questionobviously arises whether such an undertakingis premature,and whetherit can be fromthe Arabic demonstratedthatall such motifswere, in fact, "borrowed" in this book). (somethingwhich is not successfullydemonstrated There are other errorsand methodologicalproblems.The authorstates
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Norman Roth Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 400-402 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486712 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
400
BOOKREVIEWS
twelfthand fourteenthcenturies;the Davidic exilarchyand the receptionof Jewishpowerby Muslimscomparedto the fearof Jewishpowerby western churchmen(Agobardshouldbe readthroughthe filterof his hyperbolerather thanliterally). These questionsaside, the authorhas shownus thatputtingold wine in new bottles does not give a satisfactoryoverallpictureof the periodafter Rome/NewRome and until the Expulsion.For that we shouldbe grateful. of thewholeperiod, Now perhapswe canmove on to a new conceptualization one that looks at the Middle Ages from the totalityof its experiencesand at the Jewish role within those worlds as distinctfrom our contemporary projections. StevenBowman
of Cincinnati University Ohio Cincinnati, Arie Schippers.SpanishHebrewPoetry & the Arabic LiteraryTradition: Arabic Themesin HebrewAndalusianPoetry.Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1994. 345 pp. Seriousscholarshipon medievalHebrewsecularpoetryfromSpainis still verymuchin its infancy.Withthe exceptionof somefinework,mostlyarticles but includingsome books, by Israelischolars(whose work,nevertheless,is mostly limited to translationsand anthologieswith little or no analysis), virtuallyno substantialinvestigation,especially monographs,exists. Thus, the appearanceof an English-languagebook with the promisingtitle of this one, by a Dutch scholarwhose researchis primarilyon medieval Arabic poetry but who neverthelesscommandsan acceptablelevel of Hebrew,is most welcome. The introductionpromisesan analysisof "most"of the themesandmotifs from of medievalHebrewsecularversewhich(supposedly)were"borrowed" in few studies to date Arabic.In fact, therehave been very any languageof the motifs of Hebrewpoetry,and the authoradmitsthat the same is true, to a lesser degree,with respectto Arabic.Therefore,the questionobviously arises whether such an undertakingis premature,and whetherit can be fromthe Arabic demonstratedthatall such motifswere, in fact, "borrowed" in this book). (somethingwhich is not successfullydemonstrated There are other errorsand methodologicalproblems.The authorstates
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thatHebrewpoetryin the style of the Arabsbegan in the eleventhcentury and "was virtuallydead in the twelfth"(p. 2); when in fact it began in the tenthcenturyandwas very muchstill "alive"in the twelfth.The authorthen the firstto investigatemotifsin medievalHebrew assertsthathe is "perhaps" poetryat all--a totallyfalse claim(of the numerousarticleswhichthe present reviewerhas written,for example,this bookmentionsonly one, buta few by otherauthorsarealso cited,andhe has unfortunately ignoredseveral).While classic work of David Yellin the (see p. 23), for example, belittling important he ignoresS. D. Luzzatto,B. Klar,andothers. The authorchooses to limit his studyof "HebrewAndalusianpoetry"to the four "great"poets known to every schoolchild:SamuelIbn Naghrillah (Schippersis to be commendedforthe correctspellingof his name),Solomon IbnGabirol,Moses Ibn 'Ezra(h),andJudahha-Levy.Whilethis limitationis perhapsdefensible,it clearlyrestrictsthe areaof investigation,so that,in fact, the book does not deal with "AndalusianHebrewpoetry"but only a portion thereof.Thusthe conclusionsdrawnare automaticallylimitedandshouldbe tentativelystated.Such,however,is not the case, for the conclusionsinclude the statementthat "we" cannotrefrainfrom concludingthat "the Hebrew Andalusianpoets" imitatedOriental(i.e., Iraqi)poets far more than they did AndalusianArabicpoets. However,surprisinglyfew AndalusianArabic poets arein fact discussedin the book,mostof its referencesbeingto Iraqior Iranianpoets. Each sectionof the book, dealingwith (in fact, a verylimited numberof) motifsincludesdiscussionsof theseArabicpoetsfollowedby the four "stars"of Hebrewpoetry,with translations(generallycorrect)of lines from theirpoems. The cumulativeeffect is at times overwhelming,but the patientreaderwill certainlyfind some soundobservations. Thereare several errorsand problemsin the book. One is the constant "invention"of ArabictitlesforHebrewworks(e.g., pp. 1, 6, 7, 62) whichonly confuse the reader.In chapter3 there are frequentreferencesto "editions" of Hebrewworkswhich are only Spanishtranslations;but wherethe author should refer to the Spanish(if not other)translationsof poems or literary works,he does not. The sameis trueof translationsof Arabicworks,bothin the footnotesandin the bibliography. Technicalterms,especiallyArabicones, aretranslatedbutnot definedor explained.Whilethe translationsareusually and correct,in at least one case (AbtiNuwis, p. 121) boththe interpretation the translationof the poem are erroneous.Transliterations of Hebrewwords and titles are often incorrect.Argumentsare sometimesmade, or merely asserted,with no attemptat validationand which are entirelywrong (e.g.,
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Muslimswerenotprohibitedfromdrinkingwine,p. 115;Hebrewpoetrydoes not only referto drinkingin courtsorpalaces;in fact,it rarelydoes so, p. 116; Isaacal-Fasiwas hardlya "grammarian," p. 250; the deathof IbnNagrillah's brotherwas in 881/1041,not 441/1050,p. 247; andhe ignoresaltogetherthe eulogy on the deathof his brotherJudah). In discussingboy-love poetry,while the authoris certainlyto be commendedfor at least recognizingits existence,thereis too much (incorrect) emphasison the supposed"effeminate"natureof the boys, which is totally unsupportedin the Hebrewgenreand only rarelyin the Arabic(nordid the authorapparentlyknow of the articles-at least five!-which this reviewer has publishedon the subject). In sum, this book is useful in providinginsightsfromthe perspectiveof an Arabiston some of the motifsutilizedby fourof the majorHebrewpoets of al-Andalus.It is a significantstep on the long roadyet to be traversedin researchingthese motifs,but the conclusionsare as yet premature. Roth Norman of Wisconsin University Wis. Madison, MichaelFishbane.TheKiss of God:SpiritualandMysticalDeathin Judaism. TheSamuelandAltheaStroumLecturesin JewishStudies.Seattle:University of WashingtonPress, 1994. xii, 156 pp. At the heart of Judaicspiritualitylies the concept of the relationship betweenhumanbeings and the divine. The elucidationof this relationship involvedthe greatestminds of successivegenerationsof Jewishscholarsin of both of texts and of interpretations a process of creativereinterpretation the past.This processhas certainlybeen studiedin manyways, but anything resemblinga comprehensivetreatmenthas remaineda dauntingtask, given the requiredmasteryof a broadspectrumof texts andgenresof thought. It is a testimony to Michael Fishbane'scomprehensivevision of the developmentof spiritualityin Judaismthathe has succeededin treatingone topic--that of spiritualandmysticaldeath-and utilizingit in an exemplary way to createa smallbutwonderfulbook.Bothhe andthe StroumLectureship underwhoseauspicesthelecturescomprising attheUniversityof Washington, this book were originallydelivered,areto be congratulated. It is clearthatthe commandof Deuteronomy6:5, "Youshalllove theLord
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Ira Robinson Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 402-403 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486713 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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Muslimswerenotprohibitedfromdrinkingwine,p. 115;Hebrewpoetrydoes not only referto drinkingin courtsorpalaces;in fact,it rarelydoes so, p. 116; Isaacal-Fasiwas hardlya "grammarian," p. 250; the deathof IbnNagrillah's brotherwas in 881/1041,not 441/1050,p. 247; andhe ignoresaltogetherthe eulogy on the deathof his brotherJudah). In discussingboy-love poetry,while the authoris certainlyto be commendedfor at least recognizingits existence,thereis too much (incorrect) emphasison the supposed"effeminate"natureof the boys, which is totally unsupportedin the Hebrewgenreand only rarelyin the Arabic(nordid the authorapparentlyknow of the articles-at least five!-which this reviewer has publishedon the subject). In sum, this book is useful in providinginsightsfromthe perspectiveof an Arabiston some of the motifsutilizedby fourof the majorHebrewpoets of al-Andalus.It is a significantstep on the long roadyet to be traversedin researchingthese motifs,but the conclusionsare as yet premature. Roth Norman of Wisconsin University Wis. Madison, MichaelFishbane.TheKiss of God:SpiritualandMysticalDeathin Judaism. TheSamuelandAltheaStroumLecturesin JewishStudies.Seattle:University of WashingtonPress, 1994. xii, 156 pp. At the heart of Judaicspiritualitylies the concept of the relationship betweenhumanbeings and the divine. The elucidationof this relationship involvedthe greatestminds of successivegenerationsof Jewishscholarsin of both of texts and of interpretations a process of creativereinterpretation the past.This processhas certainlybeen studiedin manyways, but anything resemblinga comprehensivetreatmenthas remaineda dauntingtask, given the requiredmasteryof a broadspectrumof texts andgenresof thought. It is a testimony to Michael Fishbane'scomprehensivevision of the developmentof spiritualityin Judaismthathe has succeededin treatingone topic--that of spiritualandmysticaldeath-and utilizingit in an exemplary way to createa smallbutwonderfulbook.Bothhe andthe StroumLectureship underwhoseauspicesthelecturescomprising attheUniversityof Washington, this book were originallydelivered,areto be congratulated. It is clearthatthe commandof Deuteronomy6:5, "Youshalllove theLord
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yourGodwithall yourheartandwithall yoursoul andwithall yourmight,"is centralto any analysisof Jewishspirituality. Fishbane'sbookis, in a sense,an extendedcommentaryon this verseandits implicationsas unfoldedin Jewish sources from the midrashthroughBialik, with not infrequentcomparative excursionsto suchnon-Jewishphilosophersandmysticsas PlatoandSt. John of the Cross. thereaderwill findJewsoverthecourse WithinFishbane's"commentary," of millennia seeking God throughattemptsat both physical and spiritual transcendence.This involved them in attemptsat total self-sacrificethat, even if phraseddifferentlyby philosophersand kabbalists,were designed to bring the true worshipperto the ultimatefreedomand happinessof a "dyinginto God"--deathby a divinekiss. This formof "dying"broughtthe withtheprospect worshipper,as well, to a contemplationof andconfrontation of a martyr'sdeatheitheras a preparationfor a possiblerealityor else as a spiritualexercisedesignedto facilitatethe onset of the divine"kiss." Fishbanegives the readeran insightfulglimpseintorabbinicJudaismas it engagedin its processof continualself-definition.As he statesit, Judaismis "a vast intertextualsystemwhose internallife expandsandcontractsthrough exegesis. This is the secretof its spirit;and this is the reasonthateven the love of God in Judaismis an interpretedlove [emphasisin original].Only traditioncan tell the faithfulhow to love truly.But only the living God can confirmthe quest"(p. 13). IraRobinson Concordia University Montreal, P.Q. Elliot Wolfson. Circle in the Square: The Use of Genderin Kabbalistic Symbolism.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1995. xiii, 268 pp. Wolfson. Along the Path: Studies in KabbalisticMyth, Symbolismand Heremeneutics.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1995. xiii, 283 pp. Elliot Wolfson'scomprehensivestudy,Througha SpeculumThatShines: Visionand Imaginationin medievaljewish Mysticism(Princeton:Princeton UniversityPress, 1994), has been recognizedas a workof greatsignificance in the overlappingdisciplinesof religious and Jewish studies.As scholars
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Pinchas Giller Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 403-406 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486714 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
BOOK REVIEWS
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yourGodwithall yourheartandwithall yoursoul andwithall yourmight,"is centralto any analysisof Jewishspirituality. Fishbane'sbookis, in a sense,an extendedcommentaryon this verseandits implicationsas unfoldedin Jewish sources from the midrashthroughBialik, with not infrequentcomparative excursionsto suchnon-Jewishphilosophersandmysticsas PlatoandSt. John of the Cross. thereaderwill findJewsoverthecourse WithinFishbane's"commentary," of millennia seeking God throughattemptsat both physical and spiritual transcendence.This involved them in attemptsat total self-sacrificethat, even if phraseddifferentlyby philosophersand kabbalists,were designed to bring the true worshipperto the ultimatefreedomand happinessof a "dyinginto God"--deathby a divinekiss. This formof "dying"broughtthe withtheprospect worshipper,as well, to a contemplationof andconfrontation of a martyr'sdeatheitheras a preparationfor a possiblerealityor else as a spiritualexercisedesignedto facilitatethe onset of the divine"kiss." Fishbanegives the readeran insightfulglimpseintorabbinicJudaismas it engagedin its processof continualself-definition.As he statesit, Judaismis "a vast intertextualsystemwhose internallife expandsandcontractsthrough exegesis. This is the secretof its spirit;and this is the reasonthateven the love of God in Judaismis an interpretedlove [emphasisin original].Only traditioncan tell the faithfulhow to love truly.But only the living God can confirmthe quest"(p. 13). IraRobinson Concordia University Montreal, P.Q. Elliot Wolfson. Circle in the Square: The Use of Genderin Kabbalistic Symbolism.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1995. xiii, 268 pp. Wolfson. Along the Path: Studies in KabbalisticMyth, Symbolismand Heremeneutics.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1995. xiii, 283 pp. Elliot Wolfson'scomprehensivestudy,Througha SpeculumThatShines: Visionand Imaginationin medievaljewish Mysticism(Princeton:Princeton UniversityPress, 1994), has been recognizedas a workof greatsignificance in the overlappingdisciplinesof religious and Jewish studies.As scholars
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digest the conclusionsof Wolfson'ssweepingoverviewof the Jewishphilosophical,poetic, and mysticaltraditions,certainconcernshave come to the fore. Scholarlyreceptionof the work has been somewhatpreoccupiedwith Wolfson'sidentificationof a phallocentricmythosin Kabbalah.This nascent traditionoriginatesin antiquityandis recrudescentin boththe Zoharandthe Lurianictradition. In fact, the scope of Wolfson'sresearchhas been far broaderthanthis convenientreduction.These collections of earlierarticles,some of which dateto 1987,demonstratethatthe directionof Wolfson'sideashasproceeded along two paths:the definitionof ambiguousgenderroles and functionsin kabbalisticmythos,andthe evolutionof mysticalsymbolismfromits origin in ancient mystery traditionsto kabbalisticmovementsin their classical periods. The volume entitledAlong the Path addressesa numberof themes in kabbalisticmythos.In the essay entitled"TheImageof JacobEngravedupon the Throne,"Wolfsonuncoversan importantlink betweenthe theosophical Rhineland, systemof the hasideiAshkenaz,pietistsof the thirteenth-century andsubsequentschools of thought.Althoughstudiesby AlexanderAltmann, Asi Farber,and Joseph Dan had tracedthe extent to which these pietists received and transmittedthe earliesttraditionsof the Merkavahliterature, Wolfsonidentifiesa startlingaspectof thistradition.TheGermanpietistsalso expressedtherelationshipof theGodheadto thecreatedworldin sexualterms, markinga directrelationshipbetweenthe theologyof the Germanpietistsand of the theosophicalkabbalistsof Spain and Provence.Two "cornerstones" theosophicalKabbalah,the mythologizationof the divinerealmas male and female, and the consequenttheurgicnatureof the commandments,appear in Ashkenazictexts in the critical moment of transitionfrom-the arcane doctrinesof the Merkavahto the dynamismof medievalJewishmysticism. Wolfsonidentifiesthese elementsfrom a readingof extremelydifficultand arcanemanuscripts. In the article"TheTree That Is All," Wolfsonexaminesa traditionregardingthe cosmictreein the earliesttheosophicalkabbalistictext,theBahir. as Wolfsonidentifiesthe traditionas havingits originsin Jewish-Christianity, the filteredthroughintermediateNeoplatonistinfluences.Wolfsonsuggests older Jewish possibilitythat "withinthe frameworkof Jewish-Christianity werepreservedthatarediscerniblein theHebrewtextof the mythologoumena Bahir"(p. 66). AlthoughWolfsondemursfrom suggestingpreciseavenues of transmission,the articlesuggestsa new paradigmfor the examinationof
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ur-traditionsof Westernspirituality.The role of the sacredtree as demiurgic intercessorbetween the divine and the profaneis also phallocentric,a penetrationo fdivinityinto the secularandmundaneworld. A similar penetrationis uncoveredin the essay "Walkingas Sacred Duty,"which addressesthemesof itinerant,mendicantpietismin the central corridorof mainstreamKabbalah,leadingfromthe Zoharthroughthe Safed Renaissanceto Polish Hasidism.The romanticwanderingportrayedin the firsttraditionevolves, in Safed,into an eroticizedunionwith the Shekhinah, who is representedby the land of Israel.ClassicalHasidismcontinuedthis portrayalof walking as a means of expressingthe union of the male and femaleaspectsof the divine,as well as gatheringandredeemingthe scattered sparksthatthe zaddikencounterson the way. The genderstudies in Circle in the Squareaddresswell-knownthemes in theosophicalKabbalah,althoughWolfson often departsfrom the most of these theme,up-endingthemin favorof new widely held understandings to the intentof the text in question.TheTorah that are faithful understandings is portrayedin femininetermsin the earliestmysticaland aggadictexts, as noted in the essay "FemaleImagingof the Torah."InsubsequentKabbalah, the Torahcame to be portrayedin masculineterms,but Hasidictheologians restoredthe earliermotif. Wolfsonillustratesthis phenomenonby analyzing S. Y. Agnon'spoignant"Taleof the Scribe,"illustratingthe resonanceof this image in traditionalJudaism. Visionof GodandTextualInterpretation" Thearticles"Circumcision, and Erasure" address issues drawn from the the overtly phallocentric "Erasing in Kabbalah.Thistraditionis basedon theexistenceof masculine undercurrent libidinalenergyin the divinethatis the agencyof revelation(accordingto the metaphors,halakhicfigures,and literarytropesattendigncircumcision)and creativeanergy(particularlyin the traditionof the buzinade-kardinuta,the "hardenedspark"of theZohar'screationtexts).Finally,Wolfsonredefinesthe antueof divien union in his article"CrossingGenderBoundaries,"arguing thatratherthana mundanetechnicalmodel,the unionof the maleandfemale aspect of the divine is a transformativeact, incorporatinga strongelement of androgyny.The unionproposedby classicalKabbalahdoes not glorifythe masculineand femininemodels,but rathetheirtransformation. Wolfson'sstudiesreveal an unwillingnessto be burdenedwith the conof clusions of the past and a rejectionof glib, platitudinousunderstandings Jewish mythology and symbolism.This rejectionof cant in the pursuitof the core traditionsof Westernspiritualityreflect a restless searchingspirit
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thathas been realizedin the comprehensivestudiesmadeby this important scholar. PinchasGiller Washington University, St.Louis,Mo. Robert Bonfil. Jewish Life in RenaissanceItaly. Translatedby Anthony Oldcorn.Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1994.xiii, 320 pp. RobertBonfil's Jewish Life in RenaissanceItaly is very importantand significant,not only because it providesa fresh, exciting, and thoroughly researchedstudyof an often-misunderstood periodof Jewishhistory,butalso becausein thisoriginalbookhe offersa pioneeringmodelof theapplicationof theAnnalesmentalitemodelof historywritingto the studyof Jewishhistory. It wrestleswith two equally stimulatingquestions:(1) To what extentwas the historyof the Jews in Italy differentduringthe Renaissancethanin the precedingMiddleAges? (2) How can the historiandiscoverthe describethe mentalityof Jewswho lived in differentperiodsof history?Thesequestions, forBonfil,aremoresignificantthanthe conventionalquestionof the extentto whichItaliancultureof the Renaissanceinfluencedthe Jews,becauseforhim this questionassumesthatthese were two distinctcultures,and assumption he will not accept. The key to Bonfil'spresentationis his idea of structures.Eachsectionof the book attemptsto presentthe structuresof a differentaspectof Jewishlife in Italy. These includedsettlementand economy;cultureand society; and mentality,in which he includedtime and space;soundsand silence;colors, tastes, and odors; the days of life, and death. Bonfil, like most historical writerswho use the term,does not definewhathe meansby structure,buthis use of the termis significantand the implicationscan be compelling.Thus, he writes,althoughthe Jews of Italysharedmanyideas,social relations,and even sexualintimacieswiththeirChristianneighbors,thegapbetweenthetwo religions,cultures,or peoples was not reduced,but as two groupsof people "livingin the same historicalcontext"they shared"naturalcommunalityof mentalstructures"(p. 152). One of the contributionsof this view is to show thatsharingstructureswithotherpeoples,commonin Jewishhistory,is notthe same as assimilation,despitemanyaccusationsamongJews to the contrary. Similarly,althoughBonfilsassertsthatthe categoriesof time andspacewere
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Howard Adelman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 406-408 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486715 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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thathas been realizedin the comprehensivestudiesmadeby this important scholar. PinchasGiller Washington University, St.Louis,Mo. Robert Bonfil. Jewish Life in RenaissanceItaly. Translatedby Anthony Oldcorn.Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1994.xiii, 320 pp. RobertBonfil's Jewish Life in RenaissanceItaly is very importantand significant,not only because it providesa fresh, exciting, and thoroughly researchedstudyof an often-misunderstood periodof Jewishhistory,butalso becausein thisoriginalbookhe offersa pioneeringmodelof theapplicationof theAnnalesmentalitemodelof historywritingto the studyof Jewishhistory. It wrestleswith two equally stimulatingquestions:(1) To what extentwas the historyof the Jews in Italy differentduringthe Renaissancethanin the precedingMiddleAges? (2) How can the historiandiscoverthe describethe mentalityof Jewswho lived in differentperiodsof history?Thesequestions, forBonfil,aremoresignificantthanthe conventionalquestionof the extentto whichItaliancultureof the Renaissanceinfluencedthe Jews,becauseforhim this questionassumesthatthese were two distinctcultures,and assumption he will not accept. The key to Bonfil'spresentationis his idea of structures.Eachsectionof the book attemptsto presentthe structuresof a differentaspectof Jewishlife in Italy. These includedsettlementand economy;cultureand society; and mentality,in which he includedtime and space;soundsand silence;colors, tastes, and odors; the days of life, and death. Bonfil, like most historical writerswho use the term,does not definewhathe meansby structure,buthis use of the termis significantand the implicationscan be compelling.Thus, he writes,althoughthe Jews of Italysharedmanyideas,social relations,and even sexualintimacieswiththeirChristianneighbors,thegapbetweenthetwo religions,cultures,or peoples was not reduced,but as two groupsof people "livingin the same historicalcontext"they shared"naturalcommunalityof mentalstructures"(p. 152). One of the contributionsof this view is to show thatsharingstructureswithotherpeoples,commonin Jewishhistory,is notthe same as assimilation,despitemanyaccusationsamongJews to the contrary. Similarly,althoughBonfilsassertsthatthe categoriesof time andspacewere
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perceivedsimilarlyby Jews and Christians,it was the Jewishreligionthat differentiatedthe Jewishperception,and not "essentialdifferencesbetween the Jews and other peoples" (p. 114). For Bonfil, therefore,these shared structuresproduceda Jewishmentalitydifferentin Italythanin otherparts of the world at the same time and differentduringthe Renaissancefrom what preceded it. Yet Halian Jews of the Renaissanceperiod were no less Jewish than Jews in any othertime or place. Bonfil offers a profound of"liberal"and repudiationof long-standingconceptsin Jewishhistoriography a of how much a as measure Jew was to "rationalistic" willing "assimilate" into the contemporaryculture,and "conservative"and "antirationalistic" as reflectingan attractiontowardisolationand obscurantismin the traditional Jewishworld. In particularhe regularlysingles out for strongcriticismthe writingof Cecil Roth, whose work on the Jews duringthe Renaissanceis widely known. in the writingof Jewish In additionto this methodologicalbreakthrough contains Bonfil's book manysignificant,surprising,well-researched, history, and well-arguedobservationsabout Jewish life in Italy. He undermines notions of Jewish economic necessity for Christiansociety,their extensive settlementin Italy,and their favorablerelationswith Christians.He shows carefullythe factorsthatwentintoJewishsettlementandmigration,including the fact thatvery few refugeesfrom SpainreachedItaly.The establishment of the ghetto, however, contraryto popularopinion, often representedan improvementin the position of the Jews, or at least a reluctanceto expel themanda periodof diminishedaccusationsandviolentpersecutions. Bonfil does not documentevery assertionhe makes, and the laconic style of his book often omits the kind of detail that would edify and intrigueReanissancehistoriansas well as generalreaders.In fact, while the organizationof the book is logical and programmatic,the generalistmay derive more benefit from Bonfil's stunninganalysisby turningfirst to the secondsectionof the book. Some of Bonfil's generalizationsare unsupportedand may in fact be unsupportable.I am not sure what his evidence is for claimingthat there was no dialoguebetweenJews and Christian(p. 238). In my own work on Leon Modena,who never spelled his firstname with an e at the end, there is much evidence for extensive dialogueat many levels betweenJews and Christians.Othergeneralizationsof this type includehis assertionthatthere was no youth or adolescencein the premodernworld(p. 255), thatthe bride ceasedto be partof herparents'family(p. 257), thatnobodymarriedfor love
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(p. 259), thateducationalstructuresinheritedfromprecedingages remained unaltered(p. 129), that study was more demandingthankitchenwork (pp. 133-134), and thatthe degreeof literacyof the Jewishpublicwas high (p. 147). At times Bonfil's terminologycan be complicated.He does not make a clear distinctionbetween "form,""content,"and "structure." He seems to maketoo muchof a distinctionat firstbetween"sacred"and"profane"among the Jews. Whileone may disagreeon minormatters,Bonfil'sJewishLifein Renaissance Italy is a creativeand innovativeundertaking,a seminalworkwhich shows the vast eruditionand the methodologicaldeliberationsof one of the leadingJewishhistoriansof this generation.Bonfilhas succeededin reading the historyof the Jewsof the Reanaissancein a new perspective,a perspective thatwill be appliedto otherperiodsof Jewishhistory.This is an important book, and its influencewill be felt for a long time. Howard Adelman SmithCollege Mass. Northempton, Allan Arkush.Moses Mendelssohnand the Enlightenment.Albany: State Universityof New YorkPress, 1994. 304. In his introductionto InterpretingMaimonides,MarvinFox shows how "representativeJews" have the power to beget conflictinginterpretations of their works. Canonicalfigures are "claimed"by subsequentreadersas emblematicof theirown conceptionsof the traditionandits relationto extratraditionalknowledge.Surely,thephilosophicstatureandcommunalauthority thataccruedto Maimonidescannotbe saidto have been attributedto Moses Mendelssohn.Nonetheless,it wouldappearthatMendelssohnwas enoughof a "representative Jew"to havespawneda rangeof interpretations structurally comparableto somewell-knownportrayalsof Maimonides.Accordingto Ron Sigad,Mendelssohnharboredthoroughlytraditionalmemoriesandhopesfor a Jewishpolity ruledby God, while his "liberal"appealfor the separation of churchand statewas an instrumentalconcessionto the regrettablereality of the Galut.For Julius Guttmann,Mendelssohnwas a man within whom traditionalpiety coexisted "side by side" with the universalisticreligious sensibilityof the Enlightenment,with any possible"innerturmoil"obviated
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jonathan Cohen Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 408-413 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486716 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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(p. 259), thateducationalstructuresinheritedfromprecedingages remained unaltered(p. 129), that study was more demandingthankitchenwork (pp. 133-134), and thatthe degreeof literacyof the Jewishpublicwas high (p. 147). At times Bonfil's terminologycan be complicated.He does not make a clear distinctionbetween "form,""content,"and "structure." He seems to maketoo muchof a distinctionat firstbetween"sacred"and"profane"among the Jews. Whileone may disagreeon minormatters,Bonfil'sJewishLifein Renaissance Italy is a creativeand innovativeundertaking,a seminalworkwhich shows the vast eruditionand the methodologicaldeliberationsof one of the leadingJewishhistoriansof this generation.Bonfilhas succeededin reading the historyof the Jewsof the Reanaissancein a new perspective,a perspective thatwill be appliedto otherperiodsof Jewishhistory.This is an important book, and its influencewill be felt for a long time. Howard Adelman SmithCollege Mass. Northempton, Allan Arkush.Moses Mendelssohnand the Enlightenment.Albany: State Universityof New YorkPress, 1994. 304. In his introductionto InterpretingMaimonides,MarvinFox shows how "representativeJews" have the power to beget conflictinginterpretations of their works. Canonicalfigures are "claimed"by subsequentreadersas emblematicof theirown conceptionsof the traditionandits relationto extratraditionalknowledge.Surely,thephilosophicstatureandcommunalauthority thataccruedto Maimonidescannotbe saidto have been attributedto Moses Mendelssohn.Nonetheless,it wouldappearthatMendelssohnwas enoughof a "representative Jew"to havespawneda rangeof interpretations structurally comparableto somewell-knownportrayalsof Maimonides.Accordingto Ron Sigad,Mendelssohnharboredthoroughlytraditionalmemoriesandhopesfor a Jewishpolity ruledby God, while his "liberal"appealfor the separation of churchand statewas an instrumentalconcessionto the regrettablereality of the Galut.For Julius Guttmann,Mendelssohnwas a man within whom traditionalpiety coexisted "side by side" with the universalisticreligious sensibilityof the Enlightenment,with any possible"innerturmoil"obviated
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AlexanderAltmannsaw by a kindof unself-consciouscompartmentalization. Mendelssohnas a largelysuccessfulharmonizer, open-mindedlyassimilating Enlightenmentcurrentsinto the fabric of Judaismwhile employing his Jewish perspectiveto make genuine innovationsin Europeanthoughtat the highestlevel. For Leo Strauss,Mendelssohnwas a largelyunsuccessful compromiser,unawareof the degree to which he had modifiedthe sterner featuresof traditionalJudaismby presentingit as a "consolatory" teaching, an "Epicurean"adulterationgiving primacy to the assuranceof felicity. Allan Arkush's new book sets forth yet anotherview of Mendelssohn, presentinghim as a "radical"in traditionalclothing.Arkush'sMendelssohn is a devoteeof "naturalreligion"whosestatementson supernatural revelation are to be taken with a measureof suspicion.while Mendelssohnseems to have anticipateda steady deintensificationof halakhicobservance,as Jews assumedboth the rights and duties of citizenship,Arkushdoes not believe thathe would necessarilyhave bewailedsuchan eventuality. The structureof Arkush'sbook leads fromthe universalto the particular Arkushbegins andfromthe metaphysicalto the politicalandprogrammatic. by settingMendelssohnin the metaphysicaltraditionof Liebnizand Wolff. Subsequently,he takesup the questionof the degreeto which Mendelssohn actuallyremainedwithinthis traditionafterthe adventof Kant'sCritique.In his discussionof Mendelssohn'spoliticalthought,Arkushlocates an inconsistencybetweenhis strenuousinsistenceon the inalienabilityof conscience and some of his more cautiousremarkson the questionof censorshipand statesupervisionof the activitiesof atheists. It is in the chapterentitled"SpinozaandOtherAdversaries"thatArkush begins to lay the groundworkfor his main thesis. In contradistinction to Guttmann,Arkush does not believe that the pervasive ethos of the "conservative"or "moderate"enlightenmentmade it perfectly acceptable for Mendelssohnto profess belief in miracles and supernaturalrevelation. The writingsof Spinoza,Reimarus,Lessing, the EnglishDeists, and Voltairehad made significantinroadsinto Germantheo-politicalthinkingby Mendelssohn'stime.TheBiblehadbeendisparagedas theartlesslycomposed repositoryof irrationalteachings,its heroes cast as unworthyrole-models, and its addresseesas credulouswitnesses. For Arkush,then, it becomes a matterof first importanceto find out whetherMedelssohnactuallytook up these challenges,or merelytriedto "deflect"themby artufulrhetoric. ArkushmaintainsthatMendelssohnstudiouslyavoideda directconfrontation with biblicalcriticismand consciouslyremainedwithinthe confinesof
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medievalargumentsfor the veracityof Scripture,knowingall the while that Saadia'sclaims for the reliabilityof traditionas transmittedby generations of adherents,Halevi's appeal to the consensus of the three monotheistic faiths, and Maimonides'reliance on the public natureof the theophany at Sinai could not really stand up to the likes of Spinozaand Reimarus. Elsewhere,Mendelssohnhimself cautionsagainstthe manipulabilityof the naive "commonheap"by deviousclericsanddownplaysliteralrevelationas meantfor those too insensitiveto an inferiormode of divine communication in readthe divineinscription nature. These inconsistencies,and others,serve as the basis for Arkush'sclaim thatthatMendelssohnmerelywishedto give the appearanceof traditionality, so as not to burn his bridges to the Jewish community.As far as his Germanreadersare concerned,his politicalaim in Jerusalemwas to project a Judaismwhich could never contributeto civil strife, since it contained no discretedoctrinesbeyondthose deemedessentialto the underpinningof moral conduct. In reducingJudaismto a revealed law, meant to provide aid in the maintenanceof universaltruths,he wishedto meresupplementary civil integrationof the Jews, while allowingJudaisma for the the way pave harmlessmodicumof particularity. WhileArkushplacesMenelssohnin the traditionof LiebnizandWolffin respectof his metaphysicalfirstprinciples,he places him in the traditionof SpinozaandLockeas regardshis political"use"of theology.Spinozareduced the "essence"of the Bible tojustice,charity,andlove of neighbor,dismissing the ritual law deriving from the ancientbiblical theocracyas irrevocably superseded.This, in orderto allow for a liberalcivil religionbased on the authorityof the Bible. Similarly,Locke"pareddown"the Bible to the belief in Jesus' messiahshipand the possibilityof repentancein the interestof a similarpoliticalprogram.Mendelssohn,then,is also to be seen as a "reducer" of the Bible, thistimeto "law"alone,in orderto facilitatethe civil integration of the Jews withoutalienatingeitherthe Jewishleadershipor those German forceswho mightconstrueJewishspecificityas a stimulusto civil strife. From a methodologicalstandpoint,Arkushdevotes much attentionto locatingcontradictionsin Mendelssohn'swritings.UnlikeAltmann,he does not undertaketo harmonizethem,andunlikeGuttmann,he does notpreferto leave them in place as evidenceof a bifurcatedconsciousness.In somewhat Straussianfashion,he sees the contradictionsas conscious and deliberate, giving indicationof a "public"anda "private"Mendelssohn. of Mendelssohn, Arkushdoesnotreallyfollow Straussin his interpretation
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however.He rather"out-Strausses" Strauss,as least as far as Mendelssohn is concerned.It would appearthat Straussdid not considerMendelssohn to have been a thinkerof the "rank"that would justify a comprehensive esoteric reading, althoughhe did point to certain discrepanciesbetween Mendelssohn'spersonalbeliefs and his publicstatementson isolatedissues. For Strauss,Mendelssohnrepresentedthe superficialattemptof the "moderateenlightement"to defensively"parry"the quarrelbetweenSpinozaand Orthodoxyby bluntingthe totalityof boththe biblicalandthe philosophical claim. Arkush,on the otherhand,appearsto have inheritedfromAltmann, his teacher,a greaterrespectfor Mendelsohnas a thinkerof rank,who must thereforebe conscious of his own contradictions.Since Altmannleft him "MakomLe'HitgaderBo" (as Arkushstates on p. ix) by leaving many of Mendelssohn'scontradictionsunreconciled,Arkushpicks up where he left off. Ratherthan continue the work of harmonization,however, he gives the enhancedstatusthatAltmannattributed evidenceof havingappropriated to Mendelssohnby makinghim eligible for a full-blownStraussiananalysis. It could be that Arkush'sperspective,namely that Mendelssohnwas secretlya radicalenlightenerwho reflectedon Judaismfromthe positionof one who did not reallybelieve in supernatural revelation,preventshim from consideringthe possibility that Mendelssohnmay also have undertakena radicalcritiqueof the Enlightenmentfroma standpointderivedfromJewish tradition,howeverrefined.Mendelssohn'slong "digression"in Jerusalemon the inadequacyof propositionallanguagefor the embodimentof religious insightsand on the idolatryof the writtenword need not be seen only as a It can also be merepreludeto his praiseof the mitzvotas "action-language." seen as partof a somewhatdisguised,yet nonethelesscomprehensivecritique of the Christiantendencyto doctrinalizethe spirit,a tendencythatpersists in the sterildiscursivecultureof the Enlightenment.If Mendelssohnindeed wrotecircumspectly,then it couldbe thatthe very passageshe downplaysas "digressions"and "surmises"pointto importantcomponentsof his personal worldview.If that is so, and his reservationsaboutthe lack of social and religiousvitality obtainingin the mediatedbook cultureof his time are set as an introductionto a long excursuson the origins of idolatry,then what we may have here is a blisteringcritiqueof the "logocentric"characterof Jew speakingout of an Westerncultureundertakenby an eighteenth-century alternativetradition. Arkush'sportrayalof Mendelssohnas an "avant-garde" enlighteneralso preventshim from consideringthe possibilitythathis connectionwith me-
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dieval Jewishthoughtmay have been morethanmerelymercenary.Even if it is calimedthatMendelssohn"uses"Maimonides'overtstatementson the public natureof the theophanyat Sinai in orderto presenta traditionalist persona, this does not mean that Mendelssohndid not assimilatea ore essential,thoughperhapsless explicit, Maimonideaninfluenceon the issue of the originsandpersistenceof idolatry.Certainfeaturesof Mendelssohn's discourseon the developmentof idolatryin Jerusalemsuggest a link with Maimonides'famous introductionto the Laws ConcerningIdolatryin the Mishneh Torah.For Maimonides,for example, the first deviation from humanity'soriginalacknowledgmentof the absolutesovereigntyof the one God derives from an "error."The stars, accordedglory by God Himself, are deemed worthy of worship by men who wish to adore those beings whom God investedwith heavenlystatus.For Mendelssohn,idolatrybegins when moral attributesof God are representedby the typical qualities of animalswhich are then concretizedby hieroglyphicsymbols.Subsequently, attributeGodlikequalitiesto theanimalsthemselves,and people"mistakenly" proceedto developthe mostrepulsiveformsof animalworship.Furtheron in his account,Maimonidesintroducesthe factorof "clericalexploitation,"as "falseprophets"play on the fearsof thepopulaceandadvisethemthatcertain starshave the powerto bestowearthlybenefitsandwithholdsustenance.The of "wily exacerbationof idolatroustendenciesby the "religioususurpation" well. for in Mendelssohn's version as Ultimately, Maimonides, priests"figures of thepopulace theway backto theoriginalinsightis barredby thehabituation to starworship.The verbaleffortsof philosopherslike Abrahamto reeducate his followers have only a very limited effect in the face of a powerful idolatrousculturelike that of the Egyptians.Only the embodimentof the carries originalinsightin a comprehensive,ubiquitous,legal counterculture the hope of restoration.Likewise, Mendelssohnalso expressespessimism concerningthe effortsof philosophersto reorientthe masses.Onlythe action While symbols of Judaismseem to providesome hope of repristinization. the suggestionof links betweenMaimonideaninsightson the perversionof religionwith Mendelssohn'scritiqueof the idolatryof his own timeneedsto the possibilitythatMendelssohnviewedthe priceof be furthersubstantiated, the proliferationof literacyin modemtimes with Maimonideaneyes should perhapsnot be discounted. Whateveris missingfromArkush'sanalysis,however,is morethanmade up for by whathis book contains:some excellentclose readingsof deliberate smoke screensset up by Mendelssohnto bluntcontroversialstatements(see
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especiallyhis readingof Mendelssohn'saccountof the SevenNoahideLaws), a cogently arguedstructuralcomparisonof Mendelssohn'spoliticalproject with thatof SpinozaandLocke,andcomprehensivecomparisonsof positions expressedby Mendelssohnthroughoutthe whole range of his public and privateworks.Ratherthan"setproperlimits to reverencefor his profundity as a thinker,"however (as KennethHart Green writes in his back-cover appraisal),I believe thatArkushhas accomplishedthe very oppositeby his analysisof Mendelssohn'scontradictions.WhatArkushhas actuallydone is to enhanceour awarenessof Mendelssohn'ssubtletyand skill in hidinghis perhapsnot-so-limitedpersonalviews fromhis less-discerningreaders. Jonathan Cohen HebrewUniversity Israel Jerusalem, Alan Silverstein,Alternativesto Assimilation:The Response of Reform Judaismto Americanculture1840-1930. HanoverBrandeisUniversityPress, 1994. 275 pp. How did ReformJudaismrespondto the pressuresemanatingfrom the generalAmericanenvironment,to demographicand generationalchanges, and to the challengeof tryingto instill religiosityin an increasinglysecularizedpopulation?Alan Silverstein'ssocial and institutionalhistoryoffers an unambivalentlypositive assessment. By adoptingto these pressures, Reformnot only continuedto meet the needs of its adherents,but set the organizationalstandardfor Conservativeand OrthodoxJudaismas well. Emphaticallya bottom-up approach,Silverstein balances the necessary discussions of flagship organizationsand leaders with a bird's eye view of four importanturbancongregations(Philadelphia'sKenesethIsrael,San Francisco'sEmanu-El,New Orleans'sTempleSinai, Cincinnati'sKehillah K'doshahB'nai Yeshurun).The author'sown rabbinicexperienceclearly enhanceshis discussionsof the myriadof programsandinitiativesattempted by these congregations. Silverstein'sworkreflectsthe growingconsensus1) thatJudaismas a religion mustbe describedwiththeAmericanandAmericanreligiouslandscape,' A PeopleDivided(1993). 1. See, for instance,JackWertheimer's
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Milton Shain Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 416-418 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486718 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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offeredus a model analysis of Jewish institutionallife. His careful,sober, well-documentedworkdeservesa wide readership. AlanLevenson Cleveland Collegeof JewishStudies Ohio Cleveland,
DavidCesarani.The "JewishChronicle"andAnglo-Jewry,1841-1991.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1994. xiv, 329 pp. The Jewish Chroniclewas foundedin 1841--one of an ever increasing rangeof Englishdenominationalnewspapersand periodicals.Greatlyinfluenced by the EuropeanJewish press, this "organof Anglo Jewry"played a fundamentalrole in the shaping of Anglo-Jewishidentity and in the of Jewsto the majoritysociety.Indeed,writesDavidCesarani, representation it "definedthe parametersfor debate on communaland other issues; it gave Jews in Britainan awarenessof what was happeningto Jews in other countries;it offeredthema digestof Jewishculturalactivity;andit functioned as a forumfor the discussionof Judaism"(p. ix). In its early decadesthe Jewish Chroniclegrappledessentiallywith the place of Jews in VictorianBritain. ReformJudaism,issues of ritual and decorum,the democratizationof Jewish leadership,and anticonversionist polemics were never far from the paper'sconcerns,as was the position of Jews in other countries,most especially the Balkansand Russia. But two questionsappearedparamount:"how to preventcompleteassimilationand how to be a good English citizen, spurningseparatism"(p. 52). Managing these two polaritieswas never an easy task. A very severe test came in the form of the "EasternQuestion"when Jewish supportfor the Turks againstthe nationalaspirationsof ChristianSlavsraisedquestionsof loyalty. The tenuousnessof Jewish acceptancein Englishsociety was most vividly expressedby Goldwin-Smith,the formerRegius Professorof History at OxfordUniversity,who arguedthatthe EasternQuestionhad shownJewish emancipationto havebeena mistake.LittlewonderthattheJewishChronicle welcomedwith greatpleasurethe attentionlavishedon SirMosesMontefiore on his hundredthbirthdayin 1884 and the ennoblementof Sir Nathaniel Rothschildin 1885. In these two gentlemen one could demonstratethe compatibilityof JewishnessandEnglishness.
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That compatibilitywas sorely tested with the growing influx of alien EasternEuropeanJews in the late nineteenthand earlytwentiethcenturies. Amidstcalls for theirrepatriation, theJewishChroniclepushedfor the anglicizationand remoldingof the newcomers,while ignoringJewishsocialism, anarchism,and crime.The Jews' Free Schoolwas entrustedwith the taskof making"JewsEnglishmen"(p. 78), as werethe JewishWorkingMen'sClubs andthe JewishLads' Brigade. Predictablythe Jewish Chronicledenigratedthe incipientZionistmovement and emergedas "one of Herzl's most bitteropponents"(p. 86). The very notion of an internationalZionist conferencewas anathemaand, as it explained,"aninsultto thepatriotismof Jewsof variousnationalities" (p. 87). Thatpatriotismwas demonstrated by Jewishinvolvementin the Anglo-Boer War.The symbiosisbetweenEnglishnessandJewishnesswas possible! Notwithstandingits antipathytowardthe Jewishnationalmovement,the Jewish Chroniclegave wide coverageto the FirstWorldZionistCongressat Basel in 1897. In additionit paid seriousattentionto all manifestationsof antisemitism.Judeophobia,however,was not perceivedas endemic;rather it was explained as atavistic medieval hatredthat would erode in time. Followinga changein the ownershipof the newspaperandthe appointment of LeopoldGreenbergas editorin 1907, the Jewish Chroniclebecamemuch moresupportiveof the Zionistenterprise.Greenbergalso lookedmoreclosely at the seamierside of Anglo-Jewishlife, includingthe white slave traffic. SeriouschallengeswereposedforJewsduringthe FirstWorldWar,when, amidsta wave of anti-alienism,their position in Britishsociety weakened considerably.Once again the Jewish Chroniclefelt obliged to demonstrate Jewish loyalty, ironicallyat the same time as the groundwas being laid for the BalfourDeclaration.HereCesaraniprovidesfascinatinginsightsinto behind-the-scenesnegotiations. The 1930s presentedmajorchallengesfor the Jewish Chronicleas Jews confrontedthe rise of Nazism, the BritishUnion of Fascists,and the plight of Jewish refugees. Focus duringthe Second WorldWarwas on the home front,domesticantisemitism,andthe MiddleEast,andit was only towardthe end of the warthatthe Jewishcatastropheitself was consideredin any detail. HithertotheJewishChroniclehadtakenthe linethatspecialpleadingforJews was unacceptable.The primarytask was to defeatthe Germans.Sentiment changed rapidly after the war as GreenbergchallengedBritish policy in Palestine. Ultimately he was forced to resign because of his anti-British editorials.
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Thepostwaryearswereless stressful.Emphasiswas on disaffiliationfrom Judaism,the riseof racismin Britain,the natureof the Boardof Deputies,and questionsof Orthodoxy.Withregardto the latter,Cesaraniprovidesdetailed andinterestingcoverageof the battlesbetweenWilliamFrankel,editorof the Jewish Chroniclefrom 1958 to 1977, andthe chief rabbi,IsraelBrodie,over the "JacobsAffair."Besides domesticissues the papercontinuedto cover worldJewry,especiallyevents in Israel. It would have been easy for those wishing to commemoratethe 150th of theJewishChronicleto havedecidedon a glossy,nonacademic, anniversary coffee-tabletribute.Insteadthe scholarlyroutewas chosen, and those concernedareto be commendedforthis. In DavidCesaranitheJewishChronicle has foundits historian.He takeshis readersintothe editorialoffice,acquaints them with proprietarybattles, and remindsthem of business mattersand circulationfigures.Most importantly,he demonstratesadmirablythe axiom enunciatedat the outset of this carefullyresearchedand well-writtenstudy: "Whileit is impossibleto writethe historyof Anglo-Jewryrelyingsolely on the Jewish Chronicle,it is equallyimpracticableto trywritingAnglo-Jewish historywithoutit" (p. xi). MiltonShain of CapeTown University CapeTown,SouthAfrica Aron Rodrigue.Images of Sephardiand EasternJewries in Transition.The Teachersof theAllianceIsraeliteUniverselle,1860-1939. Seattle:University of WashingtonPress, 1993. x, 308 pp. In Imagesof Sephardiand EasternJewriesin Transition,AronRodrigue has translated,organizedthematically,and providedprovocativeand inforrich arrayof letters,reports, mativeintroductionsto the correspondence---a teachers of the AllianceIsraelite and directives, policy guidelines-between Universelleand the Alliance CentralCommitteein Paris. Understandably, modernJewish historianshave tendedto limit their focus to specific geographicareas and to particularcommunitiesof Jews. Yet as this excellent studysuggests,muchcan be learnedwhentheseboundariesaretranscended. By probing the delicate, problematic,and dynamic interactionsbetween westernizedJewry and their Sephardiand Easterncoreligionists,Rodrigue
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Frances Malino Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 418-421 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486719 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
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Thepostwaryearswereless stressful.Emphasiswas on disaffiliationfrom Judaism,the riseof racismin Britain,the natureof the Boardof Deputies,and questionsof Orthodoxy.Withregardto the latter,Cesaraniprovidesdetailed andinterestingcoverageof the battlesbetweenWilliamFrankel,editorof the Jewish Chroniclefrom 1958 to 1977, andthe chief rabbi,IsraelBrodie,over the "JacobsAffair."Besides domesticissues the papercontinuedto cover worldJewry,especiallyevents in Israel. It would have been easy for those wishing to commemoratethe 150th of theJewishChronicleto havedecidedon a glossy,nonacademic, anniversary coffee-tabletribute.Insteadthe scholarlyroutewas chosen, and those concernedareto be commendedforthis. In DavidCesaranitheJewishChronicle has foundits historian.He takeshis readersintothe editorialoffice,acquaints them with proprietarybattles, and remindsthem of business mattersand circulationfigures.Most importantly,he demonstratesadmirablythe axiom enunciatedat the outset of this carefullyresearchedand well-writtenstudy: "Whileit is impossibleto writethe historyof Anglo-Jewryrelyingsolely on the Jewish Chronicle,it is equallyimpracticableto trywritingAnglo-Jewish historywithoutit" (p. xi). MiltonShain of CapeTown University CapeTown,SouthAfrica Aron Rodrigue.Images of Sephardiand EasternJewries in Transition.The Teachersof theAllianceIsraeliteUniverselle,1860-1939. Seattle:University of WashingtonPress, 1993. x, 308 pp. In Imagesof Sephardiand EasternJewriesin Transition,AronRodrigue has translated,organizedthematically,and providedprovocativeand inforrich arrayof letters,reports, mativeintroductionsto the correspondence---a teachers of the AllianceIsraelite and directives, policy guidelines-between Universelleand the Alliance CentralCommitteein Paris. Understandably, modernJewish historianshave tendedto limit their focus to specific geographicareas and to particularcommunitiesof Jews. Yet as this excellent studysuggests,muchcan be learnedwhentheseboundariesaretranscended. By probing the delicate, problematic,and dynamic interactionsbetween westernizedJewry and their Sephardiand Easterncoreligionists,Rodrigue
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not only reveals the distinctiveness,self-representation, and self-identityof but also presentsan extraordinary lens withwhichto view the "westernizers" of MiddleEasternandNorthAfricanJewry. sociopoliticaltransformation Fromits inceptionin 1860,theAlliancehadclearlydefinedgoals:"towork throughoutthe worldfor the emancipationandmoralprogressof the Jews;to help effectivelyall those who sufferbecausethey areJews;to encourageall publicationsdesignedto achievetheseresults"(p. 7). Motivatedby a genuine sentimentof Jewish solidarityand a commitmentto the Enlightenment ideology of moral virtue, economic utility, and political liberty,Alliance members,largelyalthoughneverexclusivelyfromFrance,set themselvesthe task of transforming,or in theirown words,of regenerating,the Jews of the world. The means?Modem, intellectuallyrigorousschools for Jewishgirls andboys. By 1939, the Alliance had established127 schools from Morocco to Iran.Some of these schools were coed, most were primary,and a few were vocational.Althoughthe teacherswere originallychosen fromgraduatesof Jewish schools in Franceand the RabbinicalSeminaryin Paris,they were subsequentlyrecruitedfrom the OttomanEmpireand in smallernumbers from North Africa and the Middle East. They then were trainedby the Alliancein Paris--eitherat the EcoleNormaleIsra61ite Orientaleor, if young women, at the InstitutBischoffsheim,Mrs. Isaac's,and Miss Weill-Kahn's, andfinally,after1922,at the Alliancenormalschoolforwomenin Versailles. Predictablytheserecruitswere fromless-well-to-dofamilies.Forthe women, moreover,in additionto prestige,the position of teacheralso providedthe only careerin which they could lead an independentexistence. Letters-for example,from Mrs. Weismann,who arrivedat the Institut Bischoffsheimfrom Adrianopleat the age of fourteen-speak poignantly of the culturalshock experiencedby the young men and women as they arrivedin cosmopolitanParis.Fouryears later,however,they providedthe Alliance with the first indicationthatthe goal of westernizingcould indeed succeed.As Rodriguehas so acutelyobserved,these teachers,"missionaries for modem Westerncivilization"(p. 38), became simultaneouslyethnographers and informants,mediatingthe informationreachingParisthroughan "ambiguousand veiled dialogue"(p. 135) between"self' and"other"which were paradoxicallyone andthe same. Throughoutthis work, Rodrigue'sanalyses,whetherof MiddleEastern society, French Jewry, or the Alliance teachers,are subtle, sophisticated, nuanced,and, in at least one instance,perhapseven controversial.They are
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also so adroitlywoven into the primarydocumentsthat the readernever looses the vitalityand immediacyof the first-handaccounts. The very emergenceof a westernizedelite such as the Allianceteaching corps, Rodrigueargues, suggests that traditionalJewish society may well have been in decline even before the impact of the Alliance made itself felt. As for the teachers,theiroften-scathingcritiquesof this society served to underlinethe distancethey soughtbetweenthemselvesand theirorigins. and self-identity,they had becomeWesternJews Both in self-representation tells us, a "self-legitimizingdramaof emancipation" (p. reenacting,Rodrigue 10). Althoughthe majorityof the lettersand reportsare frommale teachers, women's voices are also heard. As self-defined"feminists,"they decry the condition of women in Muslim lands and advocate radical reforms to improve the position of their coreligionists.Notwithstandingcontrary evidence concerningJewish women in CentralEurope,Rodriguesuggests that in many instancesthese Sephardiand EasternJewish women became "vectors"of the most radicalforms of westernization.Because they were women, they viewed westernizationmore positively than did their male counterparts. The leadersof the Alliance,of course,providedthe blueprintfor muchof the discourseof the teachers.And it is herethatone gains importantinsights into the identity of FrenchJewry,which was, at one and the same time, assimilationistand devotedto Judaism,proudof being Frenchand equally assertiveof its connectionto andsolidaritywiththe Jewishpeople.But if this model representsa new form of Jewishethnicity,it is also clearlyindebted to the EuropeanHaskalah.How often one is remindedof the maskilimof the eighteenthandearlynineteenthcenturies,as the Allianceteachersdiscuss the significanceof dress, decry the "jargon"of theircoreligionists,critique traditionalJewishsocietyandculture,andunderscorethe needforproductive employment.And yet I would also arguethattheirambivalencetowardthe Sephardiandeasterncommunitiesdemonstrateshow easily the attitudesand posture of non-Jewishadvocatesof Jewish reformwere internalizedand a centurylaterby the Jews themselves. appropriated As with all fine works, one wishes for even more. One wonders,for example, how the teachersof the Alliance Israelite,immersedin French culture,language,andcivilization,resembledanddifferedfromtheirFrench counterparts.Recent studies such as JacquesOzouf and Mona Ozouf's La Republiquedes Instituteurs(Paris, 1992) will be helpful in placing the
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Alliance teachersin context.In the meantime,Aron Rodriguehas provided us with a richly illustratedentry into a world whose significancecan no longerbe ignored. FrancesMalino WellesleyCollege Mass. Wellesley,
LauraZittrainEisenberg.My Enemy'sEnemy:Lebanonin the Early Zionist Imagination,1900-1918. Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress, 1994. 219 pp. Israel's debacle in Lebanonin 1982 propelledmany researchersand historiansto examineits policy towardLebanonin generalandthe Maronite Numerousbooksandarticleshavebeenpublishedin communityin particular. the lastdecadereviewingIsrael'sinvolvementin Lebanonduringthe 1975-76 civil war, its invasion in 1982, the siege of Beirutand the eventualforced withdrawalfrom most of Lebanonthree years later.LauraZ. Eisenberg's initial interestin Israel'spolicy towardLebanonwas also sparkedby her presencein Israelin June 1982. She chose, however,to focus herresearchon the rootsof the Zionistmovement'spolicy towardthe Maronitesin Lebanon until 1948, namely,before the establishmentof the State of Israel.Details on the uniquerelationshipbetween the Zionist movementin Palestineand the Maronitecommunityin Lebanonin the 1930s and 1940s had already been published,includingin the memoirsof EliyahuElath (Epstein),who had been one of the main architectsof this alliance.Eisenberg,however,is the firstto presenta comprehensivestudyof the Zionist-Maronite alliancein the prestateyears. Eisenbergrelied overwhelminglyon Zionist sources, in particularthe Central Zionist Archives. She justifiably chose to limit her researchto the Zionist policy towardLebanonand the Maronites,and refrainedfrom enteringinto the fractiousnatureof Lebaneseand Maroniteconfessional politics. A more thorough examinationof the motives of the Maronite leaders,bothreligiousandsecular,who advocatedclose cooperationwith the Jews in Palestine,would undoubtedlyhave provideda betterunderstanding of this relationship.But even so, she has succeededin presentinga concise
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Meir Zamir Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 421-423 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486720 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
BOOK REVIEWS
421
Alliance teachersin context.In the meantime,Aron Rodriguehas provided us with a richly illustratedentry into a world whose significancecan no longerbe ignored. FrancesMalino WellesleyCollege Mass. Wellesley,
LauraZittrainEisenberg.My Enemy'sEnemy:Lebanonin the Early Zionist Imagination,1900-1918. Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress, 1994. 219 pp. Israel's debacle in Lebanonin 1982 propelledmany researchersand historiansto examineits policy towardLebanonin generalandthe Maronite Numerousbooksandarticleshavebeenpublishedin communityin particular. the lastdecadereviewingIsrael'sinvolvementin Lebanonduringthe 1975-76 civil war, its invasion in 1982, the siege of Beirutand the eventualforced withdrawalfrom most of Lebanonthree years later.LauraZ. Eisenberg's initial interestin Israel'spolicy towardLebanonwas also sparkedby her presencein Israelin June 1982. She chose, however,to focus herresearchon the rootsof the Zionistmovement'spolicy towardthe Maronitesin Lebanon until 1948, namely,before the establishmentof the State of Israel.Details on the uniquerelationshipbetween the Zionist movementin Palestineand the Maronitecommunityin Lebanonin the 1930s and 1940s had already been published,includingin the memoirsof EliyahuElath (Epstein),who had been one of the main architectsof this alliance.Eisenberg,however,is the firstto presenta comprehensivestudyof the Zionist-Maronite alliancein the prestateyears. Eisenbergrelied overwhelminglyon Zionist sources, in particularthe Central Zionist Archives. She justifiably chose to limit her researchto the Zionist policy towardLebanonand the Maronites,and refrainedfrom enteringinto the fractiousnatureof Lebaneseand Maroniteconfessional politics. A more thorough examinationof the motives of the Maronite leaders,bothreligiousandsecular,who advocatedclose cooperationwith the Jews in Palestine,would undoubtedlyhave provideda betterunderstanding of this relationship.But even so, she has succeededin presentinga concise
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but accuratepictureof the Maronites'ideological,economic,and political motivesfor seekingan alliancewith the Zionistmovement. The authordefines threeperiodsin the developmentof Zionist interest in Lebanonbefore 1948: an earlyencounterbeforeWorldWarI and during the 1920s afterthe establishmentof GreaterLebanon;the close cooperation duringthe 1930s in light of the common interestsof the two nationalist movements-Jewish Zionist and ChristianLebanese-that confrontedthe strongoppositionof the ArabMuslimmajority;andthe 1940s,duringwhich the Zionistleadershipbecameincreasinglydisillusionedwith theirMaronite allies' inabilityto concretizetheircommitments. The most significantof these periodswas the 1930s, when the Zionists had high expectationsfrom theirties with the prominentMaroniteleaders, particularlyEmile Edd6,then presidentof the LebaneseRepublic.It must be noted, however,thatthis was an extremelydifficultperiodin the history of the Zionistmovement,which was then strugglingto realizethe national aspirationsof the Jews for a homelandin Palestineat the time of the violent Arab revolt (1936-39) and Britain's hesitant and increasinglypro-Arab policy.The Zionistleaders'tendencyto overestimatethe Maronites'friendly overturesis thereforeunderstandable. Indeed,it was duringthis periodthat the conceptof the "allianceof minorities,"namely,the cultivationof close cooperationwithnon-Muslimornon-Arabminoritiesin theregionagainstthe common enemy-the Arab-Muslimnationalistmovement--emerged.This conceptwas to dominateIsrael'sregionalpolicy well after 1948. Eisenberg has done an excellent job of describingthe processes which led to the developmentof this conceptin Israelipolicy. Althoughshe is carefulnot to ties before referto it explicitly,it canbe arguedthattheclose Zionist-Maronite 1948playednot an insignificantrole in the decisionof Israeligovernmentsto renewtheirhistoricrelationshipwith the Maronitecommunityin the 1970s andearly 1980s. Eisenbergcriticizesthe Zionist leaders'"faulty"policy towardthe Maronites,and theirunrealisticexpectations.It seems that in the 1940s these leaders, including David Ben-Gurionand Moshe Sharett,were far more realisticandhad fewerexpectationsfromthe Maronite'soverturescompared with the Israeligovernmentof 1982, which led its countryinto a disastrous warbased on undeliverablepromisesby BashirJemayelandotherMaronite leaders with regardto a close political and militaryalliance with Israel. Nevertheless,Eisenberghas writtenan excellentworkcomprisinga valuable and importantcontributionto existing literatureon the shapingof Israel's
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"foreignpolicy"towardthe Arabworld in general,andtowardLebanonand the Maronitesin particular,in the prestateyears. MeirZamir Ben-Gurion of theNegev University Israel Beersheva, Tony Kushner,The Holocaust and the LiberalImagination:A Social and CulturalHistory.Cambridge,Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.1994. xiii, 366 pp. This is a well-researchedbook which, however,advancesan untenable thesis. TonyKushnerexplainsthe failureof Britainandthe UnitedStatesto help rescue the threatenedJews of Europeas due to the limitationsof "the liberal imagination"and "liberalculture."He does not adequatelyexplain these terms, but he uses them frequentlyand interchangeably, along with and "liberal "liberal universalism." values," "liberalism," "In Britain,"he writes, "the limitationsof the liberalimaginationmade it hardfor most to accept the realityof irrationalfacts such as the planned exterminationof the Jews" (p. 137). People were, indeed, slow to see that the Nazis were moving from persecutionto extermination,but this was not due to "liberalism."The greatmajorityof the Jewishvictims, includingthe ultra-Orthodox,who were quite uninfluencedby "liberalculture,"did not initiallybelieve thatthe Nazis were planningtheirsystematicextermination. Ghettoleaders,to use a tragicexample,believedthatthe Jewswould survive if they madethemselvesuseful to the Nazi war effort.Extermination was so irrationalandwent so farbeyondtraditionalantisemitismthatit was difficult to comprehend,with or withoutthe influenceof "theliberalimagination." Kushnerhas writtenseveralbooks andmanyarticlesaboutrecentJewish history in Britain,and his currentbook is based on considerableresearch. It does a good job of telling how the news, first of persecutionand then of extermination,came to Britainand to the United States,and of how the two governments,despitetheirexpressionsof sympathy,refusedto moderate the restrictiveimmigrationpolicies, which denied rescue to the victims. He does, however,cite one interestingexception.The Britishgovernment, which acceptedthe adviceof the BritishMedicalPractitioners Unionandthe BritishMedicalAssociationto barentranceto Jewishdoctors,allowed20,000 young Jewish girls to enter as domestic servants.The servantsunion was,
Review: [untitled] Author(s): Melvin Shefftz Source: AJS Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1996), pp. 423-425 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486721 . Accessed: 11/07/2011 16:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
Cambridge University Press and Association for Jewish Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to AJS Review.
http://www.jstor.org
BOOK REVIEWS
423
"foreignpolicy"towardthe Arabworld in general,andtowardLebanonand the Maronitesin particular,in the prestateyears. MeirZamir Ben-Gurion of theNegev University Israel Beersheva, Tony Kushner,The Holocaust and the LiberalImagination:A Social and CulturalHistory.Cambridge,Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.1994. xiii, 366 pp. This is a well-researchedbook which, however,advancesan untenable thesis. TonyKushnerexplainsthe failureof Britainandthe UnitedStatesto help rescue the threatenedJews of Europeas due to the limitationsof "the liberal imagination"and "liberalculture."He does not adequatelyexplain these terms, but he uses them frequentlyand interchangeably, along with a
