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The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz PDF Author: Ephraim Kanarfogel
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 081433802X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 600

Book Description
In The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz, author Ephraim Kanarfogel challenges the dominant perception that medieval Ashkenazic rabbinic scholarship was lacking in intellectualism or broad scholarly interests. While cultural interaction between Jews and Christians in western Europe was less than that of Sephardic Jews, Kanarfogel's study shows that the intellectual interests of Ashkenazic rabbinic figures were much broader than Talmudic studies alone. Kanarfogel begins by highlighting several factors that have contributed to relatively narrow perceptions of Ashkenazic rabbinic culture and argues that the Tosafists, and Ashkenazic rabbinic scholarship more generally, advocated a wide definition of the truths that could be discovered through Torah study. He explores differences in talmudic and halakhic studies between the Tosafist centers of northern France and Germany, delves into aspects of biblical interpretation in each region, and identifies important Tosafists and rabbinic figures. Kanarfogel also examines the composition of liturgical poetry (piyyut) by Tosafists, interest in forms of (white) magic and mysticism on the part of a number of northern French Tosafists, and a spectrum of views on the question of anthropomorphism and messianism. Overall, Kanarfogel demonstrates that the approach taken by Tosafists was broader, more open, and more multi-disciplinary than previously considered. Medieval and Jewish history scholars will appreciate Kanarfogel's volume, which is the culmination of several decades of research on the subject.

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz PDF Author: Ephraim Kanarfogel
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 081433802X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 600

Book Description
In The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz, author Ephraim Kanarfogel challenges the dominant perception that medieval Ashkenazic rabbinic scholarship was lacking in intellectualism or broad scholarly interests. While cultural interaction between Jews and Christians in western Europe was less than that of Sephardic Jews, Kanarfogel's study shows that the intellectual interests of Ashkenazic rabbinic figures were much broader than Talmudic studies alone. Kanarfogel begins by highlighting several factors that have contributed to relatively narrow perceptions of Ashkenazic rabbinic culture and argues that the Tosafists, and Ashkenazic rabbinic scholarship more generally, advocated a wide definition of the truths that could be discovered through Torah study. He explores differences in talmudic and halakhic studies between the Tosafist centers of northern France and Germany, delves into aspects of biblical interpretation in each region, and identifies important Tosafists and rabbinic figures. Kanarfogel also examines the composition of liturgical poetry (piyyut) by Tosafists, interest in forms of (white) magic and mysticism on the part of a number of northern French Tosafists, and a spectrum of views on the question of anthropomorphism and messianism. Overall, Kanarfogel demonstrates that the approach taken by Tosafists was broader, more open, and more multi-disciplinary than previously considered. Medieval and Jewish history scholars will appreciate Kanarfogel's volume, which is the culmination of several decades of research on the subject.

Reconstructing Ashkenaz

Reconstructing Ashkenaz PDF Author: David Malkiel
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804786844
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 377

Book Description
Reconstructing Ashkenaz shows that, contrary to traditional accounts, the Jews of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were not a society of saints and martyrs. David Malkiel offers provocative revisions of commonly held interpretations of Jewish martyrdom in the First Crusade massacres, the level of obedience to rabbinic authority, and relations with apostates and with Christians. In the process, he also reexamines and radically revises the view that Ashkenazic Jewry was more pious than its Sephardic counterpart.

A Remembrance of His Wonders

A Remembrance of His Wonders PDF Author: David I. Shyovitz
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812249119
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
In A Remembrance of His Wonders, David I. Shyovitz uncovers the sophisticated ways in which medieval Ashkenazic Jews engaged with the workings and meaning of the natural world, and traces the porous boundaries between medieval science and mysticism, nature and the supernatural, and ultimately, Christians and Jews.

Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz

Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz PDF Author: Elisheva Baumgarten
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812246403
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

Book Description
In the urban communities of medieval Germany and northern France, the beliefs, observances, and practices of Jews allowed them to create and define their communities on their own terms as well as in relation to the surrounding Christian society. Although medieval Jewish texts were written by a learned elite, the laity also observed many religious rituals as part of their everyday life. In Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz, Elisheva Baumgarten asks how Jews, especially those who were not learned, expressed their belonging to a minority community and how their convictions and deeds were made apparent to both their Jewish peers and the Christian majority. Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz provides a social history of religious practice in context, particularly with regard to the ways Jews and Christians, separately and jointly, treated their male and female members. Medieval Jews often shared practices and beliefs with their Christian neighbors, and numerous notions and norms were appropriated by one community from the other. By depicting a dynamic interfaith landscape and a diverse representation of believers, Baumgarten offers a fresh assessment of Jewish practice and the shared elements that composed the piety of Jews in relation to their Christian neighbors.

Leadership and Conflict

Leadership and Conflict PDF Author: Marc Saperstein
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1789627834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
A multifaceted analysis of how Jewish leaders in medieval and early modern times responded to the challenges they faced. Based largely on the study of sermons and responsa—genres that show Jewish leaders addressing real situations in the lives of their people—it reveals how rabbis have handled intellectual, social, and political diversity and conflict in various vibrant Jewish communities.

Cultures in Collision and Conversation

Cultures in Collision and Conversation PDF Author: David Berger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781936235247
Category : Christianity and other religions
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Berger addresses three broad themes in Jewish intellectual history: Jewish approaches to cultures external to Judaism and the controversies triggered by this issue in medieval and modern times; the impact of Christian challenges and differing philosophical orientations on Jewish interpretation of the Bible; and Messianic visions, movements, and debates from antiquity to the present.

Regional Identities and Cultures of Medieval Jews

Regional Identities and Cultures of Medieval Jews PDF Author: Javier Castano
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1786949903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

Book Description
The origins of Judaism’s regional ‘subcultures’ are poorly understood, as are Jewish identities other than ‘Ashkenaz’ and ‘Sepharad’. Through case studies and close textual readings, this volume illuminates the role of geopolitical boundaries, cross-cultural influences, and migration in the medieval formation of Jewish regional identities.

The Fabric of Religious Life in Medieval Ashkenaz (1000-1300)

The Fabric of Religious Life in Medieval Ashkenaz (1000-1300) PDF Author: Jeffrey R. Woolf
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004300252
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
In The Fabric of Religious Life in Medieval Ashkenaz, Jeffrey R. Woolf presents the first integrated presentation of the ideals and beliefs that comprised the self-image and worldview of Ashkenazic Jews in the Central and High Middle Ages (900-1300). Through careful examination of a wide range of sources (legal, customal, liturgical, artistic), Woolf shows how religious practice played a dual role in creating and sustaining Jewish life in a hostile environment. They instilled these values, and recast religious traditions to reflect them. The author demonstrates how hitherto underappreciated ideals such as Purity, Sanctity, and a palpable sense of Divine In-Dwelling played a central role in Ashkenazic religiousity and merged to form the texture, or the "Sacred Canopy," of their lives.

Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe

Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe PDF Author: Robert Chazan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139493043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Book Description
This book re-evaluates the prevailing notion that Jews in medieval Christian Europe lived under an appalling regime of ecclesiastical limitation, governmental exploitation and expropriation, and unceasing popular violence. Robert Chazan argues that, while Jewish life in medieval Western Christendom was indeed beset with grave difficulties, it was nevertheless an environment rich in opportunities; the Jews of medieval Europe overcame obstacles, grew in number, explored innovative economic options, and fashioned enduring new forms of Jewish living. His research also provides a reconsideration of the legacy of medieval Jewish life, which is often depicted as equally destructive and projected as the underpinning of the twentieth-century catastrophes of antisemitism and the Holocaust. Dr Chazan's research proves that, although Jewish life in the medieval West laid the foundation for much Jewish suffering in the post-medieval world, it also stimulated considerable Jewish ingenuity, which lies at the root of impressive Jewish successes in the modern West.

Fabricating Pleasure

Fabricating Pleasure PDF Author: Karin A. Wurst
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814331316
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Book Description
Traces how the German middle class created a unique form of domestic culture that fused consumption with high culture in fashionable forms of entertainment. Entertainment, defined as occasions for creating pleasure, added an important dimension to the lifestyle and self-definition of the German middle class around the turn of the nineteenth century. Modern forms of culture and consumption appearing around this time not only enhanced pleasure in physical sensations but also enabled imaginary sensations in the absence of actual stimuli. Desiring, rather than having, became an important mode of cultural consumption, linking products and practices with self-image, serving to express social identity in an increasingly more anonymous society--a society where the modern freedom of choice brought with it a loss of tradition and the stability attached to it. Fabricating Pleasure traces the creation of this unique form of domestic culture, showing how the bourgeoisie of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Germany fused consumption with high culture. Author Karin Wurst illuminates the sociohistorical context and the emergence of the modern middle class, its differentiation, and its conception of culture. In her thoughtful analysis, Wurst reconstructs the roles of Empfindsamkeit (sensibility) and the new love paradigm, examining the change in mentality they fostered through the reconceptualization of pleasure and entertainment. The book also discusses the relationship between print culture (using Bertuch's Journal des Luxus und der Moden as its prime example) and an increase in social mobility. From art and music to fashion and travel, Wurst places these popular forms of entertainment and pleasurable diversion in their social and historical contexts and also shows how they have remarkable bearing on present-day debates on cultural literacy.