Pub Date : 2023-08-17DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10037
T. Novick
In this article the argument is made that the rabbinic courtroom oath reflects the influence of Roman law. Despite substantial differences, the rabbinic courtroom oath, like its Roman counterpart, represents, in part, a product of negotiation between the litigants – owed by one party to another; capable of modification at the parties’ discretion, and even of forgiveness; comparable to the litigant-driven process of judicial selection – and an arbitration-like tool for dispute resolution.
{"title":"The Rabbinic Courtroom Oath in Its Roman Context","authors":"T. Novick","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10037","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this article the argument is made that the rabbinic courtroom oath reflects the influence of Roman law. Despite substantial differences, the rabbinic courtroom oath, like its Roman counterpart, represents, in part, a product of negotiation between the litigants – owed by one party to another; capable of modification at the parties’ discretion, and even of forgiveness; comparable to the litigant-driven process of judicial selection – and an arbitration-like tool for dispute resolution.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46775988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-14DOI: 10.1163/18750214-12171092
Asaf Yedidya
This article deals with an incident in the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam in 1772 that was documented in the protocols of the community. A member of the congregation confessed to the rabbi after the death of her husband, a kohen, that she was in fact a convert. The rabbi informed her son that as the son of a kohen married to a convert he was defined as a ḥalal (disqualified), and thereby lost his status as a kohen. A few weeks later, the rabbi and his bet din (Jewish tribunal) were required to reconsider the halakhic significance of the mother’s testimony about herself and the status of her children and came to the opposite conclusion, that the mother was not a convert and her son was indeed a kohen. The article discusses the possible reasons for re-examining a halakhic question that had already been decided and for reversing the decision, while clarifying the founding ethos of the community, its style of conduct, and the nature of its records. Finally I speculate about what lay behind the mother’s admission.
{"title":"What Does a Kohen Have to Do with the Protocols of the Ashkenazic Community of Amsterdam? A Conflict between Community Sanctity and the Righteousness of the Ancients","authors":"Asaf Yedidya","doi":"10.1163/18750214-12171092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-12171092","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article deals with an incident in the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam in 1772 that was documented in the protocols of the community. A member of the congregation confessed to the rabbi after the death of her husband, a kohen, that she was in fact a convert. The rabbi informed her son that as the son of a kohen married to a convert he was defined as a ḥalal (disqualified), and thereby lost his status as a kohen. A few weeks later, the rabbi and his bet din (Jewish tribunal) were required to reconsider the halakhic significance of the mother’s testimony about herself and the status of her children and came to the opposite conclusion, that the mother was not a convert and her son was indeed a kohen. The article discusses the possible reasons for re-examining a halakhic question that had already been decided and for reversing the decision, while clarifying the founding ethos of the community, its style of conduct, and the nature of its records. Finally I speculate about what lay behind the mother’s admission.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46612733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-19DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10035
Gabriel Abensour
In 1934, David Askénazi, the chief rabbi of Oran, Algeria, responded to a decision by Abraham Kook, at the time chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, condemning the use of the organ in synagogue services in Oran. Transcending the typical European dichotomies between Orthodox and Reform, Askénazi’s letter is above all a testimony to the religious and cultural hybridity of Algerian Jews during the colonial era. In a mere few pages, the rabbi developed a religious argument mixing elements of language and arguments typical of Maghrebian rabbis with positions common to liberal European Jews. Aware of the structure of power between the East and the West, Askénazi also criticized Kook’s interventionism in the affairs of his community. In light of what he denounced as a form of Jewish imperialism, Askénazi emphasized the agency of Sephardic rabbis and called for full recognition of their religious tradition.
{"title":"A Letter from Algerian Rabbi David Askénazi to Rabbi Kook Advocating for the Use of the Organ in Synagogue Services","authors":"Gabriel Abensour","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10035","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In 1934, David Askénazi, the chief rabbi of Oran, Algeria, responded to a decision by Abraham Kook, at the time chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, condemning the use of the organ in synagogue services in Oran. Transcending the typical European dichotomies between Orthodox and Reform, Askénazi’s letter is above all a testimony to the religious and cultural hybridity of Algerian Jews during the colonial era. In a mere few pages, the rabbi developed a religious argument mixing elements of language and arguments typical of Maghrebian rabbis with positions common to liberal European Jews. Aware of the structure of power between the East and the West, Askénazi also criticized Kook’s interventionism in the affairs of his community. In light of what he denounced as a form of Jewish imperialism, Askénazi emphasized the agency of Sephardic rabbis and called for full recognition of their religious tradition.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46948858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-16DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10034
Pavel Sládek, Aleš Weiss
R. Judah Leva ben Betzalel (the Maharal, c. 1525–1609), authored more than ten works, publishing most of them during his lifetime. Although the Maharal’s works were, since the mid-20th century, the subject of academic research, the title of the Maharal’s work ספר באר הגולה (Prague 1598) is still erroneously read as Beʾer ha-golah and understood as The Well of Exile. This article places the existing debate about this title into the context of the Maharal’s other books, resumes arguments formulated in existing scholarship and suggests yet another solution to the problem based on a detailed analysis of the Maharal’s own introduction, and on the typography of the editio princeps. We propose reading the title as Beʾer ha-goleh; while its meaning is probably intentionally ambivalent, this points both to the idea of a ‘well, which is being uncovered’ and hints at its author’s deep feeling on the condition of Exile.
R.Judah Leva ben Betzalel（Maharal，约1525-1609年）创作了十多部作品，其中大部分在他有生之年出版。尽管自20世纪中期以来，马哈拉尔的作品一直是学术研究的主题，但马哈拉尔作品的标题仍然被错误地解读为Beʾer ha golah，并被理解为流放之井。这篇文章将关于这个标题的现有争论放在马哈拉尔的其他书籍的背景下，恢复了现有学术中提出的论点，并在详细分析马哈拉尔自己的引言和编辑princeps的排版的基础上，提出了另一个解决问题的方案。我们建议将标题读为Beʾer ha goleh；虽然它的意义可能是故意矛盾的，但这既指向了“正在被揭开的井”的概念，也暗示了作者对流放状况的深刻感受。
{"title":"The Well of Confusion: On the Titles of the Maharal’s Books","authors":"Pavel Sládek, Aleš Weiss","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10034","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000R. Judah Leva ben Betzalel (the Maharal, c. 1525–1609), authored more than ten works, publishing most of them during his lifetime. Although the Maharal’s works were, since the mid-20th century, the subject of academic research, the title of the Maharal’s work ספר באר הגולה (Prague 1598) is still erroneously read as Beʾer ha-golah and understood as The Well of Exile. This article places the existing debate about this title into the context of the Maharal’s other books, resumes arguments formulated in existing scholarship and suggests yet another solution to the problem based on a detailed analysis of the Maharal’s own introduction, and on the typography of the editio princeps. We propose reading the title as Beʾer ha-goleh; while its meaning is probably intentionally ambivalent, this points both to the idea of a ‘well, which is being uncovered’ and hints at its author’s deep feeling on the condition of Exile.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47713353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10031
Uziel Fuchs
This article presents a commentary on the Mishna composed by R. Saadiah Gaon, who served as head of the Sura yeshivah in Baghdad at the beginning of the 10th century. The commentary is a Hebrew-Arabic glossary defining difficult words in the Mishnah. The commentary is well referenced in writings from early periods, and a large portion of the manuscript was recently identified in the Cairo Genizah. I present a number of proofs that R. Saadiah Gaon authored the commentary and show that many adaptions were made to this commentary in several manuscripts. This unpublished commentary is the earliest systematic commentary on rabbinic literature.
{"title":"The Alfaẓ al-Mishnah Commentary by R. Saadiah Gaon","authors":"Uziel Fuchs","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10031","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article presents a commentary on the Mishna composed by R. Saadiah Gaon, who served as head of the Sura yeshivah in Baghdad at the beginning of the 10th century. The commentary is a Hebrew-Arabic glossary defining difficult words in the Mishnah. The commentary is well referenced in writings from early periods, and a large portion of the manuscript was recently identified in the Cairo Genizah. I present a number of proofs that R. Saadiah Gaon authored the commentary and show that many adaptions were made to this commentary in several manuscripts. This unpublished commentary is the earliest systematic commentary on rabbinic literature.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46581013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10033
N. Vidro
The Book of Commandments of the influential Qaraite scholar Levi b. Yefet is traditionally dated 1006/7 CE. This date is based on the Hebrew translation of the Book of Commandments and is irreconcilable with a calendrical characteristic of this year provided by Levi b. Yefet. In this article I propose to revise the date of composition of the Book of Commandments to 1009 CE. This date is given in a copy of the Arabic original of the code and is calendrically consistent. I also discuss events in the calendar of Palestinian Qaraites that prompted Levi b. Yefet to mention the year in which he was writing and that took place due to irregular weather patterns.
{"title":"On the Date of Composition of the Book of Commandments by the Qaraite Levi b. Yefet","authors":"N. Vidro","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10033","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Book of Commandments of the influential Qaraite scholar Levi b. Yefet is traditionally dated 1006/7 CE. This date is based on the Hebrew translation of the Book of Commandments and is irreconcilable with a calendrical characteristic of this year provided by Levi b. Yefet. In this article I propose to revise the date of composition of the Book of Commandments to 1009 CE. This date is given in a copy of the Arabic original of the code and is calendrically consistent. I also discuss events in the calendar of Palestinian Qaraites that prompted Levi b. Yefet to mention the year in which he was writing and that took place due to irregular weather patterns.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45111531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-23DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10030
Elly Moseson
Descriptions of the delivery of Hasidic sermons are relatively rare, especially from the first decades of the development of the movement. This article presents the earliest extant written account of a Hasidic sermon, which was delivered by Samuel Shmelke Horowitz, the rabbi of the Moravian city of Nikolsburg (Mikulov), on the eve of Yom Kippur of the year 1775. It situates the document containing this hitherto overlooked account in its historical and ideological context and explores the light it sheds on the geographical limits of the Hasidic movement in the 18th century. Appended to the article is an edition of the Hebrew text of the document based on two textual witnesses along with an English translation.
{"title":"Kol Nidrei in Nikolsburg, 1775: An Early Account of a Hasidic Sermon","authors":"Elly Moseson","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10030","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Descriptions of the delivery of Hasidic sermons are relatively rare, especially from the first decades of the development of the movement. This article presents the earliest extant written account of a Hasidic sermon, which was delivered by Samuel Shmelke Horowitz, the rabbi of the Moravian city of Nikolsburg (Mikulov), on the eve of Yom Kippur of the year 1775. It situates the document containing this hitherto overlooked account in its historical and ideological context and explores the light it sheds on the geographical limits of the Hasidic movement in the 18th century. Appended to the article is an edition of the Hebrew text of the document based on two textual witnesses along with an English translation.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43383585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-17DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10032
F. Postma, A. Verheij
In 1650, Menasseh ben Israel entered an inscription in the album amicorum owned by Hermannus Jacobi from Hanover. This article, the fourth in a series on Menasseh’s album inscriptions, comprises a biographical sketch of Jacobi, followed by a photograph, a transcription, a translation, and an analysis of the inscription itself. Reference is made as well to Menasseh’s inscription in the album amicorum, now lost, of Henricus Schmettavius / Heinrich Schmettau, a student of theology from Silesia.
1650年，Menasseh ben Israel在汉诺威的Hermanus Jacobi拥有的专辑《amicorum》中题词。这篇文章是Menasseh专辑铭文系列的第四篇，包括雅各比的传记草图，然后是照片、转录、翻译和铭文本身的分析。还提到了Menasseh在西里西亚神学学生Henricus Schmettavius/Heinrich Schmettau的专辑《友谊》中的题词，该专辑现已失传。
{"title":"In Signum Benevoli Affectus IV: Menasseh ben Israel’s Album Inscription for Hermannus Jacobi","authors":"F. Postma, A. Verheij","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10032","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In 1650, Menasseh ben Israel entered an inscription in the album amicorum owned by Hermannus Jacobi from Hanover. This article, the fourth in a series on Menasseh’s album inscriptions, comprises a biographical sketch of Jacobi, followed by a photograph, a transcription, a translation, and an analysis of the inscription itself. Reference is made as well to Menasseh’s inscription in the album amicorum, now lost, of Henricus Schmettavius / Heinrich Schmettau, a student of theology from Silesia.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46288689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-23DOI: 10.1163/18750214-12171091
S. Greco
After a brief outline of the biography of Moses Dobruska (1753–1794), this article wants to emphasize what most scholars, in particular Gershom Scholem, did not want to recognize about this Moravian Jew, coming from a sectarian Sabbatian environment, who later converted to Catholicism. He was not only a brilliant businessman, literate, a poet, and Freemason, but also a social philosopher, and, even more, a forgotten founding father of sociology. His work Philosophie sociale (Paris 1793) is a milestone in the development of a social discipline still in progress, which later took the name sociology. This study highlights the strong influence exerted by Dobruska on subsequent authors. In particular, it shows how Dobruska’s concept of ‘disorganization’ (the breaking of a political, cultural and social order) had a strong influence on the thought of Henry Saint-Simon (1760–1825) and his pupil Auguste Comte (1798–1857).
{"title":"What Scholem Failed to See: Moses Dobruska as a Founder of Sociological Thought","authors":"S. Greco","doi":"10.1163/18750214-12171091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-12171091","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000After a brief outline of the biography of Moses Dobruska (1753–1794), this article wants to emphasize what most scholars, in particular Gershom Scholem, did not want to recognize about this Moravian Jew, coming from a sectarian Sabbatian environment, who later converted to Catholicism. He was not only a brilliant businessman, literate, a poet, and Freemason, but also a social philosopher, and, even more, a forgotten founding father of sociology. His work Philosophie sociale (Paris 1793) is a milestone in the development of a social discipline still in progress, which later took the name sociology. This study highlights the strong influence exerted by Dobruska on subsequent authors. In particular, it shows how Dobruska’s concept of ‘disorganization’ (the breaking of a political, cultural and social order) had a strong influence on the thought of Henry Saint-Simon (1760–1825) and his pupil Auguste Comte (1798–1857).","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43559737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-12DOI: 10.1163/18750214-bja10028
Gadi Sagiv
Egodocuments constitute valuable sources for the study of Hasidism. Yet those penned by hasidic leaders are relatively rare. This article explores egodocumentary material written by hasidic leader Joshua Heschel Rabinowitz of Monastyryshche (1860–1938), who was persecuted in Russia, migrated to America in 1923, and settled in New York. In contrast to the previous scholarship that focuses on Rabinowitz’s public opinions, this article centers on his personal notes. Moreover, rather than read Rabinowitz’s personal writings as reflecting his life and worldview in Eastern Europe from decades earlier, the egodocuments will be read as highlighting the challenges he faced during the years he wrote most of his works, namely, after migrating to the United States. Rabinowitz’s egodocuments not only teach us about him as an individual, but also shed light on the challenges that many admorim faced upon arrival to America between the two world wars.
{"title":"A Hasidic Leader Migrating to America: Egodocuments by Rabbi Joshua Heschel Rabinowitz of Monastyryshche (1860–1938)","authors":"Gadi Sagiv","doi":"10.1163/18750214-bja10028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18750214-bja10028","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Egodocuments constitute valuable sources for the study of Hasidism. Yet those penned by hasidic leaders are relatively rare. This article explores egodocumentary material written by hasidic leader Joshua Heschel Rabinowitz of Monastyryshche (1860–1938), who was persecuted in Russia, migrated to America in 1923, and settled in New York. In contrast to the previous scholarship that focuses on Rabinowitz’s public opinions, this article centers on his personal notes. Moreover, rather than read Rabinowitz’s personal writings as reflecting his life and worldview in Eastern Europe from decades earlier, the egodocuments will be read as highlighting the challenges he faced during the years he wrote most of his works, namely, after migrating to the United States. Rabinowitz’s egodocuments not only teach us about him as an individual, but also shed light on the challenges that many admorim faced upon arrival to America between the two world wars.","PeriodicalId":40667,"journal":{"name":"Zutot","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47637952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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