Ajs Review, 1992, Part 2

Front Matter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 198-278 Published by: Cambridge University Press on ...

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Front Matter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 198-278 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486942 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:15 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].

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AJS VOL. XVII,NO. 2 FALL1992

TheJournalof the Associationfor JewishStudies

O

REVIE

Volume XVII, Number 2, Fall

1992

ASSOCIATION FORJEWISH STUDIES MASSACHUSETTS CAMBRIDGE,

AJS Review EDITOR:

Norman A. Stillman, State University of New York at Binghamton ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Nehama Aschkenasy, University of Connecticut, Stamford Robert Goldenberg, State University of New York at Stony Brook Paula E. Hyman, Yale University Alfred L. Ivry, New York University Benjamin C. I. Ravid, Brandeis University S. David Sperling, Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion CORRESPONDING EDITOR:

Lloyd P. Gartner, Tel-Aviv University BOOK REVIEW EDITOR:

Gary A. Rendsburg, Cornell University EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Susan O. Savitch The AJS Review (ISSN 0364-0094) is published twice annually by the Association for Jewish Studies. Manuscripts for consideration should be sent to Prof. Norman A. Stillman, Judaic Studies Department, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901. Books for review should be sent to Prof. Gary A. Rendsburg, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, 360 Rockefeller Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-2502. ? 1992 by the Association for Jewish Studies MANUFACTURED

IN THE UNITED

STATES

OF AMERICA

AJSREVIEW THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES VOLUME XVII, NUMBERS2, 1992

Articles 165

RICHARDKALMIN

TalmudicPortrayalsof RelationshipsBetweenRabbis:Amoraicor Pseudepigraphic? 199

TALYAFISHMAN

A KabbalisticPerspectiveon Gender-SpecificCommandments:on The Interplayof Symbols And Society 247

JEFFREYRUBENSTEIN

Purim, Liminality,And Communitas BookReviews 279

Marjo Christina Annette Korpel. A Rift in the Clouds. Ugarit and

Hebrew Descriptions of the Divine DAVID MARCUS

281

Sharon Pace Jeansonne. The Womenof Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar's Wife MAYER I. GRUBER

284

Joseph Sievers. The Hasmoneans and Their Supporters: From Mattathias to the Death of John Hyrcanus I JOHN KAMPEN

286

Lawrence M. Wills. The Jew in the Court of the Foreign King FREDERICKE. GREENSPAHN

288

Dorothy Sly. Philo's Perception of Women NAOMI G. COHEN

291

Alan F. Segal. Paul the Convert: the Apostolate and Apostasy of Paul the Apostle PHEMEPERKINS

293

Gildas Hamel. Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centuries SETH SCHWARTZ

296

Michael Sokoloff. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period GARY A. RENDSBURG

299

Roger Brooks. The Spirit of the Ten Commandments ROBERTGOLDENBERG

301

Robert S. MacLennan. Early Christian Texts on Jews and Judaism ABRAHAMTERIAN

305

Gilbert Dahan. Les intellectuels chretiens et les Juifs au moyen age ROBERT CHAZAN

307

Gavin I. Langmuir. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism Gavin I. Langmuir. History, Religion, and Antisemitism JEREMYCOHEN

314

Gordon Darnell Newby. A History of the Jews of Arabia. From AncientTimesto TheirEclipse UnderIslam NORMANA. STILLMAN

316

Hava Tirosh-Rothschild. Between Worlds.:The Life and Thought of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon KALMANP. BLAND

319

Lester A. Segal. Historical Consciousness and Religious Traditionin Azariah de' Rossi's "Me'or Einayim" JOANNA WEINBERG

321

Samuel Romanelli. Travail in an Arab Land DANIEL J. SCHROETER

324

Todd M. Endelman. Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History, 1656-1945 TONY KUSHNER

327

William O. McCagg, Jr. A History of Hapsburg Jews, 1670-1918 MARSHA L. ROZENBLIT

330

V. D. Lipman. A History of the Jews in Britain Since 1858 TODD M. ENDELMAN

334

Victor A. Mirelman. Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1930: In Search of an Identity G0JNTERBOiHM

336

Alan L. Mittleman. Between Kant and Kabbalah:An Introductionto Isaac Breuer's Philosophy of Judaism ROBERTS. SCHINE

339

Ronald H. Miller. Dialogue and Disagreement: Franz Rosenzweig's Relevance to ContemporaryJewish-Christian Understanding ALAN MITTELMAN

341

Shmuel Almog. Nationalism and Antisemitism in Modern Europe, 1815-1945 JAMESF. HARRIS

343

Susan A. Glenn. Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation BARRY R. CHISWICK

345

Andrew R. Heinze. Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption,and the Search for American Identity JONATHAND. SARNA

347

Judith Friedlander. Vilna on the Seine: Jewish Intellectuals in France Since 1968 DAVID WEINBERG

350

Egal Feldman. Dual Destinies: The Jewish Encounter with Protestant America ROBERTT. HANDY

352

Robert G. Goldy. The Emergence of Jewish Theology in America PETEROCHS

354

Gerald Sorin. The Nurturing Neighborhood: The Brownsville Boys Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940-1990 JEFFREYS. GUROCK

357

Yehuda Bauer. Out of the Ashes (The Impact of American Jews on Post-Holocaust European Jewry) MICHAELBROWN

359

Pesach Schindler. Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the Light of Hasidic Thought ZEV GARBER

362

Norman A. Stillman. The Language and Culture of the Jews of Sefrou, Morocco: An Ethnolinguistic Study ROBERTD. HOBERMAN

364

Daniel J. Elazar. The Other Jews: The Sephardim Today YEDIDA K. STILLMAN

367

Lionel Kochan. Jews, Idols and Messiahs: The Challengefrom History MICHAELA. MEYER

369

David Vital. The Future of the Jews EPHRAIMTABORY

Collected Studies 373

Judith R. Baskin, ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective

373

Martin S. Bergmann and Milton E. Jucovy, eds. Generations of the Holocaust

374

Derek Cohen and Deborah Heller, eds. Jewish Presences in English Literature

374

Gerson D. Cohen. Studies in the Variety of Jewish Cultures Naomi W. Cohen, ed. Essential Papers on Jewish-ChristianRelations in the United States. Imagery and Reality

375 375

Moshe Davis and Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, eds. With Eyes TowardZion III: Western Societies and the Holy Land

376

Tamara C. Eskenazi, Daniel J. Harrington, and William H. Shea, eds. The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions

377

Eugene J. Fisher and Leon Klenicki, eds. In Our Time: The Flowering of Jewish-Christian Dialogue William Frankel and Antony Lerman, eds. Survey of Jewish Affairs, 1990

377 378

David Goldenberg, ed. Translation of Scripture: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, May 15-16, 1989

378

EmanuelS. Goldsmith,Mel Scult, and Robert M. Seltzer,eds. The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan

379

M. Goshen-Gottstein,S. Morag, and S. Kogut, eds. Studies on Hebrew and Other Semitic Languages Presented to Professor Chaim Rabin on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday

380

J. Hoftijzerand G. van der Kooij, eds. The BalaamTextfrom Deir 'Alla Reevaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21-24 August, 1989

380

Gershon David Hundert, ed. Essential Papers on Hasidism: Originsto Present

381

Bernard Jackson, ed. The Jewish Law Annual, vol. 9

381

Marinus de Jonge. Jewish Eschatology, Early Christian Christology and the Testamentsof the TwelvePatriarchs: Collected Essays of Marinus de Jonge

382

Norman L. Kleebattand Susan Chevlowe,eds. Paintinga Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945

382

EmanuelMelzer and David Engel, eds. Gal-Ed:On the Historyof the Jews in Poland

383

384

Paul Mendes-Flohr. Divided Passions: Jewish Intellectuals and the Experience of Modernity

A Volumeof OccaLeon Nemoy and Vera B. Moreen, eds. TarTb: sional Papers in Near Eastern Studies

384 384

Mo'sesRischinand John Livingston,eds. Jews of theAmericanWest Ira Robinson,PierreAnctil,and MervinButovsky,eds. An Everyday Miracle: Yiddish Culture in Montreal

385

Jonathan Sacks, ed. Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity

385

HershelShanks,JamesC. Vanderkam,P. Kyle McCarter,andJames

385

A. Sanders. The Dead Sea Scrolls: After Forty Years Lawrence H. Schiffman, ed. Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls

386

Zvi Sobel and BenjaminBeit-Hallahmi,eds. Tradition,Innovation, Conflict: Jewishness and Judaism in ContemporaryIsrael

386

Sasson Somekh, ed. Studies in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Poetics

387

M. E. Stone. Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha: With Special Reference to the Armenian Tradition

388

Alan Udoff, ed. Leo Strauss's Thought: Towarda Critical Engagement

389

Books Received f Un11I 73X K m1uOV '1?Inn 'xn

'7i"1i

nlrp

Publication of this volume of the AJS Review has been made possible by a grant from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation. The Association is grateful for this support and encouragement.

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Talmudic Portrayals of Relationships between Rabbis: Amoraic or Pseudepigraphic? Author(s): Richard Kalmin Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 165-197 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486943 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:15 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].



TALMUDIC PORTRAYALS OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RABBIS: AMORAIC OR PSEUDEPIGRAPHIC? by

RICHARD KALMIN

Introduction

In both halachicand aggadic contexts the Talmudfrequentlysupplies informationabout the relationshipsbetweensages.Sagesinteractwith each other,or commenton each other'serudition,piety,personality,andthe like. Fromwhat sourcesdoes the Talmudderivethis information?From sources contemporarywith the sagesinvolved,or fromsourcesof a muchlatertime? Some of the talmudicinformationis attributedto named authorities, some of it is presentedanonymously.Are the attributedstatementspseudepigraphicor authentic?Are theresubstantivedistinctionsbetweenthe attributed and the anonymous statements?Are the anonymous statements amoraicor post-amoraic? I cannot answerall of these questionsin detail here, and certaintyon I wishto thankProfessorShayeJ. D. Cohenof BrownUniversityfor his searchingcritique of an earlierversionof this paper.ProfessorsJudithHauptmanand BurtonL. Visotzkyof the JewishTheologicalSeminaryof Americaalso suggestedseveralvaluableimprovements.Particularthanksare due the Stroockfamilyand the JewishTheologicalSeminaryfor awardingme the StroockFacultyFellowship,allowingme a semesterof uninterrupted researchandwriting. AJS Review 17/2 (1992): 165-197

165

166

RICHARD KALMIN

these issues is at present beyond our grasp, but I will argue that the Talmud derives much of its information about relationships between sages from sources contemporary, or roughly contemporary, with the sages involved. I will demonstrate the likelihood that some of this information reliably depicts relationships between sages and is not the polemical invention of contemporaries and students. Finally, my analysis will support the claims of David Halivni, Shamma Friedman, and others that by detaching the anonymous from the attributed sections of the Talmud and studying these sections independently, we add significantly to our understanding of the talmudic sugya.' Through this process of detachment, we will discover significant differences between amoraic and anonymous editorial reactions to the personalities of amoraim. Definition of Terms The terms "commentary," "dialogue," and "stories" play an important role in my analysis, and it will be helpful to define them at the outset of the discussion. By the term "commentary," I refer to remarks made by Rabbi X or an anonymous editor based on or in response to a statement or action by Rabbi Y in situations where it is clear that the two rabbis are not speaking together and are not mentioned in the context of a single story. A sugya might begin, for example, with Rav ruling that it is forbidden to drink wine touched by an idolater. Rav Sheshet might follow with an objection against Rav's ruling, and according to all available evidence Sheshet had no direct contact with Rav. Sheshet's statement based on the statement by Rav falls under the category of "commentary" for the purposes of this study. Rav Yehuda, however, might respond to a statement by Shmuel, with all manuscripts and medieval commentators agreeing that Yehuda made his statement in Shmuel's presence, that "Rav Yehuda said to Shmuel," and with

1. See, for example, David Halivni, Mekorot u-Mesorot: Shabbat (Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1982): Mekorot u-Mesorot: Eruvin-Pesahim(Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1982); and Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara.:The Jewish Predilectionfor Justified Law (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 1-8 and 66-104; and Shamma Friedman, Perek ha-Isha Rabbah ba-Bavli (Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1978). See also Judith Hauptman, Development of the Talmudic Sugya. Relationship Between Tannaitic and Amoraic Sources (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1988); Richard Kalmin, The Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud:Amoraic or Saboraic? (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1989); and David C. Kraemer,The Mind of the Talmud:An Intellectual History of the Bavli (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

TALMUDIC PORTRAYALS OF AMORAIC RELATIONSHIPS

167

Yehuda'sappearancein the presenceof Shmuela regularoccurrence throughoutthe Talmud.In such circumstances,Yehuda'sstatementis considered"dialogue"ratherthan"commentary,"for by the term"dialogue,"I refer to actual communication,either when the amoraiminvolved speak togetherin each other'spresence,or whenthey communicateindirectly,via messenger. Admittedly, dialogue and commentaryare at times difficult to distinguish.A text which originallyread "Shmuelsaid X. Said Ray Yehuda: But is it not the case that . . ?", i.e., which originally contained commentary

by Yehudabasedon Shmuel'sstatement,mightbe "corrected"by scribesto read "Shmuelsaid X. Said Rav Yehudato Shmuel:But is it not the case that . . .?", i.e., might be transford by scribes into dialogue. The opposite

might also take place, with scribestransformingdialogueinto commentary becauseof their assumptionsthat the rabbisinvolvedwerenot speakingin each other'spresence.2Severalfactors,however,reducethe significanceof this uncertainty for my purposes. If two amoraim appear frequently throughoutthe Talmud,and manuscriptsand medievaltestimoniaagree that they neveror only rarelyappearin each other'spresence,then we can conclude in individualcases, with a fair degree of confidencethat they engage in commentaryand not dialoguewhen the sugya containsno hint that they dialogue in each other'spresence.Our confidenceis increasedif the sources supply chronologicalor geographicalreasons why the two amoraimcould not have appearedin each other's presence.The Talmud containsabundantevidence,for example,that R. Yirmiyaspentmuchof his scholarlycareerin Palestine,and that Abaye and Rava lived their entire lives in Babylonia.Whenthe text presentsAbaye or Rava commentingon Yirmiya'sstatements,we can accept the text with a reasonabledegreeof confidence. By the term "stories,'I referto reportsof eventsor actions, and also to actionsor statementsfoundwithina narrativeframeworkwhichbeginswith a descriptionof the physicalsettingin which the action took place or the statementwas made.This descriptioncan be fairlyelaborate,but moretypically is extremelysimple, consisting,for example,of the informationthat Rabbi X was sittingdown whenhe madehis statement.The beginningof a 2. See Eliezer Shimshon Rosenthal. "Rav Ben-Ahi R. Hiyya Gam Ben-Ahoto?" in Hanokh YalonJubilee Volume, ed. Saul Lieberman. E. Y. Kutscher, and Shaul Esh (Jerusalem: Kiryat Sefer, 1963), pp. 284-285, n, 1; David Halivni, Mekorot u-Mesorot: Nashim (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1968), p. 17; and Friedman, Perek ha-Isha Rabbah ba-Bavli p. 346, n. 3.

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RICHARD KALMIN

storyis clearlydemarcated,withthe descriptionof settingor reportedaction markingthe story off from its surroundingcontext. The conclusionof the story, however,is often difficultto discern.It is often unclearwhethera statementplacedat the conclusionof a story is part of the story or is commentaryon the story. The chronologicaland geographicalfactorshelpful above in distinguishingdialoguefrom commentaryare not so helpfulhere, since the storymightconcludewith commentaryby a rabbifrom a different time or a differentplace, providingperspectiveon the events or opinions narratedin the body of the tale. Throughoutthis study,statementsconcluding storieswill be considereddoubtfulcommentary,but this uncertaintywill not significantlyalter my findings.3 ThreeApproachesto the Historicity of TalmudicSources

Scholars have approachedthe question of the historicityof talmudic sources from a varietyof perspectives.It will be helpfulto describethree approachesrelevantto the presentstudy.Manyscholarsmaintainthe likelihood of extensiveeditorialreshapingand even fabricationof talmudicstories and halachicstatements,andlamentthe scarcityof firmcriteriaby which to determinea source'sdate.Accordingto this view,it is extremelydifficult, often or usuallyimpossible,to determinewhichsourcesare earlyand which are late. Evenwhena sourcecan be datedto the amoraicperiod,close to the eventsand personalitiesdescribed,its value as a historicalsourcestill needs to be ascertained.A sourcecan be earlybut fictional,or late but historically reliable.Many sourceswereverylikelycomposeda generationor two after the fact, reflectinga slightlylater perspective,still withinlivingmemoryor only slightly removedfrom the events and personalitiesdescribed.Given this wide rangeof possibilities,drawingfirmconclusionsaboutgenerations, periods,and especiallyindividualsagesis a highlyspeculativeundertaking.4

3. See also David Goodblatt. "The Babylonian Talmud," in The Study of Ancient Judaism: The Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds,ed. Jacob Neusner (New York: Ktav, 1981), p. 165, and the literature cited in n. 51a, there. 4. See the Bibliographical Note in Richard Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses? Stories About the Rabbis as Evidence for the Composite Nature of the Babylonian Talmud," AJS Review 15, no. 2 (1990): 203-205. See also Baruch M. Bokser. Post Mishnaic Judaism in Transition(Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1980), p. 1. With regard to the tannaitic


169

A second approach claims that the Talmud permits generalizations about generationsor periods,but not about individualrabbis.5According to this approach,it is impossibleto verify whethera statementor action attributedto a rabbiactuallyderivesfromthat rabbi.It is possible,however, to speak reliablyabout the distinctcontributionof generationsor periods, since each periodhas its own uniquefeaturesof thought,legalconcepts,terminology,and formalexpression.These unique featuresdevelop from one periodto the next, a likelysignof organicgrowthratherthan editorialmanipulation. Accordingto a thirdapproach,the issueof how to exploitthe Talmudas

a sourcefor historypresentsno problem.Somescholarssee a one-to-one betweenancientrabbinictexts and the historicalevents correspondence these texts purportto describe.Oncemiraculouselementsand editorial accretionshave been removed,these scholarsbelieve,the "originalsource"

whichremainsis an accuratereportingof historicaleventsor a reliable recordingof rabbinicdialogue.6 InventInformationAboutEarlierSages? WhyWouldLaterGenerations

With regardto the questionof contemporaryversusnoncontemporary originof talmudicsources,one could legitimatelyask why latergenerations

period, see Gary Porton. The Traditionsof Rabbi Ishmael (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1982), vol. 4, pp. 212-225; and Shaye Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishna (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987), p. 219: and "Patriarchs and Scholars," Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research 48 (1981): 57-85 (see esp. pp. 84-85). 5. See, for example, David Goodblatt, Rabbinic Instruction in Sasanian Babylonia (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975), pp. 4-5; Lee Levine, Ma'amad ha-Hakhamim be-Erez Yisrael (Jerusalem, 1985), pp. 4-5; and David C. Kraemer, "On the Reliability of Attributions in the Babylonian Talmud." Hebrew Union College Annual 60 (1989): 175-190. With regard to the tannaitic period, see Robert Goldenberg. TheSabbath-Law of Rabbi Meir (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1978), esp. pp. 245-247; and Jacob Neusner, Judaism: The Evidenceof the Mishna (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 14-22. 6. See, for example, Saul Lieberman, "Martyrs of Caesarea," Annuaire de L'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves 7 (1939-44): 395-446 (see esp. pp. 395-402); and Ilellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York, 1950), pp. 83-99: Halivni, Mekorot u-Mesorot: Eruvin-Pesahim, pp. 91-95; Avraham Goldberg. "The Babylonian Talmud," in The Literature of the Sages, Part One, ed. Shmuel Safrai, Compendia Rerum ludaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, sec. 2, vol. 3 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987). pp. 323-345; and Dov Zlotnick, The Iron Pillar-Mishnah (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1988), pp. 8-9.

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would inventstatementsand storiesand attributethem to earlierrabbis.A varietyof differentanswerscan be given, and I will suggest two. Perhaps schools founded by early rabbispersistedfor severalgenerationsor even centuries,and late authorsattackedrival schools by composingaccounts which reflected poorly on the long-dead founders of these schools. By means of attacks on the characterof Socrates,for example,the school of Socrateswas attackedby rival schools after the sage's death.7 In addition, later generations might compose accounts about early rabbiswho possessedor weresaid to possess some outstandingcharacteristic whichparticularlysuitedthe author'smessage.Rav Sheshet'sblindness, for example,might make him an especiallyfittingsubjectof a story which teachesthat spiritualinsightis far morepowerfulthanphysicalsight.8Even centuriesafter his death, Sheshetmight be made the protagonistof such a tale, for perhapshe had come to be the archetypicalblind scholar,whose immense spiritual gifts more than compensatedfor his physical shortcomings. A story featuringSheshetand Rami bar Hama,whichcasts Rami in an extremelyunflatteringlight, will illustratethis point.9Ramijealouslylashes out at his former subordinate,Rav Yizhak bar Yehuda, who abandons Rami as his superiorin favor of Sheshet.Yizhak bar Yehudaexplainsthat Sheshetis preferablebecausehe answersquestionswith quotationsof tannaitic sources. Armed with tannaitic sources, Sheshet protects himself againstrefutation,for even if a contradictorybaraitais cited, the matterwill end in a stalemate.Rami,however,respondswith logicalarguements,which are muchweaker.He leaveshimselfvulnerableto attack,since a contradictory tannaiticsourcewill refutehim. RamichallengesYizhakto ask a question, expectingto demonstratethe power of his responses.Yizhak obliges, and Rami,true to form, counterswith a logical argument.Yizhakquotes a contradictorytannaiticsouce, and Rami, bowingto the superiorauthority of the baraita,acknowledgesdefeat. The story is in part a didactictale demonstratingthe superiorityof a styleof learningwhichemphasizesknowledgeof traditionalsourcesin favor 7. See Patricia Cox, Biography in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), pp. 9-12. 8. Berakhot 58a. See Yonah Fraenkel, "Bible Verses Quoted in Tales of the Sages." Scripta Hierosolymitana 22 (1971): 94-98. 9. Zevahim 96b.


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of logicalreasoning.The storymoldsactualeventsor fabricatesthementirely in an effort to influencethe way rabbis learn and teach. Does the story derive from the amoraicperiod, however,close to the time of the individualsdescribed?Orwas it composedmuchlaterby authors who chose stock charactersequippedby traditionwith attributesrelevantto the lesson the authorswished to teach? I will arguebelow that in manyinstancesthesequestionscan be answered, but I see no way of answeringthem in the presentcase. Sheshetis elsewhere singled out for his remarkableerudition, his vast knowledge of tannaiticsources.'0Rami, on the other hand, possessesharifuta,keenness and sharpdiscernment,a positivequalitywhichleadshim into error,apparently causing him to rely too heavily on his intellectualgifts and neglect carefulexaminationof severalmatters."PerhapsSheshet'slegendaryexpertise, Rami'ssharpnessof intellect,and the criticismof Ramifoundin several sources(see below)induceda late storytellerto choose them as protagonists and to cast Rami as the villainof the piece. Perhapsthe author'sexclusive concernwas the story's message,and Rami and Sheshetare relevantonly insofar as they serve this largerconcern. Deciding Between the VariousScholarly Approaches

Is it possible,however,to decidein some instancesbetweenthe contradictory scholarlyapproachesoutlined above?Is it possible to make valid generalizationsabout the reliabilityof talmudicsources as history?With regardto the third approach,which acceptstalmudicsourcesat face value as historicalevidence,recentstudies have demonstratedthat access to the original version of a talmudicpassage(or, more accurately,access to the earliestversionthat modernscholarshipis capableof reconstructing)does not guaranteeaccessto the originalwordsof the speakeror to the historical event, if any, whichlies behindthe passage.The historicalcore may not be recoverable,for opinions and events are frequentlymolded, colored, and distortedby the desiresand beliefsof the originalauthorsandtheirintended

10. See, for example, Eruvin 67a, and Hanokh Albeck, Mavo la-Talmudim(Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1969), pp. 312-313. 11. See the discussion below.

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audience. Facile identificationbetweentext and history is no longer possible.12

Is it possible,however,to decidebetweenthe otherapproachesdescribed above? Is it possible to determine whether contemporaries, nearcontemporaries,or latereditorsoriginatedthe opinionsor composedstories about the rabbis?If the sources are contemporary,are they reliablehistorical evidenceor are they polemicalfabrications?Can we make accurate statementsabout individualrabbis,or only aboutgenerationsand periods? Perhapsthe subtlecharactersketchesand vivid portrayalsof personalities and relationshipsfound in talmudicsourcescan help us to answerour questionregardingthe date of these sources.In discussingthe famousstory of Resh Lakish'sconversionto the rabbinicway of life,'3a studentof mine once remarkedthat the storycould not be the work of later editorsbecause the charactersweretoo realandthe issuestoo immediateto be the invention of authors far removedfrom the events and personalitiesdescribed.This argument,unfortunately,fails to settle the issue. The characterof R. Yohanan might be of pressingconcern to an author living centuriesafter the Palestiniansage's death, for example,if Yohananhad come to personify Palestinianlearningand the late authorwas passionatelyconvincedof the superiorityof Babylonianscholarship.By attackingYohanan,'4this late author might simultaneouslybe attackingcontemporaryopponents who viewedthemselvesas Yohanan'sdisciples."Similarly,competitionbetween Suraand Pumbedita,Babylonianrabbiniccentersof the talmudicandgeonic periods,mightbe expressedat the end of the talmudicperiodin the form of stories vividly depictingconflict betweenRav Hisda and Rav Yehuda, importantearly representativesof these two cities. A story in which a student of Yehuda, Rami bar Tamari, demonstratesHisda's inferiorityto

12. See the Bibliographical Note in Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 203-205, and see Richard Kalmin, "The Talmudic Story: Aggada as History," Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Division C, vol. 1 (1990), pp. 9-16. 13. Baba Mezia 84a. 14. I am not suggesting this as the actual significance of the story, and use this story only for purposes of illustration. 15. See Daniel Sperber. "On the Unfortunate Adventures of Rav Kahana: A Passage of Saboraic Polemic from Sasanian Persia," in Irano-Judaica, ed. Shaul Shaked (Jerusalem: BenZvi Institute, 1982), pp. 83-100. Cf. Isaiah Gafni, "Ha-Yeshiva ha-Bavlit le-Or Sugyat B.K. 117a." Tarbiz 49 (1980): 292-301.


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Yehuda,'6 might be an effective means by which late Pumbeditan storytellers

propagandize in favor of their city and attack contemporary Suran foes. One important fact, however, helps answer one of the questions raised above. This fact suggests that talmudic sources in which rabbis are criticized or insulted, or addressed with ambivalence or jealousy, are most likely not the work of later amoraim or editors, but are roughly contemporary with the events and personalities described. Analysis of statements by Rav, Rav Sheshet, R. Yirmiya, Rav Yosef, Rami bar Hama, and Rav Ashi reveals that rabbis chronologically removed by more than a generation are addressed primarily as disembodied authors of authoritative pronouncements. They are addressed as sources of knowledge, that is, as abstract texts. Contemporaries, however, occasionally address one another with hostility, ambivalence, or competitiveness. This point bears restating. Commentary ascribed to rabbis more than a generation removed from their sources contains almost none of the harsh insults and ambivalences which frequently characterize commentary ascribed to contemporaries and near-contemporaries. Commentary ascribed to rabbis more than a generation removed tends to be dispassionate, to respond to the substance of the statements and not to the statements' author. Even more importantly, contemporaries and near-contemporaries express not only anger or surprise in response to specific statements or actions, but also the conviction that a particular sage is fundamentally flawed or inadequate. The accusation will be made, for example, that a rabbi's traditions are untrustworthy, that he violates the halacha, that his premature death was punishment for his failure to show proper respect toward great scholars, that he has not served as apprentice to a rabbi and is therefore not a full-fledged member of the rabbinic community, and the like. Such accusations, which strike at the very core of a rabbi's character, appear only in commentary ascribed to contemporaries and nearcontemporaries. Once the chronological distance between commentator and source goes beyond a single generation, such thorough denunciations are totally absent. It bears repeating that by the term "commentary," I refer to remarks made by Rabbi X or an anonymous editor based on or in response to a statement or action by Rabbi Y in situations where it is clear that the two

16. Hullin 110a.

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rabbis are not speaking together and are not mentioned in the context of a single story. Defining the term "commentary" in this fashion enables me to confine the discussion to cases in which interaction between contemporaries approximates interaction between rabbis separated from each other by several generations. Examination of such cases reveals that commentary by contemporaries is qualitatively different from commentary by later amoraim in expressing negative or hostile attitudes. I will analyze anonymous editorial commentary in greater detail later on in the discussion, observing that anonymous commentary is likewise devoid of criticisms of sages. For the moment, however, I will confine my remarks to amoraic commentary. According to the findings above, later amoraim are unlikely to have invented commentary in which contemporary rabbis display hostility toward one another.'7 If the sixth-generation amora Rav Ashi, for example, played an important role in composing commentary in which Rav is criticized, then why is Ashi's explicit commentary on statements by Rav detached and dispassionate, utterly devoid of emotion? Only contemporaries and near-contemporaries emerge as likely candidates for authorship of commentary which addresses Rav other than as an abstract text or an object of veneration, since only they express negative emotions in their commentary on Rav's statements. I am not claiming, it is important to note, that the sources are always true, that events usually took place the way the Talmud describes, or that statements are always faithfully and accurately reported. Depending on the perspective of the speaker, for example, an individual such as Rav might be portrayed as saintly or wicked, as knowledgeable or ignorant, as the superior scholar of his generation or as inferior to his contemporary, Shmuel. A statement might reflect the perspective of Rav himself or of certain disciples of Rav, and therefore distort or even fabricate his attitudes toward a contemporary sage. The distortion or fabrication, however, very likely dates from the early amoraic period, close to the time of Rav himself and perhaps deriving from Rav himself, and is not testimony to the inventiveness of a later editor. At this point in the discussion, it is no longer necessary to maintain the distinction drawn above between commentary, dialogue, and stories. This 17. I will discuss below the question of whether or not later editors invented hostile commentary and ascribed it to earlier figures.


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distinction allowed me to highlight the contrast between contemporary and later amoraic attitudes toward sages, which led to the conclusion that later amoraim did not compose hostile commentary by contemporaries. This conclusion, however, for reasons which I will discuss below, applies also to dialogue and stories. Later amoraim are also unlikely authors of face-toface dialogues and stories in which attitudes other than reverence or neutrality are displayed toward earlier rabbis. As was the case with hostile commentary attributed to contemporaries, so also are hostile exchanges in dialogues and unflattering portrayals in stories without parallel in later amoraic literature. Hostility toward Rav, for example, is totally absent from Rav Ashi's statements. Rav Ashi, therefore, is no more likely to have com-: posed hostile stories about Rav, or nasty dialogues between Rav and his contemporaries, than he is to have invented hostile commentary based on Rav's statements. These conclusions, it is essential to point out, apply only to dialogues, stories, and commentary in which rabbis are not merely anthropomorphized abstractions, ideals, and values given names and historical settings. These conclusions apply only to dialogues, stories, and commentary in which rabbis are not merely assigned actions and words in order to give concrete expression to abstract ideas or ethical principles. In such stories and dialogues (such as the story above, which unfavorably contrasts Rami bar Hama to Rav Sheshet), the desire to deliver the message, the moral lesson or theological statement, might be powerful enough to induce later generations to overcome their reluctance to criticize earlier rabbis. The negative portrayal might be essential for attainment of their moral or theological goal, with the personalities themselves mere props serving loftier purposes. My conclusions apply only to dialogues, stories, and commentary in which such goals are not discernible, or do not totally determine the portrayal of a rabbi. Often in dialogues and commentary, for example, one rabbi insults another rabbi, and the insult serves no discernible purpose other than rendering the argument more colorful, more interesting, and more unforgettable. The substance of the argument would be completely unaffected by its removal. Such insults most likely originate close to the time of the participants themselves, for why would later generations be so selective, adding insults and criticism only to dialogues and commentary by contemporaries and near-contemporaries? Is commentary by later generations not in need of similar embellishment?

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With regardto stories as well, the rabbis, as people, are at times not merelyvehiclesfor the teachingof somemoralor theologicallesson.At least part of the purposeof some stories is to damagea rabbi'sreputation,to prove that a particularindividualis wicked,or that his claimsto ruleor to superiorscholarshipare unfounded.'8I am not suggestingthat talmudic storiesportraycharacteror personalityas endsin themselves,alongthe lines of a modernnovel or short story.I am claiming,however,that some stories criticizeindividualsout of hostilityto them,and that suchstoriesareroughly contemporarywith the sages involved, since the attitudesrevealedby these stories are totally without parallelin later literature. The issueis an extremelycomplicatedone, and cannotbe treatedfullyin the contextof the presentstudy.The followingtwo exampleswill illustrate my claim regardingthe purposeof some talmudicstories, however.'9 One storytells of competitionbetweenRabbahand Rav Yosef,contemporary third-generationamoraim, for the office of head in Pumbedita. Yosef is referredto as "Sinai,"and Rabbah as "uprooterof mountains," allusions,apparently,to theirdifferentstylesof learning.Yosefis designated the superiorscholarand chosento rule,in preferenceto Rabbah,but when Yosef refusesthe appointment,20 Rabbahrules in his stead for twenty-two years. Only after Rabbah'sdeath does Yosef assumethe position that was rightfullyhis years before.21 Verylikely,this story is an attemptto explainwhy Rabbah,the inferior scholar accordingto the authorsof this tale, was chosen to rule ahead of Yosef.The storydisplaysconcernfor Yosef and Rabbahas people,and not abstractions,disembodiedauthorsof authorsimplyas anthropomorphized itative statements,or mouthpiecesfor the authors'values. Once again, the

18. Cf. Jacob Neusner, In Search of Talmudic Biography: The Problem of the Attributed Saying (Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984), pp. 1-13; and Making the Classics in Judaism (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), p. 80. See also Jacob Neusner, Judaism: The Classical Statement (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), pp. 115-131. 19. Cf. the treatment of the stories involving Rabbah and Rav Yosef in Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 194-196. 20. According to some versions, he refuses because of an astrological prediction that he will die soon after taking office. According to other versions, no reason is stated, and perhaps Yosef refuses out of humility or out of a desire to avoid public office and leave himself more time to study. 21. Berakhot 64a (and Horayot 14a).


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point of the storyis to bolsterthe reputationof one scholarat the expenseof a contemporarycompetitor. I observedabovethat in the ancientworldmembersof a schoolfounded by a sage long dead could be attackedby meansof unfavorablestoriestold aboutthe school'sfoundingsage.Accordingly,in an earlierstudyI left open the possibilitythat latereditorsinventedthe above accountof the competition betweenYosefand Rabbah.22 I suggestedthat the school of Yosef,generationsafterYosef'sdeath, mighthave inventedthe story,bolsteringtheir claims to supremacyagainstcompetingclaimsby the rivalschool founded by Rabbah. Basedon my findingsin the presentstudy,however,it is likely that the story was first told duringor close to the time of Rabbahand Yosef themselves. Neither post-fourth-generationamoraim nor anonymous editors expressdislike for Rabbahor betraya preferencefor Yosef over Rabbah. Later commentaryon Yosef's statementsis detached and dispassionate. Rava, however, twice states that a particularquestion was difficult for Rabbah and Yosef for twenty-two years,23and that only when Yosef becamehead was the mattersatisfactorilyresolved.24The twenty-two-year figurechosen by Ravais a clearecho of the twenty-twoyearsRabbahruled prior to Yosef accordingto the story above, and very likely Rava implies that only when the appropriatesage, Yosef,finallytook officewerematters satisfactorilyresolved. In addition, in two or three cases the fourthgeneration Pumbeditan,Rav Nahman bar Yizhak, respectfullyrefersto Yosef as "Sinai,"the only cases outside the story of his competitionwith Rabbahin which Yosef is referredto in this manner.25It makes sensethat Nahman bar Yizhak, Rava, or circlesclose to both amoraimauthoredthe story recountedabove, a likelihoodincreasedby the fact that Rava is portrayed throughout the Talmud as Yosef's subordinate, but not as

22. See Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 179-180. 23. Or that for twenty-two years Yosef posed a certain objection to Rabbah. 24. Ketubot 42b and Baba Kamma 66b. 25. See Eruvin 30a and Moed Katan 12a, and see also Kiddushin 20b and Noah Aminoah, Arikhat Massekhet Kiddushin(Jerusalem: E. Levin-Epstein, 1977), p. 377. Perhaps the chronological difficulty in the latter context is best solved not by erasing the words "bar Yizhak," but by reversing the names, such that Rav Nahman bar Yizhak quotes Rav Yosef and refersto him as "Sinai." See Ozar Lashon ha-Talmud,ed. Chaim Joshua Kasowski and Binyamin Kasowski (Jerusalem: Ministry of Education and Culture, and Jewish Theological Seminary, 1971), vol. 27, p. 172.

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Rabbah's.26 The sameis probablytrueof NahmanbarYizhak,althoughthe names Rabbahand Rava interchangewith regularity,makingit impossible to be certainwhetherNahmanbar Yizhakdialoguesexclusivelywith Rava or also occasionallywith Rabbah. A secondcase in whichan importantconcernof a storyis to denigratea particularsage depicts Ray Dimi MiNehardeavisiting Mahoza with produce for sale. Ray Ada barAhavatestshim to see if he deservesspecialmarket privilegesreservedfor sages.Dimi fails the test, and Ada humiliateshim and denies him marketprivileges,causinghis produceto spoil. Dimi complainsbeforeRay Yosef,who cursesAda, promisingthat God will certainly punishthe Mahozansage for his crueltreatmentof Dimi. A reportof Ada's deathfollows, and Yosefboaststhat he, Yosef,"punished"Ada and caused his death. Other commentsfollow, all by amoraimwho had face-to-face contactwith Ada, who claim that Ada's deathwas appropriatepunishment for the disrespecthe displayedtoward great sages (i.e., themselves).The sugya concludes with another story which depicts Ada's death not as deservedpunishment,but as a tragicmistakeresultingfromhis greatknowledge of Torah. Verylikely, this sugya has a homileticalpurpose,polemicizingagainst the practiceof cross-examinationof sagesnewlyarrivedin unfamiliarlocalThe sugyaalso has a ities, suggestingthat it leads to conflictand tragedy.27 theologicalinterestin accountingfor the prematuredeath of a rabbi.Very likely,however,the storiescomprisingthis sugyahave an interestin the person, Ada, independentof any homileticalor theological concerns.Their solutionsto the riddleof his prematuredeatharedeterminedin partby their attitudestowardAda as a person,by theirstandon the questionof whether he was righteousor wicked,and by theiropinionson whetherhis deathwas deservedpunishmentor a tragicmistakeresultingfromhis greatknowledge of Torah.

26. Rava is sometimes considered to be a student of Rabbah as well, but this is most likely incorrect. See Aharon Hyman, Toldot Tannaimve-Amoraim(London: Ha-Express, 1910), pp. 1041-47: and Richard Kalmin, "Friends and Colleagues or Barely Acquainted? Relationships Between Fourth-Generation Masters in the Babylonian Talmud," Hebrew Union College Annual 61 (1990): 127-128; and "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 194-196. See Moed Katan 28a and Zevahim 87a. 27. See also Shabbat 108a, where the same practice is featured in another narrative involving Ray and Shmuel, and likewise has unfortunate results.


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Other examplescould easily be providedto illustratemy point that in some cases,partof the story'sconcernis to denigratea particularindividual, to portrayhim in unflatteringtermsin orderto damagehis reputation.28 I hope to devotea separatestudyto provingthis point systematically.In analyzing each story, for example,the story's relationshipto its largerredactional context needs to be carefullyexamined,to determinewhetherthe story has been moldedin accordancewith largerredactionalconcerns.For the time being, these examplesillustratemy claim and establishthe likelihood of its applicabilityin similarcontexts. Are the Patterns Described Above the Workof an Editor?

An objectioncould be raisedagainstthe argumentsadvancedthus far. Accordingto one influentialmodernscholarlytheory,whose most prominent spokesmanis JacobNeusner,the bulk of the Talmudwas composedby latereditors.Theseeditors,claimsNeusner,verylikelyhad accessto earlier amoraic sources, but reworkedthem so exensively that at present it is impossibleto distinguishearlyfrom late in the talmudicsugya,to differentiate the contributionof the amoraimfromthat of the editors.29Perhapsthe patternsdescribedabove, therefore,shouldalso be viewedas the invention of later editors. That is, the editorswho composedthe bulk of the Talmud perhapsinventedthe dialogues,stories, and commentarydescribedabove, attributinghostileresponsesto those amoraimmost likelyto haveexpressed them, namely to contemporariesand near-contemporaries.The editors' motivemighthavebeento createa convincingportraitof earliergenerations to lend credibilityto theirclaimsto be accuratelyreportingthe opinionsand actions of earlier rabbis. According to Neusner's theory, the patterns describedabovemightbe the inventionof latereditors,and not testimonyto the attitudesof amoraimtoward their contemporaries. Alternatively,perhaps later generations created the strong negative responsesto amoraim such as Rav and attributedthem to much earlier rabbisout of respectfor the giants of the past or out of concernfor their own reputations.Laterrabbisperhapshesitatedto expresssuch sentiments

28. See the other studies by this author, cited above. 29. See, for example, Neusner, Making the Classics in Judaism, pp. 1-12 and 19-44.

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in their own names, but felt free to do so in the names of earlierscholars. Perhapslatereditors,for example,did not havethe audacityto openlyinsult or express ambivalencetoward Ray, and thereforeattributedsuch sentiments to Shmuel, Rav's contemorary. Neusner'stheoryregardingthe role of the editors,however,is problematic. The characterof the Talmudon virtuallyeverypagebetraysits character as a patchworkquilt ratherthan the flowingdiscourseof an individualsage or a coodinated team of editors. As the researchesof David Halivni, ShammaFriedman,and many others have abundantlydemonstrated,the Talmudis a collection of sources of diverseorigins, much, but not all of whosediversityhas beeneliminatedby editorialactivity.30My own research has shown the dramaticdifferencesbetweenthe anonymous,editorialsections of the Talmudand the attributed,amoraicsections. The formerare mostly argumentational,multitiered,and prolix,while the lattertend much more to be prescriptive,single-tiered,and brief.The formerare editorialin character,concernedwith issuesaffectingthe totalityof the sugya,whilethe latterare concernedwith specificissues, for example,a problemarisingout of one aspect of a lengthy sugya.3' Traditionalcommentatorsfrom the medievalperiod until the present have struggledvaliantlyto view the Talmudas a seamlesswhole, and the futility of their efforts and the inadequacyof their interpretationstestify eloquentlyto the untenabilityof theirapproach.Absolutecertaintyon this issue is beyond our grasp, but despiteNeusner'sclaim to the contrary,the Talmudis most likely not the work of a lone genius or a coordinatedcommittee. The differencesbetweencontemporaryand noncontemporaryreactions to the statementsand personalitiesof rabbisare most likely the result of genuinegenerationalcontrastand are not the plannedcreationof a single author or an editoralcommittee. Perhapsit will be arguedthat earlysources,of necessity,passedthrough the handsof laterrabbis.It follows thatlatergenerationsfrequentlyallowed conflicts betweenscholarsand criticismsof earlierrabbisto pass through

30. See, for example, David Halivni, Mekorot u-Mesorot: Yoma-Hagiga(Jerusalem:Jewish Theological Seminary, 1975); Mekorot u-Mesorot: Shabbat; Mekorot u-Mesorot: EruvinPesahim; and Friedman, Perek ha-Isha Rabbahba-Bavli. For a similar argument advanced in a critique of Neusner's work on the Mishna, see Shaye Cohen, "Jacob Neusner, Mishnah, and Counter-Rabbinics," ConservativeJudaism 37 (1983): 48-63. 31. Kalmin. Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, pp. 5-7, 38-57.


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their handswithout comment.Presumablythey were awareof the implications of these accounts,and yet willinglytransmittedthem.It is only a small step, one might argue, to suppose that on occasion they also composed them. I disagree.The acts of transmissionand compositionareclearlydistinct. In every age, traditionalsourcesare transmittedby individualsand groups unwillingto or incapableof composingsuch sourcesthemselves.To use an imperfectanalogy, Jews in the modernworld transmittheir holy writings, the Bible and Talmud,despitethe fact that these books do not conformto theirown religioussensibilitiesin manyrespectsand wouldbe writtenmuch differentlytoday. The fact that editors and later amoraimtransmitstories and dialoguesperhapsforeignor repugnantto theirown sensibilitiesin no way implies that they would compose such materialthemselves. The Statements of Rav, Ray Sheshet, and Ray Yosef

It will be helpful at this junctureto discussthe specificevidenceof the sources and illustratethe argumentsadvancedabove.32 Ray

Examinationof statementsby Ray supportsmy contentionthat hostile commentaryis attributedalmost exclusivelyto contemporariesand nearcontemporaries.One amora separated from Ray by a full generation respondsnegativelyto Rav's statementsand actionswithrelativefrequency. Specifically,Ray Sheshet remarksseven times that "Ray said this while Lateramoraim,however,neverexpresscomparalying down drowsing."33 ble sentiments. 32. Statements by Rav Ashi were also analyzed in detail for the purposes of the present study. Explicit commentary attributed to Ashi contains no criticisms, insults, or complex emotional responses to statements by earlier rabbis, and the same is true of commentary by very late amoraim based on Ashi. On Pesahim 57b, Ashi criticizes Yissakhar Ish Kefar Birkai, but Yissakhar is identified, and criticized, as a wicked high priest on Pesahim 57a. On Pesahim 70b, Ashi refers to Yehuda ben Dortai as a "separatist," but Yehuda ben Dortai apears only in this one context, and we have no clear idea who he is, or even that he is a rabbi (or a Pharisee). See Hyman, Toldot Tannaim ve-Amoraim, pp. 559-560. 33. Yevamot 24b and 91a, Baba Kamma 47b, 65a, and 67b, Bekhorot 23b, and Niddah 60a. In addition, on Pesahim 109a and Kiddushin 71b, either Rav Yosef or Abaye curses statements by Rav (on Moed Katan 12b, all versions agree that the author is Abaye). Apparently, Yosef

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Shmuel's relationship with Ray, more fully documented than any other relationship between first-generation rabbis, will further illustrate my point. Due to the fact that they are contemporaries, however, the opinions they express about one another must be considered doubtful commentary. Shmuel's commentary on statements by Ray and Rav's commentary on statements by Shmuel reveal a combination of harsh opposition and fierce competition.34 Shmuel acerbically dismisses opinions by Ray with the declaration that "if Ray said this, then he knows nothing about the laws of Shabbat,"35or about defects in animals which render them unfit for human consumption,36 and the like.37 Ray Tahalifa bar Avdimi decides a case in conformity with Shmuel's view and against Rav's, and Ray declares his actions to be "ruinous."38Elsewhere, Shmuel responds in the same fashion when Ray Yosef b. d'Rav Menashya MiDevil decides in favor of Ray.39Finally, when R. Elazar reports Rav's opinion before Shmuel, Shmuel commands his attendants to "stuff Elazar with barley [animal fodder]." Among other third-generation amoraim, furthermore, reaction to Ray is either positive or impersonal, conerned exclusively with the content of Rav's statements. According to one account, Ray Hisda thirsts after statements by Ray, offering his priestly portion to the first person who quotes an unfamiliar tradition in the name of Ray.40 Ulla, a third-generation Palestinian scholar, twice expresses respect for the Babylonian sages in lofty terms. "Who will give me dust [from the graves of] Ray and Shmuel that I might fill my eyes?"41 he begs. Elsewhere, Abaya informs us that Rabbah, a third-generation amora, always follows the opinion of Ray, except in three

and/or Abaye respond to the substance of the opinions alone, but the vehemence with which they express their opposition might be fueled by animosity toward Ray, the author of the opinions. We find no hint of animosity toward Ray by either Yosef or Abaye in other contexts, however, and Yosef's or Abaye's curses are not uniquely directed against Ray. See Masoret haShas on Kiddushin 33b. 34. We also find examples of cooperation and profound respect. See Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 187-189. 35. Shabbat 53a. 36. Hullin 45b. 37. Moed Katan 12b. See also Kiddushin 44b for Rav's reaction to what he mistakenly believes is the opinion of Shmuel. See also Shmuel's sarcastic reaction on Berakhot 60b. 38. Bezah 16b. 39. Kiddushin 79b. 40. Shabbat 10b. 41. Avodah Zarah 53b and Hullin 68b.


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cases where he follows Shmuel,42and in one context Rabbahjustifies his halachicactionby explainingthatthe view he follows "issuedforthfromthe mouth of Rav."43 My point is not that talmudicaccountsof amoraicattitudestowardRay add up to a consistent,coherentportrait.I have arguedelsewherethat some accountscontain irreconcilablecontradictionsand most likely derivefrom diversesources.44My point is that on severaloccasions,negativeresponses to statementsand actionsof Ray are attributedto contemporariesand nearcontemporaries,but that suchnegativereactionsrecedeas we move laterin the amoraicperiod,ceasingaltogetherafterRav Sheshetin the thirdgeneration. The relativefrequencywith which Shmueland Ray Sheshetcriticize statementsand actions by Ray increasesthe likelihoodthat theirreactions are fueledby strongfeelingstowardRav as a personand are not disinterested evaluationsbasedsolelyon the meritsof the case. Verylikely,thesenegative responsesderivefromthe earlyamoraicperiod,close to the timeof Rav reaction himself,and reliablydepictcontemporaryand near-contemporary to Rav, even if the reactionsare not alwaysthose of Shmueland Sheshet themselves.

Rav Sheshet

Analysisof amoraiccommentarybasedon statementsby Rav Sheshet,a third-generationBabylonian amora, further illustratesthe claims made above. Sheshetand contemporariesand near-contemporaries occasionally criticize one another, in contrast to later amoraim, who never criticize Sheshet. Sheshet'shostilitytowardRav was mentionedabove. In his only objection againsta statementby Shmuel,in contrast,Sheshetexpressessurprise I could discernno that a "greatman like Shmuelwould say such a thing."45 42. Shabbat 22a. 43. Sanhedrin 72a. Our texts read Rava, but in light of Rabbah's preference for the views of Rav, it seems likely that Rabbah is referred to. In general, manuscript variation between the names Rava and Rabbah is so common that even when all versions agree, we cannot be certain which amora is referred to. See Kalmin, "Friends and Colleagues or Barely Acquainted?" pp. 125-135, esp. pp. 129-130. 44. Kalmin, "Saints or Sinners, Scholars or Ignoramuses?" pp. 187-190. 45. Niddah 70a.

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qualitativedifferencebetween Shmuel'sand Rav's statements,suggesting that the tone of Sheshet'scriticismsis attributableto his unfavorableopinion of Ray, separatedfromhim by a generation,andnot merelyto disapproval of Rav's views in these specificcontexts.46Elsewhere,Rava mightonce criticize Sheshet, referringeither to Sheshetor to Ray Ahdevui bar Ami and (also a third-generationamora)as "a childwho debasedhis mother,"47 in anothercontextperhapsdeniesRamibarHama'sclaimthatSheshetis an extraordinaryman.48 It is difficultto view Sheshet'sresponsesto Ray as inventionsby later generations,and the samemay be trueof Rava'sresponsesto Sheshet,since the criticaltone of both is unprecedentedin late amoraicliterature.Very likely, these attitudesderivefrom the amoraicperiod,close to the time of Sheshethimself.

Rav Yosef Analysis of statementsby Rav Yosef yields patternssimilarto those describedabove. Yosef occasionally criticizescontemporariesand nearcontemporaries,respondingto themas peopleandnot simplyreactingnegatively to the substanceof their statements. Yosef's boastful claim of responsibilityfor the death of Rav Ada bar Ahava, for example,was discussedabove. In anothercontext,he questions the reliabilityof R. Evyatar, a second-generationPalestiniansage, and offers as proof Evyatar'sviolation of the halacha.49 but in the Yosef criticizesseveralother statementsby contemporaries,50 above two contextsit is clearthat his reactionis fueledby ill-feelingtoward the individualand not merelymomentaryangeror irritationin responseto

46. See also Moed Katan 24b for Sheshet's comment on a statement by R. Yizhak, a thirdgeneration Palestinian sage. See also Shabbat 43a-b. 47. Baba Batra 9a-b. 48. Baba Mezia 16a. Rami bar Hama exclaims "Behold the man [i.e., Sheshet] and behold the objection!" Rava remarks "I see the man, but I do not see the objection." Perhaps Rava shares Rami's high opinion of Sheshet, but simply denies that in this particular instance Sheshet's argument is decisive. On the other hand, perhaps Rava suggests that Sheshet is a man and nothing more, in contrast to Rami, who implies that Sheshet is an extraordinary man. 49. Gittin 6b. 50. See Shabbat 142b, Eruvin 29a, and Pesahim 52b. See also Zevahim 118b.


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specific statements. As the chronological distance grows, however, the importanceof the individualfades, and the substanceof statementsby earlier rabbis becomes the exclusiveconcern of Yosefs commentary.Yosef twice criticizesstatementsby rabbisseparatedfromhimby morethan a generation,but most likelyhe reactsto the substanceof the statementandbears no special ill-feelingtoward the statement'sauthor. Specifically,in one context Yosef is troubledby R. Yehudaha-Nasi's silence during Avdan's attemptedhumiliationof R. Yishmaelb'R. Yosi, and criticizeshis inaction.5"No specialill-feelingtowardYehudaha-Nasiis revealedby Yosef'sstatement,whichis merelycriticismof his actionsin one specificcontext. Elsewhere,Yosefcriticizesa tanna,R. Hillel,52exclaiming, "May his master[i.e., God] forgiveR. Hillel"for claimingthat "Therewill be no Messiahfor Israel, for they alreadyenjoyedhim duringthe days of Hezekiah."Hillel's opinion, however,is clearlyat odds with the common rabbinicbeliefin the comingof the Messiah.Yosefmost likely reactsto the substanceof the statement,a reactionnot fueledby particularconcernfor the characterof its author, R. Hillel.53 Only in the cases discussedabove does Yosef respondcriticallyto statementsby rabbiswho predatehim by morethan a singlegenerationor more. Most likely, the talmudicrecordof Yosef's negativeresponsesto contemreflectshis actual attitudes,or contemporariesand near-contemporaries of what Yosefs attitudeswere. poraryconceptions Does the TalmudSupply Accurate Information About IndividualSages? Two Case Studies Rava and Rami Bar Hama

As a result of my findings,we are able to describewith greaterconfidence rabbinicattitudestowardcontemporariesand near-contemporaries. 51. Yevamot 105b. 52. Sanhedrin 99a. 53. See also Gittin 56b, where either Yosef or R. Akiba reacts to Yohanan ben Zakkai's failure to respond effectively to Vespasian, the future Roman emperor, just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. According to Yosef or Akiba, God deliberately confounds Yohanan's speech, directly intervening at this criticial juncture in Jewish history and causing Yohanan to request a scholarly refuge at Yavneh rather than an end to the Roman siege. Yosef (or Akiba) does not criticize Yohanan, but rather transforms the encounter into an act of God, eliminating Yohanan's responsibility for the final outcome.

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It remainsto be seen whetherthe sourcespermitus to make accuratestatements about individualrabbis, or only about generationsor periods. If Abaye, Rava, and R. Yirmiyaexpresscontemptfor one another,for example, can we only state in generaltermsthat some middle-generationBabylonian amoraimwho moved to Palestineclashedwith sageswho remained in Babylonia,or can we draw conclusionsabout the specific individuals mentioned?I will concludethat in some cases, the Talmudverylikely preserves accurateinformationabout individualrabbis. Absolute certainty, however,is not yet, and may never be, completelywithin our grasp. Analysis of amoraic commentarybased on statementsby Rami bar Hama, a third and fourth-generationBabylonian amora, for example, reveals that Rami bar Hama is of intense concern as a person to Rava, Rami's younger contemporary,but not at all to subsequentgenerations. Rava'sattitudetowardRami can best be describedas ambivalent.The two amoraimare portrayedas subordinatesof Rav Hisda, and on one occasion are depicted as study partners.Both are Hisda's sons-in-law,with Rami predeceasingRava and Ravamarryinghis widow.Theirlives, therefore,are intimatelyintertwined,and supplyclearmotivationfor a complexrelationship. Psychohistoryis a perilousundertakingwhenappliedto talmudicpersonalities,however,and we must be carefulto avoid the anachronisticprojection of modernpreoccupationsonto ancient personalities.I note these detailsbecausethey mayshedlighton otheraspectsof theirrelationship(see below), but whateverconclusionswe draw must be consideredextremely tentative. Rava's strongest expression of disapproval toward Rami comes in responseto Rami's refusalto count Rav Menashyabar Tahalifaas one of threelearnedmen includedin the preliminaryinvitationto say the blessing after meals.54Rami considersMenashyato be an am ha-arez,a less than full-fledgedmemberof the rabbinicelite, and thereforeexcludes him. A reportof Rami'sdeath follows, and Rava claimsthat Rami died becauseof his exclusionof Menashya,implyingthat Rami'sdeath cameas punishment for the insufficientrespecthe displayedtoward another scholar. Rava'sambivalentattitudetowardRamiis most clearlyexpressedin one contextin whichRamiinduceshis superior,Hisda,to reverseroles and perform a menialtask on Rami'sbehalf,like a studentservinghis teacher.In exchangefor Hisda'sservice,Rami agreesto revealhis interpretationof a

54. Berakhot 47b.


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mishna. Rava reacts with amazementand very likely more than a hint of jealousy in responseto Hisda's acceptanceof Rami's argument,which he thinks is faulty. Someone whose master favors him can do whateverhe pleases without losing his master'sfavor, exclaimsRava, and proceedsto refute Rami's reasoning."5 Rava'sambivalentattitudetowardRamiis verylikelyindicatedby three contexts in which Rava creditsRami with harifut,sharpnessand keen discernment,but claims that this very strengthled him to shabeshta,careless error(see above).56The fact that Rava singlesout Rami for criticismin diverse contexts, furthermore,increasesthe likelihood that he respondsto Rami the person and not merelyto the substanceof Rami's statements.57 Rava portraysRami as a formidablebut one-dimensionalscholar, a portrayal also found in the story which unfavorablycomparesRami to Rav Sheshet,examinedin detail above. As indicated above, Rava's attitude toward Rami is totally without parallel in later amoraic literature,and later generations are therefore unlikelycandidatesfor authorshipof Rava'scommentaryon Rami. Despite some obscurities,severalaspectsof Rava'sattitudearecomprehensible,and the portraitwhichemergesis perfectlybelievableas the ambivalentreaction of one rabbito a contemporary.Given the presentstateof our knowledge,I see no reason to deny that the TalmudpreservesRava's actual attitude toward Rami, or at least remnantsof this attitude,since a completepicure does not emergefrom the scatteredfacts about theirrelationshipprovided by the Talmud. We must also make allowancesfor a degree of editorial standardizationwhich all amoraicstatementshave undergone,and cannot presumeto have Rava'soriginalwords.8"Werewe to have a more complete recordof amoraicreactionto Rami, furthermore,we might discoverdifferent versions of Rava's attitudetoward Rami, perhapsindicatingthat the Talmudprovidesdirectaccessnot to Rava'sattitude,but to the nextgeneration's versionsof what that attitudewas.

55. See also Yoma 22b. 56. Eruvin 90a, Baba Mezia 96a-b, and Niddah 33a-b. 57. In two of the three cases (Eruvin 90a and Baba Mezia 96a-b), it is unclear whether the phrase in question was authored by Rava or by the anonymous editors. Rava is most likely the author, however, for as we will argue below, the anonymous editors do not criticize amoraim. See also Halivni, Mekorot u-Mesorot. Eruvin-Pesahim, pp. 233-234. 58. See William Scott Green, "What's in a Name? The Problematic of Rabbinic 'Biography,"' in Approaches to Ancient Judaism: Theory and Practice, ed. William Scott Green (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1978), pp. 77-96.

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R. Yirmiyaand His Babylonian Contemporaries

Amoraiccommentaryon statementsby R. Yirmiya,and Yirmiya'scommentaryon statementsby contemporariesand predecessors,furtherillustrate my claim that the Talmudvery likely supplies accurateinformation about individualrabbis.Onceagain,however,we will be disappointedif we approachthe sources expectingabsolute proof. Yirmiya, it is importantto bear in mind, is a third-generationamora who beganhis careerin Babyloniaand eventuallymovedto Palestine.With rareexceptions,Yirmiya'scommentaryreflectshostilitytowardcontemporary and near-contemporary Babylonianamoraim.For example,commenton statements ing by Rav Sheshet,59Rabbah,60and Rav Nahman,6'Yirmiya deridesthe "stupidBabylonians"who make "obscurestatements"because they live in a darkland. I can discernno qualitativedifferencebetweenstatements by the "stupidBabylonians"and statementsby anotherBabylonian, Rav Yosef, which Yirmiyafar more respectfullyopposes,62supportingmy contentionthat the tone of Yirmiya'scommentaryis fueledby reactionnot only to the substanceof the statementsbut also to the authorsthemselves. Yirmiya's Babylonian contemporariesand near-contemporariesrespond to Yirmiyawithcomparablesentiments.Abayeonce refusesto accept an opinionreportedto him in Yirmiya'sname,but acceptsthe sameopinion reportedto him later on in the nameof R. Yohanan.63Abaye remarksthat "if I had been worthy,I wouldhavelearnedthe traditionin the firstplace," althoughhis exactmeaningis not clear.Perhapshe faultshimselffor his initial refusal,and arguesagainstthe introductionof issuesof personalityinto halachic matters.Alternatively,perhapshe reasons as follows: The statement was first reportedto him in the name of an unacceptableauthority, causinghim to post one memorizationof a correctopinion. Evidently,reasons Abaye, he was lackingin meritto beginwith, and the heavenlypowers hinderedhis learning.In any event, this passage attests to contemporary

59. Pesahim 34b. 60. Yoma 57a and Menahot 52a. The printed editions read Rava in both places, but Rabbah is preferable chronologically. 61. Bekhorot 25b. See also Zevahim 60b. See also Sanhedrin 24a, where Yirmiya ridicules Babylonian learning. 62. Zevahim 44a-b and 100b. 63. Shabbat 21b.


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animosity toward Yirmiya missing from later commentaryon his statements. Along these same lines, Rava uses Yirmiyaas illustrationof his point that Babylonianscholarsare superiorto Palestinian.While in Babylonia, claims Rava, Yirmiya failed to understandrabbinicdiscourse,but upon movingto Palestinehe becamean esteemedscholarwho ridiculeshis Babylonian superiors.Rava argues that the standardsare lower in Palestine, allowinga scholarof Yirmiya'scaliberto rise abovehis contemporariesand ridiculehis Babyloniansuperiorswith impunity.Elsewhere,Rava displays knowledgeof, and discomfortwith, one of Yirmiya'sinsultingreferencesto the "stupidBabylonians."Ravarejectsan argumentadvancedby his subordinate, Rav Papa,remarkingthat "up until now they have calledus stupid, now they will call us the stupidamongthe stupid."64Rava acceptsthe logic of Yirmiya'sargument,but is stung by his criticismof Babylonianscholars.65 The situation changes dramaticallywhen we turn to commentaryon statementsby Yirmiyaby amoraimwho postdatehim by a singlegeneration or more. In contrast to Yirmiya'srelationshipswith contemporaries,we find no hint of hostilitytowardYirmiyain lateramoraiccommentaryon his statements. Abaye and Rava, therefore,expressstrongnegativefeelingstowardYirmiya, which Yirmiyain turnexpressestowardthird-generationBabylonian contemporaries.Yirmiya'sattitudesare expressedin stereotypicalfashion, and have verylikelygone througha processof editorialstandardization,but I see no reasonto denythat the Talmudaccuratelypreservesthe basictenor of Yirmiya'sattitudestowardBabylonianscholarsand Babylonianreaction to Yirmiya.As noted above, however,were we to have a more complete record of amoraic attitudestoward Yirmiya,we might discoverdifferent versions of his relationshipswith contemporaryBabylonians. Perhaps, therefore,the Talmuddoes not providedirectaccessto Yirmiya'srelationbut to the nextgeneraships with contemporariesand near-contemporaries, tion's conception of what these relationshipswere.

64. Yoma 57a. 65. For another disapproving remark by a Babylonian rabbi directed at Yirmiya, see Rav Aha bar Yaakov's comment on Niddah 23a.

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RICHARD KALMIN Implicationsfor Study of the Talmud'sAnonymousCommentary

In the following discussion,I argue that commentaryby the Talmud's anonymouseditorsis clearlydistinguishablefromcommentaryby amoraim, particularlycontemporaryamoraim.First,anonymouscommentary,unlike commentary by amoraim (both contemporaryand noncontemporary), occasionallyneutralizesthe criticismsof rabbiscontainedin their sources and makes peace between sages when the sources portray conflict.66 Amoraim,both contemporaryand noncontemporary,do not display the same tendencyto reduceconflict and neutralizecriticism.Second, anonymous commentary,unlikecommentaryby contemporaryamoraim,is completely devoid of criticismof sages and is concernedmuch more with the substanceof a statementthan with the statement'sauthor. The first characteristicmentionedabove, it bears emphasizing,distinguishes anonymouscommentaryfrom commentaryby all amoraim,both contemporaryand noncontemporary.The second characteristicdistinguishesanonymouscommentaryfromcontemporaryamoraiccommentary, but not from commentaryby noncontemporaryamoraim. Because the Talmud'seditorial commentaryis anonymous, it is frequentlydifficultto differentiatebetweenthe anonymouscommentaryand the amoraicsourceson whichit is based.Oftenit is only throughcomplicated criticalanalysisof a sugyathat the seamsseparatingthe editorsfrom the amoraimbecomevisible.The methodsused in this study to distinguishbetween anonymouscommentatorsand attributedsources were developed, and continue to be developed,by David Halivni,ShammaFriedman,and others,67and these methodshave found wide, but not universal,acceptance in moderntalmudicscholarship.The presentstudy, therefore,which uses Friedman'sand Halivni's methods and discovers significantdistinctions betweenamoraicand anonymousliterature,providessignificantconfirmation of the theoreticalframeworkdevisedby these scholarsfor subdividing the talmudic corpus. In the final analysis, the results obtained through

66. The anonymous editors only infrequently remove insults against earlier rabbis (see below). For the most part, they leave the offending passages untouched. Perhaps systematic study would reveal patterns to the editors' decisions to comment on certain sources and to ignore others, but I have not been able to discern any as yet. 67. See above, and see Kalmin, Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud,pp. 1-11 and 151-159, where I discuss earlier scholarship on the question.


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applicationof a theoryrepresentthe most effectivetest of the validityof that theory, and the results of the presentstudy indicate that the methods of thesescholarscontributeto our understandingof the variouscomponentsof talmudicliterature. It will be helpfulto give a briefexampleof the editors'tendencyto make peace where the sources portrayconflict. In one context, Rav's refusalto entera buildingaheadof Shmuel68 is explainedby the editorsas an attempt on Rayv's partto makeamendsfor his earliercurseof Shmuel,whichconsisted of a successfulprayerfor the deathof Shmuel'smalechildren.69 Rayand Shmuelare not bitterenemies,the editorswould have us believe.Perhaps they beganas such, but wereeventuallyreconciled,and now Ray wishesto appeasehis colleagueby showing him special respect. The editors'habit of giving both sides of an issue, of supplyingthe reasoning behindeven rejectedviews, is perhapsfurthermanifestationof their tendencyto guide earlierportrayalsof sages towardthe same positiveconclusion.The editors,in contrastto amoraim,often(butby no meansalways) avoid refutationof earlierviews, even those of Bet Shammai,whose opinions are virtuallyneveracceptedas law. They struggleto show the logic of R. Eliezer'sview, even though the final rulingalmost alwaysgoes against him, perhapsfurthermanifestationof theirdesireto protectthe reputations of the greats of the past. One othercase is relevantin the presentcontext,70furtherillustratingmy point that anonymouseditorialcommentaryis clearlydistinguishablefrom amoraiccommentary.Accordingto one narrative,the patriarch,R. Yehuda ha-Nasi,grantsfull rabbinicauthorityto Rabbahbar Hana,permittinghim to judge, to issue practicalhalachicdecisions,and to determinethe ritual statusof firstbornanimals.Ray, however,is grantedthe formertwo prerogativesbut deniedthe third,raisingthe possibilitythat Yehudaha-NasiconsidersRabbahbar Hanato be the superiorsage,in contrastto the dominant talmudicconception,which views Ray as superior." The anonymouseditors,very likely with this problemin mind, ask why Ray and Rabbahbar Hanaare treateddifferentlyby the patriarch.The editors answerby quotingRayv'sown testimonythat he was expertin the laws 68. 69. 70. 71.

Baba Kamma 80a-b. Shabbat 108a. See also the Appendix, below. Sanhedrin 5a-b.

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of firstbornanimals, and argue that Yehudaha-Nasi was concernedlest Rav's decisions in these mattersnot be fully comprehended.Rav's very expertisewas potentiallya sourceof danger,for othersless knowledgeable about the law. might observehim and arriveat misunderstandings Alternatively,the editorssuggest,Yehudaha-Nasigrantsfewerprerogatives to Rav becausehe wishes to honor Rabbahbar Hana. The patriarch wishes to bolster Rabbahbar Hana in the eyes of BabylonianJews, who might otherwisenot be inclinedto respecthim. Rav, however,will win the people's respect on his own merits, and needs no help from the patriarchate.72 As noted above, the anonymouseditors are very likely attemptingto resolvethe discrepancybetweenthis story'sconceptionof the relativemerits of Rav and Rabbahbar Hana and the Talmud'sdominantconception.The editorsare also motivatedby a desireto createharmonywherethe sources portrayconflict,whichleads to theirrefusalto acknowledgethe patriarch's actions in limitingRav's authorityas evidenceof a lack of completefavor toward Rav, or as a shrewdattempton the part of a skilled politicianto maintaincontrol over an individualhe perceivesas a potentialthreat,both of whichare plausibleinterpretationsof the story.73Instead,arguethe editors, the patriarchacted out of a desire to see that the law was properly observedand the sages properlyrespected. Perhapsmy findingshave implicationsfor datingthe Talmud'sanonymous commentary.Many scholarsbelievethat this commentarywas composed late in the talmudicperiod,but as I arguein a recentstudy, the case can hardlybe consideredclosed.74Perhapsmy currentfindingsshedlighton this difficultproblem, which has perplexedscholars for generations.Perhaps the distinctionsbetweenamoraicand anonymouseditorialcommentaryprovethat the amoraimand the anonymouseditorscannotbe the same peopleand thereforedate fromdifferenttime periods.Orthat they operated

72. In explaining the editors' alternative response, I have accepted the interpretation of Rashi and Yad Rama. These commentators read quite a lot into the editors' brief remark, but I have no fully satisfactory alternative to suggest. In any case, the editors' first response supports my contention here. For manuscript variants of this story, see Rosenthal, "Rav Ben-Ahi R. Hiyya Gam BenAhoto?" pp. 289-307. The sections of the story which Rosenthal identifies as late additions have not been included in my description of the narrative. 73. See also Ephraim Urbach. Ha-Halacha: Mekoroteha ve-Hitpathutah(Yad la-Talmud, 1984), pp. 192-193. 74. Kalmin, Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, pp. 1-11 and 51-94.


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simultaneouslybut independently,leavingbehinddifferentliteraturescomposed by differentgroups at the same time. The distinctionsbetweeneditorialand amoraiccommentary,however, might derivefrom the differentroles these commentariesplay in the sugya and tell us nothingaboutwho authoredthem or whentheywerecomposed. Amoraimwho polemicizeagainstcontemporariesand near-contemporaries are perhaps completely even-handedwhen commenting,as editors, on statementsby the same individuals.Perhapsas namedamoraimthey insult and criticize,and expresstheir dislikesand ambivalences,while as anonymous editorsthey refuseto do so, and struggleto makethe sages seem uniformly righteousand their argumentsuniformlyreasonable. To use an imperfectmodernanalogy,an authorwho signs his nameto an articlein a journalmightbe freeto expressnegativeopinionsregardinga particularpublicfigure.Theeditorsof the samepublication,however,might struggleto maintainneutrality,for exampleby solicitingcontributionsfrom authorsrepresentingopposingpoints of view. The sameindividual,in fact, in the same publication,might expresshimselfone way as an author and anotherway as an anonymouseditor, an advocateon the one hand and a disinterestedobserveron the other.To be sure,the differentrolesof editors and authorscan expressthemselvesin a varietyof ways in the modernand ancientworlds. My point is simplythat the distinctionsuggestedabovebetweeneditorsand amoraimis a reasonableone, and not an arbitraryinvention on my part. The findingsof the presentstudy, therefore,reveala contrastbetween the treatmentof rabbinicpersonalitiesin anonymouseditorialand amoraic commentary,but provideno clearanswerto the problemof the chronological relationshipbetween these two commentariesor the identity of their authors.Nothing about anonymouseditorialcommentarydefinitivelydisqualifiesthe anonymouseditorsas authorsof hostileamoraicaccounts.The amoraimand the anonymouseditorsmighthavebeenthe samepeople,and amoraicand anonymousstatementsmightbe so differentbecauseof the differingfunctionsthey played in the sugya. Summaryand Conclusions

This study argues that contemporaryand noncontemporaryamoraic commentaryare qualitativelydifferent.Amoraimoccasionallyexpresshostility or ambivalencein theirexplicitcommentaryon statementsby contem-

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porary amoraim,but respondto earlierrabbis with neutrality,as disembodied authors of authoritativetexts. Later amoraimmay criticizestatementsand opinions,but not personalities.Criticismsby contemporaries,in contrast,are far more prevalent,and are occasionallyfueledby hostilityor ambivalencetowardthe authorof a statement,and are not merelymomentary expressionsof angerin responseto specificstatements.Contemporary amoraimoccasionallyexpressthe view that a rabbiis fundamentallyflawed or inadequate,in contrastto rabbisseparatedfrom one anotherby more than a generation,who never expresssuch sentiments. Lateramoraim,therefore,are unlikelyto have inventedcommentaryor dialoguesin whichcontemporaryrabbiscriticizeone another,providedthat the criticismcan be removedwithout detractingfrom the substanceof the argument.Later amoraim are unlikely authors of hostile or ambivalent stories,providedthat the portrayalsof earlierrabbisare not totally subservient to some moral lesson, theologicaltruth, or abstractprinciple.Only emerge as likely candidatesfor contemporariesand near-contemporaries and such stories, dialogues, commentary,since only they authorshipof reveal hostile or ambivalentattitudestowardrabbisin their explicit commentaryon their statements. The patternsdescribedabove, furthermore,are most likelythe resultof genuinegenerationalcontrastand are not the plannedcreationof a single author or an editorial committee.The differencesbetweencontemporary and noncontemporaryreactionsto the personalitiesof rabbismost likely attestto the characterof rabbinicrelationshipsand attitudesthroughoutthe amoraicperiod and are not testimonyto the creativityof a later editor. As a resultof my findings,we can describewith greaterconfidencerabIn several binic attitudestowardcontemporariesand near-contemporaries. instances,in fact, thereseemedlittlereasonto denythatthe sourcespreserve accurateinformationabout specificindividualsand not merelyaboutgenerations or periods,althoughabsolutecertaintyon this issue was beyondour grasp. Commentaryby the Talmud'sanonymouseditorswas also shownto be distinguishablefrom commentaryby amoraim,sinceonly anonymouscommentaryis characterizedby attemptsto neutralizecriticismof rabbisand to make peace where the sourcesportrayconflict.This distinctionsupported the claimsof Halivni,Friedman,and othersthat the anonymousand attributedsectionsof the Talmudare detachablefrom one anotheraccordingto


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objective criteria, and that comprehensionof the sugya is facilitatedby accuratedescriptionof the distinctcontributionsof the anonymouseditors and the amoraim.These findings,however,did not permitfirmconclusions to be drawnregardingthe datingof the Talmud'sanonymouscommentary. The conclusionsof this study,finally,increasethe likelihoodthat talmudic sourcesother than those whichconformto the criteriadescribedabove originate close to the time of the individualsquoted or described.Other sourcesaccuratelypreservethe opinions(if not the actualwords)and deeds of tannaim and amoraim,or at least the next generation'sconceptionsof what those opinions and deeds were. New techniquesneed to be developed to improveour ability to identifywhich sources are late fabricationsand which are authenticallyamoraic,since the findingsof the presentstudy are applicableonly in situationswhere negativeor ambivalentsentimentsare expressed. Perhapsthe most importantcontributionof this study is the demonstrationthatthe effortis worthmaking,thatthe sourcesarevery likely susceptibleto this kind of inquiry,and that if the propermethodologies can be developed,the rewardsare likely to be substantial. Appendix: AnonymousEditorial CommentaryBased on Amoraic Statements

As noted above, the Talmud'sanonymouseditors nevercriticizesages. In the followingdiscussion,a smallnumberof passageswhichat firstglance appearto challengethis claimare shown not to constituteexceptionsto the generalpattern. A commentbased on a statementby Rav Yosef could perhapsbe construedas editorialcriticismof an earlierrabbi,but more likelyis the continuationof a dialoguebetweentwo amoraim.The commentcomesat the conclusion of a storywhichrecountsRav Safra'sand Rava'sopposinghalachic actionsin the house of Mar Yuhna.75Safrahearsa disturbingbiblicalverse in a dream,whichhe fearsis a sign of heavenlydisapprovalof his contradiction of Yosef. Yosef assureshim that he has no cause for worry,implying that Rava acted contraryto Yosef. Safraor the anonymouseditorsask why he heardthis disturbingverse,and Yosef or the editors respondthat it was 75. Hullin 133a.

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actuallyintendedfor Rava.Why,then, was it not sent to Rava, Safraor the editorsask, to whichYosefor the editorsrespondthat Ravawas in disfavor, literally,"rebuked,"and the heavenlypowers refrainedfrom direct communicationwith him. As noted above, it is unclear at first glance who speaks after Yosef assuresSafrathat he has committedno offense.Do Yosefand Safracontinue their dialogue, or have the anonymouseditors intervened?76 Most likely, the conclusionof the story is the continuationof the dialogue betweenYosef and Safra.It is consistentwith Yosef'sdisapprovalof Rava in severalother contextsand does not work as well as an additionby the anonymouseditors,who elsewhererefrainfromexplicitcriticismof earlier rabbis. Thissugya,therefore,presentsno challengeto the claimthat anonymous editors never criticizeearlierrabbis.Yosef and Safra, and not the editors, concludethe discussion,and Yosef'scriticalattitudetowardRavais consistent with his attitudein severalother contexts. We also find no clear evidenceof hostility toward R. Yirmiyaor Rav Ashi77in anonymouseditorialcommentaryon theirstatements.The editors twice inform us that a certain tradition "escaped Yirmiya,"78and once bluntly rejecthis view with the words "And it isn't so."" Both expressions are standardphrasesused in connectionwith statementsby numerousother amoraim,however,and thereis no proof that they imply hostilityor disapproval of the person whose opinion is being rejected.In seven instances, Ashi's opinions are rejectedby the anonymouseditorswith the expression berutahi or bedutahi.8oThe exactsignificanceof this expressionis not clear, but it apparentlymeans"outside,rejected,unofficial,"or "false,forged,fic-

76. The absence of the term "he said," indicating amoraic dialogue, does not decide the issue. See the discussion above. 77. In addition to the sources cited below, see Baba Mezia 104b and Hullin 56b, where Ashi's opinions are rejected by the anonymous editors with the words "And it isn't so," and see the discussion above. 78. Ketubot 15a-b and Hullin 45a. 79. Zevahim 50b-51a. 80. Pesahim I la (and parallel). Yevamot 21a and 82a, Baba Mezia 71b, Baba Batra 145a, Zevahim I l0b, and Menahot 95b.


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tional, or untrue."8"Whatever its actual meaning, it most likely does not indicate criticism of Ashi, for we find no clear-cut evidence that the editors criticize amoraim.82 JewishTheologicalSeminary New York, N.Y.

81. See, for example,Arukhha-Shalem,ed. AlexanderKohut(1878);reprinted., Vienna, 1926), vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 15; and Marcus Jastrow. Dictionary of the Targumim.TalmudBabli, Yeru-

shalmiandMidrashicLiterature(1886-1903;reprinted., New York:JudaicaPress, 1971),pp. 139 and 191. 82. See also Berakhot47b, where accordingto some versionsof the story of Rami bar Hama'sdeath,the anonymouseditorsclaimthat Menashyawasa full-fledgedrabbi,but Rami "didnot examinehim adequately."Accordingto theseversions,the anonymouseditorsaddto the criticismof Rami by injectingan elementof negligencenot explicitlypresentin Rava's statement.Themajorityof versions,whichcontainno explicitcriticismof Rami,aremostlikely correct.See DikdukeiSoferim,nn. lamed and following.

A Kabbalistic Perspective on Gender-Specific Commandments: On the Interplay of Symbols and Society Author(s): Talya Fishman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 199-245 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486944 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:15 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].



A KABBALISTICPERSPECTIVE ON GENDER-SPECIFICCOMMANDMENTS: ON THE INTERPLAY OF SYMBOLS AND SOCIETY by TALYAFISHMAN Unlike other symbolsystems,whose preciseinfluenceon culturalmores is hard to pinpoint,' Kabbalah'simpacton mainstreamJewishculturecan be traced, at least in the realm of practice,for this mysticaltheology and symbol system is rooted in law and expressedthrough ritual behavior.2 I would like to express my gratitude to Professors Caroline Walker Bynum, Elliot Horowitz, Moshe Idel, Ivan Marcus, and Elliot Wolfson, who were kind enough to read and comment on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to acknowledge fellowship assistance granted by Harvard University's Center for Jewish Studies, which freed me from teaching responsibilities, and a travel grant provided by Boston University, which enabled me to attend the First International Conference on Women and Halakha in Jerusalem, December 1986, where I delivered a lecture based on an excerpt from this paper. A different excerpt was the subject of a talk delivered at the annual meeting of the American Association of Religion in Boston, December 1987. Were it not for the sensibilities and sensitivity of my sister Leora, this piece might never have been written. 1. Recent cross-cultural writings on the relationship between symbols and the societies in which they are found have stressed the symbol's transcendent nature. Symbols are not mirrors which merely reflect societal beliefs and attitudes, nor do they, in and of themselves, determine those beliefs and attitudes. See C. W. Bynum's introduction to Gender and Religion: On the

AJS Review 17/2 (1992): 199-245

199

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Whileit would be muchharderto documentshiftsin mentalit6due to kab-

balisticinfluence,speculative of thismatterneednot be fruitinvestigation less, for halakhahis a universalmediumwithin traditionalJewishculture,

anditsconstituent legalteachgenrestransmitfarmorethantheunadorned ings. Thepresentstudyaimsat exploringthe impactof kabbalistic theology on one featureof Jewishculturallife,attitudestowardwomen'sparticipationin aspectsof Jewishritual,by examining a singletext,SeferHaKanah.3 this treatise is attributed to thefirst-century PalestiThough pseudonymous nian tanna R. Nehuniah ben HaKanah,4analysis of liturgicalpassages appearingin the text have led MichalKushnir-Oronand YisraelTa-Shema

Complexity of Symbols, edited by C. W. Bynum, S. Harrell, and P. Richman (Boston 1986), pp. 1-22; C. W. Bynum, "Women's Stories, Women's Symbols: A Critique of Victor Turner's Theory of Liminality," in Anthropology and the Study of Religion, ed. F. Reynolds and Robert Moore (Chicago, 1984), pp. 105-125. 2. The studies of Gershom Scholem, Jacob Katz, Meir Benayahu, Yisrael Ta Shema, and Ze'ev Gries have shed light on Kabbalah's relationship to various facets of Jewish society and culture which find expression in halakhic writings. Scholem's pioneering work drew attention to the ways in which kabbalistic theory and symbols led to the creation of new rituals within Jewish life. G. Scholem, "Tradition and New Creation in the Ritual of the Kabbalists," in On the Kabbalahand Its Symbolism, (New York, 1965), pp. 118-157. And see idem, Major Trendsin Jewish Mysticism (New York, 1941), pp. 28-29; idem, "The Meaning of Torah in Jewish Mysticism," in On the Kabbalah, pp. 32-86. The studies of Katz and Benayahu have done much to clarify the ways in which Kabbalah relates to existing halakhah, identifying those jurisprudential conditions which best lent themselves to kabbalistic interpretation or even adjudication, and underscoring Kabbalah's tendency to introduce stringencies into Jewish law. See, e.g., the first five essays reprinted in Jacob Katz's Halakha veKabbalah (Jerusalem, 1984), pp. 9-126; M. Benayahu, "Vikkuah HaKabbalah 'im HaHalakhah," Da'at 5 (1980). Yisrael Ta-Shma's study of a particular liturgical practice of kabbalistic origin traces the stages of a custom's evolution and utimate incorporation into the worship of non-kabbalists. Y. Ta-Shma, "El Melekh Ne'eman: Gilgulo shel Minhag," Tarbiz 39 (1970): 184-194. Ze'ev Gries's ongoing research has shed light on the ways in which kabbalistic (and particularly Lurianic) customs recorded in the margins of standard halakhic texts were incorporated into later editions of these works. Z. Gries, "Hagdarat haHanhaga keSug Sifruti be Sifrut haMusar haIvrit," Kiryat Sefer 56 (1981): 176-202. 3. The first full version of Sefer HaKanah was published in Poritsk, 1786. On the editions of this work, see M. Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah: YesodothaKabbalahshebahem, Emdatam haDatit Hevratit veDerekh 'Izzuvam haSifrutit (Jerusalem, 1980), pp. 51-52. Page references to Sefer HaKanah in this paper correspond to the Cracow, 1894 edition, reprinted in Jerusalem, 1973. 4. The patent falseness of Sefer HaKanah's claim to antiquity was pointed out in the sixteenth century by R. Moses Cordovero in Shi'ur Komah (Jerusalem reprint of 1883), p. 80a.

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to suggestthat SeferHaKanahwas writtenin the late fourteenthor earlyfif-teenth century in the Byzantine world, perhaps in northern Greece.5 Attemptsto identifySefer HaKanah'sauthor are as yet inconclusive.6 The entire treatise is cast as a dialogue between a pupil, who rages againstthe errorsand logical inconsistenciesinrabbinicreasoning,and the pupil's grandfather/teacher,who respondsto his charges.These responses set forth kabbalisticexplanationsof the commandments,roughlyfollowing the order of laws as they appearin Moses of Coucy's thirteenth-century Sefer MizvotGadol(a work which itself slightlymodifiedthe sequenceof laws found in Maimonides'fourteen-volumecode, the MishnehTorah). However,the structureofferedby the topic headingsof Sefer HaKanahis not borne out within each section.The questionsand challengesraisedby the pupilare oftenrelatedto the sectionheadingonly by remoteassociation, do not follow any discernibleorder, and are often highly repetitive. One themewhichrecurstime and againin the remarksof both pupiland teacheris the role of women in the Jewishcommunityand theirparticipation in rituallife. Commentingon this phenomenonone hundredyearsago, the historianHeinrichGraetz observedthat the text's preoccupationwith this topic made it seem as if SeferHaKanahwerethe work of a nineteenthcentury Reform Rabbinerpreaching in favor of the emancipation of women.7Yitzhak Baer(who thoughtthat the work had been composedin Spain) claimedthat the vehemenceof Sefer HaKanah'sargumentsagainst women's circumscribedrole reflectedthe anti-talmudicsentimentof the

5. Michal Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah, pp. 6-19; Y. Ta-Shema, "Heichan Nithabberu Sifrei HaKanah veHaPeliah?" in Perakim beToledot haHevrahha Yehuditbe YemeihaBeinayyim uba'Et haHadashah, Festschrift in Honor of Professor Jacob Katz (Jerusalem, 1980), pp. 56-63. A bibliography of earlier writings about these two works appears in M. Oron's article "Sefer HaKanah," Encyclopedia Ivrit, 29:868. Another possible indication of Sefer HaKanah's Byzantine provenance appears below, n. 32. 6. Steven Bowman's suggestion that the editor or final author of this work may have been R. Shem Tov b. Ya'akov Ibn Pulia, a Spanish emigr6 who was active as a scribe in Greece in the generation after 1391, builds upon the findings of Kushnir-Oron and Ta-Shma while incorporating Netanyahu's observations about the Spanish influences which the text exhibits. Steven Bowman, "Mi Hibber et Sefer HaKanah veSefer HaPeliah?" Tarbiz54 (1984-85): 150-152; B. Netanyahu, "Zeman Hibburam shel Sifrei HaKanah vehaPeliah," Salo Baron Jubilee Volume (Jerusalem, 1975), Hebrew sec., pp. 247-267. However, this hypothesis has recently been questioned. Michal Oron, "Mihu Mehabber Sefer HaPeliah veSefer HaKanah?" Tarbiz 54 (1984-85): 297-298. 7. H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden (Leipzig, 1890), 8:453.

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author'smilieuand the influenceof (unnamed)contemporaneousChristian writerswho demandedimprovementsin the statusof women.8Horodetzky drew attention to the ambiguityof Sefer HaKanah'sattitude,noting that whilethe pupildemandsremedyfor halakhah'sinsultto women,he is hardly partial to them.9 In the most recent contributionto this discussion, Michal Kushnir-Oron has challenged Baer's hypothesis of outside influence,notingthat questionsaboutlimitson women'sritualperformance were raised in medieval rabbinicwritings. However, Kushnir-Oronconcludes,even if the questionsposed by the pupildo reflectthe culturalconditions of the author'smilieu, Sefer HaKanahnever intendedto protest the condition of women or to fight for their greaterrights.'0 Indeed,recentscholarshiphas tendedto stressSeferHaKanah'sconservative nature," disputingthe opinions of Scholem,who referredto Sefer HaKanah's"latent antinomism,"'2and noted that the text's full heretical force later found expressiononly laterin the Sabbatianmovement,'3and of Tishby, who describedthe pupil'sattackson the rabbiniclifestyleas being even strongerthan those of the philosophers.14 In contrastwith these perspectives, Kushnir-Oronmaintainsthat Sefer HaKanahcan only be mistaken for an antinomianwork if the remarksof the pupil and teacherare separated,'5for the mysticalexplanations"removethe sting"of the pupil's charges.'6

I would maintain, however, that the judgment of any reader as to whetherthe teacher'skabbalisticexplanationsultimatelyresolveand erase the student'schallengesis ultimatelysubjective,and that a differentfeature of SeferHaKanahwarrantsfurtherattentionin any attemptto evaluatethe treatise'srelationshipto the rabbinicnorm.

8. Y. Baer, Toledot HaYehudim BeSefarad HaNozrit (Tel Aviv, 1949), p. 224. 9. S. Horodetzky, HaMistorin BeYisrael, vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1952), pp. 362-363. 10. Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah, p. 267 n. 60; p. 245. 11. Ibid., pp. 1, 261. 12. Scholem, Major Trends, p. 208. 13. Scholem observed that Sefer HaKanah was the only kabbalistic work studied by Sabbetai Zevi apart from the Zohar. Major Trends,p. 292; idem, Sabbatai Zevi: The Mystical Messiah (Princeton, 1973), pp. 115-117. 14. I. Tishby, Netivei Emunah UMinut (Ramat Gan, 1964), p. 18. Tishby cites the pupil's claim that wearing zizit is "close to the behavior of madmen." 15. Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah, pp. 234-235. 16. Ibid., p. 267, n. 60.


203

True,positionstakenby SeferHaKanah'steacherin mattersof halakhic

tendencyof Kabbalahto alignitself disputeoftenreflectthe demonstrated thelegalnormis thesubjectof conwhere withthemorestringent viewpoint While often led to the emergenceof new kabbalisticthought troversy."7 rituals,'"it also lent reinforcementto stringentopinionswhichhad formerly

beentheprovinceof pietistsalone,andsometimes pietistsof a singleregional culture.'9SeferHaKanah'sdeviationfrom the halakhic"norm"in many cases hardly seems to have stemmedfrom the author'skabbalisticbeliefs, but rather,reflectsthe text's indebtednessto minorityand pietistic viewpoints recordedin conventionalhalakhicsourcesfromthe Talmudonward. In such cases the author merely utilizes the conceptualvocabularyof Kabbalahto provideex postfacto justificationsof such stringenthalakhic positions. SeferHaKanahmust thereforebe contrastedwith worksof Kabbalah which transformedJewish law in a revolutionarymanner,20and would seem to be a "standardbearerof conservatism."2' On the otherhand,SeferHaKanahis uniquein takingthe uncompromising position that mizvot(and rabbinicliterature)can only be understood kabbalistically.22Examinationof several such kabbalisticinterpretations revealsthat they, at times,justify the teacher'sadoptionof positionswhich deviatefrom the halakhicnorm in theirstringency.23 Indeed,SeferHaKan-

17. See below, n. 25. 18. Scholem, "Tradition and New Creation in the Ritual of the Kabbalists," in On the Kabbalah, pp. 118-157. 19. Just as the Zohar has been shown to have certain Ashkenazi influences, so too, Ashkenazi influences on Sefer HaKanah may be seen in the teacher's rulings regarding women's performance of milah and fashioning of zizit. On Ashkenazi influences on the Zohar, see J. Katz, "Hakhra'ot HaZohar beDivrei Halakha," Halakha veKabbalah(Jerusalem, 1984), pp. 38-39.; I. Ta-Shma, "Be-era shel Miriam: Gilgulei Minhag Ashkenaz beSe'udah Shelishit shel Shabbat," Mehkerei YerushalayyimbeMahshevet Yisrael 4 (1985): 269-270. On the connection between Ashkenazi and Byzantine Jewish culture, see I. Ta-Shma, "Derush Ashkenazi-Zorfati Kadum leMidreshei Bereshit veVayikra Rabba, Mekhilta veSifrei beKhtav Yad," Tarbiz 55 (1985): 61-75. 20. Nathan of Gaza, Sabbetai Zevi, and Abraham Miguel Cardozo might all be regarded as kabbalists who attempted to radicalize halakhah in a revolutionary manner. 21. Following Rivka Schatz, "Harut 'al HaLuhot," YediyotAharonot, 22 Kislev 1978, p. 4. 22. Kushnir-Oron, HaPeLiah veHaKanah, p. 236, and see above. 23. The sixteenth-century kabbalist R. Moses Cordovero condemned Sefer HaKanah for this reason. Shi'ur Komah (1883 ed., reprinted Jerusalem, 1966), p. 80a.

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at times outstripsthe Zohar25in its penchant ah, like Ra'aya Meheimna,24 for halakhicstringency.26 Thus, while my own analysisof the relevantsourcesleads me to concur with Kushnir-Oron'sobservationthat SeferHaKanah'sauthoris no champion of women'sbroaderparticipationin Jewishritual,it also revealsthat the treatise does not merely reaffirmthe halakhic status quo. Far from advocating additional opportunitiesfor women's participationin ritual activities,SeferHaKanah'skabbalisticperspectivein fact depriveswomenof various opportunitiescodified in mainstreamrabbiniclegislation. Though the adoption of a position more stringentthan the halakhic norm is well known as a characteristicof Jewishpietism(i.e., hasidut)in its varioushistoricalmanifestations,it would be incorrect,I think,to view the perspectiveof SeferHaKanah'steacheras pietistic.The pietistembracesthat which he views as a higher standardvoluntarily,i.e., as a supererogatory measure,in full recognitionof the fact that halakhahconstitutesthe norm by which the communityas a whole is bound.27The perspectiveof Sefer HaKanah'steacher,on the otherhand,mightbe characterizedas "hypernomian", insofaras he regardsthe higherstandardas the only standard,and identifies it with the universallybinding halakhic norm. Ironically, the teacher's"hypernomism"effectivelypreventswomenfromengagingin their own form of pietisticor supererogatorybehavior-that is, from assuming the observanceof ritualswhich are not requiredby law. TheHistoricalDimension The typologicaldiversityof the pupil'scriticisms,the incisivenessof his attacks, his impassionedmanner,and the sheerfrequencyof his comments 24. Scholem, Major Trends, p. 177. 25. See Katz, "Hakhra'ot HaZohar," pp. 47-48. Though a later testimony, R. David Ibn Abi Zimra's categorical statement may be taken as emblematic of Kabbalah's conservative influence on the evolution of halakhah. He declared that where the law itself is the subject of dispute, kabbalistic considerations led him to embrace the more stringent option. She-elot UTeshuvotHaRadbaz, IV.80. 26. Ta-Shema, "El Melekh Ne-eman," pp. 184-194, and Katz, "Hakhra'ot haZohar," pp. 39-43, discuss the divergent teachings of these two kabbalistic works regarding the recitation of Shema'. Sefer HaKanah deviates from the zoharic tradition of repeating the last three words of Shema', a practice which was halakhically problematic, declaring instead that the words to be repeated were "Ani Adonai Eloheikhem"-a practice which was halakhically irreproachable. 27. See H. Soloveitchik, "Three Themes in Sefer Hasidim," AJS Review 1 (1976): 311-358.


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pertainingto women'sritualobligationsall give rise to the questionof whetherSeferHaKanahmay not be reflecting-or even addressing-a topic which was of special social relevancein the time and place of the work's composition. A brief glance at featurespeculiar to the religious life of womenin Byzantium(both Jewishand Christian)may facilitatespeculation about the historical dimension of Sefer HaKanah'sinterest in genderspecificcommandments. Jewish women in the Byzantineworld enjoyed certaineconomic and social powersrelativeto theirhusbandswhichwereunknownin Ashkenazic and Sephardiclands. Rabbiniclegislationrecognizedtwo categoriesof possessionswhich a bridebroughtwith her at the time of her marriage.28 Anything in the category of nikhsei tzon barzel, literally "iron sheep possessions,"was to becomethe full responsibilityof the husbandfor the duration If the marriage of the marriage,and indeed,was consideredhis property.29 was dissolved,the husbandhad to returnthesepossessionsto his wife,while he himselfsustainedany gain or loss resultingfrom theirmanagement.On the other hand, the husbanddid not assumeresponsibilityfor possessions referredto as nikhseimelug.Thoughhe mightadministerthesefundsduring the course of the marriageand benefit from any usufructwhich accrued, they were technicallythe propertyof his wife.30 The one exceptionto this pattern-which attractedthe attentionof Jews from other lands-developed withinthe Romaniyottraditionof Byzantine Jewry.3"Writingin sixteenth-centuryConstantinople,the Spanishemigre R. Jacob Ibn Habib mentionsin a responsumthat he has heardof a marriage custom which the RomaniyotJews observe very strictly.No matter how large a woman's nedunya,he writes,the RomaniyotJews hold that a husbandhas no rightsto it. Even if it is in the form of movablegoods or money,the husbandmay only do businesswith it if it is kept by the woman. The upshot of this arrangement,he notes, is that the woman alwayshas an eye on her property.32

28. M. Yeb. 7:1-2; B. Yeb. 67a. 29. This corresponded to the nedunya, or dowry. 30. See Mordecai Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine: A Cairo GenizaStudy, vol. 1 (Tel Aviv and New York, 1980), pp. 299 f. 31. See S. Assaf, "LeHayyei HaMishpaha shel Yehudei Byzantz," in S. Krauss Jubilee Volume (Tel Aviv, 1936), pp. 172 ff. 32. The contrast between this Romaniyot tradition and that of the Castilian Jews is apparent in Ibn Habib's concluding comment that while the custom of the "Romaniscos" is a wise one (and perhaps wiser than his own), the Castilian emigr6s are nonetheless correct to retain

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A thirteenth-centuryaccount pertainingto the disbursementof the nedunyafollowing the wife's death reveals additionalevidenceof the unusual economicpower of Romaniyotwomen. R. Isaiahdi Tranithe Elder (1180-1250) writes that while in most lands a husbandinheritedhis wife after her death (unlessshe had no offspring),33 in lands whereRomaniyot traditionwas followed, a husbanddid not inheritthe wife'spropertyupon her death, unless a specificstipulationto that effecthad been made at the time of marriage(i.e., kiddushin).34 Is it possiblethat the unusualeconomic powers of Romaniyot Jewish women (relative to their Ashkenazi and Sephardicounterparts)may have had some impacton theirplacein Jewish rituallife-as was the case with the nashimhashuvot("importantwomen") of medievalAshkenaz?"Might the economic and social powersof Jewish women in Byzantium(whetheror not accompaniedby a change in their place in ritual life) have troubledhalakhists,and particularlyoutsidersto the region,who, like JacobIbn Habib, fearedthat this phenomenonmight spread?Whilethereis no evidenceto substantiatesuchhypotheses,thismay be due to our relativeignoranceaboutJewishculturein Byzantiumas compared with other Europeanlands.36

their own custom, whereby a husband takes the property which a wife brings into the marriage, "even if it is thousands of gold dinars-and he treats it as if it were his inheritance from his own father." "She-elot U-Teshuvot R. Ya'akov Ibn Habib Ba'al Ein Ya'akov 'al Inyan Sivlonot" on Even HaEzer 43, in Zera' Anashim, ed. D. Frankel (Husyatin, 1902), p. 82. Sefer HaKanah's discussion of a husband's access to the nedunya,or dowry, may well reflect this unique regional practice, for the treatise's author can apparently conceive of situations in which the husband does not take responsibility for the nedunya-a situation which could only have arisen among Romaniyot Jews: "If [emphasis added] the husband took upon himself responsibility for the nedunya, then he is obligated, and all the benefits and risks are his, as in any other debt. And this is called nikhsei tzon barzel. And if [emphasis added] the husband did not take that responsibility upon himself, then all [the property] belongs to the woman, and the husband has no claims on this property. Rather, he benefits from the usufruct, and the capital belongs to the woman. And that property for which the husband did not assume responsibility is called nikhsei melug." Sefer HaKanah, p. 201. 33. In this case, all or half of the nedunyawould revert to her heirs from her parents' house. 34. TeshuvotRid, no. 67, Wertheimer ed. (Jerusalem, 1967), pp. 331 ff.; cf. Steven Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium, 1204-1453 (Tuscaloosa 1985), p. 125. Assaf speculates that this tradition may have been influenced by Karaite practice. Assaf, "LeHayyei HaMishpaha," pp. 173-174. 35. On nashim hashuvot, see below. 36. Describing the study of Byzantine Jewry as the "stepchild of Jewish scholarship," Ankori sets forth some of the factors responsible for its relative neglect. Z. Ankori, foreword to Bowman, Jews of Byzantium pp. ix ff.


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Researchpertainingto Christianwomenin Byzantiumrevealsthat to spiritual womenwhowishedto devotethemselves lifemodeledaspectsof theirownbehavioron thatof themaleclergy.Liketheirmorecomprehenin theLatinWest,suchwomentookupresidence sivelystudiedcounterparts in specialhouses,and,in somecases,performed sacraments whichweretraandevenoffering ditionallytheprovinceof men,suchashearingconfession, In theByzantine "masseswithoutpriests."37 East,asin theLatinWest,such to women's exerciseof spiritualauthority phenomena provokedopposition to the creation and enforcement of theautonandled legislationrestricting women'sappropriWhileChristian omyof womenin thereligioussphere.38 maleavenuesof spiritualexpressionandthe conseationof traditionally for the LatinWest,the quentbacklashhavebeenfar betterdocumented churchin the Easthad additionalreasonsto be concernedaboutascetic behavior unregulatedby ecclesiasticalcontrol, for in Byzantinelands the churchwas facedwith extrememanifestationsof renunciation(e.g., Stylites) which seemed uncomfortablyclose to the heresyof Manicheanism.39

in Christendom Awarenessof thesedevelopments promptsspeculation

about possibleparalleltrendsin medievalJewishculture.Are theregrounds

for assumingthe existenceof realcritics,maleor female,withinJewish society,who resentedthe exemptionof womenfromvariouscommand-

37. On women in Byzantium, see Judith Herrin, "In Search of Byzantine Women: Three Avenues of Approach," in Images of Women in Antiquity, ed. Averil Cameron and Amelie Kuhrt (Detroit, 1983), pp. 179 ff. On women in Latin Christendom, see Suzanne F. Wemple, Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500-900 (Philadelphia, 1985), pp. 149-174; E. McLaughlin, "Equality of the Soul, Inequality of Sexes: Women in Medieval Theology," in Religion and Sexism, ed. Rosemary Ruether (New York, 1974), pp. 237 ff.; Micheline de Fontette, Les religieuses c Il'dgeclassique du droit canon: Recherche sur les structuresjuridiques des branchesfiminines des ordres (Paris, 1967), passim; H. Grundmann, Religiose Bewegungenim Mittelalter, in Historische Studien Verlag Dr. Emil Ebering, vol. 266 (Berlin, 1935; reprint ed., Lubeck, 1965), pp. 170-319. I am grateful to Professor Emily Hanawalt for bibliographic assistance regarding women in Byzantium. 38. Among the issues discussed were the leadership roles of women in churches, the question of whether bishops had the right to enter a local convent, and whether the priest administering the sacraments had to be appointed by some ecclesiastical authority. See Herrin, "In Search of Byzantine Women," p. 180. And cf. E. Patlaegean, "L'histoire de la femme d6guis6e en moine et 1'evolution de la saintet6 feminine a Byzance," reprinted in Structure sociale, famille, chretienne a Byzance (London, 1981), pp. 613 and 614 n. 54; Joelle Beauchamp, "La situation juridique de la femme a Byzance," Cahiers de civilisation midievale 20 (1977): 150-151. On the backlash in the Latin West, see McLaughlin, "Equality of the Soul," pp. 241-244; Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, pp. 19, 20, 22, 23. 39. See Herrin, "In Search of Byzantine Women," pp. 179-180.

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ments or who advocatedthat women apropriateways of participatingin Jewishritual which were traditionallyassociatedwith male observance?If so, was thereopposition,a spiritof backlashanalogousto that whichexisted in Christiansociety?MightSeferHaKanahbe preservingvoices on both sides of a real controversywithin the author'senvironment? I have found no textualevidencewhich addresseseitherof these questions. Whileit is clear that SeferHaKanah'sauthoris ultimatelycriticalof the role which womenplay in certainJewishrituals,it is not clearwhether this criticalstancecomesin responseto live demandsfor broaderparticipation, or whetherit is an unprovokedpietistic (or hypernomian)curb on opportunities permitted by rabbinic texts. Anticipating the Messiah's imminentarrival,SeferHaKanah'sattack on the corruptionand depravity of the religiousleadersof the generationreflectsits author'szealous efforts to hasten redemption.40 Might not Sefer HaKanah'scriticism of dissolute Byzantine Jewish society also recordthe reactionsof a culturaloutsider,shockedby what he encounters?41SeferHaKanah'sobsessionswith the ritualpracticesof Jewish womenmightbe at least partiallyaccountedfor if the text is viewedagainst the backdropof rabbinicliteraturewrittenby outsidersto Romaniyotculture,both Ashkenazimand Sephardim,who commentedon the deviationof certain Byzantinepracticesform "mainstream"rabbinic legislation and judicial practice.42 Rabbinic Perspectiveson Gender-SpecificCommandments

Examinationof Sefer HaKanah'scomments on gender-specificcommandmentsagainstthe backdropof mainstreamrabbinicnotions illumin40. See Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah, chap. 10, pp. 321 ff. 41. Cf. Bowman's hypothesis that Sefer HaKanah's author or editor may have been a Spanish emigr6. See above, n. 6. 42. Criticism of Romaniyot marriage practices is found in the responsa of Isaiah di Trani. See Assaf, "Le Hayyei HaMishpaha," p. 173; 1. Ta-Shma, "HaRav Yeshaya di Trani HaZaken U-Kesharav 'im Bizantion veErez Yisrael," Shalem 4 (1984): 412. Di Trani also attempted to correct the deviant observance of laws pertaining to the menstruant's immersion in the mikvah. See Teshuvot Rid, nos. 1, 15, 22, 27, 62, and Bowman, Jews of Byzantium, pp. 123-124, 213-214. Takkanot Candia veZikhronoteha,ed. A. S. Hartom and M. D. Cassutto (Tel Aviv, 1943), ordinances 12, 15, 28, 72, which attest to the fact that the mikvah was used as a place to do laundry, tan leather, and prepare barrel ties! R. Eliyah Mizrahi criticizes Romaniyot judicial practices in a responsum written in sixteenth-century Constantinople. She-elot uTeshuvot Eliyahu Mizrahi, no. 16, and cf. Assaf, "LeHayyei HaMishpaha," p. 175.


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ates the broaderissue of Kabbalah'simpact on attitudestowardwomen's participationin aspects of Jewishritual. A tannaiticdictumrecordedin the Midrashand both Talmudslinksthe gender-specificityof certaincommandmentsboth to theirrhetoricalformulation as injunctions(i.e., positive precepts)or prohibitions(i.e., negative precepts),and to the temporalcoordinatesof performance:"Womenare Writingin thirteenthexemptfrom positivetime-boundcommandments."43 centuryProvenceor Italy,Jacob Anatoli offereda rationalefor the dictum, suggestingthat this arrangementwould makeit easierfor a wifeto attendto herhusband'sneeds.44In a variantsociologicalexplanation,the fourteenthcenturySpaniardDavid b. JoshuaAbudrahamclaimedthat the rulingwas designed to preserveshalom bayyit (family harmony) by preventingthe occurrenceof a situationin whicha woman'stwo masters(God and herhusband) issued conflictingdemands.45 Though explanationswere offeredfor this dictum, its inaccuracyas a descriptionof existingrabbiniclegislationwas nonethelessevident.The Talmud itself (along with subsequentrabbiniccommentators)labeledit devoid of prescriptivevalue.46Its very shakinesssuggestswhy the authorof Sefer HaKanahmay have selectedthe topic of gender-specificmizvotas one meriting disproportionateattention. Areas of Jewish law which are most ambiguous, inconsistent,or imperviousto reason are preciselythose which mystics regarded as ideal fora for the display of Kabbalah's graphic interpretivepotential.47 Beyond the question of the dictum'sjuridicalstatus, however,there is amplehistoricalevidence(found in rabbinicsources)that Jewishwomenof

43. Sifrei Beshallah 115; Y. Kid. 1:7; B. Kid. 29a, 34a. 44. Anatoli, Malmad HaTalmidim, Parashat Lekh Lekha, Lik ed., no. 15. 45. Sefer Abudraham, Sha'ar 3, Birkat HaMizvot. 46. Listing several positive time-bound precepts which women are obligated to perform and several positive precepts which are not time-bound from which women are exempt, the Talmud goes on to record R. Yohanan's assertion that the formula cannot be taken as authoritative, even though exceptions are noted (Kid. 34a). Elaborating on R. Yohanan's pronouncement in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Maimonides does even more to minimize the significance of the tannaitic dictum. Adding to the list of exceptions, he asserts that women's obligations and exemptions have nothing to do with the formula; rather, they stem from oral tradition, and only the teaching of tradition can be authoritative in this regard. Maimonides, Commentaryon the Mishnah, Kid. 1:7. Cf. Mishneh Torah, Hil. Akum 12:3. Three other rabbinic approaches to the dictum are explained in S. Goren, "Nashim beMizvot 'Aseh SheHazeman Geraman," Mahanayyim 98 (1965). 47. See Scholem, Major Trends, pp. 28-32.

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many periods and places actively sought to fulfill positive time-bound commandments from which they were legally exempt.48With and without rabbinic approval, whether they were the exception or the norm, Jewish women participated in rituals such as shofar,49lulav,50sukkah,5' ta'anit bekhorot(the fasting of the firstborn on the eve of Passover),52counting the days of the Pomer,53 zizit,54 tefilin,55and of course, talmud torah (Torah study).56What impelled women to undertake these practices? There is little documentation of what women themselveswere seeking. However, in rabbinic literature we find a number of explicit and implicit explanations of women's performance of commandments from which they were exempt, articulated by males who observed this behavior. (I have chosen to restrict the survey of possible 48. On women's ritual enhancement of commandments which they alone are obligated to fulfill, see C. Weissler, "The Traditional Piety of Ashkenazi Women," in Jewish Spirituality from the Sixteenth Century to the Present, ed. A. Green (New York, 1987), 2:245-275. 49. Tur, O.H. 589, and especially the testimony of Isserles, Shulhan 'Arukh, O.H. 589:6; H.Y.D. Azulai, Birkei Yosef O.H. 654:2. 50. R. Jacob of Marvege, She-elot U'TeshuvotMin HaShamayyim, no. 1; Hakham David Azulai, Birkei Yosef O.H. 654:2; idem, Yosef Omez, responsum 82. 51. R. Abraham b. David of Posquieres infers from Maimonides's words that women do not recite the blessing in the sukkah, but notes that "not all agree with him." Gloss on MT., Hil. Sukkah 6:13. Whatever the regnant practice in a given community, it would seem that women performed the commandment of sitting in the sukkah. 52. Joseph Caro noted that Sueslin Alexander HaKohen, author of the fourteenth-century Seftr HaAgudah, asserted that a woman who is the firstborn should participate in the fast, learning this from the case of Pharaoh's daughter Bitya. Caro, Beit Yosef on Tur, O.H. 470. Even those who did not hold this view asserted that mothers could fast in place of their young firstborn sons if the father was himself a firstborn. 53. See Avraham Gumbiner,Magen Avraham,O.H. 489.1 end; H.Y.D. Azulai, Birkei Yosef O.H. 489.22; R. Akiva Eiger, Responsa, addenda to no. 1. 54. See, e.g., Moses of Coucy's testimony that the wife of the tosafist R. Yehuda Sir Leon wore a tallit with zizit, and similarly, the report that a woman in the neighborhood of the Maharil wore zizit. Sefer Maharil, p. 82; Sefer HaAgur, 27. 55. Writing in the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century, R. Aaron Hakohen of Lunel noted that while R. Meir of Rothenburg had taught that "if women come to don tefilin, do not listen to them," he himself was troubled by this approach, given the assertion of R. Solomon b. Adret, who permitted women to don tefilin and recite a blessing, based on the talmudic case (Er. 96) of Saul's daughter Michal. Orhot Hayyim, Hil. Tefilin 3 (Jerusalem, 1955), p. 15. The approaches of R. Meir and of Rashba both attest to the fact that such cases existed. Cf., e.g., R. Jacob Toledano's report that the wife of R. Hayyim ibn 'Attar wore tefilin. Yam HaGadol, OH 40. The remarks of the Maharshal and the Levush would seem to imply that an exceptionally pious woman might be permitted to wear tefilin. R. Solomon Luria, Yam shel Shlomo, Kid. 1, 64; R. Mordecai Yaffe, Levush, O.H. 17.2. 56. A long list of learned women mentioned in rabbinic literature appears in R. Mordechai HaCohen, "Hinukh HaBat LeOr HaHalakha," Mahanayyim 98 (1965).


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motivesto oneswhichwomenwhoengagedin suchactivitiescouldconceivably have articulated, and have excluded explanations which they would clearly have rejected.)" One possible motive is cited in a tannaitic dispute which took place within fifty years of the destruction of the Temple: May women perform semikha, i.e., may they lay their hands on the sacrificial animal prior to its slaughter? Though the tanna kamma, i.e., the anonymous voice of the Mishnah, ruled that "sons of Israel perform semikha, and daughters of Israel do not," R. Yose and R. Shimon were of the opinion that women are permitted to lay their hands over the sacrificial animal. Adducing historical testimony in support of his position, R. Yose noted that the inclusion of women in this ritual in the days of Abba Elazar was not an indication of women's obligation to perform this commandment, but rather, a measure introduced in order that women might enjoy "peace of mind." ("Lo mipnei shehasemikha benashim, ella mipnei nahat ruah shel nashim").58 To be sure, this passage records only a hypothetical motive for women's performance of rituals from which they were legally exempt. It reflects only the perspective of a particular rabbi, and need not necessarily represent the perspective of any woman. Moreover, semikha was no longer practiced after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. Nonetheless, a number of inferences may be drawn from this statement. Firstly, R. Yose's identification of the quest for "peace of mind" (nahat ruah) as a motive for women's voluntary ritual performance implies that the desired psychological state stemmed from social context, i.e., from women's need to feel that they were not excluded from the community. Secondly, the passage cited indicates that while semikha was regarded as a gender-specific commandment when the Temple stood, this designation did not impede women's participation. Lastly, the qualifying phrase, lo mipnei shehasemikha benashim, ("not because semikha pertains to women") reveals that R. Yose viewed women's laying their hands over the sacrificial animal as a theologically meaningless act, presumably devoid of any ramifications in the realm of reward59-and yet

57. Thus, for example, I have not included the comment of R. Jacob Moellin, who said that the behavior of foolish women who wore zizit seemed like a display of arrogance. Sefer HaAgur, no. 27. Similar motives were attributed to women who wore tefilin (phylacteries) insofar as they are only to be worn in a state of ritual purity, and women, it is claimed, generally do not know whether or not they are in such a state. 58. Hag. 16b, after Sifra, Lev. 2.

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his sense of the sacral ineffectivenessof this activity did not lead him to oppose women's participation. Anotherrabbinicexplanationof the motivationbehindwomen'sperformance of ritualsfrom which they are exemptis set forth by the thirteenthcenturycommentatorR. Asherb. Yehiel,who suggeststhatsuch behavioris an expressionof an individualwoman'spietisticinclination.ExplainingR. Tam's twelfth-centuryruling that women may recite blessingsupon performingcommandmentsfromwhichthey are exempt,60R. Asherinvokesa talmudic passage found in B.K. 30a: Hai man deba'ei lemehevei hasida

leikayyemmilei deberakhot("Let that personwho would be a pietistfulfill matters of berakhot[blessings]").Where most talmudic exegetes, Rashi included,understandthe passageas one which enjoinsthe would-bepietist to engagein matterstreatedin the talmudictractateentitledBerakhot,6'R. Asher readsit rathercreativelyas an assertionthat one who wishesto be a pietist should perform deeds which call for the recitationof blessings.62 UnderlyingR. Asher'scommentis the following assumption:women who undertakeritualpracticesabove and beyondwhat they are obligatedto perform are those who seek additionaloccasionsfor the recitationof blessings, becausethey are motivatedby pietisticimpulses.Unlike the tanna R. Yose, R. Asher makes no referenceto social context, but identifiesthe spiritual yearningsof individualsas the motivationbehind a woman'sperformance of commandmentsfrom which she is exempt. Yet another rabbinicexplanationfor this behavior might be inferred from the Talmud'scommentson one aspect of Jewish ritual. The Talmud stipulatesthat whilemen arerequiredto leanwhiledrinkingthe four cups of wine at the Passoverseder,womenshouldnot lean, with the exceptionof an

59. R. Yose's perspective might be seen as having its latter-day equivalent in Yeshayahu Leibowitz's well-known assertion that women's performance of mizvot from which they are exempt is merely a form of "sport." The concrete acts which constitute the mizvot are not inherently meaningful, Leibowitz claims; theological significance is only conferred upon them by context, i.e., the fact that they feature in a contract between the commander, God, and the commanded, who in this case is male. Leibowitz asserts that there is nothing inherently sacral about such activities as donning zizit or tefilin; their religious "power" is only derived from the fact that they are commanded by God. Y. Leibowitz, "Ma'amadah shel halshah: Halakhah uMeta-Halakhah," Amudim 449, lyyar 1983. 60. Tosafot, Kid. 31a, "Delo mafkidnah." 61. Rashi, B.K. 30a. 62. R. Asher on Kid. 31a.


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"importantwoman"(ishahhashuvah).63In other words,rabbinicliterature itself teachesthat a womanwho is hashuvah,literally,"important,"is to perform a particularmizvahin a mannerwhich is otherwisecharacteristicof men, and differentfrom the mannerin whichit is performedby the female gender as a whole. What are the characteristicsof an "importantwoman"?Medievalcommentarieson this talmudicpassageindicatethat the designationis linkedto a number of factors: (a) the degree of independencea given woman enjoys-which may stemfromherhusband'shavingpermittedherconsiderable freedom,64 or fromthe fact that she is no longerboundto serveherhusband, having been widowedor divorced;65 (b) her economicstatus, including her productionof an independentsourceof income from "the fruitsof her own labor," or her "possessionof manservantsand maidservants,so that she need not be directlyinvolved with household matters";66 (c) her social class, specifically,her birthinto the educationalaristocracy;67 (d) her characterand piety.68ThoughI havebeen unableto find any explicitpictorial documentationof medievalJewishwomen recliningwhile drinkingthe four cups of wine at the Passoverseder,the literaryevidencesuggeststhat this was the case. Commentingon this talmudic passage in thirteenthcenturyGermany,R. Mordecaib. Hillel followed the Tosafot in asserting that "in our times, all womenare to be considerednashimhashuvot[important women]."69 Extrapolatingfrom these shredsof information,one mightinferthat, at least in certaincases,the natureand specificsof ritualobligationwereintentionally linked to the economic, social, and culturalstatus of a particular

63. Pes. 108a. David HaReuveni's description of the Arabic-speaking Firna, wife of Yitzhak Abudrahin, whom he met in Rome in the early sixteenth century, as an ishah hashuvah should probably not be read as a reference to her legal status. In Sippur David HaReuveni, Aescoly ed. (Jerusalem, 1940), p. 39. 64. Writing in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century, R. Eleazar b. Judah of Worms explained that an "important woman" is "one whose husband is not strict with her." Rokeah, no. 283. 65. R. Samuel b. Meir, Commentary on Talmud, Pes. 108a. 66. R. Manoah of late-thirteenth to early-fourteenth-century Narbonne, cited in J. Caro, Kesef Mishneh on Hil. Hamez U-Mazzah 7:8. 67. I.e., "the daughter of the great [scholars] of the generation." Ibid. 68. I.e., "a woman of valor [and] God-fearing." Ibid. 69. Mordecai on Pes. 108a.

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group. While halakhic regulations pertaining to women are designed for the group as a whole,70 there were, nonetheless, occasions on which individual women were recognized as exceptions and were not merely permitted but requiredto deviate from the gender-based norm. Indeed, when it came to the practice of leaning at the Passover seder, rabbinic legislation dictated that such "important women," exceptions to their gender, adopt the form of ritual expression which was characteristic of men."7In the absence of any explicit documentation, one can only speculate about whether medieval Jewish women (and men) might have been motivated to apply the principle implicit in this instance to other mizvot. Such a possibility, which is not set forth in rabbinic writings, but merely inferred from one case, might constitute a socioeconomic explanation for women's performance of commandments from which they were exempt. Finally, in the case of one particular commandment, Torah study, there is evidence that women were credited by some rabbis with having undertaken this precept out of their independent recognition that Torah study is a spiritual good unto itself. Though the following testimony postdates Sefer HaKanah, the situation it describes clearly existed in earlier centuries, in Italy if not elsewhere.72 Samuel Archivolti, a late-sixteenth- to earlyseventeenth-century Italian rabbi, actively encouraged self-motivated women in the study of Torah and felt that his colleagues should do the same. Writing to a learned woman, Archivolti offers a striking reinterpretation of the tannaitic dictum in which R. Eliezer lambasts those who offer education to girls. Indeed, Archivolti does not even think that there is a question as to whether women should learn Torah.73

70. See E. S. Rosenthal, "Al Derekh HaRov," Perakim 1 (1967-68): 183-204; S. Rosenberg, "Ve-shuv al Derekh HaRov," in Manhigut Ruhanit beYameinu,ed. E. Belfer (Tel Aviv, 1982), pp. 87-103. 71. As in the case of women, rabbinic law also identifies men who do not fit within the group as a whole, such as the mourner, the pupil who is in the presence of his rabbinic master, etc. Pes. 108a and commentaries. 72. Documents from fourteenth to sixteenth-century Italy record efforts made to provide (at least some) women with a Jewish education. See, e.g., S. Assaf, Mekorot LeToledot HaHinukh be Yisrael (Tel Aviv, 1936), 2:112-113, 121; Y. Buksenboim, ed., Iggerot Melamdim (Tel Aviv, 1986), passim; C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (Philadelphia, 1959), p. 50. See, however, Bonfil's challenge to the Burckhardtian approach of Roth and Shulvass in "The Historian's Perception of the Jews in the Renaissance: Toward a Reappraisal," in Revue des etudes juives 143 (1984): 59-82. 73. Thus, in a play on B.M. 16a he writes, "I see a woman [of worth]; I do not see a question [of worth]." Cited in Assaf, Mekorot leToledot haHinukh, 4:28-29.


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The question regardingour rabbis' saying, "[if] one teaches his daughter is not necessary,for it is Torah, it is as if he taught her tiflut [foolishness]74 the of that blessed sages memoryonly spoke of when the father possible... teachesher when she is verylittle, for "a childis known by its deeds"[Prov. 20:11]. Certainlyin such a situation there is something to be concerned about..... However,womenwho, of theirown choice,havedrawnnearto the royal work,the workof God, becausethey havechosenthat whichis good in and of itself,theywill surelyascendthe mountainof the Lordanddwellin His holy place, for they are exemplarywomen.And it is the duty of the sagesof their generationto glorify,praise,encourage,support,and strengthenthem, and from them shall the Torah go forth.75 While the tolerance for and encouragement of women's education in Italy may have been atypical of other countries,76 this passage not only underscores women's appreciation of the inherent value of Torah study, but also suggests why menfolk-father, brothers, husbands-might have been inclined to assist them in this undertaking. Sefer HaKanah on Women'sRitual Obligations In Sefer HaKanah, the pupil's criticisms of women's exemption from certain commandments suggest a range of possible other motives for their voluntary ritual performance. Several passages in the text decry the fact that such exemptive legislation deprives women of opportunities for reward. Attributing animus to the talmudic sages who exempted women from the

74. M. Sotah 3:4. 75. Cited in Assaf, Mekorot leToledot haHinukh, 4:28-29. The excerpt of this letter appearing in Baruch Epstein's Torah Temimahcommentary (Vilna, 1904) ends with the line, "Pursue [your studies] and succeed, and may heaven assist you." B. Epstein, Torah Temimahon Deut. 11:19, no. 48. 76. Recent studies suggest that more opportunities existed in Italy for the education of Christian women than in other European societies. See, e.g., Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small of the Trumpet(Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), p. 41. C. Roth's assertion that the Jewish community imitated the Christian community in granting women educational opportunities modeled on those of men has recently been challenged by R. Bonfil. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance, pp. 49-50; Bonfil, "Historian's Perception of the Jews in the Renaissance," pp. 65, 71-72.

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commandmentof shofar,the pupilexclaims,"Thehornbringsmerit,and in their anger, they exemptedher from the commandmentof the horn."77 The introductionto SeferHaKanahunderscoreswoman'sdisadvantage where salvation is concerned.To begin with, femaleshave fewerreligious obligationsthan malesand thereforefeweropportunitiesfor reward.Moreover, the authorclaims,the prohibitions,whichwomenare equallyobligated to observe,are of lesserrewardvalue than the positive commandments fromwhichthey areexempt.78This beingthe case, he continues,the exemption of women from the performanceof certainpositivepreceptsdeprives them of opportunitiesto performthose commandmentswhichwould be of greatestassistancein the final reckoning. Thepracticalconsequencesof the disparateweightsof positiveand negative preceptsare furtherspelledout in the same author'sSeferHaPeliah,a kabbalisticdiscourseon the accountof Creationin the firsttwo chaptersof Genesis, which is also constructed as a dialogue between pupil and 77. Sefer HaKanah (Cracow, 1894), p. 73b. However, in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi lands, women did hear the shofar on Rosh HaShanah, though they were legally exempt. See, e.g., R. Asher b. Yehiel on R.H. 32a; R. Nissim, loc. cit; Hagahot Maimuniyyot on M. T, Hil. Shofar 2:1. 78. As most editions of Sefer HaKanah do not contain this introduction (see Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHaKanah,p. 20, n. 2; p. 232), the following passage is taken from Kushnir-Oron, p. 65: "Thus you see that commandments of performance [i.e., mizvot ma'asiyyot] protect against the torment of Gehinnom. .... And the great proof is that, were the yoke of the reward for positive commandments not weightier/stronger than the ... punishment [for the violation] of negative commandments, then how could positive commandments come and supersede negative commandments?! Should a matter which draws no punishment if left unperformed [i.e., a positive commandment] be strong enough to supersede a matter [i.e., a negative commandment] whose performance draws punishment?" The argument that the reward resulting from the performance of a positive biblical commandment is greater than the punishment which results from the violation of a negative biblical commandment is derived from two halakhic principles. The talmudic sages ruled that where positive and negative biblical commandments are in conflict, mizvat 'aseh doheh mizvat lo ta'aseh, i.e., the positive commandment supersedes the negative commandment. See, e.g., Ber. 10a; Yeb. 3a, 5a, 7a. And in circumstances where a positive biblical commandment is in conflict with a negative rabbinic commandment, the policy is to abstain from the performance of the positive commandment, in keeping with the principle of shev ve'al ta'aseh. See Yeb. 90 a-b, and Elon, HaMishpat Halvri, 2:413 ff. Sefer HaKanah's final question is rhetorical. The very fact that the rabbis ruled that a positive commandment supersedes a negative commandment-notwithstanding the fact that the violation of a negative commandment brings punishment (and the violation of a positive commandment under certain circumstances does not)-is seen as evidence for the "strength" of the positive commandment in the realm of reward.


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In animpassioned outburst,thestudentin SeferHaPeliahgraphiteacher.79 cally describesthe female'ssoteriologicalhandicaprelativeto the male:80

Is therea greaterinjusticethanthis;thatthewomanis includedin warnings aboutpunishments,8' butis excludedfromtherewardof performing?!?82 Let

us say that she does not become defiled;she also does not arouse divine effluenceand blessing.Thus sheremainsa muterock,withoutreward.Lordof the Universe!If this woman shouldcommittransgression,with what corrective have You providedher that she mightatone for her sin?A man violates the prohibitionagainstwearingshatnez[i.e., linsey-woolsy]with impunity;83 subsequentlyhe observesthe mizvahof zizit, and the one balancesout the other,84and he is atonedfor, and has perhapsevengainedsomething.Butthis poor woman,if she commitsa transgression,woe unto her! [Even]if shedoes not transgress,with what merit can she acquireher share [in the world-tocome]? You have removedher from her purdah85to send her to perdition! What is her crime and her transgression?!86

And in the midst of a discussionof talmudichermeneuticspertainingto women and zizit, the pupil in Sefer HaKanah sarcastically reminds his teacher of the high stakes involved: "Is it better for her to have reward in the world-to-come, or to exempt her?!""87 Other critiques appearing in Sefer HaKanah charge that the exemption

of women from particularcommandmentsimpedestheirabilityto perform those mizvot which they are obligated to fulfill. In one of his many objec-

79. First published in Koretz, 1784. See Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHakanah, p. 51. 80. Sefer HaPeliah (Przemysl 1883), pt. 11 (which has its own pagination), p. 20a. 81. Kid. 35a, based on Num. 5:6. 82. Kid. 31a and elsewhere. 83. Several discussions appear in the Talmud regarding the permissibility of placing zizit of linen on a woolen garment, and vice versa. Cf. Men. 39b. Moreover, the priestly garments were made of a linsey-woolsy blend. Men. 43a. 84. See Ber. 10a, Yeb. 5a. 85. I.e., mimekom mehizatah. I have opted for this playful translation in order to approximate the alliteration of the original. 86. Play on Gen. 31:36. 87. Sefer HaKanah, p. 44b.

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tions to the exemption of women from the precept of Torah study,"8the pupil poses a rhetorical question: If women are exempt from the study of Torah, then how can they be expected to have kavvanah(i.e., the proper intention) in prayer,89which is, after all, a precept addressed to men and women alike?90 In formulating the problem in this manner, the pupil implies that women ought not only study laws pertaining to their household activities (as a number of traditional medieval adjudicators maintained),9' but that they should study the hidden meaning of the commandments as well.92 Elsewhere he notes that exemption may even leave women open to theological error-and to its grave consequences. Addressing himself to God, the pupil challenges the exemption of women from the precept of keriat shema',93 the declaration of divine unity, by invoking the kabbalistic interpretation of the first sin.94 Yihud[theunificationof God'sName]is the foundationof all mizvot,and You exemptedwomen!They are left open to destruction,for if they do not unify God,they will worshipthe sun or the moon! Eve'ssin in the Gardenwas that she did not unify God, and her lot was one of pain. Do you wish to banish woman totally from the world-to-come?95

88. Kid. 34a, following Mekhilta, Massekhta dePasha 17. Though talmud torah is not a time-bound commandment, it is integrally linked to the dictum exempting women from positive time-bound commandments by means of a two-stage hermeneutical process. (a) By means of a hekkesh, the exemption of women from the obligation to study Torah is the basis for their exemption from the precept of tefilin. (b) The subsequent hekkesh comparing tefilin to the entire Torah results in the dictum: women are exempt for positive time-bound commandments. 89. Kavvanahas a prerequisite of prayer is enjoined in Tos. Ber. 3:6, Pes. 114b, and elsewhere. A review of the debate over whether or not prayer requires kavvanahappears in E. E. Urbach, Hazal: Pirkei Emunot veDe'ot (Jerusalem, 1971), pp. 344-345. 90. Sefer HaKanah, p. 22a. 91. See, e.g., Sefer Hasidim, Freimann-Wistinetzki ed. (Frankfurt, 1924), no. 835; Isaac of Corbeil's introduction to Sefer Mizvot Katan; She-elot U-Teshuvot Maharil, no. 199; Moses Isserles, gloss on Shulhan 'Arukh, Y.D. 246. 92. I know of no precedent for this notion in rabbinic literature. Cf., e.g., Sefer Hasidim's explicit exclusion of 'omek ha Talmud,veta'amei hamizvot yesod ha Torahfrom the list of things which women-and children-are to be taught. Sefer Hasidim, no. 835. 93. Ber. 20b. 94. See, e.g., Zohar, Margaliot ed. (Jerusalem, 1970), pp. 53a-b; Ma'arekhet HaElohut (Jerusalem, 1963 reprint of Mantua ed.), p. 115a. And see D. Matt, Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment (New York, 1983), pp. 54, 214-216. 95. Sefer HaKanah, p. 15a.


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Kabbalistic sources such as the fourteenth-centuryMa'arekhet HaElohut(whichSeferHaKanahknewand usedheavily)96assertthat in eating of the Tree of Knowledge, Eve isolated the last divine hypostasis, throughwhich the Creatoris known, from Divinity as a whole. The fragmentationof God (literally"splittingthe shoots")97is thus partof woman's archetypalexperience.Giventhis obvious feminineweakness,SeferHaKanah's pupil argues,woman should hardlybe exemptedfrom the commandment to unify God's Name twice daily. In contrastto the passagesconsideredabove,whichappearto be motivated by concernfor women'sprospectsfor salvation,spiritualenrichment, and theologicalrectitude,otherpassagesin the treatisecriticizethe veryprocess of legal reasoningwhichresultsin women'sexemptionfromcertainprecepts. In thesecases, SeferHaKanahhighlightsthe Talmud'sdeviationfrom the plain sense of Scripture(whichmedievalJewishexegetestermedpeshuto shelmikra),and the rabbis'inconsistentapplicationof hermeneuticalmodes of inference. Sefer HaKanah'spupil criticizesdeviationsfrom Scripture'splain sense in talmudicdiscussionsof women'sexemptionfroma numberof commandments, among them Torah study, circumcision,zizit, sukkah,and shofar. His attack on the exemptionof women from the preceptof talmudtorah focuseson the rabbis'explanationof why womenareincludedin the precept of mezuzah.Observingthat the verse immediatelyfollowing the biblical commandmentof mezuzahpromisesthe rewardof long life,98the sages had posed the rhetoricalquestionof whetherit was only men who neededthe blessingof long life, and had concludedthat women, too, were includedin the obligation.99SeferHaKanah'spupil turnsto the scripturalcontextitself 96. The influence of this work on Sefer HaKanah is noted in Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHaKanah, pp. 82, 99 n. 78, and in I. Tishby, "Ma'amarim miSefer Ma'arekhet HaElohut biSefer HaZiyyoni," Kiryat Sefer 19 (1942-43): 55, n. 1. 97. The phrase kizzuz baneti'ot, which in Midrash Gen. Rabbah 19:3 refers to Adam, is used in Hag. 14b with reference to Elisha b. Abuya to convey this idea. On the phrase itself, see G. Scholem, "Te'udah Hadasha leToledot Reshit haKabbalah," in Sefer Bialik (Tel Aviv, 1939), p. 153; Tishby, Mishnat haZohar 1:221. And see, e.g., R. Ezra's Commentary on Song of Songs, attributed to Nahmanides, in C. Chavel, ed., Kitvei HaRamban (Jerusalem, 1963-64), 2:546; Bahya b. Asher, Commentaryon the Torah,Lev. 23:40. Cf. G. Scholem, Pirkei YesodbeHavanat haKabbalah uSemeleha (Jerusalem, 1977), chap. 6, esp. pp. 194-199. Not all kabbalistic schemes attribute this sin exclusively or primarily to Eve, however. 98. Deut. 11:21. 99. Kid. 34a.

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and notes that, in fact, the verse promising long life-a reward which applies equally to men and women-follows a chain of commandments, including phylacteries and Torah study!'ooThus, he asserts, according to the rabbis' own reasoning, women should be obligated to fulfill the latter precepts as well!o'0

Elsewhere the pupil attacks the rabbis' interpretation of particular words

which have the effect of exemptingwomen from certainrituals.Thus, for example, he rejects the rabbinicclaim that the word beneikhem("your sons"), which appears in the scripturalcommandmentof Torah study (Deut. 11:19), comes intentionally to exclude benoteikhem ("your daughters").102And ridiculingthe inconsistencyof the Talmud'sinterpreta-

tion of the word ha-ezrah("the citizen"),the pupil notes that the sages claimedthat the termha-ezrahin Lev. 16:29signalsthe inclusionof women in the addition to the Yom Kippur fast, but that the appearance of ha-ezrah

in Lev. 23:43indicatesthat women are excludedfrom the commandmentof sukkah.'03

The argumentthat Scripturealone shoulddeterminewomen'slegalobligations is set forth more forcefully in the pupil's comments on the apparent

conflict betweentalmudicdicta concerningwomen'sritualobligationsand the biblical precept of Hakhel ("assembly"), a positive time-bound commandment. Addressing his complaint to God, the pupil contrasts two

sources of authority,divine and rabbinic. Lord of the Universe,Your sages have instituteda principlesaying,Women are obligatedto performall positivepreceptswhicharenot time-specific[Ber. 20a]. Theirprinciplecontradictswhat you havewrittenin the Torah!... You

100. "And you shall bind them for a sign .., .and you shall teach them.., .and you shall write them . . .in order that your days and the days of your children be multiplied." Deut. 11:18-21. On medieval Jewish exegetes' recognition of the importance of context in establishing peshuto shel mikra, see F. Talmage, David Kimhi: The Man and the Commentaries(Cambridge, 1975), pp. 84, 116. And now, see D. Weiss Halivni, Peshat and Derash (Oxford, 1990), pp. 79 ff. 101. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6a. 102. As claimed in Sifrei Deut. 46. and Kid. 29b; Sefer HaKanah, p. 5b. Sefer HaKanah's pupil goes on to ridicule the notion that the phrase benei Yisrael("sons of Israel") appearing in the commandment of zizit (Num. 15:38) and in the commandment of sukkah (Lev. 23:43) was intended to exclude women from both precepts. Sefer HaKanah, p. 79a. 103. Suk. 28a; Sefer HaKanah 44a, 68a.


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obligatedthem[i.e.,women]in the preceptof Hakhel,saying,"Gatherthe peopletogether,menandwomenandchildren"[Deut.31:12]!104 While the aforementionedcriticismsreflectthe pupil's concernsabout halakhah'sfidelityto Scripture,other critiquesof women'sexemptionare rationalisticin nature, focusing on logical inconsistenciesin rabbinicreasoning. The pupil in Sefer HaKanahis particularlyoutragedby what he views as the sages' inconsistentand selectiveuse of the hekkesh,a mode of inferencewhich conformstwo subjectsto one anotherby juxtapositionof biblicalphrasesor by use of analogousphraseology.'05 This inconsistencyis for in the of women from the commandment manifest, example, exemption of shofar.Why, he demands,is there no hekkeshbetweenthe biblicalprohibitionagainstperformingworkon the firstday of the seventhmonth(i.e., Rosh HaShanah),as stipulatedin Num. 29:1, and the positive commandment taught in the continuationof that verse,"It shall be for you a day of trumpeting"?Given parallelsituations,the pupil argues,the sages should have declaredthat all who areincludedin the prohibition-that is, men and women alike-are similarlyincludedin the injunctionof shofar!'06Why, then, are women not obligatedin the latter positive commandment? Moreover,he asks, wheretwo hekkeshimyield opposingteachings,why is one stronger?Why, for example,is the hekkeshresponsiblefor exempting women from positivetime-boundcommandments(i.e., the one comparing the entire Torah to tefilin),'07more powerfulthan the hekkeshsuggested above, which would include women in the commandmentof shofar?And why, on the contrary,is that samehekkeshresponsiblefor the exemptionof women from positive time-boundcommandmentsless powerfulthan the

104. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6a. In point of fact, rabbinic literature had never denied the inclusion of women in the biblical commandment of assembly, notwithstanding its status as a positive time-bound precept. Why, then, did Sefer HaKanah's pupil draw attention to this case? It may well be that he wished to underscore the inaccuracy of the dictum exempting women from positive time-bound precepts. 105. This definition of hekkesh is found in L. Jacobs, The TalmudicArgument: A Study in Talmudic Reasoning and Methodology (Cambridgeshire, 1984). 106. Sefer HaKanah, p. 73b. This proposed hekkesh follows the model of the talmudic hekkesh responsible for the inclusion of women in the obligation to eat mazzah on the first night of Passover. Pes 43b, and see Y. Kid. 1:7. 107. Kid. 34a.

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hekkeshwhichunderlieswomen'sobligationto eat mazzahon the firstnight of Passover?'08 SeferHaKanah'spupilalso attacksthe rabbis'use of multiplehermeneutical pathwaysto excludewomen.Why,he asks,did the sagesofferno fewer than three ways of justifyingthe exemptionof women from the commandment of sukkah?'09Insinuatingthat the talmudicsages neededto drawthe same legal conclusionin a numberof ways becauseof the inadequacyof each individual"proof,"the pupil,in effect,challengesthe conclusivenessof any one of their arguments. Perhapsthe most unusual of the pupil's remarkschallengeswomen's exemptionfrom the commandmentof tefilin(phylacteries)on kabbalistic grounds."'tObservingthat halakhahdoes not regardthe absenceof either part of the tefilin,i.e., either head phylacteriesor arm phylacteries,as an impedimentto the performanceof the mizvah,"'andvolunteeringthe informationthat the kabbalisticperspectiveassociatesarmphylacterieswith the female,112the pupilaskswhy womenshouldnot don that half of the set with

108. Pes. 43b; cf. Y. Kid. 1:7. Sefer HaKanah, p. 70a. 109. Not only did they appeal (in B. Suk. 28 a-b) to the exclusionary import of the terms ha-ezrah ("the citizen") and benei Yisrael("sons of Israel") (Lev. 23:42 and 23:43, respectively), he notes, but they also invoked the dictum exempting women from positive time-bound commandments. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 79a, 44a. Cf. Sefer HaKanah's criticism of the rabbinic exemption of women from the commandment to circumcise their sons. Sefer HaKanah, p. 57a. 110. The pupil occasionally flashes his knowledge of Kabbalah, as if to inform the reader that, in challenging his teacher, he is merely playing the role of straight man. The teacher's kabbalistic insights hardly seem new to him: "Teacher," he exclaims, "how many times have I told you that I know your opinions? Just as you have heard the destruction/heresy from my mouth, hear from me the construction as well." Sefer HaKanah, p. 68b. On several occasions he articulates kabbalistic explanations in reponse to his own questions, as in his discussion of the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve and his ultimate exegetical remarks on why women are excluded from talmud torah. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 79a, 80a. 111. M. Men. 4:1, Men. 44a. 112. According to Kabbalah, the "power" of tefilin is derived from tefilin shel rosh (phylacteries of the head), which is associated with the male. See Zohar, Bereshit 14a, Vayishlah 168b, Bo 43a, and Shelah 175b, III. 248a, I. 266b. (However, Sefer HaKanah refers to tefilin shel yad as kedusha kallah, or "light sanctity," spelling kallah with a kof, where R. Bahya refers to tefilin shel yad in connection with kallah,-spelled with a kaf. See R. Bahya on Exod. 13:16. This may be a scribal error, or it may be an intentional reference to the fact that it is "lighter" and "weaker" than tefilin shel rosh, in that the tefilin of the arm contain the scriptural passages written on one parchment, while that of the head is divided into four compartments, each containing a separate piece of parchment.) Cf. Sefer HaKanah, p. 58a.


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which they are kabbalistically associated, and thereby fulfill the precept of tefilin!"I3 Notwithstanding these impassioned remarks, examination of Sefer HaKanah as a whole reveals that the pupil is hardly an unqualified advocate of women's broader participation in Jewish life. His objection to the rabbinic comparison between women and slaves does not stem from the fact that women are grouped together with subservient chattel, but from the fact that Jews who happen to be females are compared to people who have not entered the covenant. And the hardestof all: It isn't enough that they debasedthis poor thing by exemptingher fromthe King'scommandments.But theycomparedherto the slave,sayingthat a slaveis obligatedin everymizvahin whicha womanis obligated. For God's sake, tell me, Teacher,what does a slave have in common with a woman?!For the woman is free, from the seed of Israel, and the Canaaniteslave is from the defectiveseed of a gentile!"4 At times the pupil in Sefer HaKanah even challenges the rabbinic inclusion of women in certain practices, as when he builds a humanitarian case against obligating women to observe the rabbinic addition of one hour to the biblically ordained fast of Yom Kippur. Here he portrays the rabbis'jurisprudential deviation from the laws of the Torah as less offensive than the fact that they deviated from the Torah's compassionate stance toward women. "These poor women whose tongues cleave to their palates [Ps. 137:6.] where food is concerned! The Torah had pity on them, and the sages had no pity on them.""5 Elsewhere, the pupil challenges the hermeneutical process which led to the inclusion of women in the commandment to eat mazzah on the first night of Passover. According to the talmudic hekkesh, everyone included in the prohibition, "You shall eat no leavened bread" (Deut. 16:13), is included in the remainder of the verse, "seven days shall you eat mazzot.""I6The pupil objects: the affirmative part of the verse is not a commandment, but merely 113. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6b. 114. Ibid., p. 6a. 115. Ibid., p. 68a. And cf. the pupil's remarks on the prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve. Sefer HaKanah, p. 79a. 116. Pes. 43b.

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a statementof permission;how can the permissionto eat mazzahfor seven days be construedas an obligationto eat it on the firstnightof Passover?"7 At timesthe pupil'scriticismstakethe formof absurdparodiesof talmudic and midrashicthinking.Thus, for example,he ridiculesthe reasoning whichled the rabbisto obligatewomento kindlethe Hanukkahcandles,"8 drink four cups of wine at the Passoverseder,"9 and hear the megilahon Purim,'20namely,the argumentthat women, too, were participantsin the historicalmiraclesof deliverancewhichtheseholidayritualscommemorate. In his mockingevocationof a traditionalexegeticalinterpretationof Lev. 23:42-43, the pupil suggeststhat women should be includedin the commandmentof sukkah, inasmuch as "they too were under the clouds of Glory"!21

As is evident from this overview, Sefer HaKanah'spupil does not espouseconsistentlyheld opinionson any of these issues. Rather,his challengesand criticismsare primarilydesignedto underscorethe fallaciousness of rabbinicreasoning,and mustbe viewedas partof an overarchingcritique of halakhicmethod. Many of the pupil'schallengesto rabbiniclegislation takethe formof seriallyarticulatedargumentswhicharemutuallyexclusive. Adoptinga deviceof talmudicdialecticalreasoning,the pupilfirstposesone objection to a given halakhic ruling, then immediatelyretractsit, setting forth a second position contradictoryto the first. 22These successiveshifts in his positionof argumentationsuggestthat he does not havea vestedinterest in any one of the challengeshe poses, but is merelyconcernedto expose the shakinessof rabbinicthought. A Systemically-ReferentialHalakhic Critique

In his role of straightman to the teacher,SeferHaKanah'spupil raises questions which underscorethe inadequacyof talmudic reasoning and set the stage for the demonstrationof the veracity-and necessity-of kab-

117. Sefer HaKanah, p. 73b. 118. Shab. 23a. 119. Pes. 108a. 120. Meg. 4a. 121. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 70a, 79a-b. Following Suk. 1lb, the medieval exegetes Rashi and Nahmanides explain that the God-given "booths" which sheltered the Israelites during their journey through the desert were, in fact, the Clouds of Divine Glory. 122. See, e.g., the pupil's remarks on women and sukkah in Sefer HaKanah, pp. 79a-b.


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balistic interpretation.The teacher responds to these challenges,setting forth kabbalisticexplanationswhichconfirmand buttressthe halakhicperspective,"makingsense"of legalparticularswhichareopaqueto rationalistic interpretation.However,notwithstandingthe teacher'sexplanations,the readermay remainuncertainas to whetherthe pupil'strenchantcriticisms have been adequatelyresolvedand dissolved,i.e., whetherSeferHaKanahis an antinomianwork.123 The powerof the pupil'scriticismsstemslargelyfromthe fact that they are drawn from withinrabbinicculture.They are systemicallyreferential, reflectingfidelityto substantiveand methodologicalelementsfound within the tradition.124The pupil's attacks on rabbinic hermeneuticsreflect his expectationthat the processof reasoningresultingin legislationshould be internallyconsistentand conformto the dictatesof logic-concerns which informthe rabbinicprocess.'25His biblicistcritiquesstemfromthe elevation of peshutoshel mikra(i.e., the plain sense of Scripture)-a concept which functionsas a touchstoneof exegesisin the medievalrabbinictradition'26to the rank of a halakhicstandard. Thoughbiblicalexegetessuch as AbrahamIbn Ezrain the eleventhcentury and Samuelb. Meirin the twelfthcenturyhad not refrainedfrom setting forth the plain sense of a scripturalpassage,even where it blatantly deviatedfrom the rabbinicinterpretationwhichconstitutedthe legal norm, they had confinedtheirremarksto the nonlegalrealmof biblicalcommentary.127The boundariesof genreservedto mutepositionswhichmightotherwise have been construedas dissent and critique,and transformedthem instead into "academicobservations."128Sefer HaKanah'spupil, on the other hand, points out rabbinicinterpretation'sdeviationfrom Scripture's plain sense in the context of a global critiqueof halakhah. The pupil's pedagogiccritiquemight similarlybe viewed as an "internal" challengeto halakhah.The notion that prayerrequiresproperkavvan-

123. See above, p. 00. 124. Cf. the observations about Karaism's linkage to talmudic Judaism, in Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium (New York, 1959), pp. 14, 18, 19. Cf. also, Fishman, Shaking the Pillars of Exile chap. 2 (forthcoming). 125. On the place of sevara in the halakhic process, see, e.g., Elon, HaMishpat Halvri, passim. 126. See, e.g., Shab. 97a, and Halivni, Peshat and Derash, p. 79-88. 127. Cf. the exegetical remarks of R. Solomon b. Meir on tefillin, Num. 12:8, and the comments of R. Abraham ibn Ezra, Exod. 13:9. 128. See D. W. Halivni, Midrash, Mishnah and Gemara, (Cambridge, 1986), chap. 7.

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ah (intention)is centralto rabbinictradition,129and it is this assumption whichunderliesthe pupil'sclaimthat womenshouldbe includedin the precept of Torah study. Even the soteriologicalcritiqueof women's exemption-which holds that the discrepancybetweenmen'sandwomen'sdegrees of ritualobligationis unfair-pays no attentionto the essentiallysociological issue of woman's role and status in Jewish life. Rather, it draws its tortuous premisesfrom certainadjudicatoryprinciplesfound "withinthe system,"and is informedby the traditional(if metahalakhic)concernfor the immortalityof the soul. In short,thoughthe teacher'skabbalisticallydetailedresponsesserveas a counterpoint,mutingthe pupil'scriticisms,the latterhave a life of their own preciselybecause they draw upon categoriesindigenousto rabbinic literature.30 If the pupil'smotive and animusplace him outsidethe pale of tradition,his observationsalone clearlydo not. The Cosmic Ramifications of Gender-SpecificMizvot

Instead of defending rabbinic reasoning against the pupil's many assaults,the teacherexpresseshis own disdainfor halakhicargumentation. However,unlikethe pupil,who ridiculesthe talmudicprocessfor its lapses fromthe standardsof logic, the teachercriticizesit for its misplacedsensibilities, i.e., for relatingto eternaltruthsvia ineffective,mundanecategories: "The Torah was not intendedfor naturalanalysis,but rather,for supernatural [or divine] speculation.""'

The problemwith talmudists,the teacherclaims,is that they are preoccupiedwith worthlessexplanationswhichare ostensiblybasedon logic, and fail to inquireinto the root of the Torah.Theirapproachis not merelymisguided,but can even be harmful.In one of the more infamouspassagesof

129. See above, n. 89. 130. In this sense, Sefer HaKanah's criticisms of the halakhic sources regulating women's participation in Jewish life share some methodological similarities with remarks found in Kol Sakhal, a pseudonymous critique of rabbinic authority and tradition composed in northern Italy in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. As in Sefer HaKanah, a number of passages in Kol Sakhal pinpoint rabbinic teachings pertaining to women in the service of a global critique of halakhic method. See, e.g., Kol Sakhal, in I. S. Reggio, Behinat HaKabbalah (Gorizia, 1852), pp. 39, 41. Cf. Fishman, Shaking the Pillars of Exile, chap. 2 (forthcoming). 131. Sefer HaKanah, p. 57a.


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theteachercomparestheTalmudto a boilin theintestines SeferHaKanah,

which sprouts a growth.The only way to preventthe damagethat would resultfrom the boil'suncheckeddevelopment,he claims,is to uprootit at its source.132SeferHaKanah'steacherdeclaresthat in contrastto the realmof rationaldiscourse,the ways of truthare troddenonly by meansof "supernatural"or "divine"reasoning(i.e., sevarotelohiyyot);moreover,each way is utterlyindependentof the next."'3This last clausemay be a warningthat kabbalisticspeculationis not governedby rules of noncontradictionand internalconsistency,nor may it be judgedby these fundamentalstandards of logic. As is the casewith manyotherkabbalists,the teacher'snotionof the primacy of the mysticalpathwayis accompaniedby antirationalistfulminations.'34Sefer HaKanah'steacherdiffersfrom most kabbalistsof the preSabbatianperiod,however,in that his antirationalismis also the sourceof his extremeantipathyfor the halakhicprocess.In this sense,SeferHaKanah's teacher is perhaps closest to the earlier radical kabbalisticworks, Ra'aya Meheimna and Tikkunei Zohar, which contrasted the ossified Torah

found in rabbinicliteraturewith the spiritualTorahfound in the realmof Kabbalah.'35 Whilehe viewsthe discourseof the rabbis-which attemptsto approach the truthsof Torahin an outrageouslyinappropriateway-as lackingboth meritand meaning,the teacherasserts,nonetheless,that the talmudicsages miraculouslyarrivedat the correctlegal conclusions.This wondrousconfluenceof God's Will with the resultsof misguidedrabbinicreasoningis due to the fact that "the sagesdescendedfromthe Academyof Heaven.""And they did not deviate by even a hair from the Will of God. . . . All these false

reasons are utterlyworthless."'36 It is not rabbiniclogic whichaccountsfor halakhah'sreflectionof divine

132. Perhaps the image is that of an intestinal polyp flowering from a stalk. Ibid., p. 43b. 133. Ibid., p. 79a. 134. Cf., inter alia, Meshullam b. Solomon da Piera, Ya'akov b. Sheshet, Moses de Leon, Isaac of Acre, Yosef Ya'avetz, Judah Hayyat, Meir Ibn Gabbai, Azariah Figo. 135. See Y. Baer, "HaReka' hahistori shel haRa'aya Meheimna," Zion 5 (1940): 1-44; idem History of the Jews in ChristianSpain (Philadelphia, 1961), 1:270-277; Scholem, On the Kabbalah, pp. 66-71. On the differences between Sefer HaKanah and Sefer HaPeliah on the one hand, and Ra'aya Meheimna and Tikkunei Zohar on the other, see I. Tishby, Mishnat haZohar (Jerusalem, 1982), 2:397-398. 136. Sefer HaKanah, p. 68a.

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truth, but rather,the movementsof sefirot.Thus, while he agreeswith his pupil about the absurdinconsistenciesof rabbinicreasoning,the teacher's graphicexplanationsof the supernalactivitiestriggeredby the properperformanceof mizvotultimatelyconfirm the wisdom of the law. Why is the topic of gender-specificpreceptsof special interestto the As is not the case with laws that are applicableto all peopleor kabbalist?'37 those which may be performedat all times, the gender-specificityand the temporal-specificityof these mizvothighlightthe existenceof boundaries withinthe Godhead:betweenthe sacredand its nonsacredmirrorimage,'38 betweenmale and female, and between the timelessand the time-bound. Kabbalisticprecursorsof Sefer HaKanahhad alreadyarticulatedelaborate theories about the relationshipsbetween masculineand femininehypostases, or sefirot, within the Godhead.'39Both the gender-specificityof the biblicallanguageusedin connectionwith particularprecepts,'40andrabbinic teachings designating commandmentsas incumbent upon males or females, provided earlier mystics with a wealth of opportunitiesfor the expositionof supernaltruthsabout the conjugationof divinehypostases.141 Drawingupon a richtroveof mythicalassociations,kabbalistsevenwenton to describecertainaspectsof a givenpreceptas masculineand otheraspects as feminine.'42

137. Cf. Jacob Katz's observation that pre-zoharic kabbalistic literature refers most frequently to those mizvot which earlier midrashim had endowed with mystical significance and to other mizvot the details of which (e.g., numerical associations,) made them easily identifiable with divine attributes. Katz, "Halakhah veKabbalah: Magga'im Rishonim," in Halakhah veKabbalah,pp. 11-15, 28. 138. G. Scholem, Pirkei Yesod beHavanat haKabbalah U-Semaleha (Jerusalem, 1976), pp. 187-212; Kabbalah (Jerusalem, 1974), pp. 122-128. 139. On the possibility of Kabbalah's debt to gnosticism, see G. Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah (Philadelphia, 1987), pp. 151-160. Perspectives on gender in gnostic writings are discussed in Michael Williams, "Uses of Gender Imagery in Ancient Gnostic Texts," in Bynum et al., Gender and Religion, ed. pp. 196-227. Idel, however, questions Scholem's assumption about the gnostic influence on kabbalistic syzygies. see M. Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven, 1988), pp. 128-136; idem, "Sexual Metaphor and Praxis in Kabbalah," in The Jewish Family, ed. D. Kraemer (Oxford, 1989), pp. 203 ff., 211. 140. See, e.g., the teaching regarding the mizvah of sending away the mother bird prior to taking the eggs from her nest, in the early kabbalistic work Sefer HaBahir, Margaliot ed. (Jerusalem, 1950), nos 104-105. 141. See Elliot R. Wolfson, The Book of the Pomegranate: Moses de Leon's Sefer HaRimon, Brown Judaic Studies 144 (Atlanta, 1988), pp. 63-71. 142. See ibid., p. 70, and references in Hebrew sec, n. 309; cf. above, n. 112.


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Similarly,the rabbinicclassificationof preceptsas eithertime-boundor applicableat all times was appropriatedby kabbaliststo explainone of the vexingtheosophicalproblemsof creation:How could God, a supremeand limitlesspower who transcendstime and is not subjectto change,createa world subjectto changeand decay,and continuallyinteractwith it, governing ephemeralcreationthroughthe agency of providence? The kabbalists'conception of the Godhead as a hierarchicalsystem allowedfor both possibilities.Accordingto theirscheme,the firstand highest sefirahrepresentsdivinityin its pristine,limitless,and undifferentiated state,'43while successivesefirot representhypostaseswhich only became "known" in the gradual process of divine self-revelation.Only the seven lower sefirot, they claimed, were connected with creation, and only they could be said to have identity within the realm of time, while the three uppermostsefirotwere both higherthan and antecedentto the process of creation. The kabbalists'documentationof the correspondencebetweenboundaries occurringin the realmof halakhahand boundariesoccurringwithinthe Godhead revealsthat rabbiniclaw is, in fact, the concrete(and objective) expression of ontological reality. While all precepts"hint" at particular mizvotare especialaspects of God, gender-specificand temporally-specific well to the kabbalist's suited of the cosmic rolesplayedby difly description ferentdivinehypostases:male sefirotas opposedto femalesefirot,or sefirot which are "above"the realmof time as opposedto thosewhichare temporally defined. The sefirotic interpretationsof mizvothighlight Kabbalah's superiorexplanatorypowersas comparedwith halakhah.SeferHaKanah's interest in gender-specificcommandmentscan thus be explained on the purely internalgroundsof preferencefor a particularhermeneuticsystem, without any referenceto environmentalstimuli.Indeed,the fact that Sefer criticismsseem to have been triggered HaKanah'ssystemically-referential by nothing other than contact with the texts of rabbinicculture and a zealouslyembracedmethod of reading,impedesthe detectionand identification of any live voices in the author'senvironmentwho may have discussedthe issue of gender-specificcommandments.It is quite possiblethat

143. The precise relationship between the uppermost sefirah and the realm of the undifferentiated Ein Sof is defined differently in different kabbalistic systems.

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the treatise'sfocus on this topic was merelyintendedto providea forumfor the exposition of the author'smethod.'44 Thus, for example,the teacher'sexplanationof the kabbalisticmeaning of Torah study explains why the sages compared this precept-which appliesat all times-to commandmentswhichareonly performedat a specific time, a comparisonwhichhad led to the rabbinicassertionthat women The teacherexplainsthat commandare exempt from its performance.'45 ments which are not time-bound,Torahstudy among them, "hint" at oriin the threeuppermost gins lema'laminhahekef("abovethe circumference") of this rarefied locus that It is because ontological they aretemporalsefirot. into play in the for time as a factor comes delimiting only ly undefined, lower seven sefirot, those involved with creation itself. Why, then, are women exemptfrom the study of Torah,if performanceof this commandment is not limitedto a particulartime?The teacher'sexplanationreveals that Torahstudyexhibitscharacteristicsboth of time-boundpreceptsandof preceptswhich are practiceableat all time. Torah has its primordialroots in a place "above the circumference," namely, in the second sefirah of Hokhma.For this reason, the study of Torah pertainsat all times.'46However,as the sefirahHokhmatranscends and precedesthe realm of creation,the roots of Torah are hidden. Torah itself only becomesaccessiblein the sixth sefirahof Tiferet,a later stagein the process of divine self-revelation.47 Playing on the lexical connection between the words torah, or ("light"), and hora'ah("instruction"),the Zoharassertsthat Scriptureis called"Torah"becauseit bringshiddenmatters to light. Torah makes manifesttruthsfrom the nontemporalrealmof divinitywhich lies above and beforecreation.And becauseTorahcan only be approachedthroughone of the sevenlower sefirotwhich are temporally defined,women are exempt from the obligation of Torah study.

144. This conclusion was drawn by Kushnir-Oron, HaPeliah veHaKanah, p. 245. 145. Kid. 34a, following Mekhilta, Massekhta dePasha 17. 146. See, e.g., Zohar, Kedoshim, p. 81a. (Page references are to the Margaliyot ed., Jerusalem, 1940.) 147. Woven of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, the Written Torah-which-hints-atTiferet is a manifest emanation (unlike the upper three sefirot), yet receives its full elucidation only later, in the form of the Oral Torah, which hints at the final sefirah, Malkhut. On these associations, see, e.g., Zohar, Mezora', p. 53b.


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However,womendo preservesome relationshipto the preceptof Torah study,albeitan indirectone. Movingfluidlybetweenan expositionof sefirotic interactionsand a descriptionof activitieswhich take place within the human family, the teacher plays upon the kabbalisticconception of the femininesefirahof Malkhutas the "house"of her husband Tiferet'48and assertsthat "the husbandexemptsthe wife, for he blessesthe house. And she needs nothing of her own accord."'49 As in his expositionof the sefiroticinteractionsstimulatedby the performance of Torah study, the teacher's kabbalisticexplanationsof keriat and zizit'l5 similarlyset forth the "higher"reasonsfor woman's shema'"50 exemption, and end with the assertionthat her husbandfulfills the commandmenton her behalf. This line of reasoningalso explainswhy women are not to wear phylacteriesof the arm,notwithstandingthe fact that Kabbalah associatesthis part of the tefilinwith the feminine.152 The teacher'skabbalisticexplanationseven accountfor certainpeculiarities of rabbinichermeneutics.Challengingthe arbitrarinessof the rabbinic hekkeshbetweenthe preceptsof Torah study and tefilin,'53the pupil had askedwhy the sagesformulatedthe issuein the way thattheydid, whenthey mightjust as easilyhave come to the oppositeconclusion.Whydid they not say, afterall, thatjust as womenare obligatedto participatein Torahstudy, so they are obligatedto performthe preceptof tefilin?'54 In his response,the teacherexplainsthe appropriatenessof the rabbinicdirectionof comparison. The preceptsof Torahstudyand tefilinboth "hintat" the sixthsefirah, Tiferet,'55and would thus seem to be equivalent.However,in spite of this

148. See, e.g., Zohar 1.50b, II.120a. 149. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6b. Similarly, the children, i.e., the six sefirot of Creation, are also blessed through the husband of the household, i.e., Tiferet. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6b. 150. Ibid., p. 15a. 151. Ibid., p. 43a. 152. Ibid., p. 6b. An additional reason may be inferred from Sefer HaKanah's discussion of the transgression incurred when one interrupts the donning of phylacteries by speaking. According to the teacher, if one recites the blessing, dons the arm phylacteries, and then speaks before donning the head phylacteries, it appears as if his blessing was only intended for the arm phylacteries, which correspond to the tenth sefirah, Malkhut. In interrupting the performance of the ritual as a whole, the individual would thus be guilty of perud vekizzuz, i.e., of fragmenting Divinity by mistaking the lowermost extremity for the whole. Sefer HaKanah, p. 30a. 153. Kid. 34a, following Mekhilta, Massekhta dePasha 17. 154. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6a. 155. See, e.g., Zohar, VaYishlah, p. 168.

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seemingequalitybetweenthe two precepts,the comparisoncan be madein only one direction,for the rootof Torahstudyis in the sefirahHokhma.This means that the commandmentof Torahstudy is ontologicallyhigherthan that of tefilin(thoughthe two are mathematicallyequivalent!).Hence, the teacherexplains,while tefilincan be comparedto Torahstudy,the reverseis not true, for the latter preceptcannot be syllogisticallycomparedto one which is lower than itself."' The pupil's challengessimilarlyprovidethe teacherwith opportunities for expoundingthe cosmic logic of obligatingwomen to fulfill certainprecepts. Alluding to the kabbalisticidentificationof prayerwith the female sefirah Malkhut,'57the teacher claims that even though women are not includedin the commandmentof Torahstudy,it is appropriatethat they be obligatedin prayer,becausethe root of prayeris found in the feminine.'58 Why are women includedin the rabbinic"addition"to Yom Kippur which transformsit from a twenty-four-hourfast into one lastingtwentyfive hours,'59notwithstandingthe fact that this additionis clearlya positive time-boundprecept?Sefer HaKanah'steacherexplainsthis kabbalistically with referenceto the sin of Eve. In eatingthe fruitof the Treeof Knowledge, Evemistookthisfruitfor whichcorrespondsto the finalsefirah,Malkhut,'60 the source of divinity,therebysplittingoff one of the hypostasesfrom the Godhead as a whole.'6' In so doing, she committedthe grave theological errorof denyingGod's unity.'62The additionof at least one hour from the ninth day of the month of Tishreito the biblicalfast of the tenth day is, in effect,a rituallydramatizedaffirmationof the indivisibilityof the ninthand tenth sefirot, Yesodand Malkhut.This concretegestureof overlapaffirms

156. Sefer HaKanah, p. 6a. Similar reasoning appears in the teacher's deadpan reply to the pupil's presumably sarcastic observation that the sages would have made a more convincing case for women's exemption from tefilin had they compared it to circumcision. Ibid. 157. Tikkunei Zohar I.24a and elsewhere. 158. Sefer HaKanah, p. 22a. 159. Suk. 28b. 160. Zohar v.III, pp. 239a-b. 161. Cf. R. Ezra, Commentary on Song of Songs, attributed to Nahmanides. In Chavel, Kitvei HaRamban, 2:546; Moses de Leon, Sefer HaRimmon, Wolfson ed., Hebrew sec., p. 27, 1.11-12; Ma'arekhet HaElohut, p. 115a. And cf. Scholem, Pirkei YesodbeHavanathaKabbalah uSemaleha, pp. 194-199; idem, Origins of the Kabbalah, pp. 71-72, 263; B. Safran, "R. Azriel and Nahmanides: Two Views of the Fall of Man," in R. Moses Nahmanides:Explorations in His Religious and Literary Virtuosity, ed. I. Twersky (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 75-106, esp. p. 89. 162. Sefer HaKanah, p. 68b; Sefer HaPeliah, chap. 2, p. 53a.


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that the tenth divine hypostasis-which God's creaturesfind most accessible-is inseparablefrom that vast realm of God which is not open to human apprehension. Accordingto SeferHaKanah'steacher,the additionto the Yom Kippur fast is designedto preemptSamael'scharge that the people of Israel are reenactingEve's theologicalerrorof "splitting"divinityand mistakingthe lowermost (and manifest) extremity for the whole. In short, Sefer HaKanah's kabbalistic explanation holds that woman's earliest history necessitatesher participationin the addition to the Yom Kippur fast, though this is a positive time-boundcommandment.'63

Imageryof GenderInversion The teacher'sexplanationof why women are includedin the obligation to eat mazzahon the first night of Passover,notwithstandingthe fact that this is a positive time-boundcommandment,is particularlystriking and in may serve as a window onto the rich imageryof gender-transformation medievalmysticalliterature.SeferHaKanah'steacherappropriatesthe traditional kabbalisticidentificationof mazzahwith the femalesefirahMalkhut,164and explainsthat with the banishmentof hamezfrom the sevendays of Passover-which correspondto the seven lower sefirot-she is left purified, "an unblemishedmale lamb"(Exod. 12:5).'65While the identification of the paschalsacrificewiththe sefirahMalkhutis foundin the Zohar,'66this passageposes an obvious conceptualproblem.Is SeferHaKanah'steacher claimingthat women are includedin this positive time-boundcommandment because events in the sefirotic realm cause the sefirah Malkhutto undergoa temporarychange of gender?'67 A recentstudyof sefiroticdynamicswithinzoharicKabbalahshedslight on the process of cosmic gender transformationwhich underliesthe his-

163. 164. 165. 166.

Sefer HaKanah, p. 68b. See, e.g., Zohar, VaYetze, p. 157a. Sefer HaKanah, p. 44b. Zohar I.260a, III.152b in Ra'aya Meheimna, and elsewhere.

167. I am gratefulto Rabbi Dr. NehemiaPolen for discussingthis passagewith me.

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toricalexperienceof exile, redemption,and revelation.'68 The separationof male and femaleaspectsof Divinityis responsiblefor the unredeemedstate of the Jewishpeople and reflectsthat condition.Yet restorationof the pristine harmonyby reunificationof the male (right)and female(left) sides of the Godheadcannot take place in one fell swoop. Insofaras the femaleleft side, which symbolizesthe attributeof judgment,is dominantduringthe state of exile, the onset of the redemptiveprocessis markedby its containment within the (male) rightside, which symbolizesdivine love. While the left and the rightare thus reunitedwithinthe Godhead,the containmentof the formerin the lattermeansthat the left-femaleaspect,thoughpresent,is effectivelyhidden.'69Only when the balance between the two realms has been (re)achievedcan the united left and right sides be apparentin equal Turnmeasure,withoutone aspectoverpoweringor containingthe other."70 on to of women's to eat mazzah HaKanah's obligation explanation ing Sefer the first night of Passover,the apparenttransformationof the feminine mazzahinto an "unblemishedmale lamb"presumablysignalsthe onset of the redemptiveprocess, wherebythe female left is subsumedin the male right.Thoughthe femininethus appearsto have been eliminated,it has, in effect, been only temporarilyconcealed.'' The phenomenon of invertinggender symbols from female to male found in Sefer Hakanahand in the Zoharis diametricallyopposed to the patternof symbol inversionfrom male to female found in the writingsof medievalChristian(male)mystics'72and in the writingsof some of the ecstatic kabbalists,such as AbrahamAbulafia.'73The reversalof gendersymbols from male to female may reflect the male mystic's experienceof being

168. E. W. Wolfson, "The Left Contained in the Right: A Study in Zoharic Hermeneutics," AJS Review 11 (1986): 27-52, esp. pp. 40 ff. 169. Ibid., pp. 40-49. 170. Ibid., p. 50. 171. Indeed, during the Sinaitic revelation following the Passover celebrated in Egypt, the feminine left side reemerged as an equal partner with the male right side. This notion is set forth in the Zohar's discussion of why loaves of the previously banished hamez are brought as wave offerings on the festival of Shavuot. Zohar, II.183a-b, and see Wolfson's translation and explanation in "Left Contained in the Right," pp. 50-51. 172. See C. W. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast.- The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 282-288. 173. In Abulafia's writings, the human soul is portrayed as the passive female, while the Active Intellect, which enters the soul, is portrayed as the bridegroom. Idel, The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (Albany, 1988), p. 205.


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"invaded"by Divinity,174and, in the case of Christianmystics, has been interpretedin light of certain sociological and psychologicalfeatures of medievallife."75The eschewal of male-to-femalegenderinversionin Sefer HaKanahand the Zohar may reflecta conceptionof the male mystic as an activist who pointedly engages in particularactivities in order to effect theurgic operations. In theurgic-theosophicalKabbalah, the practitioner does not experiencethe mystical encounter passively, but is, rather, an active agent whose behaviorhas impactupon the femininesefirahof Malkhut, therebyinitiatingchange in the Godhead as a whole.'76 Destructive Consequencesof Woman's VoluntaryRitual Performance

Comparisonof several of Sefer HaKanah'scomments about genderspecificcommandmentswith the correspondingrabbinicsourceshighlights the work's stringenttendencies.In interpretingthe tannaiticdebateabout whetherwomen may lay their hands over the sacrificialanimalbeforeit is the teacher sets forth programmaticguidelinesregarding slaughtered,"'77 women'svoluntaryperformanceof commandmentswhichthey arenot obligated to fulfill. By interweavingdifferentlayers of the text's meaning,he transformsthe debate of sages into a confrontationbetweenhuman and divine perspectives. In keepingwith the Zohar,the teachernotesthatthe OralLaw, Mishnah

174. R. J. Z. Werblowsky, review of I. Tishby's Mishnat HaZohar, in Tarbiz34 (1964): 204; Idel, Kabbalah, p. 210. 175. Bynum suggests that men were more inclined to utilize the imagery of symbolic inversion because "the precise gradations of society were self-definitions that might bear down with a psychological weight that demanded periodic release." Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, p. 286. The writings of Christian female mystics, on the other hand, display little use of gender inversion. Though medieval Christian women who sought to intensify the quality of their religious experience might actually try to pass as men, disguising themselves in order to enter monasteries or make pilgrimages, Bynum notes that female mystics were more likely to utilize imagery of continuity and of oneness with all mankind. Ibid., pp. 288-294. On crossdressing among women religious in the Byzantine world, see Patlagean, "L'histoire de la femme d6guis6e," pp. 597-623. And cf. J. Anson, "The Female Transvestite in Early Monasticism," Viator 5 (1974): 1-32. 176. On gender transformation, see M. Idel, "Sexual Metaphors and Praxis in Kabbalah," in Kraemer, Jewish Family, pp. 208-209. 177. Hag. 16b, Hul. 85a, R.H. 33a, Er. 96b, after Sifra Lev. 2.

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included, is associatedwith the tenth sefirah,Malkhut.'78This being the case, he claims,the legal position advancedby the anonymousvoice of the Mishnah(i.e., the tannakamma)is a reflectionof Divinity. It follows that this anonymousposition, accordingto which"sons of Israellay theirhands over the sacrificialanimaland daughtersof Israeldo not,"must qualitatively outweigh the merely mortal position of R. Yose and R. Shimon, who claimedthat womenare permittedto participatein this ritual.The teacher's bi-levelreadingof the text thus recastsa legal disputebetweenpeersinto an uncontestednarrativeof the superiorityof one exponentto the others.The hermeneuticalimplicationsof this interpretationare striking.The notion that sacredtext may bear multiplelevels of meaningis a commonplaceof medievalJewishthought,'79widelyappliedto the readingof the Torahand of aggadot,the often opaquenonlegalpassagesin the rabbinicliteratureof antiquity.'80The foregoing interpretationreveals that Sefer HaKanah's teacher extends this assumptionof multiple meanings to juridical texts, implyingthat they are not to be taken at face value.'8'In identifyingthe Mishnah'sanonymousstatementas the voice of Divinity and makingthis the basis of his legal conclusion,SeferHaKanah'steachereffectivelyerases the plain sense of the talmudictext and replacesit with the mysticalmeaning.'82

He concludeshis excursuswith a warning:Giventhat the stringentposition articulatedby the anonymousvoice of the Mishnahembodiesthe divine will, any husbandwho permitshis wife to performcommandmentsfrom whichshe is exempt,himselfinclinestowardiniquity.Thoughthe husband's

178. ZoharII.166b,III.40b,and see Scholem,On the Kabbalah,pp. 47-50. Followingthe Zohar, Sefer HaKanahnotes that the Oral Law, literally,the law which is transmittedby mouth,is associatedwiththe tenthsefirahof Malkhut,or Kingship,citing,amongotherpoints of connection,the referenceto the phrase"Lethimkissme withthe kissesof his mouth"(Song of Songs 1:2),where "him"refersto the King. 179.Seee.g., Talmage,DavidKimhi,pp. 82-83, 122-134;Scholem,Kabbalah,pp. 172-173. 180.On the interpretationof aggadah,see M. Saperstein,DecodingtheRabbis(Cambridge, 1980),chap. 1, and Scholem,Major Trends,pp. 28-32. 181.On the problemof attributinghiddenmetaphysicalmeaningto rabbinictextsandpre(Jerucepts,see JacobKatz,"HalakhaVekabbala-MaggaimRishonim,"HalakhaVekabbala salem, 1984),p. 16. 182. Text-destroyingimpulsesare found in a rangeof kabbalisticsources,includingthe writings of Abulafia, Sefer HaZeruf and Sefer HaTemunah.See, e.g., Idel, Mystical Experience of Abraham Abulafia, p. 140; idem, Kabbalah, pp. 208-215; idem, Language, Torah and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia (Albany, 1989), pp. 121-124.


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desireto gratifyhis wifeis motivatedby hislovefor her,he shouldlovehis Creatormore.'83 teacherfocuseson R. Hanina'sstatement Elsewhere,SeferHaKanah's that one who is commanded andperformshas a greaterrewardthanone whoperformsthoughuncommanded.'84 Thissecond-century dictumserved as the basisfor R. Tam'stwelfth-century that women ruling mayrecitethe asher vezivvanu has sanctified us with kiddeshanu bemizvotav ("who blessing his preceptsand commandedus")whenperforming positivetime-bound withoutviolatingthe prohibitionagainsttakingGod's commandments, namein vain.'"'Notingthatthe blindamoraR. Yosefhadrejoicedupon R. Tamconcludedthatit musthavebeenunderstood hearingthisdictum,'6' as an assertionthatallwhofulfilla preceptreceivesomereward,evenif they areuncommanded. Ashkenazi commentators dismissed Thoughsubsequent the analogybetweenwomenandblindmenon a varietyof grounds,'87 they articulated alternative reasonsfor upholdingR. Tam'srulingthatwomen are permittedto reciteblessingswhentheyperformcommandments from whichtheyareexempt.'88 teacherreiterates thesetraditionSeferHaKanah's al explanationsas to why womenand blindmen are not analogous.'89 whoarticulated these However,in contrastto the talmudiccommentators teacher HaKanah's concludes that R. dictum Hanina's distinctions,Sefer cannotbe invokedwith respectto women.In otherwords,thereare no groundsforassumingthatwomenreceiveanyrewardfortheirperformance of preceptsfromwhichtheyareexempt.Andin a mirrorimageof R. Tam's ruling,theteacherdeclaresthatinsofaras womanhasno reasonto perform

183. Sefer HaKanah, p. 76a. 184. Kid. 31a, B.K. 87a. 185. B.K. 87a, Kid. 31a. Drawing heavily on the Tosafot to Er. 96a-b, R. Asher b. Yehiel sets forth the reasoning underlying R. Tam's decision in his commentary on Kid. 31a. 186. Kid. 31a. 187. See Tosafot, Er. 96b, "Michal bat Cushi"; R. Asher b. Yehiel, Kid. 31a; R. Nissim, loc. cit. 188. R. Asher b. Yehiel gathers these alternate reasons in his commentary on Kid. 31a. Writing in the fourteenth century, R. Nissim confirms R. Tam's conclusions, but inverts the order of causality: Women should recite the blessing asher kiddeshanubemizvotavvezivvanuprecisely because they receive reward for their performance of positive time-bound precepts. R. Nissim, Kid. 31a. 189. Sefer HaKanah, p. 76a. Cf. B.K. 87a, Meg. 24a, and Tosafot, loc. cit.; Tosafot on Er. 96b; R. Asher b. Yehiel and R. Nissim on Kid. 31a.

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positive time-boundcommandments,it follows that she must not recitethe blessing asher kiddeshanubemizvotavvezivvanulest she transgress the precept "Keep far from a false matter" (Exod. 23:7).190 While medieval Sephardi

adjudicatorssuch as Maimonideshad similarlyruledthat woman is not to recite a blessing upon the performanceof positive time-boundcommandments,theyhad, nonetheless,grantedherthe prerogativeof performance.'9' In short,the teacher'sremarksmorethanconfirmthe feararticulatedby the pupil about the paltryrewardwhich an observantand pious womanis able to meritrelativeto her male counterpart.Wherethe halakhicperspective leaveswomanwith a measureof responsibilityfor herown recompense or, at worst, with that illusion, the teacher'skabbalisticperspectivedenies womanthis responsibility,dispelsthe illusion,and entrustsher recompense to another. The teacher'skabbalisticpespective"forces"the resolutionof an issue whichis the subjectof a disputein rabbinicliterature,unequivocallydeterminingboth the halakhicquestionof whetherwomenare permittedto perform preceptsfromwhichtheyareexemptandthe metahalakhicquestionof whetherthey receiverewardfor such performance.This createsa paradoxical inversionof the expectedsituation:wherethe halakhicperspectiveoffers guidance,the kabbalisticperspectivelegislates. Alongside the better-knownsociological explanationsof the dictum exemptingwomen from positive time-boundcommandmentsoffered by Anatoli and Abudraham,'92 SeferHaKanahpresentsa radicalmetaphysical explanation.Implicitin the teacher'sremarksis the notion that this talmudic dictum reflectsthe halakhah's(perhapsunwitting)attemptto prevent

190. Sefer HaKanah, p. 76a. The teacher might have been expected to charge women in this situation with reciting a berakhah levatalah (i.e., a wasted blessing) in violation of the commandment against taking God's Name in vain. We might speculate that he avoided identifying this as their transgression in light of the discussion found in Tosafot Kid. 31a, Er. 96a-b; R. Nissim, R.H., no. 955. 191. Maimonides, M.T , Hil. Zizit 3:9; cf. Shulhan 'Arukh, O.H. 589:6. These rulings were quickly challenged and qualified by legists who held that women were permitted to recite blessings in such cases. See, e.g., the animadversion of R. Abraham b. David on M.T., ad loc.; Isserles' gloss, ad loc. 192. See above, p. 00.


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the performanceof certainactivitieswhichare futile'93and of otherswhich cause great damageon high.'94 SeferHaKanah'snotion of the destructiveimpactof woman'svoluntary performancewould seemto follow fromthe rigidlyheld assumptionof parallelism betweenthe human and divine realms. Like kabbalisticworks in general,Sefer HaKanahregardsthe preceptas a sacrament,an act which triggersspecific effects in the realm of divinity.The notion that processes within the Godhead mirrorhuman ritual actions is taken quite literally. Indeed,the identitiesof the performersthemselvesare integralto the sacrament,for the correspondencebetweenthe humanmicrocosmand the divine macrocosmextends even to particularsof gender. In Sefer HaKanah,the divine hypostaseshave concretereferences,such that the sefirahTiferetis literallyidentifiedwith the male performingthe mizvahin question,and the sefirahof Malkutwith his femaleconsortof flesh and blood. If the needsof Malkhutare satisfiedwithin the supernalrealm,then that sefirah'shuman counterpartis expectedto refrainfrom furtherinitiative.Woman'svoluntary performanceof a commandmentalready fulfilled by her husband would implythat the femininesefirahMalkhuthad notbeen satisfiedby the act of herconsort, Tiferet,andwouldthuschallengeone of SeferHaKanah's essential axioms. Unmandatedperformanceregistersas an expressionof unmitigatedskepticismabout the systemitself,and the faithof the performer is clearly a factor in the sacral effectivenessof kabbalisticritual.195 However, accordingto Sefer HaKanah'steacher, woman's voluntary performanceis not merelydestructiveof Kabbalah'scredibility,it actually bringssefirottogetherin inauspicious,unharmoniousconfigurations.Given

193. The futility of woman's voluntary performance of the precept of zizit is graphically conveyed in the teacher's depiction of woman's inability to approach the realm of the seven time-bound sefirot, entangled as she is in the colored eighth thread of the zizit. Sefer HaKanah, p. 43a. Here the teacher adopts the zoharic identification of tekhelet with the last sefirah, Malkhut, the takhlit, or end, into which all the sefirot flow, which at the same time includes, i.e., kolelet, them all. Zohar III.33a, III.175b. (On the identification of the sefirah Malkhut, generally thought of as the tenth or the seventh, with the number eight, see the Zohar's remarks on the holiday of Shemini Azeret, Zohar II.187a, III.96b. I am grateful to Dr. Elliot Wolfson for clarifying this matter.) 194. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 75b-76a. 195. See, e.g., Chavel, Kol Kitvei Ramban, 1:150; Galia Raza, ed. R. Elior (Jerusalem, 1981), p. 65; Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction, p. 6a; Sefer HaPeliah, p. 4b.

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is perceived not outlook,woman'svoluntaryperformance SeferHaKanah's as a neutralact, devoidof theologicalmeaning("sport,"to use the terminolbut as an act which has actualdestructive ogy of YeshayahuLeibowitz),'96 on the sefirotic realm. impact

An examination of SeferHaKanah's commentson theroleof womenin three aspects of Jewish ritual-circumcision, the fashioningof zizit (the ritual fringesworn by men on their four-corneredgarments),and shehitah (ritual slaughter)-underscoresthe treatise'suniqueperspective. Accordingto SeferHaKanah'steacher,Jewishwomenmustnot perform circumcisionunderany circumstances.The foreskin,he claims,is a placeof fire, a gatheringplace for the forces of impurity.It is only throughfulfillment of the commandmentof beritmilahthat this fire is extinguished.'97 However,the teachernotes, this act cannot be accomplishedby a woman,

for orthographically is composedof esh("fire"),andfire ishah("woman") cannotbe usedto extinguish to thefeminfire.198 Woman,whocorresponds ine sefirahof Din (Judgment),cannot extirpatethe powersof dinembodied in the foreskin.If a womanwereto performthis preceptfromwhich she is

neutral(ormeaningexempt,shewouldhardlybe engagingin a religiously less) act, but rather,in one disruptiveof cosmic harmony.

196. See above, n. 59. 197. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 56b-57a. Cf. Tikkunei Zohar III.18b, XXXVII.78a. 198. Sefer HaKanah, pp. 56b-57a. Cf. the halakhic ruling against performing circumcision at night. Ibid., p. 57a. In an oral communication, Dr. Elliot Wolfson has raised the question of whether the perspective of Sefer HaKanah's teacher represents a deviation from other kabbalistic attitudes on the sacral efficacy of "fighting fire with fire." Nahmanides' commentary on Num. 21:9 seems to view this as a potent strategy and uses it to explain the efficacy of the copper serpent in saving those Israelites who had been bitten by snakes. One way of harmonizing the perspectives of Nahmanides and Sefer HaKanah is to assume a basic difference between the case of the copper serpent, on the hand, and women's performance of circumcision on the other. The copper serpent (fashioned by Moses following God's advice) may be understood to represent the demonic force within the divine, which is capable of subjugating the power of evil within the realm of Creation, thereby initiating the two-stage process of Redemption described by Wolfson. "The Left Contained in the Right," pp. 27-52. The forces of Judgment which woman embodies, on the other hand, are evidently not regarded by Sefer HaKanah's teacher as representative of the forces of Judgment within the Godhead, and are therefore unable to eradicate other forces of Judgment from outside the realm of Divinity.


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andItsCulturalImpact Hypernomism A surveyof halakhicwritingson this subjectrevealsthe radicalnessof

position.In takingthe positionthatJewishwomenmay SeferHaKanah's not performcircumcisionunder any circumstances, Sefer HaKanah's andadoptR. teacherrejectsa halakhicpositionarticulated Yohanan'99 by Alfasi's taled by R. Zemah Gaon,200the Sheiltot,20'HalakhotGedolot,202 R. Simhab. Shemuelof Speyer,205 OrZaru'a,204 mudiccommentary,203 Sefer

Halttur,206 Maimonides' Mishneh Torah,207Temim De'im,208and the Tur,209

all of whichhad ruledthat a Jewishwomanmay performcircumcisionif no male is availableto serve as mohel.The claim of Sefer HaKanah'steacher that a Jewish woman must not performcircumcisionunder any circumstancescorrespondsto the positiontakenin the thirteenthcenturyby Tosafot210and in the fourteenthcenturyby Isaac of Corbeil,211who adoptedthe minorityviewpointof Rav.212Facedwith the explicitbiblicaldescriptionof Zipporah'sperformanceof circumcision,"ThenZipporahtook a flint and she cut off the foreskinof her son" (Exod.4:25),those holdingthisstringent viewpointwere forced to offer a radical rereadingof the verse. Like the other opponentsof women'sperformanceof circumcision,Sefer HaKanah

199. A.Z. 27a. 200. Cited in Sefer Halttur (New York, 1953), Hil. Milah, p. 53a. 201. Sheiltot, no. 37, Parashat Shemot (Venice, 1546), pp. 25-26. 202. Halakhot Gedolot, Hil. Milah (Vienna, 1810), p. 20d. 203. Alfasi on Shabbat, end chap. 19. 204. Or Zaru'a, Hil. Milah 11.97 (Zhitomir, 1862), p. 50b. 205. Cited in Hagahot Maimuniyyot on Hil. Milah 2:1. 206. Sefer Halttur, Hil. Milah III.53a. 207. M.T, Hil. Milah 2:1. 208. R. Abraham b. David of Posquibres, Temim De'im, no. 171 (Warsaw, 1897), p. 43d. 209. Tur, Y.D. 264. 210. The tosafists note that even though R. Yohanan's opinion prevails in disputes with Rav, the opposite is true in the case at hand, due to the existence of a beraita attributed to R. Judah the Patriarch which accords with Rav's position. Tosafot, AZ 27a, s.v. "Ishah." 211. Sefer Mizvot Katan, no. 157 (Jerusalem, 1968), p. 123. This is cited in Kol Bo, Milah, no. 73 (Fuerth, 1782), p. 33d. In his commentary on the Tur,Caro records a compromise position, stating that women ought not to perform milah, but if they have already done so, the circumcision is ritually valid. Beit Yosef, Y.D. 264. 212. B. A.Z. 27a.

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makes the textually farfetchedclaim that while Zipporah began to cut, Moses finishedthe act.213 Anotherpositiontakenby SeferHaKanah'steacherandjustifiedon kabbalisticgroundssimilarlycorrespondsto a decidedlystringentstanceon a halakhicissue. MedievalAshkenazicsourcestestifyto the fact that women didmakezizit,214and followingthe the viewof the tannaimR. Yohananand R. Yehuda,Tosafothad ruledthat zizit madeby womenarerituallyvalid.215 SeferHaKanah'steacher,however,rejectsthis ruling,dismissingit as an In takingthis perspective,he alignshimoffensiveconcessionto the times.216 self with the position articulatedby R. Tamin twelfth-centuryFrance,who had declaredthat the fringesrepairedby a womanof Troyeswereunfit for ritual use insofar as she was not commandedto performthe mizvahof zizit.217Writingin the thirteenthcentury, R. Meir of Rothenburgechoed this position, similarlyinvokingthe rulingthat anyoneexemptfrom a commandmentcannot assist others in fulfillingit.218 Ratherthan substantiatinghis position with any legal arguments,Sefer HaKanah'steacherjustifiesit by describingthe sefiroticactivityconnected with the fashioningof zizit. The thirty-twothreadsof the fringescorrespond

213. Ibid.; Sefer HaKanah, p. 61b. 214. In a poetic elegy to his wife, Dulcea, who was killed by crusaders in 1197, R. Eleazar of Worms includes the following in a list of her virtues: "She looked for white wool with which to make zizit; she spun with enthusiasm." The elegy of R. Eleazar of Worms for his wife, Dulcea, appears in Israel Kamelhar, Rabbenu Eleazar miGarmaiza HaRokeah (Rzeszow, 1930), pp. 17-19. This translation appears in Ivan Marcus, "Mothers, Martyrs and Moneymakers: Some Jewish Women in Medieval Europe," ConservativeJudaism 38 (1985-86): 40-42. Two generations later, Mordecai b. Hillel notes that "it is a custom that women make zizit." Mordecai, Men. 42, no. 949. 215. Tosafot on Men. 42a, "Minayyin"; Tosafot on Git. 45b, "Kol Sheyeshno"; and cf. Hagahot Maimuniyyot, Hil. Zizit 1:9. This perspective was later upheld in the Shulhan 'Arukh, O.H. 14:1, though it was qualified by the Ashkenazi glossator, Isserles. 216. Sefer HaKanah, p. 43a. 217. Described in Tosafot, Git. 45b, "Kol sheyeshno"; Rosh, Gittin, chap. 4, 46; Hagahot Maimuniyyot, Hil. Zizit 1:9; Beit Yosef on Tur, O.H. 14. Writing in the sixteenth century, R. Abraham Gombiner asserted that R. Tam only prohibited women from tying the ritual fringes onto the corners of the garment, but not from spinning or weaving them. Magen Avraham, Shulhan Arukh, O.H. 14:1. 218. Cited in Mordecai, Menahot, no. 949, and Sefer HaAgur, no. 30 (Jerusalem, 1960), p. 21. Mordecai b. Hillel, who was a student of the Maharam, set forth a "compromise" view, ruling that, a priori, it is preferablethat the zizit be made by a man. Piskei Mordecai, Halakhot Ketanot, no. 549.


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to thethirty-twopathsof Hokhma,he explains,andthesecanonlybegathered in the female sefirahof Malkhutthrough the mediationof the male sefirah Tiferet.219

In yet anotherdiscussion,SeferHaKanah'steacherdeclaresthat women may not performshehitah(ritualslaughter).Indeed,he deemssuch an act rituallyinvalideven if it has alreadytaken place.220Sefer HaKanah'sposition standsin oppositionto decisionsrecordedin the Talmud,221Tosafot,222 Maimonides'MishnehTorah,223and the correspondingcommentaryof the Hagahot Maimuniyyot, Moses of Coucy's Sefer Mizvot Gadol,224Isaac of Corbeil's Sefer Mizvot Katan,225Mordecai b. Hillel's talmudic commen-

R. Asherb. Yehiel'stalmudiccommentary,227 and in latercenturies, tary,226 the commentariesof JosephCaroand David Ibn Abi Zimraon the Mishneh and Caro's commentaryon the Tur.229 Torah228 and Bonfil233 havecitedexamplesof Roth,231Shulvass,232 Duschinsky,230 women who servedin the capacityof ritualslaughterersin Mantuain later centuries,a phenomenonwhich has been traced to particularsocial and economic conditions. The stringentposition of SeferHaKanah'steacheraccordsonly with the reputed"traditionof Erez Yisrael,"which seems to have its basis in the and with reportof EldadHaDani, a travelogueof disputedauthenticity,234 219. Sefer HaKanah, p. 43a. Cf. Sefer HaBahir, Margaliot ed. (Jerusalem, 1950), pp. 92, 93; R. Ezra, Commentary on Song of Songs, in Chavel, Kitvei HaRamban, pp. 525-530. 220. Sefer HaKanah, p. 264. 221. Zev. 31b. 222. Tosafot, Hul. 2a. 223. M.T, Hil. Shehitah 4:4. 224. Sefer Mizvot Gadol, end of Positive Commandment 63 (reprint of Venice, 1547), p. 141a. 225. Sefer Mizvot Katan, no. 197 (Satu Mare, 1935), p. 189. 226. Mordecai, Hullin, no. 571 (beginning of chap. 1). 227. R. Asher ben Yehiel, Hullin 2a, beginning of Hullin, chap. 1. 228. Maggid Mishneh and Radbaz on MT., Hil. Shehitah 4:4. 229. Beit Yosef Tur, Y.D. 1. 230. C. Duschinsky, "May a Woman Be a Shohetet?" in Occident and Orient: Gaster Anniversary Volume, ed. B. Schindler (London, 1936), pp. 96-106. 231. Roth, Jews of Renaissance Italy, p. 52. 232. M. Shulvass, Jews in the World of the Renaissance (Philadelphia, 1973), pp. 163-166. 233. Bonfil, "Historian's Perception of the Jews," pp. 73-75. 234. Though Eldad was regarded as an impostor by certain medieval writers, including Abraham Ibn Ezra and Meir of Rothenburg, his legal rulings were widely cited by rabbinic authorities. Azriel Shohat, "Eldad HaDani," Encyclopaedia Judaica, 6:576-577.

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the position of the kabbalistically oriented Agur, whose author uses the following extraordinary reasoning: Even though the Tosafot wroteexplicitlythat women may performshehitah [Hullin2a], [andthat theirshehitahis valid]even a priori[lekhathila],[nonetheless,]throughoutIsrael'sdiasporait is customaryfor themnot to perform shehitah.And neverhave I witnessedthe customof [women's]shehitah.And therefore,they are not to be permittedto performshehitah,for custom overrules law [minhagmevatelhalakhah],and the custom of our ancestorsis Torah.235 Writing in the sixteenth century, R. Moses Isserles cites "the tradition of Erez Yisrael" (which he presemably knew of through the Agur, who knew it through Eldad HaDani), according to which women (and even women experts, he claims) should not perform shehitah. Isserles adds two reasons for this ruling: firstly, women are lightheaded,236and secondly, they are likely to faint, "since most of them are fainters."237Unlike the Agur, however, Isserles concludes that if a competent woman whose expertise is known has already performed a particular act of shehitah (i.e., when it is a fait accompli), then that particular act is ritually valid.238 The explanation offered by Sefer HaKanah's teacher as to why shehitah performed by women is invalid makes reference to a very different set of concerns. Just as an act of sacrifice causes the feminine sefirah, Malkhut, to draw near to her male counterpart, the sefirah Tiferet, which then channels the energy of both,239so the slaughter of even nonsacrificial animals can only be carried out through the interaction of the female hypostasis of Din (Judgment) with the male hypostasis of Rahamim (Mercy), or perhaps the containment of the former within the latter. However, Sefer HaKanah adds, "the woman [i.e., the sefirah of Judgment] is brutal, and her thought is forever evil," and thus shehitah performed by a woman, even if it is already a fait accompli, is ritually invalid.240

235. Sefer HaAgur HaShalem, no. 1062, Hershler ed. (Jerusalem, 1960), p. 171. 236. Shab. 33b, Kid. 80b.

237. Bayyit Hadash,Tur,Y.D. 1. 238. Ibid. 239. Sefer HaKanah, p. 264, and similarly Zohar 1.70, 1.261a. 240. Sefer HaKanah, p. 264. Cf. the Zohar's statement that the sitra ahra, i.e., the realm of evil, bears some relation to shehitah, and as soon as any particular act of slaughter is rendered invalid, the powers of evil dominate. Zohar 1.151b.


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Furtherinvestigationwould be necessaryto revealwhether,or to what extent,SeferHaKanah'shypernomianperspectiveon certaingender-related issuesinfluencedsubsequenthalakhicwritings,on the one hand, and actual behavioron the other. It may well be that the spreadof kabbalisticteachings, and the transformationof optional or supererogatorymattersof custom into ontologicallynecessarypractices,incumbentupon all Jews,241led, among other things, to changes and curtailmentsin opportunitiesfor women's participationin Jewish ritual. Finally,SeferHaKanah'sstringentperspectiveon women'sparticipation in aspectsof Jewishritualmustbe examinedfor its possibleimpactnot only upon subsequentlegal writings,but also upon individualand societal attitudes. The comparison of Sefer HaKanah'sstringentposition regarding three particularlaws with the underlyingrabbinicliteraturereveals that while the teacherhas adoptedthe conclusionsarticulatedby earlierhalakhic authorities, the rationale underlyinghis decisions differs radically from theirs. The positions of the halakhists-whether R. Isaac of Corbeilin the case of circumcision,R. Tam and R. Meir of Rothenburgregardingthe makingof zizit, or even the quasi-legalisticargumentof the Agurregarding ritualslaughter-all referto principlesof the rabbiniclegislativesystemand not to the imageof woman or to her "inherentnature."SeferHaKanah,on the other hand, transformsthesesamelegalpositionsinto,platformsfor the exposition of metahalakhicconceptionsabout woman's nature.The treatise's introductionof kabbalisticexplanationsinto the "universalsolvent" of halakhicdiscoursebroughtnew imagesinto mainstreamJewishculture, amongthem the gender-linkedstereotypeswhichare a hallmarkof sefirotic theory. Throughtheir very linkage to the realm of halakhah,kabbalistic workslike SeferHaKanahmay well have influencedeverydaynotionsabout women'sineffectiveness,or even destructiveness,in aspectsof Jewishritual life. RiceUniversity Houston,Tex.

241. See, e.g., Gries, "Hagdarat HaHanhaga keSug Sifruti biSifrut HaMusar halvrit."

Purim, Liminality, and Communitas Author(s): Jeffrey Rubenstein Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 247-277 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486945 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:15 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].



PURIM, LIMINALITY, AND COMMUNITAS by JEFFREY RUBENSTEIN

"Fever is no sickness and Purim is no holiday."' So runs a surprisingly self-reflective proverb concerning the festival of Purim, the strangest Jewish holiday.2 Ostensibly the celebration of the triumph of the Jews over the wicked Haman described in the Book of Esther, at a popular level something much larger and far more complex is going on. Folk customs throughout history have always transcended the celebration of the triumph of Mordecai and Esther. Elaborate pageants, grotesque masks, drunken revelry, noisemaking, buffoonery, burning of effigies, costume parades, feasts with special delicacies, and every manner of carousing and merrymaking have characterized Purim since rabbinic times. A diverse body of Purim literature has accumulated, including drinking songs, short stories, parodies, and intricate plays. The nature of these celebrations has varied, of

1. Yom Tov Lewinski, ed., Sefer hamo'adim (Tel-Aviv, 1961-63), vol. 6, Yemeimo'ed vezikaron. p. 30 (hereafter cited as Sefer hamo'adim). 2. An excellent collection of material pertaining to Purim, including descriptions of Purim customs from all over the world, legal and liturgical sources, and examples of Purim songs, parodies, and stories, can be found in Phillip Goodman, ed., The Purim Anthology (Philadelphia, 1973) (hereafter cited as PA). A comprehensive bibliography appears there, pp. 495-512. Another extensive anthology is Sefer hamo'adim (see previous note), pp. 1-325. See also Isaac Levitas, "Purim," Encyclopaedia Judaica, 13:1390-96; Henry Malter, "Purim," Jewish Encyclopedia, 10:274-283.

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course, dependingon the particulartime period and ambientculture.But whether we speak of dancing around a fire in tenth-centuryBabylonia, sophisticateddramasin RenaissanceItaly, or carnivalfestivalsin contemporary Tel-Aviv, the overall tenor of the holiday remainsconstant:"On Purim,"assertsan oft-quotedphrase,"all things are permissible." Scholars,long awareof the strange,almost un-Jewishcharacterof Purim, have advancednumeroustheoriesto explainthe existenceof the festival.3 The historicityof Purimis generallyrejected,4althoughsome scholars maintainthat a fancifullegendhas been woven arounda historicalkernel.5 AlreadyGraetzsuggestedthat the Book of Estherwas a completefabrication modeled on the Greek Pithoigia holiday.6The dominant scholarly trend,takingnote of the similaritybetweenthe namesMordecaiand Esther and the Babyloniangods MardukandIshtar,sees Purimas an imitationof a Babylonianholiday,generallythe Sakaiafestival,or as the transformation of a Babylonianmyth.' A few scholarsrealizedthat accountsof the originof Purimneitherexplainwhy bizarreritualshavealwayssurroundedthe festival nor shed light on its functionin Judaismand Jewishsociety.Theyturned to anthropologicaltheoriesand modelsto betterunderstandthe exceptional characterof Purim.JamesFraziergroupedPurimwith holidaysresembling the Saturnaliaand its later metamorphoses,festivitiescharacterizedby the inversion of social ranks, merrymaking,revelry,and other featuresthat also appear in Purim celebrations.8Theodor Gaster built upon Frazier's

3. Summaries of the different theories: Solomon Grayzel, "The Origin of Purim," in PA, pp. 3-14; Julius Lewy, "The Feast of the 14th Day of Adar," Hebrew Union College Annual 14 (1939): 127-131; N. S. Doniach, Purim or the Feast of Esther (Philadelphia, 1933), pp. 23-53; Theodor Gaster, Purim and Hanukkah (New York, 1950), pp. 3-11. 4. Jacob Hoschander, The Book of Esther in Light of History (Philadelphia, 1923) defends the historical accuracy of Esther. 5. Grayzel in PA, pp. 10-13. 6. Heinrich Graetz, "Der historische Hintergrund und die Abfassung zeit des Buches Esther und der Ursprung der Purimfestes," Monatsschriftfir Geschichte und Wissenschaftdes Judentums 35 (1886): 425-442, 473-503, 521-542. The author hoped to bolster the faith of the Jews during the Hasmonean revolt with the message that God delivers His people from oppression. 7. Lewy, "Feast," pp. 145-151. 8. James Frazier, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed. (New York, 1935), 9:345-415. Frazier noted the similarities between Purim and the Babylonian Sakaia and Zakmuk festivals. In the larger context, all these festivals are types of "scapegoat rituals" often found in primitive agricultural societies. To ensure a successful harvest, these societies appointed a temporary king to impersonate the god of fertility and subsequently put him to death in the hope that he would rise

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approach and viewed Purim in the context of New Year holidays. In many regions throughout the world, New Year celebrations include parading an ordinary citizen in the garb of a king, observing a fast, selection of a queen, execution of a malefactor, and distribution of gifts.9 More recently Monfred Harris has focused on the reversals, disorder, and "topsy-turvy" elements of Purim.'o Harris invokes the phenomenologist Eugene Fink's account of "play" and James Faris's study of a Newfoundland community to undestand the reversals and antinormative behavior. He argues that "Purim is playing exile." Through play, in which one assumes a fictional persona and thus functions in a double role, both in reality and in illusion, the Jew confronts his double role as Jew in exile. The purpose of this essay is to continue these efforts toward an anthropological interpretation of Purim. Frazier, Gaster, and Harris applied anthropological models and comparative methodology with profit but limited their investigations to certain aspects of the festival, especially the reversals, and concentrated on particular types of evidence. In this study I analyze a wider range of evidence-legal sources, folklore, popular customs, accounts of actual celebrations, rituals, and liturgy-to provide an overall conceptual scheme that explains the disparate dimensions of the festival. Purim should be understood as a time of liminality as defined and described by Victor Turner. Communitas, rituals of status reversal, play, and other phenomena of liminality are readily recognizable during Purim celebrations. Although Turner's theories are well known and probably need no rehearsal here, I begin with a brief summary in order to underscore a few points that are sometimes overlooked."

again with renewed virility and power. Unfortunately, Frazier becomes carried away with his own argument. He suggests that at some point Jews may have actually killed a Haman-figure and conjectures that Jesus was killed by Jews precisely in this manner! See "Note: The Crucifition of Christ," 9:414-423, reprinted from the second edition. 9. Gaster, Purim, pp. 10-16. 10. Monfred Harris, "Purim: The Celebration of Dis-Order," Judaism 27 (1978): 161-170. I1. A note on methodology is apposite. The current trend among anthropological approaches to the study of religion eschews large-scale studies in favor of smaller, well-defined analyses. Judaism (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) and for that matter Purim (Christmas, Ramadan, etc.) are no longer legitimate subjects for study, for there is no one, "normative," standard Judaism, no one, normative, standard Purim festival. The Judaism of Kurdistan in 1850, or the Purim of the Jews of Fez in 1937, can be studied, but Judaism and Purim are abstractions, pure constructs in the mind of the scholar. No Platonic "Purim" exists, but only Purim as practiced by a certain community in a certain time and place. There is undoubtedly

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Turnerand Liminality Victor Turner studied the ritual and social processes that occur during intervals in the normally structured state of society.'2 By social structure Turner means the matrix of roles, statuses, and positions governed by social phenomena such as law, custom, institution, and cultural tradition. Normally social structure is hierarchical and characterized by differences in status, while social relationships are mediated by power and statute. At certain times, however, the web of normal social relationships, the structural elements, appear to dissolve. Society enters what Turner calls a "liminal" time-a "betwixt and between" or threshold period. No longer do power and privilege, status and role, law and institution determine social interrelatedness. Society enters a "time outside of time" where alternative mod-

much merit in this trend, and methodological awareness should be admired. However, this methodological cautiousness must not be pushed to an extreme. To deny that general topics such as Judaism or Purim possess any essence is as methodologically suspect and destructive to the pursuit of knowledge as are gross generalizations and reductionism. Without broaching knotty ontological problems (much better left to philosophers), it is clear that Judaism (Christianity, Purim, Mass, etc.), no matter how varied its manifestations, can be intelligibly described, if not precisely defined. Proper methodology requires an abstract, more general model and numerous examples or case studies. Working back and forth dialectically between model and data allows the scholar to modify his model on the basis of individual studies and simultaneously to understand particular cases in light of the model. In this paper I propose a model which sheds light on many different aspects of Purim, its festivities, customs, and traditions as celebrated in different times and places. The goal is to apply anthropological theory to elucidate a certain problem in the study of religion, not to mimic a field-worker in situ. I cull examples (data) from diverse centuries, cultures, and settings, since these disparate illustrations share common characteristics that give Purim an overall coherence. Does this imply that Purim fulfilled the same function and role in every society, that every community celebrated Purim in exactly the same way? Certainly not. Does it even mean that similar customs functioned identically the world over? Not necessarily. The model will suit some communities better than others. But many different aspects of Purim, varying in accord with cultural setting, time, and place, can be explained. Different Purim celebrations, heretofore considered unrelated, will be seen to possess unifying traits. Indeed, when diverse examples fall into patterns and become intelligible, a model gains more credence. The ultimate test of a model is whether it explains phenomena convincingly and thereby makes sense of what was not understood. Hopefully, more detailed studies of particular communities will both refine this model and confirm its usefulness. 12. Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (Ithaca, 1977), pp. 94-203; From Ritual to Theatre (New York, 1982); The Forest of Symbols (Ithaca, 1967); Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors(Ithaca, 1974).


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alities of social relatednessappear.The most common modality of social organizationthat takes place withinliminalityis communitas.As opposed to societas, or structure,communitasis characterizedby equality,immediacy, and the lack of social ranksand roles.A levelingprocessbringsabout the dissolutionof structure,the absenceof social distinctions,a homogenization of roles, the disappearanceof politicalallegiance,the breakdownof regular borders and barriers.With the suspensionof status distinctions, human beings recognizethe core humanitythey share. Relationshipsare immediateand spontaneous,of Buber's"I-Thou"type. Communitasstrives for releasefrom daily obligationsand requirements,and seeksuniversalism and openness. Where societas functionsto define the differencesbetween individuals,limit theirinteraction,and pull them apart,communitasserves to unify, bond, and transcendstructuralrelationships.By doing so, communitasremindssocietythat at a deeperlevel all of its membersare human and equal, despite the acceptedsocial and hierarchicaldifferences. While liminal periods generallymanifestthemselvesin terms of communitas, in some cases a total status inversion occurs. During ritually definedtimessuch as the initiationof a king or a seasonalfestival,the entire society may enter an overarchingliminal mode when statuses,roles, and power relationshipsare reversed.'3Members of society who ordinarily occupy positions of inferiorstatus assume dominantpositions while their typicalsuperiorsare relegatedto low statusand subjugation.Kingsmay be reviledmercilessly,nobles beaten,and highercastes forcedto performmenial work. Similarly,religiousstructuresmay be "reversed":that which is taboo and prohibitedbecomespermittedor obligatory.The profaneandthe sacred invert. Ritualsof status reversalremindsociety of the excessesperpetratedby those normallyin positions of power over their inferiors.Yet they also reaffirmthe usual social structurewhen the period of liminality ends and the normalstructuresets in again. By temporarily"playing"the extraordinary,the ordinaryis strengthened. Turnersuggeststhat thesetwo modalitiesof liminality,communitasand ritualsof statusreversal,are related.Statusinversion"maybe regardedas a measureof the degree of drift of structurefrom communitas."'4When a society underscoresthe excessesof those of superiorstatus in the normal

13. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 167-203. 14. Ibid., p. 168 Cf. p. 200.

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social structure,that societycan betterrecognizethat it has strayedfar from communitas.The statusinversionbalancesthingsout, forcessocietyto confront its normal structure,and preparesthe ground for communitasto emergein the future.Turnerdoes not developthis idea to any great length, but it is importantto mention here becauseelementsof both communitas and reversalsemergeon Purim.These should not be seen as contradictory phenomenabut as interrelatedexpressionsof liminality.On Purimthe normal contoursof Jewishsociety and religionare inverted.At the same time communitas reigns with the destructionof the regular distinctionsthat govern Jewish piety and society. The explorationof liminality,reversals,and communitasas manifested on Purimaffordsan opportunityto test Turner'smodel.Herewe may profitably examineto what extent the generalmodel of liminalityand communitas fits expressionsof liminalityand communitason Purim.Our results may suggestcertainrefinementsand modificationsto Turner'soverarching theory. Reversals The Book of Estheritselfexpressesthe motif of reversal.Mordecaisaves King Ahasuerusfroman assassinationattempt(2:21-23), but the nextverse relatesthat Haman,not Mordecai,is promotedto chiefvizier(3:1).Haman is forced to lead Mordecaiclothedin the royalpurpleon a horse-the very rewardHaman proposed, assuminghe would be the recipient.Haman is hung on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai(7:10). The king promises Haman that he will receivepropertyplunderedfrom the Jews, but after Haman'sdeath his propertyis deliveredto the Jews (3:11, 8:7). The days slated for the destructionof the Jews become days of triumphover their enemies. And so, on the thirteenthday of the twelfth month-that is, the month of Adar-when the king'scommandanddecreewereto be executed,theveryday on which the enemiesof the Jewshad expectedto get them into theirpower, the oppositehappened[venahafokh hu],and the Jewsgot the enemyinto their power.... The days were transformed[nepakhlahem]for them from one of (9:1, 22) grief and mourningto one of festivejoy.


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TheHebrewrootin bothverseshasthemeaning"tooverturn," "toinvert," "to be opposite." Thus the scriptural source of the festival, which also serves as part of the liturgy, suggests that reversals are part and parcel of the holiday. Drawn from this passage, the phrase venahafokhhu has become a literary theme as well as a slogan for the day, routinely called out at popular celebrations as audiences encourage actors in their dramas, entertainers in their parodies, and each other in boisterous celebrations. The characterization of the day as one of opposites is dramatized

throughreversalsof status.Manycommunitiesin medievaltimes appointed a Purim king. Typically a young boy, the king received a type of mock authority for the course of the holiday.'5 Sources do not detail the precise functions or powers of the king, but it is clear that he never possessed the power of physical abuse, as occurs in some cultures. Rather, the Purim king engaged in assorted merrymaking and received the respect normally reserved for the wealthy and those of high status. At the beginning of this century in Tel Aviv, a Purim queen was appointed every year at the Purim carnival called 'Adloyada, literally, "until he does not know," a phrase from the dictum that "one must drink on Purim until he does not know the difference between 'blessed be Mordecai' and 'cursed be Haman.'" One year a Yemenite orphan received this honor. An observer related that "the joy of the Yemenites was unbounded. At last they had come into their own. They were now considered the full equals of other Jews."'6The queen held one of the lowest social statuses, being an orphan, a female, and a Yemenite, the ethnic group at the bottom of the social hierarchy. By virtue of her position of superiority, the Yemenites vicariously transcended their usual inferior status and felt equal to the rest of society. Reversals of status occurred more frequently within the tightly knit, highly structured communities of the yeshiva and the synagogue. The rosh yeshiva (head of the academy) and leading rabbis were replaced by ordinary students who impersonated their erudite masters. In the celebratedyeshivotof Telzand Volozhin,the studentswouldelecta Purim rabbi.The rabbiwas king in theyeshiva.He woulddon a long silkcoat, put

15. Gaster, Purim, p. 66; PA, p. 339. 16. PA, p. 78, from A. S. Sachs, Worlds That Passed (Philadelphia, 1928), pp. 227-235.

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a girdleroundhis waist, a fur edgedcap on his head,whiskersand sidelocks, exactlylike the actualrabbior roshyeshivaof the year.At the Purimfeastthe real roshyeshivawouldsit at the tablelike an ordinaryyeshiva-bacher and listen to the pilpulof his pupil.... The chantand formof the Purimpilpulwere like those of everyday, but the substanceand contentwas a burlesqueon the entiredaily routineof the yeshiva.All the weaknessesof the roshyeshivaand his aides were mockedin the pupil, and the lattercould clearlysee in what regardhis studentsheld his eruditionand what they thoughtof his management. Occasionallythe roshyeshivahad to listento sharpcausticcriticismof himself,but he would grin good-naturedlyand bear it." The students also parodied the housewives at whose tables they ate, the spiritual "supervisor" of the yeshiva, and the wife of the rosh yeshiva.'8 Law

and customobligatedstudentsto risein the presenceof theirmentors,never to contradict them, and to show them tremendous respect. During this reversal, not only did students and rabbis exchange places, but respect and honor became ridicule and criticism. In one case the students acted out a trial of their rabbi so insulting and inappropriate that the subsequent public outcry called it "the greatest outrage in the history of Israel."'' In another instance the antics "crossed every boundary," and proved so embarrassing to the yeshiva that precisely what happened was never mentioned out of deference to "the honor of Jerusalem."20Sometimes it was not students but "scurrilous individuals" who were appointed as pseudo-rabbis and commissioned to mock the real rabbis, to the great delight of the crowd.21The reli-

17. PA, p. 52. See also PA, p. 358. Cf. Y. Fishman, Hagim umo'adim(Jerusalem, 1944), p. 127. According to Volozhin tradition, Rabbi Iayyim of Volozhin instituted this custom in case he had done something inappropriate during the year but his students had not dared to point it out to him. He resigned the office of rosh yeshiva on Purim in order that the Purim rabbi would have the power to criticize him and recount to the yeshiva officials and supervisors their sins and deficiencies. 18. Zvi Singer, "Hagigat purim shel bahurei hayeshiva," Mahanayim 54 (1961): 126, notes that in Worms, yeshiva students extorted wine from wealthy householders, having previously assessed how much each household could give and having received a stamped authorization from the congregation officials. 19. This and other interesting descriptions of Purim "rabbis" can be found in Shlomo Ashkenazy, Dor, dor uminhagav(Tel Aviv, 1977), pp 107-108. 20. Ibid., p. 109. 21. Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 1886), p. 447.


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gious leaders,who normallyenjoyedgreatrespect,werenow laughedat and ignored.22

In variousplacesnot only was a Purimrabbiappointed,but also a Purim congregation,a Purimcongregationleader(roshqahal),and a Purimsexton. Accordingto Hasidictradition,men whose roles in daily life were the completeoppositewerechosen for theseroles, in orderto fulfill venahafokh hu ("the opposite happened").23 The selection of men to play roles most opposite to their normal statusesembodiesthe desire for total structural inversion.In nineteenth-century Englandthe functionariesof the synagogue weresupplantedon Purim.The folk seizedthe officesof hazan(cantor)and parnas (leader), parodied the officials, and recited the prayers without regardto the prescribedmelodies.24In Wormsthe firstSabbathafterPurim was knownas Shabbathabahurim, "the Sabbathof the Youth."Youngmen wore special clothes, held special privileges, sat in the seats normally reservedfor elders,and could conductservicesas they wished."In short,on Shabbathabahurim, in the spiritof Purim,the youngmen werefreeto mock theireldersand teachers,as well as cast asideorderlyprocedurein favor of confusion."25 Now statusin Jewishsocietiesreceivedconcreteexpressionin The synagogues. wealthyheld synagogueoffices,receivedthe most coveted ritualhonors,and occupiedthe chiefseats. By appropriatingthe officesand conductingservicesaccordingto their fancy, the young men or common Thus the folk relegatedboth people reversedthe normalcourseof affairs.26 rabbis,who embodiedreligiousauthorityand status, and synagoguefunctionaries, who exemplifiedpolitical station, from their normal positions atop the socialhierarchy.Those of superiorstatuswerereducedto low positions, while those of inferiorstatusdressedand acted like their superiors.27 22. Ibid., p. 282. 23. 'Ora vesimha 'al'inyanei purim (Jerusalem, n.d.), p. 80; YiShak Alfasi, "Purim behevrat haSadiqim," Mahanayim 54 (1961): 118-120. 24. PA, pp. 39-43. 25. Hermann Pollack, Jewish Folkways in GermanicLands (1648-1806) (Cambridge, 1971), pp. 189-190. Note that this behavior "in the spirit of Purim" spilled over onto the following Sabbath. 26. For a description of similar status reversals borrowed from Purim which took place on SimhlatTorah, see Abraham Yaari, Toledot bag simhat tora (Jerusalem, 1964), pp. 376-378. 27. In Sefer haminhagim leqehilat vermes (Worms; quoted in Menashe Unger, "Purim sameah--minhag ufoklor," Mahanayim 104 [1966]: 22) the reversal is spelled out: "In the synagogue they [the young men] sit on the stage. During the whole year the rich [ba'alei batim] sit on the stage, but on this Sabbath the rich evacuate their places for the young men."

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A limitedstatusreversaltakesplacebetweenmen and womenon Purim. To ensurethe strict separationbetweenthe sexes mandatedby Jewishlaw, women are prohibitedfrom wearingthe garmentsof men, and men from wearingthose of women.28On Purim,however,in line with the theatrical performancesand carnivalatmosphere,men and women sometimeswore the clothing of the opposite sex.29An observerrecountsthat he observed men and womenexchangingclothesin the Frankfurtsynagogue,"and thus altered [they] ran around like mad."30In England"brothersand sisters dressed in each others' attire.""'And in the East Europeanacademies,if Purim antics requiredfemale charactersthe students borrowedclothing from the daughtersof the rosh yeshiva.32Law codes eventuallysanctioned such behavior. One rabbinicresponsumexplains:"The jurists permitted maskson Purim,and a man wearingwomen'sclothingand a womanwearing the clothing of men, and nothingis forbiddenin this matter,since the purpose is merely to rejoice."33All this does not amount to a complete statusreversal.Womenmay not lead prayersor assumethe leadingrolesin liturgicalor ritualobservances.Nor do men lose theirstatusin the synagogue or the home. Ratherthe reversalis manifestedsymbolicallythroughthe exchangeof clothes.By donningthe dressreservedfor the oppositesex, each gender is transformedinto its opposite. The wearingof masksand masquerading,a customprevalenton Purim, is characteristicof ritualsof status reversal.Thoughtto have originatedin fifteenth-centuryItaly, where Jews imitated the carnivalpracticesof the Lentenseason, the earliestreferenceto Purimmasksdates to 1508.Adults woregrotesquemasksduringPurimfestivitieswhilechildrenwouldgo from house to housedressedin extravagantcostumes,singingsongsandextorting candies.Childrenalso wearcostumesto the synagoguefor the readingof the Book of Estherand the eveningprayers.Costumesandmasksareconnected to status reversalon severallevels.34Childrenoccupy positionsat the bot-

28. Deut. 22:5. B. Naz. 59a. 29. Abrahams, Jewish Life, p. 282. 30. Quoted by Frazier, Golden Bough, 9:363. 31. PA, p. 39. 32. PA, p. 51. 33. Judah Minz, Responsa (Shklow, 1810), no. 17 (cited by Isserles to Shulban 'arukh, 'O.H. 696:8). 34. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 172-177.


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tom of the social hierarchy.The are powerlessto resist punishmentsfor misbehavior,live in fearof reprisalsfor theiractions,and may be punished for infringementsthey do not fully understand.Masks, which, as Turner notes, often representdangerousanimals or darker powers, conceal the inferiorstatusof the childbehinda veneerof power.Minorscirclethe town, symbolicallythreateningthe residentsas if they werenow capableof meting out punishment,as if they possessedcoerciveabilities.Adultsare forcedto As one scholarnottoleratewild behaviorthat is ordinarilyunacceptable.35 ed, "Purimis uniquein that it was customaryfor childrento insult adults, Variouscusand adultsto acceptcriticismand commandsfromchildren."36 toms gave concreteexpressionto this reversal.In Zakhu, Kurdistan,they called the first of Adar segirat she'arim,or "closing the gates." When a fathercame home fromwork,the gatesto his courtyardwerelockedby children who refusedto open them until he gave them moneyor a gift, and the same thing occurredon Purimeve when the fatherreturnedhome from the synagogue.37In all Jewish communitieschildrenare encouragedto yell, whoop, or makenoise with "groggers,"typesof noisemakingdevices,when the name of Haman is read during the recitationof the Book of Esther. Behaviorthat is normallyout of place in the synagoguebecomesthe norm. In this way adultsand minorssymbolicallyreversenormalpowerand status relationships. A reversaldramatizedsymbolicallyoccurswith Jews and non-Jews.An effigy of Hamanwas often constructed,draggedthroughthe streets,insulted, and burnedor hanged.38On one level this custom reenactsthe victory over Hamandescribedin the Book of Esther.At the sametime it playsout a reversalin whichJewspossessthe powerto punishor persecutegentiles,an inversionof the prevailingpower structure.In Poland,in fact, a Christian was paid to dressup like Hamanand sufferthe abuse.The symbolicmeaning of this act did not eludethe Christianclergy,who bannedthe practicein

35. In Jerusalem, for example, at the beginning of this century, children were allowed to smoke cigarettes on Purim-and only on Purim. See Y. Gliss, "Mishloab manot biyerushalayim," Maihanayim43 (1960): 75. 36. Menahem HaCohen, "Parpar'ot lepurim," Mahanayim 79 (1963): 40. 37. Joseph Rivlin, "Purim," Mahanayim 43 (1960): 18; Erich Brauer, The Jews of Kurdistan: An Ethnological Study, ed. and trans. by Raphael Patai (Jerusalem, 1947), p. 277. 38. Ashkenazy, Dor, dor uminhagav,pp. 91-104; Y. Lewinski, "Neqama behaman 'al yedei mishaqim," Mahanayim 43 (1960): 68-72.

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1743.39Apostates and antisemitesregularlyslanderedJews on account of this practice, chargingthat they actually killed a Christian,and several persecutionsresulted.EventuallyJewishauthoritiestoo discouragedthe tradition. Vestigesremainin the customof writingHaman'snameon a stone or the bottom of a shoe and beating it out on the ground.40 Purimis thereforecharacterizedby reversalsof status. In the sphereof religiousauthority,Purimrabbisreplacedrabbis,and studentssupplanted the rosh yeshiva. As for political authority,youths or the lower classes seized the synagogueoffices, honors, and seats normallyreservedfor the wealthyand powerful.Genderdifferencesare symbolicallyreversedas men and women don the garmentsof the other.And statusdifferencesbasedon age are invertedas childrendressin costume,menacehouseholders,andrun riot in the synagogue.41 Communitas Apart from reversals,a second dimensionof liminalityon Purimis the experienceof communitas.Levelingof boundaries,a drivetowardequality, and moreimmediate,spontaneousrelatingoccuron manylevelsthroughout the holiday. The overall ethos of Purimis directedtowardcommunitas.A famous proverbobserves,"As soon as Adar arrives,all should be exceedinglyjoyful." Lest anyone not be in the mood for rejoicing,copious imbibitionof alcohol readilyinducesthe appropriatedisposition.Accordingto the law, "on Purima man is obligatedto drinkuntilhe does not know the difference

39. Ashkenazy, Dor, dor uminhagav, pp. 102-104. 40. This aspect, as played out during the Purim carnival in Tel-Aviv in 1928, moved one observer to the following reflection: "All the demons of antisemitism are here, all the leaders of pogroms, all the champions of the reactionaries according to their countries and nations. It seems that not one is absent-whether a commander of the enemy, or whether one who undermined the existence of Israel, whether a traitor, an apostate, or those who closed the borders of Israel, whether those who initiate new persecutions-all are exposed here as one, all displayed here to be mocked and ridiculed before the thousands who have come to celebrate the holiday." Sefer hamo'adim, p. 292. 41. One further example: Mitnagdim and Hasidim were known to reverse their distinctive formulas for the qadish. Mitnagdim added vayismabpurqanei vayikarevmeshilei, while Hasidim omitted these words in order to fulfil venahafokhhu. Gliss, "Mishloab manot biyerushalayim," p. 75.


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between'cursedbe Haman'and 'blessedbe Mordecai."'42 Drinkingis one of the centralmotifsof the Book of Esther;againwe see a close link between text and custom. In fact, severalauthoritiesbase the obligationto drinkon the episode of the dismissalof Queen Vashti, Esther'spredecessor,which occurredwhile "the heart of the king was merrywith wine" (1:10),and on the fall of Haman,which also beganwith feastingand drunkenness(7:1).43 This obligationis generallytaken seriously,and becomesa majormotif in popularliterature.A parodyof the PassoverHaggadahwrittenfor Purim bears the name Hagada leleil shikurim,"The Haggadahfor the Night of Drunkards,"playingon one of the names of Passover,leil shimurim,"the Wine and drunkennessare the themes from start to night of watching.""44 finish, up to the concludingprayer"Next year may we drink double" (as opposed to "Next year in Jerusalem").Inebriationproducesuninhibited boisterousness,frivolity,and generalwildness. Togetherwith alcohol, feastingis an intrinsicelementof Purim.On the day of Purimall mustparticipatein a ritualfeast(se'uda),a mealwith specific ritual requirements,also mandatoryfor Sabbaths,festivals,weddings, and circumcisions-times of greatjoy. SpecialPurimdelicaciesthe particular typeof whichvariedfromplaceto placeadd to thejoyousness.Food also functionsas a meansof relating.All men are obligatedto sendgifts of food (mishloahmanot)to someone else, based on the account in the Book of Estherthat followingthe victorythe days of Purimwereinstitutedas "days of feastingand merrymaking,and as an occasion for sendinggifts to one another"(9:22). In practicemany more gifts are sent, and sometimesgifts received from one person are passed on to another. Exchangeof food creates a sense of mutualityand symbolizesthe interrelatednessof the individuals.45I do not mean that joy is synonymouswith communitas,but 42. Shulhan 'arukh, 'O.H. 695:2. Some authorities, troubled by the requirement of drunkenness, rule that one only need drink more than his normal allowance in order to fall asleep, and thus he will not "know" the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai." See the comment of Isserles ad loc. The obligation to become drunk derives from the Talmud, B. Meg. 7b. 43. Magen david, note 1, to Shulban 'arukh, 'O.H. 695:2. 44. Hagada leleil shikurim, ed. Zevi Hirsch Sommerhausen (Brussels, 1847). 45. See A. Shuman, "Shalekh Mones-Structural Reversals in a Brooklyn Jewish Community," Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 7 (1984): 61-76 (Hebrew). In various communities, and especially in Belgrade, a festive meal was held at midnight following the evening Megila reading where the pariticipants stayed up all night drinking and visiting each other. See Joseph Rivlin, "Purim," Mahanayim 43 (1960): 18; Dov Noy, "Se'udat purim umita 'ameha," Mahanayim 43 (1960): 55-59.

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that feasting, drinking, and the exchange of gifts combine with masks, costumes, parading, and Purim plays to create a mood of ecstasy and release. Intoxication, feasting, and these colorful festivities encourage spontaneous celebration, the destruction of normal protocol, and an experience of communitas.46 The clearest manifestations of the drive toward communitas are seen in the spheres of law and custom, where tendencies to break down social divisions cut across the normal propensity of Jewish tradition to classify, divide, distinguish, and keep categories apart-and herein lies the unique and idiosyncratic nature of Purim as opposed to all other Jewish festivals. At the same time, Purim rituals and customs actively effect a bridging of social gaps in order to create unity and promote freeflowing interrelatedness. These forces pushed together poor and rich, men and women, and even Jew and gentile. Like all societies, Jewish communities had their rich and poor, and given the comparatively small size of most Jewish communities, each member knew the economic status of other members fairly accurately. On Purim this gap was narrowed through the rituals of giving charity. All are obligated to give "gifts to the poor" (matanot le'evionim).47Another custom developed to give money on the eve of Purim, which one authority calls a "reminder" (zekher) of the gifts to the poor.48Strictly speaking, one is obligated to give to but two poor men. Yet the codes consistently rule that "one must not be punctilious in this matter, but rather give to everyone who holds forth his hand to take."49Masks and costumes fully disguise the rich and poor even during the act of giving charity. A remarkably astute insight attributed to one of the disciples of the Ba'al Shem Tov formulates this subterfuge as follows: It is a misva[commandment] to obey and to dressup on Purim.Indeed,it is a greatmisva,becausein this way one cannot tell the noblemanfrom the poor. And thereforethey [therabbis]institutedthe misvaof giftsto the pooron Pur-

46. The Holi festival in India, one of Turner's examples of society-wide communitas, began with indulgence in marijuana to help set the mood. See Turner, Ritual Process, p. 185. 47. Shulbhan'arukh, 'O.H. 694:1-3. 48. Avraham ben Natan of Lunel, Sefer hamanhig, Laws of Megila, ? 205 (ed. Yisbak Raphael [Jerusalem, 1978], 2:248.) 49. Maimonides, Mishne tora, Laws of Megila 2:17.


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inits of charitymaybeperformed im,becausewhenpeopledressup,themivva manner[ketiquna]. mostappropriate Onedoesnot knowthento whomhe gives, and the one who receivesdoes not know from whom he receives,and thus no one is embarrassedto appearneedy and dependenton humankindness. This is the best mannerof anonymousgiving, when one gives while in costumeto someone else in costume.50

Anonymity and equality characterizethe immediate interrelatednessof communitasjust as status differenceand well-definedranks characterize societas.5'Effectedby masks and costumes,these qualitiescounteractthe sense of economic differencethe act of giving charityinevitablycreatesby identifying,objectivelyand subjectively,the richand poor. Otherstrategies work towardthis goal. It is customarythat recipientsnot thanktheirbenefactors,52thus denying,in a sense,theirindebtedness,and obscuringthereal differencebetweenthe two. Lawsobligatingeven the poorestto give charity and "giftsto his fellowman,"and to participatein a festivalfeastaredirected to the sameend. Subjectto the samecommandmentsas the wealthy,the poor do not feel inferior.And accordingto one explanation,all areobligated to becomedrunkso as not to know whetherthey arerichor poor, nor be able to distinguishthe rich from the poor.53 Charityallows the poor to take partequallyin Purimfestivities,to celebratejust as, and along with, the rich.54At the sametime, masksand other strategiescamouflagethe differencebetweensocial classesthat charitygiving otherwiseemphasizes.The spirit of mutual relatedness,equality,and anonymitycharacteristicof communitasresults.An observerof the Palestine Purimcelebrationof 1938 capturedthis spirit beautifully: Let the poor man eat; perhapshe will forget his poverty!Let the rich man drink;perhapshe will forgethis wealth!And let the investigators,andall their 50. S. Tudor, "Hahasva'a vehahitbapsut," Mahanayim 104 (1966): 33. 51. Cf. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 102, 188-189. 52. PA, p. 385. 53. See Menahem Mendel, Sipurei hebag purim (Jerusalem, 1981), p. 34. 54. The importance and effects of charity are emphasized by Maimonides, Mishne tora, Laws of Megila 2:17: "It is better for a man to be plentiful in gifts to the poor than in his feast or in his gifts to his fellow man. For there is no greater joy than to gladden the hearts of the poor, orphans, widows, and converts. He who gladdens the hearts of these misfortunates is similar to the divine presence [shekhina], as it is written, '[God] revives the spirits of the lowly, [He] revives the hearts of the contrite' [Isa. 57:15]."

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thedelversandtheirdelvingpassutterlyfromourmemory,nor investigation, let themcometo mindagain." But perhapsthe best descriptionof the effect of Purimis the folk proverb, "On Hanukkahand Purim,the poor become rich."56 Genderdistinctionsand the hierarchyof sexesare attenuatedto a certain degree on Purim.Normally women are exempt from time-boundpositive commandments,such as prayer,phylacteries,andthe wavingof the lulavon Sukkot. One would expect, then, that women would be exempt from the obligationto hear the recitationof the Book of Esther.However,the Talmud obligateswomen on the groundsthat "they too experiencedthe same Such a law self-consciouslyrecognizesthat normallegal princimiracle."57 do not ples applyon Purim.For the sake of inclusion,of breakingdownthe genderhierarchy,women receivea ritualobligationequal to men;they too appearat the synagogueas membersof the communitywho congregateto hearthe centralmythof the festival.58 So too the standardseparationof men and women within the synagoguewas broachedin certain places. James Frazier,describingthe Jewshe observedin Frankfurt,relatesthat "women were allowedas a specialfavorto open theirlatticedwindowand look into the men's synagoguebecausethe great deliveranceof the Jews from their enemiesin the time of King Ahasueruswas said to have been effectedby a woman."59Neither the legal obligation nor the opening of windows amountsto the completeeliminationof typicalgenderdistinctions,but symbolicallythey demonstratethat Purimis an anomaloustime, a liminalperiod in which the usual divisions and distinctionsbetween the sexes are suspect.On the popularlevel, costumesand masksconcealthe genderof the bearer. An observerof the Purim festivitiesin Tel Aviv noted that: "In effect, on Purim the boundariesbetween differentages and genders are blurred.They all disguisethemselvesin masks,they all behavewildly,they

55. PA, p. 162. 56. PA, p. 386. 57. B. Meg. 4a; Maimonides, Mishne tora, Laws of Megila 1:1;Shulban 'arukh, 'O.H. 689:1. 58. In Libya, and certain other Oriental communities, the woman did not go to the synagogue to hear the reading. Her husband read the scroll for her at home following the synagogue service. Even this, however, shows that women are included in the rituals to a greater than normal degree. 59. Frazier, Golden Bough, 9:364.


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all dance like goats through the streets."60Moreover, we noted above that the sexes used to exchange clothes on Purim, a practice at odds with the law, and only permitted by special dispensation. Again the purpose is to camouflage the distinction between men and women, to disguise status and sex. This effect bothered one rabbi, quite opposed to such customs, who lamented that: thantheirhusbands,hurryout afterthem, Wives,even more [enthusiastically] their manner and having changed appearance.They put on masks and all All men clothes. wear women's change clothing, and they put on scarves. Women,too, disguisethemselvesin the clothesof men to the point whereno one who sees them can recognizethem.61 Sexlessness, a type of anonymity, frequently occurs during periods of liminality and communitas.62 Of all the divisions in Jewish tradition, none is so central as the distinction between Jews and gentiles. Ironically, until modern times, the sociopolitical and theological dimensions of this separation were, for the most part, inverted. Socially Jews were a despised minority, cut off from the ambient society, and at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Theologically Jews saw themselves as God's chosen people, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation," atop the divine hierarchy, and blessed God each morning "who did not make me a gentile." Laws prohibiting Jews from eating the bread and cheese of gentiles and drinking their wine reduced the possibilities of social intercourse between individual members of the two faiths,63as did church laws directed toward similar ends.64On Purim, however, this separation is called into question. The Book of Esther describes how "many of the people of the land professed to be Jews" after witnessing Mordecai's triumph (8:17). This suggested that a leveling of the normal barriers between Jew and gentile may be possible on this festival. The folk distributed charity to the non-Jewish poor on Purim, especially to their gentile nursemaids and ser-

60. Sefer hamo'adim, p. 290. 61. Cited in A. M. Haberman, "'Al hayayin, ve'al hayayin bepurim," Mahanayim 54 (1961): 80-81. 62. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 102, 106, 188-189. 63. See Jacob Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance (New York, 1962), pp. 1-63. 64. Robert Chazan, Church, State and Jew in the Middle Ages (New York, 1980).

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vants.65Rabbinicauthoritiesprotestedvirulentlyagainstthis custom,charg-

theirobligationto givecharity,and, ing thatthe donorsdid not discharge

what is worse, deprivedthe Jewishpoor. Nonetheless,the customendured.

UndertheTurkishregimethechiefrabbisandotherJewishdignitaries sent Purimdelicaciesto the leading Muslimsof the community.66That Esther

may be recitedin any languagealso pointsto a moreuniversalspirit,a desirethateventhosewho do not knowHebrewsharein the festival.

The natureof medievalsocietyand the effortsof both churchand synagogue to prevent fraternizationprecludeda complete annulmentof the

however,the potential separationbetweenJewandgentile.Symbolically, wasgreater.Costumes,for example,not onlydisguisegenderandage,but conceal identity and religion. Jews often dressedas charactersin Esther, includingKing Ahasuerusand even Haman.Here, then, Jewsintentionally dresslike gentiles,as did Mordecai,who twice paradedthroughthe streets of Shushanin royalgarb.67Butthe mostprofoundsymbolicexpressionof

the Jewish-gentile rapprochement appearsin the obligationto drinkto the when one does not know the difference between"blessedbe Mordepoint cai"and"cursedbe Haman."MordecaiandHamanarethequintessential

Jew and gentile-Mordecai, in fact, is calledhayehudi,"theJew"(10:3).The genealogiesgiven in Esthertrace Mordecaiback to Kish, while Hamanis known as ha'agagi,the Agagite (2:5, 3:1). Jewishlore identifiedKish with the father of Saul, and understood"the Agagite" as the lineage of Agag, king of Amalek,whom Sauldefeated(1 Sam. 15).Othertraditionsassociate

65. See Abrahams, Jewish Life, p. 175; Sidur rashi, ? 346 (ed. Jakob Freimann and Salomon Buber [Berlin, 1911], p. 169); Mabzor Vitry, ? 245 (ed. S. Hurwitz [Berlin, 1893], pp. 210-211). 66. PA, pp. 369-370. 67. A gentile once asked Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschuetz (d. 1764) why on Purim you celebrate the night which follows the day of the holiday, while on other Jewish holidays you celebrate the night which precedes the day. (The festival meal on Purim is eaten during the day which follows the first night of Purim, when the festival begins, and lasts into that night. On other festivals the ritual meal is eaten on the first night.) The rabbi answered, "And why do you gentiles usually celebrate the day after the night, but on Christmas you celebrate the preceding night? But both questions have the same answer. Purim came to Israel on account of a gentile [Haman], so we practice the ways of the gentile ['anu nohagim minhag goyim]. Christmas came to you from a Jew, so you celebrate in a Jewish way!" Menahem Hacohen, "Parpa'ot lepurim," p. 40. This sentiment, albeit meant in the spirit of joking, actually suggests more a reversal than communitas.


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Hamandirectlywith Amalek,68the nation whichattackedIsraelwhen they first came forth from Egypt.69Amalek was the archenemyof Israel; a positive commandmentstill obligates all Jews to destroy the memory of Amalek. Haman, traced to Amalek, symbolizes the eternal enemy, the antithesisof the Jew, the worst of the gentile nations dedicatedto the destruction of Israel. The obligation to erase this fundamentaldistinction through drunkenness,to confuse Haman and Mordecai,Agag and Saul, Amalekand Israel,gentileand Jew,is the ultimateexpressionof the leveling of oppositions in the spirit of harmony,equality, and communitas. Law and Play

I noted in passinga numberof Purimphenomenaduringwhichthe law is abrogatedor suspended.Juristsgave permissionto dressin the clothingof the oppositesex, normallya violationof a biblicalprohibition,70for the sake of Purimjoy. Status reversalsdemotedthe rabbi or rosh yeshiva, thereby contraveningthe laws of respect incumbent upon students. Other such examplesabound. Drunkenness,itself not ipsofacto opposed to any law, althoughcertainlyat odds with the tenor of Jewishmorality,may resultin the destructionof propertyandinadvertent(or perhapsintentional)physical injury. Certain law codes, however, absolved inebriates of culpability. Moses Isserles notes that "some authoritiessay that if a man injureshis neighbor as a result of too much Purim joy, he is free from paying damages."''Isserlesalso rules that one may wear clothes that containcertain types of forbiddenmixturesof fabrics(kelayim).72Rabbi JudahMinz (1408-1506) observesthat severalrabbis "rulethat any food stolen in the course of Purinjoy, even without permission.. . is not consideredthievery."73Not only is stealing sanctioned, but responsibilityfor damages incurredduringtheftsor drunkenboisterousnessis abolished.HayyimHal-

68. Josephus, Antiquities 11.6.5; Targumsheni to Esther 3:1; Mahzor Vitry, ? 249 (p. 215). 69. Exod. 17:8-16, Deut. 25:17-19. 70. Deut. 22:5. 71. Isserles to Shulhtan'arukh, 'O.H. 695:2. 72. Ibid isserles permits kelayim derabanan,mixtures forbidden by rabbinic authority. Mixtures forbidden by the Torah are not permitted. 73. Judah Minz, Responsa, no. 17.

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berstam, rabbi of Zanz (d. 1876), and his attendants used to walk along the Jewish streets and break window panes from time to time.74 In German Jewish communities, communal prohibitions against gambling were lifted on Hanukkah and Purim, and games of chance, lotteries, and even dice games were permitted.7"In Kurdistan young men would eat a Purim meal with young women, an event "that would not even be considered on any other day,"''76 Thus far the abrogations of law are themselves sanctioned by law, a type of nomian antinomianism. But often custom outstripped law, to the dismay of rabbinic authorities. Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (d. 1630) expressed his indignation at the customs of his day: I have seenmanywho indulgein wineknowingno limit.On thesedaysof Purim they play and behavefrivolously,and don't worryaboutprayingon these days. On the contrary,they yell duringthe prayerspriorto the readingof the scrollof Esther,and theyconfusethe cantoruntilhis voice is not heard.When they eat, they indulge in whatevertheir eyes fancy. They don't cover their heads or think of the heavenlyworld wherethe God of Israelresides.They don't take care to wash theirhandsor say the blessingfor the breador grace afterthe meal, such that it appearsto the massesthat on thesetwo daysevery man is permittedto cast off the yoke of Torahand the commandments,and the more crazy one becomes,the betterit is. But all this is undoubtedlyevil and unfortunateand a flagrantsin.77 His jeremiad laments the total indifference to the law, apparently a fairly common occurrence. He describes the general feeling that the law was suspended, that one "is permitted to cast off the yoke of Torah and the commandments." The antinomian atmosphere pervaded the synagogue service, where the congregants either did not pray or, worse, disrupted the service. Such synagogue antics are a regular feature of Purim. Prayers are sometimes

74. Darkei hayyim, ed. Raphael Zimetbaum (Satu-Mare, 1939), p. 31. 75. Pollack, Jewish Folkways in Germanic Lands, p. 181. The Talmud, B. Sanh. 24b, disqualifies gamblers from giving testimony, and the Midrash considers dice gamblers sinners "who reckon with the left hand, but add up with the right, and thus rob and cheat one another" (Midrash Tehilim to Ps. 26:7, trans. William Braude, The Midrash of Psalms, 2 vols. [New Haven, 1959], 1:364). 76. Brauer, Jews of Kurdistan, p. 291. 77. Isaiah Horowitz, Shnei lubot habrit (Warsaw, 1852), 3:105b.


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recited to the melodies of the High Holidays, other festivals,or popular tunes. Wheneverthe name of Hamanis mentionedduringthe recitationof Esther,"groggers,"special types of noisemakers,are used to create a raucous din in orderto "wipeout" Haman'sname.This attitudeis summedup best by the common proverb,"On Purimall things are permissible."78 This antinomianaspect of Purim,and actuallyits overall liminality,is also relatedto its calendricalposition.Purimoccursin Adar,the last month of the year. Adar itself is somewhatliminal.Sevenyearsout of nineteenthe calenderis intercalatedand containstwo Adars.79Thus Adar blinksin and out of existenceon the marginof the year.Purimfallson the fourteenthand fifteenthof Adar,exactlyone monthbeforePassover.Now Passoversymbolizes not only the beginningof the agriculturalyear, but also the beginning of the Jewishpeople and the law. For Passovercelebratesthe exodus from Egypt and the end of slavery,which enabled the Israelitesto receivethe Torah.The first commandmentsto the Israelites,in fact, concernthe Passover sacrifice.s0Passover,then, representsorderand structure-the formation of the nation and the acceptanceof law. Purim,thirtydays beforePassover, representsantistructure,a state priorto the establishmentof society and its legal system.A sort of calendricallogic fixesPurimas a time of communitas, of the absence of structureand law. On Purim, or immediately thereafter,thirty days before Passover,the Talmudadvisesthat one begin asking questionsconcerningthe laws of Passover.In Orientalcommunities the Purimfeast went late into the night, and early in the morningpreparations for Passoverwereactuallycommenced.8'Thesetraditionsrecognizea specificrelationshipbetweenPurimand Passover:whenthe disorderof Purim festivitiesconcludes,it is time to beginthe orderlypreparationsfor Passover. Purimand Passoverreenactannuallyin cyclicaltime that whichthe nation experiencedhistoricallyin lineartime, the passagefromantistructure to structure,disorderto order, and anarchyto law.82 Suspensionof law and normis charcteristicof communitas.The leveling

78. PA, p. 385. 79. Purim is always celebrated in Second Adar (M. Meg. 1:4), although the fourteenth and fifteenth of First Adar are also considered days of happiness. 80. Exod. 12. 81. Sefer hamo'adim, p. 269; Gliss, "Mishloab manot biyerushalayim." p. 75. 82. Historically, too, there appears to be some connection between Purim and Passover. See J. B. Segal, The Hebrew Passover (London, 1963), p. 239.

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of roles, statuses,ranks,and the overallsociopoliticalframeworkentailsthe suspensionof the juridicalsystem which governsthe interactionsof these positions. Law supportsthe social structure,so the dissolutionof societas duringcommunitasentailsa paralleldissolutionof the legal underpinnings of that structure.Immediate,spontaneousrelationshipsboth requireand effectan absenceof legal dictagoverninginteraction.Turnerhas noted that the absenceof privatepropertyis particularlycommonin communitas,for propertyis generallythe basisof statusdifferencesseparatingthe havesfrom the have-nots.83Privatepropertyis not abolishedon Purim,nor is license givento causeharm,but rightsover property,both goods and body, arenot fully recognizedby law. That proverb,"On Purim, all things are permissible,"expressestrue communitas,a time when legal prohibitions,obligations, and commandmentsare suspended,when the laws whichdictatepermitted and proscribedconduct betweenthe sexes, roles, occupations,statuses, and otherdefinedpositionsin the social matrixare relaxed,and when spontaneousinteractionsbecome the norm. Perhapsthe most distinctiveaspectof Purimis the tremendouscreativity in the arts fostered by this festival.84Beginningin the fifteenth century, Jewish communitiesstagedannualplays on Purim.85Jewishtheaterdeveloped from Purimcelebrations,and includedcomedy,jesting,and individual buffooneryas well as sophisticateddramas.Purimspielers,small bands of actors, would circulatefrom house to house, performingscenes from their repertoireof plays. The developmentof Jewish music was stimulatedby Purimrituals.Purimplays often involvedsong and music,while songs were composedand sung at Purimfeasts, and servedas a primemode of festive expression.86Besides theater and music, Purim has spawned abundant poetry, short story, dance, legend, and art.87 The most prevalentPurimart is parody,both in literatureand drama.88

83. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 106, 140-145. 84. David Davidowicz, "Purim be'omanut hayehudit," 43 (1960): 55-59; PA, Mah.anayim pp. 152-248. 85. Jacob Shatzky, "History of Purim Plays," in PA, pp. 357-367. For bibliography, see PA. pp. 506-510. 86. PA, p. 221. 87. PA, pp. 153-248. 88. Israel Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature (New York, 1907); idem, "The History of Purim Parody in Jewish Literature," in PA, pp. 330-355; Mala Bitanski, "'Al purimshpiel ve'al parodim," Yeda' 'am 31 (1967): 9-16: Dov Noy, "Haparodim besifrut yisra'el haqeduma," Mathanayim54 (1960): 92-99; Sefer hamo'adim. pp. 179-201.


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Preeminent membersof the communityare oftenparodied-theleading rabbis, the wealthy, and the lay leaders-but the subjectsfor parody are limitless.Gentiles,Jewsof differentcommunities,such as a particularsect of Hasidim,Mitnagdim,Sephardim,or Ashkenazim,or, in moderntimes, assimilated Jews, may be the objects of ridicule.89 I have mentioned one famous literaryparody, the "Haggadahfor the Night of Drunkenness." Anothercelebratedcreationis "TractatePurim,"a detailedimitationof the Talmudcomplete with apparatus,commentary,and supercommentary,in whichthe famousrabbis,RabbiBottle, RabbiFlask, and RabbiDrunkard, ponder ridiculousquestions.One section involvesa complex discussionof the biblical proofs for the obligationthat not only men, women, and children, but also animalsget drunkon Purim.Anotherprovesthat the biblical heroes Adam throughMoses were all drunkards.Besidesthe parodyof the PassoverHaggadah,parodieshave been writtenfor other elementsof the liturgy,the Qiddush,Hosh'anot,'Aqdamut,Selihot,Sabbathhymns,andvarious partsof the High Holidayservice.At the Purimfeastit is customaryto deliver"PurimTorah,"parodiesof Torahdiscoursesin whichverses,talmudic sayings,and laws are turnedon theirhead.Onemighthear,for example, a sophisticatedand detailedanalysisof, say, whethera roachmotel requires a mezuzah,complete with pertinentlegal sources and biblical prooftexts. These types of parody are examplesof play. Classic Jewish modes of expression-liturgy, responsa,Talmud,Torahdiscourses-a'replayedwith, changed,transformed,and turnedupside-down.The traditionalforms are and Araretained.TractatePurimwith its commentary,supercommentary, maic terminologyresemblesa typical page of the Talmud.Parodiesof the liturgyimitatethe rhymeschemesand structureof traditionalprayers.Even the farcicalexegesesof biblicalversesand rabbinicdicta found in the parodies of responsaare not necessarilyprecludedby the normalmethodsof rabbinic interpretation;midrashis notoriouslyflexible,and regularlywrenches verses or words from their original contexts, plays with semantics, and "rewrites"the text to serve the purpose of the exegete.90 Purimparodists play with the content,allowingtheirimaginationsto roam,combiningtraditional elementsin novel and unprecedentedways.The theatricalplay, as the

89. Shifra Epstein, "Drama on the Table: The Bobover Hasidim Piremshpiyl," in Judaism Viewedfrom Withinand from Without,ed. Harvey Goldberg (New York, 1987), pp. 195-219, provides a contemporary account of such Purim parody. 90. Consider such midrashic techniques as "do not read x, but rather y."

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word "play"implies,also entailsplay of thissort. Evenas traditionalstories are retold they are embellished,modified, and transfigured. Turnerhas discussedthe significanceof play in FromRitualto Theatre.91'

He notesthatin manysocietiesliminalityinvolvesplay.Whenthe social norm breaksdown, its constitutiveelementsare similarlyfreed from

their regularmodes. Culturalartifactsare recombinedin new ways, parodied, satirized,and turned on their heads.92Just as statuses, roles, and positions are suspended,so too is the regularorganizationof culturalelements. Characterizedby opennessand freedom,communitasprovidesthe optimalsettingto engagein play. Membersof societyplaywiththe elements that ordinarilyconstitutestructure,depictingpotential alternativesto reality. Such play is linkedto the arts, for myths,symbols,dramas,and patternsaredevelopedto temporarilyreclassifyreality.93Playis a type of experiment,the subjectsof whichare the elementsof culture,the resultsof which are potentiallyinfinite. The tremendouscreativitystimulatedby Purimis thus readilyunderstandableas an aspectof liminalityand communitas.Purim is play time, when the constitutiveelementsof Judaism-biblical verses, mythicalarchetypes,law, ritual, prayers-are recombinedin novel ways. "On Purim all things are permissible,"for the liberationfrom structure opens worlds of possiblility. Less clear,but no less interesting,is the questionwhy Purimplay almost exclusivelytakes the form of parody.Liminalplay, in theory,can take many forms:exaggerationof specificelementsof culture,monstrousor dangerous phenomena,strangetaboos, unnaturalrelationships,orgiasticrituals.On Ritualsof statusreversalbestowedno Purim,however,parodydominates.94 coercivepowers upon the Purimkings and Purimrabbis.Theyengagedin humorousantics and satirizedtraditionalauthorities.Purimspielsinvolve

91. Turner, From Ritual to Theatre. See too Ritual Process, pp. 127-128. 92. Ibid., pp. 41-50. 93. Ibid., p. 52. 94. I have found only one example of a Purim monstrosity. In Kurdistan they used to select a fat boy and dress him up like a preganant woman by tying pillows around his stomach and fashioning breasts. His face was painted, a beard affixed to his chin, horns placed on his head, and a cow bell hung around his neck. Called a lebukay, he was led through the streets of the city by a string and taunted with various songs, such as "Dead Lebukay, you are male and became pregnant" and "Lebukay, what did you bring?/You brought Haman/Why did you bring him?/To crush his testicles." The whole affair, however, seems to have been more amusing than frightening. Brauer, Jews of Kurdistan, p. 287.


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elaborateparodies of various individualsor stereotypes.And the literary creations,the imitationsof the Talmud,the Haggadah,and liturgicalpieces, as well as the "PurimTorah"deliveredat the Purimfeast,are classicparodies. Now every culturehas its idiosyncratictype of play, and parodymay simplybe the Jewishmode.95But perhapsthereis more to it than this. Let me suggesttwo factorsthat may explain,at least in part,the primacyof parody as a mode of Purimplay. This discussionis admittedlyspeculative,but to leave the questionwithout any preliminarysuggestionwould be unfortunate. Much of the predilectionfor parodymay derivefrom the highlyliterary nature of Jewish society. Texts are centralto Judaism,and knowledgeof texts is indispensablefor success in society. Texts loom large in daily life throughprayerand study. In privateletters,in everydayspeech,in formal documents,and in other oral and writtenexpressions,Jewsregularlyquote their inheritedtexts, adaptingbiblicalverses,introducinga relevanttalmudic saying, or alludingto an appositeliturgicalphrase.Texts,then, are the primeculturalelementsin Judaismand constituteits most importantsubjects- revelation,prayers,discussionsof the rabbis,legends,law, and tradition. In periodsof liminality,play focuseson texts. As the structureslegitimated and defined by texts are abrogatedin favor of communitas,the underlyingtexts too may be inverted,overturned,played with, and even mocked.The resultis parody,an imitationof standardformswherethe content is completelyopen-ended.Such play could be seen as a direct outgrowthof midrash,whichone scholarhas describedas "a kindof joking."96 In midrashwords are creativelyread, taken out of context, and given new meanings.On Purimthis processis taken one step further,as it were, from the sublimeto the ridiculous. Nontextual Purimparody,such as the examplesof the ritualsof status reversalwhen the rosh yeshivaor communityrabbiwas relegatedand ridiculed, requiresa differentexplanation.Here the primacyof parody may relate to the position of Jewish society on the marginsof the dominant

95. Haim Schwarzbaum, Studies in Jewish and World Folklore (Berlin, 1968), p. 26: "It should be pointed out that Jews show a definite proclivity towards the satiric element of life in general." 96. James Kugel, "Two Introductions to Midrash," in Midrash and Literature, ed. G. Hartman and S. Budick (New Haven, 1986), p. 95.

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society. Until modern-dayIsrael,Jews alwayslived withina largersociety, whetherChristianor Muslim,paganor secular.AlthoughJewishcommunities were sometimes self-governing,the ability of leaders to punish, imprison, fine, or coerce their memberswas circumscribed.Even when the communitiespossessedand exertedsuchpowers,they did so by the graceof the gentileauthorities,who foundJewishself-governmentbeneficialto their interests.Real powerresidedbeyondthe boundariesof the Jewishcommunity. Accordingly,little potentialexisted for certainmembersof society to abuse their peers and physicallyharm others or slide to dangerousexcess. Ritualsof statusreversaldo not involveextremehumiliation,corporalbeating, or other harshpracticesknown elsewhere"simplybecausethese practices generallywere not found in Jewishsociety at any time. Statusdifferences, however,permeateall societies, and Jewish society is no exception. Status,or yichus,is a combinationof wealth,lineage,and learning.98Yichus could be quantifiedaccurately,and the yichusof everymemberof the communitywas known. Highyichuscommandedrespectand receivedconcrete expressionin the synagogue,where the wealthy purchasedthe chief seats and controlledthe distributionof synagoguehonors. As for religiousauthorities, various laws ensuredthat their status was formally recognized. Studentshad to standbeforetheirrabbi,deferto hisjudgment,and pay him the respect fitting for a master. On Purim respect becomes its opposite: disrespect,parody,and mocking.The rabbiis forcedto respecthis students, while they are givenlicenseof free speechnormallyinhibitedby the laws of respect.They parody the rosh yeshiva, the diametricopposite of respect. The Purimking, for his part, makes a mockeryof the normal leadership. Antistructureand AlternativeStructure

At this point, it is worthwhileto step back and ponder the question raisedin the introductionof whetherthis study can contributeto Turner's overalltheory. How well does the generalmodel suit our particularexamples of liminalityand communitas?In most of our examples,communitas

97. See Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 169-171, 185-189. 98. Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog, Life Is with People: The Culture of the Shtetl (New York, 1962), p. 78.


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did not entail the completebreakdownof structure.Laws were not completely annulled,the divisions between men and women never abolished, gentiles never welcomedas full membersof the community.Communitas, rather,attackedthe structureat its edges, suspendingcertainlaws, permitting womengreateraccessto the synagogue,includinggentilesthroughgifts and charity. Pronouncedexamplesof communitasoccur mainly through symbolicaction-obfuscating the differencebetweenMordecaiand Haman, for example,dramatizesthe mixingof Jew and gentile.The sameis truefor the rituals of status reversal.Except for the Purimrabbisof the yeshivot, Purim reversals are symbolic and partial. Men and women exchange clothes,they do not exchangerolessuchthatwomenperformthe synagogue ritualswhile men remainbehindthe partition.Childrenrun riot and extort delicacies,but adults do not lose their authoritycompletely. This suggests that "structure"should not always be contrastedwith "antistructure"but sometimeswith "alternativestructure."Communitas does not manifestitself exclusivelyas the completebreakdownof societas. As is often the case with large-scaletheories,and as some of his criticshave argued,Turner'smodel is too neat. To see communitasand societasas binary opposites, the formercompletelyunstructured,the latter relentlessly institutionalized,oversimplifiesthe matter. Reversalsmay occur among particularelementsof the structurebut stop shortof completeinversion.In certain social structures,communitasand liminality may forge inroads whileotherpillarsof the social structureremainin force.Thereresultsa distortion of the normal social structure-an alternativestructure-in which some elementsof the social and juridicalstructuredissolve, others invert, and still others endure. A quicklook at a contemporaryPurimobservancehelpsto illustratethis point. Amy Shuman recentlydiscussedthe "exchangeof gifts" (mishloabl A manot)ritualshe witnessedin an ultrareligiouscommunityin Brooklyn.99 majorfocus of the festivalis concentratedupon the ostensiblystraightforward custom of sendinggifts of food to neighborsand friends.The food itself functionsnot as food but as a "gift'in the anthropologicalsenseof the term, with its full range of symbolic values. Women exert tremendous energy in the purchaseof necessities,baking of delicacies,wrappingand

99. Shuman, "Shalekh Mones."

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decorationof the plates.Greateffortis requiredto monitorthe natureof the gifts: provenancemust be noted so that the level of kashrutis known;the quantity,quality, and aestheticsof the food must be assessedand a commensurategift returned;speciallydecoratedparcelsmust be sent to leading rabbisand to anyone to whom a familyis indebtedfor priorhospitalityor other favors. Womenare responsiblefor all these tasks, since they have to do with the kitchenand food, whichare underthe jurisdictionof womenin such communities.Childrengenerallydeliverthe gifts, but some womendo so themselves,not trustingtheirhusbandsto depositthe appropriateparcel with its intendedrecipients.Shumanpoints out that a reversalis at work: the ordinarilyprivatedomainof the kitchenbecomesthe publicdomainand focus of the ritual.'00Theprivateactivityof food preparationspillsoverinto the streets of the community. Women, not men, carry out the ritual. However,Shumanastutelynotes that a total reversaldoes not occur,since men and womendo not exchangeroles,statuses,or obligations.The kitchen remainsthe domain of women. Structuredoes not become antistructure. Rather,the natureof the ritualthruststhe role and domainof womeninto the centerof the action. An alternativestructureresultseven as the regular societal matricesof borders,roles, and statusesremainin place. We must, then, analyzethe particulartype of festival,community,and historicalsettingto understandbetterwhy some elementsshift into liminal modes and others stubbornlypersist. Differentfestivalsof the same community may engenderdistinct "alternativestructures"dependingon the specificnatureof the festival.Turner,to be fair,conentratedon tribalsocieties and recognizedthat in more complexsocial structurescommunitasand liminalitybecome somewhat institutionalized.'0'On Purim, for example, the law itselfgrantedrecognitionto the time of liminalityby sanctioningthe suspensionof certainlaws, such as culpabilityfor damage-what I referred to as nomianantinomianism.Still,Turner'sexplanationretainscommunitas and societasas abstractbinaryoppositesand caststhe blameon modernity. It may be more helpfulto understandcommunitasand liminalityin more flexible modes that allow for alternative,and not simply anti-, structure.

100. Ibid., pp. 68-73. 101. Turner, Ritual Process, p. 107.


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Purimandthe World-to-Come One paradoxabout Purimis the importanceattributedto the holidayby Jewishtradition.Historically,Purimis a late holiday;its tone is secularthe Book of Estherdoes not mentionthe name of God even once. The heroes Mordecaiand Estherhavegentilenames.Estherherselfmarriesa gentile king, a fact that causedthe rabbisgreatconsternation.Thereare hints that the rabbisoriginallyopposedthe celebrationof Purim.Boththe Babylonian and PalestinianTalmudscontain traditionsto that effect. RabbiSamuelb. Nahmansaidin thenameof RabbiYonathan, "Eighty-five elders,includingmorethanthirtyprophets,havebeenunwillingto grant to the Feastof Purim.Theysaid,'Mosestoldus thatno prophet recognition shouldaddanythingto theLawfromnowandhenceforth; andyetMordecai and Estherdesiredto createandestablisha newinstitution."''02 Therewerealso doubtsas to the sanctityof the scrollof Esther.'03In various times and places,the Jewishleadershipattemptedto restrainthe wild Purim celebrations,ban the offensivehumorof the play, and institutedecorum.'04 Despiteoppositionof this nature,Purimeventuallytriumphed,far surpassing its sister holiday Hanukkahin importance.Many legal authoritiesrule that while there is no prohibition against performingwork on Purim, nevertheless,work should not be done, and those who do work will never profit fromtheiractions.'05Avoidanceof work raisesthe statusof Purimto that of the Sabbathandyom tov.In fact, in manyplacesit was customaryto dress in Sabbathclothes on Purim.'06SeveralsourcescomparePurimwith the day on which God gave the Torah,and one Talmudcommentatorconcludes, "Purimis as great as the day on which the Torah was given on Sinai."'07So too the She'iltot,an eighth-centurycode, records,"Thedaysof 102. P. Meg. 1:5. Cf. B. Meg. 14a: "Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied to Israel, and they neither took away nor added anything to what is written in the Torah except the reading of the Book of Esther." 103. B. Meg. 7a-b. 104. PA pp. 41, 325; Michael Meyer, Origins of the Modern Jew (Detroit, 1967), p. 133. 105. B. Meg. 5a; Maimonides, Mishne tora, Laws of Megila 2:14. 106. Isserles to Shulitan 'aruch, 'O.H. 695:2. 107. Mordecai ben Hillel HaCohen, cited in Sefer hamoa'dim, p. 31; Jewish Encyclopedia, 10:275.

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Purimare as importantas the day on whichthe Torahwas given.Thus Mar the son of Rabinausedto fast throughoutthe yearexceptfor the two days of Shavuot,when the Torahwas given, and the two days of Purim,becauseof the miraclethat happenedthen."'s AnothertraditionassociatesPurimwith Yom Kippur. Purim, accordingto this tradition,is more importantthan Yom Kippur,since Yom Kippur,or Yomhakipurim,is "like Purim"(kepurimcan be read as "like Purim")-only "like Purim,"but not as important.l09Yet anothertraditionsuggeststhat Purimis equal to all the other holidays taken together."1 The strangesttraditionconcernsthe status of Purim in the world-tocome."' Accordingto severalsources,"all festivalswill be abolishedin the The Talmudrelatesthat world-to-comeexceptPurimand Yom Kippur.""'2 "in the world-to-comeall the other partsof the Prophetsand the Writings will lose their worth and only the Torahof Moses and the Book of Esther will retaintheirvalue.""3Whyshouldthis bizarre"secular"holidayendure in the world-to-comeratherthan Passover,Sukkot,or even the New Year? Why does Estheralone claim the sanctityaccordedthe Pentateuch,the direct revelationof God to Moses? A popularexplanationsuggeststhat the miraclesperformedduringthe adventof the Messiahwill dwarfthose of these otherJewishholidays.Compared with eschatologicalupheavals,the resurrectionof the dead, and the Messianickingdom, Passoverand its plagues,Sukkot and its booths, and Shavuot with the revelationof the Torah will seem trivial and fade from memory.Purim,however,whenthe Jewstook mattersinto theirown hands and achieveda "miraculous"victorywithoutdivineintervention,can never be supersededby miraclesbroughtabout by God. Perhapsthere is some-

108. She'ilta for Purim, ed. S. Mirsky (Jerusalem, 1963), no. 77, p. 215. 109. For sources, see Sefer hamo'adim, p. 31, and Schwarzbaum, Folklore, p. 367. Schwarzbaum notes that this pun was interpreted to apply to an ironic reversal of Purim. On Purim and the Day of Atonement Jews changed places. On Purim "Jews usually disguise themselves as gentiles. On Yom Kippurim, gentiles [=irreligious Jews termed "goyim" (gentiles)] disguise themselves as Jews, praying the whole day in the synagogue." 110. Sefer hamo'adim, pp. 30-31. 111. Cf. Harris, "Purim: The Celebration of Dis-Order," p. 170. 112. Sefer hamo'adim, p. 30; Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia, 1909-38), 6:481; Midrash Mishle [The Midrash to Proverbs], ed. Burton Visotzky (New York, 1990), p. 66. Cf. P. Meg. 1:7, 70d. 113. P. Meg. 1:7, 70d. Maimonides, Mishneh tora, Laws of Megila 2:18.

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it doespointto a uniquefeatureof Purimwhich thingto thisexplanation; it from other festivals.Buttheuniqueness of Purimmustalso distinguishes be soughtin its liminality.Purimexists,in essence,on the marginsof this world.It is a timeof communitas whenthenormalstructure breaksdown, will also overturnthe wheneverythingis its opposite.Theworld-to-come structureof this world.Utopianthought,in general,picturesa liberation fromconstraint andstructure, frompowerandrank,andforeseesa timeof and Thewolfwilllie downwiththelamb,bear bliss.'4 harmony,equality, and lion will playtogether,Israeland the nationswill unitein Messianic harmony.The world-to-comeis universallove, peace, the absenceof communitas.Purim,the holidayof comsocietyand structure-ultimate for sucha world. munitas,not otherfestivals,is uniquelyappropriate Columbia University New York,N.Y.

114. Turner, Ritual Process, pp. 111-113, 153.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): David Marcus Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 279-281 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486946 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



BOOK REVIEWS Marjo Christina Annette Korpel. A Rift in the Clouds: Ugarit and Hebrew

Descriptions of the Divine. Ugaritisch-biblischeLiteratur 8. Miinster: Ugarit-Verlag,1990. xii, 721 pp. This large book (over 700 pages) deals with the various metaphors whichare used to describedivinitiesin the HebrewBibleandin the Ugaritic texts. The authorhas arrangedthe metaphorssemanticallyunderthe headings of anthropomorphic(metaphorswhich contain human properties, social relations,life and death, accessoriesof life, and occupations),theriomorphic(godsin the formof animals),andphysiomorphic(godsin the form of inanimatethinglikestones, mountains,trees, and plants)descriptionsof the gods. Eachsectionis prefacedby a list of the Ugariticand Hebrewwords to be discussedin that section. Wherethe Ugariticand Hebrewwords are consideredto be parallel,they are highlightedin a tableillustratingthe parallels. The volume is supplementedby three helpful indexes:of Ugaritic words;of Hebrewand Aramaicwords; and of subjects. In surveyingher evidence,Korpelcomes to a somewhatpredictableconclusion. Ugarit and Israelsharesome metaphorsbut not others,and some metaphorsare used differentlyin Israel.The differencesare as illuminating as the parallels.So, for example,everymetaphorimplyingweakness,humiliation, or desire of the deity is shunnedin the Bible. If El of Ugarit is old and weak, El referringto Yahwehis vigorousand strong.In contrastto the gods of Ugarit,Yahwehdoes not lie or forget,does not crouch,fall, pray,is never defeated, never flees, is never taken captive, etc. Adopting J. de Moor's thesis (most recently expressed in The Rise of Yahwism:The Roots of

IsraeliteMonotheism[Louvain,1990]),Korpel believesthat the religionof Israelwas originallynot verydifferentfromCanaanitereligion,but was dif279

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ferentiatedonly as a resultof a fundamentalreligiousschism.Indeedall differencesbetweenthe Ugaritic and Israelitedescriptionsof the divine can ultimatelybe traced back to a single cause, the Israelites'early choice of only one God, Yahweh, above all other divine beings. The resulting exclusivenessof Yahwismeithermadethe othergods his subordinatesor led to their being absorbedby him. This large assemblageof materialarrangedsemanticallyshould prove helpful as a starting point for other researcherson divine metaphors. However,readersshouldbe alertedto a certainunevennessin the reliability of the Ugariticmaterial.A numberof times, in spot-checkingsome of the sources,the reviewerfound statementswhichwereunsupportablein the cited texts becausethey were based on hypothesesfrom reconstructedtexts. Space permitsonly a few examplesto be mentionedhere. 1. Korpel finds evidenceof the leviratemarriagein KTU 1.6:1.30f. (= I AB, 1:30 f.). In one place she assertsthat when Baal went to the netherworld,his wife proclaimedherselfa nubilewidowin the clan of herlate husband so that her father-in-lawand his sons could fulfill their nuptialduty (p. 227). Elsewhere,she has Anat going to the house of her father(not her father-in-law!)for the samepurpose(p. 359). All this is derivedfrom a text of two very brokenlines whichread(in KTU,the text edition she cites):[ ] xhh.tit bm.'*[ ][

]zrh. y*bm.l ilm.

2. From anotherbroken text, that of KTU 1.5.111.6[= 1" AB, 111:6], Korpel deducesthat Baal has to wearwhite clotheswhen he goes down to the netherworld:"his clothes [mdm]have to be white [lbn]like the Moon, and his cloak ['ipd]pure like the stars" (p. 366). But the two words for clothes, mdmand 'ipd(the presumedbasis for the citation), are not to be found in the extant text. 3. On the basis of KTU 1.2:111:20 (= III AB, C:20), Korpelstates that "thegod 'Athtarucomplainsthat he has to get out of his woolen underwear alone, implyingthat he needsa wife to undressand washhim"(p. 366). But the Ugaritic text, which reads lb*d*m*.ard.bn s*(?)nq.trbyn.k*jrm[,does

not supportthis statementand deduction.The alleged"woolenunderwear" (npin)has to be restoredin the text, thenit has to be equatedwithAkkadian napds'u"to card wool," from which a putativenoun "woolen underwear" (npin)must be derived.Thenit has to be assumedthat the precedingwords lb*d*m.ard.will yield the meaning"gettingout [of his underwear]alone." Finally,whileit is truethat thereis a wordfor "washing"in this line (trhyn), the word for "wife"(aft) does not occur until line 22, makingany connection betweenthe two very spurious,and certainlynot warrantingKorpel's

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repeatedassertionsthat it was the task of women to wash their husbands before they went to bed (pp. 329-330, 489-490). A futherdifficultyis that Korpeloften advancesnovelinterpretationsof texts without alerting the readerthat they are not widely accepted:For example,Korpel quotes a passagefrom KTU 1.4:11:5-6(= II AB, 11:5-6) which purportedlydemonstratesthat Athiratu (Asherah)was doing her laundry.But for this interpretationto stand, Korpelhas to assumethat the Ugariticword tmt'(a hapaxlegomenon)in the phrasetmt'.mdh.bym. (line 6) not only must mean somethinglike its Arabiccognate"to carryaway"(H. Wehr,Dictionary,p. 890), but has an additionalmeaning"to carryoff for rinsing"(p. 365). Havingthusestablishedthat a laundrysceneis in progress, Korpelobserves:"It is surprisingto see the highestgoddessof the Ugaritic pantheon busy with her own laundry,a task she was apparentlynot supposed to delegateto one of her servants"(p. 489). Furthermore,a parallelism for Athiraturinsingher clothesin the sea is held to be "obvious"in Micah 7:19, where God is said to tread the iniquitiesof His people in the deep sea. But in Micah, the treadingof iniquities,whateverthe metaphor may mean(probably"to forgive";for discussion,see D. Hillers,Micah,pp. 88-89), is not done in the sea. The sea is the place where,into its depths, God is being imploredto cast (taslTk)the people'ssins, so as to makethem disappear. As can be seen from the last example,occasionallyKorpel'scomparisons of Hebrewand Ugariticparallelscan be quitetenuous.In short,readers are cautionedto treat the Ugariticmaterialwith circumspection,and, shouldthey wishto quotefromthe book, theyare advisedto checkthe author's citations very carefully. DavidMarcus JewishTheological Seminary New York,N.Y. Sharon Pace Jeansonne. The Women of Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar's

Wife. Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1990. xi, 152 pp. In her praise of this book quoted on its back cover, Alice L. Laffey remarks, "There are insights in this book that are just brilliant."This revieweragreesthat the book is full of usefulinsights.Indeed,it seemsthat the numberof usefulinsightscontainedin this shortvolumeis greaterthan one normallyfinds in a work of biblical scholarshipof comparablesize.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Mayer I. Gruber Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 281-284 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486947 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



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repeatedassertionsthat it was the task of women to wash their husbands before they went to bed (pp. 329-330, 489-490). A futherdifficultyis that Korpeloften advancesnovelinterpretationsof texts without alerting the readerthat they are not widely accepted:For example,Korpel quotes a passagefrom KTU 1.4:11:5-6(= II AB, 11:5-6) which purportedlydemonstratesthat Athiratu (Asherah)was doing her laundry.But for this interpretationto stand, Korpelhas to assumethat the Ugariticword tmt'(a hapaxlegomenon)in the phrasetmt'.mdh.bym. (line 6) not only must mean somethinglike its Arabiccognate"to carryaway"(H. Wehr,Dictionary,p. 890), but has an additionalmeaning"to carryoff for rinsing"(p. 365). Havingthusestablishedthat a laundrysceneis in progress, Korpelobserves:"It is surprisingto see the highestgoddessof the Ugaritic pantheon busy with her own laundry,a task she was apparentlynot supposed to delegateto one of her servants"(p. 489). Furthermore,a parallelism for Athiraturinsingher clothesin the sea is held to be "obvious"in Micah 7:19, where God is said to tread the iniquitiesof His people in the deep sea. But in Micah, the treadingof iniquities,whateverthe metaphor may mean(probably"to forgive";for discussion,see D. Hillers,Micah,pp. 88-89), is not done in the sea. The sea is the place where,into its depths, God is being imploredto cast (taslTk)the people'ssins, so as to makethem disappear. As can be seen from the last example,occasionallyKorpel'scomparisons of Hebrewand Ugariticparallelscan be quitetenuous.In short,readers are cautionedto treat the Ugariticmaterialwith circumspection,and, shouldthey wishto quotefromthe book, theyare advisedto checkthe author's citations very carefully. DavidMarcus JewishTheological Seminary New York,N.Y. Sharon Pace Jeansonne. The Women of Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar's

Wife. Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1990. xi, 152 pp. In her praise of this book quoted on its back cover, Alice L. Laffey remarks, "There are insights in this book that are just brilliant."This revieweragreesthat the book is full of usefulinsights.Indeed,it seemsthat the numberof usefulinsightscontainedin this shortvolumeis greaterthan one normallyfinds in a work of biblical scholarshipof comparablesize.

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Jeansonnecommentson a numberof very interestingaspectsregarding the lives of the women in Genesis: "Lot's behaviorwith his daughtersis inexcusable.His treatmentof his daughtersis not an isolatedact but is one of manydubiousactions"(p. 42); "Ishmael... growsup to be 'a bowman,' recallingthe descriptionof his imminentdeath in the desert,when Hagar placed him 'a bowshot away"' (p. 51); "Hagaris the only woman in the Bible to choose a wife for her son" (pp. 51-52); Rebekah "ensuresthat God's designatedchoice,Jacob, the second-born,receivesIsaac'sblessing" (p. 53); Rachel names Bilhah'schildren,"althoughthe narratordoes not consider Bilhah's response" (p. 76); Leah and Rachel are portrayedas women who have differentneeds,companionshipand childrenrespectively (p. 77); Jacob "asks his wife's permissionto leave their father'shome" (p. 80); "The importanceof Racheland Leah lies not only in their role as the bearers of Jacob's children ... but also as the decision makers who secure

the futurefor theirdescendantsin the promisedland"(p. 81);Rachel'stheft of the teraphim"is the only occasion in the accounts of the matriarchs wherean ancestressin dangerprovidesher own protection"(p. 83);in Gen. 34 "theperspectiveof the victim[Dinah]is nevergiven"(p. 87);manyof the women representedin the Book of Genesis "resortto nonconfrontational methods of dealing with the injusticesthey experience"(p. 98); "Judah's denial of Shelah to Tamaris a lingeringinjustice"(p. 106). Manyof thesepoints,of course,have beennoted before,but by presenting themin a cumulativemanner,Jeansonneshedsnewlight on the heroines of the narrative.However,it is surprisingthat she fails to mentionthe following facts about the women of Genesis and their men: While in English common law women could not acquire or hold property, the four matriarchs,like upper-classwomen throughoutthe ancientNear East and also in the law of the Talmud,hold propertyin their own right, including slave women, over which the patriarchhave no legal authority. Hence Abramsays to Saraiin Gen. 16:6a,"Look,yourhandmaidis your property [lit., 'in your hand'].Treatheras you see fit."The biblicalnarrativesuggests that matriarchsand otheroppressedminoritiesdo not necessarilyexerttheir power more humanelythan do patriarchs:"Saraithen abusedher so much that she ran away from her" (Gen. 16:6b). This revieweris disturbedby Jeansonne'sfindingit surprisingthat Lot "doesnot ask eitherhis wife or his daughtersto preparefood, in contrastto Abraham'srequestof his wife to assist" (p. 34). This remarkstrikes this reviewer as reflecting the sexist assumption that food preparation is

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women's work. In fact, Gen. 19:3anticipatesthe contemporarywomen's movementby its teachingthat a manis perfectlycapableof preparinga meal without female assistance. Despite Jeansonne's brilliant insights into both the power and the powerlessnessof the matriarchsand theirhandmaids,this revieweris troubled by The Womenof Genesisbecauseof its factualerrors.Theseinclude(1) the assertionthat kd'ethayyah(Gen. 18:10,2 Kings4:16-17) means"in the spring"(pp. 12, 23);' (2) the assertionthat leviratemarriageis peculiarly Israelite (p. 101); (3) the assertion that the descendantsof Lot and his daughtersare continuallyin strife with the descendantsof Abrahamand Sarah(p. 32);2 (4) the assertionthat "LaterDeuteronomiclegislation[i.e., Deut. 21:15-17 accordingto p. 133,n. 11]will prohibitthe marriageof sisters to the same husband"(p. 75) when, in fact, it is Lev. 18:18whichprohibits the marriageof two sistersto the same husband.Deut. 21:15-17, on the otherhand, forbidsfathersto give the firstbornson's doubleportionto any child other than the father'sfirstbornson. No less disturbingare the instanceswhere an inaccuracyfound in the text is correctedin the end notes. At p. 85 the author assertsthat Leah's deathis not mentioned(in the Book of Genesis),a falseassertionthatis contradictedon p. 137,n. 51. Likewise,at p. 87 the authorassertsthat Dinah is mentionedonly in Gen. 34; this false assertionis contradictedon p. 137,n. 2. The misinformationcontainedin Jeansonne'sbook meansthatit can be usedby studentsand nonspecialistsonly with the greatestof caution.Unfortunately,gross errorsin a book.of feministbiblicalscholarshipwill encourage many scholars to dismiss as unworthyof serious considerationboth Jeansonne'sbook in particularand the enterpriseof feministbiblicalhermeneuticsin general. Preciselybecausefeministbiblicalscholarshipproperly executedhas the potentialof changingfor the betterthe way in which the peoplesof the book look upon and treatwomen,feministbiblicalscholars must be especiallyrigorous.It is possilbethat rigorousfeministbiblical

1. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings, Anchor Bible (New York, 1988), p. 57, n. 16, demonstrated that the Hebrew expression can only mean "next year"; see also Mayer I. Gruber, "The Reality Behind the Expression Kd'et hayyah," Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (in press). 2. Contrast, in addition to the Book of Ruth, which reunites the house of Abraham and the house of Lot in the house of David, Jer. 48:47, 49:10.

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hermeneuticsmay change for the better the minds of scholars and nonspecialists alike concerning the place of women in biblical teaching. However,Jeansonne'scombinationof fact and falsehoodcannotbe expected to achievethis urgentgoal. MayerI. Gruber Ben-GurionUniversityof the Negev Beersheva, Israel

Joseph Sievers, The Hasmoneans and Their Supporters: From Mattathias to the Death of John Hyrcanus I. South Florida Studies in the History of

Judaism6. Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1990. x, 171 pp. At a time when we are experiencinga renewedinterestin and extensive reappraisalof the literatureand eventsof the Hasmoneanera, thisvolumeis a welcomeaddition.The detailedlistingandevaluationof the sourceswhich describethe activitiesof this dynastyfromthe beginningof the revoltto the death of John Hyrcanusis a valuablehandbookthat goes beyondsimplistic descriptionand meaninglessgeneralization.We ratherfind a delineationof the issueswhichimpingeupon our historicalreconstructionof the careersof eachof theserulers.Readers of the author's1981Columbiadissertationwill find primarilystylistic improvementsand bibliographicadditions in this revision. The allocation of separatechaptersto the origins of the revolt and to each of the Hasmoneanleadersfrom JudahMaccabeeto John HyrcanusI providesthe structurefor the work.An introductiondiscussesthe use of the sourceswhichinformour knowledgeof the timeperiod.Whatis not provided is a justificationfor the particularboundariesof the work, most particularlyfor endingwith John Hyrcanus.Wereit to be definedas a workbased on the books of the Maccabees,it shouldend with Simon. It certainlyis not a studyof the Hasmoneanperiodas a whole, sincethe tumultuousreignsof AlexanderJannaeusand Salome Alexanderas well as Aristobulusand the internecineconflictsleadingup to the Romanconquestreceiveno mention. In his introductionthe author indicates his well-foundedreasons for preferringBickerman'sreconstructionof the revoltand its aftermathto that of Tcherikover.In the discussionof that comparisonwe find the work's greatest shortcoming.While bringingus up-to-date on the sources and

Review: [untitled] Author(s): John Kampen Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 284-286 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486948 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



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hermeneuticsmay change for the better the minds of scholars and nonspecialists alike concerning the place of women in biblical teaching. However,Jeansonne'scombinationof fact and falsehoodcannotbe expected to achievethis urgentgoal. MayerI. Gruber Ben-GurionUniversityof the Negev Beersheva, Israel

Joseph Sievers, The Hasmoneans and Their Supporters: From Mattathias to the Death of John Hyrcanus I. South Florida Studies in the History of

Judaism6. Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1990. x, 171 pp. At a time when we are experiencinga renewedinterestin and extensive reappraisalof the literatureand eventsof the Hasmoneanera, thisvolumeis a welcomeaddition.The detailedlistingandevaluationof the sourceswhich describethe activitiesof this dynastyfromthe beginningof the revoltto the death of John Hyrcanusis a valuablehandbookthat goes beyondsimplistic descriptionand meaninglessgeneralization.We ratherfind a delineationof the issueswhichimpingeupon our historicalreconstructionof the careersof eachof theserulers.Readers of the author's1981Columbiadissertationwill find primarilystylistic improvementsand bibliographicadditions in this revision. The allocation of separatechaptersto the origins of the revolt and to each of the Hasmoneanleadersfrom JudahMaccabeeto John HyrcanusI providesthe structurefor the work.An introductiondiscussesthe use of the sourceswhichinformour knowledgeof the timeperiod.Whatis not provided is a justificationfor the particularboundariesof the work, most particularlyfor endingwith John Hyrcanus.Wereit to be definedas a workbased on the books of the Maccabees,it shouldend with Simon. It certainlyis not a studyof the Hasmoneanperiodas a whole, sincethe tumultuousreignsof AlexanderJannaeusand Salome Alexanderas well as Aristobulusand the internecineconflictsleadingup to the Romanconquestreceiveno mention. In his introductionthe author indicates his well-foundedreasons for preferringBickerman'sreconstructionof the revoltand its aftermathto that of Tcherikover.In the discussionof that comparisonwe find the work's greatest shortcoming.While bringingus up-to-date on the sources and

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issueswhich underlieour reconstructionof those events,he has not provided us with a new synthesisof the materialthat is available.Whileadmitting in his prefacethat throughthe Dead Sea Scrollsand relateddocuments"we have been broughtto pay closerattentionto the greatvarietyof social, religious, and politicalgroupsto be reckonedwith in Judeain this period"(p. ix), the author is really updatingthe perspectiveof Bickerman,one of the personsto whom the book is dedicated,ratherthan attemptingto provide an emergentviewpointwhichincorporatesthe implicationsof the discoveries of the last forty years. A case in point is the author'sbriefdiscussionof SecondMaccabees(pp. 7-8), in which he suggeststhat the Phariseesor the Asidaioi are "the only possible candidates"for consideration"if 2 Macc representsthe viewpoint of any known Jewishgroup."Then he proceedsto eliminateother known alternatives.A case built on the use of negativecriteriais methodologically problematicwhen we now know that the alternativesare more numerous than previouslybelieved.We now haveto recognizemoreclearlythe limitations of our knowledge.This problem, of course, is most pronouncedin workswhichconfinethemselvesto the descriptionsof the sectsin Josephus, a trap into which Sieversis much too knowledgeableto fall. Oneof the problemswith Bickerman'sreconstructionis its overemphasis on the politicalsignificanceof the Hellenizingfaction.Sievers,for example, admits that 1 Maccabeesnever acknowledgesthe presenceof Jews in the Akra (p. 86), but proceedsto follow Bickermanin his discussionof the role of that institution anyway (pp 79-83 passim). We do find hints that he wishes to move beyond this viewpoint;for example,when he suggeststhat the lawlesswho opposed Jonathancould perhapsbe called Hellenizersbut that there must also have been others who opposed Jonathanfor the high priesthood(p. 87). Elsewherehe finds the origin of Hannukahin biblical precedentsratherthan in the Greek commemorationof importantevents (pp. 46-47). Excurseson a numberof issues, such as "The Dead Sea Scrollsand the Hasmoneans,"are scatteredthroughoutthe work. In his discussionof the beginningof the Hasmoneanrevolt,the authorincludesan excursuson the Asidaioi, a subjectof concernto this reviewer.He properlyemphasizesthe frequentlyoverlookedsignificanceof the fact that the Hebrewterm is preserved in transliteratedform, therebyprovidingevidencethat it was not usedin a genericsensebut designateda specificgroup(p. 39). We disagreein our readingof 1 Macc. 7:12-13, in which Sieversfinds no connectionbe-

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tween the Asidaioi and the scribes (p. 38).' Elsewhere in the work his reading of synag6gj in 1 Macc. 7:12 is problematic (p. 64), translating it as "assembly" rather than the more common "group" (RSV and NRSV). This forces him to treat such issues as the agenda at this assembly of scribes rather than noting the broader designation the term bears elsewhere in 1 Maccabees, such as in 2:42 and 3:44. His treatment of I Macc. 7:12 leads him to find no connection between the Asidaioi and other groups which emerge out of this turbulent era. The author has provided the material for a serious debate about virtually every issue which arises in discussions of the persons and events covered in this study. Any serious inquiry concerning Judea in the second century B.C.E.will greatly benefit from the wealth of primary and secondary material which Sievers handles in an extremely knowledgeable manner. John Kampen Payne TheologicalSeminary Wilberforce,Ohio Lawrence M. Wills. The Jew in the Court of the Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends. Harvard Dissertations in Religion, no. 26. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. xiii, 204 pp. Much as Buttercup warned the captain of H.M.S. Pinafore to beware of skim milk masquerading as cream, potential readers of this volume would do well to pay more attention to the series in which it appears than to the promise implied by its title. The term "Jew" is particularly misleading, especially for those who would expect a discussion of medieval Hofjiiden. It is the biblical period with which this volume is concerned, and the books of Daniel and Esther in particular, to which over half of its pages are devoted, the vast majority to the former. Even that limited focus may suggest a broader agenda than the book actually contains, since it is less interested in exploring the implications of the presence of Jews at the Babylonian and Persian courts than in analyzing the history of the Daniel and Esther traditions. Thus other relevant accounts command little attention; the story of Joseph is dismissed in just over a page, and Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh virtually ignored, except for one brief, if insightful, observation. What one finds instead is essentially a work of literary criticism in the 1. For a different view, see J. Kampen, The Hasideans and the Originof Pharisaism:A Study in 1 and 2 Maccabees (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), pp. 115-122.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Frederick E. Greenspahn Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 286-288 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486949 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



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tween the Asidaioi and the scribes (p. 38).' Elsewhere in the work his reading of synag6gj in 1 Macc. 7:12 is problematic (p. 64), translating it as "assembly" rather than the more common "group" (RSV and NRSV). This forces him to treat such issues as the agenda at this assembly of scribes rather than noting the broader designation the term bears elsewhere in 1 Maccabees, such as in 2:42 and 3:44. His treatment of I Macc. 7:12 leads him to find no connection between the Asidaioi and other groups which emerge out of this turbulent era. The author has provided the material for a serious debate about virtually every issue which arises in discussions of the persons and events covered in this study. Any serious inquiry concerning Judea in the second century B.C.E.will greatly benefit from the wealth of primary and secondary material which Sievers handles in an extremely knowledgeable manner. John Kampen Payne TheologicalSeminary Wilberforce,Ohio Lawrence M. Wills. The Jew in the Court of the Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends. Harvard Dissertations in Religion, no. 26. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. xiii, 204 pp. Much as Buttercup warned the captain of H.M.S. Pinafore to beware of skim milk masquerading as cream, potential readers of this volume would do well to pay more attention to the series in which it appears than to the promise implied by its title. The term "Jew" is particularly misleading, especially for those who would expect a discussion of medieval Hofjiiden. It is the biblical period with which this volume is concerned, and the books of Daniel and Esther in particular, to which over half of its pages are devoted, the vast majority to the former. Even that limited focus may suggest a broader agenda than the book actually contains, since it is less interested in exploring the implications of the presence of Jews at the Babylonian and Persian courts than in analyzing the history of the Daniel and Esther traditions. Thus other relevant accounts command little attention; the story of Joseph is dismissed in just over a page, and Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh virtually ignored, except for one brief, if insightful, observation. What one finds instead is essentially a work of literary criticism in the 1. For a different view, see J. Kampen, The Hasideans and the Originof Pharisaism:A Study in 1 and 2 Maccabees (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), pp. 115-122.

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traditionalsense of that term in the field of biblicalstudies.The authoris primarilyconcernedto identifythe sourcesof the narrativeswith which he deals and to trace the processof theirdevelopment.For example,the story of Esther is followed from a "Mordecai-HamanSource" to an "Esther Source"that was modifiedinto the hypotheticalVorlageof the Septuagint's A version before being translatedinto Greek and then redactedinto the masoretictext. Evenmorecomplexis the traditionhistoryof Daniel,presentedherein a format, which includesas well the developmentof the chapter-by-chapter storiesof Bel and Susanna.The book presentstranslationsof severalof the sources,using a varietyof typefacesto indicatethe stagesof theirdevelopment.Whetherthe author'sconclusionsareconvincingis likelyto dependas muchon one's attitudetowardthis kind of studyin the first place as on the actualargumentspresented,some of whichappearto be heavilysubjective. For example,the sourcesof Estherare often determinedon the basis of the author'sattemptto createa coherentstory. His observationthat "the first nine verses [of Esther]can be summarizedin four words:'Ahasuerusgave a banquet"' (p. 157) leads him to conclude that everythingelse must have been added later. What makes all this particularlyunfortunateis the intriguingpossibilities suggested by the title and by programmaticstatements scattered throughoutthe work. For example,at one point the body of materialunder study is describedas "a corpus of legendsabout a culturalhero of a ruled minority ... which affirms the role of that minority in the ruling empire"

(p. 150). In orderto explorethis possibility,an earlychapteris devotedto court legends from various cultures, including Persia and Greece, but instead of comparingthese traditionswith the biblicalmaterial,the study quicklygives way to the detailedsourceanalysisdescribedabove.The opening chapter,which considersvarious relevantliterarygenres, includesan insightful(if not clearlyrelevant)treatmentof the so-calledwisdomstories. Criticizingthe interpretationof such materialin much of biblicalscholarship, the author observesthat a story's social provenanceshould not be inferredfrom the fact that wisdomplays a role in it, sincethat may servea varietyof quite differentpurposes.But it is unclearhow this observation, whateverits intrinsicmerit, serves the broaderpurposeof the work. Occasionally,the authorfeels free enoughto exploresome of the directions in whichthesetraditionsdeveloped.In the case of Daniel,for example, a study of each componentin the traditionnow preservedin the Hebrew (andGreek)Bibleleadshim to observethatthe originalinterestin the hero's

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ethnicity gave way over time to an increasing focus on piety, reflecting the changing needs and circumstances of the community in which these traditions were preserved. This book would have been of wider interest and importance if such points played a more conspicuous and controlling role in its overall content. Equally unfortunate is the limited amount of discussion devoted to the relationship among the various stories treated here, whether genetic (as some have claimed, arguing that common themes and even phrases demonstrate a common source, whether biblical or otherwise) or thematic, a possibility rich in potential implications for our understanding of the ways in which biblical authors viewed their people's relationship to the foreign powers in whose midst they lived. Like skim milk, this study has much to offer those desiring such a product. Although it is likely to convince some readers more than others, it is a useful analysis of the history of two biblical texts (Esther and Daniel 1-6). Masquerading as cream, it raises the larger question posed in its title and alluded to suggestively throughout. However, the ramifications of that issue await a more insightful analysis. FrederickE. Greenspahn Universityof Denver Denver, Colo. Dorothy Sly. Philo's Perception of Women. Brown Judaic Studies 209. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. vii, 258 pp. Though, as its title informs us, this is a book on Philo's perception of women, its method serves to elucidate some important aspects of how Philo should be read. It is conceptually well thought out, excellently organized, and presented with a developed sensitivity for the subtleties of Philo's thought. The major part of the book is devoted to Philo's description of the female figures of the Bible in terms of two states, woman (gyne) and virgin (parthenos). "Womanhood" in Philo's writings is found to be "a state or condition of life marked by menstruation, marital relations, and childbearing, which symbolize evil, defilement and corruption. Virginity is the absence of these signs of womanhood. It is a state of elevation beyond the physical constraints of womanhood and, as well, beyond the moral states they symbolize" (pp. 216-217). Various facets of this conceptualization are carefully studied, beginning with Eve, the archetypical woman. In accord

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Naomi G. Cohen Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 288-291 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486950 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



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ethnicity gave way over time to an increasing focus on piety, reflecting the changing needs and circumstances of the community in which these traditions were preserved. This book would have been of wider interest and importance if such points played a more conspicuous and controlling role in its overall content. Equally unfortunate is the limited amount of discussion devoted to the relationship among the various stories treated here, whether genetic (as some have claimed, arguing that common themes and even phrases demonstrate a common source, whether biblical or otherwise) or thematic, a possibility rich in potential implications for our understanding of the ways in which biblical authors viewed their people's relationship to the foreign powers in whose midst they lived. Like skim milk, this study has much to offer those desiring such a product. Although it is likely to convince some readers more than others, it is a useful analysis of the history of two biblical texts (Esther and Daniel 1-6). Masquerading as cream, it raises the larger question posed in its title and alluded to suggestively throughout. However, the ramifications of that issue await a more insightful analysis. FrederickE. Greenspahn Universityof Denver Denver, Colo. Dorothy Sly. Philo's Perception of Women. Brown Judaic Studies 209. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. vii, 258 pp. Though, as its title informs us, this is a book on Philo's perception of women, its method serves to elucidate some important aspects of how Philo should be read. It is conceptually well thought out, excellently organized, and presented with a developed sensitivity for the subtleties of Philo's thought. The major part of the book is devoted to Philo's description of the female figures of the Bible in terms of two states, woman (gyne) and virgin (parthenos). "Womanhood" in Philo's writings is found to be "a state or condition of life marked by menstruation, marital relations, and childbearing, which symbolize evil, defilement and corruption. Virginity is the absence of these signs of womanhood. It is a state of elevation beyond the physical constraints of womanhood and, as well, beyond the moral states they symbolize" (pp. 216-217). Various facets of this conceptualization are carefully studied, beginning with Eve, the archetypical woman. In accord

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with Philo's concept of justice as a cosmic principle decreeing the rule of the superior and the submission of the inferior, Eve is seen in a positive light as long as she is under firm masculine control. Philo's treatment of the other female figures of the Bible is similarly analyzed. In addition to the major dichotomy of woman and virgin, which is reflected in no less than six chapter headings, the category woman is further subdivided, in chapter 10, into ladies (astai) and harlots (pornai). The former represent those "who work within the social framework established by men" (p. 217), while as for the latter, "man must choose between fight and flight" (ibid.). At the same time, according to Philo's conceptualization, "the great women of Scripture were not really women but virgins" (p. 218). In the penultimate chapter Sly notes that Philo's perception of contemporary women is a repetition of the themes already treated-and here too womankind is divided between ladies and harlots, the latter category including anyone who does not live a life of virtual seclusion, devoted to home, husband, and children. Respecting this chapter, I have several reservations. I am less than convinced that apologetic was a major factor in Philo's attitude toward contemporary women. Sly's previous argumentation is a sufficient, and, to me at least, a more satisfactory explanation. Also, since Judaism in Philo's day had a mass of traditional customs and traditionsthe raw material from which the rabbinic sources grew-one is clearly not justified in comparing Philo with the Bible and concluding that any deviation therefrom was original with him. Prior to drawing such a conclusion one must first monitor the rabbinic sources. I will confine myself to a single example of what I am referringto, which, though not serious, is misleading in that it fathers innovations on Philo which are hardly legitimately his own. Sly states that Philo's addition of the phrase "men and women alike" to the description of the convening of the people at Sinai-which she claims was "for men only" in the Bible (or at the most that the women's presence was not acknowledged)--"is indicative of a desire to portray Judaism as relevant to the age" (p. 189). Rabbinic midrash takes it for granted that women were part of the assembly at Mount Sinai; see Mekhilta, Yitro 2, and in greater detail Shemot Rabba 28:2 to Exodus 19:3, which is taken to refer to the preparations for the Sinai revelation: "Thisis whatyou areto say to the houseof Jacob(and whatyou areto tell the people of Israel)"(Exodus 19:3)..... Why first to the women ["house"is a rabbiniceuphemismfor "wife"]?... God said, "WhenI createdthe worldI commandedAdam only, and afterwardsEve was commanded,and she went

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and ruinedthe world;now if I do not addressthe womenfirstthey will bring the Torah to naught." Though Shemot Rabba is much later, it is a compilation of earlier sources which themselves have a long history, while the Mekhilta is a tannaitic midrash compiled not so much later than Philo. Hence Philo was clearly in traditionally good Jewish company, and probably merely reflecting the contemporary understanding of the biblical text. Even when the rabbinic sources also reflect Hellenistic patterns, their notice is no less important, for only thus can we locate this or that facet of "Philonic Judaism" within or outside the traditional contemporary "consensus." To return: a special chapter at the beginning of Sly's book is devoted to background material, with a justified stress on the relevant Greek, particularly philosophic, sources, which are also brought en passant; for a particularly felicitous example, see pp. 101-102, where Timaeus69e-70a, 77b and Quaest. Gen. IV 15 are juxtaposed(parallel rabbinic material is totally absent). The book also contains some interesting topics not directly related to women which are brought as necessary preliminaries to the main discussion. A particularly fine example of this is the short r6sum6 on pp. 132 ff. of the differing scholarly views on the significance of Philo's use of mystery language, which introduces the seminal passage de Cher. 42-48. Summing up, Sly writes that "a basic conception of the proper relationship of the sexes forms the substratum to all Philo's remarks pertaining to male-female distinctions. The key term is 'control"' (p. 219). While Sly accepts the major premises of Richard Baer's Philo's Use of the Categories Male and Female, (a) that Philo designates the lower, carnal part as female and the higher, spiritual part as male, (b) that virgin and male are, on the soteriological level, equivalent, and (c) that Philo uses sexual language on the cosmic level to depict interactions between forces which are strong, superior, and active, and others which are weak, inferior, and passive (p. 219), she disagrees with his conclusion that Philo advocated complete severance of the soul (the male or virgin) from the concerns of the body (the female), thereby resolving what on Baer's terms was conflict between Philo and the Jewish perception of the physical creation as good (see Gen. 1:31). She argues that "Philo's calls for quitting the body are rhetorical, and that the theme of his work is control of the lower elements rather than separation or elimination," since Philo explicitly states that "the words, 'Depart out of these' are not equivalent to 'Sever thyself from them absolutely,' since to issue such a command as that would be to prescribe death (Migr. 7-8)" (pp. 219-220, emphasis added).

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Sly concludesthat "on the individual,social or even cosmic level, the feminine,when it is harnessed,loses its danger,and enhancesthe masculine. .... Philo envisionedrealityas a hierarchyin which the interactionof the successivelyhigher elements could be expressedin sexual terms.... Jewishand Greektraditionsconvergedon this point"(p. 221). Thenreturning at the veryend to Philo'sattitudeto humanwomen,she findsit to have been "Philo'sconvictionthat woman'sneed is to be controlledby man and her function is to serve his ends. . . . He simply did not raise the question of

her spiritualgrowth. Hers was to be a derivativesolution. The spiritual accountabilityhe urged upon men had no counterpartin the women's quarters"(p. 223). The consideredargumentwhich leads to these conclusionsis what the book is all about. It is worth reading. NaomiG. Cohen HaifaUniversity Haifa, Israel Alan F. Segal. Paul the Convert: the Apostolate and Apostasy of Paul the

Apostle.New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1990. xvi, 368 pp. The author, who is professorof religion at BarnardCollege, refersto himself as a humanist and a believing Jew (p. 281). He has written an importantbook on the apostlePaulthat seeksto recovera first-centuryJew fromthe tangleof Christiantheologicalportraitsof the apostle.Contemporary studies of the phenomenonof conversionare centralto the argument. Segal insists that Paul was not a speculativethinkerwho soughtto formulate a consistent theological foundation for a new Jewish sect that had formedaroundthe memoryof Jesusof Nazareth.Nor was he the architect of Christianity'sseparationfrom Judaism.Once Paul was readby a Christian church that was largely Gentile and no longer tempted to returnto Torah observance,then Paul's letters might be understoodas speculative accounts of the human condition. Segal's primary dialogue is not with standard Christian theological interpretationsof Paul, but with the liberalChristianunderstandingof Paul that has developedfrom the work of KristerStendahl,a Lutheranwho is now Distinguished Professor at Brandeis University. This view, which emergedfrom the Christian-Jewishdialogue,holds that Paul was not convertedto a new religionbut calledby God to evangelizethe Gentiles.They find God in Christ,but the Jewishcommunityremainsboundto its original covenant as the source of salvation.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Pheme Perkins Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 291-293 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486951 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



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Sly concludesthat "on the individual,social or even cosmic level, the feminine,when it is harnessed,loses its danger,and enhancesthe masculine. .... Philo envisionedrealityas a hierarchyin which the interactionof the successivelyhigher elements could be expressedin sexual terms.... Jewishand Greektraditionsconvergedon this point"(p. 221). Thenreturning at the veryend to Philo'sattitudeto humanwomen,she findsit to have been "Philo'sconvictionthat woman'sneed is to be controlledby man and her function is to serve his ends. . . . He simply did not raise the question of

her spiritualgrowth. Hers was to be a derivativesolution. The spiritual accountabilityhe urged upon men had no counterpartin the women's quarters"(p. 223). The consideredargumentwhich leads to these conclusionsis what the book is all about. It is worth reading. NaomiG. Cohen HaifaUniversity Haifa, Israel Alan F. Segal. Paul the Convert: the Apostolate and Apostasy of Paul the

Apostle.New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1990. xvi, 368 pp. The author, who is professorof religion at BarnardCollege, refersto himself as a humanist and a believing Jew (p. 281). He has written an importantbook on the apostlePaulthat seeksto recovera first-centuryJew fromthe tangleof Christiantheologicalportraitsof the apostle.Contemporary studies of the phenomenonof conversionare centralto the argument. Segal insists that Paul was not a speculativethinkerwho soughtto formulate a consistent theological foundation for a new Jewish sect that had formedaroundthe memoryof Jesusof Nazareth.Nor was he the architect of Christianity'sseparationfrom Judaism.Once Paul was readby a Christian church that was largely Gentile and no longer tempted to returnto Torah observance,then Paul's letters might be understoodas speculative accounts of the human condition. Segal's primary dialogue is not with standard Christian theological interpretationsof Paul, but with the liberalChristianunderstandingof Paul that has developedfrom the work of KristerStendahl,a Lutheranwho is now Distinguished Professor at Brandeis University. This view, which emergedfrom the Christian-Jewishdialogue,holds that Paul was not convertedto a new religionbut calledby God to evangelizethe Gentiles.They find God in Christ,but the Jewishcommunityremainsboundto its original covenant as the source of salvation.

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Segal insists that this interpretationis false to the data in Paul'sletters. Though Christianitywas a Jewish sect and not a separatereligiousphenomenonin the first centuryC.E.,Paul'slettersshow that he was "converted" from his allegiance to the Pharisaic understandingof Torah. The mechanismof this conversionmust be understoodin the context of firstcenturyC.E.apocalypticmysticalspeculation.Paulhad a vision in whichhe came to identify the risen Jesus with a heavenly angelic embodimentof God's glory. Segal takes the transformationlanguagein Paul'slettersquite literally:the believer"in Christ"has exchangedthe earthlybody for a new spiritualone (e.g., pp. 37, 67). This literalismdoes not cohere with those texts in whichPaulclearlyspeaksof the earthlybody as markedby suffering and awaitingits future transformation(e.g., Phil. 3:12-21). Both Paul'sown mission and the incorporationof Gentilesinto Jewish Christiancommunitiesmust be understoodagainstthe backgroundof the divergentpositions in Judaismwith regardto the conversionof Gentiles. Those like Philo, who had assimilatedmuchof Greco-Romanculture,were unlikelyto proselytize.Jewishleaderswere awareof the tensions that full conversionby Gentilesmightcreateand encouragedthemto remainas sympathetic"God-fearers"(p. 94). But as comparativemoderndata indicate, less acculturatedbelieverswill seek converts (pp. 85-90). As a Pharisee, Paulknewthat the Law requiredmore explicitand detailedobediencethan his Jewish Christianopponents practiced.Consequently,he persistently accusedthem of requiringthe Gentilesto be circumcisedbut not practicing what they preached(e.g., Gal. 2:11-14, 6:12-13; see pp. 144-146). In their eyes, however, Paul was an apostate. SegaltreatsPaul'sdiscussionsof the Lawas thejustificationfor shifting from one communityto another(Gal. 3:6-14). In orderto make this case, Paul used Pharisaicmodes of interpretationbut discoveredcontradictions between passages in Scripturethat any Jewish reader would reject (e.g., Deut. 27:26, Hab. 2:4; see p. 119). Contraryto the ecumenicalChristian reading,Paul does not hold that the Law remainsthe way of salvationfor Jews(or JewishChristians).The placeof the Torahhas been changedfor all (Gal. 2:15-16). This account of Paul's understandingof community depends upon distinguishingPaul's Pharisaicconvictions from those of otherJews.Had Paulnot beena Pharisee,he could havebecomea Christian withouta conversionthat requiredradicaltransformationin the conditions of community membership.He could have requiredGentiles to observe Jewishcustomsor to remainGod-fearersin the new Christiansect (p. 147). One of the weaknessesof Segal'sreconstructionis the circularargument.

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Paulis an importantfigurein Jewishstudiesof the firstcenturyC.E.because his lettersprovideus with first-handevidencefor the piety of an apocalyptic mystic and a first-centuryPharisee.Yet reconstructionof both belief systems is intertwinedwith the account of Paul's disputesover the Law with Christianopponents.Paul was constrainedto set asidethe ceremoniallaws which separatedJews and Gentiles.In some instances,Paulmay have been willingto compromisehis convictionsin orderto preserveunity with Gentiles in the Christianmovement.This viewleadsSegalto his most controversial readingof Paul, the claim that Romans 7 refersto Paul's vacillating behaviorin regardto kosherobservance.1 Corinthians9:22is pressedinto serviceto indicatethat Paul did submitto the requirementsof the Torahin that regardamong Jews. While this interpretationpreservesPaul's adherence to the ethicalLaw and his claimthat the Lawis holy, it fails to explain why Paul speaksof the Law generallyas exploitedby the flesh to lead one into sin. Elsewhere,when Paul is concernedwith food regulations,he is quite explicit (e.g., 1 Cor. 8:7-13, Rom 14:1-23). Though Segal'sassertionsabout Paul's Pharisaicconvictionsare based on circularevidenceand his readingof Romans7 is unpersuasive,his insistencethat muchof Paul'stheologyis reallyan attemptto work out pragmatic solutionsto the problemof includingJewsand Gentilesin one Christian communitymakes sense. The apocalypticelementsin Paul's thought lead him to insist upon the need for a single communityof the righteous.They also lead him to treat all opposition as Satanic (2 Cor. 11:13-15; see pp. 156-164). Apocalypticsymbolismprovidesthe foundationsfor community solidaritythat Torahobservanceprovidedfor othergroups.For studentsof Christianorigins,this book is a majorchallengeto theirperceptionsof the JewishPaul. Jewishreaderswill find Segal'sPaul as muchan odd footnote in their history. PhemePerkins BostonCollege ChestnutHill, Mass. Gildas Hamel. Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centur-

ies C.E. University of California Publications,Near EasternStudies 23. Berkeley:Unversityof CaliforniaPress, 1990. xiii, 290 pp. That indispensablebooks areoftenprofoundlyflawedis a commonplace of the academicbook review-in partbecausescholarsenjoyparadoxbut in part also becausethe commonplaceis sometimestrue.It is certainlytrue of

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Seth Schwartz Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 293-296 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486952 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:16 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].



BOOK REVIEWS

293

Paulis an importantfigurein Jewishstudiesof the firstcenturyC.E.because his lettersprovideus with first-handevidencefor the piety of an apocalyptic mystic and a first-centuryPharisee.Yet reconstructionof both belief systems is intertwinedwith the account of Paul's disputesover the Law with Christianopponents.Paul was constrainedto set asidethe ceremoniallaws which separatedJews and Gentiles.In some instances,Paulmay have been willingto compromisehis convictionsin orderto preserveunity with Gentiles in the Christianmovement.This viewleadsSegalto his most controversial readingof Paul, the claim that Romans 7 refersto Paul's vacillating behaviorin regardto kosherobservance.1 Corinthians9:22is pressedinto serviceto indicatethat Paul did submitto the requirementsof the Torahin that regardamong Jews. While this interpretationpreservesPaul's adherence to the ethicalLaw and his claimthat the Lawis holy, it fails to explain why Paul speaksof the Law generallyas exploitedby the flesh to lead one into sin. Elsewhere,when Paul is concernedwith food regulations,he is quite explicit (e.g., 1 Cor. 8:7-13, Rom 14:1-23). Though Segal'sassertionsabout Paul's Pharisaicconvictionsare based on circularevidenceand his readingof Romans7 is unpersuasive,his insistencethat muchof Paul'stheologyis reallyan attemptto work out pragmatic solutionsto the problemof includingJewsand Gentilesin one Christian communitymakes sense. The apocalypticelementsin Paul's thought lead him to insist upon the need for a single communityof the righteous.They also lead him to treat all opposition as Satanic (2 Cor. 11:13-15; see pp. 156-164). Apocalypticsymbolismprovidesthe foundationsfor community solidaritythat Torahobservanceprovidedfor othergroups.For studentsof Christianorigins,this book is a majorchallengeto theirperceptionsof the JewishPaul. Jewishreaderswill find Segal'sPaul as muchan odd footnote in their history. PhemePerkins BostonCollege ChestnutHill, Mass. Gildas Hamel. Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centur-

ies C.E. University of California Publications,Near EasternStudies 23. Berkeley:Unversityof CaliforniaPress, 1990. xiii, 290 pp. That indispensablebooks areoftenprofoundlyflawedis a commonplace of the academicbook review-in partbecausescholarsenjoyparadoxbut in part also becausethe commonplaceis sometimestrue.It is certainlytrue of

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Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine. The first flaw is the title: the book

has only 60 or so pages (the final three chapters)on the announcedtopic, and these are by far the weakestand leastimportantpartof the book (I will say no more about them;for criticism,see M. Goodman,Journalof Theological Studies42 [1991]:299-301). But the bulk of it is a comprehensive, largelyconvincing,and in parts fundamentallysignificantphenomenological (ratherthan historical)account of countrylife in Roman Palestine. The first two chapters,whichare heavilydependenton S. Krauss'sTalmudischeArchdologie(1910-12) and similarworks, describethe food and clothingnormallyused in RomanPalestine.The thirdand fourthchapters, whichconstitutethe book's real contribution,concernclimatic,technological, and other conditionsof Palestinianagriculture,and attemptto assess the economicburdenin the form of taxes and rentson the averagepeasant. Incidentally,this concentrationon the peasantryin a book which claimsto describe"the socialworldof RomanPalestine"(p. 2) as a whole, is another of the book's flaws,thougha moreor less pardonableone; most inhabitants of Palestinewerepeasants,notwithstandingthe acceleratedpace of urbanization startingin the later second century. These chaptershave other problemsas well. They are repletewith miscitations, mistranslations,and misunderstandingof the mostly rabbinic sources. Most common are the first, examplesof which can be found on almost every page. Mistranslations,especiallyof the Yerushalmi,are only slightlyless abundant.Two particularlyegregiousexamples:on p. 12, the statementattributedto R. Hiya b. R. Ba in Y. Eruvin20d is taken as the pronouncementof a gourmet(Hamelis French);on p. 84, n. 198,the phrase millame' benega'im is translated as if it were metame' bemaga'. Hamel's

grasp of Jewish law is often uncertain.The rabbis did not, for example, declarevetch subjectto terumahonly in timesof famine(p. 16);it is surprising to find (pp. 20-21) that Jewishpeasantscooked their chickenin milk (perhapsthey did so, but Hamel actuallycites as evidenceonly M. Hullin 8:1, which prohibitsthe practice!)and drank donkey's and camel's milk (again without evidence);and in what sensewas the Fifteenthof Av, in direct contradictionof M. Taanit4:8, a day of sadness(p. 85)? But it would be a seriousmistaketo dismissthe book becauseof such errors,numerousthough they are. For one thing, they are usually inconsequential.'For another,Hamel does not pretendto have produceda phi1. An exception is Hamel's consistent and damaging misconception of the laws of ritual purity, especially important in the little semiotic and/or anthropological sections which punc-

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logical commentaryon talmudicrealia a la S. Liebermanor D. Sperber. Rather,his goal is moreambitious(see above),and his unsentimentalappreciationof the harshlot of ancientpeasantsin a drycountrywitha hierarchical social structure,not to mentionhis wide readingin andjudiciousutilization of scholarshipon the social historyand anthropologyof preindustrial Mediterraneanand other societies, more than compensatesfor his trivial misunderstandingsof the sources. Indeed,Hamel has attainedhis goal with a remarkablemeasureof success. His most significantconclusionsconcernagriculturalyieldsandeconomic burdens, especially on small independent and tenant farmers, in chapters3 and 4. Thesechapterscontainby far the best discussionsof these issues I have seen, and Hamel'sfindingsarehighlyconsequential.He argues convincinglythat the averageratio of wheat harvestedto that sown was 5:1 (estimateshavegenerallyrangedfrom 10:1to 100:1),and for hardierbut less nourishingbarleyslightlyhigher(yieldsfor legumes,olives, and grapesare incalculable).Subtractingfrom this his plausibleestimatesof taxes (though terumotand ma'aserotwereprobablyless regularlypaid in manyplacesand at manytimesthan Hamelsupposes)and rents,he concludesthat a smallor middle-sizefarmeror sharecropperhad on the averagejust enough to subsist. Indebtednessand malnutritionwere necessarilyregularfacts of life for many. Hamel does not drawthe historicalconclusionsfrom this, but they are clear enough. The Palestinianeconomy was fragile, even by ancient standards.This fragilitywas exacerbatedby the Jews' notoriousfailureto practicechild-exposure(though some surelydid practiceit), and theirtendency (perhapsexaggeratedin both ancientand modernliterature)to save the most economicallymarginalelementsof society from starvation.These facts do more to explainthe tumultuouscharacterof the historyof ancient Palestinedown to the greatslaughterof 135C.E.than a hundredvolumesof modernscholarshipdescribingthe inherentincompatibilityof Judaismand foreignrule,and othersuch theologicalfantasies.Theymay also explainthei willingnessof verylargenumbersof Jewsto leave home withoutany necessary connectionto the political situationthere, and so, the existenceof a largediaspora.(Hamel shows, incidentally,that Palestinecould not sustain more than about 1 million people, confirming a suggestion made on archaeologicalgrounds by Magen Broshi.) tuate the good part of the book. Even apart from this consideration, these sections are often either hopelessly opaque (e.g., pp. 25-29 on the meaning of meat) or obvious, if not simply mistaken (pp. 81-92, on the colors of clothing).

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This is, at least for four chapters, a vitally important book for anyone working on any aspect of ancient Judaism, including its literature; it is a highly original, compellingly gritty description of the conditions of real life in ancient Palestine. So, check the references, ignore the translations, skip the last chapters, but read the book! SethSchwartz Universityof Rhode Island Kingston, R.I. Michael Sokoloff. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period. Ramat-Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 1990. 823 pp. For decades it was a commonplace among scholars of Aramaic to decry the lack of a reliable dictionary for the varieties of Jewish Aramaic in late antiquity. The famous work of Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the TalmudBabli and Yerushalmi,and the Midrashic Literature (1903), typically was (and still is) cited, but at the same time scholars recognized its many faults. First, it mixes Hebrew and Aramaic in the same dictionary. Second, even within Aramaic, it mixes the dialects of East (Jewish Babylonian) and West (Jewish Palestinian). And third, Jastrow relied on printed editions of his sources. To be fair, in many respects Jastrow simply was continuing time-honored traditions in Jewish lexicography (witness the Aruch of R. Nathan of Rome). Moreover, Jastrow's work undoubtedly met a need in its day. But as modern lexicographers uniformly realize, a project of such size and importance demands tighter control and greater accuracy. Into this picture steps Michael Sokoloff. For the last ten years or so, Sokoloff, with the aid of sophisticated computer technology, has been preparing a dictionary that answers to each of the above criticisms. Now, after years of anxious anticipation, with the appearance of the volume under review, scholars of diverse fields can benefit from the fruit of his labor. But lest I give the impression that this dictionary is limited only to solving the three problems enumerated above, I hasten to add that it does much more. Let me expand, first with comments on the aforementioned three points, and then with comments on additional benefits inherent in this work. First, as the title indicates, this work excludes the Hebrew material from texts otherwise written in Aramaic. Second, as also indicated in the title, this dictionary is limited to the dialect of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (called Galilean Aramaic by some) of the Byzantine period (though some later

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Gary A. Rendsburg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 296-299 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486953 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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BOOK REVIEWS

This is, at least for four chapters, a vitally important book for anyone working on any aspect of ancient Judaism, including its literature; it is a highly original, compellingly gritty description of the conditions of real life in ancient Palestine. So, check the references, ignore the translations, skip the last chapters, but read the book! SethSchwartz Universityof Rhode Island Kingston, R.I. Michael Sokoloff. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period. Ramat-Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 1990. 823 pp. For decades it was a commonplace among scholars of Aramaic to decry the lack of a reliable dictionary for the varieties of Jewish Aramaic in late antiquity. The famous work of Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the TalmudBabli and Yerushalmi,and the Midrashic Literature (1903), typically was (and still is) cited, but at the same time scholars recognized its many faults. First, it mixes Hebrew and Aramaic in the same dictionary. Second, even within Aramaic, it mixes the dialects of East (Jewish Babylonian) and West (Jewish Palestinian). And third, Jastrow relied on printed editions of his sources. To be fair, in many respects Jastrow simply was continuing time-honored traditions in Jewish lexicography (witness the Aruch of R. Nathan of Rome). Moreover, Jastrow's work undoubtedly met a need in its day. But as modern lexicographers uniformly realize, a project of such size and importance demands tighter control and greater accuracy. Into this picture steps Michael Sokoloff. For the last ten years or so, Sokoloff, with the aid of sophisticated computer technology, has been preparing a dictionary that answers to each of the above criticisms. Now, after years of anxious anticipation, with the appearance of the volume under review, scholars of diverse fields can benefit from the fruit of his labor. But lest I give the impression that this dictionary is limited only to solving the three problems enumerated above, I hasten to add that it does much more. Let me expand, first with comments on the aforementioned three points, and then with comments on additional benefits inherent in this work. First, as the title indicates, this work excludes the Hebrew material from texts otherwise written in Aramaic. Second, as also indicated in the title, this dictionary is limited to the dialect of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (called Galilean Aramaic by some) of the Byzantine period (though some later

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sources also are utilized; see below). Third, for the rabbinic sources, only the most reliable manuscripts were utilized. In addition, the dictionary is not limited to the rabbinic material. In the author's words, "Since the corpus under analysis has been defined on a linguistic and not on a literary basis, it crosses the boundaries between different text genres" (p. 1). True, the main portion of the corpus comprises the major rabbinic texts, namely, the Palestinian Talmud and the Palestinian midrashim (most of the Rabbah series, Pesikta de Rav Kahana, etc.). But much more was utilized by Sokoloff in the compilation of the lexicon, namely, (1) epigraphic remains (inscriptions, papyri, amulets, etc.); (2) the Palestinian Targum tradition (Neophyti, etc.); (3) poetry; and (4) sundry sources such as ketubbot, some gaonic texts, and the masoretic notations to the Damascus Pentateuch. Some of these sources are known only from the Cairo Geniza, and in origin are post-Byzantine, but linguistically they belong to the dialect of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. Accordingly, Sokoloff is justified in incorporating them into his corpus. As far as the Targumim are concerned, note that several are excluded from this project. Onqelos and Jonathan are pre-Byzantine. PseudoJonathan is in a poor state of preservation and contains a large number of corruptions; its inclusion, Sokoloff concludes, "would add more uncertainty than solid lexical material" (p. 20, n. 2). Sokoloff's dictionary is rich in comparative material, especially from other Aramaic dialects, in particular the dialects of Palestine (Christian Palestinian Aramaic [CPA] and Samaritan Aramaic [SA]). He even cites, where appropriate, cognates from the modern survival of Western Aramaic, namely, the dialect of Ma'lfila. Loanwords, whether from Hebrew or Greek or another language (e.g., Akkadian), also are so indicated. An extremely helpful aid is the inclusion of bibliographic references for the etymologies. To illustrate, under bdS^n"lamp, light," Sokoloff notes that it is a loanword from Akkadian bufinnu (with reference to S. A. Kaufman, Akkadian Influences on Aramaic) and that it appears in both CPA and SA (with references, respectively, to the works of F. Schulthess and Z. Ben-Hayyim). For many words, typically those of a technical nature, Sokoloff also refers the reader to more detailed studies. To use the above example again, at the end of the entry on bdS^n,the reader's attention is drawn to Y. Brand, Ceramics in TalmudicLiterature (1953). Note, however, that personal names and geographic names are not treated in this volume. The wise decision was made not to attempt a vocalization for each entry. In fact, most entries are given without vocalization, even when there is no

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doubt as to how a certainwordwas pronounced.For example,no vocalization is given for hyyt "tailor,"even though Semitistswould agree to the vocalizationhayydt (thus in Syriac, Hebrew, and Arabic [hayydfl),since nomenagentisformsdo not varyfromlanguageto language.Instead,vocalizations are given only wherethe sourcesthemselvesso indicatethem.Thus, bdsifnappearsas such in the Geniza fragmentsof the PalestinianTargum (Exod. 40:25), and so its vocalizationis given by Sokoloff. The largestsection of each lexical entry is devoted to a representative Differentmorphologicalforms,a full rangeof meansamplingof-references. ings and usages,and diversesources(Talmud,inscriptions,poetry,etc.) are listed. A veryusefulinclusion,in caseswherethe Targumimarecited, is the frequentreferenceto the Hebrewtermbeingtranslated.Thus, for example, in the entryzhr "warn,be careful,avoid,"we learnat a glancethat Targum Neophyti uses this root to translateHebrew imrin Gen. 31:24, etc., and Hebrewnzr in Lev. 22:2, etc. Sokoloff informs us that "for the rare lexemes, all the referencesare usuallyquoted"(p. 7, n. 37), but here I must enterone minorcriticism.As one worksin the dictionary,thereis no indication,in a givenentry,whenall the referencesare listed. A simple siglum should have been designed to notify the user of a completelisting (the standarddictionariesof Biblical Hebrewdo this). For example,for the verbb't "kick,"about a dozen references are given;I assumethat others occur. But for the noun b'wt"kick," only one passageis cited, and one does not know if this is the sole occurrence or if there are other attestations. A lexicographerconstantlyneeds to make judgments,especiallywith rarewords. WhereasJastrowwas wont to presentmeaningsfor almost all lexemes in his dictionary,Sokoloff is more willing to state that a word's meaningis uncertain.For example, for the verb ;pr, which occurs a few times in the PalestinianTalmud,Jastrowlisted "whistle"(treatingthe root as denominativefrom Sypr"bird"),but Sokoloff writes,"The mng. of this rt. is unclearfrom the context, and there is no basis for the translation'to whistle'given by Jast[row]"(p. 469). Sokoloff'sreticenceto proffermeanings for uncertainlexemesis admirable.Nonspecialistswill no doubt use this work,and it is betterto lean to the side of conservatismthanto leadthe unsuspectingreaderdown the wrong path. An additionalaid to the user of this dictionaryis the 224-pageindex of citations.Butthereis still one moreaid thatI wishhad beenincluded,namewordlist.Otherlexicographers(e.g., Wolf Leslauin ly, an English-Aramaic his variousdictionariesof Ethiopian)have producedsuchlists and they are

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extremely helpful. Perhaps a small supplement could be produced in the near future with a wordlist. Sokoloff's work is a crowning achievement. It will remain the standard dictionary of this dialect of Aramaic for generations to come. Its usefulness will be enhanced even more when its entries are incorporated into the ComprehensiveAramaic Lexicon currently in production at Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati) under the direction of Stephen Kaufman. Finally, with this volume now in our hands, we eagerly await the completion of Sokoloff's current project: a dictionary of Bablonian Jewish Aramaic. GaryA. Rendsburg Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y Roger Brooks. The Spirit of the Ten Commandments:Shattering the Myth of Rabbinic Legalism. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. xiv, 199 pp. The early rabbis' view of the relationship between Scripture and law, or as they would have said, between written and oral Torah, was very complex, not always consistent, and not always clear. An examination of this relationship is the most fruitful available path to an understanding of rabbinic Judaism; Roger Brooks both knows this and also sees that much Christian scholarship on Judaism continues to be informed by important misperceptions of this key theme. The present volume gathers a set of interesting and relevant rabbinic materials, translates them reliably, and shapes them into a useful corrective to these misperceptions, and thus can only be welcomed. For this reason it is unfortunate that Brooks offers this corrective in an artificial presentation that may well make it harder for some of the intended readers of his book to understand where he is trying to lead them. Brooks's study is both less and more than it claims to be. Despite the main title, it is not simply an examination of the uses of the Decalogue in early rabbinic literature. As the subtitle makes clear, it is in fact an exposition of rabbinic legalism designed to refute some widely accepted conceptions of how that legalism works; it aims in fact to present the very heart of rabbinic Judaism in a sympathetic way. The focus on the Ten Commandments was possibly a tactical decision intended to attract the attention of readers more responsive to such a subject than they would be to a book about the Talmud, but this choice of focus brings us to the ways the book is also less than it seems. Brooks leads up to his own conclusions with a presentation that weakens

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Robert Goldenberg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 299-301 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486954 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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extremely helpful. Perhaps a small supplement could be produced in the near future with a wordlist. Sokoloff's work is a crowning achievement. It will remain the standard dictionary of this dialect of Aramaic for generations to come. Its usefulness will be enhanced even more when its entries are incorporated into the ComprehensiveAramaic Lexicon currently in production at Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati) under the direction of Stephen Kaufman. Finally, with this volume now in our hands, we eagerly await the completion of Sokoloff's current project: a dictionary of Bablonian Jewish Aramaic. GaryA. Rendsburg Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y Roger Brooks. The Spirit of the Ten Commandments:Shattering the Myth of Rabbinic Legalism. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. xiv, 199 pp. The early rabbis' view of the relationship between Scripture and law, or as they would have said, between written and oral Torah, was very complex, not always consistent, and not always clear. An examination of this relationship is the most fruitful available path to an understanding of rabbinic Judaism; Roger Brooks both knows this and also sees that much Christian scholarship on Judaism continues to be informed by important misperceptions of this key theme. The present volume gathers a set of interesting and relevant rabbinic materials, translates them reliably, and shapes them into a useful corrective to these misperceptions, and thus can only be welcomed. For this reason it is unfortunate that Brooks offers this corrective in an artificial presentation that may well make it harder for some of the intended readers of his book to understand where he is trying to lead them. Brooks's study is both less and more than it claims to be. Despite the main title, it is not simply an examination of the uses of the Decalogue in early rabbinic literature. As the subtitle makes clear, it is in fact an exposition of rabbinic legalism designed to refute some widely accepted conceptions of how that legalism works; it aims in fact to present the very heart of rabbinic Judaism in a sympathetic way. The focus on the Ten Commandments was possibly a tactical decision intended to attract the attention of readers more responsive to such a subject than they would be to a book about the Talmud, but this choice of focus brings us to the ways the book is also less than it seems. Brooks leads up to his own conclusions with a presentation that weakens

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those conclusionsin two ways. For one thing he drawsalmost all his illustrativematerialfrom the JerusalemTalmudto the relativeexclusionof the Babylonian,and this in spite of the largersize of the latterand its generally dominantrole in the subsequentdevelopmentof the rabbinictradition.In a footnote (p. 43, n. 12),Brooksoffersa defenseof this decision,but the problem remains;it is true that one must avoid homogenizingdiverserabbinic texts,but this projectis a kinda homogenizationanyway-it speaksof "rabbinic" legalism,not "Palestinian"or "Galilean"legalismor the like-and one cannothave thesethingsboth ways. Eitherthe projectshouldhavebeen labeleda studyof rabbiniclegalismas reflectedin certainindicatedtexts, or the surveyof relevantmaterialsshouldhaveincludedthe full rangeof "rabbinic" literaturein the usual sense. Second,the essentiallyapologeticmotiveunderlyingthe book as a whole occasionallyleads Brooks in the directionof excessivepraisefor the materials he has set out to study or an exaggerateddescriptionof their importancefor the rabbinictraditionas a whole. It is well known, for example, that reverencefor the word of Scripturesometimesdrasticallylimited the freedomof rabbinicinterpreters,while on otheroccasionsrabbisdeveloped a rubricof "oral Torah"with virtuallyno attentionat all to biblical treatmentsof the subject before them. One can try to account for these apparentlyinconsistentapproachesin all sorts of ways, but simply to list them as examplesof "The Bible'sRelevance(and Irrelevance)"(sic; p. 52) to the rabbinicshaping of the law is to avoid the question entirely. In anotherplace Brookscites a talmudicdiscussionof the law of murderthat makesno referenceat all to the Sixth Commandmentand labels it a case of prooftextingby omission (p. 60). To give just one more example,Brooks refersto the well-knownaggadahthat the two versionsof the Sabbathcommandmentwere spoken simultaneouslyand remarksthat such a legend "marksthe Ten Utterancesas trulydivineand as wieldingdivineauthority" (p. 51). He does not observe,however,that the verypassagein Y. Nedarim whichlinks the two versesin questiongoes on to identifyseveralothersuch pairs of verses from the Torah without in any way distinguishingbetween those sets that come from the Decalogues and those which do not. This tendencyto find the Decalogue everywherein rabbinicliterature, even whereit isn't, and to make it centralto rabbinicthinking,even in passages that seem to imply just the opposite, risks underminingBrooks's whole projectin a way that could havebeen avoided.Thereis a kindof misfit betweenthe real goal of Brooks'sstudy and the structureof exposition

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that he has adopted that reduces the cogency of his argument and allows more opportunity for resisting his conclusions than he really had to allow. One can only encourage him to attack his subject again, with the generality that it deserves, so that the full force of his basic message will reach the large lay and scholarly audience that needs to hear it. RobertGoldenberg State Universityof New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, N.Y. Robert S. MacLennan. Early Christian Texts on Jews and Judaism. Brown Judaic Studies 194. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. xxv, 203 pp. In this reexamination of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity, MacLennan employs several of the tools sharpened in the critical circles of biblical scholarship. He goes beyond the historicalcritical method, asks sociological questions, and probes the archaeological and epigraphic evidence. He seeks to interpret the adversusJudaeos literature of the early church in this broad context, unlike earlier scholars, who confined themselves to the text. He selects four of the major texts for special consideration and devotes a chapter to each: Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas (115-117 C.E.);Justin, Dialogue with Tryphothe Jew (ca. 160 C.E.);Melito of Sardis, Pachal Homily (ca. 180 c.E.); and Tertullian, Answer to the Jews (ca. 197 C.E.).The study is a dissertation directed by Professor A. T. Kraabel at the University of Minnesota. An important methodological step stressed by MacLennan is the use of the evidence from the ancient city as "text." This is essential for reconstructing the social and cultural elements that demonstrate the presence and the interaction of Jews, Christians, and others in a given place. Thus, the second-century history of Alexandrian antiquity is imperative for interpreting Barnabas; the evidence from Rome, Ephesus, and Neapolis in Samaria for a better understanding of Justin; that from Sardis for Melito; and that from Carthage for Tertullian (albeit, in the absence of decisive archaeological evidence from Carthage, Tertullian continues to be a primary source for the city's history). The author longs for the day when more archaeological evidence from the cities--even those nearly impossible to excavate-will further elucidate the controversial texts.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Abraham Terian Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 301-305 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486955 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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that he has adopted that reduces the cogency of his argument and allows more opportunity for resisting his conclusions than he really had to allow. One can only encourage him to attack his subject again, with the generality that it deserves, so that the full force of his basic message will reach the large lay and scholarly audience that needs to hear it. RobertGoldenberg State Universityof New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, N.Y. Robert S. MacLennan. Early Christian Texts on Jews and Judaism. Brown Judaic Studies 194. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. xxv, 203 pp. In this reexamination of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity in late antiquity, MacLennan employs several of the tools sharpened in the critical circles of biblical scholarship. He goes beyond the historicalcritical method, asks sociological questions, and probes the archaeological and epigraphic evidence. He seeks to interpret the adversusJudaeos literature of the early church in this broad context, unlike earlier scholars, who confined themselves to the text. He selects four of the major texts for special consideration and devotes a chapter to each: Barnabas, Epistle of Barnabas (115-117 C.E.);Justin, Dialogue with Tryphothe Jew (ca. 160 C.E.);Melito of Sardis, Pachal Homily (ca. 180 c.E.); and Tertullian, Answer to the Jews (ca. 197 C.E.).The study is a dissertation directed by Professor A. T. Kraabel at the University of Minnesota. An important methodological step stressed by MacLennan is the use of the evidence from the ancient city as "text." This is essential for reconstructing the social and cultural elements that demonstrate the presence and the interaction of Jews, Christians, and others in a given place. Thus, the second-century history of Alexandrian antiquity is imperative for interpreting Barnabas; the evidence from Rome, Ephesus, and Neapolis in Samaria for a better understanding of Justin; that from Sardis for Melito; and that from Carthage for Tertullian (albeit, in the absence of decisive archaeological evidence from Carthage, Tertullian continues to be a primary source for the city's history). The author longs for the day when more archaeological evidence from the cities--even those nearly impossible to excavate-will further elucidate the controversial texts.

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After noting the uniqueness of each text, MacLennan cites the antiJewish themes recurringin this sort of literature, especially the notion of divine judgment for the rejection of Christ, the inadequacy of Judaism, and the supersession of the church. He interprets the charged sentiments in the earliest writings as stemming from the authors' attempt at Christian selfdefinition and reflecting their concern about the relationship between Christians and Jews in their respective cities. He underscores the four authors' ignorance of the diversity within second-century Judaism, even the distinctive Judaism in their vicinity, and sees no real dialogue taking place between the two groups. MacLennan insists that this corpus is to be treated as theology rather than history since, among other reasons, it is historically unreliable. For example: how could Justin present the diverse Judaism and equally diverse Christianity of his day as monolithic entities? Theologically, however, these writings depend on the circumstances of the particular Christian communities "as they dialogued among themselves" in their attempt at self-definition vis-a-vis Judaism. These documents emerged from the prevalent conditions in a given period and in particular places; therefore, the statements they contain on Jews and Judaism are not to be taken as timeless. Moreover, the polemical use made of these writings in subsequent centuries far exceeds the sentiments of the original writers, whose biblically inspired denunciations of Judaism need not be taken as anti-Jewish indulgences. Christian readers are here admonished not to cherish the contemptuous attitudes of these teachers in the early church. The author posits the following challenge in his concluding lines: "Can Christians define themselves in relation to the Jews without supersessionistic or triumphalistic overtones?" The first respondent to MacLennan, however, is Rabbi Norman M. Cohen of Bet Shalom Congregation, Hopkins, Minnesota, who in a passionate foreword to the book reiterates more explicitly the author's not-soimplicit wish and goes on to congratulate him for paving the way that leads to this new attitude toward Jews and Judaism. Both the book and the foreword appear to be intended for Christian readers primarily. MacLennan's intentions are praiseworthy, and his work is a step in the right direction. The university is to be congratulated for making the "nonconfessional" reading of these religious texts possible and for attempting to make up for the chronic failure of the church. This volume constitutes a fine chapter in the ongoing Christian-Jewish dialogue, even though such a

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dialogue is not always justifiable, seeing the fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity-regardless of a perceived common tradition. The thesis is meritorious, and the extent to which the anti-Judaistic polemic in these writings is informed or uninformed by second-century realities is sufficiently well made even without elaboration on how theology and context interrelate. The secondary arguments, however, are not always convincing, and the archaeological data could be interpreted differently. A critical reader may at times benefit just as much from the rich notes as from the author's discussion. Contrary to the declared objectivity of the author, the book is not devoid of apology. The distinction between Jews and Judaism is overstressed in trying to show that these writings were against the latter and not the former. Some further weakness is discernible in the author's repeated resorting to what might have been, when earlier he had given so much methodological preference to what was-as demonstrated through archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Where such evidence is not available, the argument is derived either from misinterpreted and subsequently generalized data from elsewhere or from the social sciences. For example, much is made of the rich archaeological evidence for a large and prosperous Jewish community in the Sardis of Melito's day and the absence of evidence for a Christian presence there in the corresponding period, leading the author to conclude that the sentiments against the Jews seem to have emanated from the relative poverty and mediocrity of the Christian group in that city. But where would one find any recognizable remains of church buildings from before the third century? The fact that Christians were not allowed to worship in public places also explains the scantiness of epitaphs and other inscriptions from the same period. Christian gatherings in private homes or house-churches were prevalent in the first two centuries of the common era, and this is borne out by both the literary evidence and the negative archaeological evidence for church buildings during this formative period. Synagogues, by contrast, had long been respected as public buildings and were widespread. By the end of the first century Christians had gradually distanced themselves from all that was distinctively Jewish: dietary laws, circumcision, and the Sabbath. Rejection of even the Old Testament came about immediately thereafter with Marcion; however, if it were not for their anti-Marcionism as well, the AdversusJudaeos writers of this period might not have reclaimed the Old Testament as a Christian book on the assumption that Jews had

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misunderstood it. The gap between Judaism and Christianity was everwidening, and Christians were the primary contributors to this development. Judaism at this time had very little to be coveted by apocalyptically driven Christians who were also afflicted with the martyr syndrome. While Christians were persecuted, Jews were officially tolerated. Yet Christians did not seek closer identity with Jews. The notion that early Christians were still struggling for self-definition in the latter part of the second century is difficult to accept. Such struggle for identity seems to have subsided earlier, as various New Testament documents and certain noncanonical "apostolic" writings indicate. Equally unacceptable is the repeated dictum that theologically motivated documents cannot be used for historical reconstruction (for a good example of the extent to which such reconstruction is possible, see J. L. Martyn's work on the Fourth Gospel). MacLennan's work illustrates how difficult-if not almost impossible-historical reconstruction can be when theologically motivated writings are not given priority in such an attempt. These writings still constitute the major blocks that we possess when considering the historical reconstruction of Christianity in the first two centuries; hence the appeal for caution regarding their use is preferable to that which calls for the rejection of their historicity. Still, one cannot help but be sympathetic to the author's concerns even when he contends that the writings of these early teachers were not intended to create the kind of hatred of Jews and Judaism that was derived from them by subsequent generations. He extends the same contention to the writings of the New Testament. These, however, must have inspired much of the polemic of the AdversusJudaeos texts. It would be ingenuous therefore not to trace the lingering tensions of the past to the New Testament, be it through an ill-informed Epistle, an imaginary Dialogue, a Homily motivated by envy, or an impertinent Answer to Jews who never bothered about Christian dogmatics-at least not in an entire theological treatise, as was customary among Christian writers-since they were preoccupied with the mundane and not with theology. Several scholars see these writings simply as an early link between the anti-Jewish polemic of the New Testament and that of later times. The author's disagreement is inexplicable--except, of course, apologetically. Not all of MacLennan's expectations spelled out at the end of the introduction seem to have been realized through this study. This is largely because of the author's apologetic concerns and somewhat jumbled methodology-in spite of the few sound approaches it encompasses. Neverthe-

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less, the book is worthreadingfor some of the new insightsit providesinto the individualtexts and for the overall awarenessit generates. Abraham Terian AndrewsUniversity BerrienSprings,Mich.

Gilbert Dahan. Les intellectuels chre'tienset les Juifs au moyen dge. Paris:

Les Editions du Cerf, 1990. 637 pp. Jewish scholarship,like so much else in Jewish affairs, tends to be dominatedby the two largestcentersof Jewishlife in the late twentiethcentury,the Stateof IsraelandNorth America.The centralroleplayedby these two major communitiesshould not, however, obscure the existence and vitality of a numberof smallerenclavesof Jewishscholarship.One of the oldest and most productiveof these smallerenclavesis found in France.A traditionof Jewishscholarship rich nineteenthand early-twentieth-century in Francewas of coursedisruptedby WorldWarII. In the aftermathof the war, a small cadre of scholarsreemerged,led by the imposingfiguresof Georges Vajdaand BernhardBlumenkranz.Whileboth of these outstanding figureshave passed away, the studentswhom they trainedhave maintainedand expandedtheirlegacy,throughthe Soci6t6des EtudesJuivesand its importantreview,throughthe CentreNationalede la RechercheScientifique and a numberof the universities,and-most of all-through a steady streamof valuablepublications.The presentvolumeis one of the significant fruits of this vital French scholarship. Gilbert Dahan has been known to studentsof medievalJewishhistory for some time now, throughhis editionsof importanttexts and throughhis insightfulstudies.The presentvolumerepresentsa broad statementon the issuesthat haveformedthe core of his scholarlyconcern,the relationshipof medievalwesternChristendom-in particularits intelligentsia-to Judaism and the Jews. Dahan makesclear from the outset his embeddednessin the traditionof Frenchscholarship.On the secondpage of his introduction,he presentshis study as, in effect, a continuationof the magisterialinvestigations of Marcel Simon's VerusIsrael and Blumenkranz's Juifs et chre'tiens

dans le mondeoccidental.Indeed,Dahan chooses as his startingpoint precisely the eventsof 1096,which markedthe end of the Blumenkranzstudy,

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Robert Chazan Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 305-308 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486956 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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less, the book is worthreadingfor some of the new insightsit providesinto the individualtexts and for the overall awarenessit generates. Abraham Terian AndrewsUniversity BerrienSprings,Mich.

Gilbert Dahan. Les intellectuels chre'tienset les Juifs au moyen dge. Paris:

Les Editions du Cerf, 1990. 637 pp. Jewish scholarship,like so much else in Jewish affairs, tends to be dominatedby the two largestcentersof Jewishlife in the late twentiethcentury,the Stateof IsraelandNorth America.The centralroleplayedby these two major communitiesshould not, however, obscure the existence and vitality of a numberof smallerenclavesof Jewishscholarship.One of the oldest and most productiveof these smallerenclavesis found in France.A traditionof Jewishscholarship rich nineteenthand early-twentieth-century in Francewas of coursedisruptedby WorldWarII. In the aftermathof the war, a small cadre of scholarsreemerged,led by the imposingfiguresof Georges Vajdaand BernhardBlumenkranz.Whileboth of these outstanding figureshave passed away, the studentswhom they trainedhave maintainedand expandedtheirlegacy,throughthe Soci6t6des EtudesJuivesand its importantreview,throughthe CentreNationalede la RechercheScientifique and a numberof the universities,and-most of all-through a steady streamof valuablepublications.The presentvolumeis one of the significant fruits of this vital French scholarship. Gilbert Dahan has been known to studentsof medievalJewishhistory for some time now, throughhis editionsof importanttexts and throughhis insightfulstudies.The presentvolumerepresentsa broad statementon the issuesthat haveformedthe core of his scholarlyconcern,the relationshipof medievalwesternChristendom-in particularits intelligentsia-to Judaism and the Jews. Dahan makesclear from the outset his embeddednessin the traditionof Frenchscholarship.On the secondpage of his introduction,he presentshis study as, in effect, a continuationof the magisterialinvestigations of Marcel Simon's VerusIsrael and Blumenkranz's Juifs et chre'tiens

dans le mondeoccidental.Indeed,Dahan chooses as his startingpoint precisely the eventsof 1096,which markedthe end of the Blumenkranzstudy,

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setting the time span of his investigationas the twelfth throughthe fourteenth century.The goal which Dahan has set for himselfis formidable;I would arguethat it has been met with great success.Les intellectuelschre'tiens et les juifs seems to me destinedto take its place as a majorwork of synthesis,along the lines of the Simon and Blumenkranzvolumes. The structuringof the study is comprehensive.The heartof the volume lies in parts3, 4, and 5, investigationsrespectivelyof the encountersbetween Christianintelligentsiaand Jews,the confrontationsbetweenthe same, and some summarystatementson medievalChristianintellectualsand Judaism. In orderto set these threesectionsin theirpropercontext,Dahan provides two priorparts,the first devotedto the social, political,and legal settingof Jewishlife in medievalwesternChristendomand the second to the church and the Jews. Here again, the scholarlycommunityout of which and for which Dahan writes is significant.An author from eitherIsrael or North Americawould, in all likelihood,have dispensedwith the first two partsof the book, leaning on synthesesreadilyavailableto his readingaudience.I am not at all suggestingthat Dahan's effortsin providingsuch a synthesis were wasted. To the contrary,his overviewis elegant and useful. Careful readerswill inevitablyfind points of disagreement.However, the overall quality of the syntheticpresentationis, in my view, excellent. The focus of the study, its concluding three sections, is rooted in Dahan'sextensiveknowledgeof the writingsof the medievalChristianintelligentsia.Thereis a rich,almostlush qualityto the presentation,repletewith considerablequotationfromtextswell knownand little known.In his introduction, Dahan makes somethingof an apology for what he fears some might find excessiveuse of citations. This readerat least was profoundly gratefulfor his constant recourseto the sources. Whilethe three-partschemeusedby Dahan makessense,thereis clearly considerableasymmetryamong the threecentralsectionsof the book. The richestsection, mirroringthe medievalreality,is that devoted to the confrontativeelementsin the relationshipof the Christianintelligentsiaand the Jews. It is here that Dahan finds the fullest sourcematerial,and it is here that his analysisis the most textured.The closingsectionis somewhatdisappointing.In effect, Dahan arguesthat medievalChristianintellectualswere not inclinedto thinkabstractlyabout Judaismand the Jews,and the lack of suchmaterialcreatesa thinnessto the closingsectionof the book. The study of more positive encountersbetweenChristianintellectualsand the Jews occupies a medianposition, sparserand shorterthan the analysisof con-

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frontation but thicker and more nuanced than the closing discussionof theoreticalapproaches.Dahan's insistenceon balancingthe confrontative aspects of the Christian-Jewishengagementagainst the more positive and neutralelementsin that encounterseems to me salutary.From the beginning of the study,he insistson this balance,in a way that is reasonableand illuminating.To some extent,however,he has been forcedto extend somewhat the parametersof the positiveor at least neutralencounter.For exammissionple, to includethe Hebrewlearningof the late-thirteenth-century izers in the discussionseems to me problematic.For the missionizersthe goal of amassingknowledgeof the Hebrewlanguageand of Jewishsources was only to advancethe conversionistenterprise,hardlya positiveor neutral approachto Judaismand the Jews. While all three central sections are useful, it is Dahan's study of the Christian-Jewishconfrontation that is richest and most enlightening. Dahan approachesthe extantmaterialsfroma numberof points of view, all legitimateand valuable.In majorchapters,Dahan discussesperceptivelya numberof literaryformatsin whichanti-Jewishand anti-Judaicsentiments are expressed,the styles of argumentationutilized by Christianthinkers againstJudaism,and some of the majorthemesof anti-Jewishpolemic. His presentationnow affordsthe fullestavailableresourcefor anyoneinterested in investigatingthese issues. To be sure, the rangeand complexityof these mattersmean that no singlepresentationwill cover all issuestotally or in a thoroughly satisfactorymanner.Thus, for example, Dahan-it seems to me-has not emphasizedsufficientlythe varietyof functionsplayedby some of the anti-Jewishmaterialsthat he discusses.In particular,he might have emphasizedmore heavily the purely defensivecharacterof much of this material.I am not suggestingthat therewas no body of Christianliterature aimedat actuallyconvertingthe Jews;theresurelywas. I feel, however,that he has not sufficientlydistinguishedbetweensuchwritingand the olderand more standardContraJudaeosliterature,which was very heavilyaimed at reinforcingthe Christianbeliefs of Christianreadersand auditors.Along thesesamelinesof functionalanalysis,I found his treatmentof the Parisand Barcelonadisputationssomewhatdisappointing.Theseare but minorquibbles, however, and should by no means obscurethe overall value of this richest section of the book. It is strikingto me that this book, whichwas completedin 1986but did not appearuntil late 1990,missedtherebya numberof importantpublications that touch in significantways on Dahan'sthemes.Put in otherterms,

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the rateof publicationin this areais quite rapid,a developmentthat should be of considerablesatisfactionto those of us in the field. Among the many publications addressingthemselvesto the circumstancesof the Jews in medievalwesternChristendomand, more particularly,to the stance of the Christianmajoritytoward the Jewish minority,Dahan's Les intellectuels chritienset lesjuifs will surelyoccupya positionof significancefor decades to come. It is a treasuretrove of materialsand insightsthat will surelybe minedregularlyby researchersand generalreaders.I wish to note in particular the lattergroup.One of the virtuesof the book is the charmwithwhich it is written. The pleasuresof Dahan's delightfulprose will undoubtedly expandthe rangeof those who will dip into the richeswhichhe has amassed. RobertChazan New YorkUniversity New York,N.Y.

Gavin I. Langmuir. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of CaliforniaPress, 1990. x, 417 pp. Gavin I. Langmuir. History, Religion, and Antisemitism. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of CaliforniaPress, 1990. x, 380 pp. What is antisemitism,when did it start, and why? For three decades medievalhistorianGavin Langmuirhas focused his scholarlyenergieson these vital questions,and the two volumes here under reviewpresentthe fruits of his investigations. Toward a Definition of Antisemitism assembles fourteen of Langmuir's

essays (all but threepublishedpreviously)on hostile attitudestowardJews in medievalChristendom,on the shortcomingsof modernhistoriographical treatmentof antisemitism,and on proposalsfor conceptualizingantisemitism moreprofitably.The orderingof the essaysreflectsneitherthechronology of theirsubjectsnor that of theircomposition-Langmuir's 1960paper "'Judei nostri' and the Beginningof Capetian Legislation,"markinghis initialunanticipatedentryinto the field of medievalJewishhistory,appears sixth on the list-but theirauthor'sagendafor confrontingand responding to the questions at hand. Antisemitismhas sufferedfrom neglect in the dominanttraditionsof modernWesternhistoriography(chap. 1), and from

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jeremy Cohen Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 308-313 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486957 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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the rateof publicationin this areais quite rapid,a developmentthat should be of considerablesatisfactionto those of us in the field. Among the many publications addressingthemselvesto the circumstancesof the Jews in medievalwesternChristendomand, more particularly,to the stance of the Christianmajoritytoward the Jewish minority,Dahan's Les intellectuels chritienset lesjuifs will surelyoccupya positionof significancefor decades to come. It is a treasuretrove of materialsand insightsthat will surelybe minedregularlyby researchersand generalreaders.I wish to note in particular the lattergroup.One of the virtuesof the book is the charmwithwhich it is written. The pleasuresof Dahan's delightfulprose will undoubtedly expandthe rangeof those who will dip into the richeswhichhe has amassed. RobertChazan New YorkUniversity New York,N.Y.

Gavin I. Langmuir. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of CaliforniaPress, 1990. x, 417 pp. Gavin I. Langmuir. History, Religion, and Antisemitism. Berkeley: Univer-

sity of CaliforniaPress, 1990. x, 380 pp. What is antisemitism,when did it start, and why? For three decades medievalhistorianGavin Langmuirhas focused his scholarlyenergieson these vital questions,and the two volumes here under reviewpresentthe fruits of his investigations. Toward a Definition of Antisemitism assembles fourteen of Langmuir's

essays (all but threepublishedpreviously)on hostile attitudestowardJews in medievalChristendom,on the shortcomingsof modernhistoriographical treatmentof antisemitism,and on proposalsfor conceptualizingantisemitism moreprofitably.The orderingof the essaysreflectsneitherthechronology of theirsubjectsnor that of theircomposition-Langmuir's 1960paper "'Judei nostri' and the Beginningof Capetian Legislation,"markinghis initialunanticipatedentryinto the field of medievalJewishhistory,appears sixth on the list-but theirauthor'sagendafor confrontingand responding to the questions at hand. Antisemitismhas sufferedfrom neglect in the dominanttraditionsof modernWesternhistoriography(chap. 1), and from

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the religiouslygroundedbiases (chap. 2) of those Jewsand Christianswho have sought to chart its annals. Particularlyin the wake of the Holocaust, one does well to differentiatebetweenthe blatantlyirrationalhatredof a Hitler (antisemitism) and socioculturally more accountable-and less extraordinary-varietiesof prejudiceagainst Jews (anti-Judaism).LangmuirdistinguishesfurtherbetweenChristiananti-Judaismand the prejudicial traditions of classical antiquity which precededit, inasmuch as the former weighed much more heavily in the world view of its proponents. "For Christians,the abilityof Jewsto maintaintheirown identitywas not only annoyingor hatefulin the way ethnicdifferencesso often are;it was an intimateand enduringthreatto theirsenseof identity,a challengebuiltinto their own religion"(p. 7). As antiquitygave way to the Middle Ages, anti-Judaism(chaps. 3-4) continuedto functionsignificantlyin Europeanculture,lendingitselfto violent expressionwhen Christianreligiositynurturedaspirationsthat found no fulfillmentwithin existing social structures,as in the case of the First Crusade.Still, while grantingthe novelty of the 1096massacres,Langmuir rightlyemphasizesthat the violenceproceededprimarilyfromreligious,not economic,considerations.Those Jewswho underwentbaptismescapeddestruction;for Jews had attractedthe wrath of crusadersbecause of their Judaism and their refusal to accept Christianity.Anti-Judaismand the harm which it wroughthad thus proceededfrom mattersof fact; or, in the wordsof the author,"the Jewswho died in 1096to sanctifythe Holy Name at least had the satisfactionof . . dying for what they were proud to be: Jews who chose martyrdomratherthan apostasy,not helplessvictimsof a collective delusion"(p. 301). Yet the period of the crusadesalso signaled change in the nature of anti-Jewishprejudice.Singled out by crusaders, theologians,and legislatorsalike for their nonconformityand theirinsecurity (chaps.4-7), Jewscame to bearthe bruntof widespreadChristiananxiety as a constellationof political, economic, and scientificchangestransformedthe characterof medievalcivilization.Changeenkindleddoubt visa-vis the fundamentalbeliefsof Christianfaith,most notablythe sacrament of the Eucharist;repressedon a conscious level, such doubt resultedin a host of fearful,irrationalfantasiesconcerningthe infidel of Christendom par excellence.Westernantisemitismaccordinglybegan in the twelfthand thirteenthcenturies,when Jews came to be persecutednot for what they were-those who refusedChristianity-but for what they were not (chaps. 8-13): ritual murderersand cannibals, desecrators of the host, well-

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poisoners, etc. Langmuir finally applies a taxonomy of varieties of prejudice to the results of his inquiry (chap. 14). Distinct from the largely realistic, ethnocentric Jew-hatred of pagan antiquity and the xenophobic antiJudaism of patristic and early medieval Christianity, antisemitism reflects a chimerical form of prejudice, that which attributes "to outgroups characteristics that have never been empirically observed" (p. 336). The quest for a vocabulary with which to make social scientific sense of antisemitism-in a word, to define it-provides the link with Langmuir's new monograph, History, Religion, and Antisemitism. This book departs from the premise that modern historians of religion in general and of antisemitism in particular must free themselves of the preconceptions of their subjects in order to develop legitimate, objective explanations of the past. The religious individual's own understanding of the essence of religious experience ought not to constitute the foundation of critical scholarly discourse on religion, just as Jewish and Christian explanations of antisemitism cannot suffice for the social scientist investigating the history of anti-Jewish prejudice. Thus driven to ground his analysis of religion and antisemitism in "rational empirical thinking" (p. 46), Langmuir wades through a mass of scholarly treatments of religion and ultimately proposes to define it (p. 136) as "those elements of religiosity that are explicitly prescribed by people exercising authority over other people," and religiosity (p. 160) as "the salient patterns or structure according to which the individual human organism consciously correlates all the diverse processes occurring within the organism with those that surround and impinge on it in order to develop, maintain, and ensure the coherence and continuity of the distinctive elements of its identity." Religious doubt in turn arises either from the conflict between appealing and/or prescribed beliefs (nonrational doubt) or from that between received beliefs and perceptions of reality (rational empirical doubt). Nonrational religiosity yields to irrationality when individuals repress the latter form of doubt-that is, when they totally deny the empirical reality challenging their faith. "More than that, not only do they refuse, or are unable, to acknowledge the knowable characteristics of certain realities, they also project on them, or attribute to them, characteristics that the realities do not possess, attributes that are the creation of their own nonrational thinking and express their sense of their own identity" (pp. 255-256). Hence the basis for antisemitism's appearance in high medieval Christendom: the growth of religious doubt which, when repressed in various social circles, resulted in the irrational projection onto the Jews of all the

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opposition to Christianfaith which Christendomhad generatedin itself. Even as traditionalforms of Christianitylater yielded to modern "physiocentric"religions,the patternof antisemiticprojectionremained,along with many of the specific stereotypeswhich medieval antisemitismhad spawned.The transitionfrom psychocentricto physiocentricfaith in fact only aggravatedthe phenomenon.Since "physiocentricreligionsare based on beliefs about unobservablematerialprocesseswhose existenceis supposed to be immediatelydemonstratedby what is observablygoing on immediatelyhere and now" (p. 317), they lay greaterclaim to rationality, aremoresubjectto empiricalchallenge,and aremoreproductiveof irrationality. The horrorsof Hitler'sFinal Solutiontestifyonly too well to the vitality of antisemitismin a post-Enlightenment,positivistChristendom. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism and History, Religion, and Antisemi-

tism offer a learned,literate,and refreshingnew look at antisemitismand its treatmentin modernscholarship.A masterof historicalresearchandhistoriographicaldetectivework, Langmuirhas assembleda formidablearray of medievaland modernsources on Christian-Jewishrelations,prejudice, and religionwith whichto develophis case. This meritsfar more extensive considerationthan that for which a brief review allows; I can here hope simply to highlight several concerns evoked by these volumes-in the theory, the methodology,and the specific historicalexplanationsof their arguments. As noted above, History, Religion, and Antisemitism (along with several

essaysin the otherwork)proceedsfromthe author'sstipulatedneed to distinguishin social scientificterminologybetweenantisemitismand otherperceived forms of religious/ethnic and even anti-Jewish prejudice; the categoriesand definitionsproposedby the authorin responseto this need then come to governthe discussionand evaluationof anti-Jewishprejudice. Paraphrasedrathercrudely,the argumentmightrunas follows:Remembering the exterminationof much of EuropeanJewryby Hitler'sThirdReich, the authorfeelsimpelledto classifyin academictermswhatstrikehim as the most salient characteristicsof the Nazis' anti-Jewishprogram.These he findsin the irrationalityof theirprejudice,groundedin doubtsaboutthemselves,theirvaluesystem,and theirworld,and resultingin the projectionof absurd,perniciousfantasiesonto the Jews and theirculture.He labels this varietyof prejudiceantisemitism,findsthe firstevidenceof sucha phenomenon in the anti-Jewishbehavior of twelfth and thirteenth-centuryEuropean Christians,proceedsto classifyearlieranti-Jewishprejudiceas essen-

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tially different(i.e., anti-Judaism),hurriedlysummarizesthe entirehistory of anti-Jewishprejudicein accordwith this distinction(as in History,Religion, and Antisemitism, pp. 275-346), and arduously seeks a definition of

religionand religiosityto explain it. Langmuir'sresearchhas shedconsiderablelight on manychaptersin the and any caricaturein the previous history of anti-Judaism/antisemitism, does not intend to detract from due recognitionof his contribuparagraph tion. Rather, my paraphraseseeks to highlight the personal, or selfreferential,basis for the author's inquiry. For someone else might well discern other distinguishingcharacteristicsin particularmanifestationsof anti-Jewishprejudice,move on to defineantisemitismdifferently,presenta correspondinglydivergenthistoryof Jew-hatred,and, as the numerousdefinitions of religion (by Weber, Durkheim,Otto, Eliade, Stark and Bainbridge, Berger, Geertz, Bellah, et al.) rejectedin History, Religion, and Antisemitismsuggest,arriveat an equallycompellingunderstandingof religious experience.Indeed,one senses at times (pp. 8 ff., 129 f., 147, 349 ff., etc.) that History, Religion, and Antisemitism is in part the intellectual auto-

biographyof a historianof antisemitism.This is hardly undesirable.Its bearing on the applications of the volume's theoretical model simply demandsacknowledgment. Much the same can be said concerningmethodology.Langmuirprofesses an uncompromisingfaith in a critical objectivity appropriateto modernhistoricalscholarship-specifically,an insistentdistinctionbetween the scientificexplanationof past phenomenaand rationalizationderiving from the historian's subjects themselves-and admits its determining influenceon his perspective:"I have no desireto makeelementsof my own religiositya religion,other than my commitmentto rationalempiricism" (History, Religion, and Antisemitism, p. 129). And alongside rational empiri-

cism standsa stated preferencefor the perspectiveof the cognitivescientist overthat of the semioticianor literarycritic.Langmuirseeslittlevaluein the historiographyof religiongroundedin the religiousidentificationof the historian (see esp. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism, chap. 2). He has repea-

tedly stressedthat his ultimateconcern lies not with Christianor Jewish texts, knowledge,ideas, and acts, but with the behaviorand psychologyof real humanbeings (see his articlein AmericanHistoricalReview91 [1986]: 623-624). Again, one might grant the legitimacyof such an approachand still

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question its claim to superiorityover others. Furthermore,while History, Religion, and Antisemitismmakes occasional mention of referentially focusedtheoriesof textualcriticism,it fails to grapplewith the problemsof interpretingmedievaltextswhichcompriseevidenceof anti-Judaismand/or antisemitism.If one seeks to understandthe hatred of Jews within the matrix of medievalChristianculture, how does one evaluate the cultural meaning,value,and significanceof a document?How can one movedirectly from story to putativeevent, simplyassuming,for example,that the events of 1096 in the Rhinelandoccurredjust as the Hebrewcrusadechronicles recount them? How can one gauge the importanceof Christian antiJudaismin a realhistoricalcontextwithoutanalyzingthe Hebrewliterature of the medievalJew alongsidethat of the Christian?Such questionshave becomecommonplacein variousrealmsof scholarlydiscoursewhich these volumes sidestep,but this avoidancedoes not eliminatethe validityof the questions. Any reconstructionof the past on the basis of its literature requiresa methodologicalframeworkfor determiningmeaning,andthis too must be justified.Its positivistringnotwithstanding,the hermeneuticaldiscourseof Langmuir's"rationalempiricism"entailsno less of a Gadamerian fusion of horizons than the "ethnocentrism" (History, Religion, and Antise-

mitism,p. 51) whichthe authordiscernsin muchof modernJewishhistoriography. As a medievalist,it is in Langmuir'streatmentof the MiddleAges that I find his opus most engagingand illuminating.The link betweenmedieval Christiandoubtand anti-Jewishfantasy,demonstratedso insightfullyin the three new essays in Towarda Definition of Antisemitism (chaps. 5, 8, 11) and explored more theoretically in History, Religion, and Antisemitism, contri-

butes amply to our understandingof how and why Christianattitudes towardJewsand Judaismchangedduringthe twelfthand thirteenthcenturies. Langmuirmight have made his case more effectivelyin a single, more comprehensivesynthesisof the separatemedievalstudiesin Towarda Definition of Antisemitism.But this is not criticismof its substance,which,like the best of modernempiricalscholarship,inducesus to considerold questions afresh. Cohen Jeremy TelAvivUniversityand OhioStateUniversity TelAviv,Israel;Columbus,Ohio

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Norman A. Stillman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 314-316 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486958 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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Gordon Darnell Newby. A History of the Jews of Arabia: From Ancient Times to TheirEclipse UnderIslam. Columbia: University of South Carolina

Press, 1988. 176 pp. In this new book, Gordon Newby has undertakenthe first major examinationof ArabianJewishhistorysince H. Z. Hirschberg'sYisra'elba'Arav(Tel Aviv, 1946) and Y. Ben Ze'ev's Ha-Yehudimba-'Arav(Jerusalem, 1957).Ratherthanmerelyrecapitulatingthe data that Hirschbergand Ben Ze'ev had collectedfrom Greco-Roman,rabbinic,and Arabicsources, and from archaeologicalevidence,and of courseconsideringthe additional work that has been done in the past threedecades,Newby has triedto reassess the materialsat hand,to ask of themnewquestions,and to extractfrom them new constructions.The resultof this effort,thoughnot alwayssatisfying, is generallyengagingand thought-provoking. After introducingArabia in the first chapter, Newby reviews in the secondchapterthe Arabiclegendsconcerningthe originsof the Jewishcommunitiesof the peninsulaas recordedprimarilyin the Kitdbal-Aghdni,the great collectionof lore compiledby the tenth-centuryMuslimscholarAbu 'l-Farajal-ISfahani.He criticizessome of the early orientalists,who were too apt to be influencedby this legendarymaterial.For Newby,muchof it is merelyfoundationlegendsfollowingrecognizabletopoi. He then somewhat disjunctively-and not as fully as one would like-argues for the importance of linguisticevidencefor the stronglyintegratedJewish presencein Arabia at the very dawn of Islam. The setting for chapter3 is Late Antiquity.Against this backdrop,the relationsamong Jews, Arabs, and Romansare reviewed.Newby hypothesizes the existenceof Pharisaic(or Pharisaic-like)Jewsin Arabiaat the time of the BarKochbarevolt.AlthoughJewshad alreadybeensettledin Arabia for centuries,it was only afterthe suppressionof the uprisingsagainstRome that ArabianJewry'snumberwas considerablyaugmentedby fleeingrefugees, and accordingto Newby, "it is afterthis that ArabianJudaismbegins to flourish"(p. 32). The ArabianJewry to which most of the book is dedicatedis that of northernand westernArabia (al-IHijiz).However,in chapter4 the earlysixth-centurykingdom of the Jewish Himyariteruler YuisufAs'ar Dhui Nuwis is discussedin relationto ArabianJewryas a whole and in orderto

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betterunderstandthe religiopoliticalatmospherethat prevailedin Arabiain the centuryprecedingthe advent of Mul.ammad. Chapter5 reconstructsaspects of Hijazi Jewishculturallife, while the following chapter reviews their none-too-felicitous relations with the Prophetof Islam. In attemptingto portraythe messianicand eschatological mindset of these Jews, Newby leads the readeron an extendedexcursus throughthe enchantedforest of Jewish mysticismin Late Antiquity. It is perhapshere,morethan anywhereelse in the book, that he offersinnovative suggestions and explanations for the fragmentaryglimpses of Arabian Jewish life and practicefound in the Islamic sources. For the most part, however,these two chaptersfollow the well-troddenpath paved by S. D. Goitein and others, and are completelyin consonancewith them. In chapter7, Newbytakesup the the questionof whetherJewscontinued to inhabitArabiaaftertheirreportedexpulsionby the secondcaliph,'Umar I (ruled 634-644). After reviewingmany of the often fantastictravelers' reportsthat have come down throughthe ages,Newby concludesthat "the Jews of northernArabiaprobablydid survivein some form for a long period afterthe rise of Islam, but how long and to what extentis impossibleto say at this time" (p. 104).He cautiouslyavoidsgoing as far as ItzhakBenZvi, who believedthat independentJewishtribesmay have survivedin the regionuntil as late as the eighteenthcentury,and indeedmay have continued to survive thereafteras crypto-Jews. Newbyalso ratherboldlytakes issue with BernardLewison the overallimportanceof ArabianJewryin the greaterscheme of Jewishhistory. The book concludes with an "Afterwordon Historiography,"which, though very thoughtfuland thought-provoking,is somewhattoo theoretically general. Therearereviewerswho delightin pointingto the occasionalmisprintas if it weretypicalof the workas a whole.I am not sucha reviewer,but I must observethat the book should have been much morecarefullyedited.There are far too many typographicalerrorsthroughout.The inconsistenciesin the transcriptionof Arabicwordsand namesareverybothersome,and some are simply renderedincorrectly(e.g., Mu'awiyyainstead of Mu'awiya). Thereare also one or two surprisingmistranslations.For example,in a passage from the Kitdb al-Aghdni, the Ara'bicphrase azharand 'lldh 'alayhim is

rendered"God caused us to appearbeforethem"(p. 15),whereasthe idiomatic translationshould be "God gave us victory over them."

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Despite these criticisms,this is a welcomebook that offersthe first survey of its kind in Englishand providesmuch food for thoughtand further discussion. NormanA. Stillman StateUniversityof New York at Binghamton N.Y. Binghamton,

Hava Tirosh-Rothschild.BetweenWorlds:The Life and Thoughtof Rabbi DavidbenJudahMesserLeon.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1991. viii, 385 pp. Hava Tirosh-Rothschildis an historianof Jewishthoughtwhose expertise in medievaland Renaissancephilosophybecameaccessiblein 1982with the publicationof three articlesdealing with the concepts of Sefirot and Torah in the works of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon and the influenceof JudahHalevion RabbiDavid'sthought.In 1986,she published a study of the "interplay"betweenMaimonidesand Aquinas in medieval Jewish philosophy. Her 1988 article, "In Defense of Jewish Humanism," analyzedRabbi David's apologia for the "studiahumanitas"-especially rhetoricand poetry-as containedin his ShevabHa-Nashim,composedin Constantinoplein the wake of his exile from Naples. All of these publications originatedin her 1978 doctoral dissertation,supervisedby the late ProfessorShlomo Pines, which focusedon the synthesisof Aristotelianism and Kabbalahin Rabbi David's thought. BetweenWorlds:TheLife and Thoughtof RabbiJudahbenDavidMesser Leon incorporatesall of these earlierpublicationsand supplementsthem with chaptersdevotedto the relatedtopics of RabbiDavid'sbiography,his not uncriticalpro-Maimonideanism,and his views regardingJewish dogmas. In combiningall of this material,Tirosh-Rothschildhoped to provide her priorresearchwith a "new nuance"(p. viii). The discussion,for example, of Rabbi David's self-imposedseclusionand unsuccessfulcareeras a preacherin Constantinopleinnovatesby castingnew lighton his biography (pp. 62-68 and the richlydocumentednotes). When she assertsthat "the entireconceptof Jewishtheologyand in turnof Jewishdogmawas indebted to Christianscholasticism,especiallyto Aquinas"(p. 313, n. 18), she inno-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Kalman P. Bland Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 316-319 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486959 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:17 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].



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Despite these criticisms,this is a welcomebook that offersthe first survey of its kind in Englishand providesmuch food for thoughtand further discussion. NormanA. Stillman StateUniversityof New York at Binghamton N.Y. Binghamton,

Hava Tirosh-Rothschild.BetweenWorlds:The Life and Thoughtof Rabbi DavidbenJudahMesserLeon.Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1991. viii, 385 pp. Hava Tirosh-Rothschildis an historianof Jewishthoughtwhose expertise in medievaland Renaissancephilosophybecameaccessiblein 1982with the publicationof three articlesdealing with the concepts of Sefirot and Torah in the works of Rabbi David ben Judah Messer Leon and the influenceof JudahHalevion RabbiDavid'sthought.In 1986,she published a study of the "interplay"betweenMaimonidesand Aquinas in medieval Jewish philosophy. Her 1988 article, "In Defense of Jewish Humanism," analyzedRabbi David's apologia for the "studiahumanitas"-especially rhetoricand poetry-as containedin his ShevabHa-Nashim,composedin Constantinoplein the wake of his exile from Naples. All of these publications originatedin her 1978 doctoral dissertation,supervisedby the late ProfessorShlomo Pines, which focusedon the synthesisof Aristotelianism and Kabbalahin Rabbi David's thought. BetweenWorlds:TheLife and Thoughtof RabbiJudahbenDavidMesser Leon incorporatesall of these earlierpublicationsand supplementsthem with chaptersdevotedto the relatedtopics of RabbiDavid'sbiography,his not uncriticalpro-Maimonideanism,and his views regardingJewish dogmas. In combiningall of this material,Tirosh-Rothschildhoped to provide her priorresearchwith a "new nuance"(p. viii). The discussion,for example, of Rabbi David's self-imposedseclusionand unsuccessfulcareeras a preacherin Constantinopleinnovatesby castingnew lighton his biography (pp. 62-68 and the richlydocumentednotes). When she assertsthat "the entireconceptof Jewishtheologyand in turnof Jewishdogmawas indebted to Christianscholasticism,especiallyto Aquinas"(p. 313, n. 18), she inno-

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vates by advocatingmoreforcefullythesesentertainedin the earlierpublications. But the majordifferencebetweenthe monographand the earlierdissertation and publicationsis due to a change in theoreticalperspective. Tirosh-Rothschilddescribesthis reorientationas a "methodologicalshift from the historyof ideas to intellectualhistorywhich took place duringmy years at Columbia University"(p. vii). More precisely,she associatesher work with the historiographicalcontextualismof Quentin Skinner (The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, etc.), and distances it from the

poststructuralistsor deconstruction. As those who have wrestledwith Derrida'sreadingsof Plato, Rousseau, J. L. Austin, or J. Searleknow, philosophictexts can be made to resemble novels and poems. Even Rabbi David's synthesisof Ashkenazichalakhah, is vulnerRenaissancehumanism,Kabbalah,and Maimonidean-Thomism able to hermeneuticalmicrobesthat dissolveauthorialintentionsand disregardsettings"outsidethe text"in orderto promotethe freeplay of intertextuality. Beingcommittedto contextualism,therefore,is no trivialprogrammatic decision for an intellectualhistorianlike Tirosh-Rothschildwho is awareof the alternativesand for whom Lovejoy'shistoryof ideas is Scylla and postmodernlinguisticskepticismis Charybdis. Being committedto Skinner'sstyle of contextualismaffiliatesthe historian with the philosophicalprinciplesdevelopedby R. G. Collingwood and Alasdair MacIntyre.It also seems to entail paying less attention to individualtheoristsand more to "the most relevantcharacteristicsof the societies in and for which they originallywrote" (see The Found'ations of ModernPoliticalThought,vol. 1, pp. x-xi). Accordingly,Tirosh-Rothschild systematicallyanchorsherexpositionsof RabbiDavid'sscholasticdialectics and his biographyin the bedrockof social history.The monographis studded with detailed, well-documented,and pedagogicallyuseful sketches describingthe diversetraditionsgoverningrabbinicauthority(Ashkenazic vs. Sephardic),the economicbasis of the Jewishelite in Italy, the attitudes towardwomen in rabbinicthought,the Renaissanceappreciationfor secular biographies,and, especially,the swirlof personal,political,and cultural controversiesgeneratedby the diverseethnic groups of natives and immigrant/exiles in both RenaissanceItaly and the Ottoman Empire. Skinner'scontextualismdirectsthe historianto demystifyphilosophyby uncoveringits ideological or social functions. With their words, philosophersseek to do something,usuallyto persuadetheirreadersto behavein a certain way. To illustratethis principle,Tirosh-Rothschildeverywhere

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emphasizesRabbi David's apologeticand polemicalmotives:he sought to legitimatethe incorporationof non-Jewish,Renaissancecultureinto Jewish life, hence his admirationfor Maimonides;he sought to protect Judaism fromChristianpressureby arguingvehementlyagainstantirationalismand, ironically,by co-optingAquinas'sapologiafor the superiorityof revelation and the legitimacyof faith;he reconciledkabbalistictheosophywith Aristotelianism,withouthimselfbeing a kabbalist,in orderto combat the convertsand humanistsin Florencewho sunderedthe KabbalahfromJudaism, embracingthe formerwhile revilingthe latter;and he sidedwith the native Greek-speakingJews of Constantinopleand with the Ashkenaziclegal traditionin orderto defendhis own authorityandlivelihoodagainstthe claims of Iberian-Sephardic separatistcongregations. Historiographicalcontextualism, however, is not the only method the venerable search for informing the monograph. Quellenforschung, sources and influences, and a vestigial Hegelianism dominate TiroshRothschild'seruditediscussionsof RabbiDavid'sdogmas(creatioex nihilo, prophecy,and miracles)and heranalysisof his understandingof God's existence, attributes,essence, knowledge,and providence(chaps. 6-7). This mode of historicalexplanationproceedstopically;it assumesa conversation betweengreatmindswho transcendthe limitsof time and the particularities of social context. Its task is to locate the synchronicplace of an author's pronouncementsin that conversation.Tirosh-Rothschildthereforeintroduces RabbiDavid'sstatementsof problemsand his solutionswith a "short history"of the topic:back to Aristotleand the rabbis,throughSaadia,and on to Maimonidesas endorsed,corrected,or repudiatedby Gersonides, Crescas, Albo, Abravanel, Abraham Shalom, Bibago, and, of course, these "short histories"even Aquinas.Occasionally,and characteristically, and include nineteenthtwentieth-centuryscholarlyopinions unknownto RabbiDavid himself.(See, for example,p. 169for a referenceto the Elohist and Yahwistauthorsof the pentateuchalmosaic.) Chapters1-3 treat Rabbi David's life. The biographicaldata are presentedas the necessarybackgroundfor understandingthe scholasticdialectics explicatedin chapters4-7. Slightly at odds with Skinner'scontextualism, this approachto intellectualhistory leads to the study of bookish individualswhose passionfor thinkingdistinguishesthemfrom other types of persons. It was puzzling,therefore,to discoverthat Tirosh-Rothschild saw neithermethodologicalinconsistencynor philosophicproblemin stating that she was separatingRabbiDavid'slife fromhis thought(see p. 104).

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In this wide-rangingand encyclopedic monograph,there is a scant handfulof minorpoints over whicha reviewercould quibble:delatot(p. 91), for example,mightbetterbe translatedas "columnsof text" than as "measures,"and maqbil(p. 189)is morepreciselyrenderedas "opposite"thanas "corollary."To arguethat Maimonides"was deeplyconcernedthat mistaken understandingsabout God destroysomethingin God" (p. 200) is to suggest that Maimonides endorsed a theurgic concept of language or believedthat humanintellectand the divine Mind are identical.Thereare also morecontroversial,usuallyahistoric,assertionsdeservingof comment. For instance, is rabbinicJudaismessentiallyorthopracticin contrast to Christianity'screedalorthodoxy(cf. p. 140)?Whatmightjustifythe declaration that talk "about God is the very core of religion"(p. 199)?To which socioeconomicclassof a specificsocietymightthis assertionbe meaningfully applied? Such criticisms,however,seem to be besidethe point for the manyof us who sympathizewith Tirosh-Rothschild'sresearchagenda.As this monographshows, navigatingthe passagefrom the historyof ideasto intellectual history is worthwhileand difficult.In her use of divergenthistoriographic methodsto integratenew systematicperspectiveswith old learning,she has raisedthe theoreticalproblemof consistency.But in using a multidisciplinary approachto Rabbi David, she has advancedthe causeof social history and profoundlyenrichedour understandingof Jewishlife in Renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Empire. I am grateful to Professor TiroshRothschildfor producingthis learnedand useful monograph. KalmanP.Bland DukeUniversity Durham,N.C. Lester A. Segal. Historical Consciousnessand Religious Traditionin Azariah de' Rossi's "Me'or Einayim." Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society,

1989. x, 194 pp. Azriahde' Rossi's Me'orEinayim,whichwas first publishedin 1573in the author'snative-townof Mantua, poses specific problemsfor scholars wishing to evaluatethe purposeand nature of the work. The polymathic eruditiondisplayedon every page of this collection of antiquarianessays, the diversesubject-matter,rangingfrom a critiqueof Philo to chronology

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Joanna Weinberg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 319-321 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486960 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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In this wide-rangingand encyclopedic monograph,there is a scant handfulof minorpoints over whicha reviewercould quibble:delatot(p. 91), for example,mightbetterbe translatedas "columnsof text" than as "measures,"and maqbil(p. 189)is morepreciselyrenderedas "opposite"thanas "corollary."To arguethat Maimonides"was deeplyconcernedthat mistaken understandingsabout God destroysomethingin God" (p. 200) is to suggest that Maimonides endorsed a theurgic concept of language or believedthat humanintellectand the divine Mind are identical.Thereare also morecontroversial,usuallyahistoric,assertionsdeservingof comment. For instance, is rabbinicJudaismessentiallyorthopracticin contrast to Christianity'screedalorthodoxy(cf. p. 140)?Whatmightjustifythe declaration that talk "about God is the very core of religion"(p. 199)?To which socioeconomicclassof a specificsocietymightthis assertionbe meaningfully applied? Such criticisms,however,seem to be besidethe point for the manyof us who sympathizewith Tirosh-Rothschild'sresearchagenda.As this monographshows, navigatingthe passagefrom the historyof ideasto intellectual history is worthwhileand difficult.In her use of divergenthistoriographic methodsto integratenew systematicperspectiveswith old learning,she has raisedthe theoreticalproblemof consistency.But in using a multidisciplinary approachto Rabbi David, she has advancedthe causeof social history and profoundlyenrichedour understandingof Jewishlife in Renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Empire. I am grateful to Professor TiroshRothschildfor producingthis learnedand useful monograph. KalmanP.Bland DukeUniversity Durham,N.C. Lester A. Segal. Historical Consciousnessand Religious Traditionin Azariah de' Rossi's "Me'or Einayim." Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society,

1989. x, 194 pp. Azriahde' Rossi's Me'orEinayim,whichwas first publishedin 1573in the author'snative-townof Mantua, poses specific problemsfor scholars wishing to evaluatethe purposeand nature of the work. The polymathic eruditiondisplayedon every page of this collection of antiquarianessays, the diversesubject-matter,rangingfrom a critiqueof Philo to chronology

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and the natureof biblicalpoetry, and the employmentof over a hundred non-Jewishand morethan one hundredand fiftyJewishsourcesdo not permit any facile interpretation.The primarytask of the readerof the work must be to examinethe sourceswhich de' Rossi himselfcites and to determine the relevanthistoricaland culturalcontext whichinformsde' Rossi's discourses. LesterSegal'selegantlywrittenbook is dividedinto two parts.The first part dealswith the natureof de' Rossi'shistoricalinquiryand focuseson the ambiguityof de' Rossi'srelationto Jewishtradition;the secondis concerned with de' Rossi's discussionof aggadahand the Maharalof Prague'scritical reactionto it. In the preface,Segal does not indicatehis reasonsfor constructingthe book in this fashion;in fact, it is sometimesdifficultto understand the link betweenthe chapters.In attemptingto illustratethe backgroundto de' Rossi's historicalpremises,Segalhas disregardedde' Rossi's own testimoniesand chosen to analyzethe work in the context of various non-Jewishhistoricalwritingsof the fifteenthand sixteenthcenturieswhich are of a completelydifferentorderfromde' Rossi'sown antiquarianstudies. There can be no way of establishingwhetherde' Rossi was familiarwith theseworks.Whatis certain,however,is that he was influencedby the work of polymathssuch as the ProtestantscholarSebastianMiinster,and in general, that his choice of subject-matterand criticalevaluationof historical sourcesbear affiliationwith biblicalscholarsboth Catholicand Protestant of his own time. Segal views de' Rossi's extensiveuse of the forgeriesof Annius of Viterbo as "flawinghis line of enquiry"(p. 30). While this is undoubtedlytrue, it is perhapsmoresignificant,for those wishingto determinethe culturalmilieuto whichde' Rossi belonged,to realizethat Annius' fabricationswerea basictext for the majorityof scholarsof antiquityin the sixteenthcentury. In the secondpart of the book, Segalgives a detailedexaminationof de' Rossi's critiqueof aggadahand his citationof geonic and latercommentators of the aggadah.He correctlydiscernsde' Rossi'smethodof truncating his sourcesand quotingout of contextin orderto prove that authoritative commentatorsagreewith his opinion.Segaloften adducesargumentswhich cannot be proved,since they are basedon sourceswhichde' Rossi does not quote. In one instance,however,he makesan interestingand plausiblecase. He suggeststhat de' Rossi deliberatelyomits referenceto interpretersof the aggadahsuch as Shemtovibn Shaprut,althoughtheirviewsweremorecon-

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sonant with his own, because they had been made subject to extreme criticism. A majorpart of the second sectionof the book is devotedto the Maharal's scathingattackon de' Rossi. In a sense,the investigationof the Maharal's approachto the aggadotdoes not assist comprehensionof de' Rossi's position. The two writers are proceeding from different premises and describingdifferentlevels of reality.What the Maharaldefinedas essenceis called metaphoror symbol by de' Rossi. Unlike the Maharal,de' Rossi's purposewas not to fathom the depthsof rabbinicwisdom,but to demonstratethat the historicaland scientificdata in the aggadot did not concur with historicalor scientifictruth. By focusingon the internalJewishsourcesand on humanisttextswhich are not appositefor a discussionof de' Rossi'swork,Segalhas givenonly a partialaccountof the problemswhichthe readerof the Me'orEinayimmust confront.The questionof the uneasyrelationbetweenhistoricalconsciousness and religious traditionnecessarilyarises consistentlythroughoutthe book. But de' Rossi's purposewas not simplyto resolvethat question.He saw himselfas a kindof mediatorbetweenJewishand Christianscholarship, clarifying problems of Jewish history in respect to non-Jewishevidence which he divestedof its ideologicalor religiousbias, while indicatingthe importanceof Jewishsources for biblicaland relatedsubjectswhich were being studied by contemporaryChristianscholars. JoannaWeinberg London,England SamuelRomanelli. Travailin an ArabLand.Translatedfrom Hebrew%ith an Introductionand Notes by YedidaK. StillmanandNormanA. Stillman. Tuscaloosa:Universityof Alabama Press, 1989. xiii, 222 pp. In the late 1970s, while researchingthe Jewish communitiesof eighteenth and nineteenth-centuryMorocco, I came across a bibliographical referenceto a translation,by Solomon Schiller-Szinessy,of Romanerli's noted Hebrewaccount of his four-yearstay in Morocco in the late eighteenth century,Massd'Ba'arav.Schiller-Szinessyhad publishedan edition of Romanelli'sbook in Cambridgein 1886,and plannedto publishan Eng-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Daniel J. Schroeter Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 321-324 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486961 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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sonant with his own, because they had been made subject to extreme criticism. A majorpart of the second sectionof the book is devotedto the Maharal's scathingattackon de' Rossi. In a sense,the investigationof the Maharal's approachto the aggadotdoes not assist comprehensionof de' Rossi's position. The two writers are proceeding from different premises and describingdifferentlevels of reality.What the Maharaldefinedas essenceis called metaphoror symbol by de' Rossi. Unlike the Maharal,de' Rossi's purposewas not to fathom the depthsof rabbinicwisdom,but to demonstratethat the historicaland scientificdata in the aggadot did not concur with historicalor scientifictruth. By focusingon the internalJewishsourcesand on humanisttextswhich are not appositefor a discussionof de' Rossi'swork,Segalhas givenonly a partialaccountof the problemswhichthe readerof the Me'orEinayimmust confront.The questionof the uneasyrelationbetweenhistoricalconsciousness and religious traditionnecessarilyarises consistentlythroughoutthe book. But de' Rossi's purposewas not simplyto resolvethat question.He saw himselfas a kindof mediatorbetweenJewishand Christianscholarship, clarifying problems of Jewish history in respect to non-Jewishevidence which he divestedof its ideologicalor religiousbias, while indicatingthe importanceof Jewishsources for biblicaland relatedsubjectswhich were being studied by contemporaryChristianscholars. JoannaWeinberg London,England SamuelRomanelli. Travailin an ArabLand.Translatedfrom Hebrew%ith an Introductionand Notes by YedidaK. StillmanandNormanA. Stillman. Tuscaloosa:Universityof Alabama Press, 1989. xiii, 222 pp. In the late 1970s, while researchingthe Jewish communitiesof eighteenth and nineteenth-centuryMorocco, I came across a bibliographical referenceto a translation,by Solomon Schiller-Szinessy,of Romanerli's noted Hebrewaccount of his four-yearstay in Morocco in the late eighteenth century,Massd'Ba'arav.Schiller-Szinessyhad publishedan edition of Romanelli'sbook in Cambridgein 1886,and plannedto publishan Eng-

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lish translation,whichwas scheduledto appearin 1887as the sequelto the Hebrewvolume.On a tripto Cambridgein searchof the translation,it soon becameapparentthat an Englishedition had in fact neverbeen published. Unbeknownstto me at the time, ProfessorsYedidaand Norman Stillman had also ascertainedthat a translationhad neverbeen done, and themselves decidedto undertakethe painstakingtask, Theirtranslationreadsremarkably well, especiallyconsideringthe intricaciesof the classicalHebrewtext, which is interspersedwith words and phrasesfrom colloquial Moroccan Arabic. The Stillmans'work not only reflectstheirnuancedunderstanding of Romanelli'sHebrewstyle, but showstheirintimateknowledgeof the language and culture of Moroccan Jewry. The edition is richly annotated, drawingfromthe Stillmans'previousstudieson Morocco,as well as some of their personalexperiencesin the country. Throughoutthe text, Romanellimakes constantscripturaland literary allusions.Manyof thesewereannotatedby J. H. Schirmannin his 1968edition of Massd' Ba'arav(found in his collection of Romanelli'swritings, The Stillmans'work, however,supersedesSchirmann's KetdvfmNivbdarim). in its accuracy,and its many annotationsoffer new insightson Moroccan culturethat are not found in Schirmann'sedition. A few misprintsof dates whichmightconfusethe readershouldbe notedition of Massd'Ba'aravappearedin 1886and not ed: Schiller-Szinessy's in 1866(p. x); and Mazaganwas abandonedby the Portuguesein 1769and not in 1739(pp. 193-194, n. 12).I wouldlike to makea fewadditionalcomments on the already excellent annotations provided by the Stillmans. RegardingRomanelli'sdescriptionof coins (p. 71), the silverand gold mithqdl were disappearingin the late eighteenthcentury,and term mithqdlwas increasinglybeing usedexclusivelyas a unit of account.Romanellirefersto anothercoin, the zalfb,which I would suggestis colloquial for the zaldght (pl. zawdligh,tdzaldghin Tamazight,the Middle Atlas Berberdialect),' a bronzecoin worth one-twelfthof a fils (the suggestionthat Romanelliwas referringto the qirdt [p. 181, n. 21] seems less plausible).On comments regarding'dr(p. 198,n. 43), E. Westermarckwas mistakenwhenhe referred to 'dr as meaning "curse."2

1. See 'Umar AfM',Mas'alat al-nuqadfi tarikh al-Maghrib ft' I'qarnal-tasi' 'ashr (Agadir, 1988), p. 170. 2. See K. L. Brown, "The 'Curse' of Westermarck," Acta Philosophica Fennica 34 (1982): 219-259.

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Samuel Romanelliwas an Italian maskilfrom Mantua,whose Hebrew writingdisplayshis masteryof Jewishsourcesas well as his interestin secular literature.As an accomplishedpoet, translator,and linguist,Romanelli was able to traveland live in numerousEuropeancountries,findingpatrons and employerswhereverhe went. Travailin an Arab Landbegins in 1786, when RomanellitraveledfromGibraltarto Morocco,accompanyinga local merchanton a businesstrip. Throughhis resourcefulnesshe was able to make a living in Moroccoas a Spanishteacherand a preacher,and he also found employmentwith a numberof influentialJewishmerchants,spending periods of time in Tangier,Tetuan, Meknes, Marrakesh,and Mogador (whichis today called Essaouira,accordingto its Arabicname). Romanelli describeshis numerousadventures--eachtime that he courtsdanger,he is able, throughhis wit and considerablecunning,to extricatehimselffrom a precariousposition. The period of Sultan Mawlay Yazid, following the deathof SultanSidi b. 'Abdallahin 1790,was markedby a genMuh.ammad eral breakdownin order,and the Jewsin particularweresubjectto persecution. Romanelliwas in Mogadorwhen news reachedthe town of the pillaging of the Jewishquarterof Tetuan,and he was able to escape Morocco at this time. The readeris invitedto experiencethe tense unfoldingof eventsas the author recountshis variousclose calls. In many respects,Romanelli'sbook is typicalof a genreof travelogues about the Maghrebby Europeansin the eighteenthcentury.It reflectsthe way in which an "enlightened"Europeviewedwhat it saw as a much less civilized region. His perceptionsof the indigenousinhabitantsare almost always negative and disparaging.The Jews of Morocco are also seen as being less civilized,obscurantist,and affected,as it were, by the environment. Romanelli has a condescendingattitude toward Moroccan Jewish culture, in many ways not dissimilarto that of contemporaryEuropean observers.But at the same time, Romanelli'saccountis distinctfrom European travelogues. More than other travelersand foreign residentswho wrote about theirexperiences,Romanelliwas able to penetratethe Moroccan Jewishculturalmilieu as a kind of participant.His text containsintricate detailsof the customsof Moroccoand the MoroccanJewishcommunities in particular.Descriptionsof dress,marriagecustoms,religiousrituals, superstitions,architecture,markets,the Moroccandialect,etc., are among the best availablefor the eighteenthcentury.Whatis especiallyuniquein his account is his criticalportait of membersof the Jewishcourtierclass and merchantelite, whichgives an insiders'pictureof a worldwhichis nowhere else, to my knowledge,describedso incisively.

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Romanelli'saccountof Morocco paints an extremelydismalpictureof the position of Jewsin Moroccansociety.Not only werethe Jewssubjectto some of the humiliatingproscriptionsimposedon the dhimmi,but they were also forcedto do corv6elabor.The final partof the book describesin lurid detail the violent persecutionof the Jews duringthe interregnum.At the conclusionof his book, Romanellitells the reader:"If anyonetells you bad thingsabouteventsin Morocco,multiplywhatyou haveheard,and you will not go wrong.If what you are told is good, do not believeit unlessyou can see it with your own eyes!" (p. 150). Romanelli'sdisparagingview of Moroccoand MoroccanJewishculture can also be understoodas expressingthe attitudeof a westernizedEuropean Jewishscholar steepedin the rationalistcultureof the Haskalah.He measureshis own culturalstandardsagainstthe cultureof MoroccanJewsand is critical of their customs, superstitions,and level of learning.Despite his harshcriticism,thereis a richnessof ethnographicdetailwhich,throughthe help of the Stillmans'annotations,opens a windowon the worldof Moroccan Jewry. Massd' Ba'ardvis also of intrinsicinterestfor its innovativeuse of the Hebrew language, and is perhaps unprecedentedin its lucid descriptive style. This highlysuccessfultranslationgives the readera sense of the flowing narrationof the originalHebrewtext. It not only providesinvaluable informationon MoroccanJewryin the late eighteenthcentury,but contributes to our understandingof the first period of the HebrewHaskalahin Europe. DanielJ. Schroeter Universityof Florida Fla. Gainesville,

Todd M. Endelman. Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History,

1656-1945. Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1990. viii, 246 pp. The self-confidenceof British historians, who have written now for many generationsas if the Europeancontinentdid not exist, has not been shared by those describingthe Anglo-Jewishexperience.The Jewish HistoricalSocietyof England,now nearingits centenary,has not only accepted that the historyof the Jewsof Britainis different,but also that it is unimpor-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Tony Kushner Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 324-327 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486962 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



324

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Romanelli'saccountof Morocco paints an extremelydismalpictureof the position of Jewsin Moroccansociety.Not only werethe Jewssubjectto some of the humiliatingproscriptionsimposedon the dhimmi,but they were also forcedto do corv6elabor.The final partof the book describesin lurid detail the violent persecutionof the Jews duringthe interregnum.At the conclusionof his book, Romanellitells the reader:"If anyonetells you bad thingsabouteventsin Morocco,multiplywhatyou haveheard,and you will not go wrong.If what you are told is good, do not believeit unlessyou can see it with your own eyes!" (p. 150). Romanelli'sdisparagingview of Moroccoand MoroccanJewishculture can also be understoodas expressingthe attitudeof a westernizedEuropean Jewishscholar steepedin the rationalistcultureof the Haskalah.He measureshis own culturalstandardsagainstthe cultureof MoroccanJewsand is critical of their customs, superstitions,and level of learning.Despite his harshcriticism,thereis a richnessof ethnographicdetailwhich,throughthe help of the Stillmans'annotations,opens a windowon the worldof Moroccan Jewry. Massd' Ba'ardvis also of intrinsicinterestfor its innovativeuse of the Hebrew language, and is perhaps unprecedentedin its lucid descriptive style. This highlysuccessfultranslationgives the readera sense of the flowing narrationof the originalHebrewtext. It not only providesinvaluable informationon MoroccanJewryin the late eighteenthcentury,but contributes to our understandingof the first period of the HebrewHaskalahin Europe. DanielJ. Schroeter Universityof Florida Fla. Gainesville,

Todd M. Endelman. Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History,

1656-1945. Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1990. viii, 246 pp. The self-confidenceof British historians, who have written now for many generationsas if the Europeancontinentdid not exist, has not been shared by those describingthe Anglo-Jewishexperience.The Jewish HistoricalSocietyof England,now nearingits centenary,has not only accepted that the historyof the Jewsof Britainis different,but also that it is unimpor-

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tant. The motto of the societymightwell havebeen"Amateurhistoryfor an amateur community."At best, native Jewish historians have produced apologetica,emphasizingthe long-standingnatureof Anglo-Jewryand the contributionsof the Jewish minority to the tolerant and peaceful British nation. Suchcomplacency,althoughnot yet overcome,has been challenged first by Americanhistoriansconcernedwith the recoveryof more modern Anglo-Jewishhistory,and morerecentlyby a groupof moreradical,professionally trained, Britishscholars.Todd Endelman,following Lloyd Gartner, belongsto the formerschool, his TheJewsof GeorgianEnglanda classic account that revealedthe potential of Anglo-Jewishsocial history. Endelman,in the introductionto his ambitiousnew survey,makes his historiographicalstance clear. He distanceshimself from "the amateurs groupedaroundthe JewishHistoricalSociety of England[who]lacked the conceptualrigor and critical viewpoint characteristicof professionalhistorical scholarship"(pp. 211-212, n. 4). Neverthelesshe criticizesthe new professionalschool for its "preferencefor poor Jewsratherthan richones" (p. 212, n. 6). Due to such imbalance,arguesEndelman,"theyhave shown littleinterestin exploringthe maintenanceof grouployalties-or theirdissolution-over the course of Anglo-Jewishhistory"(p. 8). The author is perhapstoo dismissiveof the "new school."Whole areas of the Anglo-Jewishexperience,such as the history of Jewish radicalism, women'shistory,immigrantlife, and many others,have been rescuedfrom oblivion.This achievementhas been all the more remarkablegiventhe lack of Jewish Studiespositions in Britishuniversities.Indeed,there is not and has neverbeen an academicpost devotedto Anglo-Jewishhistory.Evenso, Endelmanis absolutelycorrectto highlightthe absenceof studiescovering Anglo-Jewishidentity. In this sense, given the vacuum in which he was working,Endelman'sRadicalAssimilationis a remarkableachievement.In just over two hundredpages of text, the authormanagesto distill close to three hundredyears of EnglishJewish history. Following his past trademark,Endelmandoes so in elegantprose,witty but neverflippantabouthis subjectmatter. Endelmanis awareof the peculiarityof Anglo-Jewishhisand search tory, but he does not mistakeits oddity,the anti-intellectualism for invisibilityof its elite, for insignificancein terms of world Jewry. This, then, is an importantbook, but it is not one withoutseriousflaws. Endelmanis faced with the dauntingtask of placingin context the experiences of a communitywhich started in the age of mercantilismand was based on a few wealthy families,to one in 1945living in a late industrial

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society which was half a million strong. It would seem churlish to criticize a study which covers so much ground and includes thirty pages of notes for not using all the available sources. Endelman is, however, too bold when he suggests that quantitive source material does not exist and "it is impossible to measure statistically defection from the Anglo-Jewish community at any time in its history" (pp. vii-viii). Information on those who left the community, aside from the impressionistic and generalized accounts of contemporaries, is, it must be stressed, available. Such archival sources do require extensive work if patterns of intermarriage, conversion, and disaffiliation are to be charted. For the nineteenth century, when the process which Endelman highlights escalated, patterns can be established by correlating the detailed information available in census returns, and in synagogue and other Jewish institutional records. Endelman compensates for the absence of these sources by a vigorous analysis of memoirs, correspondence, literary sources, and other materials of a nonquantitive nature. It is true that these are of tremendous value, especially in the hands of a sophisticated historian. Dry statistics cannot provide the subtleties and nuances required for the study of Jewish identity. On both sides of the Atlantic, the numbercrunching activities of the new social historians have somehow managed to remove individualexperiences. In the specific case of Anglo-Jewry, the decision to distance oneself from the community, to marry out, or to take the extreme step of converting to Christianity was, to an extent, always unique. Generalizations thus become difficult and potentially dangerous. Even so, the absence of statistical data leaves Endelman open to the criticism that his work is, like that of some of the contemporaries he quotes, impressionistic. This is particularly the case with the last chapter, which deals with the twentieth century, and which could have benefited from an exploration of recent oral history projects. Unlike the historian of the Jewish communities of Germany, Austria, or Hungary, the Anglo-Jewish specialist does not have the statistics ready at hand. It is to be hoped, therefore, that a new generation of Jewish historians will be encouraged to locate the materials buried and scattered across Britain that would enable Endelman's hypotheses to be vigorously tested. The main thesis of this provocative study is that Anglo-Jewry has been and is increasingly being killed by kindness. Endelman suggests that the numerical decline of Anglo-Jewry, paricularly marked since 1945, is not due to antisemitism and a desire to escape prejudice, but in fact the reverse. Nowhere else in Europe has antisemitism been so weak a political force, violence so lacking, and liberalism so dominant. Endelman does not argue

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that antisemitism was absent, but that when it did surface it was only a minor irritant to Anglo-Jewry, an amorphous and rarely threatening phenomenon. Instead, Endelman concludes, "In their own benign way, legal toleration and social acceptance challenged group continuity more effectively than did overt persecution in the period before World War II" (p. 209). He continues that it was not toleration per se that has caused the decline of Anglo-Jewry, but its English variant, which "made possible the successful integration of English Jews [but] was hostile to the notion of cultural diversity" (p. 209). Yet ultimately the question remains: why did Anglo-Jewry engage to such a remarkable degree in "radical assimilation"? Here Endelman separates himself from the new radical school of Anglo-Jewish historians. The latter, led by the historian of Manchester Jewry, Bill Williams, has highlighted the limitations of tolerance. Williams in particular suggests that there is actually an "antisemitism of tolerance." Endelman holds back from this less positive interpretation, pointing out that Britain is a voluntary society, unlike other European countries, and there is no formal, written Jewish emancipation contract. Yet for a community so removed from violence, it is remarkable how Anglo-Jewry, since readmission in 1656, has suffered from a constant and pervasive fear of antisemitism. This fear, which has conditioned so much of its behavior, has had a stultifying impact on Anglo-Jewish identity. Its enormous impact, cutting across class, ethnic, and gender lines, has continued throughout three centuries, bringing into question Endelman's belief in the benign nature of British culture. Todd Endelman must nevertheless be congratulated for opening up the study of Anglo-Jewish identity in this stimulating account. He has located an intriguing topic in an area littered with minefields; it is a brave book which will no doubt be challenged by future scholarship. Endelman again reinforces the importance of studying the neglected or trivialized AngloJewish minority. It is ironic, but highly significant, that it has taken an American scholar to put Anglo-Jewish history on the map. Tony Kushner Universityof Southampton Southampton,England William O. McCagg, Jr. A History of HabsburgJews, 1670-1918. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. xi, 289 pp. Over two million Jews lived in the Habsburg monarchy on the eve of World War I, yet historians have generally ignored them, opting instead to

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Marsha L. Rozenblit Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 327-330 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486963 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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that antisemitism was absent, but that when it did surface it was only a minor irritant to Anglo-Jewry, an amorphous and rarely threatening phenomenon. Instead, Endelman concludes, "In their own benign way, legal toleration and social acceptance challenged group continuity more effectively than did overt persecution in the period before World War II" (p. 209). He continues that it was not toleration per se that has caused the decline of Anglo-Jewry, but its English variant, which "made possible the successful integration of English Jews [but] was hostile to the notion of cultural diversity" (p. 209). Yet ultimately the question remains: why did Anglo-Jewry engage to such a remarkable degree in "radical assimilation"? Here Endelman separates himself from the new radical school of Anglo-Jewish historians. The latter, led by the historian of Manchester Jewry, Bill Williams, has highlighted the limitations of tolerance. Williams in particular suggests that there is actually an "antisemitism of tolerance." Endelman holds back from this less positive interpretation, pointing out that Britain is a voluntary society, unlike other European countries, and there is no formal, written Jewish emancipation contract. Yet for a community so removed from violence, it is remarkable how Anglo-Jewry, since readmission in 1656, has suffered from a constant and pervasive fear of antisemitism. This fear, which has conditioned so much of its behavior, has had a stultifying impact on Anglo-Jewish identity. Its enormous impact, cutting across class, ethnic, and gender lines, has continued throughout three centuries, bringing into question Endelman's belief in the benign nature of British culture. Todd Endelman must nevertheless be congratulated for opening up the study of Anglo-Jewish identity in this stimulating account. He has located an intriguing topic in an area littered with minefields; it is a brave book which will no doubt be challenged by future scholarship. Endelman again reinforces the importance of studying the neglected or trivialized AngloJewish minority. It is ironic, but highly significant, that it has taken an American scholar to put Anglo-Jewish history on the map. Tony Kushner Universityof Southampton Southampton,England William O. McCagg, Jr. A History of HabsburgJews, 1670-1918. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. xi, 289 pp. Over two million Jews lived in the Habsburg monarchy on the eve of World War I, yet historians have generally ignored them, opting instead to

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study the Jews in Germanyor EasternEurope.In A Historyof Habsburg Jews, 1670-1918, William O. McCagg, Jr., attempts to redressthe imbalancein Jewishhistoriography,arguingthat HabsburgJewryprovidesan alternativemodel of Jewishmodernizationbecauseit was "fullerin scope" than West EuropeanJewish communities,while its experiencewas "less painful"than that of the Jewsof Russia.Becauseof the nearlyinsurmountable linguisticobstaclesto studyingHabsburgJews, no one has attempted such an ambitiousprojectbefore.McCagg,an eminentHabsburghistorian withthe amazingabilityto readthe literaturein German,Czech,Polish,and Hungarian,but not Yiddish or Hebrew, focuses here on the issue of modernizationand on those sectorsof the Jewishpopulationthat were on its cutting edge. His is an extremelyinterestingand suggestive,but also problematicbook. McCagg argues that Jewish modernizationinvolved "self-denial,"or "self-demolition,"that is, the rejectionof the nationaldimensionof Jewish identity. This denial, he points out, was facilitatedby the fact that nineteenth-centuryAustriaitself neverdevelopeda modernnationalidentityin the style of the Westernnationstates.Withno positivenationalismto overwhelm them, modernizingJews felt freerto form a new identity.At least before 1848,Jews could denytheirown nationalidentitywithouthavingto "convert"to anotherone. Most modernizingJewschose a Germancultural orientation,but they did not therebybecameGermans.TheywereAustrian, not membersof any particularnational group. Unfortunately,much to McCagg'sregret,the nationalityconflict which beset the monarchyin the late nineteenthcenturyended any hope for the full-blowndevelopmentof this HabsburgJewish path to modernity.HabsburgJewry splintered,as Jews respondedto the new pressureto abandonGermanfor Hungarian, Czech, and Polish. A united HabsburgJewry-if such a thing ever existed-shared the fate of the Habsburgmultinationalstate. Clearlythe craftingof a newJewishidentityin modernitywas morecomplicated in multinationalAustriathan in the West, but it was even more complicatedthan McCaggallows. Most Jewsin Austria-Hungarypersisted in theirAustrianidentitiesdown to the dissolutionof the monarchyin 1918, despitethe fact that many of them had chosen new "national"identities. More importantly,the fact that the Habsburgmonarchyneverdevelopeda modernnational-politicalidentityalso had the oppositeeffectthan the one McCaggemphasizes.Indeed,HabsburgJewryusedthe opportunitiescreated by a supranationalstate in which the nationalitiesvied with each other

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for greaterautonomyto assertJewishethnic identity.Faced, for example, with the needto choose betweenGermansandCzechsin Bohemiaand Moravia or betweenPoles and Ruthenesin Galicia,manyJewsdecidedto identify as Jews. The strengthof Zionism and diasporaJewish nationalismin Galicia, Bukovina,and even Viennarevealsthe high level of Jewishethnic identity in the Habsburgmonarchy.So too does the realityof masses of utterlytraditionalJews in Galicia and Hungary. Thereare manystrengthsto McCagg'sbook. He does well to emphasize the role of the state in fosteringJewishmodernizationand in determining the Germanorientationof HabsburgJews, and the role of schools in facilitatingmodernizationall over. He also remindsus of the significanceof such factors as economic prosperity,size and densityof the Jewishcommunity, and attitude of Jewish communal leaders in determiningthe course of Jewish modernization.Bohemian Jews experiencedearly and profound modernizationbecauseof state policy, the willingnessof Jewishcommunal leadersto accepta conservativeversionof seculareducation,and the small size of the BohemianJewishcommunity.In Galicia,on the otherhand,local autonomy,extremeJewishpopulationdensity,and the vigorousopposition of traditionalJewish leaders to modernitymeant that few Galician Jews abandoned tradition in the ninteenthcentury. Despite similar obstacles, moreJewsmodernizedin Hungarythanin Galiciabecausethe local nobility encouraged such modernizationand because Hungary was more prosperous. McCaggalso broadensJacob Katz's concept of the "neutralspace"in which Jews and non-Jewsfirst came to associatewith each other beyond Enlightenmentintellectualsto the circlesof leadingbusinessmen.His point is very appealing,since economicallygeneratedneutralspace could affect more people than could literarysalons. Unfortunately,McCaggdoes not offer proof that Jewish and non-Jewish businessmenreally did mingle socially.On the otherhand, McCaggdoes argueconvincinglythat the existence of an alreadyassimilatedgroup of Jews played a major role in the grantingto the Jews of emancipation,but here he trivializeshis own point by emphasizingJewish assimilationto Viennesekitsch,and he ignoresthe very real role of liberal ideology in emancipation. A Historyof HabsburgJewrysuffersfromsome seriousflaws.In the first place, despitehis impressivelinguisticabilities,McCaggdoes not know the Jewish languages, Yiddish and Hebrew. As a result, he misunderstands Galician and HungarianJewry. He argues, for example,that Hungarian

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rabbis were much more open to modern, secular culture than were their Galician counterparts. Such an argument ignores the aggressive antimodernism of the disciples of the IHatamSofer and of Hungarian Hasidim. Of course, McCagg does not have to understand Hasidism if he is focusing on people at the cutting edge of modernization. Yet, not reading the Jewish sources also makes him ignore the important role of Zionism and diaspora Jewish nationalism, especially in Galicia and Bukovina. Another serious problem in this book is the fact that McCagg overemphasizes the role of converts from Judaism to Christianity in Jewish modernization. McCagg goes too far when he says, for example, that the late-eighteenth-century convert Joseph von Sonnenfels provided the Jews with an important role model, perhaps even more important than Moses Mendelssohn. McCagg forgets that most Jews who sought to modernize wanted to do so as Jews, not as Christians. There is nothing modern about integration through baptism. Finally, this reviewer wishes the book had been edited with more care so that some obvious errors would have been corrected. McCagg, for example, refers to the Agudath Yisrael as the Agudas; he labels the integrationist Osterreichische Wochenschrifta Jewish nationalist newspaper; he says that the majority of Galician Jews in Vienna married non-Galician Jews when counting women reveals that the opposite was the case; he reports an incorrect population figure for Vienna Jews in 1910; and he assumes that all Jewish "business employees" were industrial managers when most of them were clerks and salesmen for commercial enterprises. Despite the errors, A History of Habsburg Jewry makes an important contribution to our understanding of Jewish modernization. Perhaps the Habsburg model was not quite what McCagg claims it to be. Nevertheless, the Jews of East Central Europe did have a different experience in modernity than did the Jews of Germany or Russia. Political context is obviously a crucial ingredient in the modern Jewish experience. MarshaL. Rozenblit Universityof Maryland College Park, Md. V. D. Lipman. A History of the Jews in Britain Since 1858. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1990. xvi, 274 pp. The late Vivian Lipman was a distinguished British civil servant for whom the writing of English Jewish history was an avocation rather than a

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Todd M. Endelman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 330-333 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486964 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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rabbis were much more open to modern, secular culture than were their Galician counterparts. Such an argument ignores the aggressive antimodernism of the disciples of the IHatamSofer and of Hungarian Hasidim. Of course, McCagg does not have to understand Hasidism if he is focusing on people at the cutting edge of modernization. Yet, not reading the Jewish sources also makes him ignore the important role of Zionism and diaspora Jewish nationalism, especially in Galicia and Bukovina. Another serious problem in this book is the fact that McCagg overemphasizes the role of converts from Judaism to Christianity in Jewish modernization. McCagg goes too far when he says, for example, that the late-eighteenth-century convert Joseph von Sonnenfels provided the Jews with an important role model, perhaps even more important than Moses Mendelssohn. McCagg forgets that most Jews who sought to modernize wanted to do so as Jews, not as Christians. There is nothing modern about integration through baptism. Finally, this reviewer wishes the book had been edited with more care so that some obvious errors would have been corrected. McCagg, for example, refers to the Agudath Yisrael as the Agudas; he labels the integrationist Osterreichische Wochenschrifta Jewish nationalist newspaper; he says that the majority of Galician Jews in Vienna married non-Galician Jews when counting women reveals that the opposite was the case; he reports an incorrect population figure for Vienna Jews in 1910; and he assumes that all Jewish "business employees" were industrial managers when most of them were clerks and salesmen for commercial enterprises. Despite the errors, A History of Habsburg Jewry makes an important contribution to our understanding of Jewish modernization. Perhaps the Habsburg model was not quite what McCagg claims it to be. Nevertheless, the Jews of East Central Europe did have a different experience in modernity than did the Jews of Germany or Russia. Political context is obviously a crucial ingredient in the modern Jewish experience. MarshaL. Rozenblit Universityof Maryland College Park, Md. V. D. Lipman. A History of the Jews in Britain Since 1858. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1990. xvi, 274 pp. The late Vivian Lipman was a distinguished British civil servant for whom the writing of English Jewish history was an avocation rather than a

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profession. The author of a pioneering Social History of the Jews in England, 1850-1950 (1954), Lipman considered himself a disciple of Cecil Roth and viewed what was his last book as a sequel to Roth's History of the Jews in England (3rd ed., 1964), which in effect ended in 1858 with the admission of Lionel de Rothschild to the House of Commons. In truth, Lipman was a more accomplished historian than Roth, whose work on English Jewry was unabashedly apologetic and celebratory. While Lipman can also be faulted for his filiopietism, his attention to the social history of the community, especially shifting residential and occupational patterns, distinguished his work from that of others associated with the amateur school of AngloJewish historiography. Lipman's is the first attempt to survey the postemancipation period in British Jewish history and as such provides a useful introduction to the basic trends and events in the last century and a half, although it is unlikely to be the last word on the subject. As in his previous work, the most impressive parts of his book are those sections treating questions of demography and socioeconomic status: birth, death, and marriage rates; immigration waves; residential patterns; occupational diversification and mobility. His discussion of the geographical dispersion of London Jewry from the area of initial settlement in the City of London and the East End is especially valuable and could serve as a model for similar discussions of Jewish residential patterns in other European cities. The strengths of Lipman's survey-its comprehensiveness and its concern with demographic and related matters-cannot, however, mask its glaring weaknesses. To start, it is chronologically unbalanced. The halfcentury from the start of World War II to the present is treated in a single, fifteen-page chapter, although this was a period that witnessed dramatic changes in the life of British Jewry-religious polarization, radical assimilation, widespread economic mobility, and a transfer of political allegiance to the Tory party. At the same time, episodes which are far better known, such as the genesis of the Balfour Declaration and the growth of anti-alien sentiment at the turn of the century, receive perhaps more attention than they deserve, given the availability of first-rate scholarship about these events and the almost complete absence of historical writing on the post World War II period. Since Lipman himself knew this period at first hand and was no stranger to the corridors of communal power, it is disappointing that he treated it so cursorily. I suspect that one reason that Lipman may have given it short shrift is that even the most generous reading of the period cannot sustain the trium-

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phalismor whiggishoptimismassociatedwith the amateurschoolof AngloJewishhistoriography.In the penultimatesentenceof the finalparagraphof the book, havingpreviouslyregisteredthe fact that Anglo-Jewryis shrinking and that only one-thirdof young Jews are currentlybeing marriedin a religiousceremony,Lipmansoberlyconcludesthatthe outlook for the communityseems to be that of "polarizationand decline."This is not the kind of analysischaracteristicof the amateurhistoriographicaltradition,which has tendedto celebratethe achievementsof the community-its loyalty to tradition,its moderationand pragmatismin religiousmatters,its concern for and generositytoward its less fortunatemembers,its love of harmony and compromise, its rootedness in English society, etc. That Lipman acknowledgesthe impossibilityof describingthe recent history of AngloJewryin celebratoryterms is remarkable,given his prior associationwith the amateurschool. Unfortunately,his break with the older tradition is incomplete.The resultis that this accountof modernBritishJewryis an awkwardamalgam of the old and the new. Unlike Roth, Lipmanrecognizesthe centralityof intracommunalconflict-between immigrantsand natives, workers and masters,Zionistsand assimilationists,old moneyand new money, religious traditionalistsand progressives-and places the issues dividingthem near the center of his story. (It would be difficult to do otherwise,given the emphasison communalstrife and divisivenessin books and articlespublished in the last decade.) However, Lipman'streatmenttends to sanitize these disputes.He fails to conveythe depthof feeling(fear,anger,loathing, greed, etc.) that came into play, so that at timescommunaldisputesappear to be little more than dispassionate,ratherbloodlessdifferencesof opinion, ratherthan clashes betweenirreconcilablevisions of community,politics, and religion.This can be seen, for example,in his treatmentof the attitudes of communalleaders toward East Europeanimmigration.The most that he can admitin regardto this still sensitiveissueis that they harbored"some reservationsabout the immigrants"and fearedthat "the machineryof relief would be unableto cope with the influx."As EugeneBlackdemonstratesin The Social Politics of Anglo-Jewry, 1880-1920 (1988), the established lead-

ershipwas as eageras the alien-restrictionist camp to limit the flow of poor Jews from EasternEurope, not because its memberswere antisemitic,of course, but because they believed that the presenceof large numbersof unanglicizedstrangerswould createmore antisemitism,therebyundermining their own hard-earnedsocial and political gains.

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Lipman's inability to acknowledgethe anxiety aroused by the newcomersis linked to his treatmentof antisemitism.Like many of his predecessors,he tendsto minimizethe extentof hostilityto Jewsin Britishsociety and to ignore its impact on Jewish identity and behavior.To be fair, he eschewsthe sort of platitudesabout Englishtoleranceand fairplay that are common in Roth's work. But he confines his treatmentof antisemitism largely to overt political manifestationsof Jew-baiting(such as the antiBolshevikconspiratorialantisemitismof the MorningPost afterWorldWar I or the East End campaignof the BritishUnion of Fascistsfrom 1934to 1936),while omittingany discussionof social and culturalantagonismsand their long-termimpacton the formationof communalpolicy and personal identity.Whetherintentionalor not, this conveysthe impressionthat antisemitism was a marginalphenomenon, largely confined to the political fringe,withoutorganiclinksto traditionsor imagessharedby broadgroups of the population.Furthermore,it also impliesthat BritishJewryevolvedin a kind of culturaland social vacuum,free fromexternalpressures,however subtle, generatedby the surroundingsociety. That this was clearlynot the case has been amply demonstratedin the recent work of Eugene Black, David Cesarani,Tony Kushner,David Feldman,and BryanCheyette. Lipman's roots in the apologetic tradition of Anglo-Jewishhistoriographycan also be discernedin his failureto discussforms of assimilation that led to disaffiliationfrom the Jewishcommunity.As I indicatedabove, he does mentionthe fall in synagoguemarriagesin recentdecades,but the impressiongiven is that this is a newphenomenonratherthanone rootedin attitudesand behaviorextendingback severalgenerations.The reasonfor this is that, like Roth, Lipmantendsto presentthe historyof the community as more or less a successstory, a narrativein which the protagonistsmanaged to combine loyalty to Jewish traditionwith participationin British society.It would be impossibleto know fromthis account,for example,that drift and defectionwerewidespreadin the interwarperiodamong the families of the old Victorianelite, who werethen losingtheirhold on the comunity's central institutions. This is typical of Lipman'sfailure to confront head-on those issues that challengethe filiopietisticview of BritishJewish history. Todd M. Endelman

Universityof Michigan AnnArbor,Mich.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Günter Böhm Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 334-336 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486965 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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Victor A. Mirelman. Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1930.: In Search of an Identity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. 300 pp. The few serious works up to now on the subject of the Jews of Buenos Aires have been increased by Victor A. Mirelman's recently published book. This work is the result of an extended search for material in Jewish and general archives, but actually it is a revision of the author's doctoral dissertation, submitted to Columbia University in 1972. Although he asserts that "additional research was conducted to fully develop some chapters and to add new dimensions to the work," there are only two chapters that have been altered. One of the main advantages of Mirelman's research is that he uses the most reliable sources for the period in concern, although these contradict each other in some cases. To give an example: according to one source, the Jewish population of Buenos Aires in 1934 is estimated to have reached 131,000 (p. 15), whereas according to another, two years later, it was no greater than 120,000 (p. 26). Inaccuracies of this kind are not limited to the sources on Buenos Aires but impede the work of scholars investigating the history of virtually any place in Latin America. Unfortunately, Mirelman devotes no more than a few pages to his chapter on Jewish immigration to Argentina. But at least he analyzes convincingly some of the reasons that initially restricted the number of Jews arriving from imperial Russia: Argentina was not considered a land favorable for mass Jewish immigration, not only because it was so far away from Russia, but above all for fear that because of its strict Catholicism and, moreover, its deep bonds to Spain, it might react against the presence of an increasing number of Jews. These arguments and the reasons for antiJewish attitudes are analyzed by Mirelman in a further chapter. According to him-and I do not doubt that he is right-antisemitic activities were sporadic before 1930 but nonetheless affected the Argentine population, and they became more intense later through being incorporated into the ideology of various nationalist political groups whose influence increased in the following years. Thus it was not by chance that around 1890, when Jewish immigration was just beginning, Jose Maria Mir6 (Julian Martel) published a novel named La Bolsa ("The Stock Exchange") in which appeared the stereotype of an avaricious, exploitative Jew out to control the economy of the country of his residence. Mir6 accused Jewish immigrants of responsibility for the current economic crisis in Argentina. The great number of editions of his

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book indicate that readers were quite receptive to his negative picture of the Jews. Other developments further heightened Argentine resentment against the newcomers. For example, in 1910, a wave of strikes by Argentine workers and the assassination of the chief of police of Buenos Aires by a young Russian Jewish anarchist led to a violent reaction against Jewish labor organizations, including the demolition of their cultural center, the Biblioteca Rusa ("Russian Library"). The anti-Jewish feeling this reflected was reinforced by antisemitic propaganda sponsored by some Catholic groups. In several instances anti-Jewish defamations were included in school texts, among them the claim that the philanthropic Baron de Hirsch, who lived in Paris, was promoting and financing Jewish immigration to Argentina in order to found a New Palestine there. This defamation was still part of the ultranationalist ideology during the political repression of the 1970s, a fact we can gather from the accusations against the Jewish leftist journalist Jacobo Timmerman when he was arrested in 1976. Another wave of strikes in Buenos Aires, at the end of 1918, led to the famous "Semana trigica" in January 1919, in which a pogrom was organized with the collusion of the police and the army. A great many Jews were attacked and injured, since they, as rusos ("Russians"), were held responsible for the disorder caused by the strikes. Well known is the case of Pedro Wald, who was seized and tortured into confessing the existence of a Bolshevik plan to seize power, with Wald to be nominated president of the new Argentine republic. Thus, in these first antisemitic manifestations, we find the essential components, nationalist as well as clerical, which later were elaborated by fascist and German National Socialist propagandists, thus causing even greater difficulties for the Jewish residents of Buenos Aires and other parts of the country. Unfortunately, Mirelman devotes a chapter of only a few pages to the essential subject of Jewish education. In detail, however, he analyzes the dark story of the participation of Jews, the so-called "Tmeyn" or "Kaftans," in the white-slave trade in Jewish girls, particularly from Romania and Russia, between 1918 and 1930. The activities of the white-slave dealers seriously injured the reputation of the Jewish community, but on the other hand, there was a sentiment of collective responsibility, so that the general Jewish community was able to prevent these elements, in spite of their financial power, from integrating into the leading Jewish institutions. In conse-

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quence, they were compelled to found their own congregation in order to bury their members in a separate cemetery. Their obscure organization, Zvi Migdal, met its end in 1930, due to a denunciation to the police by one of its victims. But even this could not repair the damage inflicted upon the Jewish community as a whole. Later on, this would add fuel to the fire of the antisemitic Argentine press, especially in its campaign to limit the immigration of Jewish refugees during the Nazi era. Undoubtedly, as Mirelman supports by documentary evidence, the years 1890 to 1930 were the decisive period for the formation of the great Jewish community in Argentina. This he shows in his chapter on the foundation and development of the Kehilla ("A Kehilla in the Making"), a period in which no less than 130 congregations were founded. In sum, Mirelman's book is an important contribution to research on the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. Yet it would be desirable for the author, in a new edition, to incorporate even more evidence and to bring up to date the bibliography (which by and large is that of the 1972 doctoral dissertation). GiinterBbhm Universityof Chile Santiago,Chile

Alan L. Mittleman. Between Kant and Kabbalah: An Introduction to Isaac Breuer's Philosophy of Judaism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. x, 227 pp. Isaac Breuer (1883-1946) belongs to that last generation of German Jewish thinkers whose lives and intellectual legacies were culturally orphaned by the dispersion and destruction of German Judaism. In this book, the first on Breuer's thought in English, Mittleman reaches back across the historical chasm to reclaim Breuer for our times, and to demonstrate that Breuer is not a mere philosophical ideologue, but a "real philosopher" of significance for contemporary religion (p. 32). He is an "expression of a cultural synthesis that is no more," through whom, however, "voices older than those of German Jewry ... speak to the ages" (p. 188). In the opening chapter of the book, "From Frankfurt to Jerusalem," Mittleman suggests sources, influences, and formative experiences from the

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Robert S. Schine Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 336-339 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486966 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:18 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].



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quence, they were compelled to found their own congregation in order to bury their members in a separate cemetery. Their obscure organization, Zvi Migdal, met its end in 1930, due to a denunciation to the police by one of its victims. But even this could not repair the damage inflicted upon the Jewish community as a whole. Later on, this would add fuel to the fire of the antisemitic Argentine press, especially in its campaign to limit the immigration of Jewish refugees during the Nazi era. Undoubtedly, as Mirelman supports by documentary evidence, the years 1890 to 1930 were the decisive period for the formation of the great Jewish community in Argentina. This he shows in his chapter on the foundation and development of the Kehilla ("A Kehilla in the Making"), a period in which no less than 130 congregations were founded. In sum, Mirelman's book is an important contribution to research on the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. Yet it would be desirable for the author, in a new edition, to incorporate even more evidence and to bring up to date the bibliography (which by and large is that of the 1972 doctoral dissertation). GiinterBbhm Universityof Chile Santiago,Chile

Alan L. Mittleman. Between Kant and Kabbalah: An Introduction to Isaac Breuer's Philosophy of Judaism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990. x, 227 pp. Isaac Breuer (1883-1946) belongs to that last generation of German Jewish thinkers whose lives and intellectual legacies were culturally orphaned by the dispersion and destruction of German Judaism. In this book, the first on Breuer's thought in English, Mittleman reaches back across the historical chasm to reclaim Breuer for our times, and to demonstrate that Breuer is not a mere philosophical ideologue, but a "real philosopher" of significance for contemporary religion (p. 32). He is an "expression of a cultural synthesis that is no more," through whom, however, "voices older than those of German Jewry ... speak to the ages" (p. 188). In the opening chapter of the book, "From Frankfurt to Jerusalem," Mittleman suggests sources, influences, and formative experiences from the

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stations of Breuer'sbiography.Threechaptersof philosophicalexposition are then followed by a brief "CriticalAppreciation,"an argumentfor Breuer'sabidingsignificancewhichis sympathetic,eloquent,and yet cognizant of Breuer'slimitations. Mittleman's philosophical exposition explains the book's surprising title-Between Kant and Kabbalah. Breuer's relationship to Kant was para-

doxical. He did not constructa philosophyof Judaismin a Kantianframework, as HermannCohen did, for he believed "Judaismto be singular, divineand extracategorical" (p. 12).Kantiancriticalphilosophyservesonly in a negative role, to help understand"the human condition into which Judaismenters"(p. 12). In his memoirs,Mein Weg,Breuerwrote that he had studiedKant "as a Jew,"finding"in his arsenalthe weaponsto defend the holy terrainof the Torah"(p. 31). Breuer'sepistemologylimitsthe territory of reason, reservinga metaphysicalrealm for Torah, which can be affirmednot by an act of cognition,but only by an act of will. Here Mittleman demonstratesBreuer'scomplex dependenceon Schopenhauer(pp. 43-49, 51-62). The pivotal concept in Breuer'smetaphysicsis the conceptof creation. The "world-in-itself"is given, and this givennessis "creation."Hencecreation is taken here not as an event, but as an aspect of reality(p. 76). The on the other hand, is the world as known throughrea"world-as-nature," son. MittlemanexplainsBreuer'svaryingpositionsin Die Weltals Schopfung und Natur, Der neue Kusari, and in Elischa and Nahaliel, indicating his

turn to Kabbalah.The possibilityof two levels of discourse,one mundane, the other divine,is an idea for which Breuerfound a precursorin R. Isaiah is accessibleto the intellect;the "worldHorowitz.The "world-as-nature" in-itself" is the "interior"aspect of nature. MittlemanconsidersBreuer's conceptionof "Sabbathof creation"(pp. 79 ff.) relevantfor us now as a model not for the synthesis,but for the coexistence,of naturalscienceand religion.The Sabbathis the "reposeof God," in which the lawfulnessof nature was fixed, a barrierwhich makes knowledge possible within its domain, and impossiblebeyond it. Breuerrelegates"science"and "religion" to two distinct "framesof reference"(p. 83). This two-leveled conception of the world, "world-as-nature"and is paralleledin Breuer'sthinking by two aspects of "world-as-creation," as the Torah Torah, phenomenon,consistingof rationalwordsigns,and the "Torah-initself."This is more than a mereparallel;it is an "essentialrelation" (p. 114).Echoinga kabbalistictradition,Breuerassertsthatthe obser-

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vanceof the commandmentsis an "ontologicalactivity."Hereis the motive of Breuer'sbrandof Zionism:Israelmust embodythe Torah. Redemption involves enactmentof the Torah law in the state. This nexusis the subjectof Mittleman'schapter"Law,Nation, History and Redemption."Breuerclaimedthathis dissertation,a treatiseon Rudolf Stammler'sconcept of law, was a key to understandinghis own thought. Mittlemanshows how Breuer,in his critiqueof Stammler,articulateshis own root problem:how freedomis possiblewithin the frameworkof obedience to extrinsiclaw. Breueralso gives a remarkableexplanationof the seeminginequalitiesof Jewishlaws pertainingto women and other social classes. He arguesthat these inequalitiesapply only to the distributionof dutiesamongclassesof individuals.The task of ethicsis to enjointhe fulfillment of these duties,not to judge theirdistribution,whichis divinelygiven. Mittlemanrightlytakes note of this quite obscureargumentin his critique: Breuer'ssystemleavesno placefor individualrights;it knows only of classification of duties. The antidemocraticthrust of Breuer'slegal philosophy cannot be amelioratedby sympatheticreworking. The reader of Mittleman'sbook profits from the clearly prodigious researchand thoughtwhichwent into its making.Otherfeaturesof Mittleman'sscholarlystyle are an obstacleto the enjoymentof the book. His language, while occasionallyelegant,is often overladen.(e.g., pp. 113,126).He uses trendy terms ("disprivileging,""postfoundational,""postsynthetic"), and peppershis text with Hebrewand Germanwords, usuallyto illustrate translations,most of which are obvious. Neologisms and philosophicallinguisticinnovationsrequireexplanation,and receiveit. Scholarlycraftsmanship,however,is of lesserimportthanthe substance of Mittleman'sargument.He considers Breuerrelevantfor two reasons. One is Breuer'sargument"for a renewalof Jewishpeoplehood,basedon a reappropriationof sacral and sacramentalaspects of that peoplehood.He offersa versionof a resacralizedpeoplehoodthat avoids, at least in principle, the dangerouspitfall of romanticnationalism"(p. 176). Breuer'santiZionistZionismflows fromthe duty to establisha state trueto Jewishlaw. The other reasonlies in Breuer'sepistemology:"He arguesfor the primacyof JewishBeing,expressedas participationin and loyaltyto normative Jewish community, over culturally conditioned projects of theoretical, theologicalreason.... Breuer'sinsistenceon standingin a communityof discourseas a conditionof intelligibilityimpliesirreduciblecognitivepluralism" (pp. 175-176). Breuerthus indirectlydismissesthe problem of the incompatibility of science and religion. "This dismissal is his real contribu-

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tion to Jewish thought" (p. 177). Here Mittlemansees the possibilityof interpretingBreueras a philosopherwho, anticipatingour "post-modern" era, engagedin a "thoroughdeconstructionof reason,or more broadly,of modern intellectualKultur"(p. 9). The question remainswhetherMittleman, while allowingthat he is expandingon Breuerhere, has not overlaid Breuer'scritiqueof philosophywith contemporaryissueswhichwould have been alien to him. Nonetheless,Mittelman'sthesis is a thought-provoking conclusion to a book which, in itself, is a "real contributionto Jewish thought." RobertS. Schine Middlebury College Vt. Middlebury, Ronald H. Miller. Dialogue and Disagreement: Franz Rosenzweig's Relevance to Contemporary Jewish-Christian Understanding. Lanham, Md.:

UniversityPress of America, 1989. xix, 213 pp. Ronald Miller,a Catholiclay theologian,is concernedto challengehis churchto a more intensive,more dialogicencounterwith Judaismand the Jewishpeople. Like such Christiantheologiansas Paul M. Van Buren,he turnsto FranzRosenzweigfor a constructionof a possible,if not ideal,relationship betweenthe two religiouscommunities.Milleruses Rosenzweig's understandingof revelationas a meansof unlockingthat thinker'ssignificance for the contemporaryrelationshipof Christiansand Jews. His book has two aims:to exploreRosenzweig'sview of revelationon its own terms, and to use that view, togetherwith Rosenzweig'sexplicitwritingson Christianity, for a contemporaryChristiantheology of dialogue. Miller's work, in keepingwith the style of Rosenzweig'sfamous correspondence with Eugen Rosenstock-Huessyand Rudolph and Hans Ehrenburg,is deeplypersonal.Millerwritesin the firstpersonand speaksof his meetings with Rosenzweig'swidow, Edith, and with Jewish scholars such as Nahum Glatzer. Miller is convincedthat in order to understand Rosenzweig,one must applyhim to one's own situation.One mustbecome a Sprachdenker and practice"speechthinking."The Rosenzweigianprinciples of dialogueare:(1) Dialogue is a fluid "journeyof discovery"(Rosenzweig uses this termin a letterto Hans Ehrenburgto describewhathas been lackingin his dialoguewith EugenRosenstock)ratherthan a "duel"(which is what Rosenstock turned their dialogue into) because truth, which is

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Alan Mittleman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 339-341 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486967 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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tion to Jewish thought" (p. 177). Here Mittlemansees the possibilityof interpretingBreueras a philosopherwho, anticipatingour "post-modern" era, engagedin a "thoroughdeconstructionof reason,or more broadly,of modern intellectualKultur"(p. 9). The question remainswhetherMittleman, while allowingthat he is expandingon Breuerhere, has not overlaid Breuer'scritiqueof philosophywith contemporaryissueswhichwould have been alien to him. Nonetheless,Mittelman'sthesis is a thought-provoking conclusion to a book which, in itself, is a "real contributionto Jewish thought." RobertS. Schine Middlebury College Vt. Middlebury, Ronald H. Miller. Dialogue and Disagreement: Franz Rosenzweig's Relevance to Contemporary Jewish-Christian Understanding. Lanham, Md.:

UniversityPress of America, 1989. xix, 213 pp. Ronald Miller,a Catholiclay theologian,is concernedto challengehis churchto a more intensive,more dialogicencounterwith Judaismand the Jewishpeople. Like such Christiantheologiansas Paul M. Van Buren,he turnsto FranzRosenzweigfor a constructionof a possible,if not ideal,relationship betweenthe two religiouscommunities.Milleruses Rosenzweig's understandingof revelationas a meansof unlockingthat thinker'ssignificance for the contemporaryrelationshipof Christiansand Jews. His book has two aims:to exploreRosenzweig'sview of revelationon its own terms, and to use that view, togetherwith Rosenzweig'sexplicitwritingson Christianity, for a contemporaryChristiantheology of dialogue. Miller's work, in keepingwith the style of Rosenzweig'sfamous correspondence with Eugen Rosenstock-Huessyand Rudolph and Hans Ehrenburg,is deeplypersonal.Millerwritesin the firstpersonand speaksof his meetings with Rosenzweig'swidow, Edith, and with Jewish scholars such as Nahum Glatzer. Miller is convincedthat in order to understand Rosenzweig,one must applyhim to one's own situation.One mustbecome a Sprachdenker and practice"speechthinking."The Rosenzweigianprinciples of dialogueare:(1) Dialogue is a fluid "journeyof discovery"(Rosenzweig uses this termin a letterto Hans Ehrenburgto describewhathas been lackingin his dialoguewith EugenRosenstock)ratherthan a "duel"(which is what Rosenstock turned their dialogue into) because truth, which is

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always someone's truth, is articulatedby earthbound,historicalmen and women. Truthis "existential."It is embeddedin the particularityof history. It emergesin the living flow of our conversationalspeech. Hence,we must cultivatethe opennessto discoveranother'struthfulspeechby suspending those presuppositionswhichcategorizethe other beforethe otherhas truly spoken. (2) Openness thus requires that the other's self-definitionbe respected.We must not impose categorieson the other which the other resistsor rejects.(3) Opennessrequiresthe willingnessto changeone's own perspective. For Miller, Rosenzweig'sunderstandingof Christianityand his dialogues with Christianssuch as Rosenstockand the Ehrenburgsexemplify theseprinciples.Radicalopenness,formingoneselfandbeingformedwithin is requiredby the the ongoing conversation(that is, being a Sprachdenker), way in which truth is revealedto us. Opennessto the other is as much (or more) an ontic requirementas a moral imperative. Miller'sreadingof the Star, the correspondence,and the variousessays is sensitiveand well-informed.In my view, however,his emphasison openness as the redthreadwhichties all of Rosenzweigtogetherleadsto at least two distortions.First, although Miller fully recognizesthe differentroles that Judaismand Christianityplayin history(accordingto Rosenzweig),he tendsto see themas two speciesof the samegenus.He refersto themboth as "covenant communities"(e.g., pp. 108-109). Yet Rosenzweig is not a covenantaltheologian.Whilehe very occasionallyuses the termsBundand Bundnis, he uses such terms as Gemeinschaft, Volk, and ecclesia more often.

American theologians take covenantalismfor granted and read it into thinkerswhere it is not a major motif. The ontologicaldifferencesbetweenJudaismand Christianity,although noted by Miller, are underemphasizeddue to his personalistand existentialist reading.His emphasisis on the Jewish or Christianindividual.In Jacob Fleischmann'sHebrewstudyof Rosenzweig,by contrast,the radically differentways in whichJewsand Christiansqua communitiesexperience time become a fundamental explanatory category. The metaphysical mebitzabetween the two groups looms higher for Fleischmannthan for Miller.' The seconddistortionis methodological.Millercontinuesin the Glatzer 1. Jacob Fleischmann, The Problem of Christianity in Modern Jewish Thought(1770-1929) (Jerusalem, 1964), pp. 147-190 (in Hebrew).

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tradition of presenting Rosenzweig as a kind of moral paradigm for modern man. In both his biographical and his expositional chapters, he neglects the historical task of contextualizing Rosenzweig and identifying and critiquing his use of sources. Miller does not at all explore Rosenzweig's indebtedness to Schelling, Goethe, or Nietzsche. Nor does he see him against the backdrop of Frankfurt Jewry. He presents him, rather, in saintlike isolation, with little relation to a time or place. A final problem with this sort of treatment has been raised by David Novak in his recent Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification. Novak argues that Rosenzweig's image of Christianity-a "Judaism for Gentiles," dependent upon Judaism for its energy and authenticity-cannot possibly correspond to the way in which Christians view themselves Thus Rosenzweig's construct of Christianity fails to satisfy the criterion of openness to the self-definition of the other which Rosenzweig himself (on Miller's account) advocates.2 Agreeing with Novak, I do not see how the ideal-typical characterization of Christianity, to which Rosenzweig is highly committed, can be squared with a situational ethic of dialogic openness, to which Miller is highly committed. These problems notwithstanding, Miller's work is a helpful, readable introduction to both Rosenzweig and the literature of the contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue. Alan Mittleman MuhlenbergCollege Allentown,Pa.

Shmuel Almog. Nationalism and Antisemitism in Modern Europe, 1815-1945. New York Pergamon Press, 1990. ix, 159 pp. Shmuel Almog's study of nationalist antisemitism in Europe from 1815 to 1945 begins and ends by emphasizing the difficulty of isolating one strand in the complex tapestry of history. Because the subject under investigation here is the negative side of the relation between Jews and Christians in all (or most) of Europe, thereby involving much of the history of Europe over more 2. David Novak, Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification (New York, 1989), pp. 108-113.

Review: [untitled] Author(s): James F. Harris Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 341-343 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486968 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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tradition of presenting Rosenzweig as a kind of moral paradigm for modern man. In both his biographical and his expositional chapters, he neglects the historical task of contextualizing Rosenzweig and identifying and critiquing his use of sources. Miller does not at all explore Rosenzweig's indebtedness to Schelling, Goethe, or Nietzsche. Nor does he see him against the backdrop of Frankfurt Jewry. He presents him, rather, in saintlike isolation, with little relation to a time or place. A final problem with this sort of treatment has been raised by David Novak in his recent Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification. Novak argues that Rosenzweig's image of Christianity-a "Judaism for Gentiles," dependent upon Judaism for its energy and authenticity-cannot possibly correspond to the way in which Christians view themselves Thus Rosenzweig's construct of Christianity fails to satisfy the criterion of openness to the self-definition of the other which Rosenzweig himself (on Miller's account) advocates.2 Agreeing with Novak, I do not see how the ideal-typical characterization of Christianity, to which Rosenzweig is highly committed, can be squared with a situational ethic of dialogic openness, to which Miller is highly committed. These problems notwithstanding, Miller's work is a helpful, readable introduction to both Rosenzweig and the literature of the contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue. Alan Mittleman MuhlenbergCollege Allentown,Pa.

Shmuel Almog. Nationalism and Antisemitism in Modern Europe, 1815-1945. New York Pergamon Press, 1990. ix, 159 pp. Shmuel Almog's study of nationalist antisemitism in Europe from 1815 to 1945 begins and ends by emphasizing the difficulty of isolating one strand in the complex tapestry of history. Because the subject under investigation here is the negative side of the relation between Jews and Christians in all (or most) of Europe, thereby involving much of the history of Europe over more 2. David Novak, Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification (New York, 1989), pp. 108-113.

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than a century, the conceptual problem presented by focusing only on nationalist antisemitism is vastly compounded by the further task of providing the reader with an adequate historical context for many events widely removed in time and place. The attempt to carry out both tasks in fewer than 150 pages of text does not work. Granted the author's warnings about the dangers of concentration on one aspect (nationalist antisemitism) of a larger problem (antisemitism), he might still have succeeded conceptually, if not contextually, had he limited himself to that phenomenon. Unfortunately, Almog confuses the reader by stating early in the preface that the attempt to discover why Hitler chose the Jews as his prime target leads to the study of antisemitism (p. vii). This establishes a linkage between the Holocaust and antisemitism that reappears in the last chapter, "Antisemitism and the Holocaust." But Almog writes that "the Holocaust period made plain the difference between a narrowminded nationalism and racist Nazism itself, between murderous antisemites and the total and absolute 'Final Solution"' (p. 147). Elsewhere, too, Almog argues that collaborators saw Jews as a national enemy, while Hitler and the Nazis saw them as a cosmic foe (p. 140). In other words, nationalist antisemitism merely explains why non-Germans sympathized and cooperated with the Nazi "solution" to a European Jewish problem, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. This leaves non-Nazi Germans in a strange, undefined middle ground. Yet the author ends the book as he began it, stating that nationalism, while admittedly only one factor, played a role and "we could hardly omit reference to it" (pp. 148, viii). Lacking clear definitions of a series of related terms, such as "antisemitism," "nationalism," and "modern," the treatment of nationalist antisemitism in a large number of countries and historical eras is unclear and convoluted. This is especially true when the author, very understandably, treats religious and social-economic antisemitism together with the nationalist aspect. In the process promising leads, such as "modern nationalism is typified by the rising power of the masses in society and the spread of a nationalist ideology" (p. 3), are not pursued. The author's presentation of original sources in translation is a mixed blessing. In itself, of course, the inclusion of translated source material is not only praiseworthy but very useful, as many of the excerpts are important and seldom seen in the literature, especially in translation. But too often they appear out of context or with too little textual explanation-even specialists will find it hard to place some of them. Adding to this problem of

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usage is the inclusion of a large number of selections about antisemitism by Jews and others. While fascinating, these tell us more about Jews than about antisemites. Indeed, at times Almog's work becomes an essay in Jewish history. Like so much about his work, this is not a problem in itself, but the book's shortness makes the treatment needlessly confusing because it cannot be developed in sufficient depth to be understandable to any but the expert. Almog's book includes thirty interesting illustrations which nicely complement the text, a short but useful bibliography, and an index. There are a surprisingly large number of explanatory footnotes, which, while they are important to understanding both text and documents, point up the inherent problem in trying to do so much in such little space. Many notes should have been included in the text, and some of the clarifying information they contain will probably be lost to readers. In sum, while useful, intriguing, and based on a wide-ranging knowledge of European antisemitism, this work is so conceptually and contextually problematic that it will be both difficult for students and lay readers to use and frustrating for the scholar. Differing interpretations aside, there is little "wrong" in Almog's work, but it could have profited greatly from better editorial control and advice. JamesF. Harris Universityof Maryland College Park, Md.

Susan A. Glenn. Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990. xii, 312 pp. Daughters of the Shtetl is a fascinating, well-written account of the working lives of Jewish immigrant women. It is based on archival material, including contemporary newspaper accounts and extensive oral histories. This is a tale about how East European Jewish immigrant women evolved from their lives in the shtetl to working in the garment industry, their primary employment outside the home in the United States. Susan Glenn satisfactorily addresses the question as to why Jewish women were much more active in the labor movement than other women, even though they withdrew from the ?workforce more often than other

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Barry R. Chiswick Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 343-345 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486969 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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usage is the inclusion of a large number of selections about antisemitism by Jews and others. While fascinating, these tell us more about Jews than about antisemites. Indeed, at times Almog's work becomes an essay in Jewish history. Like so much about his work, this is not a problem in itself, but the book's shortness makes the treatment needlessly confusing because it cannot be developed in sufficient depth to be understandable to any but the expert. Almog's book includes thirty interesting illustrations which nicely complement the text, a short but useful bibliography, and an index. There are a surprisingly large number of explanatory footnotes, which, while they are important to understanding both text and documents, point up the inherent problem in trying to do so much in such little space. Many notes should have been included in the text, and some of the clarifying information they contain will probably be lost to readers. In sum, while useful, intriguing, and based on a wide-ranging knowledge of European antisemitism, this work is so conceptually and contextually problematic that it will be both difficult for students and lay readers to use and frustrating for the scholar. Differing interpretations aside, there is little "wrong" in Almog's work, but it could have profited greatly from better editorial control and advice. JamesF. Harris Universityof Maryland College Park, Md.

Susan A. Glenn. Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990. xii, 312 pp. Daughters of the Shtetl is a fascinating, well-written account of the working lives of Jewish immigrant women. It is based on archival material, including contemporary newspaper accounts and extensive oral histories. This is a tale about how East European Jewish immigrant women evolved from their lives in the shtetl to working in the garment industry, their primary employment outside the home in the United States. Susan Glenn satisfactorily addresses the question as to why Jewish women were much more active in the labor movement than other women, even though they withdrew from the ?workforce more often than other

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women when they married,and thus wage work was merelya transitory phase betweenchildhoodand marriage.She demonstratesthat theirunion involvementwas not due to a feministideologyor a sense of identification with otherwomen.It was, rather,due to a a senseof participationor shared experiencein familyeconomicmatterswith male familymembersthat was part of the uniqueJewishsocialand economicrelationshipin the shtetl.This is an importantinsightthat puts into sharperfocus the differentresponseof Jewish women to economic and demographic factors, and that has influencedtheir descendantsover the past century. The tale begins in the late-nineteenth-century EasternEuropeanshtetl whereJewishwomen, both wives and daughters,wereexpectedto work, in part as a way of helpingtheir fathers,brothers,and husbandspursuethe sociallymore importantfunctionthat was reservedfor men, religiousstudies. If it was perfectlyproperfor a highlyesteemedscholar'swife to work, so too could the wives of the less scholarlyor nonscholarly. Shtetl work shelteredwomen from the supervisionof men other than their fathersand husbands.It "protected"the modestyof marriedwomen and the sanctityof marriage.The women workedat "home."They tended the familybusinessor theirown small enterprise.Manufacturingor handicraft work was typicallydone underthe "puttingout" or "homework"system, where the skilled and unskilledtasks were done at home, often in a familysetting.Garmentworkwas paramountin manufacturing,whereproductivity soared after the introductionof the Singer sewing machine in EasternEuropein the 1870s. Jewishimmigrationto Americawas in a familycontext,evenif staggered over severalyears, and was viewed as a permanentmigration.Economic opportunitiesdifferedin the United States,wherethe "puttingout" system was on the wane,butfactorygarmentworkwas growing.Jewishwivesagain avoidedwage labor and had verylow labor forceparticipationrates.More so thanother immigrantwomen,they continuedto workat "home,"taking in boardersor lodgers,workingin the declining"puttingout" systemand in managingtheir own or the family's"business." Immigrantdaughters,on the other hand, were expectedto work until they marriedand were drawninto the garmentfactoriesby the relatively higher wages. Glenn nicely documents that the dichotomy of mothers (wives)at home and daughters(singlewomen)at workin the labor market was moreintenseamongJewsthanamongotherimmigrantgroups.This is a

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pattern that appearsto have continued among successivegenerationsof Jewish women born in the United States. The greaterpresenceof Jewish mothersin the home undoubtedlycontributedto the futuresuccessof their childrenin school and in the labor market. The garmentindustrywas characterizedby low capitalintensityandwas dominatedby small firmsand extensiveformaland informalsubcontracting. The marketfor the productwas intenselycompetitive,as was the market for labor. The changein productiontechniquesover time requiredrelatively fewerskilledworkers.Wageswerelow and workingconditionswere hard, but frequentjob mobilityand informalinformationnetworksmeant that workersreceivedthe highest wages available. The largergarmentfactoriesprovedto be more attractiveto the immigrantdaughtersthanthe smallergarmentshops.The factoriesofferedsomewhat higherwages,steadierwork,and occupationalmobility,but according to Glenn,perhapsmost importantwas culturalmobility,that is, modernity, freedom,escapefrom the immigrantghetto, the shtetlworld.Accordingto Glenn, the hardshipsof garmentfactory life, socialistinclinationscarried with the JewishimmigrantfamilyfromEasternEurope,the knowledgethat therewas to be little returnmigrationto Europe,the greaterpersonalfreedom allowed unmarriedJewishwomen, and the continuedsense of shared economicrelationshipwith the malesin theirfamiliesspurredtheirinterest in unionization. This book is a valuable contributionto the history of turn-of-thecenturyJewishimmigrants,as well as to Jewishfeministand labor history. BarryR. Chiswick Universityof Illinoisat Chicago Chicago,Ill. Andrew R. Heinze. Adapting to Abundance:Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption, and the Search for American Identity. New York: Columbia Uni-

versity Press, 1990. x, 276 pp. Abundance is not a word generally associated with East European Jewish immigrants. Most historical accounts, including Irving Howe's Worldof OurFathers,emphasizethe hardshipsassociatedwithimmigration: the poverty,congestion,disease,and hungerthat manyimmigrantsexperi-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jonathan D. Sarna Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 345-347 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486970 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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pattern that appearsto have continued among successivegenerationsof Jewish women born in the United States. The greaterpresenceof Jewish mothersin the home undoubtedlycontributedto the futuresuccessof their childrenin school and in the labor market. The garmentindustrywas characterizedby low capitalintensityandwas dominatedby small firmsand extensiveformaland informalsubcontracting. The marketfor the productwas intenselycompetitive,as was the market for labor. The changein productiontechniquesover time requiredrelatively fewerskilledworkers.Wageswerelow and workingconditionswere hard, but frequentjob mobilityand informalinformationnetworksmeant that workersreceivedthe highest wages available. The largergarmentfactoriesprovedto be more attractiveto the immigrantdaughtersthanthe smallergarmentshops.The factoriesofferedsomewhat higherwages,steadierwork,and occupationalmobility,but according to Glenn,perhapsmost importantwas culturalmobility,that is, modernity, freedom,escapefrom the immigrantghetto, the shtetlworld.Accordingto Glenn, the hardshipsof garmentfactory life, socialistinclinationscarried with the JewishimmigrantfamilyfromEasternEurope,the knowledgethat therewas to be little returnmigrationto Europe,the greaterpersonalfreedom allowed unmarriedJewishwomen, and the continuedsense of shared economicrelationshipwith the malesin theirfamiliesspurredtheirinterest in unionization. This book is a valuable contributionto the history of turn-of-thecenturyJewishimmigrants,as well as to Jewishfeministand labor history. BarryR. Chiswick Universityof Illinoisat Chicago Chicago,Ill. Andrew R. Heinze. Adapting to Abundance:Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption, and the Search for American Identity. New York: Columbia Uni-

versity Press, 1990. x, 276 pp. Abundance is not a word generally associated with East European Jewish immigrants. Most historical accounts, including Irving Howe's Worldof OurFathers,emphasizethe hardshipsassociatedwithimmigration: the poverty,congestion,disease,and hungerthat manyimmigrantsexperi-

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enced during their first years on American soil. In this volume, however, Andrew Heinze argues that abundance too played a formative role in immigrant Jewish life. WheneasternEuropeanJewsarrivedin America,theyencounterednot only a host of new productsbut a new perspectivethat was intimatelyrelatedto the fact of materialabundance.In adoptingthe Americanstandardof living,they would inevitablybe adaptingto a characteristicallyAmericanattitude.As consumers,then, they would lay the foundationof an Americanidentity. (p. 42) Heinze focuses on the "culture of consumption" in the American Jewish immigrant community. His best chapters cover such usually neglected subjects as clothing, leisure, "the parlor and the piano," and American advertising in the Yiddish press. In another chapter, he reinterprets the role of the Jewish woman from this perspective, arguing that she was, as a baleboste, the "manager of domestic consumption." Patterns of consumption also serve, according to Heinze, to distinguish Jews from Gentiles, and immigrants from those who stayed behind in Europe. Heinze concedes from the outset that "some rough edges have inevitably been smoothed out" in his analysis. He contends, I think wrongly, that "whereas the experience of human beings is full of contradictions and ambiguity, the task of historical analysis demands passionate and almost singleminded attention to one focal point of life" (p. 13). Single-factor analysis, however, is fraught with problems, and some emerge here. The chapters on American Jewish religious life, for example, argue that material abundance contributed to the decline of Jewish Sabbath observance. Whereas in Europe, Sabbath observance had been reinforced by "the selective use of luxuries," Heinze claims that in America, "where luxuries were routinely transformed into necessities, material objects ceased to serve this spiritual purpose ... the lure of consumption hastened the decline of traditional Judaism, which culminated in the conversion of the Sabbath into a shopping day" (p. 220). One is hardpressed to accept this argument, although Heinze repeats it several times, for it was, in fact, the absence of abundance-the need to secure a job in an environment where Sabbath meant Sunday and everyone worked a six-day week-that did more than anything else to destroy Sabbath observance among immigrants. Moreover, material objects never ceased to serve spiritual purposes among American Jews; old luxuries

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were simply replaced by newer and more expensive ones-witness the contemporary renaissance of Jewish ritual art. In some cases, abundance actually made possible a significant strengthening of Jewish religious life, particularly in Orthodox circles. In other cases, displays of abundance themselves became a form of Jewish religious observance, particularly at times of celebration and in the rituals connected with philanthropy. Heinze stands on firmer ground in most of his other chapters, and there is no question but that he has enriched our understanding of America's impact on Jewish life. Significant questions remain, however, that one hopes that Heinze or some other scholar will take up. Thus, more attention needs to be paid to historical patterns of consumption among American Jews: what changed over time and what did not. We also need a more nuanced analysis of how abundance affected Jewish life: what it destroyed, what it transformed, what it democratized-and, in each case, why. Finally, we need to fit the themes that Heinze explicates into the larger framework of American Jewish social, economic, and cultural history. This will enable us both to see change over time (what happened, for example, during periods of economic decline?) and to relate consumption to other factors thatHeinze's singleminded focus notwithstanding-were simultaneously transforming American Jewish life, both from within and from without. JonathanD. Sarna BrandeisUniversity Waltham,Mass.

Judith Friedlander. Vilna on the Seine: Jewish Intellectuals in France Since 1968. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. xv, 249 pp. The general topic of the revival of Jewish identity among youth over the past three decades is standard fare in scholarly discussions of contemporary Jewry. The search for "roots" by young French Jewish intellectuals in the 1970s and 1980s, however, presents distinctive problems and challenges that have been largely ignored by social scientists and historians. As Judith Friedlander suggests in her work under review, though mirroring many of the experiences of young American Jews of the period, including the rediscovery of eastern European Jewry and the trauma of the Six-Day War, leaders of the Jewish revival in France were by and large products of the student

Review: [untitled] Author(s): David Weinberg Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 347-350 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486971 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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were simply replaced by newer and more expensive ones-witness the contemporary renaissance of Jewish ritual art. In some cases, abundance actually made possible a significant strengthening of Jewish religious life, particularly in Orthodox circles. In other cases, displays of abundance themselves became a form of Jewish religious observance, particularly at times of celebration and in the rituals connected with philanthropy. Heinze stands on firmer ground in most of his other chapters, and there is no question but that he has enriched our understanding of America's impact on Jewish life. Significant questions remain, however, that one hopes that Heinze or some other scholar will take up. Thus, more attention needs to be paid to historical patterns of consumption among American Jews: what changed over time and what did not. We also need a more nuanced analysis of how abundance affected Jewish life: what it destroyed, what it transformed, what it democratized-and, in each case, why. Finally, we need to fit the themes that Heinze explicates into the larger framework of American Jewish social, economic, and cultural history. This will enable us both to see change over time (what happened, for example, during periods of economic decline?) and to relate consumption to other factors thatHeinze's singleminded focus notwithstanding-were simultaneously transforming American Jewish life, both from within and from without. JonathanD. Sarna BrandeisUniversity Waltham,Mass.

Judith Friedlander. Vilna on the Seine: Jewish Intellectuals in France Since 1968. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. xv, 249 pp. The general topic of the revival of Jewish identity among youth over the past three decades is standard fare in scholarly discussions of contemporary Jewry. The search for "roots" by young French Jewish intellectuals in the 1970s and 1980s, however, presents distinctive problems and challenges that have been largely ignored by social scientists and historians. As Judith Friedlander suggests in her work under review, though mirroring many of the experiences of young American Jews of the period, including the rediscovery of eastern European Jewry and the trauma of the Six-Day War, leaders of the Jewish revival in France were by and large products of the student

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revolt of 1968. As a result, their searchfor Jewishexpressionprecludeda Zionist commitmentand instead sought to reinterpretJewishtraditionin the light of "progressive"ideals and values in France. In their attemptto fashion a new Jewish identity, the former soixante-huitardsalso had to struggleagainstthe traditionof culturalmonolithismthat has characterized French society since the Revolutionof 1789. It is Friedlander'scontentionthat the distinctivenatureof the French experiencehas led to the developmentof three tendenciesamong young Jewish intellectualsin the past two decades:minoritynationalism,"reaffirmedassimilationism,"and ultra-Orthodoxy.Though differingmarkedly in approach,they are unitedby a commonculturalheritage-Jewish Lithuania, or Lite-which, the authorclaims,reflects,both in its distinctivetalmudicanalyticalmethodand in its religiousand secularthought,the multivaried ways of expressingJewish identity in the modern world. Whether consciously or unconsciously,young French Jewish activists after 1968 were-at least symbolically-recreatingVilna on the Seine. There is little question that the revivalof ethnic and religiousidentity amongyoungFrenchJewishactivistsis a subjectworthyof seriousexamination. Unfortunately,Friedlanderhas failed miserablyin her attempt.The volume consists primarilyof a series of "life-stories"of an "oldergeneration" of Jews who introducedthe ideas and methodologyof Vilna, so the author claims, to young French Jewish activists. As an anthropologist, Friedlandermay feel that simple storytellingis sufficientto reveal deep insights into collective ideas and attitudes, but the general impact of her approachis one of confusion.A seriousanalysisof the phenomenonof the revivalof Jewishidentityin Francewould haverequiredan objectiveassessment of the writingsand oral testimonyof the leadingfiguresand a critical evaluationof the interactionwith both Jewishand Frenchsociety.Instead, Friedlanderhas chosen to writechapterafterchapterof ramblingpersonal anecdotesof generallyobscurethinkersdrawnfrompersonalinterviewsand secondarysourcesthat are sprinkledwith vague synopsesof their perceptions on Jewish life. At times, fact mingleswith fiction as Friedlanderdutifullyreproduces everythingshe has beentold or has read.A numberof the misstatementsare humorous.In one revealingexample,for instance,she quotes a teacherof philosophy in Paris who relates that his father attendedthe "Ecole rabbiniquede JeanJaures"(p. 122)withoutrealizingthatthe interviewee'sallu-

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sion is not to the parent's religious training but to his fervent belief in socialism!Others, however, have no place in a scholarlywork. Speaking about one woman'sinsistenceupon readingthe popularpressin the 1930s, for example,the authoruncriticallyrecordsher maliciouscommentthat "if bourgeoisJewsin the 1930shad followedherexampleand looked occasionally at what the tabloidswereprinting,they would not have been so poorly preparedfor the turn of events"(p. 168).The fact that the authorseemsto have identifiedpersonallywith a numberof the individualsdiscussedand at times seems to see their distinctivequest for a modernJewish identityas relevantto her own developingethnic consciousnessonly compoundsthe confusion. Obsessedwith chroniclingthe personal histories of the founders and their modern-day proponents, Friedlander almost totally ignores the Frenchand Jewishcontextsin whichthe variousmovementsand tendencies arise. How exactlydo diasporanationalistslike RobertMarienstrasreflect the general questioningof cultural monolithismby ethnic minoritiesin France? Despite their attempts to distance themselves from the Jewish "establishment,"might not "reaffirmedassimilationists"like Alain Finkielkrautactually mirrorthe historicalconcern of FrenchJewry to make Jewishtraditionconformto the ideals of the Enlightenment? How does the revivalof ultra-Orthodoxyamongformerpoliticalactivistslike BennyLevy paralleldevelopmentsin Americaand Israel?Finally,though a numberof the individualsdiscussed in the book are SephardicJews, one wonders about the impact of ideas and movementsderived from eastern Europe upon the majorityof FrenchJews who are North African in origin. In the end, one must even questionthe validityof Friedlander'suse of Lite as a conceptualframework.Her attemptto find a commonintellectual heritagethat incorporatessuch disparategroups as hozreybe-tshuvaat the Y6shivades Etudiantsin Strasbourg,who largelydeny the outside world, and membersof the CercleGastonCr6mieux,who soughtto developa secular Jewish consciousnesstied to socialist and progressiveideals, is siinply unconvincing.Indeed,the authorherselfseemsto have recognizedthe futility of her effort, since she includesan appendixthat lists dozensof intellectuals who have made a contributionto FrenchJewishintellectuallife but who seem to have little or no connectionto the traditionsof Lite. Ultimately, Friedlanderis unableto offerany lastinginsightsfromher research.In a concludingcommentthat could well serve as a general assessmentof her

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work, the author writes that while "some books come naturally to an end ... others merely stop, leaving the questions they raise open for further debate" (p. 184). DavidWeinberg BowlingGreen State University BowlingGreen, Ohio

Egal Feldman. Dual Destinies: The Jewish Encounter with Protestant America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990. xi, 339. Egal Feldman teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where he specializes in Jewish and interreligious American history. Drawing on extensive study of the many-sided Protestant and Jewish pasts in America, in this work he focuses on the meeting points of the two incompatible and changing traditions, "one dominant, the other subjugated" (p. ix), from colonial days to the present. The narrative provides a useful survey of the relationships (often controversial) between a broad religious movement that has understood itself as representing the majority of Americans and a tiny minority that was destined to increase remarkably in size and complexity, especially after 1880. The author supplies many referencesto important primary and secondary sources, and hopes that his work "will motivate additional efforts in this neglected but important area" (p. x). Though some chapters of the story may be more familiar to readers of this journal than others, his summary interpretation of the whole story can cast new light even on the parts about which one may know something, and stimulate further discussion and response. The book unfolds largely chronologically from the brief opening chapter, "From the Old World to the New." For some who may wish to use Feldman's work as a classroom textbook, there may be a need to supplement it with works cited in the endnotes and selected bibliography, in order to dramatize the continuing impact of early and medieval centuries on both traditions, with tragic consequences for Jews especially, and in order to highlight the way the concept of Christendom exerted its spell on American Christians long after the passage of the First Amendment. The importance of the Holy Land in religious thought and life is not neglected; chapter 8 ("Zionward") shows how Protestant biblical scholars, explorers, missionar-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Robert T. Handy Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 350-352 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486972 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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work, the author writes that while "some books come naturally to an end ... others merely stop, leaving the questions they raise open for further debate" (p. 184). DavidWeinberg BowlingGreen State University BowlingGreen, Ohio

Egal Feldman. Dual Destinies: The Jewish Encounter with Protestant America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990. xi, 339. Egal Feldman teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, where he specializes in Jewish and interreligious American history. Drawing on extensive study of the many-sided Protestant and Jewish pasts in America, in this work he focuses on the meeting points of the two incompatible and changing traditions, "one dominant, the other subjugated" (p. ix), from colonial days to the present. The narrative provides a useful survey of the relationships (often controversial) between a broad religious movement that has understood itself as representing the majority of Americans and a tiny minority that was destined to increase remarkably in size and complexity, especially after 1880. The author supplies many referencesto important primary and secondary sources, and hopes that his work "will motivate additional efforts in this neglected but important area" (p. x). Though some chapters of the story may be more familiar to readers of this journal than others, his summary interpretation of the whole story can cast new light even on the parts about which one may know something, and stimulate further discussion and response. The book unfolds largely chronologically from the brief opening chapter, "From the Old World to the New." For some who may wish to use Feldman's work as a classroom textbook, there may be a need to supplement it with works cited in the endnotes and selected bibliography, in order to dramatize the continuing impact of early and medieval centuries on both traditions, with tragic consequences for Jews especially, and in order to highlight the way the concept of Christendom exerted its spell on American Christians long after the passage of the First Amendment. The importance of the Holy Land in religious thought and life is not neglected; chapter 8 ("Zionward") shows how Protestant biblical scholars, explorers, missionar-

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ies, colonists, writers, and travelers were drawn to it as the nineteenth century wore on; chapter 13 ("Liberalism and the Genesis of Political Zionism") concisely refers to the growth of the controversial Zionist movement among American Jews in the twentieth century, with brief attention to such persons as Gustav and Richard Gottheil, Stephen S. Wise, and Louis D. Brandeis, also mentioning some of the Protestant supporters of a Jewish national homeland, such as Adolf A. Berle, John Haynes Holmes, and William E. Blackstone. The important pioneering work of Presbyterian George Foot Moore in the 1920s to correct misunderstandings of Jewish history in Christian and academic circles unfortunately did not catch wide attention; in certain ways he was an American parallel to England's James Parkes. The painful story of the resurgence of antisemitism and anti-Judaism among Protestants (and others) and its role in numbing reactions to the Holocaust is briefly recapitulated. Considerable attention is given to steps "Toward a New Relationship" (chapter 16), with attention to the contributions of those who have insisted that Jews need to be understood in terms of their own history and piety; for example, Abraham J. Heschel, Richard L. Rubenstein, and Irving Greenberg among Jews; Reinhold Niebuhr, A. Roy Eckardt, Franklin H. Littell, and Paul M. Van Buren among Protestants. The first three on the latter list appear again, in a location puzzling to this reviewer: in chapter 17, "Jewish Sovereignty and the Protestant Right," in which the premillennial Dispensationists, including Jerry Falwell, are discussed. That Feldman can discuss helpfully the relations between two such dynamic, growing, and complex religious movements is a tribute to his industry and perception. He generally avoids the problem of slipping into too many oversimple dichotomies (e.g., liberal/conservative, fundamentalist/ modernist) in his work, though anachronistically he does so in his chapter 12, "Defending the Evangelical Tradition, 1880-1915." In that period the "evangelical" churches encompassed most of the Protestant spectrum, including the members of the Federal Council of Churches; the distinctively "liberal" churches were then the Unitarian and the Universalist. To be sure, there were many types of evangelicals, including liberal, moderate, conservative, orthodox, and fundamentalist parties within many evangelical denominations. The linking of the term "evangelical" to conservative, fundamentalist, and neofundamentalist Protestantism surfaced after World War II. The sharp-eyed reader may catch a few minor slips; for example, Elias Hicks was not a contemporary of William Penn; Roger Williams did not accept the invitation to minister to Boston's First Church; and the

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names of George Whitefield, A. T. Pierson (not Peterson), and Howard Grose are wrongly spelled. But these are small matters in view of the breadth of the author's research and his organization of a vast amount of detail into a readable and informative narrative. The documentation is thorough; there are 980 endnotes (properly compact and referential) for 246 pages of text, averaging four per page. In my judgment, a scholarly book of this kind, published by a university press, should have such notes at the foot of the page; it was frustrating to be constantly flipping back and forth, though the nuggets thus obtained made it worth it. But these quibbles are minor in the face of the value of this impressive scholarly venture, which does invite careful reading and discussion. RobertT. Handy Union TheologicalSeminary New York, N.Y.

Robert G. Goldy. The Emergenceof Jewish Theology in America, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. 149 pp. Current Jewish theological activity focuses on the study and regeneration of midrash and on theoretical reflections on the rules of interpretation. We have yet to give this theological activity an official name. But, thanks to Robert Goldy's succinct and highly readable narrative, we can locate its prehistory. Today's hermeneutical theology succeeds the American Jewish neoOrthodox existentialism that Goldy calls, after Will Herberg, the New Jewish Theology. Goldy has offered a very helpful intellectual history of the contributions four thinkers made to the development of this New Theology after World War II: Herberg, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Emil Fackenheim, and Joseph Soloveitchik. According to Goldy, American Jewry remained in the theological doldrums until the late 1940s. As observed by Samuel Cohon, Eugene Borowitz, and Milton Himmelfarb, "there were Jewish theological seminaries with no theology" (p. 7). Goldy reports that this antagonistic attitude toward theology has been attributed to several sources: the American pragmatic tradition, ignorance of the European and classical languages of theology, preoccupation with the welfare of a young community, exposure to modern naturalism and secularism, and an indigenous preference for prac-

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Peter Ochs Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 352-354 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486973 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:19 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].



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names of George Whitefield, A. T. Pierson (not Peterson), and Howard Grose are wrongly spelled. But these are small matters in view of the breadth of the author's research and his organization of a vast amount of detail into a readable and informative narrative. The documentation is thorough; there are 980 endnotes (properly compact and referential) for 246 pages of text, averaging four per page. In my judgment, a scholarly book of this kind, published by a university press, should have such notes at the foot of the page; it was frustrating to be constantly flipping back and forth, though the nuggets thus obtained made it worth it. But these quibbles are minor in the face of the value of this impressive scholarly venture, which does invite careful reading and discussion. RobertT. Handy Union TheologicalSeminary New York, N.Y.

Robert G. Goldy. The Emergenceof Jewish Theology in America, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. 149 pp. Current Jewish theological activity focuses on the study and regeneration of midrash and on theoretical reflections on the rules of interpretation. We have yet to give this theological activity an official name. But, thanks to Robert Goldy's succinct and highly readable narrative, we can locate its prehistory. Today's hermeneutical theology succeeds the American Jewish neoOrthodox existentialism that Goldy calls, after Will Herberg, the New Jewish Theology. Goldy has offered a very helpful intellectual history of the contributions four thinkers made to the development of this New Theology after World War II: Herberg, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Emil Fackenheim, and Joseph Soloveitchik. According to Goldy, American Jewry remained in the theological doldrums until the late 1940s. As observed by Samuel Cohon, Eugene Borowitz, and Milton Himmelfarb, "there were Jewish theological seminaries with no theology" (p. 7). Goldy reports that this antagonistic attitude toward theology has been attributed to several sources: the American pragmatic tradition, ignorance of the European and classical languages of theology, preoccupation with the welfare of a young community, exposure to modern naturalism and secularism, and an indigenous preference for prac-

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tice over theory.By 1959,however,David Silvermancould declarethat "we are in the midstof a theologicalrenaissance"(citedon p. 43). Goldy reports that the literatureof the period attributedthe change to severalfactors. Postwar disillusionmentwith secular optimism and universalismbred a "spiritualhunger"and "searchfor transcendence."A third generationof Jews was concernedto reappropriatethe traditionsand valuesrelinquished by the second generation. An emergentgenerationof rabbi-theologians establishednew Jewishjournalsto stimulatetheologicaldicussion.Emigre intellectualsintroducedthe new existentialisttrendsin Europeanthought. Perhapsmost significantly,Jewishthinkerswerestimulatedby the revivalof Protestanttheologyin the United States,as introducedby PaulTillichand, in particular,by ReinholdNiebuhr. Herbergis in many ways the hero of Goldy's book, the one whose conversionbackto Judaismled him to argue, first and most forcefully,that what had happenedto him shouldhappento us all. This makes Niebuhranotherhero, since Niebuhr'sMoral Man and ImmoralSociety converted Herbergto neo-Orthodoxythe way that the Yom KippurserviceconvertedFranz Rosenzweig. Goldy's book is strongestas a microhistoryof the New Theologymovement;most colorfulin its descriptionsof the RabbinicalAssemblyaudiences and liberalessayistswho soughtto ignoreor activelyresistthe newtheologians'calls for renewedtheologicalactivity.The book'ssecondcontributionis to identifythe movement'smost significantfeatures.Goldy suggeststhat, as displayedprototypicallyin Herberg'swork,the New JewishTheologycalled for a returnfrom a science-and philosophy-centered studyof religionto a God- and Bible-centeredstudy. It was a reminderof humansinfulnessand of the need for repentance.A crisistheology,it emergedfromout of a postwar generation'sloss of faith in the positivismsof modernity,and it identified Judaismitself as a religionborn of the crisesthat have markedIsrael's history.Its categoriesthus emergedfromout of Israel'sown history,framed by the languageof the Bibleand by Hebraiccategoriesof understanding.Its philosophic language was existentialist,and its theologicaldiscoursewas dialectical,emphasizingthe paradoxicalcharacterof religiousexperience and the dynamicand dramaticcharacterof humanity'srelationshipwith God. Goldy notes how, followingTillich'sratherthan Karl Barth'sform of neo-orthodoxy, Heschel, Fackenheim,and Soloveitchik sought ways of establishinga partnershipbetweentheirbiblicalor rabbinictheologiesand generalphilosophyand culture.In Goldy's view, Heschelsought to main-

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tain a healthy dialectic between his subjective"depth theology" and the descriptiveinquiriesof ordinarytheology. Fackenheimsought to correlate religiousimmediacyand criticalreflection,mediatedby a criticallyinformed midrashicmode of thinking. Soloveitchikoffered a subtle, "neohalakhic theology" as his way of deliveringthe "kerygmaof faith" to the modern "man [or woman] of culture." In his briefconcludingcomments,Goldy suggeststhat AmericanJewish theologianshave failed to stimulatein practicethe mediationof faith and public culturethey have articulatedso well in theory.He also suggeststhat the new Jewishtheologians'religiousexistentialismprovidesthe grounding for an enduringpracticeof Jewishtheology. I believethat Goldy's second suggestioncould stand some revisionin light of the first. EnduringJewish theologies have been groundedin enduringcanons of reason, capable of guiding institutional as well as intellectual development.Among these canons have been syncretizedversions of Neoplatonism,Aristotelianism, existentialand then modernliberalismor Kantianism.Twentieth-century ism signalsthe demiseof the moderncanon but does not by itself guide the developmentof a postmoderncanon.Today'sJewishhermeneuticaltheologians are turning,instead,to postexistentialas well as postmodernphilosophicaland literarysources:for example,Gadamerianandrelatedhermeneutics, semioticsand literarypragmatics,deconstruction,criticaltheory, and varietiesof feministcriticism,all applied to theories of textualityand of text-based ethics. However polyphonous contemporarydiscourse may soundto modernears,it is not the soundof unreason,but only of a new hermeneuticalcanon of reason. As Jewish theologiansparticipatemore selfconsciouslyin this canon, their work will begin to acquireinstitutionalas well as intellectualpower.Theirwork will also, by the way, begin to reveal its connectednessto previouscanons. PeterOchs Drew University Madison, N.J.

Gerald Sorin. The Nurturing Neighborhood: The BrownsvilleBoys Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940-1990. New York: New York

UniversityPress, 1990. xiv, 255 pp. Whenthe alumniof the BrownsvilleBoys Club(BBC)meet annuallyat

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Jeffrey S. Gurock Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 354-357 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486974 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



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tain a healthy dialectic between his subjective"depth theology" and the descriptiveinquiriesof ordinarytheology. Fackenheimsought to correlate religiousimmediacyand criticalreflection,mediatedby a criticallyinformed midrashicmode of thinking. Soloveitchikoffered a subtle, "neohalakhic theology" as his way of deliveringthe "kerygmaof faith" to the modern "man [or woman] of culture." In his briefconcludingcomments,Goldy suggeststhat AmericanJewish theologianshave failed to stimulatein practicethe mediationof faith and public culturethey have articulatedso well in theory.He also suggeststhat the new Jewishtheologians'religiousexistentialismprovidesthe grounding for an enduringpracticeof Jewishtheology. I believethat Goldy's second suggestioncould stand some revisionin light of the first. EnduringJewish theologies have been groundedin enduringcanons of reason, capable of guiding institutional as well as intellectual development.Among these canons have been syncretizedversions of Neoplatonism,Aristotelianism, existentialand then modernliberalismor Kantianism.Twentieth-century ism signalsthe demiseof the moderncanon but does not by itself guide the developmentof a postmoderncanon.Today'sJewishhermeneuticaltheologians are turning,instead,to postexistentialas well as postmodernphilosophicaland literarysources:for example,Gadamerianandrelatedhermeneutics, semioticsand literarypragmatics,deconstruction,criticaltheory, and varietiesof feministcriticism,all applied to theories of textualityand of text-based ethics. However polyphonous contemporarydiscourse may soundto modernears,it is not the soundof unreason,but only of a new hermeneuticalcanon of reason. As Jewish theologiansparticipatemore selfconsciouslyin this canon, their work will begin to acquireinstitutionalas well as intellectualpower.Theirwork will also, by the way, begin to reveal its connectednessto previouscanons. PeterOchs Drew University Madison, N.J.

Gerald Sorin. The Nurturing Neighborhood: The BrownsvilleBoys Club and Jewish Community in Urban America, 1940-1990. New York: New York

UniversityPress, 1990. xiv, 255 pp. Whenthe alumniof the BrownsvilleBoys Club(BBC)meet annuallyat

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their Catskills Mountains hotel reunion, they look back on far more than just their past athletic exploits on the sandlots of their former Brooklyn neighborhood. They reminisce with even greater pride on their remarkable achievements fifty years ago as neighborhood activists and Jewish community builders. In 1940, their informal association of teenagers, unhappy with a Board of Education decision which denied them access to an afterschool recreational center, successfully petitioned a city bureaucracy to open club rooms and gym facilities to them. Flushed with their sense of power and enthused with a sense of social responsibility, these youngsters went on to create, without any adult supervision, a model mutual-aid society. The BBC, over the course of the early 1940s, negotiated with city officials to install lights in public parks for evening games, worked with the police department in counseling youthful offenders, and even arranged for many indigent Jewish children to attend summer camps. Both Boys Club alumni and their historian, Gerald Sorin, honestly believe that these neighborhoodbased efforts played no small role in limiting criminality and other social pathologies within this poor area of Brooklyn. Whatever the hyperbole about the BBC as crime-stoppers-Murder, Inc., the infamous Jewish underworld gang, also recruited successfully in Brownsville in the 1940s-this uncommon youth group was undeniably a major focal point of neighborhood life. And the critical impetus for these initiatives was these American Jewish boys' strong affinity for certain basic Jewish values and traditions. Significantly and insightfully, Sorin suggests that their activism represented a continuation, within an American vein, of parental values that were fashioned on the Lower East Side, if not in Eastern Europe. Many of the parents of BBC members had been involved in both religious or secular mutual-aid societies and in unions downtown, and they had transferred this faith in group effort and gemilas chesed to their Brooklyn-raised offspring. Likewise, many immigrant parents had participated in progressive social and political life here and in Eastern Europe, and their belief in "the promise of politics and the power and respect inherent in organization" (p. 57) was not lost upon their teenage children, who stridently, but respectfully, protested against Board of Education bureaucracy. That Judaism and their parents' values deeply influenced the leaders of the BBC speaks well of the persistence of immigrant Jewish culture and ethnic identity beyond downtown and the first generation. Their experience suggests that Brownsville's youth leaders were part of an identifiable segment of second-generation Jews who successfully acculturated to this country without acquiring a concomitant disrespect for their elders' past.

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Intergenerational conflict and profound disaffection from Judaism were seemingly minimal among BBC members-even if most of them rarely entered a synagogue after their Bar Mitzvah. Moreover, BBC youths were able to learn about American life in the public schools without assimilating the antipathy for immigrant culture that was frequently an implicit byproduct of the curriculum. Indeed, upon receiving their high school diplomas, most would go on to earn college and university degrees and would choose careers that reflected their continuing allegiance to certain traditional Jewish values. A full 35 percent of the BBC alumni studied by Sorin ultimately earned their livings in "the helping professions" (p. 199). These Brownsville youngsters, Sorin argues, were part of the segment of secondgeneration Jews, "culturally predisposed by the 'socialist orientation' of their parents' generation and by the yiddishkayt that surrounded them" (p. 55), who were attracted "in disproportionate numbers ... to the new social work for its recently established focus on social action and change" (p. 55). But for all the vitality of the Jewish identity transmitted by their parents, it was probably the extraordinary ambience of the Jewish "nurturing neighborhood" that best ensured ethnic continuity for that second generation. Indeed, it seems that more than schools and shuls, it was the very propinquity of Jews to each other and the informality of "the Yiddish language of the street, home and business" (p.16) that buttressed Jewish identities and allegiances. Remarkably, Sorin draws on a 1941 study indicating that only 9 percent of Jewish adult males in Brownsville attended synagogues with any regularity, and yet it is clear from Sorin's anecdotal data that most Jews in the neighborhood felt that they strongly belonged to their people. Given the power of neighborhood as a preserver of identity, the decline of Jewish Brownsville and comparable Jewish enclaves of that period takes on additional meaning. To be sure, BBC members continued to succeed in America in the new suburban neighborhoods to which they migrated, even if alumni might sadly recall the end of their Brooklyn days as the close of the best years of their lives. BBC members became lawyers, engineers, corporate executives, and, of course, professional social workers in communities like Jericho, Douglaston, Bellmore, and East Meadow, Long Island. There, they and their wives built enduring family units and witnessed their children, educated in good surburban public schools, achieve even greater academic success than they had. Yet one wonders what became of their Jewish connections-and even more importantly their children's identities-in the ethnically mixed neighborhood. A remarkable lacuna in an

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otherwiseexcellentbook is that Sorindoes not discusshow those whom he creditswith helpingto found a new AmericanJewishidentityfor theirgeneration of Jews were able or unable to transmittheir feeling of Jewish belonging to their children.Withoutthe crowdedstreetsof Brownsvilleto count on, BBC alumni undoubtedlyhad to rely upon formal Jewishreligious and educationalinstitutionsto more consciouslyespousegroup persistence.It would have been of interestto know of the BBC'ssuccessratein this criticalJewish arena. JeffreyS. Gurock YeshivaUniversity New York,N.Y. Yehuda Bauer. Out of the Ashes (The Impact of American Jews on Post-

HolocaustEuropeanJewry).Oxford: PergamonPress, 1989. xv, 319 pp. This is presumablythe last volumeof YehudaBauer'sseriesdealingwith the activities of the AmericanJoint DistributionCommittee during the Holocaust. Together with My Brother's Keeper (1974) and American Jewry and the Holocaust (1980), Out of the Ashes provides a meticulously detailed

log of the involvementof the world's largest and most importantJewish social serviceagencyin the centralevent of modernEuropeanJewishhistory. At firstglance,an institutionalhistorymightseemto be an odd undertakingfor one of the world'sforemosthistoriansof the Holocaust,and three volumesrathera lot for a limitedtopic. As the title of the secondvolumeof the trilogy and the subtitle of the third indicate,however,Bauer sees the story of the Joint as that of AmericanJewryand the Holocaustwrit small. Bauerwriteshistorywith the tools of the caterpillar;but he seekstherebyto attain the perspectiveof the butterfly. Togetherthese volumes constitute a majorcontributionto one of the central debates of Holocaust historiography:the role of AmericanJewry during the World War II period. Both pop and serious historianshave claimedthat AmericanJewsremainedwillfullyignorantof the fate of Jews underthe Nazis. TheirJewishloyaltiessappedby life in the gildedghetto, the argumentgoes, AmericanJewsdid no more thanthe minimumto assist their Europeanbrethren.Consequently,they deservea majorportionof the blame for the catastrophethat occurred. Bauerneverclaims that AmericanJews might not have done more. He shows, however,that the Joint and otherAmericanorganizations,as well as

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Michael Brown Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 357-359 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486975 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



BOOK REVIEWS

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otherwiseexcellentbook is that Sorindoes not discusshow those whom he creditswith helpingto found a new AmericanJewishidentityfor theirgeneration of Jews were able or unable to transmittheir feeling of Jewish belonging to their children.Withoutthe crowdedstreetsof Brownsvilleto count on, BBC alumni undoubtedlyhad to rely upon formal Jewishreligious and educationalinstitutionsto more consciouslyespousegroup persistence.It would have been of interestto know of the BBC'ssuccessratein this criticalJewish arena. JeffreyS. Gurock YeshivaUniversity New York,N.Y. Yehuda Bauer. Out of the Ashes (The Impact of American Jews on Post-

HolocaustEuropeanJewry).Oxford: PergamonPress, 1989. xv, 319 pp. This is presumablythe last volumeof YehudaBauer'sseriesdealingwith the activities of the AmericanJoint DistributionCommittee during the Holocaust. Together with My Brother's Keeper (1974) and American Jewry and the Holocaust (1980), Out of the Ashes provides a meticulously detailed

log of the involvementof the world's largest and most importantJewish social serviceagencyin the centralevent of modernEuropeanJewishhistory. At firstglance,an institutionalhistorymightseemto be an odd undertakingfor one of the world'sforemosthistoriansof the Holocaust,and three volumesrathera lot for a limitedtopic. As the title of the secondvolumeof the trilogy and the subtitle of the third indicate,however,Bauer sees the story of the Joint as that of AmericanJewryand the Holocaustwrit small. Bauerwriteshistorywith the tools of the caterpillar;but he seekstherebyto attain the perspectiveof the butterfly. Togetherthese volumes constitute a majorcontributionto one of the central debates of Holocaust historiography:the role of AmericanJewry during the World War II period. Both pop and serious historianshave claimedthat AmericanJewsremainedwillfullyignorantof the fate of Jews underthe Nazis. TheirJewishloyaltiessappedby life in the gildedghetto, the argumentgoes, AmericanJewsdid no more thanthe minimumto assist their Europeanbrethren.Consequently,they deservea majorportionof the blame for the catastrophethat occurred. Bauerneverclaims that AmericanJews might not have done more. He shows, however,that the Joint and otherAmericanorganizations,as well as

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individuals,werecertainlynot indifferentto theirbrethrenin Europe.In the earlier volumes he illustratesthe relativepowerlessnessof the American Jewish elite, who were the lay captains of the Joint, to affect American policyin any substantiveway duringthe war.In Outof theAsheshe demonstratesconclusivelythat in the immediatepostwarperiod AmericanJews, and especiallythose of the Joint, "understoodtheir Jewishresponsibility" (p. 297). Largelythanks to the work of the Joint, "the survivorswere enabled to rebuild their lives, . . . immigration to Palestine-Israel could take

place beforeand after 1948,[and]... hope and a measureof trustin Jewish solidaritywas [sic]againinstilledinto the survivingcommunities"(p. 298). Bauermakesclearthat the Jointcould not do all that was demandedof it. Eastern European Jews were accustomed to thinking of American resourcesas unlimited.And after all that they had suffered,many of them naturallyfelt the Americanshad an obligationto assistin anyway theywere asked. Survivorsin many locationscomplainedthat the Joint was slow to provideneededfood and clothing,and that clotheswereoften unwearable. That the Americanand BritisharmiesobstructedJoint shipmentsor that clothinghad beenshippedwithoutinspectionbecauseof the desirefor speed was not understood.The Orthodoxcontinuallycomplainedof receivingless than theirdue, althoughrivalriesamongfactionsmadeit almostimpossible to satisfydemandsrelatingto kashrut,education,and othermatters.Survivors generallywanted to control their own affairsand supplies;and Joint officialsgenerallyagreedthat they should. At the same time, the survivors sometimescriticizedJointofficialsfor not protectingthemfromthe indifference, callousness,and even antisemitismof some Americanarmypersonnel. Together with American army chaplains and representativesof other AmericanJewishorganizations,such as HIAS (the HebrewImmigrantAid Society)and ORT (the Organizationfor RehabilitationThroughTraining), Joint officialsgingerlyand sensitivelynegotiatedtheseshoals,providingthe material needs, the moral and medical support, and the organizational expertiserequiredfor the initial rehabilitationof the survivorsand their eventualemigrationfrom Europe. Perhapsthe most remarkableaspectof the Joint'sworkwas its involvement in aliyah. In the earliertwo volumes, Bauerdiscussesat length both the non-Zionisthistoryof the Joint and the convictionof its upper-middleclass laymenthat its activitiesmust alwaysbe within the law. In the 1920s, when the Joint supportedJewish agriculturalsettlementsin the Soviet Union, and in the 1930s,whenit stroveto protectits shareof UnitedJewish Appealfunds,the Jointwas viewedas an enemyby Zionistsin Americaand

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Palestine. During the 1940s, the legalistic thinking of its directorswas thought by many to be nothing other than a death sentencefor Europe's Jewsdeliveredcallouslyand carelessly.Duringthe periodcoveredby Outof the Ashes,however,the Joint becamethe ally of Zionismand the financial mainstayof both legal and illegal aliyah.It was a remarkabletransformation, whichreflectedthe Zionizationof AmericanJewry(and of the surviving remnantin Europe)in the wake of the Holocaust,as well as the hopelessnessof Jewishlife in Europe,especiallyin the east, and the fact that the doors to other countries,includingthe United States, remainedlocked to Jews. Bauer'sworkswill probablynot put an end to the debateoverthe role of AmericanJewryduringWorldWarII. Theirfocus is somewhatnarrowfor the broad conclusionsto be drawnwith finality.More needs to be written about organizationsotherthanthe Joint,particularlyZionistorganizations; and the social contextin whichthe leadingJewishorganizationsfunctioned needsto be examined.Outof theAshesandthe two volumeswhichpreceded it will, however,permanentlyunderminethe generalizationsof the opposing school. Bauer'sdetailed,carefuldocumentationof the workof the Jointwill, at the least, force the America-bashersto rethinktheir position. One seriousreservation,not about the substanceof Outof theAshesbut about its style, must be made. In his earlierworks Bauerwrote with elegance. This volume, however,is marredby infelicitouslanguageand incorrectusage,frequentrepetitions,and the confusingpresentationof numerical data. Perhapsthe only touch of humor is providedby a mistranslation: pinteleyid, "quintessentialJew,"is renderedas, "theJewishpoint"(p. 230). In this book the mediumis not the message.It is a pity, however,that such painstakingscholarshipcould not have been presentedwith the greatest clarity and with Bauer'susual grace. MichaelBrown YorkUniversity Toronto,Ont. Pesach Schindler. Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the Light of Hasidic

Thought.Hoboken: Ktav, 1990. 204 pp. Completed as a Ph.D. dissertationat New York University in the mid-1970s, Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust offers a noticeably different

view of the challengesconfrontingthe traditionalJewduringthe Shoah,and

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Zev Garber Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 359-362 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486976 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



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Palestine. During the 1940s, the legalistic thinking of its directorswas thought by many to be nothing other than a death sentencefor Europe's Jewsdeliveredcallouslyand carelessly.Duringthe periodcoveredby Outof the Ashes,however,the Joint becamethe ally of Zionismand the financial mainstayof both legal and illegal aliyah.It was a remarkabletransformation, whichreflectedthe Zionizationof AmericanJewry(and of the surviving remnantin Europe)in the wake of the Holocaust,as well as the hopelessnessof Jewishlife in Europe,especiallyin the east, and the fact that the doors to other countries,includingthe United States, remainedlocked to Jews. Bauer'sworkswill probablynot put an end to the debateoverthe role of AmericanJewryduringWorldWarII. Theirfocus is somewhatnarrowfor the broad conclusionsto be drawnwith finality.More needs to be written about organizationsotherthanthe Joint,particularlyZionistorganizations; and the social contextin whichthe leadingJewishorganizationsfunctioned needsto be examined.Outof theAshesandthe two volumeswhichpreceded it will, however,permanentlyunderminethe generalizationsof the opposing school. Bauer'sdetailed,carefuldocumentationof the workof the Jointwill, at the least, force the America-bashersto rethinktheir position. One seriousreservation,not about the substanceof Outof theAshesbut about its style, must be made. In his earlierworks Bauerwrote with elegance. This volume, however,is marredby infelicitouslanguageand incorrectusage,frequentrepetitions,and the confusingpresentationof numerical data. Perhapsthe only touch of humor is providedby a mistranslation: pinteleyid, "quintessentialJew,"is renderedas, "theJewishpoint"(p. 230). In this book the mediumis not the message.It is a pity, however,that such painstakingscholarshipcould not have been presentedwith the greatest clarity and with Bauer'susual grace. MichaelBrown YorkUniversity Toronto,Ont. Pesach Schindler. Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust in the Light of Hasidic

Thought.Hoboken: Ktav, 1990. 204 pp. Completed as a Ph.D. dissertationat New York University in the mid-1970s, Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust offers a noticeably different

view of the challengesconfrontingthe traditionalJewduringthe Shoah,and

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some of theirpossiblesolutions.Althoughothershave writtenon oral and literaryresponsesto Jewish martyrdomand suffering(e.g., Y. Eliach, A. Mintz, D. Roskies)or have authoredresponsaon the Shoah,PesachSchindler seeks out the Hasidicresponse:how aspectsof classicHasidicthought permeatedthe life and thought of the Hasidimof the Belz, Bratslav,Ger, Eachchapter Lubavitch,and other dynastiesduringthe EuropeanIHurban. examinesthe effects of a specificproblemresultingfrom the kabbalistic/ Hasidic Urglauberegardingthe symbioticinteractionof God and man, in whichthe actionsof etarutadeletata(the LowerWorld)have an impacton etarutadele 'ela (the UpperWorld):the problemof evil and suffering;punishment and exile, redeemedby chastisementand redemption;Qiddush HaShemand Qiddush (Sanctificationof the Name in death and Hal.ayim the Zadikand Hasid;and the realizedtension belife); cofraternalroles of tween the activistand quietistschools of Hasidicresponseto the traumaof di milbomeh yohrn.

The full rangeof Hasidicbutzpahand 'ahavatyira'el (respectively,courage borderingon the recklessand love of the Jewishpeople) is exploredby Schindler,a leaderof worldwideConservativeJudaismand an instructorin rabbinicsat the HebrewUniversityand at the Universityof Toronto'sJerusalem branch. His compellingaccount of the single-mindednessof most Hasidim,who defiantlyopposedNazi evil decreesbut, in the end, accepted joyously the divinedecree,not only demonstratesmasteryof the secondary sourcesbut givesevidenceof originalinsightin dealingwith primarysources (most of which are inaccessibleto the nonspecialist). Among Schindler'sfindings:for the Hasidim,God's presencein history was not diminishedby the Shoah, though His justice, compassion,goodness, andkindnessappearedhiddendue to man'sfiniteknowledge;suffering and personalsacrifice(mesiratnefesh)weresustainedon the strengthof faith in the covenantalinterrelationship betweenGod and Israeland trustin His ultimatedefeatof evil; the phenomenonof redemptionwas architectonicrebuke,destruction,exile, and redemption;thwartingthe Nazi evil, in the contextrelatedto Zadikand Hasid,did not obliterateits reality,but diminished its power by virtue of a cosmic or mythic perspective;the Rebbe duringthe playedan altruisticrole as a sourceof hithazqut(encouragement) terribletrauma;and finally, the Hasidicvictims of the Ijurban engagedin multipleacts of sanctifyingGod's Name not by martyrdombut by obligatory and voluntaryacts of holiness in the serviceof God and man. If Elie Wieselis correctthat the Shoah transcendshistory and that the living are neither capable nor worthy of recoveringits mystery, then

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responsesto the Shoahsay moreaboutthe fearsandconcernsof the respondents than about the agendafor Judeocide.WieselhimselfrelateswitnessstoriespromotingJewishsurvivalas an unshakabledogmaafterAuschwitz. The theocentric religious philosophies of Emil Fackenheimand Irving Greenbergtalk respectfullyof an obligatory 614th Commandment(no posthumous victory for Hitler) and of a Voluntary Covenant, which together representa mendingof the (Jewish)world. RichardRubenstein proclaimsa letting-goof traditionalJudaism'sdoctrineof God for a new symbol of God's realityconduciveto the lessons learnedfrom Auschwitz. But Hasidism maintainsclassical Orthodox belief rooted in spontaneous religiousexperience.How thendid Hasidicleadersandfollowersrespondto the Shoah? The kaleidoscope of information in Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust is

about the nature of empathy,about how faith and halakhahprepareda grief-strickencommunityfor a life of woe andcalamity,andmoregenerally, it is a book that places the Shoah in a kabbalisticframein orderto show that Hasidimrespondedto the Endloisung in accordancewith meaningful, defined Hasidic tenets. clearly Take, for example,the relationshipof Zadikimto their Hasidim.In a time of gatheringinsanity,this cadreof pious Rebbeimcollectivelyactedas a kind of spongefor misery,absorbingpain and crueltybeforeit spilledout and overcameeverything.By insistingthat sanitycould be restoredin the worldonly afterthe naturalorderof thingswas put backinto syncby some established ceremony or rite (e.g., fraternalmeal, niggun-ladenprayers, strict adherenceto holy time and space, rites of passage,etc.), the Zaddik played a majorrole in diminishingdespair(ye'ush),whichin turn enabled the Hasid to cope better in extremecrises. In an existentialistway, Zadik and Hasidbelievedthat theiractionstranscendedordinaryeventslacedwith danger(e.g., survivalat the expenseof abuseof one's fellow)and helpedto rediscoverdignityand self-respect,necessaryingredientsfor the total salvation of Israel and the world. Hasidic Responses to the Holocaust is a helpful and important book. It

addressesthe victimizationand responsesof Hasidimas living historyand theology.But the book's admirableaccomplishmentrevealsa weakness:the pedanticdissertationstyle of the original,with sourcematerialpresentedin encyclopedicfashion and often bunchedtogetherwith little narrative-in addition, measle-likeHebrew terms on almost every page-makes for an exhaustingread. Furthermore,thereis a misplacedreference("mikveh"on p. 118),lacunae(e.g., the aliyahof the ZwehilleRebbe,Reb Shloimke,from

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Central Volhynia in the Ukraine, and his counsel from Eretz Israel), and multiple spellings ("Hasidim" and "Hassidim"). Nevertheless, it deals with a neglected aspect of Shoah studies and offers arresting suggestions, e.g., that the Shoah was not seen by many Hasidic masters as a retribution for the sins of the Jewish people, and that passive submission, though ubiquitous, was notably rejected by some Zadikim as an irresponsible and incomprehensible weapon of spirit. Though much of Hasidic pietism may be radically at odds with contemporary academic standards and sensibilities, we should be grateful to Schindler, who documents an alternative response to Jewish martyrdom and blessedness. Zev Garber Los Angeles Valley College Van Nuys, Calif.

Norman A. Stillman. The Language and Culture of the Jews of Sefrou, Morocco: An EthnolinguisticStudy. Journal of Semitic Studies Monograph, no. 11. Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1988. xv, 172 pp. In the demographic upheavals of the last hundred years, nearly every Jewish community in the world has changed almost beyond recognition. Most of the oldest Jewish communities have come to an end, and with them local Jewish cultures with venerable histories. Our generation of scholars is the last that will be able to learn about these cultures from those who lived them. To understand any particular Jewish community is to broaden our notions of what a Jewish community can be, of what Judaism realized in a living community can be. For this reason, studies which document such societies are of much more than sentimental vlaue. Max Weinreich once wrote, "This applies to any field of culture: More often than not, it appears, the distance between Jewish and non-Jewish patterns is created not by a difference in the ingredients proper but rather by the way they are interpreted as elements of the given system."' It is the creative

1. "The Reality of Jewishness versus the Ghetto Myth: The Sociolinguistic Roots of Yiddish," in To Honor Roman Jakobson (The Hague: Mouton, 1967), p. 2205; reprinted in Never Say Die! A Thousand Years of Yiddish in Jewish Life and Letters, ed. Joshua Fishman (The Hague: Mouton, 1980).

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Robert D. Hoberman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 362-364 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486977 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



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Central Volhynia in the Ukraine, and his counsel from Eretz Israel), and multiple spellings ("Hasidim" and "Hassidim"). Nevertheless, it deals with a neglected aspect of Shoah studies and offers arresting suggestions, e.g., that the Shoah was not seen by many Hasidic masters as a retribution for the sins of the Jewish people, and that passive submission, though ubiquitous, was notably rejected by some Zadikim as an irresponsible and incomprehensible weapon of spirit. Though much of Hasidic pietism may be radically at odds with contemporary academic standards and sensibilities, we should be grateful to Schindler, who documents an alternative response to Jewish martyrdom and blessedness. Zev Garber Los Angeles Valley College Van Nuys, Calif.

Norman A. Stillman. The Language and Culture of the Jews of Sefrou, Morocco: An EthnolinguisticStudy. Journal of Semitic Studies Monograph, no. 11. Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1988. xv, 172 pp. In the demographic upheavals of the last hundred years, nearly every Jewish community in the world has changed almost beyond recognition. Most of the oldest Jewish communities have come to an end, and with them local Jewish cultures with venerable histories. Our generation of scholars is the last that will be able to learn about these cultures from those who lived them. To understand any particular Jewish community is to broaden our notions of what a Jewish community can be, of what Judaism realized in a living community can be. For this reason, studies which document such societies are of much more than sentimental vlaue. Max Weinreich once wrote, "This applies to any field of culture: More often than not, it appears, the distance between Jewish and non-Jewish patterns is created not by a difference in the ingredients proper but rather by the way they are interpreted as elements of the given system."' It is the creative

1. "The Reality of Jewishness versus the Ghetto Myth: The Sociolinguistic Roots of Yiddish," in To Honor Roman Jakobson (The Hague: Mouton, 1967), p. 2205; reprinted in Never Say Die! A Thousand Years of Yiddish in Jewish Life and Letters, ed. Joshua Fishman (The Hague: Mouton, 1980).

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integrationand synthesis of old Jewish elements,elementsfrom the surroundingnon-Jewishcultures,and innovations,of language,religion,and societalpatterns,that constitutethe systemthatwe wantto understand.It is a deficiencyof Norman Stillman'sstudy of the Jews of a Moroccantown that it explainslinguisticand culturalitems atomistically,ratherthan interpretingthemas partof an integratedsystem.Nonetheless,the book is full of valuable and fascinatingmaterial. The majorityof MoroccanJewshave migratedto Israel,and those who remain in Morocco have concentratedthemselves in the major cities. Smaller communitieshave been largely abandoned;in Sefrou the Jewish community,founded in the thirteenthcentury,was formerlya productive centerof Jewishscholarshipand fifty years ago numberedabout six thousand people; now it has fewer than two dozen. The core of this book is a collectionof textsin SefriwiJudeo-Arabicwith complete English translations. This is preceded by three introductory chapters:a historicalsurveyof Judeo-Arabicin the contextof the notion of Jewishlanguages(9 pages),a historicaland descriptivesketchof the Sefrou Jewish community(18 pages), and an introductionto the grammarand vocabularyof SefriwiJewish Arabic (30 pages). The second introduction provides fascinatingbackgroundinformationon the history, social structure,and folkwaysof the Jewishcommunityof Sefrou,includingsuichtopics as communalinstitutions,Muslim-Jewishrelations,pilgrimages,and belief in clairvoyants.Much of this informationcould have been betterplacedas brief introductionsamong the texts. For instance, a fascinatingseries of texts tells about the medicinalcompoundof herbs,spices,andgumsknown as tel'ita: how it is made, how the secretof its compoundingand use was passedfrommotherto daughter,and how it was efficaciouslyusedon several occasions(pp. 100-110). However,none of these texts happensto mention how it was administered;the introduction(p. 27) informs us that it could be swallowedor applied as a poultice. Regardlessof such inconvenience, the informationis detailed and specific, and it will be useful for comparativework on Moroccanor other Middle EasternJewishsocieties. The third introduction,the sketch of the Sefriwi Judeo-Arabiclanguage,is designedboth to help a readerwho has some familiaritywith other varietiesof Arabicto readthe texts, and also to place this dialectwithinthe contextof other MoroccanArabicand otherJewishlanguages.To a reader who knows no MoroccanArabic, however,much in the Arabic texts will remainobscure(thoughof coursethe contentsof the texts are made acces-

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siblein translation).This chapterhas an especiallyinterestingsectionon the vocabulary,focusingon wordsfrom Hebrew,Berber,Spanish,and French. The Hebrew element includes not only terms of Jewish religion but also severalin the elementalsphereof personalwell-beingand illness, such as "body,""strength,""trouble,""sorrow."Many of the items from Spanish were borrowedin medievaltimes, and many are used only by Jews, not Muslims. Althoughit is not the purposeof the linguisticsketchto describethe dialect as a system,the lack of an integratedunderstandingcan be a sourceof problems.One troublesomeinstanceis the transcriptionof the vowels, for which Stillman has followed the Mareais-Brunottradition of indicating numerousfine phonetic details. Consequentlymany words appearin various forms, for example:wahid(p. 52) wahid(p. 65), wahed(p. 49) "one"; (p. 68) noftqr(p. 57) and niftar(pp. 41, 65) "passedaway";Sfru(p. 12), ,frta but "Sefrou".These transcriptionsmay reportgenuinephoneticvariation, they leave the readeruncertainas to how to interpretwhat is written.Such detail is betterconfinedto specializedphoneticstudies;it would have been muchbetterto use a phonemictranscriptionlike those usedfor Muslimand Jewish MoroccanArabic by R. S. Harrell,J. Heath, and M. Bar-Asher. The textsin SefriwiJewishArabicwith Englishtranslationcovera broad range of topics and genres: stories in praise of local rabbis and saints, descriptionsof folk beliefsand medicinetogetherwith anecdotesabouttheir use, descriptionsof the observanceof holidays,child marriage,an oralgloss to the Sayingsof the Fathers,lists of proverbsand "piquantidioms,"and severaltypesof folk poems.The texts are accompaniedby extensive,superb notes explicatinglinguisticand literarymatters,history, and realia. Altogetherthe textsgive a very richsampleof what and how the SefriwiJewstell about their own society. RobertD. Hoberman StateUniversityof New Yorkat Stony Brook StonyBrook,N.Y. Daniel J. Elazar. The Other Jews: The Sephardim Today. New York: Basic

Books, 1989. xii, 236 pp. TheOtherJewsis a timelyand much-neededsurveyof the contemporary

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Yedida K. Stillman Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 364-367 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486978 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



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siblein translation).This chapterhas an especiallyinterestingsectionon the vocabulary,focusingon wordsfrom Hebrew,Berber,Spanish,and French. The Hebrew element includes not only terms of Jewish religion but also severalin the elementalsphereof personalwell-beingand illness, such as "body,""strength,""trouble,""sorrow."Many of the items from Spanish were borrowedin medievaltimes, and many are used only by Jews, not Muslims. Althoughit is not the purposeof the linguisticsketchto describethe dialect as a system,the lack of an integratedunderstandingcan be a sourceof problems.One troublesomeinstanceis the transcriptionof the vowels, for which Stillman has followed the Mareais-Brunottradition of indicating numerousfine phonetic details. Consequentlymany words appearin various forms, for example:wahid(p. 52) wahid(p. 65), wahed(p. 49) "one"; (p. 68) noftqr(p. 57) and niftar(pp. 41, 65) "passedaway";Sfru(p. 12), ,frta but "Sefrou".These transcriptionsmay reportgenuinephoneticvariation, they leave the readeruncertainas to how to interpretwhat is written.Such detail is betterconfinedto specializedphoneticstudies;it would have been muchbetterto use a phonemictranscriptionlike those usedfor Muslimand Jewish MoroccanArabic by R. S. Harrell,J. Heath, and M. Bar-Asher. The textsin SefriwiJewishArabicwith Englishtranslationcovera broad range of topics and genres: stories in praise of local rabbis and saints, descriptionsof folk beliefsand medicinetogetherwith anecdotesabouttheir use, descriptionsof the observanceof holidays,child marriage,an oralgloss to the Sayingsof the Fathers,lists of proverbsand "piquantidioms,"and severaltypesof folk poems.The texts are accompaniedby extensive,superb notes explicatinglinguisticand literarymatters,history, and realia. Altogetherthe textsgive a very richsampleof what and how the SefriwiJewstell about their own society. RobertD. Hoberman StateUniversityof New Yorkat Stony Brook StonyBrook,N.Y. Daniel J. Elazar. The Other Jews: The Sephardim Today. New York: Basic

Books, 1989. xii, 236 pp. TheOtherJewsis a timelyand much-neededsurveyof the contemporary

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Sephardiworld. From one perspective,these "OtherJews"includeall that are not Ashkenazi.Butby the sametoken, in the strictsenseof the word,not all Jews who are not Ashkenazi(as if Ashkenazidesignatedsuch a clear, monolithic entity) are Sephardi.Most appropriately,Sephardirefers to those who wereexpelledfromSepharad(Spainand Portugal)and theirdescendants in a far-flungdiasporathat includesWesternEurope, the New World,and especiallythe southernand easternlandsof the Mediterranean basin and the Balkans.Despitethis strictusage,a cleardefinitionof who is Sephardihas yet to be agreedupon by anthropologists,ethnographers,historians,and sociologists,not to mentionin popularcircles.Clearly,Persian, Bukharan,Kurdish,Yemenite,Iraqi,and IndianJewsdo not neatlyfit into the Sephardicategory. Likewise,not all Moroccan,Algerian,or Tunisian Jews were genuinelySephardi(that is, Iberianin origin), even when they defined themselvesas such. There were Berberand ArabophoneJews in North Africa before the arrivalof the variouswaves of megorashim,who referredto the former deprecatinglyas berberiscos and forasteros,just as there were native GreekJews of Hellenisticand Byzantinebackgroundsthe so-called Romaniots-in Asia Minor and the Balkansbeforeand after the coming of the Sephardim. Othertermsused for non-Ashkenazim,such as "Easterners"or "Oriental Jews" (Mizrahim),are equally unsatisfying,not to mention downright ethnocentric.Daniel Elazardoes not definethe term"Sephardi,"but rather succinctly states that "the labels of Westerneror Easterneror Oriental reflectcertainassumptionswith regardto cultureand modernity"(p. 24). The introductionand the firsttwo chapters(up to p. 69) provideprimarily a fascinatingaccountof Sephardimin Israelin the light of the elections and how they gained political and electoralpower. The next five chapters (pp. 70-183) deal with Sephardimin Europe(includingthe Balkan area), Africa,Asia and the Pacific,the Caribbeanand LatinAmerica,and finally North America.Basically,it is a surveyof how they arrivedthere,how many they werethen and now, theircommunalorganizations,synagogues,Zionist aspirations,whether they were tolerated or persecuted,and outlook on futureexistence.This type of material,not availableuntilnow in such a convenientlyconcentratedform, is very useful. Precisestatisticaldata are not always availableto Elazar;we are faced with such statementsas: "Thousandsmovedto EretzIsrael";"Tensof thousands. . emigratedto the Western Hemisphere"(p. 75); "Hundredsof thousandsof Jews found a place

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for themselves between the Black Sea and the Adriatic" (p. 72); or "a sprinkling of Spanish Jewish exiles reached Egypt" (p. 98). The strength of this book lies in its discussions of politics and social issues (not surprising, since the author is a political scientist), such as the case of the North African Jews and how they revived Jewish identity and open involvement in Jewish affairs in France. As Elazar aptly puts it: "The willingness of certain Sephardic Jews to make it clear to the powers-that-be that their vote is influenced by Jewish issues marks a radical departure from earlier Jewish patterns and has brought about a schism between them and leaders of the older community" (p. 86). The last chapter, "The Cultural Issue" (pp. 184-204), makes fascinating reading. The author recaptures his earlier subject synthesis and concludes, in his "Zionist Triumphalism as Ashkenazification" (pp. 185-189), that the Ashkenazic Zionist leadership sought to "civilize" the Sephardim at the expense of breaking traditional Sephardic culture and impairing their selfrespect as well as that of their children. As a Sephardi or Oriental who grew up in Israel, I empathize with Elazar when he writes: "The list of such acts [prejudice, insults, horror stories] is long, and their recitation still infuriating" (p. 187). Elazar offers a tough, critical, and candid appraisal in "Sephardic Responsibilities" (pp. 201-204) when he points out that "the Sephardim too are responsible for their condition" (p. 201), and need "to overcome their parochial divisions" (p. 180). He praises the World Sephardi Federation and its president, Nissim Gaon, but, at the same time, criticizes the WSF's leadership for its lack of support "to institutions that would give the Sephardim recognition as contributors to the Jewish state and the Jewish people" and for programs "to help young Sephardim in Israel" (p. 201). One need only look at the growing number of endowed chairs in Judaic Studies in institutions of higher learning all over this country to understand Elazar's message. Or one can look at the annual meetings of the Association for Jewish Studies, and observe that out of some sixty panels, only one or perhaps two might deal with the theme Sephardim or Mizrahim. "Meanwhile, the Ashkenazification of Sephardim proceeds on all levels" (p. 203). On the negative side, this book has a somewhat apologetic tone that goes beyond merely setting the record straight vis-A-vis the Sephardim. The polemic against "Ashkenazic imperialism" sometimes seems to become Ashkenazi-bashing for the sake of catharsis.

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Elazarsingles out Amos Oz's anti-Sephardicpiece "Has IsraelAltered Its Vision?"(pp. 5-6) and tearshis argumentapart,but is comfortedwhen sometimelater Oz visits a town heavilypopulatedby North AfricanJews and changessome of his views.Elazar'sharshestcriticismsareaimedrightly at the Labor leadership. Thereare few pointsthe presentreviewerdisagreeswith. However,there are some oversimplificationsand questionablejudgmentsas well as questions yet to be answered. Thesecriticismsaside,the book is uniformlyreadableand interesting.It will certainlyadd to the growingliteratureon Sephardim-particularlyin English,wherethe dearthof materialis greatest.(Muchmoreis availablein Hebrewand Frenchby contrast.) YedidaK.Stillman StateUniversity of New York at Binghamton N.Y. Binghamton, Lionel Kochan. Jews, Idols and Messiahs: The Challenge from History.

Oxford: Basil Blackwell,1990.231 pp. Lionel Kochan,recentlyretiredfromthe BearstedReadershipin Jewish Historyat the Universityof Warwick,has had a sustainedinterestin messianism. In TheJew and His History(1977), he exploredthe proclivityof Jewishhistoricalwritersto use historywith an eye to its culminationin the messianicfuture.Alreadyin that book it was clearthat Kochanviewedmessianism as a grave threat to Judaism and much preferredthe "praxis" enjoinedby Jewishlaw. In this volumethe oppositionof law and eschatology reappearswithin a differentframeworkcharacterizedby the tension betweencommunityand idolatry. It is typicalof Kochan'swritingin this book, as in his earlierone, thathe shuttlesback and forth betweenthe roles of historianand religiousideologist. Thusthe firstpartof the volumeis mostlydevotedto an extendedcomparativetreatmentof two Jewish communitiesduring the period of their modernization:Berlin (1670-1800) and London (1650-1880). Indeed, at times it seems as if Kochan is presentingtwo rather detailed historical accounts for the sake of their own specific interest, especially when he

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Michael A. Meyer Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 367-369 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486979 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:20 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].



BOOK REVIEWS

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Elazarsingles out Amos Oz's anti-Sephardicpiece "Has IsraelAltered Its Vision?"(pp. 5-6) and tearshis argumentapart,but is comfortedwhen sometimelater Oz visits a town heavilypopulatedby North AfricanJews and changessome of his views.Elazar'sharshestcriticismsareaimedrightly at the Labor leadership. Thereare few pointsthe presentreviewerdisagreeswith. However,there are some oversimplificationsand questionablejudgmentsas well as questions yet to be answered. Thesecriticismsaside,the book is uniformlyreadableand interesting.It will certainlyadd to the growingliteratureon Sephardim-particularlyin English,wherethe dearthof materialis greatest.(Muchmoreis availablein Hebrewand Frenchby contrast.) YedidaK.Stillman StateUniversity of New York at Binghamton N.Y. Binghamton, Lionel Kochan. Jews, Idols and Messiahs: The Challenge from History.

Oxford: Basil Blackwell,1990.231 pp. Lionel Kochan,recentlyretiredfromthe BearstedReadershipin Jewish Historyat the Universityof Warwick,has had a sustainedinterestin messianism. In TheJew and His History(1977), he exploredthe proclivityof Jewishhistoricalwritersto use historywith an eye to its culminationin the messianicfuture.Alreadyin that book it was clearthat Kochanviewedmessianism as a grave threat to Judaism and much preferredthe "praxis" enjoinedby Jewishlaw. In this volumethe oppositionof law and eschatology reappearswithin a differentframeworkcharacterizedby the tension betweencommunityand idolatry. It is typicalof Kochan'swritingin this book, as in his earlierone, thathe shuttlesback and forth betweenthe roles of historianand religiousideologist. Thusthe firstpartof the volumeis mostlydevotedto an extendedcomparativetreatmentof two Jewish communitiesduring the period of their modernization:Berlin (1670-1800) and London (1650-1880). Indeed, at times it seems as if Kochan is presentingtwo rather detailed historical accounts for the sake of their own specific interest, especially when he

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includes matters unrelated to his underlying arguments. Moreover, although (with the exceptionof the minutebooks of the BritishBoard of Deputies)he uses printedsourcesalmostexclusively,his accountsof the two communities rest upon considerableresearch and possess independent value.As a historian,Kochan'spurposeis to presentBerlinand Londonas two sharplycontrastingcommunities.For the former,modernitybrought increasedstate interferencein its affairs along with a diminutionof legal autonomy. But membershipin a unifiedBerlincommunityremainedcompulsory,with the state enforcingthe community'staxes. LondonJewry,by contrast, enjoyed much greaterfreedom in runningits affairs but at the same time could not preventJews from leaving the synagogues,which in London,in the absenceof a singleorganizedcommunity eighteenth-century and a sharpdivisionbetweenAshkenazimandSephardim,werethe primary objectsof Jewishidentification.Memberscould be disciplinedby synagogue authoritiesonly as long as they chose to remainaffiliated.And, of course, London Jews possessed far less interestin Jewish learningthan did their Germancontemporaries. Kochan'scomparisonsare certainlywelcome,even if hereand thereone could arguethat they are overdrawnor obvious.But his ultimateaimin discussing these communitieslies beyond both descriptionand comparison. Takentogether,Berlinand Londonserveas examplesof how, underdifferent circumstancesand howeverinadequately,Jewshave organizedto fulfill the requirementsof Torah. It is these two communities'day-to-dayendeavorsto respondto Torah and thus to help "mendthe world" that Kochan, the religiousideologist, holds up as the Jewishideal. That ideal'schampionsare the rabbis,whose crownof Torah,as Kochannotes in an introductorychapter,is lamentably tarnishedas lay prerogativesgain ascendancyover rabbinicalones beginning as early as the late Middle Ages. Their opponents,the parnasim,are not, however,the principalobjectof concern.Ratherit is the messianistsof every periodwho representthe chief dangerto Torah.Unable to adjustto historical circumstances-as communities necessarily do-messianists resortto idolatry,by which Kochanmeansthe anti-Jewishact of ascribing absolute importanceto somethingless than God: "the stars,a charismatic individual,the nation-stateand the soil." Put differently,avodahzarah(the termhe prefersto use)is the attemptto substitutesomeotherentity(images, nature,even words)for Torah"as the sole and truemediumof communication with God."

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As TorahrequiresJewishcommunitiesfor its fulfillment,so does messianism,in most of its forms,resortto avodahzarah.The messianicpretender assumes superhumanstatureand mediatesbetweenthe individualJew and God. Somewhatapologetically,Kochantriesto reducethe onus of such messianismwithinhistoricalJudaismby dwellingupon Maimonides'naturalisticand intrahistoricalmessianicconceptionand by devotingmoreattention to Jacob Sasportas'soppositionto ShabbetaiZevi than to Sabbatianism itself. Comingdown to the present,he lamentsthat in the ideologyof Gush Emunim"theclovenhoof of avodahzarahshowsthroughthe messianic garb,"but heretoo therearefortunatelystill Jews,like Britishchief rabbi ImmanuelJakobovitsand the IsraelithinkerIsaiahLeibowitz,whose stringently halakhicstance resiststhe temptationsof idolatrousmessianism. Kochan is neither an anti-Zionistnor an unqualifiedanti-messianist. Ratherthis historicalstudyis his argumentfor containingmessianismwithin Jewish history: that is, within the ongoing process of communal response-whether in the diasporaor in Israel-to the commandmentsof Torah. It is an argumentthat deservesattention. MichaelA. Meyer HebrewUnionCollege Ohio Cincinnati, David Vital. TheFutureof theJews.Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity Press, 1990. ix, 161 pp. The natureof the predictionpromisedby the title David Vital gave his work is indicatedby the volume's length. A people with a bright future would surelyhave deserveda longerbook. Vital'sanalysis,however,is that now, at the end of the twentiethcentury,"the survivalof Jewryas a discrete people... is entirelyin doubt.... Wherethere was once a single... people-indeed, a nation-there is now a sort of archipelagoof discreteislands composedof rathershakycommunitiesof all qualities,shapes,and sizes,in whichthe Islandof Israel,as it were,is fatedincreasinglyto be in a class by itself" (pp. 146-147). Vital dates the backgroundfor this forecastto 1789,when the equality offeredto the Jewsof Franceentailedthe eliminationof intermediateclasses or corporationsbetweenthe citizenand the state.Thegrantingof citizenship implied forgoing isolation in self-organizedcommunities-the exclusivity

Review: [untitled] Author(s): Ephraim Tabory Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 369-371 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486980 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:21 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].



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As TorahrequiresJewishcommunitiesfor its fulfillment,so does messianism,in most of its forms,resortto avodahzarah.The messianicpretender assumes superhumanstatureand mediatesbetweenthe individualJew and God. Somewhatapologetically,Kochantriesto reducethe onus of such messianismwithinhistoricalJudaismby dwellingupon Maimonides'naturalisticand intrahistoricalmessianicconceptionand by devotingmoreattention to Jacob Sasportas'soppositionto ShabbetaiZevi than to Sabbatianism itself. Comingdown to the present,he lamentsthat in the ideologyof Gush Emunim"theclovenhoof of avodahzarahshowsthroughthe messianic garb,"but heretoo therearefortunatelystill Jews,like Britishchief rabbi ImmanuelJakobovitsand the IsraelithinkerIsaiahLeibowitz,whose stringently halakhicstance resiststhe temptationsof idolatrousmessianism. Kochan is neither an anti-Zionistnor an unqualifiedanti-messianist. Ratherthis historicalstudyis his argumentfor containingmessianismwithin Jewish history: that is, within the ongoing process of communal response-whether in the diasporaor in Israel-to the commandmentsof Torah. It is an argumentthat deservesattention. MichaelA. Meyer HebrewUnionCollege Ohio Cincinnati, David Vital. TheFutureof theJews.Cambridge,Mass.:HarvardUniversity Press, 1990. ix, 161 pp. The natureof the predictionpromisedby the title David Vital gave his work is indicatedby the volume's length. A people with a bright future would surelyhave deserveda longerbook. Vital'sanalysis,however,is that now, at the end of the twentiethcentury,"the survivalof Jewryas a discrete people... is entirelyin doubt.... Wherethere was once a single... people-indeed, a nation-there is now a sort of archipelagoof discreteislands composedof rathershakycommunitiesof all qualities,shapes,and sizes,in whichthe Islandof Israel,as it were,is fatedincreasinglyto be in a class by itself" (pp. 146-147). Vital dates the backgroundfor this forecastto 1789,when the equality offeredto the Jewsof Franceentailedthe eliminationof intermediateclasses or corporationsbetweenthe citizenand the state.Thegrantingof citizenship implied forgoing isolation in self-organizedcommunities-the exclusivity

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that had keptthe Jewsapartfromothers,and unitedamongthemselves.The revolutionarieswere interestedin the universal,but the Jews wereparticularistic.The upshotis that with theirplungeinto modernity,as Vitalcallsit, the Jewshad to clarifytheirpoliticaland culturalidentity.Those who were interestedin the rightsgrantedto themas individualshad to devisean alternative for the national structureand conception that had characterized Jewryin the past. Thus begana processthat wouldlead to divisionsamong Jews themselves. A primaryfactor undermininga world Jewishcollectiveat the present time, accordingto Vital, is the establishmentof Israel as a politicalentity that purportedlyspeakson behalfof worldJewry.While IsraeliJews,who live in a free parliamentarydemocracy,are constrainedin their political behaviorout of loyaltyto theircountry,the leadersof worldJewry(who are not even necessarilyelected)feel free to criticizeIsraelin a mannerthat is openly and manifestlypolitical.Despite the leaders'involvementin Israeli affairs, Vital argues that only a minorityof diasporaJews are concerned about the innerculturallife of Judaism.Emancipation,migration,and warfarehavetakentheirtoll on how the differentsegmentsof Judaismview and identifythemselvesand theirrelationshipswith fellowJews,to the pointthat one cannot speak of a united Jewry. Secularisttrends are dominant,and and assimilationare rampant.The upshotis that one maynot intermarriage the Jews are a nation, as they were in the past, but even whether only ask whetherthey wish to be one. Thereare surelythose who will disagreewith Vital. Indeed,his book is so short,and its referencenotes so limited,that it is essentiallyan essay,and mightbest have been publishedin a journalof thoughtwith accompanying discussionof its thesis.The stateof Jewryin the UnitedStates(andwhatare the properindicatorsto use in measuringits vitality)is the subjectof a great debateamongsociologistsof the Jewsas well as politicalscientists,but there is no referencein the book to thesediscussions.The workdone on the "civil religion" of Israel and of AmericanJews seems to be more relevant to understandingJewryat this time than is givencreditby the author.An analytical surveyand critiqueof the work of social scientistsdealingwith the fieldsdiscussedwould havegiven morecredibilityto his positionandwould seem to have been warrantedfor a book publishedby a universitypress. Havingsaid this, let me note that Vital'schapteron the role of Jewsin history and historiographyis particularlyilluminatingand would well benefit sociologistswho thinkthat social surveysprovideall the informationneed-

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ed for understanding contemporary Jewry. All in all, Vital does make a very interesting contribution to the discussion and debate about what is happening to the Jewish people. The particular manner in which it is presented, however, is more suited for those familiar with the topics discussed than for outsiders. EphraimTabory Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel

Collected Studies Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 373-388 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486981 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:21 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].



COLLECTEDSTUDIES Judith R. Baskin, ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 300 pp. Judith R. Baskin, "Introduction." Susan Niditch, "Portrayals of CONTENTS: Women in the Hebrew Bible." Ross S. Kraemer, "Jewish Women in the Diaspora World of Late Antiquity." Judith Romney Wegner, "The Image and Status of Women in Classical Rabbinic Judaism." Judith R. Baskin, "Jewish Women in the Middle Ages." Renee Levine Melammed, "Sephardi Women in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods." Howard Adelman, "Italian Jewish Women." Chava Weissler, "Prayers in Yiddish and the Religious World of Ashkenazic Women." Deborah Hertz, "Emancipation Through Intermarriage in Old Berlin." Marion A. Kaplan, "Tradition and Transition: Jewish Women in Imperial Germany." Paula E. Hyman,"Gender and the Immigrant Jewish Experience in the United States." Joan Ringelheim, "Women and the Holocaust: A Reconsideration of Research." Ellen M. Umansky, "Spiritual Expressions: Jewish Women's Religious Lives in the Twentieth-Century United States." Martin S. Bergmann and Milton E. Jucovy, eds. Generations of the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. xix, 356 pp. Martin S. Bergmann and Milton E. Jucovy, "Prelude." Judith S. Kestenberg and Milton Kestenberg, "The Background of the Study." Judith S. Kestenberg and Milton Kestenberg, "The Experience of SurvivorParents." Milton Kestenberg, "Discriminatory Aspects of the German Indemnification Policy: A Continuation of Persecution." Judith S. Kestenberg, "Survivor-Parents and Their Children." James Herzog, "World

CONTENTS:

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Beyond Metaphor: Thoughts on the Transmission of Trauma." Yolanda Gampel, "A Daughter of Silence." Judith S. Kestenberg, "A Metapsychological Assessment Based on an Analysis of a Survivor's Child." Erich Simenauer, "The Return of the Persecutor." Lutz Rosenk6tter, "The Formation of Ideals in the Succession of Generations." Anonymous, "Child of Persecutors." Anita Eckstaedt, "A Victim of the Other Side." Gertrud Hardtmann, "The Shadows of the Past." Martin S. Bergmann, "Recurrent Problems in the Treatment of Survivors and Their Children." Marion M. Oliner, "Hysterical Features Among Children of Survivors." Maria V. Bergmann, "Thoughts on Superego Pathology of Survivors and Their Children." Martin S. Bergmann, "Reflections on the Psychological and Social Function of Remembering the Holocaust." Milton E. Jucovy, "Afterthoughts and Reflections." Derek Cohen and Deborah Heller, eds. Jewish Presences in English Literature. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. 142 pp. CONTENTS: Allen C. Koretsky, "Dangerous Innocence: Chaucer's Prioress and Her Tale." Derek Cohen, "Shylock and the Idea of the Jew." Deborah Heller, "The Outcast as Villain and Victim: Jews in Dickens's Oliver Twist and Our Mutual Friend." Derek Cohen, "Constructing the Contradiction: Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now." Deborah Heller, "Jews and Women in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda." Harry Girling," The Jew in James Joyce's Ulysses." Ross G. Arthur, "Literary Jews and the Breakdown of the Medieval Testamental Pattern." Gerson D. Cohen. Studies in the Variety of Jewish Cultures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. xii, 332 pp. CONTENTS: "The Song of Songs and the Jewish Mentality." "Hannah and Her Seven Sons in Hebrew Literature." "Zion in Rabbinic Literature." "Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People." "The Reconstruction of Gaonic History." "The Story of the Four Captives." "The Soteriology of R. Abraham Maimuni." "Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought." "Messianic Postures of Ashkenazim and Sephardim." "German Jewry as Mirror of Modernity."

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375

Naomi W. Cohen, ed. Essential Papers on Jewish-ChristianRelations in the United States: Imagery and Reality. New York: New York University Press, 1990. x, 377 pp. Jonathan D. Sarna, "The American Jewish Response to the CONTENTS: Nineteenth-Century Christian Missions." Judith H. Banki, "The Images of Jews in Christian Teaching." David G. Singer, "One Nation Completely Under God? The American Jewish Congress and the Catholic Church in the United States, 1945-1977." Egon Mayer and Carl Sheingold, "Intermarriage and the Jewish Future." Louise A. Mayo, "The Ambivalent Image: Nineteenth-Century America's Perception of the Jew." Naomi W. Cohen, "Antisemitism in the Gilded Age: The Jewish View." Harold E. Quinley and Charles Y. Glock, "Christian Sources of Antisemitism." Franklin H. Littell, "American Protestantism and Antisemitism." Robert W. Ross, "'Too Long Have We Christians Been Silent.'" Alice L. Eckardt, "The Holocaust: Christian and Jewish Responses." Hertzel Fishman, "The Apparition of Jewish Nationalism." Esther Yolles Feldblum, "New Realities: Israel in the Holy Land." Carl Hermann Voss and David A. Rausch, "American Christians and Israel, 1948-1988." Egal Feldman, "American Protestant Theologians on the Frontiers of Jewish-Christian Relations." David Berger, "Jewish-Christian Relations: A Jewish Perspective." Moshe Davis and Yehoshua Ben-Arieh. With Eyes TowardZion III: Western Societies and the Holy Land. New York: Praeger, 1991. xiv, 275 pp. CONTENTS:Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, "Holy Land Views in NineteenthCentury Western Travel Literature." Robert T. Handy, "The America-Holy Land Studies Project: A Personal Statement." Deborah Dash Moore, "Studying America and the Holy Land: Prospects, Pitfalls, and Perspectives." Gershon Greenberg, "America-Holy Land and Religious Studies: On Expressing a Sacred Reality." David Klatzker, "American Christian Travelers to the Holy Land, 1821-1939." Michael Brown, "Canada and the Holy Land: Some North American Similarities and Differences." Leonardo Senkman, "The Concept of the Holy Land in Iberoamerica." Catherine Nicault, "France-Holy Land Studies: Teaching and Research." Ran Aaronsohn, "French Archives as a Source for the Study of France-Holy Land Relations." Sophie Kessler-Mesguich, "France and the

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Holy Land: Introducing the Subject in French Universities." Erich Geldbach, "The German Protestant Network in the Holy Land." Haim Goren, "Sources for Germany-Holy Land Studies in the Late Ottoman Period: German Libraries and Archives." Yossi Ben-Artzi, "Germany-Holy Land Studies: A Conceptual Framework." Alex Carmel, "Research into German Christian Contributions to the Rebuilding of Eretz Israel: A Personal Record." Vivian D. Lipman, "Britain and the Holy Land: 1830-1914." Rupert L. Chapman, "British-Holy Land Archaeology: Nineteenth Century Sources." Israel Finestein, "British Opinion and the Holy Land in the Nineteenth Century: Personalities and Further Themes." Lloyd P. Gartner, "Some Reflections on the Present State of Holy Land Studies." Tamara C. Eskenazi, Daniel J. Harrington, and William H. Shea, eds. The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions.New York: Crossroad, 1991. xvi, 272 pp. Samuel A. Meier, "The Sabbath and Purification Cycles." Heather A. McKay, "New Moon or Sabbath?" Robert Goldenberg, "The Place of the Sabbath in Rabbinic Judaism." Daniel J. Harrington, "Sabbath Tensions: Matthew 12:1-14 and Other New Testament Texts." Dennis MacDonald, "A Response to R. Goldenberg and D. J. Harrington." George E. Rice, "A Response to R. Goldenberg and D. J. Harrington." Samuel Bacchiocchi, "Remembering the Sabbath: The Creation-Sabbath in Jewish and Christian History." John H. Primus, "Sunday: The Lord's Day as a Sabbath-Protestant Perspectives on the Sabbath." Craig Blomberg, "The Sabbath as Fulfilled in Christ: A Response to S. Bacchiocchi and J. Primus." Dennis Kennedy, "A Response to S. Bacchiocchi and J. Primus." Walter S. Wurzburger, "A Jewish Theology and Philosophy of the Sabbath." Jacques B. Doukhan, "Loving the Sabbath as a Christian: A Seventh-Day Adventist Perspective." Kenneth Hein, "A Catholic Response to J. B. Doukhan." Marva J. Dawn, "A Systematic, Biblical Theology of Sabbath Keeping." John F. Baldovin, "Sabbath Liturgy: Celebrating Sunday as a Christian." Lawrence A. Hoffman, "Upholding the Sabbath Day: The Jewish Sabbath Faces Modernity." William H. Shea, "A Response to L. Hoffman and J. Baldovin." Frederick E. Greenspahn, "A Response to L. Hoffman and J. Baldovin." Mitchell A. Tyner, "The Sabbath and the State: Legal Implications of Sabbatarianism." Saul F. Rosenthal, "A Jewish Perspective on Sabbatarianism." Michael E. Lodahl, "Sabbath Observance as a Theological Issue in Jewish-Christian Conversation." CONTENTS:

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377

Eugene J. Fisher and Leon Klenicki, eds. In Our Time: The Flowering of Jewish-Christian Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1991. vi, 161 pp. Eugene J. Fisher, "Official Roman Catholic Teaching on Jews and Judaism: Commentary and Context." Eugene J. Fisher, "Appendix: The Development of a Tradition." Ecumenical Council Vatican II, "Declaration of the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions [Nostra Aetate (no. 4) (October 28, 1965)]." Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, "Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (no.4) [December 1, 1974]." Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, "Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jew and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church [June 24, 1985]." Jorge Mejia, "A Note for the Presentation of the Document of the Comission for Religious Relations with Jews [Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church]." Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations, NCCB; Adult Education Department, USCC; Interfaith Affairs Department, ADL, "Within Context: Guidelines for the Catechetical Presentation of Jews and Judaism in the New Testament [1986]. " Leon Klenicki, "From Argument to Dialogue: Nostra Aetate Twenty-Five Years Later." Eugene J. Fisher, "A New Maturity in Christian-Jewish Dialogue: An Annotated Bibliography, 1975-1989." CONTENTS:

William Frankel and Antony Lerman, eds. Survey of Jewish Affairs, 1990. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990. xii, 303 pp. Shaul Mishal, "The Unfolding of the Intifada." Yoram Kessel, "Polarization Rampant: Politics in Israel in 1989." Karen Adler, "Jewish Settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." Emmanuel Sivan, "Islamic Fundamentalism at the End of the 1980s." Antony Lerman, "The Palestinian Liberation Organization and the 'Peace Process.'" Martin Navias, "The Spread of Nuclear, Chemical and Ballistic Missile Weaponry in the Middle East." Bernard Reich, "A Lower Priority: The Middle East Policy of the Bush Administration." Marc D. Stern, "Affirmative Action, the Law and the Jews." Maria Balinska, "A Year of Truth in Eastern Europe: Liberalization and the Jewish Communities." Geoffrey Wigoder, "The Affair of the Carmelite Convent at Auschwitz." Stephen J. Roth, "Jewish Renewal in Europe-Hungary." Simon P. Sibelman, "Jewish Renewal in EuropeFrance." Jonathan Magonet, "Current Attitudes to Religious Conversion." CONTENTS:

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Israel Finestein, "1939-1989: Assessing the Changes in Jewry." Alan Montague, "Chronology and Necrology." David Goldenberg, ed. Translationof Scripture: Proceedings of a Conference at the AnnenbergResearch Institute, May 15-16, 1989. Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1990. vi, 285 pp. CONTENTS: David Goldenberg, "Introduction." William Adler, "The Jews as Falsifiers: Charges of Tendentious Emendation in Anti-Jewish Christian Polemic." S. Peter Crowe, "Literary and Theological Considerations Governing the Strata of the Armenian Version of Scripture." Lenn E. Goodman, "Saadiah Gaon's Interpretive Technique in Translating the Book of Job." Edward L. Greenstein, "What Might Make a Bible Translation Jewish?" Gerbern S. Oegema, "On the Contextuality of Translations and the 'Inspiration' of Scripture." Harry M. Orlinsky, "The Role of Theology in the Christian Mistranslation of the Hebrew Bible." Herbert H. Paper, "Judeo-Persian Bible Translations." Ismail K. Poonawala, "Translatability of the Qur'in: Theological and Literary Considerations." Pietro Rossano, "From the Vulgate to the New Vulgate." Jasna Samic, "Translations of the Qur'in into Serbocroat." Emanuel Tov, "Theologically Motivated Exegesis Embedded in the Septuagint." Jerome T. Walsh, pds'e' bi^:Theo"MiFI•ekd logy and the Translation of Poetry." Alford T. Welch, "The Translatability of the Qur'an: Literary and Theological Implications of What the Qur'An Says About Itself." Emanuel S. Goldsmith, Mel Scult, and Robert M. Seltzer, eds. The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan. New York: New York University Press, 1990. xviii, 460 pp. CONTENTS: Robert M. Seltzer, "Introduction: Kaplan and Jewish Modernity." Emanuel S. Goldsmith, "Kaplan and the Retrieval of the Haskalah." Eliezer Schweid, "The Reconstruction of Jewish Religion Out of Secular Culture." Mel Scult, "Becoming Centered: Community and Spirituality in Early Kaplan." Baila Round Shargel, "Kaplan and Israel Friedlaender: Expectation and Failure." Richard Libowitz, "Kaplan and Cyrus Adler." Simon Noveck, "Kaplan and Milton Steinberg: A Disciple's Agreements and Disagreements." Allan Lazaroff, "Kaplan and John Dewey." Emanuel S. Goldsmith, "Kaplan and Henry Nelson Weiman." Meir Ben-Horin, "Ahad Ha-Am in Kaplan: Roads Crossing and Parting." S. Daniel Bres-

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379

lauer, "Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Martin Buber: Three Approaches to Jewish Revival." Harold M. Schulweis, "A Critical Assessment of Kaplan's Ideas of Salvation." William E. Kaufman, "Kaplan's Approach to Metaphysics." Jacob J. Staub, "Kaplan and Process Theology." Mel Scult, "Kaplan's Reinterpretation of the Bible." Ira Eisenstein, "Kaplan as Liturgist." Carol S. Kessner, "Kaplan and the Role of Women in Judaism." Harriet A. Feiner, "Kaplan's Influence on Jewish Social Work." William Cutter, "Kaplan and Jewish Education: Reflections on His Influence." Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert, "The Quest for Economic Justice: Kaplan's Response to the Challenge of Communism, 1929-1940." Jack J. Cohen, "Reflections on Kaplan's Zionism." M. Goshen-Gottstein, S. Morag, and S. Kogut, eds. Studies on Hebrew and Other Semitic Languages Presented to Professor Chaim Rabin on the Occasion of His Seventy-fifth Birthday. Jerusalem: Academon Press, 1990. xxxii, 442 pp. (Hebrew). CONTENTS: B. Fischler, "Bibliography of Professor Chaim Rabin's Writings." U. Ornan, "Two Types of Hitpa'el." J. Blau, "Internal Changes in Middle Arabic." Z. Ben-Hayyim, "Miscellanea." R. Ben-Shahar, "On Phonetic Representation of the Spoken Language in Modern Hebrew Literature." M. Bar-Asher, "On Verbs III-' and III-y in Mishnaic Hebrew." M. H. Goshen-Gottstein, "Some Problems of the Linguistic Apparatus in a Synchronic Dictionary of Modern Hebrew." J. C. Greenfield, "The Infinitive in the Aramaic Documents from the Judean Desert." M. Du-nour, "The Linguistic Unit 'Silence'." A. Hurwitz "Sa'd•a'setbrahin Ps. 119-The Origins of the Phrase and Its Linguistic Background." M. Halloun, "Thamudic Inscription on a Standing Vessel." D. Taube, "On Denominal Adjectives with the Suffix -y in Modern Hebrew." E. Tov, "The Samaritan Pentateuch and the So-called 'Proto-Samaritan' Texts." S. Talmon, "A Joshua Apocryphon from Masada." I. Yeivin, "Interchanges between Vocalic Shewa and a Full Vowel in Genizah Fragments of Piyyutim." A. Laufer, "On Phonotactics." R. Landau, "Stylistic Features of Discourse in Jonathan Gefen's Children Poetry." S. Morag, "The Tiberian Tradition of Hebrew in Communities of Spain: The First Period." J. Naveh, "Marginalia on the Deeds from Kefar Bar6." R. Nir, "Verbal Dissonance in Hebrew Advertising." A. Abadi, "The Speech Act of Apology in Public." S. E. Fassberg, "Pen yiqt6l and wild' yiqt6l in Biblical Hebrew." I. Sadka, "Single-Phrase Utterances." G. B. Sarfatti, "The Lexicon of Modern Hebrew Analyzed

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According to Its Historical Layers." M. Z. Kaddari, "Glosses Turned into Synonyms: ma me'od, harbe yoter mi-, we'ilu le'umat zot." S. Kogut, "Differentiation and Ambiguity in the Construct Structure of the 'Action Noun."' Z. Regev, "On Language Registers in Israel." E. Rubenstein, "A Study of Adverbial Verbs in Biblical Hebrew." O. (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald, "Stress Shifts in Modern Hebrew." H. Shehadeh, "The Develoment of the Expression yes (lo) lilmod / haya (lo) lilmod." J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, eds. The Balaam Textfrom Deir 'Alla Reevaluated:Proceedings of the InternationalSymposiumHeld at Leiden, 21-24 August 1989. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xi, 324 pp. CONTENTS:H. J. Franken, "Deir 'Alla Re-visited." M. M. Ibrahim and G. Van der Kooij, "The Archaeology of Deir 'Alla Phase IX." A. Lemaire, "Les inscriptions sur plktre de Deir 'Alla et leur signification historique et culturelle." B. A. Levine, "The Plaster Inscriptions from Deir 'Alla: General Interpretation." J. A. Hackett, "Response to Baruch Levine and Andre Lemaire." P. K. McCarter, "The Dialect of the Deir 'Alla Texts." D. Paradee, "Response: The Linguistic Classification of the Deir 'Alla Text Written on Plaster." J. C. Greenfield, "Philological Observations on the Deir 'Alla Inscription." J. Hoftijzer, "What Did the Gods Say? Remarks on the First Combination of the Deir 'Alla-Plaster Texts." G. I. Davies, "Response to J. Greenfield and J. Hoftijzer." M. Weippert, "The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla and the Study of the Old Testament." H.-P. Miller, "Die Funktion divinatorischen Redens und die Tierbezeichnungen der Inschrift von Tell Deir 'Alli." M. Dijkstra, "Response to H.-P. Miiller and M. Weippert." E. Puech, "Approches palkographiques de l'inscription sur platre de Deir 'Alla." G. van der Kooij, "Book and Script at Deir 'Alla." M. Dijkstra, "Response to E. Puech and G. van der Kooij," J.-M. Husser, "Deux obser" vations propos des rapports entre le text de Deir 'Alla (Combination I) et la Bible." J. Huehnergard, "Remarks on the Classification of the Northwest Semitic Languages." A. Wolters, "Aspects of the Literary Structure of Combination I." F. Israel, "R6flexions m6thodologiques sur le classement linguistique de DAPT."

Gershon David Hundert. ed. Essential Papers on Hasidism: Origins to Present. New York: New York University Press, 1991. xi, 546 pp. CONTENTS: Solomon Maimon, "On a Secret Society, and Therefore a Long

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Chapter." Simon Dubnow, "The Beginnings: The Baal Shem Tov (Besht) and the Center in Podolia." Simon Dubnow, "The Maggid of Miedzyrzecz, His Associates, and the Center in Volhynia (1760-1772)." Benzion Dinur, "The Origins of Hasidism and Its Social and Messianic Foundations." Murray Jay Rosman, "Miedzyboz and Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov." Shmuel Ettinger, "The Hasidic Movement-Reality and Ideals." Mordecai L. Wilensky, "Hasidic-Mitnaggedic Polemics in the Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe: The Hostile Phase." Gershom Scholem, "Devekut, or the Communion with God." Ada Rapoport-Albert, "God and the Zaddik as the Two Focal Points of Hasidic Worship." Louis Jacobs, "Hasidic Prayer." Aaron Wertheim, "Traditions and Customs in Hasidism." Raphael Mahler, "Hasidim and the Jewish Enlightenment." Martin Buber, "My Way to Hasidism." Stephen Sharot, "Hasidism in Modern Society." Bernard Jackson, ed. The Jewish Law Annual, vol 9. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991. 300 pp. CONTENTS: S. M. Passamaneck, "Aspects of Physical Violence Against Persons in Karo's ShulohanArukh." Peretz Segal, "Postbiblical Jewish Criminal Law and Theology." Aaron Kirschenbaum, "The Role of Punishment in Jewish Criminal Law: A Chapter in Rabbinic Penological Thought." Mordechai Frishtik, "Physical and Sexual Violence by Husbands as a Reason for Imposing a Divorce in Jewish Law." Samuel Morell, "Profile of a Jurist: Joseph Ibn Lev's Rulings Regarding Agunot." Russell K. Ryan, "And Then There Was One: An Analysis and Comparison of Polygamy among Jews and Mormons." J. David Bleich, "Contemporary Halakhah: Checks." D. B. Sinclair, "Jewish Law in the State of Israel: Custody and the Role of Women in Their Children's Education, Brain Death, Conscientious Objection, Registration of a Convert." Marinus de Jonge. Jewish Eschatology, Early Christian Christology and the Testaments of the TwelvePatriarchs.:Collected Essays of Marinus de Jonge. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 63. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xix, 342 PP. "The Expectation of the Future in the Psalms of Solomon." CONTENTS: "The Role of Intermediaries in God's Final Intervention in the Future According to the Qumran Scrolls." "Josephus und die Zukunftserwartungen seines Volkes." "The Use of ho Christos in the Passion Narrative." "The

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Use of the Expression ho Christos in the Apocalypse of John." "The Earliest Christian Use of Christos:Some Suggestions." "Jesus' Death for Others and the Death of the Maccabean Martyrs." "Jesus, Son of David and Son of God." "The Main Issues, in the Study of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "The Future of Israel in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "Levi, the Sons of Levi and the Law, in Testament Levi X, XIV-XV and XVI." "Two Messiahs in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs?""Hippolytus' 'Benediction of Isaac, Jacob and Moses' and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "Two Interesting Interpretations of the Rending of the Temple-Veil in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Christian and Jewish. A Hundred Years After Friedrich Schnapp." "The Testament of Levi and 'Aramaic Levi."' "The Pre-Mosaic Servants of God in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and in the Writings of Justin and Irenaeus." "Die Pardnese in den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und in den Testamenten der Zwolf Patriarchen" "Test. Benjamin 3:8 and the Picture of Joseph as 'a Good and Holy Man.'" "Rachel's Virtuous Behavior in the Testament of Issachar." "A Bibliography of the Writings of Marinus de Jonge, 1953-1990" (compiled by H. J. de Jonge). Norman L. Kleeblatt and Susan Chevlowe, eds. Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900-1945. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. 208 pp. CONTENTS: Irving Howe, "'Americanizing' the Greenhorns." Milton W. Brown, "An Explosion of Creativity: Jews and American Art in the Twentieth Century." Matthew Baigell, "From Hester Street to Fifty-seventh Street: Jewish-American Artists in New York." Norman L. Kleeblatt and Susan Chevlowe, "Painting a Place in America." Emanuel Melzer and David Engel, eds. Gal-Ed: On the History of the Jews in Poland. Publications of the Diaspora Research Institute, 83. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1991. 154 pp (English), 232 pp. (Hebrew). CONTENTS: Hanna Wegrzynek, "On the History of the Jews of Przemy'l in the 15th Century." Miri Freilich, "Assimilationists and Assimilation in the Polish Freethinkers." Bina Garncarska-Kadary, "The Po'calei Zion Left Party in the Municipal Councils in Poland, 1919-1929." Andrzej Garlicki

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383

and Laurence Weinbaum, "The Zionist Revisionists, the Sanacja Regime, and the Polish Press, 1936-1939." Andrzej Bryk, "Polish Society Today and the Memory of the Holocaust." Michael C. Steinlauf, "Whose Poland? Returning to Aleksander Hertz." Moshe Altbauer, "Aspects of the Life of Avraham Ezofowicz, Treasury Minister of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Days of Zygmunt I. Jagiello-A Historical-Philological Sketch." Juliusz Bardach, "Jews in the Princely Domain of Birze in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries." Yisrael Oppenheim, "On Hasidic Leadership in Galicia: The Thought and Practice of Rebbe Tsvi Hirsch of Zydacz6w." Aleksander Guttermann, "Three Generations of Warsaw Assimilationists and Their Attitudes Towards Conversion, 1820-1918." Shlomo Netzer, "The Politics of the Jewish Parliamentary Caucus (Kolo) in Poland, 1924." Felicja Karai, "Social and Cultural Activities of Prisoners in the Jewish Labour Camp at Skarzysko-Kamienna." Yosef Litvak, "Emil Sommerstein's Life and Public Activities in the Soviet Union During World War II." Ruth Shenfeld, "The Image of the Jew in Contemporary Polish Literature." Paul Mendes-Flohr. Divided Passions: Jewish Intellectuals and the Experience of Modernity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 450 pp. "The Study of the Jewish Intellectual: A Methodological ProCONTENTS: legomenon." "Jewish Continuity in an Age of Discontinuity." "The Throes of Assimilation: Self-Hatred and the Jewish Revolutionary." "Fin de Si6cle Orientalism, the Ostjuden, and the Aesthetics of Jewish Self-Affirmation." "Ambivalent Dialogue: Jewish-Christian Theological Encounter in the Weimar Republic." "Realpolitik or Ethical Nationalism?" "Nationalism as a Spiritual Sensibility: The Philosophical Suppositions of Buber's Hebrew Humanism." "The Politics of Covenantal Responsibility: Martin Buber and Hebrew Humanism." "Martin Buber and the Metaphysicians of Contempt." "Martin Buber's Conception of God." Rosenzweig and Kant: Two Views of Ritual and Religion." "Franz Rosenzweig and the Crisis of Historicism." "Law and Sacrament: Ritual Observance in Twentieth-Century Jewish Thought." "'To Brush Against the Grain': The Eschatology of the Frankfort School and Ernst Bloch." "The Appeal of the Incorrigible Idealist: Judah L. Magnes and the Mandarins of Jerusalem." "The Jew as Cosmopolitan." "Between Existentialism and Zionism: A Non-Philippic Credo."

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STUDIES COLLECTED

Leon Nemoy and Vera B. Moreen, eds. Tarir: A Volumeof Occasional Papers in Near Eastern Studies. Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1990. 129 p. CONTENTS: David Ayalon, "BalhriMamlfiks, Burji Mamlfiks-Inadequate Names for Two Reigns of the Mamlfik Sultanate." Amnon Cohen, "Gold and Silver Crafting in Ottoman Jerusalem: The Role Played by the Guild." Samuel Noah Kramer, "Distant Echoes in the Book of Psalms: Gleanings from Sumerian Literature." Amy Singer, "Tapu TahrirDefterleri and Kadi Sicilleri: A Happy Marriage of Sources." Moses Rischin and John Livingston, eds. Jews of the American West. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 226 pp. Moses Rischin, "The Jewish Experience in America: A View CONTENTS: from the West." Marc Lee Raphael, "Beyond New York: The Challenge to Local History." Robert A. Goldberg, "Zion in Utah: The Clarion Colony and Jewish Agrarianism." Jeanne Abrams, "Chasing the Cure in Colorado: The Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society." Fred Rosenbaum, "Zionism versus Anti-Zionism: The State of Israel Comes to San Francisco." Leonard Dinnerstein, "From Desert Oasis to the Desert Caucus: The Jews of Tucson." William Toll, "Intermarriage and the Urban West: A Religious Context for Cultural Change." Earl Pomeroy, "On Becoming a Westerner: Immigrants and Other Migrants." Ira Robinson, Pierre Anctil, and Mervin Butovsky, eds. An EverydayMiracle: Yiddish Culture in Montreal. Quebec: Vehicule Press, 1990. 169 pp. David G. Roskies,"Yiddish in Montreal: The Utopian ExperiCONTENTS: ment." Zachary M. Baker, "Montreal of Yesterday: A Snapshot of Jewish Life in Montreal During the Era of Mass Immigration." Ode Garfinkel and Mervin Butovsky, "The Journal of Yaakov Zipper, 1925-1926." Pierre Anctil, "H. M. Caiserman: Yiddish as a Passion." Ira Robinson, "'A Letter from the Sabbath Queen': Rabbi Yudel Rosenberg Addresses Montreal Jewry." Shari Cooper Friedman, "Between Two Worlds: The Works of J. I. Segal." Irving Massy, "Public Lives in Private: Ida Maze and the Montreal Yiddish Renaissance."

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385

Jonathan Sacks. ed. Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav Publishing House, 1991. 148 pp. Jonathan Sacks, "Introduction." David Hartman, "Judaism in a Secular Society." Reuven P. Bulka, "The Future of Modern Orthodoxy." Norman Lamm, "Centrist Orthodox Judaism and Moderationism: Definitions and Desiderata." Michael Rosenak, "Toward a Curriculum for the Modern Orthodox School." Emmanuel Feldman, "The Rabbinate: Problems and Prospects." Shlomo Riskin, "Women and Judaism: The Key Issues." J. David Bleich, "Orthodoxy and the Non-Orthodox." Charles Liebman, "Relations Between Orthodox and Non-Orthodox in Israel." Nachum Rabinovitch, "On Religion and Politics in Israel." Jonathan Sacks, "Epilogue." CONTENTS:

Hershel Shanks, James C. Vanderkam, P. Kyle McCarter, and James A. Sanders. The Dead Sea Scrolls: After Forty Years.Symposium at the Smithsonian Intstitution, October 27, 1990. Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeological Society, 1991. x, 85 pp. Hershel Shanks, "The Excitement Lasts: An Overview." James C. Vanderkam, "Implications for the History of Judaism and Christianity." P. Kyle McCarter, "The Mystery of the Copper Scroll." James A. Sanders, "Understanding the Development of the Biblical Text."

CONTENTS:

Lawrence H. Schiffman, ed. Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 8. JSOT/ASOR Monographs 2. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990. 296 pp. Joseph M. Baumgarten, "The Qumran-Essene Restraints on John J. Collins, "Was the Dead Sea Sect an Apocalyptic MoveMarriage." ment?" Baruch A. Levine, "A Further Look at the Mo'adim of the Temple Scroll." Johann Maier, "The Temple Scroll and Tendencies in the Cultic Architecture of the Second Commonwealth." Jacob Milgrom, "The Scriptural Foundations and Deviations in the Law of Purity of the Temple Scroll." Carol Newsom, "'He Has Established for Himself Priests': Human and Angelic Priesthood in the Qumran Sabbath Shirot." Elisha Qimron, CONTENTS:

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"The Need for a Comprehensive Critical Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls." James H. Charlesworth, "Appendix: Concerning the New Comprehensive Edition of Previously Published Qumran Documents." Lawrence H. Schiffman, "The Impurity of the Dead in the TempleScroll." Daniel R. Schwartz, "On Two Aspects of a Priestly View of Descent at Qumran." Morton Smith, "Ascent to the Heavens and Deification in 4QMa." Hartmut Stegemann, "Methods for the Reconstruction of Scrolls from the Scattered Fragments." John Strugnell, "Moses-Pseudepigrapha at Qumran: 4Q375, 4Q376, and Similar Works." Ben Zion Wacholder, "The Ancient Judaeo-Aramaic Literature (500-165 BCE):A Classification of Pre-Qumranic Texts." Zvi Sobel and Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, eds. Tradition,Innovation, Conflict: Jewishness and Judaism in ContemporaryIsrael. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. vii, 316 pp. CONTENTS: Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi and Zvi Sobel, "Introduction." Zvi

Sobel, "Conflict and the Communitas: The Interplay of Religion, Ethnicity, and Community in a Galilee Village." Yoram Bilu, "Personal Motivation and Social Meaning in the Revival of Hagiolatric Traditions among Moroccan Jews in Israel." Henry Abramovitch, "The Jerusalem Funeral as a Microcosm of the 'Mismeeting' between Religious and Secular Israelis." Mordecai Bar-Lev, "Tradition and Innovation in Jewish Religious Education in Israel." Ephraim Taboray, "The Identity Dilemma of NonOrthodox Religious Movements: Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel." Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, "Back to the Fold: The Return to Judaism." William Shaffir, "Conversion Experiences to and Defectors from Orthodox Judaism (hozrim betshuvah and hozrim beshe'elah)." Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, "Judaism and the New Religions in Israel, 1970-1990." Leonard Weller, "Effects of Religiosity on Attitudes and Behavior." Peri Kedem, "Dimensions of Jewish Religiosity in Israel." Hanna Ayalon, Eliezer Ben-Rafael, and Stephen Sharot, "Religious, Ethnic, and Class Divisions in Israel: Convergent or Cross Cutting?" Sasson Somekh, ed. Studies in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Poetics. Israel Oriental Studies 11. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. Andras Hamori, "Some Schemes of Reading in al-Marzfqi, AlCONTENTS: and Fahr Al-Din Al-Rizi." George Kanazi, "The Literary Theory Iskafi,

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387

of Abil Hilkl al-'Askari." Mattitiahu Peled, "On the Concept of Literary Influence in Classical Arabic Criticism." Khalil Athamina, "Lafr in Classical Poetry." Joseph Sadan, "Maidens' Hair and Starry Skies." David Semach, "Poetry and Its Audience According to Medieval Arab Poeticians." Albert Arazi, "M6trique et Langage Po6tique." David Gil, "The Muwai`aib."Jacqueline Genot-Bismuth, "La Revolution Prosodique d'Immanuel de Rome." M. E. Stone. Selected Studies in Pseudepigraphaand Apocrypha: With Special Reference to the Armenian Tradition.Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. x, 473 pp. CONTENTS:"Jewish Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Church." "The

History of the Forefathers, Adam and His Sons and Grandsons." "Report on Seth Traditions in the Armenian Adam Books." "Three Armenian Accounts of the Death of Moses." "Concerning the Penitence of Solomon." "Some Observations on the Armenian Version of the Paralipomena of Jeremiah." "An Armenian Tradition Relating to the Death of the Three Companions of Daniel." "Concerning the Seventy-two Translators: Armenian Fragments of Epiphanius' 'On Weights and Measures.'" "The Testaments of Jacob." "Two Additional Notes on the Testament of Jacob." "Methodological Issues in the Study of the Text of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha." "New Evidence for the Armenian Version of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "The Epitome of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs." "The Book of Enoch and Judaism in the Third Century B.C.E." "The Enochic Pentateuch and the Date of the Similitudes" (with J. C. Greenfield). "The Books of Enoch and the Traditions of Enoch" (with J. C. Greenfield). "Remarks on the Aramaic Testament of Levi from the Geniza" (with J. C. Greenfield). "Enoch, Aramaic Levi and Sectarian Origins." "Ideal Figures and Social Context: Priest and Sage in the Early Second Temple Age." "Some Remarks on the Textual Criticism of IV Ezra." "Some Features of the Armenian Version of IV Ezra." "Manuscripts and Reading of Armenian IV Ezra." "A New Manuscript of the Syro-Arabic Version of the Fourth Book of Ezra." "Paradise in IV Ezra iv. 8, and vii. 36, viii. 52." "The Question of the Messiah in 4 Ezra." "Coherence and Inconsistency in the Apocalypses: The Case of 'The End' in 4 Ezra." "The Way of the Most High and the Injustice of God in 4 Ezra." "The Metamorphosis of Ezra: Jewish Apocalypse and Medieval Vision." "Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature." "Apocalyptic-Vision or Hallucination?" "Reac-

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tions to the Destruction of the Second Temple." "Three Transformations in Judaism: Scripture, History and Redemption." "The Parabolic Use of Natural Order in Judaism of the Second Temple Age." "Bibliography of M. E. Stone." Alan Udoff, ed. Leo Strauss's Thought: Toward a Critical Engagement. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991. vii, 327 pp. Alan Udoff, "On Leo Strauss: An Introductory Account." CONTENTS: David Biale, "Leo Strauss: The Philosopher as Weimar Jew." Kenneth Hart Green, "'In the Grip of the Theological-Political Predicament': The Turn to Maimonides in the Jewish Thought of Leo Strauss." Alfred L. Ivry, "Leo Strauss and Maimonides." Remi Brague, "Leo Strauss and Maimonides." Thomas Prufer, "Juxtapositions: Aristotle, Aquinas, Strauss." David R. Lachterman, "Laying Down the Law: The Theological-Political Matrix of Spinoza's Physics." Stanley Rosen, "Leo Strauss and the Quarrel Between the Ancients and the Moderns." Laurence Berns, "The Prescientific World and Historicism: Some Reflections on Strauss, Heidegger, and Husserl." Eve Adler, "Leo Strauss's Philosophieund Gesetz." Richard H. Kennington, "Strauss's Natural Right and History." Diskin Clay, "On a Forgotten Kind of Reading." Paul A. Cantor, "Leo Strauss and Contemporary Hermeneutics."

Books Received Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 389-400 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486982 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:21 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].



BOOKSRECEIVED Alexander, Philip S., ed. Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism. Textual Sources for the Study of Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. x, 198 pp. Alter, Robert. Necessary Angels: Traditionand Modernity in Kafka, Benjamin, and Scholem. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991. xv, 131 pp. Anckaert, L., and B. Casper. Franz Rosenzweig: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography. Instrumenta Theologica, vol. 7, Louvain: Bibliotheek van de Faculteit der Godeleerdheid van de K. U. Leuven, 1990. 106 pp. Anderson, George K. The Legend of the WanderingJew. 3rd printing. Hanover, N.H.: Brown University Press, 1991. 489 pp. Attias, Jean-Christophe. Le commentaire biblique Mordekhai Komtino ou I'hermineutiquedu dialogue. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1991. 204 pp. Avni, Haim. Argentina and the Jews: A History of Jewish Immigration. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1991. xii, 267 pp. Barnouw, Dagmar. Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience. Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. xii, 319 pp. Baskin, Judith, ed. Jewish Womenin Historical Perspective. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 300 pp. Beasley, James R., Clyde E. Fant, E. Earl Joiner, Donald W. Musser, and Mitchell G. Reddish. An Introductionto the Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991. 496 pp. Bergman, Shmuel Hugo. Dialogical Philosophyfrom Kierkegaard to Buber. Translated by Arnold A. Gerstein. New York: State University of New York Press, 1991. xvi. 257 pp. Bergmann, Martin, and Milton E. Jucovy, eds. Generationsof the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. xix, 356 pp. 389

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BOOK RECEIVED

Berlin, Adele. Biblical Poetry ThroughMedieval Jewish Eyes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. xvii, 205 pp. Bernasconi, Robert, and Simon Critchley, eds. Re-Reading Levinas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1991. xviii, 252 pp. Bialer, Uri. Between East and West: Israel's Foreign Policy Orientation, 1948-1956. LSE Monographs in International Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. x, 292 pp. Boccaccini, Gabriele. Middle Judaism. Jewish Thought, 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991. xvii, 289 pp. Brann, Ross. The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain. Johns Hopkins Jewish Studies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. xiii, 228 pp. Campbell, Antony F. The Study Companionto Old TestamentLiterature. An Approach to the Writingsof Pre-Exilic and Exilic Israel. Old Testament Studies, vol. 2. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1989. viii, 504 pp. Chill, Abraham. Abrabanel on Pirke Avot. New York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1991. 503 pp. Cobban, Helena. The Superpowers and the Syrian-Israeli Conflict. New York: Praeger, 1991. xxii, 182 pp. Cohen, Derek, and Deborah Heller, eds. Jewish Presences in English Literature. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. 142 pp. Cohen, Gerson D. Studies in the Variety of Rabbinic Cultures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. xvii, 332 pp. Cohen, J. Simcha. Timely Jewish Questions, Timeless Jewish Answers. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1991. xi, 364 pp. Cohen, Naomi, ed. Essential Papers on Jewish-Christian Relations in the United States: Imagery and Reality. New York: New York University Press, 1990. x, 377 pp. Cohen, Robert. Jews in Another Environment:Surinam in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xv, 350 pp. Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Holocaust Theology. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, Lamp Press, 1991. xii, 132 pp. Coles, Robert. The Spiritual Life of Children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990. xix, 358 pp. Colin, Amy. Paul Celan: Holograms of Darkness. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. xxviii, 211 pp. Coote, Robert B. Early Israel: A New Horizon. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. ix, 197 pp.

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Cornfield, Giveon. Zion Liberated: The Life and Times of Max Seligman, C.B.E.; Defender of Jewish UndergroundFighters in the British Military Courts; Jewish Nation-Building Under the British Mandate in Palestine. Malibu, Calif.: Joseph Simon Pangloss Press, 1990. viii, 264 pp. Covitz, Joel. Visions of the Night: A Study of Jewish Dream Interpretation. Boston: Shambhala, 1990. xii, 149 pp. Dafni, Reuven, and Yehudit Kleiman, eds. Final Lettersfrom Victims of the Holocaust. New York: Paragon House, 1991. 128 pp. Davis, Moshe, and Yehoshua Ben-Arieh, eds. With Eyes TowardZion. Vol. 3: WesternSocieties and the Holy Land. New York: Praeger, 1991. xiv, 275 pp. de Jonge, Marinus. Jewish Eschatology, Early Christian Christologyand the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: Collected Essays of Marinus de Jonge. Supplements to Novum Testamentum, vol. 63. Leiden: E. J. Brill, xix, 342 pp. Diller, Jerry Victor. Freud's Jewish Identity: A Case Study in the Impact of Ethnicity. Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1991. 243 pp. D6blin, Alfred. Journey to Poland. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Edited by Heinz Graber. European Sources Series. New York: Paragon House, 1991. xxviii, 274 pp. Dorin, Pinchas. Interpretation of Difficult Passages in Rashi. Part 3: Numbers. New York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1990. 328 pp. (Hebrew). Dorsey, David. The Roads and Highways of Ancient Israel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. xviii, 300 pp. Drazin, Israel. Targum Onkelos to Exodus: An English Translation of the Text with Analysis and Commentary. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav Publishing House, 1990. xiii, 383 pp. Ehrman, Aaron, ed. The Passover Haggadah. Petah Tikva: Mouth and Foot Paintings Artists of Israel, 1990. 78 pp. Elkin, Judith Laikin, and Ana Lya Sater, eds. Latin American Jewish Studies: An Annotated Guide to the Literature. Bibliographies and Indexes in Ethnic Studies, no. 4. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. xxiv, 239 pp. Eskenazi, Tamara C., Daniel J. Harrington, and Willian H. Shea, eds. The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions.New York: Crossroad, 1991. xvi, 272 pp. Falk, Marcia. The Song of Songs: A New Translationand Interpretation.San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1990. xviii, 213 pp.

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Finkel, Avraham Yaakov. The Responsa Anthology. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1990, xxii, 209 pp. Fishbane, Simcha. The Method and Meaning of the Mishnah Berurah.Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav Publishing House, 1991. 183 pp. Fisher, Eugene J., and Leon Klenicki, eds. In Our Time: The Flowering of Jewish-Catholic Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1990. vi, 161 pp. Fox, Everett. Genesis and Exodus: A New English Rendition. New York: Schocken Books, 1990. xxxvii, 458 pp. Frankel, William, and Antony Lerman, eds. Survey of Jewish Affairs, 1990. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990. xii, 303 pp. Frankiel, Tamar. The Voice of Sarah: Feminine Spirituality & Traditional Judaism. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco 1990. xv, 140 pp. Friedman, Lawrence S. UnderstandingCynthia Ozick. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991. 182 pp. Friedman, Maurice. Encounteron the Narrow Ridge: A Life of Martin Buber. New York: Paragon House, 1991. xi, 496 pp. Gellately, Robert. The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy, 1933-1945. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. xvii, 297 pp. Gerber, Barbara. Jud Saiss:Aufstieg und Fall im friihen 18. Jahrhundert:Ein Beitrag zur historischenAntisemitismus-und Rezeptionsforschung.Hamburger Beitrdigezur Geschichte der deutschen Juden. Hamburg: Hans Christians Verlag, 1990. 754 pp. Glinert, Lewis. The Grammar of Modern Hebrew. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. xxviii, 580 pp. Goldenberg, David M., ed. Translationof Scripture: Proceedings of a Conference at the AnnenbergResearch Institute, May 15-16, 1989. Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1990. vi, 285 pp. Goldsmith, Emanuel S., and Mel Scult, eds. Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan. New York: Fordham University Press, 1991. 263 pp. and Robert M. Seltzer, eds. The American Judaism of Mordecai M. -----, Kaplan. New York: New York University Press, 1990, xviii, 460 pp. Goldstein, Bernard R., and David Pingree. Levi ben Gerson's Prognostication for the Conjunction, of 1345. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 80, pt. 6. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990. 60 pp. Goshen-Gottstein, M., S. Morag, and S. Kogut, eds., Studies on Hebrew and Other Semitic Languages Presented to Professor Chaim Rabin on the

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393

Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday. Jerusalem: Academon Press, 1990. xxxii, 442 pp. (Hebrew). Green, Henry Alan, and Marcia Kerstein Zerivitz, eds. Jewish Life in Florida: A Docmentary Exhibitfrom 1763 to the Present. Coral Gables, Fla.: Mosaic, 1991. 80 pp. Grossman, Barbara W. Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. xiv, 287 pp. Govrin, Nurit. Brenner: "Nonplussed" and Mentor. Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defense, 1991. 334 pp. (Hebrew). Halivni, David Weiss. Peshat and Derash: Plain and Applied Meaning in Rabbinic Exegesis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. xii, 249 PP. Harms, Kathy, Lutz R. Reuter, and Volker Dilrr, eds. Coping with the Past: Germany and Austria after 1945. Monatshefte Occasional Volume 10. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. 269 pp. Harris, Jay M. Nachman Krochmal: Guiding the Perplexed of the Modern Age. New York: New York University Press, 1991. xvi, 336 pp. Hoffman, Anne Golomb. Between Exile and Return: S. Y. Agnon and the Drama of Writing.SUNY Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. ix, 236 pp. Hoftijzer, J., and G. Van Der Kooij, eds. The Balaam Textfrom Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21-24 August 1989. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xi, 324 pp. Hundert, Gershon David, ed. Essential Papers on Hasidism: Origins to Present. New York: New York University Press, 1991. xi, 324 pp. Hyman, Paula. The Emancipation of the Jews of Alsace: Acculturation and Traditionin the Nineteenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. vii, 214 pp. loanid, Radu. The Sword of the Archangel: Facist Ideology in Romania. Boulder: East European Monographs, 1990. iv, 323 pp.; 33 plates. Jewish Law Annual, vol. 9. Edited by Bernard Jackson. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991. 300 pp. Kabakoff, Jacob. Naphtali Herz Imber "Baal Hatikvah". Lod: Habermann Institute for Literary Research, 1991. 231 pp. (Hebrew). Kampf, Avram, Chagall to Kitaj: Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990. 206 pp. Kaufman, Menahem. An Ambiguous Partnership:Non Zionists and Zionists in America, 1939-1948. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991. 418 pp.

394

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Kellner, Menachem. Maimonides on Judaism and the Jewish People. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. xii, 168 pp. Khan, Geoffrey. Karaite Bible Manuscriptsfrom the Cairo Genizah. Cambridge University Library Genizah Series 9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. xv, 202 pp. Kleeblatt, Norman L., and Susan Chevlowe, eds. Painting a Place in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. 208 pp. Klingenstein, Susanne. Jews in the American Academy, 1900-1940: The Dynamics of Intellectual Assimilation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. xxii, 248 pp. Koehler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. Hebrdisches und Aramdisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament.Dritte Auflage neubearbeitet von Johann Jakob Stamm, unter mitarbeit von Ze'ev Ben-Hayyim, Benedikt Hartmann, und Philippe H. Reymond. Lieferung IV. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990. 579 pp. Kremer, S. Lillian. Witness Throughthe Imagination:Jewish American Holocaust Literature. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989. 392 pp. Kugel, James L. In Potiphar's House. The InterpretiveLife of Biblical Texts. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1990. 286 pp. On Being a Jew: What Does It Mean to Be a Jew? San Francisco: .. Harper San Francisco, 1990. 191 pp. Langer, Lawrence L. Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. xix, 216 pp. Langmuir, Gavin I. Towarda Definition of Antisemitism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. x, 417 pp. Levin, Nora. Paradox of Survival:The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917. 2 vols. New York: New York University Press, 1990. xxxiv, 1013 pp. Levine, Elizabeth Resnick, ed. A Ceremonies Sampler: New Rites, Celebrations, and Observances of Jewish Women. San Diego: Woman's Institute for Continuing Jewish Education, 1991. ix, 127 pp. Levine, Hillel. Economic Origins of Antisemitism.:Poland and Its Jews in the Early Modern Period. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. xiii, 271 PP. Levine, Lee I. The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquity. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi; New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1989. 223 pp. McCarthy, Justin. The Population of Palestine: Population Statistics of the

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395

Late Ottoman Period and the Mandate. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. xix, 242 pp. Maccoby, Hyam. Paul and Hellenism. London: SCM Press, 1991. x, 222 pp. McEvenue, Sean. Interpretingthe Pentateuch. Old Testament Studies, vol. 4. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1990. 194 pp. McKenzie, Steven L. The Trouble with Kings: The Composition of the Book of Kings in the DeuteronomisticHistory. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xii, 186 PP. McKnight, Scott. A Light Among the Gentiles:Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second TemplePeriod. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991. x, 205 pp. Mansfield, Peter. A History of the Middle East. New York: Penguin Viking Books, 1991. 373 pp. Marcus, Jacob Rader. This I Believe: Documents of American Jewish Life. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1990. xxi, 277 pp. . United States Jewry, 1776-1985. Vol. 1. Detroit: Wayne State Uni-versity Press, 1989. 820 pp. . United States Jewry, 1776-1985, Vol. 2. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 419 pp. Marks, Cara Goldberg. The Handbook of Hebrew Calligraphy. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1990. xiii, 191 pp. Mason, Steve. Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees. Studia Post-Biblica, vol. 39. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. xv, 424 pp. Mason, Rex. Preaching the Tradition: Homily and Hermeneutics after the Exile. Based on the 'Addresses'in Chronicles, the 'Speeches' in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah and the Post-exilic Prophetic Books. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ix, 325 pp. Melzer, Emanuel, and David Engel, eds. Gal-Ed: On the History of the Jews in Poland. Publications of the Diaspora Research Institute, vol. 83. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1991. 154 pp. (English), 232 pp. (Hebrew). Mendelsohn, Samuel. The Criminal Jurisprudenceof the Jews. With a new introduction by Irwin H. Haut. New York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1991. xi, 270 pp. Mendes-Flohr, Paul. Divided Passions: Jewish Intellectuals and the Experience of Modernity. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 449 pp. Millu, Liana. Smoke Over Birkenau. Translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. 202 pp. Morell, Samuel. Precedent and Judicial Discretion. South Florida Studies in

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the History of Judaism26. Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1991. xii, 213 pp. Murtonen, A. Hebrew in Its West Semitic Setting: A ComparativeSurvey of Non-Masoretic Hebrew Dialects and Traditions. Pt. 2: Phonetics and Phonology. Pt. 3: Morphosyntactics. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990. xi, 177

pp; xxxix, 172 pp; ComprehensiveSynopsis: 19 pp.; Appendices:105 PP. Nemoy, Leon, and Vera B. Moreen., eds. Tarib: A Volume of Occasional Papers in Near Eastern Studies. Philadelphia: Annenberg Research

Institute, 1990. 129 pp. Neusner, Jacob. ConfrontingCreation: How Judaism Reads Genesis. Colum-

bia: Universityof South CarolinaPress, 1991. xii, 385 pp. Judaism as Philosophy: The Method and the Message of the Mishnah.

--.

Columbia:Universityof South CarolinaPress, 1991. xvi, 301 pp. . The Mishnah: A New Translation. Paperback ed. New Haven: Yale

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The Talmud:A Close Encounter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991.

xi, 186 pp. -".

Uniting the Dual Torah:Sifra and the Problem of the Mishnah. Cam-

bridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1990. xii, 233 pp. Nickelsburg,GeorgeW. E., and MichaelE. Stone. FaithandPiety in Early Judaism: Texts and Documents. Philadelphia: Trinity Press Internation-

al, 1991. xxi, 234 pp. Overman, J. Andrew. Matthew's Gospel and FormativeJudaism: The Social World of the Matthean Community. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

ix, 174 pp. Oz, Amos. To Know a Woman.Translatedby Nicholas de Lange. San Diego: HarcourtBraceJovanovich, 1991. 262 pp. Paul, Shalom M. Amos: A Commentaryon the Book of Amos. Hermenia: A

Criticaland HistoricalCommentaryon the Bible. Minneapolis:Fortress Press, 1991. xxvii, 409 pp. Penslar, Derek J. Zionism and Technocracy: The Engineering of Jewish Settlement in Palestine, 1870-1918. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, xiii, 210 pp. Piscatori, James, ed. Islamic Fundamentalismand the Gulf Crisis. Funda-

mentalismProject.Boston: AmericanAcademyof Arts and Sciences, 1991.xvii,267pp. Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Per-

spective.San Francisco:HarperSan Francisco, 1991. xxi, 281 pp.

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397

Provan, Ian W. Lamentations. New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1991. xviii, 142 pp. von Rad, Gerhard. Holy War in Ancient Israel, Translated by Marva J. Dawn. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1991. vii, 166 pp. Rapoport, Yakov. The Doctors' Plot of 1953: A Survivor'sMemoir of Stalin's Last Act of TerrorAgainst Jews and Science. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991. viii, 280 pp. Ravin, Dan, and Yossi Melman. Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community.Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. xii, 473 pp. Richarz, Monika, ed. Jewish Life in Germany:Memoirsfrom Three Centuries. Translated by Stella P. Rosenfeld and Sidney Rosenfeld. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. x, 484 pp. Rischin, Moses, and John Livingston, eds. Jews of the American West. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991. 226 pp. Ritmeyer, Kathleen, and Leon Ritmeyer. Reconstructing Herod's Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1990. 34 pp. Ro'i, Yaacov. The Struggle for Soviet Jewish Emigration, 1948-1967, Soviet and East European Studies 75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. xvii, 458 pp. Roberts, J. J. M. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah:A Commentary.Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991. 223 pp. Robinson, Ira, Pierre Anctil, and Mervin Butovsky, eds. An EverydayMiracle: Yiddish Culture in Montreal. Montreal: V6hicule Press, 1990. 169 PP. Rooker, Mark F. Biblical Hebrew in Transition: The Language of the Book of Ezekiel. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 90. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990. x, 222 p. Rosman, M. J. The Lord's Jews: Magnate-Jewish Relations in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth During the 18th Century. Harvard Judaic Texts and Studies 7. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1990. xv, 256 pp. Rosner, Menachem, Itzhak Ben David, Alexander Avnat, Neni Cohen, and Uri Leviatan. The Second Generation:Continuityand Change in the Kibbutz. Kibbutz Studies Series, no. 2. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. x, 463 pp. Rubin, Steven J. Writing Our Lives: Autobiographies of American Jews,

398

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1890-1990. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. xxvi, 347 Pp. Sabar, Yona. The Book of Leviticus in Neo-Aramaic in the Dialect of the Jewish Community of Zakho. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1990. 149 pp. (Hebrew). Sacks, Jonathan, ed. Orthodoxy ConfrontsModernity. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav Publishing House, 1991. 148 pp. Sasson, Jack M. Jonah: A New Translationwith Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretations. Anchor Bible 24B. New York: Doubleday, 1990. xvi, 368 pp. Scheindlin, Raymond P. The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew Poems of God, Israel, and the Soul. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1991. xi, 274 pp. Schiffman, Lawrence H., ed. Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 8. JSOT/ASOR Monographs 2. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990. 296 pp. From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple & Rabbinic .. Judaism. Hoboken, N.J.: Ktav Publishing House, 1991. xvi, 299 pp. Scholem, Gershom. On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead:Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Schocken Books, 1991. 328 pp. Schwartz, Shuly Rubin. The Emergence of Jewish Scholarship in America: The Publication of the "Jewish Encyclopedia." Monographs of the Hebrew Union College 13. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1991. xii, 235 pp. Seeskin, Kenneth. Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed. West Orange, N.J.: Behrman House, 1991. xvii, 141 pp. Shanks, Hershel, James C. Vanderkam, P. Kyle McCarter, and James A. Sanders. The Dead Sea Scrolls: After Forty Years. Symposium at the Smithsonian Institution, October 27, 1990. Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991. x, 85 pp. Sharkansky, Ira. Ancient and Modern Israel: An Explorationof Political Parallels. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. xi, 194 pp. Sichrovsky, Peter. Abraham's Children. Israel's Young Generation. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. ix, 197 pp. Silberstein, Laurence J. Martin Buber'sSocial and Religious Thought:Alienation and the Quest for Meaning. New York: New York University Press, 1989. xviii, 358 pp.

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399

Simon, Uriel. Four Approachesto the Book of Psalms: From Saadiah Gaon to Abraham Ibn Ezra. Translated by Lenn J. Schramm. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. xii, 364 pp. Simonsohn, Shlomo. The Apostolic See and the Jews: History. Studies and Texts 109. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1991. x, 469 pp. . The Apostolic See and the Jews: Addenda, Corrigenda,Bibliography . and Indexes. Studies and Texts 110. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1991. 176 pp. Sobel, Zvi, and Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, eds. Tradition, Innovation, Conflict: Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Israel. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. 316 pp. Somekh, Sasson, ed. Studies in Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Poetics. Israel Oriental Studies 11. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. 186 pp. Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. 1: My Father Bleeds History. 2: And Here My TroublesBegan. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. 159, 136 pp. Stein, Andre, ed. Quiet Heroes: TrueStories of the Rescue of Jews by Christians in Nazi-Occupied Holland. New York: New York University Press, 1988. vi, 311 pp. Steinmetz, Devora. From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuityin Genesis. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991. 214 pp. Stern, Steve. Harry Kaplan's Adventures Underground.New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1991. 310 pp. Stone, Michael E. Selected Studies in Pseudepigraphaand Apocrypha. With Special Jeference to the Armenian Tradition.Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991. vi, 473 pp. Strack, H. L., and G. Stemberger. Introductionto the Talmudand Midrash. Translated by Markus Bockmuehl. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 191. viii, 472 pp. Tec, Nechama. In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. x, 279 pp. Tel Aviv Review, vol. 3. Edited by Gabriel Moked. 1991. 469 pp. Udoff, Alan, ed. Leo Strauss's Thought: Toward a Critical Engagement. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991. vii, 327 pp. Valensi, Lucette, and Nathan Wachtel. Jewish Memories. Translated by Barbara Harshav. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. 351 pp. Westermann, Claus. The Parables of Jesus in the Light of the Old Testament.

400

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Translated and edited by Friedemann W. Golka and Alastair H. B. Logan. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990. vii, 211 pp. White, Hugh C. Narration and Discourse in the Book of Genesis.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. xiii, 312 pp. Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim. Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminableand Interminable. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991. xix, 159 pp. Zakovitch, Yair. Ruth: Introductionand Commentary. Miqra le-Yisrael-A Bible Commentary for Israel. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Am Oved and Magnes Press, 1990. viii, 124 pp. (Hebrew). Zenner, Walter P. Minorities in the Middle: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. xv, 224 pp. Ziskind, Jonathan R. John Selden on Jewish Marriage Law: The Uxor Hebraica. Leiden: E. J. Brill, xii, 537 pp. Zuckerman, Bruce. Job the Silent: A Study in Historical Counterpoint.New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. viii, 294 pp.

‫קיצור ל׳כד הקמח׳ מאת ר׳ שם טוב אבן שפרוט‬ Author(s): ‫דב שוורץ‬ Source: AJS Review, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 1-18 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1486983 . Accessed: 06/07/2011 13:21 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].



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Ajs Review, 1992, Part 2

Ajs Review, 1993, Part 1

AJS Review 17, 1 (Spring, 1992)

Ajs Review, 1995 No 2

Ajs Review, 1984 No 2

AJS REVIEW - VOLUME THREE

Ajs Review 1986: Fall, No 2

Ajs Review, Fall 1990

Ajs Review, Spring 1990

Ajs Review, 1988: Nos 1 and 2

AJS Review 1985: Fall, No 2

Ajs Review, Fall 1989, No 2

Ajs Review 1987: Fall, No 2

AJS Review: Vol. XXI, No. 2, 1996

Ajs Review, Volume Four (1979)

Ajs Review, Volume Two, 1977

Ajs Review: Spring, No 1

Ajs Review 1987: Spring, No 1

AJS Review: Vol. XXI, No. 1, 1996

Ajs Review 1986: Spring, No 1

AJS Review 1985: Spring, No. 1

Ajs Review 1995: Fall, No 1

AJSreview AJS Review (1980 Volume 5)

AJS Review Volume Seven-Eight 1982-1983

Буддизм Росси №2 (1992)

The Red Line part 01 1989-1992

The Red Line part 01 1989-1992

1992

1992)

1992

AJS REVIEW. VOL. 6. 1981. VI ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES

Ajs Review, 1992, Part 2

Ajs Review, 1993, Part 1

AJS Review 17, 1 (Spring, 1992)

Ajs Review, 1995 No 2

Ajs Review, 1984 No 2

AJS REVIEW - VOLUME THREE

Ajs Review 1986: Fall, No 2

Ajs Review, Fall 1990

Ajs Review, Spring 1990

Ajs Review, 1988: Nos 1 and 2

AJS Review 1985: Fall, No 2

Ajs Review, Fall 1989, No 2

Ajs Review 1987: Fall, No 2

AJS Review: Vol. XXI, No. 2, 1996

Ajs Review, Volume Four (1979)

Ajs Review, Volume Two, 1977

Ajs Review: Spring, No 1

Ajs Review 1987: Spring, No 1

AJS Review: Vol. XXI, No. 1, 1996

Ajs Review 1986: Spring, No 1

AJS Review 1985: Spring, No. 1

Ajs Review 1995: Fall, No 1

AJSreview AJS Review (1980 Volume 5)

AJS Review Volume Seven-Eight 1982-1983

Буддизм Росси №2 (1992)

The Red Line part 01 1989-1992

The Red Line part 01 1989-1992

1992

1992)

1992

AJS REVIEW. VOL. 6. 1981. VI ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES

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