History Commons^™

The Jews And Ius Commune, Kenneth Stow

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

From the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, there was a gradually increasing integration of Jews into systems of ius commune, loosely, the law of the land, but actually a legal tradition based on Roman law, which subsumed local law, usually called ius proprium. The integration might be purely theoretical or in fact, as certainly occurred in the papal state and it seems elsewhere in Italy, too. This legal integration prepared the way for the major legal upheaval worked by the French Revolution. The implications are many. The details mostly unresearched. The Tractatus de Iudaeis of Giuseppe Sessa (Turin, 1713) is the …

When The Indelible Sacrament Of Baptism Met Mercantile Raison D'Etat, Benjamin Ravid

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In theory, under almost all circumstances, once a Jew had been baptized, s/he became a Christian and any relapse constituted heresy and was liable to severe punishment, often by death. However, in the mid-sixteenth century the Papacy adopted a far more lenient policy out of considerations of commercial raison d' état and invited New Christian merchants to assume Judaism in Ancona with assurance of complete freedom from any persecution. At the same time, Venice expelled all Marranos from the city and forbade them to return. The papal attitude changed with the Counter-Reformation and former New Christians who had reverted to …

Trying Issues: Polish-Lithuanian Jews Under Multiple Jurisdictions, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The texts presented here highlight issues of multiple jurisdiction Jews were subjected to in early modern Poland-Lithuania

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Privilege for the Jews of Lwów (1692)
• Privilege for the Jews of the Przemyśl Region and Rus' (1660)

Jews At The Court Of The Kadi, Yaron Ben-Naeh

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

One of the most astonishing phenomena of Jewish life in the Ottoman state is the widespread appeal to the kadi's court - a muslim court. I intend to describe the frequency of this norm, against explicit regulations, and explain the motivation to use the kadi's services, as well as the reasons for the ban against it. I shall conclude with the social and cultural significance of this practice.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Mordechai Halevi, Darkei Noam (Pleasant Ways) (Venice, 1697)
• The court records of istanbul/ Istanbul sher'iyye sijilleri (1662)

Under Imperial Protection? Jewish Presence On The Imperial Aulic Court In The 16th And 17th Centuries, Barbara Staudinger

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

From the middle ages on Jewish life in the holy roman empire was characterized by their egal status as servants of the imperial chamber (servi camerae, Kammerknechte). Paying taxes to the imperial chamber, the Jews stood under special protection of the Emperor. The so-called Speyrer Jew Privilege (1544) stated the legal framework of the Jewish community of the Empire, prohibiting expulsion, and „unjustified“ acusations of ritual murder and securing undisturbed religious practice, and imperial conduct and protection. But what was this privilege along with other privileges from indiviuals worth in reality? Based on two cases from the Imperial Aulic Court …

Evasion As A Legal Tactic: The 1616 Amsterdam Regulations Concerning The Jews, Miriam Bodian

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Early modern rulers (or ruling bodies) who chose to readmit Jews in places where they had long been banned were faced with theological dilemmas and practical problems. Although it is true that the principle of freedom of conscience was gaining increasing acceptance, its adherents were rarely clear about whether it could be applied to non-Christians. And while the economic interests of rulers favored the settlement of Jews in their lands, the opposition of guilds and clergy could not be ignored. In these circumstances, a rather striking policy of evasion was adopted - in France, in the Netherlands, and in England. …

The Herem As The Source Of Authority Of The Lay Governing Council, Anne Oravetz Albert

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

A treatise on the herem composed by Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, the head rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam. Specifically, this pamphlet defends the authority of the lay leadership council to do so, arguing against unnamed members of the community who are causing scandal by denying that authority.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Exhortation to those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law by Isaac Aboab de Fonseca (1679/80)

Challenging Herem In Hamburg, 1732, David Horowitz

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

These documents represent one of the earliest calls for state intervention by the Hamburg authorities into the internal decisions of the bet din. The bed din of the Triple Community of Hamburg-Altona-Wandsbek compelled Joseph Jonas, a resident of Hamburg, to divorce his wife after she was suspected of adultery. When he refused, the chief rabbi and kahal put him and his wife in the ban (herem). Jonas turned to the Hamburg Senate for assistance in reversing the decision and removing himself from the ban. The documents comprise letters from Jonas and the Hamburg kahal in defense of their respective positions …

Takkanot Kahal And The Origin Of Communal Structures In A Franconian Village Community In The 17th Century, Stefan Litt

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Takkanot Kahal are clearly a phenomenon of early modern Jewry in Europe. Throughout the Ashkenazi world there were four common ways to enact them. By elaborating takkanot, Jewish leaders copied the Gentile custom of creating legal digests in that time, thus adapting the communities to the administrative structures of the early modern state. The short statutes of the community in Ühlfeld, dating fromm 1688, are a rare example for takkanot enacted in an early stage of the local Jewish history. The text clearly shows the efforts of the author, R. Asher Enslen of Schnaittach, to strenghten the ties in the …

The Legal Status Of The Wife In Ashkenazi Jewish Legal Tradition: Continuity And Change In The Sixteenth Century, Elimelekh Westreich

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The ban of Rabbenu Gershom forbade both polygamy and divorcing a woman against her will. The ban has been seen by historians as a key determinant of the singularity of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. In sixteenth-century Poland there were two main approaches among halakhic scholars towards the ban: one, represented by R. Solomon Luria adhered strictly to the Ashkenazi legal tradition; the second, represented by R. Shalom Shakhna and R. Moses Isserles, was open to other Jewish legal traditions. Is this phenomenon related to the Early Modern Period? And if so, how is it related? My discussion in the workshop shall …

Expanding Legal Horizons?, Edward Fram

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Legal change was not only a result needs to adapt the law to new situations but could be stimulated by new information. New sources were not always accepted and this presentation will attempt to locate the point in time in which acceptance of a large number of new sources took place in the eastern European community of the early modern age.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Shulhan `arukh, Yoreh De'ah 19.1 (1567)
• Siftei Kohen-The Priest's Lips on Yoreh De'ah 19.1 (1647)
• Turei Zahab-The Golden Columns on Yoreh De'ah 19.1 (1646)

Law: Continuity And Change In The Early Modern Period, Emw 2008

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The topic in 2008 was "Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period." It was chosen because various shifts in the legal sphere are among the many changes that mark the early modern period as transitional. These include issues of communal self-governance as well as the relationship of Jews to the laws and courts of the lands in which they lived. The participants looked at the primary texts through both an historical and a jurisprudential lens, and engaged in an interdisciplinary dialogue about how law evolves, and how it affects and is affected by historical developments. The 2008 workshop …