History of Religion Commons^™

Anti-Jewish Accusations In Poland: A Medieval Or Early Modern Phenomenon?, Magda Teter

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Anti-Jewish accusations of host desecration and ritual murder, both of medieval origin and nature, became characteristic of the early modern period in Poland. Despite their medieval roots, some of the medieval characteristics of the accusations were gradually lost in the early modern period, even though their traces continue to appear in the sources. The presentation discusses the loss of theological significance of the accusations. The host desecration accusations gradually become church robbery cases, even if some theological rhetoric is retained, and the blood libels become cases of Jewish hostility and not of reenacting of the Crucifixion.

This presentation is for …

Trent 1475: The Responses Of A Pope And A Jewish Chronicler, Kenneth Stow

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation discusses two responses to the 1475 trial of Jews accused of ritually murdering a Christian boy, Simon, in the city of Trent. One comes from Pope Sixtus IV and another, a century later, from a Jewish chronicler, Joseph ha-Cohen.

The Letters Of Bella Perlhefter (1674-75), Elisheva Carlebach

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Elisheva Carlebach discusses the literary legacy of Bella bat Jacob Perlhefter (born c. 1650), accomplished writer, instructor of music and rhythm, and entrepreneurial seventeenth-century businesswoman. Her letters provide a rare glimpse into the life of a seventeenth-century Jewish woman (other than Glikl).

Letter From Jerusalem By Obadiah Of Bertinoro (1488), Elliott Horowitz

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Elliott Horowitz discusses letters by the fifteenth-century Jewish traveler, Obadiah of Bertinoro, who traveled from northern Italy to Jerusalem, as an example of early modern travel literature and encounters with different cultures.

Sefer Ha-Heshek By Hillel Baal Shem (1739), Moshe Rosman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Moshe Rosman discusses the 1739 book by Hillel Baal Shem as an example of early modern Jewish culture. It focuses on the tension between manuscript and print culture, and esoteric and exoteric knowledge.

The selected passages highlight Hillel's training, the problems caused by charlatans, the undesirable popularization of mystical techniques fostered by the publication of simplistic handbooks, and the tangled relationship between ba'al shem type practices and "proper" medicine.

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Introduction To Triumpho Del Govierno Popular, Anne Oravetz Albert

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The Triumpho del Govierno Popular, y de la Antiguedad Holandesa by Miguel de Barrios (Daniel Levi de Barrios) describes the political and religious 'government' of the community, and includes accounts of its literary and charitable associations, along with poems, encomia, funeral orations, and other miscellanea from de Barrios' Jewish oeuvre. This excerpt constitutes the opening of the work, part of a 58-page introduction which sets a theme for the rest by relating the exilic governance of the Jewish people to the six days of creation, and the restored monarchy of the messianic age to the seventh day, on which God …

Popularization Of The Kabbalah: Two Early Modern Perspectives, Boaz Huss

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In this presentation Boaz Huss of Ben Gurion University discusses two texts, one from the sixteenth century, and one from the eighteenth century, illustrating the popularization of the Zohar, the foundational kabbalistic text, in the early modern period.

Introduction To R Hayim Vital And His Treatise Etz Hayim - The Tree Of Life [And To] The Sha'ar Hahaqdamot - Gate Of Principles (1572), Yosef Hacker, Menachem Kallus, Brian Ogren

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Yosef Hacker of Hebrew University in Jerusalem discusses Hayim Vital's Ets Hayim.

Privilege And Statute Of Maria Theresia For The Jews Of Trieste (1771), Lois Dubin

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In 1771 the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresia issued a Privilege and a Statute to Jews in Trieste, both to confirm their status and to attract additional Jewish merchants to help develop the Adriatic Free Port.

Lois Dubin discusses the legal and historical significance of this privilege.

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Jewish Legal Status In The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In this presentation, Adam Teller discusses the change of status of Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the subjects of the King in the late medieval period to subjects of lords, in private dominions during the early modern period. He contrasts two legal documents: a privilege granted to Jews by King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk (1453) and a privilege granted to Jews in the town of Jampol by the town's owner.

Elia Schadeus' Mysterium: About The Conversion Of The Jews (1592), Debra Kaplan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This text reflects Elia Schadeus' position that economic tolerance of Jews and of converts would facilitate conversion to Christianity. It also documents the desperation felt by Jewish converts to Christianity, who had difficulty integrating into both their old and new societies.

Welcome Address At Emw 2004, Magda Teter

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Welcome address to the first annual Early Modern Workshop.

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Early Modern Jewries, Emw 2004

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 2004 workshop’s goal was to look broadly at the early modern period, and develop a number of themes that might be pursued at subsequent workshops. At the workshop, a number of scholars worked together for three days trying to define the parameters of this chronological period in Jewish history. Participants have covered a broad, if still necessarily limited, range of geographic, thematic, and disciplinary topics, resulting in the first collection of impressive texts on early modern Jewish history. They include privileges granted by monarchs and lords to Jews (privileges granted to Jews of Great Poland in 1453, to a …