Jewish Studies Commons^™

The Synagogues Of Piedmont, Samuel D. Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

History and architecture of the synagogues of Piedmont, Italy.

From Pork To Kapores: Transformations In Religious Practice Among The Jews Of Late Imperial Kiev, Natan Meir

Judaic Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Until recently, studies of Jewish religious practices in Imperial Russia have focused on major movements such as Hasidism and mitnagdism as well as the challenges that Haskalah presented to traditional Judaism. Few scholars have scrutinized transformations in everyday religious practices such as the observance of Sabbath and other holidays, synagogue attendance, and liturgical practices. However, new political, social, and economic realities had generated subtle changes in religious practices even in earlier periods and it comes as no surprise, therefore, that religious practices among Jews during the tsarist period, especially in Kiev, were neither monolithic nor static. This article provides a …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 6, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Material Possessions And Religious Boundaries In Early Modern Poland, Magda Teter

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 1719 trial of two Jews from Brest (Brześć) accused of breaking into a Bernardine church and robbing a tomb of a prominent noble woman, raises questions of material possessions and religious boundaries. Among things stolen were clothes and textiles used in wrapping the coffin of the deceased woman. They were also one of the reasons that the robbery was discovered and the Jews were caught: some months following the robbery the daughters of the two Jewish robbers were spotted wearing dresses made of the stolen textiles. This case is certainly most notorious but it is not the only example …

Symbolic Clothes Marginality And Otherness Of Jews And New Christians As Reflected By Their Dress In Two Christian Texts, Nadia Zeldes

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Clothes in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period denoted legal status and social standing. Jews (and other minority and marginal groups) were distinguished by clothing regulations, sometimes supplemented by the wearing of a special badge. However, beyond custom and law, there were subtle cues that signaled marginality such as the wearing of certain fabrics and colours etc. In Mediterranean Europe, that is in Italy, Sicily and the Iberian kingdoms, Jews wore more or less the same fashions as the surrounding society though there were restrictions and distinguishing marks imposed by either the ruler and the Church or the …

The Estates Of A Jewish Merchant And Of A Rabbi In Seventeenth Century Venice, Bernard D. Cooperman, Benjamin Ravid

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

As is well known, the Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASV; Venetian State Archives) is among the largest in Europe, and contains much material dealing with the Jews of Venice. This includes inventories of the estates of Jews compiled for the purposes of implementing the will of the deceased, and very fortunately two inventories of the estates of arguably the two most prominent Jews of the first half of the sixteenth century, representing two completely different types of Jews, both of whom have been the subject of considerable scholarly attention, have been located and published in the original Italian. One …

An Inventory Of An Inquisitorial Prisoner's Possessions, Miriam Bodian

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The presentation will describe how an inventory of an inquisitorial prisoner's possessions, routinely drawn up at the time of a prisoner's arrest, throws light on the material circumstances and consumption patterns of the prisoner and his/her family, as well as on the material milieu he/she inhabited. The inventory is that of Francisco Maldonado de Silva, a physician in the Viceroyalty of Peru, drawn up at the time of his arrest for judaizing in 1627.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Inventory of the possessions of the licentiate Francisco Maldonado de Silva (1627)

Click here to view video.

The Possessions Of Two Italian Jews At The End Of The 16th Century, Flora Cassen

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The brothers Lazaro and Angelo Nantua were moneylenders in Gavi, a town under Genoese dominion, during the second half of the sixteenth century. In 1592, Angelo got into a violent argument with the chancellor of the town. This incident started a series of legal proceedings against the brothers that went on for years. The two documents I choose are (1) an inventory of all their posessions made in 1592 by order of the doge in Genoa (2)a letter written by the local podesta in which he complaints that they do not wear the yellow hat and gives a detailed description …

Jewish Display Silver After The Age Of Exploration, Vivian Mann

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Although there is literature on the impact of the discovery of the Americas on the European silver supply and the production works in silver, no one has examined its impact on the commissioning of silver by hevrot, particularly the Hevrah Kaddisha, both for their own use and as donations to the synagogue. This paper will examine in what ways Jewish patronage was similar to those of guilds and Christian confraternities and it what ways they differed.

This presentation is for the following object(s):

• Beaker of the Burial Society of Worms. Johann Conrad Weiss (active 1699-1751), Jewish Museum in New York, …

The Phoenix, The Exodus And The Temple, Limor Mintz-Manor

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation investigates the symbols of the Sephardic congregation in Amsterdam, mainly the Phoenix and the Pelican that symbolize the resurrection of Jesus in catholic Christianity, alongside the unique exegesis by several congregants of the Exodus narrative. The analysis of the symbols, images and the architecture of the congregation's synagogue, shows that they had played a major role in the construction of the "new" identity of the congregation. By utilizing them the congregation established the "resurrection" narrative of the Sephardic Jewry and its new beginning in Amsterdam. The rich cultural background of these symbols and images, both in the Iberian …

The Image Of The Jewish Wedding In The Works Of Eighteenth Century German Hebraists, Shalom Sabar

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

A relatively considerable number of images pertaining to the Jewish wedding survived from medieval to early modern Germany. These are to be found in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, illustrated books of customs (Minhagim-Bücher), decorated Torah binders (Wimpeln), and selected wedding artifacts. However, the most captivating and curious visual evidence on the various stages and customs of the Jewish wedding in Germany is not found in Jewish sources but in the work of eighteenth century Christian Hebraists. Despite the clear anti-Semitic overtones in their work, the images inserted in their books provide rare and significant insights into Jewish practices, folk beliefs and …

Jewish Consumption And Material Culture In The Early Modern Period, Emw 2007

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

At the 2007 Early Modern Workshop, speakers discussed the representation of Jews and their way of life in art and the use of various types of images and objects by scholars trying to learn about Jewish rituals, customs, and culture: images from Christian sources (Shalom Sabar), beakers (Vivian Mann), cloth and textiles used to make parokhet (Rachel Greenblatt). Can symbols used in synagogues and books tell us much about the values of the Jewish community? What role did ideology play in public representations of the Jewish community (Limor Mintz-Manor)? Scholars discussed the usefulness and pitfalls of using inventory records, focusing …

"Night" And Critical Thinking, Paul Eisenstein

English Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

'Remember Me?' The Life And Legacy Of Jean Byers Sampson, University Of Southern Maine, Joseph S. Wood, Abraham J. Peck, Mark Lapping, Margaret Ann Brown

Publications (Annual Event Catalog)

In April 1961, Jean Byers Sampson wrote to the director of branches of the NAACP notifying him that she was involved with establishing a branch in Lewiston-Auburn. Because Jean had worked for the national branch of the NAACP in the late 1940s, she began her letter with a friendly “Remember me?” It is a short, intimate phrase that characterized how Jean worked throughout her life. “‘Remember Me?’ The Life and Legacy of Jean Byers Sampson,” the third annual event of the Sampson Center, is a tribute to how one person’s life changed Maine.

Table of Contents:

The Mosaic of Maine …

Holocaust Si Gulag – Variante Ale Conceptului De Genocid? Intre Dreptul International Si Teoriile Contemporane Privind Violenta Colectiva [Holocaust And Gulag – Varieties Of The Concept Of Genocide? Between International Law And Current Theories Of Collective Violence]., Stefan Cristian Ionescu

History Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the concept of genocide from the point of view international legislation, its applicability to the mass violence phenomena known as Holocaust and Gulag, the difficulties of interpretation and the various solutions proposed by contemporary scholars. It seems that there is a need for a change in the definition of genocide in the international law, in the sense of updating this definition to the political and social developments in the world. The current concept of genocide, regulated by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide poses a series of impediments that makes …

A Challenge To Sexual And Marital Propriety And Communal Reaction, Kenneth Stow

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The selection of sources from the early 1550's Rome deal with the question of honor of young women and their fathers.

The Jewish Community of Rome was unimpressed. It wanted it made clear that one did not make accusations that could harm the well-being, in fact, mostly financial, but also the honor, of young women. Indeed, the bride Ricca was herself awarded what amounted to a hefty fine; we know that among Christians, it was the father’s honor that was considered impugned, and any monetary sanctions would go to him. Not here.

Finally, we learn something about sacred and profane. …

Two Cases Of Apostasy In Dubno In 1716 Jews, Christians, And Family Life, Magda Teter

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This text relates a trial of two Christian women who accepted to Judaism that took place in the city of Dubno in eastern Poland in 1716. The text presented here comes from a collection of primary sources published in Kiev [now Kyiv] in 1869, as part of effort by scholars at the time to collect and publish primary source materials about Ukraine. The collection is called Arkhiv Iugo-zapadnoi Rossii, or The Archive of South-Western Russia, and contains documents from the South-Western part of Ukraine.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Two Cases of Apostasy in Dubno in 1716

Juveniles In Early Modern Jewish-Italian Communities Between Family Control And Kabbalistic Piety, Roni Weinstein

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The presentation discusses conceptions of childhood, youth, and marriage in Italian Jewish Culture.

The text reproduced is an excerpt from a mid-seventeenth century work by Pinhas Baruch Monselice.

The Role Of Marriage And Marital Sexuality In Lurianic Kabbalah, Lawrence Fine

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The presentation situates the development of Lurianic Kabbalah in its context of sixteenth-century Safed. Focusing on two texts by Hayyim Vital, Lawrence Fine discusses sexuality and marital relations in Lurianic Kabbalah and among the Kabbalists themselves.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Ta'amei Mitsvot, Parshat Bereshit (Reasons for the Commandments concerning “Be Fruitful and Multiply”) by Hayim Vital (1570s)
• Sha'ar Kavvanot (The Gate of [Contemplative] Intentions, Concerning Sabbath Eve) by Hayim Vital (1570s)

“The First Duty Of Nature Is To Preserve Life” A Jewish Woman’S Plea For Divorce In Late 18th-Century Trieste, Lois Dubin

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The presentation discusses a letter from Relle [Rachele] Morschene (1770-1844) of Trieste to Chief Rabbi Raffael Natan Tedesco, written in the throes of her three-year long effort to extricate herself from her marriage to husband Lucio Luzzatto (1755-1801). From 1793 to 1796, Morschene pursued separation and civil divorce through the Habsburg courts at the same time as a Jewish religious divorce. Indeed, she was one of the first European Jewish women to seek and obtain a civil divorce. Her legal situation was novel because Jews in the Habsburg Monarchy were among the first to be subjected to civil marriage regulation …

The Woodstruck Deed The Documentation Of Accidental Defloration Among The Jews Of Early Modern Italy, David Malkiel

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The “woodstruck” (mukat ets) deed, a Hebrew document that officially records the accidental defloration of a young girl, appears in sixteenth-century Italy, in a block of deeds recorded by Jewish notaries in Rome, in a rabbinic responsum and in the record book of the Padua community. Prior to that, there is no record of such an instrument anywhere in Jewish history and literature, despite the fact that the frequency of accidental defloration must have been a constant. Moreover, the registers of the Jewish notaries of sixteenth-century Rome contain over a hundred such deeds for the sixteenth century alone. The appearance …

Jewish Women And Economic Encounters With Christians, Debra Kaplan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

R. Yair Hayyim ben Moses Samson Bacharach (1638-1702) is well-known for his knowledge of halakha and Kabbalah. Over the course of his lifetime, he served as the rabbi in several locations in the Holy Roman Empire. In these two responsa, Bacharach deals with one of the halakhic problems surrounding women’s trade with non-Jews. Such trade inevitably caused women to enter into seclusion (yihud) with non-Jews, especially since according to Jewish law, the presence of the non-Jew’s wife did not alleviate the prohibition of seclusion with a non-Jew.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Havvot Yair, Responsum 66
• Havvot Yair, …

Unequal Opportunities The Economic Possibilities Open To Jewish Women In 18th Century Poland-Lithuania, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The following texts present an image of economic opportunities, and gender roles in Jewish society in eastern Europe. The first text is an 18th-century supplication by a Jew, Bunim Szlomowicz, against his wife; the second is a 1751 decree by the Council of Lithuania regulating women's roles in trade.

An Early 17th Century Ketubah From Sefer Tikun Sofrim By Rabbi Itzhak Zabakh, Ruth Lamdan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In Jewish Law, the halakha, there is an extensive importance to the accurate scribing of legal documents (shtarot). Any slight deviation from the standard formula of one word, or even of one character, might invalidate a formal bill or cancel a personal or commercial obligation. The importance bestowed on each word encouraged many famous rabbis to write and edit books of standard legal bills, and Hebrew scribes used to copy samples of bills for their personal use in the future. Qualified scribes made exemplary collections of documents for their students, and young trainees would copy such samples – as well …

Family Ties & Political Structure In Pisa And Livorno, Bernard D. Cooperman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In his presentation of two documents pertaining to Jews in Pisa and Livorno, Bernard Cooperman discusses the link between family connections and the construction of a new formal Jewish community and explores the connection between family and business networks. Cooperman argues here that new communities in early modern Italy were often structured as merchant companies, and it was a family that was a base of trade networks. Family also became a method of joining the community, while at the same time families and individuals used membership in a community to legitimize a family. The presentation further explores interracial marriages and …

Marriage And Networkbuilding, Claudia Ulbrich

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In eastern France Jewish marriages are well documented in the eighteenth century. Following a decree by Louis XIV in 1701 that Jewish marriage contracts had to be deposited with notaries within 15 days of marriage, these documents were registered with increasing frequency in the entire French-German region. Registration became generally obligatory in that time, so that we have large amounts of documents both for Christian as for Jews. Historians have never fully analyzed these files. Jean Fleury, who was prompted by genealogical interests, surveyed the 8500 items in the Metz archive, and compiled 2021 marriage contracts from the seventeenth and …

How Family Wealth And Power Are Organized, Moshe Rosman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The following is a translation of Todros Kozuchowski's will. Originally written in Polish, then translated into Hebrew, the will was translated into English by Moshe Rosman.

Pinkas Shamash Altona (1766-1767), Elisheva Carlebach

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Elisheva Carlebach's presentation discusses excerpts from the Pinkas Shamash Altona, providing a glimpse on an aspect of Jewish life that usually remained obscured--illegitimate children born to Jewish domestic servants, and the servants themselves, held very marginal status in the community. One of the pertinent issue was death. If they died the responsibility for buying them was contested between many different parties.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Pinkas Shamash Altona (1766-1767)

Click here for a video presentation.

Jewish Marriage In Christian Eyes, Yaacov Deutsch

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation deals with a Christian description of early modern Jewish marriage rituals. The text is a translation of a chapter on Jewish marriage from Johannes Buxtorf's "Synagoga Judaica" or "Jewish Synagogue" (1603).

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Synagoga Judaica (The Jewish Synagogue) by Johannes Buxtorf (1603)

Ordering Early Modern Marriage, Elisheva Baumgarten

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In this presentation, Elisheva Baumgarten discusses marriage rituals as recorded by a seventeenth-century Jewish author of a book of customs (sefer minhagim), which became popular in the early modern period. Baumgarten compares Yuspa of Worms' work with materials from the medieval period. She also places Jewish marriage rituals within the context of non-Jewish cultures of the time.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• The Custom book of R. Juspa of Worms (17th century)

Click here to view the video