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Martin Luther, Kabbalah, and Jewish Magic Zutot Pub Date : 2024-09-12 Stephen G. Burnett
Martin Luther concerned himself with Kabbalah at two points during his long career as a theologian. From 1513 to 1519, he first considered and then rejected Kabbalah as a kind of spiritual ‘ladder’ that allowed believers a fuller experience of the otherwise ‘hidden’ God. Later, in 1543, he wrote against the Jews’ ‘superstitious’ beliefs about the tetragrammaton and kabbalistic ‘magic’ generally. This
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Arabic Didactic Verse and Hebrew Poetry in the Middle East Zutot Pub Date : 2024-08-26 Omri Livnat
This article examines the relationship between Arabic didactic verse and Hebrew poetry in the early 10th-century Middle East. Scholars have argued that Arabic didactic verse served as a model for Hebrew poets at the beginning of the 10th century and that, allegedly, this was one of the earliest signs of Arabic poetry’s influence on Hebrew poets. By surveying Arabic didactic verse and two Hebrew poems
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Gershom Scholem and Christian Kabbalah: A Reappraisal Zutot Pub Date : 2024-08-26 Saverio Campanini
This paper tries to shed light on the value and limitations of the label ‘Christian Kabbalah’ for our knowledge of the historical phenomenon it describes. It works out how Christian scholars approached Kabbalah for a variety of reasons, be they instrumental, polemicizing or glorifying approaches, or for further motives. In addition, the article examines how the basic lines of the field of research
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The Oil That Lasted a Thousand Years: Daniel 9:24 and the Anointing of the Holy of Holies Zutot Pub Date : 2024-06-26 Benjamin Scolnic
While the familiar Hanukkah story of the ‘miracle of the oil’ is often dismissed as quaint and fanciful, it may be seen as a final link in an interesting chain of traditions about the sanctity of Judaism’s holiest of places. In the book of Exodus, one type of oil is used to light the lamps and another oil is used to anoint the Tabernacle and make it inviolate. The Tabernacle became part of the First
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On Equality and Irreducibility of Female to Male in Safedian Forms of Kabbalah Zutot Pub Date : 2024-03-28 Moshe Idel
In kabbalistic writings equality between the male and female divine entities recurs in dozens of instances and this is also the case in Safedian forms of Kabbalah. However, there is an additional theme to equality, that is shared by the two main and extensive literary corpora, that of Moses Cordovero and the much later texts of his former disciple, that of R. Hayyim Vital: the irreducibility of the
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On the Antiquity of the Virginity Blessing Zutot Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Shalem Yahalom
A variety of sources support the claim that different versions of the virginity blessing were recited throughout the Jewish communities during the Middle Ages. Despite its widespread use, the virginity blessing and confirmation ritual are not mentioned in the Talmud, and the wording of the blessing is first mentioned only in Sefer Halakhot gedolot. The absence of this blessing in earlier texts can
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The Jewish Traveler and the Protestant Shoemaker: A Hans Sachs Poem in Yiddish Zutot Pub Date : 2023-12-05 Oded Cohen, Roni Cohen
This article discusses a new finding – the first known Yiddish translation of a literary piece by the famous 16th-century Meistersinger Hans Sachs (1494–1576). The translation was copied, shortly after the original piece was printed in German, as part of a manuscript that includes various lists on various topics copied by a traveling Jew named Uri ben Simon. The examination of the translation and its
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Two Aramaic Piyyutim from the Second Crusade (1148) Zutot Pub Date : 2023-11-23 Naoya Katsumata, Wout van Bekkum
A single folio from MS 119 in the Geneva Genizah includes two unknown and unpublished piyyutim in Aramaic, which are presented in this study for the first time. The two hymns can be precisely dated to the year 1148, the time of the Second Crusade. They resemble each other to a significant extent in terms of content and prosody, referring to a dire historical situation that can be explicitly linked
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The Hazanic Revival in Later Hasidism Zutot Pub Date : 2023-10-16 Dov Bergman
During the early stages of the Hasidic movement, a mixed sentiment towards hazanut (cantorial music) existed. However, a significant shift occurred during the later period of Hasidism. Embracing change, hazanim (cantors) started performing at Hasidic courts. With the rise of the ‘celebrity hazan’ in the late 19th century, certain American Hasidic rebbes harnessed the widespread popularity of hazanut
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Wissenschaft des Judentums in Eastern Europe: The Origins of Hevrat Mekitze Nirdamim Zutot Pub Date : 2023-10-09 Jonatan Meir
The history of the Mekize Nirdamim (“rousers of those who slumber”) society is quite peculiar. When looking at its activities, one can speak of three distinct periods: a first period in Eastern Prussia under the leadership of Eliezer Lippman Zilberman, owner of the Ha-Maggid newspaper, a period that extended for ten years and whose success was largely located in Eastern Europe; a second period in Berlin
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The Rabbinic Courtroom Oath in Its Roman Context Zutot Pub Date : 2023-08-17 Tzvi Novick
In this article the argument is made that the rabbinic courtroom oath reflects the influence of Roman law. Despite substantial differences, the rabbinic courtroom oath, like its Roman counterpart, represents, in part, a product of negotiation between the litigants – owed by one party to another; capable of modification at the parties’ discretion, and even of forgiveness; comparable to the litigant-driven
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What Does a Kohen Have to Do with the Protocols of the Ashkenazic Community of Amsterdam? A Conflict between Community Sanctity and the Righteousness of the Ancients Zutot Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Asaf Yedidya
This article deals with an incident in the Ashkenazic community of Amsterdam in 1772 that was documented in the protocols of the community. A member of the congregation confessed to the rabbi after the death of her husband, a kohen, that she was in fact a convert. The rabbi informed her son that as the son of a kohen married to a convert he was defined as a ḥalal (disqualified), and thereby lost his
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A Letter from Algerian Rabbi David Askénazi to Rabbi Kook Advocating for the Use of the Organ in Synagogue Services Zutot Pub Date : 2023-04-19 Gabriel Abensour
In 1934, David Askénazi, the chief rabbi of Oran, Algeria, responded to a decision by Abraham Kook, at the time chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, condemning the use of the organ in synagogue services in Oran. Transcending the typical European dichotomies between Orthodox and Reform, Askénazi’s letter is above all a testimony to the religious and cultural hybridity of Algerian Jews during the colonial
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The Well of Confusion: On the Titles of the Maharal’s Books Zutot Pub Date : 2023-01-16 Pavel Sládek, Aleš Weiss
R. Judah Leva ben Betzalel (the Maharal, c. 1525–1609), authored more than ten works, publishing most of them during his lifetime. Although the Maharal’s works were, since the mid-20th century, the subject of academic research, the title of the Maharal’s work ספר באר הגולה (Prague 1598) is still erroneously read as Beʾer ha-golah and understood as The Well of Exile. This article places the existing
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The Alfaẓ al-Mishnah Commentary by R. Saadiah Gaon Zutot Pub Date : 2022-12-01 Uziel Fuchs
This article presents a commentary on the Mishna composed by R. Saadiah Gaon, who served as head of the Sura yeshivah in Baghdad at the beginning of the 10th century. The commentary is a Hebrew-Arabic glossary defining difficult words in the Mishnah. The commentary is well referenced in writings from early periods, and a large portion of the manuscript was recently identified in the Cairo Genizah.
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On the Date of Composition of the Book of Commandments by the Qaraite Levi b. Yefet Zutot Pub Date : 2022-12-01 Nadia Vidro
The Book of Commandments of the influential Qaraite scholar Levi b. Yefet is traditionally dated 1006/7 CE. This date is based on the Hebrew translation of the Book of Commandments and is irreconcilable with a calendrical characteristic of this year provided by Levi b. Yefet. In this article I propose to revise the date of composition of the Book of Commandments to 1009 CE. This date is given in a
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Kol Nidrei in Nikolsburg, 1775: An Early Account of a Hasidic Sermon Zutot Pub Date : 2022-11-23 Elly Moseson
Descriptions of the delivery of Hasidic sermons are relatively rare, especially from the first decades of the development of the movement. This article presents the earliest extant written account of a Hasidic sermon, which was delivered by Samuel Shmelke Horowitz, the rabbi of the Moravian city of Nikolsburg (Mikulov), on the eve of Yom Kippur of the year 1775. It situates the document containing
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In Signum Benevoli Affectus IV: Menasseh ben Israel’s Album Inscription for Hermannus Jacobi Zutot Pub Date : 2022-11-17 Ferenc Postma, Arian Verheij
In 1650, Menasseh ben Israel entered an inscription in the album amicorum owned by Hermannus Jacobi from Hanover. This article, the fourth in a series on Menasseh’s album inscriptions, comprises a biographical sketch of Jacobi, followed by a photograph, a transcription, a translation, and an analysis of the inscription itself. Reference is made as well to Menasseh’s inscription in the album amicorum
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What Scholem Failed to See: Moses Dobruska as a Founder of Sociological Thought Zutot Pub Date : 2022-08-31 Silvana Greco
After a brief outline of the biography of Moses Dobruska (1753–1794), this article wants to emphasize what most scholars, in particular Gershom Scholem, did not want to recognize about this Moravian Jew, coming from a sectarian Sabbatian environment, who later converted to Catholicism. He was not only a brilliant businessman, literate, a poet, and Freemason, but also a social philosopher, and, even
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A Hasidic Leader Migrating to America: Egodocuments by Rabbi Joshua Heschel Rabinowitz of Monastyryshche (1860–1938) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-08-12 Gadi Sagiv
Egodocuments constitute valuable sources for the study of Hasidism. Yet those penned by hasidic leaders are relatively rare. This article explores egodocumentary material written by hasidic leader Joshua Heschel Rabinowitz of Monastyryshche (1860–1938), who was persecuted in Russia, migrated to America in 1923, and settled in New York. In contrast to the previous scholarship that focuses on Rabinowitz’s
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The Politics of Galut: On the Rabbinical Tradition of the Least Bad Solution Zutot Pub Date : 2022-07-14 Danny Trom
Since exile, the galut, is an outcome of Israel’s defeat, the Jewish political tradition rests on the quest of the least bad solution. This contrasts with Greek-Western political theory. Residing in foreign kingdoms, Jews had to accept their domination and invest in ways to survive in hostile environments. The article shows how rabbinical literature invented a kind of proto-theory of survival and opens
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Israel ben Abraham: An Ashkenazic Translator of Aquinas? Zutot Pub Date : 2022-05-20 Milan Žonca
This article presents an edition of a hitherto unidentified set of commented Hebrew excerpts from Thomas Aquinas’s Sentencia libri De anima. Preserved in the manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Mich. Add. 25, and attributed to an otherwise unknown Jewish scholar named Israel ben Abraham, the excerpts reproduce the Latin text in different degrees of faithfulness to the original. They do not follow
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‘May God Shield us from the Plague.’ Vernacular Remedies for the Plague from Moyshe Kalish’s Yiddish Self-help Medical Book Seyfer Yerum Moyshe (Amsterdam 1679) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-05-20 Daniella Zaidman-Mauer
Between the years 1650 and 1800, Amsterdam became the center of Yiddish printing. Vernacular medical writings were among the variety of Yiddish books published in Amsterdam. The Yiddish remedies book Seyfer Yerum Moyshe, published in 1679, was written by Moyshe Rofe mi-Kalish. In this article I intend to examine the paratexts of this book and present as a case study the doctor’s recommendations to
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Chickpeas at a Shalom Zakhar Zutot Pub Date : 2022-05-20 Zvi Ron
There is a popular Ashkenazic custom to serve chickpeas at the Shalom Zakhar celebration on the first Shabbat after a male child is born. Numerous homiletic reasons have been given for this in rabbinic literature. The origin of the custom lies in the practice to serve legumes, a food traditionally associated with mourning, at happy celebrations in order to confuse demonic forces who were understood
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A Private Life of a Communal Leader: The Autobiography of Aryeh Leib Feinstein (1821–1903) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-05-02 Uriel Gellman
This article introduces an unknown autobiography written by Aryeh Leib Feinstein who was a communal official in Brisk (Brześć Litewski). In this detailed memoir, written in 1896 and preserved in manuscript form only, Feinstein describes his life from his childhood in a small village near Brisk up to his adulthood, when he became a wealthy merchant in Brisk and a well-known historian of the local community
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Maimonides as Muslim Theologian: Al-Kawtharī’s Edition of al-Tabrīzī’s Commentary on Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed Zutot Pub Date : 2022-04-21 Amir Mazor
The article focuses on a Muslim commentary on a section from Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, written by a 13th-century Persian scholar. Whereas the first part of the article briefly discusses the reception of Maimonides’ Guide in medieval Islam, the nature of the commentary, and the identity of its composer, the second and main part discusses a mid-20th-century Egyptian critical edition of the
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God as a Printer: On the Theological Status of Printing in the Kabbalistic Tradition of Israel Sarug Zutot Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Eliezer Baumgarten
Recent decades have witnessed a broad scholarly discussion of the cultural influences of the printing press Invention. The core of this revolved around the new technological influence on the concept of knowledge, its methods of dispersion, and on social changes that it engendered in the 16th century, when it became an affordable widespread technology. This article presents the way in which the spread
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Notes for a Biography: A Portrait of Isaiah Sonne (1887–1960) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Martina Mampieri
Isaiah Sonne (1887–1960) was a distinguished scholar, paleographer, bibliographer, librarian, book dealer, and collector whose activities spanned Habsburg Galicia, Fascist Italy, Mandatory Palestine, and the United States during the first six decades of the 20th century. Although he was a prolific author and appreciated by many individuals especially because of his paleographic skills and profound
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Being a Jewish Soldier in the Grande Armée: The Memoirs of Jakob Meyer during the Napoleonic Wars (1808–1813) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-02-22 Nils Renard
The Memoirs of Jakob Meyer offer a precious account of what Jewish soldiers experienced during the Napoleonic wars. Written in German in 1836–1838, they were translated into French and published, thanks to the work of Ernest Kallmann and Françoise Lyon-Caen (J. Meyer, Jakob Meyer, soldat de Napoléon. Mes aventures de guerre, 1808–1813 [Paris 2009]). The narrative of Meyer’s experience is a unique testimony
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Scholem’s Dobrushka: The Political Career of a Frankist Zutot Pub Date : 2022-01-20 Saverio Campanini
The article deals with Gershom Scholem’s interest in the historical figure of Moses Dobrushka (also known as Thomas von Schönfeld, and, in his last days, as Junius Frey), a central European Frankist, who first converted to Christianity and then to Jacobinism, embracing revolutionary ideals in Paris. The reasons for this interest, it is argued, were not merely scientific, but firmly rooted in Scholem’s
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‘Defense through Tears’: Jewish Diplomacy and Contentious Politics in the Memorandum of the Jewish Delegates of Tuscany (July 23, 1799) Zutot Pub Date : 2022-01-20 Davide Mano
This study examines the Memorandum written by the Jewish delegates of Tuscany on July 23, 1799, in the aftermath of the starkly violent anti-Jewish incidents that marked the Tuscan counter-revolution. The analysis is focused on Jewish defense against discursive and physical manifestations of anti-Judaism, and proposes to consider Jewish diplomacy as an essential component of European contentious politics
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Constitutio in actu? Eliezer Dileon’s Letter to the Minsk Kahal, 1817 Zutot Pub Date : 2021-12-28 François Guesnet
A letter by the army contractor Eliezer Dileon to the community board of Minsk relating his audience with Tsar Alexander I of Russia in January 1817 sheds light on the significance of the performative dimension of Jewish intercession. In the perception of the intercessor, due to the personal encounter between the sovereign ruler and himself, the Jews in Russia constitute part of the political and societal
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Making a Maskil Mainstream: Adapting Haskalah Scholarship for a 19th-Century Rabbinic Audience Zutot Pub Date : 2021-11-03 Leor Jacobi
The Passover Cup of Elijah is often explained as an expression of rabbinic uncertainty regarding a fifth cup mandated by some opinions in the Babylonian Talmud. The explanation is based upon other talmudic passages which mention halakhic uncertainties that will be resolved by Elijah when he eventually comes to herald the long anticipated redemption. The explanation is commonly attributed to the Gaon
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‘The Palestinian Talmud Was Not Tampered with by the Pens of Emenders’: Clarifying a Textual Version Rule Zutot Pub Date : 2021-10-06 Shalem Yahalom
This article will demonstrate that Nahmanides’s statement regarding the unamended Palestinian Talmud relates to the sources cited in that work. The advantage of the Palestinian Talmud stemmed from the neglect suffered by that work which enabled it to escape the hegemony of the Babylonian Talmud whose textual versions were imposed on all other Oral Torah works. Of course, it also stemmed from the proximity
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‘Jugendbewegung’: Gerhard Scholem as a Figure of the German Avant-Garde Zutot Pub Date : 2021-09-23 Amir Engel
The purpose of this essay is to examine one of Gershom Scholem’s most obscure undertakings, a proto-Dadaist and antiwar text that he published, together with a few friends, during the first year of World War One. As is shown, this project has drawn heavily from the work of one of the leading avant-garde poets, later among the founding members of the Dada movement in Zurich, Hugo Ball. Discussed side
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Canonization, Satire, and Criticism of Avot in Midrash Yelammedenu from the Genizah Zutot Pub Date : 2021-05-31 Eliyahu Rosenfeld
In this article, I present a midrashic reference to one mishnah of tractate Avot that would appear to undermine its canonical status. A close reading of the midrash, will show that it makes use of various satirical tools, including exaggeration and ridicule, which appear to be aimed at a mocking of the mishnah. However, further reading of the midrash in light of a more comprehensive look at tractate
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Between Two Poles: Barukh Mitrani between Moderate Haskalah and Jewish Nationalism Zutot Pub Date : 2021-05-21 Tamir Karkason
Barukh Mitrani was an Ottoman maskil who wandered between the Balkans, Istanbul and Palestine. While living in Edirne, Mitrani established his first periodical, Carmi (Pressburg 1881). Carmi’s issues were an ongoing maskilic sermon, drawing on a deep acquaintance with the Jewish bookshelf. This paper examines selections from the fifth article in Carmi, ‘Our Nationhood.’ Influenced by the moderate Haskalah
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The Tabula in the Collège de Sorbonne and the Discovery of the 1529 Bomberg Siddur Zutot Pub Date : 2021-05-20 Judith Kogel
Interest was aroused recently concerning a booklet of 28 folios entitled Tabula in universum indicans libros singularum disciplinarum. Formerly considered a 17th-century catalogue, it actually reflects the contents of the library of the Collège de Sorbonne in the mid-16th century. A project, directed by Gilbert Fournier, will identify the authors and works mentioned in the document and localize the
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‘Goat Beautiful of Voice’: A Piyyut of Abraham ibn Ezra from Medinet el-Fayyūm, Egypt Zutot Pub Date : 2021-05-17 Alex Harris, Michael Zellmann-Rohrer
This zuta provides an edition of a new copy of a known piyyut by Abraham ibn Ezra, ‘Goat beautiful of voice’ (יַעְלָה יְפַת קוֹל), with translation, full collation, and commentary. This copy, now in the collection of the University of Michigan (P.Mich. inv. 531), offers some valuable new readings as well as evidence for the readership of Ibn Ezra in a provincial setting in medieval Egypt, as its provenance
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אצחצח דבר גבורות: The Discovery of the Opening Section of Shelomo Suleiman al-Sinjari’s Seder ha-ʿAvodah Zutot Pub Date : 2021-04-15 Eden Menachem Hacohen
This is the first publication of the beginning of one of the sidrei ʿavodah for the Day of Atonement by Shelomo Suleiman al-Sinjari, a prolific Palestinian paytan who lived in the second half of the 9th century. Although well known to researchers, this piyyut was incorrectly attributed to the greatest Palestinian poet: Eleazar b. Qallir. My consultation of a copy of the seder ʿavodah in a Cairo Geniza
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The Jewish Contribution to Civilization Discourse: An Egyptian-Jewish Appropriation in the 1940s Zutot Pub Date : 2021-03-31 Lucia Admiraal
The idea of the Jewish contribution to civilization is generally understood as a Western counter-discourse that, often expressed in response to anti-Semitism, aims to change attitudes towards Jews. My examination of the appropriation of this idea by the Egyptian-Jewish writer Alfred Yallouz in the early 1940s proposes that he embedded it in his national and regional politics of Jewish cultural reform
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Federation Day at the World of Tomorrow Zutot Pub Date : 2021-01-04 Marek S. Kopacz, Aleksandra D. Bajka-Kopacz
Ninety years ago, the Federation of Polish Jews in America hosted their national convention and world congress in the New York City area. In this article, we will discuss some of what transpired at these events. Set at a tumultuous crossroads in world history, the Federation rallied Jewish groups throughout the United States and the world in humanitarian support for a war-torn Polish nation. The national
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Analogism vs. Anomalism in Jewish Linguistic Thought. The 18th-Century Controversy between Zalman Hanau and Jacob Emden Zutot Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Yehonatan Wormser
This article presents an analysis of the controversy between two 18th-century leading figures: Rabbi Zalman Hanau and Rabbi Jacob Emden. The stances expressed in this controversy, which was held over changes in the traditional prayer versions suggested by Hanau, reveal opposing fundamental attitudes of the two rivals towards basic questions concerning the origin of Hebrew and its linguistic essence
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A Preliminary Study of the History of Sephardic Theatre in Italy Zutot Pub Date : 2020-12-21 Ilaria Briata
This article presents the results of a preliminary inquiry into the theatrical activity of Sephardic Jews in Italy from 1492 to the 18th century. Through archival investigation conducted on catalogues of manuscripts and published books from Italian libraries, as well as on documents produced by Sephardic communities, the study focuses on three case studies: the communities in Venice, Naples, and Tuscany
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Computational Analysis of Historical Hebrew Newspapers: Proof of Concept Zutot Pub Date : 2020-03-04 Oren Soffer, Zef Segal, Nurit Greidinger, Sinai Rusinek, Vered Silber-Varod
This article focuses on one decade, 1874–1883, in the relatively long lifespan of the Hebrew weekly Ha-Tzefirah, which was founded in Warsaw in 1862. Applying computational tools to the study of the early Hebrew press requires a unique effort. The Hebrew language in general is distinct in its characters, morphological structure, and word order. The contribution of this proof-of-concept study is two-fold:
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A Note on an Old Jewish Bibliotaphos Zutot Pub Date : 2020-03-04 Claudia Rosenzweig
In the editio princeps of the Mayse-bukh (Basel 1602) are circa 250 stories. The last one is a translation/reworking of a story that appears in Sefer Hasidim, and is about a bibliotaphos, someone who is ready to bury his books, but not to lend them. In this short paper, I try to show the differences between the Yiddish and the Hebrew source, suggesting that these differences can hint at historical
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New Insights into Yona Wallach’s Poem ‘Tefillin’: Sefer Or Zaruʿa and Shabbtai Tzvi Zutot Pub Date : 2019-12-13 Shlomit Cooper Frumkin
First published in Iton 77 in 1982, the poem ‘Tefillin’ by Yona Wallach sparked uproar and prompted various discussions by researchers (and journalists). This article discusses two aspects that have not been considered in previous research. First, ‘Tefillin’ was written as part of a play based on Jacob Horowitz’s book Sefer Or zaruʿa (Tel Aviv 1927). Second, the poem was inspired by a text about Shabbtai
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The Earliest Footprint of a Messianic Queen: Sarah the Ashkenazi in Amsterdam Zutot Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Alexander van der Haven
A record from 1 November 1655 of a donation to a certain Sarah from Poland is probably the first documented historical appearance of Sarah the Ashkenazi, future wife of messiah Shabbetai Tzevi. Individually recorded donations by the Sephardic community to Polish refugees were quite unusual in these years, but, according to later biographical sources, the future messianic bride Sarah displayed a great
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How to Understand ʿal yede? Title Pages of Hebrew Private Library Catalogues Printed in the Dutch Republic during the Long 18th Century Zutot Pub Date : 2019-06-20 Anna E. de Wilde
As a first step towards more research in the field of Jewish private libraries and Hebrew auction catalogues, this zuta focuses on the understudied corpus of 18th-century Hebrew book sales catalogues printed in the Dutch Republic. It is not always clear if these 18th-century catalogues contain collections from private libraries or retail stocks of publishers, printers, or booksellers. In this article
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The Origin and Development of the Custom for the Bride to Circle the Groom Three or Seven Times Zutot Pub Date : 2019-05-27 Zvi Ron
This article traces the origin and development of the by now ubiquitous Ashkenazic custom for the bride to circle the groom under the chuppa. The custom began as circling three times, and various reasons were given for this particular practice. Due to kabbalistic influence, the custom shifted from three circuits to seven, the common custom today. The reasons given also changed over time, reflecting
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Missing Treasures: Tracking Lost Ladino Books Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-22 Dov Cohen
A comprehensive project conducted over the past few years to locate and document every book printed in Ladino, revealed that between the years 1490–1960, nearly four thousand titles were published. In this article, I will show that many Ladino books were lost over the generations. Some of those missing books were referenced in assorted sources. Others did not come to researchers’ attention until fairly
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18th-Century Religious Renewal and Reform in Interreligious Perspective Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Irene Zwiep,Avri Bar-Levav
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The 18th Century as a Time of Religious Renewal and Reform Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Avraham Siluk, Rebekka Voß
Varied initiatives for religious revival and reform emerged throughout the 18th century in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; each had a significant impact on its religious community and also contributed to lasting cultural, social, and political change. This introductory essay argues for the importance of early modern religious renewal for understanding transformations in 18th-century life, culture
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‘Allahı Zikr Edilim’ (Let Us Do Zikr for Allah): The Sabbatian Appropriation of the Sufi Practice of Zikr as Religious Renewal Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Hadar Feldman Samet
This article introduces the idea of religious renewal as it was manifested in the ritual practices of the Sabbatian Maʾaminim of Salonica – followers of Shabbtai Tzvi who converted from Judaism to Islam during the 1680s, in the footsteps of their Messiah. The religious renewal of the Maʾaminim is demonstrated by the appropriation of the Sufi-Muslim practice, known as zikr, as part of their ritual singing
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Didactics of Piety in Children’s Edifying Literature in the Early 18th Century Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Pia Schmid
This article focuses on an aspect of Pietist education that may be regarded as a reform, namely a new way of upholding the role model to educational ends – or, more simply put, of teaching by example. This new approach to the example, according to my thesis, manifests itself in an implicit, narrative didactics of piety. This will be illustrated by reference to a popular genre of children’ and young
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‘Quietismus Sacer’ – Engaging Religious Adversaries Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Kristian Mejrup
This essay explores a critical reaction to the turbulence born out of the debate on Quietism at the end of the 17th century. Caspar Exner (1627–1704), a minister and subscriber to Lutheran Orthodoxy, wrote a report in 1689 on the recent outburst of what in his view was misleading theological assumptions. His refutation of so-called false doctrines turned out to be an ambiguous road for engaging religious
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Renewal and Tradition in Devout Hebrew Poetry. The Case of the Early Modern Karaites in Poland-Lithuania Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Riikka Tuori
The article discusses the manifestations of religious renewal in devout Karaite Hebrew poetry written in Poland-Lithuania in the early modern period. While this type of Hebrew poetry is entrenched in tradition and derivative in nature, certain innovative elements appear both in the wordings and in the performance of Karaite Hebrew poetry during the early modern period. Alluding, for example, to new
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Ritualization as Religious Renewal in 18th-Century Hasidism Zutot Pub Date : 2019-03-14 Gadi Sagiv
Rituals have always been a characterizing and significant aspect of Hasidism. Although ritual practices are often considered rigid and conservative, Hasidism showed tremendous flexibility in composing, reviving, and disseminating old rituals in novel religious settings. Highly visible, easily deliverable, not requiring intellectual background, and embedded in Jewish tradition, rituals and ceremonies
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The Austro-Hungarian Beginnings of the Research on the ‘European Genizah’ Zutot Pub Date : 2018-11-19 Tamás Turán
Research on Hebrew manuscript fragments retrieved from bookbindings started in the second half of the 19th century, some earlier forays into this field notwithstanding. Austria-Hungary played an important role in this field of research for its first hundred years – a fact that deserves attention. This pioneering research in Austria-Hungary was made possible by a recognition and appreciation of the
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The Affinity between Alghazali’s Intentions of the Philosophers and Maimonides’ Philosophy, According to Shalom Anabi Zutot Pub Date : 2018-11-16 Ofer Elior
Beginning in the late 13th century, readers of Alghazali’s Intentions of the Philosophers in the Provençal, Spanish and Italian Jewish spheres viewed this treatise as belonging to the same tradition to which the philosophical stances of Maimonides, or at least some of them, belong. Readers who espoused this view were sometimes also of the opinion that the Intentions was the direct source for Maimonides’