Jewish questions : responsa on Sephardic life in the early modern period / Matt Goldish.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldish, Matt.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Turkey--History--Sources.

Jews.

Sephardim--Turkey--History--Sources.

Sephardim.

Ethnic relations.

History.

Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918--Sources.

Turkey.

Turkey--Ethnic relations--Sources.

Genre:

Sources.

Physical Description:

lxiii, 180 pages : map ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2008]

Summary:

In Jewish Questions, Matt Goldish introduces English readers to the history and culture of the Sephardic dispersion through an exploration of forty-three responsa-questions about Jewish law that Jews asked leading rabbis, and the rabbis' responses. The questions along with their rabbinical decisions examine all aspects of Jewish life, including business, family, religious issues, and relations between Jews and non-Jews. Taken together, the responsa constitute an extremely rich source of information about the everyday lives of Sephardic Jews.

The book looks at questions asked between 1492-when the Jews were expelled from Spain-and 1750. Originating from all over the Sephardic world, the responsa discuss such diverse topics as the rules of conduct for Ottoman Jewish sea traders, the trials of an ex-husband accused of a robbery, and the rights of a sexually abused wife. Goldish provides a sizeable introduction to the history of the Sephardic diaspora and the nature of responsa literature, as well as a bibliography, historical background for each question, and short biographies of the rabbis involved. Including cases from well-known communities such as Venice, Istanbul, and Saloniki, and lesser-known Jewish enclaves such as Kastoria, Ragusa, and Nablus, Jewish Questions provides a sense of how Sephardic communities were organized, how Jews related to their neighbors, what problems threatened them and their families, and how they understood their relationship to God and the Jewish people.

Contents:

Part I Life among Muslims and Christians

1 Caught in the Middle of Ottoman-Italian Wars (Greece, 1716) 5

2 The Financial Fallout of a Blood Libel (Ragusa, 1622) 8

3 A Blood Libel among the Sephardim (Ottoman Empire, mid-seventeenth century) 13

4 Preparations for Siege (Algiers, 1732) 15

5 The Jew Who Stood Up to the Governor-But Maybe Not Enough (Algiers, mid-eighteenth century) 16

Part II Trade and Other Professions in the Sephardi Diaspora

6 An International Loan Gone Awry (Mediterranean, late-sixteenth century) 23

7 The Woman with a Steel Welding Monopoly (Aleppo, ca. 1559) 26

8 Death of a Salesman in Persia (Bursa and Persia, late sixteenth century) 29

9 A Case of Mistaken Identity (Constantinople, late seventeenth century) 32

10 The Death of Tall Aslan (Aleppo and Turkey, 1681) 35

11 Egyptian Jews with Civet Cats (Egypt, mid-sixteenth century) 38

12 Jewish Trade in a War Zone (Zante and Venice, ca. 1620) 39

13 The Tale of the Clothier and the Vizier (Constantinople, 1641) 42

Part III Life within the Sephardic Community

14 Divorce and an Indian Impostor (Greece, mid-sixteenth century) 53

15 The Great Fire of Saloniki (Saloniki and Lepanto, 1620) 58

16 An Apostate Soldier of Fortune (Zante, ca. 1620) 61

17 The Fallout from a Tall Building (Ottoman Empire, early seventeenth century) 64

18 Polish Fugitives in Egypt (Egypt, late seventeenth century) 66

19 The Quarantine Colony in Spalato (Spalato, seventeenth century) 68

20 Unscrupulous Partners and the Fear of Forced Conversion (Rhodes, early seventeenth century) 71

21 A Change of Fortune, an Unwilling Wife, and a City in Panic (Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, 1737) 73

22 The Causes and Consequences of a Denunciation (Meknes, Morocco, 1721-1728) 77

23 The Persecution of a Witness to Immorality (Tangier and Fez, 1744) 83

Part IV Ritual Observance and Jewish Faith in Sephardic Communities

24 The Jew Accused of Heresy (Ottoman Empire, early sixteenth century) 93

25 Jews Becoming Karaites and Karaites Becoming Jews (Egypt, late seventeenth century) 96

26 Bequests of Conversos and Their Status as Jews (Istanbul, early sixteenth century) 99

27 The Converso and the Charitable Fraternity (Amsterdam, late seventeenth century) 102

28 Monstrous Births and Marvelous Creatures (Venice, mid-seventeenth century) 106

29 Protestants Who Send Money to Poor Jews in the Land of Israel (Palestine, mid-seventeenth century) 109

30 What May a Jew Do with a Nativity Medallion? (Greece, early sixteenth century) 112

31 On Loaning Money to Priests (Jerusalem, ca. 1624) 115

32 The Penitence of the Kastoria Community (Greece, late seventeenth century) 120

Part V Marriage, Family, and Private Life

33 A Converso and His Flemish Concubine (Turkey, early sixteenth century) 127

34 A Convert Repudiates Her Marriage (Ottoman Empire, early sixteenth century) 129

35 The Melancholic Monogamist (Egypt, late seventeenth century) 131

36 The Afflicted Bigamist (Morocco, early eighteenth century) 134

37 A Suspicious Pregnancy (Shekhem [Nablus], Palestine, 1721) 136

38 The Unrepentant Adulterer (Western Europe, 1730) 139

39 A Slave among the Wars in Belgrade (Belgrade, late seventeenth century) 143

40 A Sexually Abused Wife (Ottoman Empire, late seventeenth century) 147

41 On the Manipulation of Women's Right to Divorce (Egypt, mid-seventeenth century) 150

42 A Mother's Quest for Justice (Belgrade, 1698) 153

43 The Runaway Groom (Bayonne, 1742) 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [159]-169) and index.

ISBN:

9780691122649

0691122644

9780691122656

0691122652

OCLC:

182552920