Regional identities and cultures of medieval Jews / edited by Javier Castano, Talya Fishman, and Ephraim Kanarfogel.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Castaño, Javier, editor.

Fishman, Talya, 1955- editor.

Kanarfogel, Ephraim, editor.

Series:

Liverpool scholarship online.

Liverpool scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Judaism--History--Medieval and early modern period, 425-1789.

Judaism.

Jews--Europe--History--70-1789.

Jews.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (363 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2021.

Summary:

"Though the existence of Jewish regional cultures is widely known, the origins of the most prominent groups, Ashkenaz and Sepharad, are poorly understood, and the rich variety of other regional Jewish identities is often overlooked. Yet all these subcultures emerged in the Middle Ages. Scholars contributing to the present study were invited to consider how such regional identities were fashioned, propagated, reinforced, contested, and reshaped--and to reflect on the developments, events, or encounters that made these identities manifest. They were asked to identify how subcultural identities proved to be useful, and the circumstances in which they were deployed. The resulting volume spans the ninth to the sixteenth centuries, and explores Jewish cultural developments in western Europe, the Balkans, North Africa, and Asia Minor. In its own way, each contribution considers factors--demographic, geographical, historical, economic, political, institutional, legal, intellectual, theological, cultural, and even biological--that led medieval Jews to conceive of themselves, or to be perceived by others, as bearers of a discrete Jewish regional identity. Notwithstanding the singularity of each essay, they collectively attest to the inherent dynamism of Jewish regional identities"-- Publisher's website.

Contents:

Introduction / Talya Fishman

The emergence of the medieval Jewish diaspora(s) of Europe from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, with some thoughts on historical DNA studies / Michael Toch

Medieval Jewish legends on the decline of the Babylonian centre and the primacy of the other geographical centres / Avraham Grossman

The sacrifice of the souls of the righteous upon the heavenly altar : transformations of apocalyptic traditions in medieval Ashkenaz / Paul Mandel

The bifurcated legacy of Rabbi Moses Hadarshan and the rise of Peshat exegesis in medieval France / Hananel Mack

A new look at medieval Jewish exegetical constructions of Peshat in Christian and Muslim lands : Rashbam and Maimonides / Mordechai Z. Cohen

The 'Our Talmud' tradition and the predilection for works of applied law in early Sephardi Rabbinic culture / Talya Fishman

From Germany to northern France and back again : a tale of two Tosafist centres / Ephraim Kanarfogel

Rabbinic politics, royal conquest, and the creation of a Halakhic tradition in medieval Provence / Pinchas Roth

Mediterranean regionalism in Hebrew panegyric poetry / Jonathan Decter

Attraction and attribution : framings of Sephardi identity in Ashkenazi prayer books / Elisabeth Hollender

Minhag and migration : Yiddish custom books from sixteenth-century Italy / Lucia Raspe

A collection of Jewish philosophical prayers / Y. Tzvi Langermann

Prophets and their impacts in the high middle ages : a subculture of Franco-German Jewry / Moshe Idel

Index.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: London: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on January 25, 2021).

ISBN:

1-80034-339-6

1-78694-990-3

OCLC:

1527270403