The Talmud (30 page)

Read The Talmud Online

Authors: Harry Freedman

Tags: #Banned, #Censored and Burned. The book they couldn’t suppress

BOOK: The Talmud
5.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Rodkinson, M., 1903.
The History of the Talmud.
New York: Naby Press.

van Rooden, P., 2001. The Jews and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Republic. In: R. Po-chia Hsia and H. van Nierop (eds).
Calvinism
and
Religious
Toleration
in
the
Dutch
Golden
Age.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 132–7.

Rosenblatt, J. P., 2008.
Renaissance England’s Chief Rabbi: John Selden
.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rosen, J., 2001.
The Talmud, The Internet.
London: Continuum.

Roth, N., 1995.
Conversos, Inquisition and the Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Ruderman, D. B., 1995.
Jewish Thought and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Pres.

Rummel, E., 2002.
The
Case
against
Johann
Reuchlin:
Religious
and
Social
Controversy
in
Sixteenth-century
Germany.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Rustow, M., 2008.
Heresy and the Politics of Community; The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Samet, M., 1988. The Beginnings of Orthodoxy.
Modern Judaism,
8(3), pp. 249–69.

Samuel, E., 1978–1980. The Provenance of the Westminster Talmud.
Transactions & Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England),
Volume 27, pp. 148–50.

Sand, S., 2009.
The Invention of the Jewish People.
London: Verso.

Schmidt-Biggemann, W., 2006. Political Theology in Renaissance Christian Kabbala: Petrus Galatinus and Guillaume Postel.
Hebraic Political Studies,
1(3), pp. 286–309.

Scholem, G., 1973.
Sabbetai Sevi, The Mystical Messiah.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Schreiber, A. M., 2002–3. The Hatam Sofer’s Nuanced Attitude towards Secular Learning, Maskilim and Reformers.
The Torah
U-Madda Journal,
Volume 11, pp. 123–73.

Schur, N., 1995.
The Karaite Encyclopedia.
Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Schwartz, D. B., 2012.
The First Modern Jew.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Schwartz, S., 2007. The Political Geography of Rabbinic Texts. In C. Fonrobert and M. Jaffee, (eds).
The Cambridge Companon to the Talmud.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 75–96.

Schwarzfuchs, S. R., 1967. The Expulsion of the Jews from France (1306).
Jewish Quarterly Review,
Volume 57, pp. 482–9.

Segal, Eliezer.
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudPage.html

Shäfer, P., 2007.
Jesus in the Talmud.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Shakir, A. M., 1956.
Umdah
at-Tafsir
‘an
al-Hafiz
Ibn
Kathir.
Cairo: Dar al-Ma’arif.

Shapiro, M. B., 1999.
Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy; The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg 1884–1966.
London: The Littman Library.

—2006. Talmud Study in the Modern Era: From Wissenschaft and Brisk to Daf Yomi. In:
Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein.
New York: Yeshiva University Museum, pp. 103–10.

Shreiber, E., 1892.
Abraham Geiger, the Greatest Reform Rabbi of the Nineteenth Century.
Spokane: Spokane Printing Company.

Silver, D. J., 1965.
Maimonidean Criticism and the Maimonidean Controversy 1180–1240.
Leiden: Brill.

Silverman, R. M., 1995.
Baruch Spinoza: Outcast Jew, Universal Sage.
Northwood (Middlesex): Symposium Press.

Smalley, B., 1952.
The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages.
Oxford: Blackwell.

Soloveitchik, H., 1994. Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy.
Tradition,
28(4), pp. 64–130.

—2006. The Printed Page of the Talmud: The Commentaries and their Authors. In: S. L. Mintz and G. M. Goldstein (eds).
Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein.
New York: Yeshiva University Museum.

Sonne, I., 1943.
Expurgation of Hebrew Books -- the Work of Jewish Scholars: A Contribution to the History of the Censorship of Hebrew Books in Italy in the Sixteenth Century.
New York: New York Public Library.

Sorkin, D., 1992. Jews, the Enlightenment and Religious Toleration; Some Reflections.
Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook,
37(1), pp. 3–16.

—1994. The Case for Comparison: Moses Mendlessohn and Religious Enlightenment.
Modern Judaism,
14(2), pp. 121–38.

Sperber, D., 1994.
Magic and Folklore in Rabbinic Literature.
Ramat Gan: Bar Illan University Press.

Starr-LeBeau, G. D., 2003.
In The Shadow of the Virgin.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Steinsaltz, A., 1989.
The Talmud, The Steinsaltz Edition: A Reference Guide.
New York: Random House.

—2009.
The Essential Talmud.
New York: Basic Books.

Stern, E., 2011. Genius and Demographics in Modern Jewish History.
Jewish Quarterly Review,
101(3), pp. 347–82.

—2013.
The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism.
Yale, CT: Yale University Press.

Stern, S., 2001.
Calendar and Community; A History of the Jewish Calendar 2nd Century
bce
to 10th Century
ce
.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Stillman, N., 1991.
The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times.
Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society.

—2012. The Jews in the Medieval Arab Speaking World. In: A. Levenson, ed.
The Wiley-Blackwell History
of Jews and Judaism.
Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 207–23.

Stow, K. R., 1987. The Jewish Family in the Rhineland in the High Middle Ages: Form and Function.
The American Historical Review,
92(5), pp. 1085–110.

Strack, H. L., Sternberger, G. S., 1991.
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash.
Edinburgh: Fortress Press.

Tarshish, A., 1985.
Dawn in the West.
New York: Lanham.

Ta Shma, Y., 1999.
Hasifrut Haparshanit B’eropa U’vzfon Africa, 2 Vols.
Jerusalem: Magnes Press.

The Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, 2002.
Mrs Lewis & Mrs Gibson.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/lewis-and-gibson.html
[accessed 17 April 2013].

Urbach, E., 1968.
Ba’alei HaTosefot – Toldoteihem, Hiburreihem V Shitatam.
Jerusalem: Bialik Institute.

Wacholder, B., 1982. Jacob Frank and the Frankists’ Hebrew Zoharist Letter.
Offprint from Hebrew Union College Annual,
Volume 53, pp. 265–93.

Weiser, C. M., 1995.
Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Weiss Halivni, D., 1986.
Midrash, Mishnah and Gemara.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wiersma, S., 2009. The Dynamic of Religious Polemics: The Case of Raymond Martin. In:
Interaction between Judaism and Christianity in Religion, Art and Literature.
Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, pp. 201–17.

Wilensky, M. L., 1956. The Polemic of Rabbi David of Makow against Hasidism.
Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research,
Volume 25, pp. 137–56.

Wisch, B., 2003. Vested Interest: Redressing Jews on Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling.
Artibus et Historiae,
24(48), pp. 143–72.

Yad VaShem, 2013.
The Story of the Jewish Community in Mir.
[Online] Available at:
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/mir/rescue_yeshiva.asp
[accessed 23 April 2013].

Zeitlin, S., 1974.
Studies in the Early History of Judaism Vol II.
New York: Ktav Publishing House.

Ziskind, J. R., 1978. Petrus Cunaeus on Theocracy, Jubilee and the Latifundia.
The Jewish Quarterly Review,
68(4), pp. 235–54.

Acknowledgements

I
have
acquired
knowledge
from
all
my
teachers.
So wrote
the author of Psalm 119, who people say was King David. I owe a debt of gratitude to all my teachers, the sages who lived in ages past, the scholars and academics whom I have never met but whose works I have encountered and of course those whose words I heard from their own mouths. (I would like to have said, as a student of earlier generations might, ‘at whose feet I sat’ but of course we don’t sit at our teachers’ feet these days.) The knowledge is theirs, any errors only mine.

More particularly I would like to thank my agent, Sheila Ableman, for her unbounded enthusiasm for the book and for her ongoing support. To Robin Baird-Smith for his positivity, energy and for believing in the idea, to Joel Simons for his adept managing of the project, and his patience even when I was at my most trying, and to Anya Rosenberg, Helen Flood and the rest of the team at Bloomsbury. Grateful thanks too to Kim Storry for project managing the prepress, and to Sue Cope for her diligent copy editing and for being prepared to work all hours to meet the deadline.

Thanks also to Professor Jerry Gotel for reading the manuscript, to Dayan Ivan Binstock for the conversations which taught me so much, to Paul Summer for solving the Jacob Landau riddle, to Ivor Jacobs for helping me lay my hands on vital out-of-print texts and to my brother Jeremy Freedman for explaining how Henry VIII’s Talmudic investigations influenced English divorce law. Particular thanks must go to my parents Joan and Louis Freedman who made sure that I received an education which enabled me to read and understand the Talmud, to my children Josh and Mollie whose continual interest and probing questions obliged me to sharpen my wits and to my wife Karen for her unflagging support and encouragement. Finally, words can never adequately acknowledge just how much I owe to the greatest of all my Talmud teachers, Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs, whose scholarship, wit,
breadth
of knowledge and profound humanity turned the Talmud from a dusty tome to a source of inspiration for so many people. May his memory be for a blessing.

Index

Abassids
56

7
see also
under respective caliphs

Abba Sikra
18

Abelard, Peter
104

5

Abraham ben David of Posquières
96

7

Abraham ibn Daud
91

2
see also
legend of the four captives

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Qirqisani
73

4

academies
see
yeshiva

Adelkind, Cornelius
143

4

aggada
46

7
,
116
,
123

Ahai Gaon
66

7

Akiva, Rabbi
23

7
,
33
,
119
,
127

Al-Andalus
see
Spain

Alexander the Great
30
,
89

90

Al-Idrisi, Muhammad
81

Al-Ma’mun, Caliph
56

7

Al-Mansur, Caliph
56

Almohads
94

5

ambiguity
65
,
213
see also
disagreement

America
132
,
184

5
,
198
see also
Reformed Judaism

Amoraim
42

3
,
49
,
61

Amram Gaon
67

8
,
80
,
88

Anan ben David
71

2
,
75

ancient French
102

Ancient Mediterranean
14

15

Andres de Bernaldez (Priest)
132
,
141

anti-Christian sentiments, alleged
116
,
146

7

Arba’ah Turim
(Four Rows)
135

Artabanus, King of Parthia
34

artisans
36

7

ArtScroll Talmud
209

Asher ben Yehiel
135
,
143

Ashi, Rav
38
,
48
,
49

Ashkenazim
135

Assi, Rav
45

6

astronomy
38
,
156

60

Augustine of Hippo
124

5

authorship
10
,
52
,
66
,
160

Babylon
11

12
,
29

30
,
34

academy in Nehardea
32

5

exilarchy
30

2

geography
35

9

see also
Babylonian Talmud; exilarchy

Babylonian Talmud
11
,
48
,
65
,
67

71

Baghdad
53

9
,
62
,
65

6
,
84
,
87

baraita
42

Barcelona
121

6

Baron, Salo
112

Bernard of Clairvaux
104

Besht
see
Israel Ba’al Shem Tov

Bet Yosef
(Caro)
135

Bible
1
,
72
,
85
,
112
,
182
,
208
see also
Vulgate Bible

biographical details
47

8

blood libel
112
,
172

3
,
190

1

Bodin, Jean
150

Bomberg, Daniel
142

4

book burnings
116

19
,
139

Guide for the Perplexed
(Maimonides)
119

20

Italy
144

5

Jacob Frank
172

see also
persecutions

Book of Creation – Sefer Yetzirah
(Jewish mystical text)
126

Book of Lights and Watchtowers
73

4

bowls, magic
38

Brahe, Tyco
158

Briel, Judah
159

60

Britain
147

9
,
167

Bulan, King of Khazaria
90

burnings of books
see
book burnings

Bustanai, Exilarch
54
,
62

3

Cairo
69

70
,
89
,
96
,
197

8

Caldron, Ruth
211

calendar
75

7
,
157

caliphates
56

7
,
62

3

caliphs

Al-Ma’mun
56

7

Al-Mansur
56

Harun al-Rashid
56

7
,
66

capital punishment
32
,
42
,
45

Caro, Ephraim
134

5

Caro, Yosef
134

5

Carolingian Renaissance
99

Castile
121
,
127

casuistry
105

6
,
179

80

censorship
118

19

Council of Trent
145

7

Index Librorum Prohibitorum
145

Spain
123

4

see also
book burnings

Chapters of the Fathers
13

14
,
19

charity
24

5
,
46

Charleston (USA)
184

5

Chmielnicki, Bohdan
163

5

Christian Hebraists
135

40
,
145
,
205

Christian of Stavelot
89

90

Christiani, Pablo
121

6

Christianity in Talmud and Midrash
(Herford)
205

Christianity in the Talmud
116
,
146

7

Church authorities
146

147
,
172
see also
Inquisition

codification
2
,
65

7

Isaac Al-Fasi
93

Mishneh Torah
(Maimonides)
96

7

Saadia ben Yosef
78

Shmuel Hanaggid
92

Spanish school
91

3
,
106

vs. textual analysis
106

Cohen, Jeremy
113

Cohen, Mark
60

commandments, ten
9

Commentary on the Mishnah
(Maimonides)
95

commerce
59

60

compilation of the Talmud
47

9

academies in Babylon
40

4

layering
50

2

theory and practice
44

7

composition
see
structure

concentration camps
202

4

conquests

Barbary
91

Islamic
54
,
81

2

contradictions, textual
105

6

controversy
19

20

conversos
129

33
,
160

Copernican revolution
156

60

Copernicus, Nicolaus
156

8

copyright law
142

Cordoba
91

correspondence
32

3
,
101

Council of Trent
145

6

Council of Venice
143

Croke, Ricard
147

9

Crusades
103

4

cultural cross-fertilization
60
,
69
,
88
see also
religious differences, tolerance of

Cunaeus, Petrus
153

daf yomi
programme
199

200
,
211

12

Damascus Affair
190

1

Dan, Joseph
120

Danby, Rev Herbert
205

David ben Zakkai
77

David of Makov
174

6

daybreak, legal definition of
59

De Arcana Catholicae Veritatis
139

Dead Sea Scrolls
60

death camps
202

4

death penality
32
,
42
,
45

decalogue
9

demonology
38

destruction of the Temple
17

19
,
164

development, doctrinal
55
,
78

dhimmi
status
97
see also
religious differences, tolerance of

dialectic
19

20

diaspora
34
,
53
,
64
see also
isolation of communities

dictionaries
193
,
209
see also
grammars

digression
12

16
,
40

1
,
46

dina malchuta dina
ruling
45

disagreement
19

20
see also
ambiguity

discursivity
12

16
,
40

1
,
46

Divine inspiration
9

11

divorce
69
,
147

9

doctrinal development
55
,
78

dogmatism
55

Dominican Order
121

6

Donin, Nicholas
113

16

Dutch Republic
152

3

Eastern Europe
162

3

Eden
35

education

Elijah of Vilna
179

80

importance of
46
,
56
,
162

3
,
203

as universal ideal
91

of women
84
,
103

see also
yeshiva

Elchanan, son of Shimon of Mainz
98

9

Eldad the Danite
82

3

Eleazar ben Azariah, Rabbi
23

Elijah of Vilna
176

80

Elijah the Prophet
48

elitism
37

8
,
199

Ellman, Yaakov
51

Emden, Jacob
170

Enlightenment
160

2
,
177

8

French and American revolutions
185

Moses Mendelssohn
181

3

reversals of
162

3

see also Haskalah
; Reformed Judaism

Epstein, Isidore
206

Erastus, Thomas
152

3

esotericism
2

3
,
11

12

excommunication
45
,
101
,
161
,
170

exegesis
11

12
,
106

7

exilarchy
30

3
,
37

Anan ben David
71

2

Bustanai
54
,
62

3

under the caliphate
62

3

David ben Zakkai
77

Mar Zutra
49

exorcism
38

Extractiones de Talmut
115

Eybeschutz, Jonathan
169

70

Ezekiel the Prophet
126

Farabi ibn Kora
90

fatwas
67

71

Felice de Prato, Fra
142

3

Ferdinand III, King of Castile
121

Fez
94

Fifth Monarchy Men
167

finance
59

60

fingernails
39

Fishman, Talya
85
,
99

fleas, killing of
159

60

fluidity of doctrine
55
,
78

folklore, Islamic
60

1
see also
legends; superstitions

forced conversion
97
,
100

1
,
129

33

France
98
,
103
,
113

18
see also
Rhineland

Frank, Jacob
171

3

French, ancient
102

Friar Ramon
122

Friedman, Shamma
51

Froben, Ambrosius
146

7

Gafni, Isaiah
35

Galatino, Petrus
139

Gamaliel II
22

3
,
157

Gans, David
158

9

Gaon’s
letter (Sherira)
32

3

Other books

The Bluebird Café by Rebecca Smith
Cosmonaut Keep by Ken Macleod
The Frozen Rabbi by Stern, Steve
A Corpse in a Teacup by Cassie Page
Reckless Griselda by Harriet Smart
Untitled by Unknown Author
This Darkness Mine by G.R. Yeates