About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherLittmann Library of Jewish Civilization, T.H.E.

ISBN-10187477417X

ISBN-139781874774174

eBay Product ID (ePID)26038506724

Product Key Features

Number of Pages380 Pages

Publication NameRabbis and Jewish Communities in Renaissance Italy

LanguageEng,Heb

Publication Year2004

SubjectFamily & General Practice, Judaism / History, Judaism / General, Linguistics / General, Jewish

FeaturesReprint

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaReligion, Language Arts & Disciplines, History, Medical

AuthorRobert Bonfil

SeriesThe Littman Library of Jewish Civilization Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight17.6 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN89-003171

Dewey Edition19

Reviews"This deeply researched, nuanced, and illuminating analysis of the reconstruction of Jewish life in western and central Europe (chiefly France, Belgium, and the Netherlands) in the several decades after 1945 fills a real scholarly need. Among other things it demonstrates that despite the views of many contemporaries, Jewish and non-Jewish, the Holocaust did not put an end to meaningful Jewish life on the continent. Nor did the triumphant establishment of the State of Israel, despite its claims on the allegiance of all Jews. In fact, well-organized and culturally significant Jewish communities albeit highly diverse and contentious) eventually re-emerged and played a significant role within world Jewry in the second half of the twentieth century. Weinberg shows how the foundations were laid for this remarkable development. This is also a most timely study. Although it deals mainly with the 1940s and 1950s, it appears at a moment when once again, although under very different circumstances, the que "In 1945 the Jewish communities of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands seemed to have been left with little more than a catastrophic past; the future seemed almost too bleak to contemplate. Within two decades, however, new foundations had been laid and new organizational structures set up, and each community was evolving in its own way and with its own new dynamic. Some would call this a miracle, but David Weinberg shows that it was actually the result of a historical process achieved through far-reaching vision and purposeful human action. Combining detailed information with overview and analysis, he reconstructs the interplay between individuals and institutions that determined this historical process. Carefully researched and clearly written, it is an important contribution to our understanding of this period." -- J.C.H. Blom, Professor Emeritus of Dutch History, University of Amsterdam; former director of the Netherlands Institute of War Documentation "David Weinberg's Recovering A Voice provides a clear and comprehensive overview of the institutional rebirth of the French, Belgian, and Dutch Jewish communities in post-Holocaust Europe. His well researched study offers an indispensable and impartial account, warts and all, of the complex political, cultural and ideological interactions and tensions among American, British, and continental Jewish actors as they charted postwar Jewish life both before and after the birth of the State of Israel in a setting dominated by the Cold War. The significance of Weinberg's book transcends the postwar time period he set out to study. For the tensions he analyzes reappear, virtually unchanged, in the post-1989 European Jewish setting, leading one to wonder about the actual weight of these recovered Jewish voices in an ever more torn Jewish world." -- Diana Pinto, author of 'A New Jewish Identity for Post-1989 Europe', "Masterly work ... undoubtedly a major study on the rabbinate. His controversial stand on many issues related to the Italian Renaissance has and will continue to stimulate fertile discussion." -- Joanna Weinberg, Journal of Semitic Studies

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal296.6/1/0945

Edition DescriptionReprint

Table Of ContentIntroduction 1. The Socio-Cultural Background to the Emergence of the Rabbis The Yeshivah The Emergence of the Rabbi 2. The Social Meaning of Rabbinic Ordination The Status of the Ordained Rabbi The Demand for Status Jewish Society and the Rabbinate: Suspicions, Reservations, and Regulations Authority and Privileges Ordination and the Doctorate The Decline in the Prestige of Ordination 3. The Community-Appointed Rabbi When and How was the Office Created? The Office of Appointed Rabbi within the Structure of the Communal Organization Communal Ordinances and the Promulgation of Bans Local Conditions R. Moses Basola's Critique The Sephardic Model of 'Torah Teacher' Different Approaches among Ashkenazim and Sephardim Special Tasks The Salaries of Community-Appointed Rabbis Etiquette and Prerogatives The Absence in Large Communities of the Office of Appointed Rabbi The Community of Rome Conclusions 4. Outside Sources of Rabbinic Income 'With his soul he earns his bread' What are Itinerant Rabbis? 5. The Judicial Function of the Rabbis Christian Opposition to the Establishment of an Autonomous Jewish Juridical System Means of Establishing a Jewish Judicial System on the Basis of Arbitration Strengthening the System of Arbitration Communal Ordinances The Establishment of the Rabbinic Court in Ferrara Arbitration as the Basis for Jewish Law in Italy 'The Law of the Land is Law' Some Reflections on the Responsa of Italian Rabbis during the Renaissance 6. The Cultural World of the Rabbis Torah and 'Wisdom' The Libraries of the Jews Philosophy and Kabbalah Sermon and Midrash Theory and Practice Appendices Bibliographical abbreviations Selected bibliography Index

SynopsisFocusing on the figure of the rabbi, this book provides a vivid picture of Italian Jewry during the Renaissance. The author discusses Jewish life of the period (c.1450-1600) in its social, institutional, and cultural aspects, placing them against the backdrop of the wider Catholic environment to give an original interpretation of how Jewish cultural and religious life developed in the Renaissance context. Particular attention is given to changes in the status and functions of the rabbis and to the relations between the rabbinate and the lay leadership. Of special interest is the exploration of the cultural world of the rabbis and the broader issue of intellectual developments at the time. Essentially a translation of Part I of the Hebrew edition, which won wide acclaim for its perspective, Rabbis and Jewish Communities in Renaissance Italy has been carefully adapted for an English-speaking readership. Substantial excerpts from the appendices have been incorporated into the text so that the evidence necessary to support the arguments is easily accessible. relations between members of the Rabbinate and the lay leaders of their communities. This discussion is set within the context of the wider Catholic environment which impinged on Jewish life at many points. Of special interest and importance is a chapter dealing with the cultural world of the rabbis and the broader issue of cultural change and movements in intellectual attitudes during the Renaissance. In this edition the translator has inserted substantial excerpts from the appendices at appropriate points within the text in order to make available to the reader all the evidence necessary to support the arguments presented., Focusing on the figure of the rabbi, this book provides a vivid picture of Italian Jewry during the Renaissance. The author discusses Jewish life of the period ( c .1450-1600) in its social, institutional, and cultural aspects, placing them against the backdrop of the wider Catholic environment to give an original interpretation of how Jewish cultural and religious life developed in the Renaissance context. Particular attention is given to changes in the status and functions of the rabbis and to the relations between the rabbinate and the lay leadership. Of special interest is the exploration of the cultural world of the rabbis and the broader issue of intellectual developments at the time. Essentially a translation of Part I of the Hebrew edition, which won wide acclaim for its perspective, Rabbis and Jewish Communities in Renaissance Italy has been carefully adapted for an English-speaking readership. Substantial excerpts from the appendices have been incorporated into the text so that the evidence necessary to support the arguments is easily accessible., Focusing on the figure of the rabbi, this book provides a vivid picture of Italian Jewry during the Renaissance. The author discusses Jewish life of the period (c.1450-1600) in its social, institutional, and cultural aspects, placing them against the backdrop of the wider Catholic environment to give an original interpretation of how Jewish cultural and religious life developed in the Renaissance context. Particular attention is given to changes in the status and functions of the rabbis and to the relations between the rabbinate and the lay leadership. Of special interest is the exploration of the cultural world of the rabbis and the broader issue of intellectual developments at the time. Essentially a translation of Part I of the Hebrew edition, which won wide acclaim for its perspective, Rabbis and Jewish Communities in Renaissance Italy has been carefully adapted for an English-speaking readership. Substantial excerpts from the appendices have been incorporated into the text so that the evidence necessary to support the arguments is easily accessible. relations between members of the Rabbinate and the lay leaders of their communities.