JEWISH HISTORY Flashcards
What is the key takeaway of European Jewish History?
history of resistance by a minority against a hegemonic majority over a very long period of time. Jewish people in Europe lived lives that were separate but intertwined with Christians
Key takeaway:
What does “history of mobility” mean?
Early modern Jewish history is often a history of mobility.
1.While there are several famous expulsions and displacements that loom large in early modern Jewish history,
Even if no crisis? , businessmen attended trade fairs, people moved from their parents’ homes to get married, etc
Key Takeaway:
Jewishness is not____?
Jewishness is not monolithic.
1.Jews in different parts of Europe spoke different languages, had different cultural traditions, and practiced their religion in different way
What is Talmud?
Collected volume of religious commentary on the Hebrew Bib
What are Kahal/Ma’amad?
Jewish community council
Is Kosher different from what Christians ate?
Jews generally ate the same things as their Christian neighbours in the early modern period except that Jews follow the Biblical prohibitions on certain kinds of foods
Explain the Two major groups in Europe:
- Sephardic
- Ashkenazi
Sephardic Jews settled on the Iberian peninsula & North Africa
*Hebrew word for Spain is Sepharad
*Spoke Judeo-Spanish & Ladino
Ashkenazi Jews settled in Central and, eventually, Eastern Europe
*Hebrew word for Germany is Ashkenaz
*Spoke Judeo-German & Yiddish
What does King Boleslaus of Poland grant? 1200s
d grants Jews rights and protections in Poland = Jewish migration to Eastern Europe
*Yiddish becomes inflected with Slavic languages = this is the key incident shaping the Yiddish language
Victims of crusader pogroms are _______?
remembered as martyrs
*Martyrology becomes an important facet of Ashkenazi culture
What did King Edward 1 do in 1290?
expelled all the Jews from England no choice but to leave
*England as origin of the blood libel: the false accusation that Jews consume the blood of Christian children or ritually murder them
*Anti-Jewish purges re-occurred, with particularly bad looting in 1263–6
What was a common Jewish job?
Jews often only found work as moneylenders; King Edward was in debt
What is the Decree of Alhambra?
gave all Jews in Spain the option of either converting to Christianity or leaving the territory
What are Crypto-Jews?
Jews practicing Judaism in secrecy & hunted by the Inquisition
Why did the Netherlands allow Jewish people to stay there?
allowing Jews to settle there because of their shared enmity for Spain
allowed in normal neighbourhoods
What were Jewish people not allowed in the Netherlands?
Jews were not allowed to marry non-Jews or say anything negative about Christianity
By the 1550s, about 75% of the world’s Jews lived in____?
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
What is “THE COURT JEW”
Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, royalty and nobility. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including, in some cases, being granted noble status.
Traditionally money lenders
What are factors & fixers?
Like a specialist consultant for luxury goods, mercs and other necessities for rulership
What happened in the post-reformation powervaccum? (Church influence recedes)
Rulers make their own choice if they want / need a court jew
How is being a “court Jew” a double edged sword?
: tremendous opportunity for Jews, but exposes Jews to the favour of the ruler (and the rivalry of the court)
What does the displacement of the thirty years war cause for Jewish people?
pushing Jewish population westward
What is the 1647: Khmelnitsky Uprising?
viewed Jewish people as agents of the wealthy
Jewish history, the Uprising is known for the atrocities against the Jews who, in their capacity as leaseholders, were seen by the peasants as their immediate oppressors and became the subject of antisemitic violence
Fled more to Germany
What is the tension between Ashkenazim & Sephardim?
Ashkenazim view Sephardim as having given up their religion (bending vs. breaking)
*Sephardim fear that impoverished, superstitious Ashkenazim will make things tricky with the Dutch
Who is Menasseh Ben Israel?
Junior Rabbi
Becomes painter to help his income
Printed his own writings on the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the soul = earns him fame among Christian intellectuals
What is philosemitism?
Ppl who like jewish wisdom but are really two sides of same coin with anti semitism
What is Menasseh’s english mission?
Attends a series of debates
Writes each of the horrible things christians said about Jewish people during the debates, then rebukes it (in a paper)
Dies thinking he failed, he actually opened a stream of Jewish migration!
Who is Glikl?
Well educated (can speak Hebrew, Yiddish and German)
marries at 15
first child at 16 (has 14 children total)
Why did Glikl write her memoirs?
so her children and grandchildren would have a record of their parent
started writing them in 1689 (when husband died)
What was the later bit of Glikls life like?
Re-married against all inclination in 1700 to Cerf Levy
*Glikl took over Hayim’s business after he died BUT her second husband quickly ruined it after their marriage
*Glikl was too proud to accept financial assistance from her kids until her final illness c. 1712, after Cerf Levy died
Who is Sabbatai Zevi?
Declares himself the messiah
(people packed up and followed him)
He violated rules of Judaism at the time: : ate pork, married a sex worker, and allowed women to preach
*“Sinful messiah” = sin as purification
Tried to convert sultan
- Sultan not into it (forces him to convert to Islam)
- They don’t do this, but he made an exception)
