Jewish Culture and Society in Medieval France and Germany

These studies explore the history of the Jewish minority of Ashkenaz (northern France and the German Empire) during the High Middle Ages. A number of studies in the collection focus on Jewish-Christian cultural and social interactions, the foundations of the community ascribed to Charlemagne, and especially on the fashioning of a martyrological col

Autorentext

Ivan G Marcus is Frederick P. Rose Professor of Jewish History, Yale University, USA.

Inhalt

Contents: Introduction. The Jews of Medieval Northern France and Germany (Ashkenaz): A Jewish-Christian symbiosis: the culture of early Ashkenaz; The foundation legend of Ashkenazic Judaism; Rashi's historiosophy in the introductions to his Bible commentaries; The dynamics of Jewish Renaissance and renewal in the 12th century; Honey cakes and Torah: a Jewish boy learns his letters; A pious community and doubt: Jewish martyrdom among northern European Jewry and the story of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz; History, story and collective memory: narrativity in early Ashkenazic culture; From politics to martyrdom: shifting paradigms in the Hebrew narratives of the 1096 crusade riots; Jews and Christians imagining the other in medieval Europe. Medieval German Pietism (Hasidei Ashkenaz): The recensions and structure of Sefer Hasidim; The song of songs in German Hasidism and the school of Rashi: a preliminary comparison; Exegesis for the few and for the many: Judah he-Hasid's biblical commentaries; Narrative fantasies from Sefer Hasidim; The historical meaning of Hasidei Ashkenaz: fact, fiction or cultural self-image?; The devotional ideals of Ashkenazic pietism; Prayer gestures in German Hasidism. Index.