Ketubah (Jewish marriage contract), Casale Monferrato 1671 JNUL, Jerusalem

History 418, JWST 419C Jews in Early Modern Europe Fall, 2004 MW 1:00-2:15 Francis Scott Key 1117       Instructor: Dr. B. Cooperman Office Hrs. Mon./Wed. 11:00-12:00 or by appointment. Taliaferro 2130 301-405-4271 e-mail: bc40@umail.umd.edu

Course and Readings Calendar

Mon., Aug. 30 Introduction: Definition of our Period. The Medieval Legacy.

 

Wed., Sept. 1 Demographics and Geography: Migration. Expulsions. Impact of 1648/49. New Centers in Europe, the East, and the Americas.

Primary Sources:

"Isaac Zarfati Warns the Jews to Leave Germany and Settle in Turkey" (c. 1454)

"Provencal Jews in Salonika Beseech Their Fellow Jews in Provence to Join Them" (1550)

Reading:

Israel, chap. 1-3, pp. 5-69

Mon., Sept. 6 Labor Day - NO CLASS

Wed., Sept. 8 Demographics and Geography: Continued.

First Written Assignment: Due 9/08/04

Historians deal with the specific and the particular, but they try to understand each specific person, event, or document within a more general or universalizing context. In other words, historians ascribe significance to the particular by relating it to broader patterns and narratives (stories). But which comes first: the events that have to be woven together into a theme? or the overall theme for which the events are merely illustrations? The answer is never simple, and the two processes are always in tension. Narratives are shaped by the available evidence, and specifics are highlighted or suppressed as they fit in with the overall narrative. From the texts provided take one contemporary and one modern description of the early modern period. In a paper of approximately two pages (600 words), compare the overall theme that the two writers have ascribed to the Early Modern Period in Jewish history and outline what kind of sources they will have to "privilege" or emphasize, and what kind they will have to dowplay or ignore. Your paper might examine, for example, whether the writers focused on external or internal factors in Jewish history, on religious or secular developments, on certain geographic areas as opposed to others, and so forth. You might ask whether the author focused on continuity or change in the period, what the writer's attitude was towards tradition, or whether the writer thought the period was one of progress or regression. Try to get inside each author's "head" and understand what the point of the story was for him. Enjoy.

Mon., Sept. 13 Economic Function and Its Political Impact. Levant Trade. Mercantilism. Charters. Court Jews. Craft guilds.

Reading:

Israel, chap. 5-7, pp. 87-183

Note: Peter Burke, a distinguished historian of Early Modern Europe from the University of Cambridge, England, will be lecturing to the Center for Historical Studies today at 4:00 pm (Taliaferro, Rm. 2110). I urge everyone in the class to take advantage of this unusual opportunity. [Though Professor Burke's work is not directly about Jewish history, his insights and methods have done much to shape the study of our period and will definitely be of use when it comes to writing your final paper. (There are refreshments from 3:30. Come early for a good seat.)

Reading:

Israel, chap. 10-11, pp. 237-74.

Reading:

Benjamin Ravid, "From Geographical Realia to Historiographical Symbol: The Odyssey of the Word Ghetto" in David B. Ruderman, ed., Essential Papers on Jewish Culture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy (New York, 1992). McKeldin ref. BM322.E87

Kenneth R. Stow, "The Consciousness of Closure: Roman Jewry and Its Ghet" also in Ruderman, ed., Essential Papers

Amos Elon, Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild and His Time (New York, 1997): 19-48. McKeldin ref. HG1552.R82 E46

Reading:

R. Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475. Stories of a Ritual Murder (New Haven, 1992).

Second Written Assignment: Due 9/27/04

A paper of approximately 2 pages in length (600 words) in which you try to answer the question: "What was the point of the interrogations and torture used at Trent in 1475?" A full answer will summarize events and personalities involved and then try to establish the motives of the various parties. Feel free to agree or disagree with Hsia on this matter, but be sure you present his case fairly. This is a writing assignment, not a research paper, but you are certainly free to consult other books on the use of evidence, torture, etc. in the period. Enjoy.

Wed., Sept. 29 Communal Government Structure. Kehillah, "ethnicity," "class," confraternities.

Reading:

Israel, chap. 8, pp. 184-206

Katz, Part II, Chapters 9-19, pp. 65-179 [Study Questions]

Mon., Oct. 4 Communal Government Structure: Continued.

Wed., Oct. 6 Mid-Term Examination [Study Questions]

Mon., Oct. 11 Cultural and Spiritual Developments: Impact of Printing. Codification. Historiography.

Reading:

Israel, chapters 4 & 9, pp. 70-151;86; 207-236.

Isadore Twersky. "The Shulhan Arukh. Enduring Code of Jewish Law." Judaism 16. The article also appeared in Judah Goldin, The Jewish Expression. A xerox of the article and several copies of the Goldin anthology are on reserve in McKeldin Library.

Reading:

Solomon Schechter. "Safed in the Sixteenth Century. A City of Legists and Mystics," Studies in Judaism. 2nd Series. Philadelphia: 1908. Pp. 202-285. A xerox of the article and copies of the book are on reserve in McKeldin Library. It is also available online through McKeldin's course reserve online system.[For the password send me an email.]

Gershom Scholem. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York. 1946. Reprinted 1995. Chapter 7. "Isaac Luria and his School." Pp. 244-286. A xerox of the chapter and several copies of the book are on reserve in McKeldin Library. It is also available online through McKeldin's course reserve online system.[For the password send me an email.]

Hayim Vital, Book of Visions, in Morris Faierstein, tr. and ed. Jewish Mystical Autobiographies. Book of Visions and Book of Secrets. Paulist Press. 2000. " We will read the translator's introduction, pp. 3-39, and parts 1 and 2 of Vital's book, pp. 41-112. NOTE: It took us considerably longer than expected to locate a copy of this book and put it on reserve. It will be available to you online through the "course reserves" section of McKeldin's online catalogue. It is a large file so if you download it from home with a 56K modem, it will take a long time. Try to download the file at school (in McKeldin or in a wam lab) where you have a fast connection. For the password send me an email.

Lawrence Fine, trans., Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety. The Beginning of Wisdom (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984), pp. 25-80. [Skim and look for things that surprise you.]

Third Written Assignment: Due 10/25/04

A paper of approximately 2pages in length (600 words) in which you try to answer the question: "What are the essential elements in the religious vision of R. Hayim Vital as evidenced in his mystical autobiography?" Try to pick out elements that you think are unusual and explain why they appear specifically in this time and place. Feel free to refer to points taken from the other readings for this section. Enjoy.

Mon., Oct. 18 Encounters with the Outside: Polemic; Christian Hebraism; "Proto-Haskala?"

Reading:

TBA

Wed., Oct. 20 The Conversos and Religious Ferment

Mon., Oct. 25 Library Session. Meet at McKeldin.

Wed., Oct. 27 The Conversos and Religious Ferment. Continued

Mon., Nov. 1 Biographies. An Introduction.

Wed., Nov. 3 A Rabbi’s Memoir: Leone Modena

Reading:

Mark Cohen, ed. The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi. Leon Modena’s ‘Life of Judah’.

Fourth Written Assignment: Due 11/8/04

A bibliographical exercise. Pick any topic that we have covered in this course (e.g., Spanish marranism; women in eastern Jewish communities; Jewish community structures) and develop a research agenda to explore it further. a) Provide a clear statment of your proposed thesis or the question you expect to investigate. b) Develop a bibliography of at least twelve items relevant to your investigation. For each, provide a full citation in accordance with standard rules (see Rampolla, chapter 7). At least four of your citations must be monographs. The rest may be chapters from scholarly books or journal articles. For each item, summarize its contents briefly (one or two sentences) and explain why you think it will be relevant to your investigation. c) Add one further item that you initially thought would be relevant but that you rejected in the end. Explain why.

Mon., Nov. 8 A Businesswoman’s Memoir: Glückel of Hamlen

Reading:

Marvin Lowenthal, tr. The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln (1977)

Reading:

Stephen Sharot, Messianism, Mysticism and Magic. A Sociological Analyis of Jewish Religious Movements (Chapel Hill: U. of NC Press, 1982). Chapters 3, 5-7.

G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1946; New York, 1995; reprint). Chapter 8. "Sabbatianism and Mystical Heresy." Pp. 287-324.

Mon., Nov. 15 Messianism, Sabbatianism, and its Aftermath. Continued.

Wed., Nov. 17 Messianism, Sabbatianism, and its Aftermath. Continued.

Final biographical essay due in Professor Cooperman's office by 1 pm today.

Wed., Nov. 24 NO CLASS. Make-up will be scheduled.

Mon., Nov. 29 East European Religiosity and Learning.

Reading:

Emanuel Etkes, "The Gaon of Vilna and Haskalah Movement," in Joseph Dan, ed., Binah. II: Studies in Jewish Thought. (New York: Praeger, 1989). McK BM40 .S76 1989

Wed., Dec. 1 Hasidism: Origins and Early Spread

Reading:

Jacob Katz, Tradition and Crisis, chapters 20-22, pages 183-213.

Mon., Dec. 6 Haskala: Origins and Argument. The Debate over Traditional Categories

Reading:

Jacob Katz, Tradition and Crisis, chapters 23-24, pp. 214-236.

Fifth Written Assignment: Due 12/06/04

A paper of approximately 2 pages in length (600 words) on the Chassidic and Maskilic approaches to the Bible. Texts will be handed out in class. Enjoy.

Wed., Dec. 8 Course Review

Final Examination

The final examination will be a take-home exam. Answers are to be typed and double spaced. Exams are due in Dr. Cooperman's office at 1:30 pm on Tuesday, December 14, 2004.

Required Books

Jonathan Israel, European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550—1750

Jacob Katz,Tradition and Crisis, trans. by Bernard Cooperman (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000).

Miriam Bodian. Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation. Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997)

Mark Cohen, ed. The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi. Leon Modena’s ‘Life of Judah’ (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, )

Lawrence Fine, trans., Safed Spirituality: Rules of Mystical Piety. The Beginning of Wisdom (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984)

Marvin Lowenthal, trans., Gluckel of Hameln (New York: Schocken, )

R. Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475. Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992)

Eli Barnavi, A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People (New York: Schocken, 1995; revised 2003)

Paul W. Levinger, Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage (Penguin, 2002)

Mary Lynn Rampolla, Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 4th edition (Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, 2003)

Course Requirements

(1) Class Preparation and Participation. Readings should be completed before the first class of the topic under which they appear.

(2) Five brief writing assignments based on the readings for class or various research exercises. There may be a few "pop quizzes" based on the reading for that class and one or two map quizzes.

(3) A mid-term examination.

(3) A final examination in two parts: one part a "mid-term" based on material covered since the first mid-term, and one part a cumulative set of essay questions based on the entire course with special emphasis on the lectures. Special preparatory questions for this cumulative part will be handed out one week in advance.

(4) "A Woman of Her Time"/"A Man of His Time": Write an essay of approximately ten pages based on one of the two autobiographies/memoirs we have read. Describe the life of either Judah Aryeh (Leon) Modena or Gluckel of Hameln in the context of their place and time. Your paper should include a summary of what you see as the important moments of your subject's life, but it should also go beyond that to address broader themes of early modern Jewish history, such as patterns of economic, communal, gender or religious change.

Grade Composition

Weekly Assignments and Quizzes: 15%

Mid-Term: 15%

Final Exam: 30%

Ten-page Essay: 25%

Class Participation: 15% (Grade depends upon factors such as regular attendance, evidence of preparation, participation in class discussions, etc.) .

Internet Links to Sites Relevant for the
Study of Early Modern Jewish History

I would very much like to expand this section of the course syllabus. If you find a web-based source that you think is relevant to the course, please send it along, and I will try to add it here. Thank you. --BDC

Internet Jewish History Sourcebook. [One of a number of general and specialized internet sourcebooks for historical study maintained by Paul Halsall at Fordham University. The site includes references to many other sites of interest for students of Jewish and general history. For an overview of the entire site, look at Halsall's home page. Note that material on the early modern period is often to be found in lists devoted to the modern period. Especially useful is the Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities prepared by Melvin E. Page of East Tennessee State University.

The Medici Archive Project. Edward Goldberg directs an innovative project which seeks to survey and digitize large portions of the enormous archival holdings in Florence's Archivio di Stato. One part of the project is devoted to Jewish History, Religion and Culture. The site displays a number of fascinating, annotated documents in Italian transcription as well as English translation.

The Folger Library in Washington D.C. maintains a wonderful list of on-line resources for Early Modern History and Literature.

More than 500 scholarly journals are indexed on-line via Iter, the "Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance." This goal of project, housed at the University of Toronto, is to increase access to all published materials pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700), through the creation of online bibliographic databases. The project is currently adding a bibliography of books. "Iter," by the way, means 'a journey' or 'a path' in Latin. The University of Maryland subscribes to Iter; you need a university id or web address in order to gain access through Victor or through this page.