Category: Jewish History
Enter the worlds of the Rishonim and early Achronim. The focus of the articles in this category is historical, including sociopolitical and intellectual history.
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Premodern Travel to Israel and the Aliyah of R. Ovadia Bartenura in 1486-88
Introduction In spite of the hardships of travel, the sequence of repressive regimes that ruled in the Land of Israel, and lack of economic development and opportunity, Jews have always made their way back to their homeland when they were able. A few major figures, such as Yehuda ha-Levi and Ramban, are known for their…
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When Were the “Middle Ages”? Periodization and Why it Matters
If the Middle Ages didn’t exist, would they have had to be invented? Below, I’m going to talk through the problematics of periodization in general and that of the Middle Ages in particular, suggesting ways to complicate our understanding of what we mean when we talk about medieval cultures. However, that doesn’t mean that periodization…
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Rambam as Kabbalist: An Early Account
The idea that Rambam was actually a Kabbalist and not (or, depending on the theory, not just) a philosopher, became widespread about a century after his death. This idea takes two different forms: the first holds that Rambam turned his back on philosophy at the end of his life, renouncing his rationalist works, namely Sefer…
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Yedidya Norzi and Menachem Lonzano: An Early Modern Tale of Two Biblical Scholars
The words of birkat kohanim, the priestly blessing as recorded in the Torah (Bemidbar 6:26-24), leap out at us from the painstakingly unfurled silver scrolls dated c. 600 BCE, above. Well, not exactly leap, unless you read paleo-Hebrew, or what the rabbis of the Talmud call כתב ליבונאה, “Libonah script” (in contrast to what they term…
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Ibn Ezra in England
At the end of his life, after years of itinerant scholarship, the great commentator Avraham Ibn Ezra found himself at the far edge of the world: England. It is there (probably) that he wrote an exposition of his philosophy, known to us as Yesod Mora; and there, too, that he wrote the unusual Iggeret ha-Shabbat. We even have…
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The Jewish Mapmakers of Majorca
Image: Four leaves (each split in two) of the Catalan Atlas, showing the Mediterranean basin. On an island in the Mediterranean in the 14th century there lived a mapmaker and his son. Their story, like all good stories, is at once highly particular, a tale about idiosyncratic individuals in a distinct time and place, but…
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Radak’s Use of Bereshit Rabbati
Image: “Arch of Titus” by Nick in exsilio is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 In his long comment on Bereshit 1:31, Radak includes an interesting midrash that he attributes to Bereshit Rabbati. Actually, the reference is itself embedded in an arresting interpretation of this blockbuster pasuk: וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹקים֙ אֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם…
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Rashi’s Citations of Moshe ha-Darshan
Among the contemporaries Rashi cites in his commentaries, Moshe ha-Darshan is quoted a relatively few, yet still significant, number of times: Rashi cites him by name 17 times in his Tanakh commentary and twice in the Talmud commentary. Moshe ha-Darshan was a scholar active in Provence in the first half of the 11th century, in…