by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Giant Figures
Giant Figures The difficult circumstances of Jewish life in medieval Europe required the creation of cohesive Jewish communities, which the Jews of Europe successfully fashioned. These communities in turn needed inspired leadership, which in fact emerged. All...
by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Combating Christian Pressures
Combating Christian Pressures Medieval western Christendom was aggressively committed to missionizing among its Jews. This aggressive posture began to manifest itself by the twelfth century, and by the thirteenth century it had generated a well-organized...
by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Philosophic Speculation
Philosophic Speculation Jewish philosophic speculation represented yet another effort to reach a deeper understanding of Jewish texts and traditions. Unlike mystical speculation, philosophic speculation began with a distinct external challenge. As the fruits of...
by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Mystical Speculation
Mystical Speculation The search for the deeper meaning of received texts and traditions is a constant of religious communities, and the Christian majority and Jewish minority of medieval western Christendom were no exceptions. Within the Christian...
by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Study of the Bible
Study of the Bible The importance of the Talmud to medieval Jewish life should not obscure the centrality of the Hebrew Bible on the medieval Jewish scene. The Bible, in different ways, formed the second pillar of Jewish life in medieval western Christendom. It...
by hadassah | Apr 15, 2008 | Rabbinic Creativity
Code Introduction, Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel’s Arba`ah Turim Blessed the God of Israel, who is great and mighty! To him , song and praise, lauding and hymns, power and dominion are appropriate. He is greater than any other god. Were I to say- “I shall sound all...
