Creating a Physical Setting

 

Speyer Synagogue

Remnants of the medieval synagogue in Speyer, Germany. By James Steakley – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8625608

Jewish life in medieval western Christendom was grounded in economic activities perceived as useful by the ruling class and at the same time profitable to the Jews themselves. For Jewish life to be maintained in areas of old settlement and to take root in areas of new settlement, effective Jewish communal organization was vital. Attempting to root themselves in an environment that was simultaneously dynamic and threatening,
enticing and hostile, the Jews of medieval Europe required the support of fellow Jews, organized physically in supportive neighborhood enclaves, politically in effective negotiating associations, and spiritually in supportive networks.

Jews banded together throughout medieval Europe in neighborhood enclaves that provided a sense of security and solidarity. Early on, these neighborhoods were entirely voluntary; with the passage of time they became compulsory, demanded by the Church and enforced by the lay authorities. Beyond security and solidarity, the Jewish enclaves provided all the physical necessities of Jewish life—synagogues, schools, ritual baths, food facilities, and cemeteries. While most of the physical remains of Jewish community life in medieval Europe have disappeared, enough remains to afford a rich sense of these indispensable facilities.

Images

  1. Speyer medieval synagogue- view from the northwest, view from the northeast, sandstone tile floor
  2. Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca, Toledo, 13 th century
  3. Córdoba Synagogue, south and north walls, 1314-15
  4. Detail of the Dedicatory Inscription of the Synagogue of El Tránsito, Toledo, 1357
  5. Illuminating the Synagogue, Sister Haggadah, ca. 1350
  6. Speyer ritual bath
  7. Women ritually cleaning dishes in the mikvah, Moorish Haggadah, ca. 1300, Castile

Primary Texts

  1. Dedication of a New Speyer Synagogue, 1104, Anonymous Twelfth-Century Hebrew Narrative
  2. Royal Grant of Cemetery Rights to the Jews of England, 1177, Roger of Howden’s Thirteenth-Century Latin Narrative
  3. Royal Arrangements for Jewish Communal Property, 1315 Royal Edict

Secondary Literature

  1. Y. Assis, The Golden Age of Aragonese Jewry- Community and Society in the Crown of Aragon, 1213-1327 (London- The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1997), 199-234.
  2. S. Codreanu-Windauer, “Regensburg- The Archeology of the Medieval Jewish Quarter,” in The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth through Fifteenth Centuries), 391-404.
  3. P. Manix, “Oxford- Mapping the Medieval Jewry,” in The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth through Fifteenth Centuries), 405-420.
  4. M. Porsche, “Speyer- The Medieval Synagogue,” in The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth through Fifteenth Centuries), 435-448.
  5. K. Muller, “Wurzburg- The World’s Largest find from a Medieval Jewish Synagogue,” The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth through Fifteenth Centuries), 379-390.

Videos

  1. Who were the leaders of European Jewry? Prof. Robert Chazan.
  2. Images in the Medieval Haggadah
  3. Medieval Spanish Haggadah
  4. Jews in Medieval Spain – Overview

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