Aspects of Jewish Culture in the Middle Ages

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION Onznia quippe elementa auctorem suum venisse testata sunt. Ut elzim de eis quiddam usu humano loquar, Deum hunc coeli esse cognoverunt, quia protinus stellam miserunt . Mare cognovit, quia sub plantis eius se calcabile praebuit. Terra cognovit, quia eo moriente contremuit. Sol cognovit, quia lucis suae radios abscondit. Saxa et parietes cognoverunt, quia tempore mortis eius scissa sunt. Infernus agnovit, quia hos quos tenebat mortuos reddidit. Et tamen hunc, quem Dominum omnia insensibilia elementa senserunt, adhuc infidelium 'udaeorum corda Deum esse minime cognoscunt, et, duriora saxis, scindi ad poenitendum nolunt, eumque confiteri abnegant , quem elementa, ut diximus attt signis aut scissionibus Deum clamabant.1 Gregory the Great's cosmic indictment of the hard hearted perversity of the Jews, while no doubt striking for its rhetorical effect, is in many ways a typical text in the history of Jewish-Christian relations. Even when the customarily restrained Aelfric of Eynsham modulates Gregory 's stridency by noting in his vernacular adapta were not, however, all equal ‫ב‬ tion that " ... [the Jews ly unbelieving, but of their race there were both proph ", ets and apostles, and many thousands of believing men the intellectual impulse towards what we now call "ma jority history," clear and unequivocal in the Latin source, continues on.2 It is well-known that from the x I Introduction earliest times the refusal of the Jews to accept Christ was a perplexity to the Children of the New Law. In the apocryphal Visio Pauli, a weeping Moses is made to say: "... 1wonder that strangers and uncircumsized and idol-worshippers have been converted and have entered . into the promises of God, but Israel has not entered 3 This Christianized Moses and the emotional " • . • Gregory had numerous counterparts throughout the earlier Middle Ages, but it was not until the end of the eleventh century that feeling and wonder gave way to . rioting and violence directed at ]ewish communities R. W. Southern suggests that the new, awakening spirit of critical inquiry, as it began to investigate the premises , of the Christian religion, its credibility, and its truth encountered the distinct and alien ]ews: "Scattered throughout Europe in considerable numbers, and enjoy ing a level of prosperity and intellectual culture far above the average, were communities of ]ews, testifying was not true." 4 Thus ]ew ‫נ‬ that [the Christian religion ish criticism of the Incarnation inspires the schoolman Anselm to write his Cur Deus Homo, while other Chris tian apologists answer other unbelievers.5 Anselm's use of dialectic and his reliance on rational argument are a landmark in human thought; nevertheless the results of this disputationhardly need elaboration. Some three hundred years later William Langland respected the people of Abraham and the law of Moses and yet railed at the ]ews for their continuing disbelief. Langland's more famous contemporary, Chaucer, wrote a tale about ritual murder that, even if interpreted as a kind of ro mance or saint's life, presents the same problems as do . the characters Shylock and Fagin , Wl1ile no one can indeed ever forget al1 these things it was not primarily to recall them that the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies at SUNY-Bing Xl I Paul E. Szarmach hamton chose to devote its Eighth Annual Conference . ewish Culture in the Middle Ages ‫ן‬ 3-5 May 1974) to ( As in its previous conferences, the Fellows of the Cen ter sought to give wide disciplinary coverage to a gen eral topic for an audience of medievalists from various disciplines and backgrounds. There was no intention to exhaust the possibi1ities of so 1arge a topic in a confer ence not quite two days 10ng, for such an intention is patent fo11y. Rather there was the fe1t need to a110w estab1ished and innovative scho1ars the opportunity to present a contemporary treatment of ]ews in the Middle A-ges that, though not suppressing the imp1ications of majority history, wou1d deve10p in genera1 medieva1ists 1ture of the ci‫ג‬ some know1edge of the deep and rich ewish community. There was the further hope that the ] deve10pment of an increased awareness wou1d avoid the patronizing pitfa11 of the "contributions" topos; as Yosef H. Yerusha1mi notes (p. 21) : "Medieva1 ]ews did not awake each day to ponder-'what sha11 1con tribute today?' Nor did they genera11y conceive of them selves as impresarios of cu1tura1 contact, the Sol Huroks of the Midd1e Ages." To begin to accomp1ish the large purpose of the conference, which wou1d hopefu1ly...