Gaḥaltan shel ḥakhamim: perakim be-toldot ha-ra-banut be-Germanyah be-me'ah ha-shesh-'esreh uva-me'ah ha-sheva'-'esreh. (The Fiery Embers of the Scholars: The Trials and Tribulations of German Rabbis in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries) (review)

T H E J E W I S H QUA R T E R LY RE V I E W, Vol. 94, No. 1 (Winter 2004) 178–181 YITZHAK (ERIC) ZIMMER. Gah .altan shel h .akhamim: perakim be-toldot ha-rabanut be-Germanyah be-me’ah ha-shesh-‘esreh uva-me’ah ha-sheva‘-‘esreh. (The Fiery Embers of the Scholars: The Trials and Tribulations of German Rabbis in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries). Be’er Sheva‘: Ben Gurion University Press, 1999. Pp. ix Ⳮ 355. Since the 1970s, Eric Zimmer has been a significant contributor to the study of the Jews in late medieval and early modern Germany. From his earliest work in English on the decline of Jewish self-government in central Europe in the fifteenth century and the history of Jewish synods in Germany from the late thirteenth through the early seventeenth centuries , Zimmer has broken important ground in the use of rabbinic responsa in the reconstruction of both the intellectual and social history of the Jews in Germany. The current volume is a collection of previously published materials, rearranged to address the central theme of the German rabbinate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The volume also includes a new synthetic introduction and conclusion; a series of ten appendices of Hebrew and Latin documents referenced throughout the collection; a bibliography of primary sources in Hebrew, secondary sources in Hebrew, and secondary sources in English, German, and French; and indices of subjects , names, and places. The eleven chapters are divided among five sections that examine a variety of complex relationships, including those between rabbis and other members of the Jewish community; local and regional rabbis; local rabbis and communities and the great rabbinic seats inside and outside Germany, especially in Poland (but also to some extent in Italy as well); and rabbis and Christian Hebraists. As such, the essays in this volume offer a welcome retrospective of some of Zimmer’s most resonant work while also confronting many issues of scholarly importance and positing a number of useful questions for the agenda of the study of the Jews in early modern Germany. Throughout the volume, Zimmer examines the struggles of the rabbinate within the contexts of both the unique concerns of the rabbis and the broader challenges facing Jews and Jewish communities. Among the general background issues Zimmer highlights in the introduction are the Black Death, which he claims undermined the foundations of Ashkenazic Jewry, as well as the expulsions of and preaching against the Jews. He ZIMMER, THE FIERY EMBERS OF THE SCHOLARS—BELL 179 also discusses the effects of the Reformation and the subsequent occasional connections between some Jews and Christians within the context of humanism and Christian interest in Hebrew and Kabbalah. The importance of the territorialization of internal Jewish governmental structures, as in the establishment of central courts (in Frankfurt am Main, Worms, Fulda, Friedberg, and Günzburg) as well as the external political ramifications of growing territorial state authority also receive a good deal of attention. Although territorialization could lead to a tenuous Jewish existence , Zimmer is quick to note that it could simultaneously foster new Jewish settlements in early modern Germany and, as some of his individual cases demonstrate, could have significant impact on internal cohesion and struggles for authority. Much of the book introduces the reader to a variety of well-known and lesser-known rabbinic figures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indeed, this may be one of its most lasting benefits, as the volume consciously attempts to shift the focus away from the central communities of Frankfurt am Main and Worms, in order to shed light on the various levels and concerns of a quite diverse rabbinate, particularly within the territorial boundaries of Swabia. Despite this focus on Swabia, however, Zimmer is forced throughout to return to the major communities and their leading rabbinic authorities, suggesting something of the trials facing the local and even regional rabbinate and the general dependence on strong centralized authorities, even amidst the generally recognized fragmentation of early modern Germany. A primary theme of the text concerns internal communal tensions and the increasing influence of the parnasim within the community. As other scholars have...