Monthly Archives: March 2022

(Wordle) The Messianic Idea (Nachmanides)

Posted on March 30, 2022 by zjb

How relatively important or non-important is the messianic idea in Judaism? In his reading of the participation of Nachmanides in the public dispute at Barcelona, Hyam Maccoby suggests not very much. The messiah is not “essential,” is not a fundamental, … Continue reading →

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(Mother & Martyr) Mistress Rachel (Mainz Anonymous)

Posted on March 28, 2022 by zjb

There was a distinguished young woman there named Mistress Rachel, daughter of Isaac, son of Asher, who said to her friend: “Four children have I. Have no mercy on them either, lest those uncircumcised ones come and seize them alive … Continue reading →

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Jewish Suffering Human Suffering The Suffering Jesus (Nitzahon Yashan)

Posted on March 22, 2022 by zjb

I don’t want to dispute David Berger who in his introduction to his translation of the critical edition of the Nizzahon Vetus calls this Old Book of Polemic a “striking example of Jewish disputation in its most aggressive mode.”  Others … Continue reading →

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Medieval Anti-Jewish Anti-Semitism (Source Reader)

Posted on March 20, 2022 by zjb

Not for a quick read, this is a long working-post with primary source material in English translation for general interest and for use in the classroom. The original impetus for posting this was for my students in a course at … Continue reading →

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Tough Italian Jews (Scroll of Esther) (1616)

Posted on March 17, 2022 by zjb

I’m posting the link to the Ferrara scroll of Esther (1616) here at the The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art at the Center for Jewish Art. It has links to all two other Scrolls of Esther also illuminated by … Continue reading →

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(Esther) Rashi (Aesthetic Judaism)

Posted on March 17, 2022 by zjb

This might be my misimpression, but what seems to have most caught Rashi’s eye in his commentary to the book of Esther was not so much the vindication of Israel and the political violence that close the text, but rather … Continue reading →

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(Paul) Toledot Yeshu (Parting of the Ways)

Posted on March 9, 2022 by zjb

[The Wandering Jew, Samuel Hirszenberg, 1899] The scandalous and graphic lampooning of Jesus across the entire compendia of Toldeot Yeshu manuscripts gets the most attention. It is these set of images that tend to stick in the mind. But pulling … Continue reading →

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Russia Ukraine Syria Israel Palestine

Posted on March 2, 2022 by zjb

On one hand, there are in the United States and Europe fish to fry on the international and domestic arenas that are bigger than Israel and Palestine. Taking into account Russia and Syria, Russia and Ukraine, and Iranian involvements in … Continue reading →

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