Leadership and Conflict

This masterly collection of essays offers a multifaceted analysis of how Jewish leaders in medieval and early modern times responded to the challenges they faced. Based largely on the study of sermons and responsa—genres that show Jewish leaders addressing real situations in the lives of their people—it reveals how rabbis have handled intellectual, social, and political diversity and conflict within various vibrant Jewish societies.

As medieval Jews were exposed to new philosophical ideas, many began to question and challenge rabbinical leadership. Several of the essays explore the process by which these ideas became more accessible , the doubts that consequently arose regarding certain biblical and rabbinic texts, and the attempt by some leaders to ban the study of philosophical texts. Other essays address the rhetoric of rebuke with which preachers criticized behaviour within their community that they considered to be a violation of Jewish law and tradition. Another set of essays focuses on the challenges emerging from external forces, including the unification of France, the Spanish Inquisition and Edict of Expulsion, and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation. One essay explores and challenges the basis for criticism of the talent and leadership of rabbis in such times of crisis. A final section is devoted to conflicting attitudes towards the Holy Land, exile and diasporic existence, and messianic movements and personalities.

These essays represent three decades of scholarship by a distinguished historian. Bringing them together in a single volume allows a new generation of students and scholars to have access to his insights and conclusions.

Note on Transliteration
Introduction

PART I: Two Modes of Rabbinic Leadership

1 The Preaching of Repentance and the Reforms in Toledo, 1281
2 Legal Decision-Making in Fourteenth-Century Toledo: The Responsa of Rabbi Judah ben Asher

PART II: Intellectual Challenge and Conflict

3 Philosophy and Jewish Society in the Late Middle Ages
4 The Conflict over the Ban on Philosophical Study, 1305: A Political Perspective
5 Cultural Juxtapositions: Problematizing Scripture in Late Medieval and Jewish Exegesis
6 Ein li esek banistarot: Saul Levi Morteira’s Sermons on Parashat ‘Bereshit’

PART III: Leaders Facing Communities in Upheaval

7 Jewish Leadership in the Generation of the Expulsion
8 Rabbis, Martyrs, and Merchants: Jewish Communal Conflict as Reflected in the Responsa on the Boycott of Ancona
9 Four Kinds of Weeping: Saul Levi Morteira’s Application of Biblical Narrative to Contemporary Events
10 Attempts to Control the Pulpit: Medieval Judaism and Beyond

PART IV: Conflicting Attitudes towards Exile, the Land, and the Messiah

11 ‘Arab Chains’ and ‘The Good Things of Sefarad’: Aspects of Jewish Exile
12 The Land of Israel in Pre-Modern Jewish Thought: A History of Two Rabbinic Statements
13 Messianic Leadership in Jewish History: Movements and Personalities

Bibliography
Index of Passages Cited
General Index

‘A fascinating book about Jewish society in the medieval and early modern eras written through the prism of rabbinic sermons and Jewish responsa by one of the pre-eminent scholars of these mediums. Written clearly, it is accessible to the scholar and the interested general reader.’
David Tesler, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews