Medieval Spanish Jewry

" Shows with remarkable sophistication and an acute visual sense how [medieval haggadot] did much more than illustrate the story of the Exodus, creating, rather complex statements about the role and place of Jews in the society of the time, as well as producing remarkable works of art."
—Gabriel Josipovici "BOOKS OF THE YEAR" Times of London

In this beautifully illustrated book, historian Marc Michael Epstein explores four magnificent and enigmatic illuminated haggadot—manuscripts created for use at home services on Passover. They include the earliest known surviving illuminated haggadah: the Birds' Head Haggadah, made in Mainz around 1300, in which many of the faces on the human figures depicted throughout are replaced with those of birds. Also presented is the Golden Haggadah from Barcelona, c. 1320-30, along with two Spanish "siblings," the Rylands Haggadah and its purported Brother, made between 1330 and 1340, which share similar iconography and style.

Though the importance of these manuscripts is universally acknowledged, Epstein examines them with fresh and creative eyes, offering insightful solutions to long-unresolved questions concerning the meaning of the art contained within them. In addition, he uses these treasured volumes as a springboard to address broader issues in the study of Jewish thought and culture."

"An exploration of the ways in which medieval Jews used art and literature as means of social and political self-expression. Europe's Jewish minority culture was subjected to a barrage of public images proclaiming the dominance of the Christian majority. This book is the first to explore Jewish response to this assault in the development of a visual culture through which they could affirmatively construct their identity as a people. It demonstrates how medieval Jews gave voice to messages of protest and dreams of subversion by actively appropriating and transforming the quintessential symbols of the dominant culture. Using a variety of methodologies drawn from art history, cultural studies, and the history of mentalites, this work illuminates aspects of the inner landscape of medieval Jewry as reflected in animal symbolism in text and iconography, a very rich and hitherto undiscovered realm. Marc Michael Epstein examines the ubiquitous hare-hunt and the cryptic iconography of elephants flanking the ark in the synagogue, dragons straddling the line between the divine and the demonic worlds, and unicorns that seem to have leaped directly from the christological world of the illuminated bestiary into a universe of Jewish messianic symbolism. These images, often marginal in situation, tend to be regarded as derivative of Christian art or as mere decoration, yet they are illustrative of the manner in which Jews subversively recast various symbols from their own tradition and from Christian culture. An understanding of medieval Jewish self-definition through the "secret language" of their iconography is essential for analysis of the roots of intercultural conflict and collusion in the West.

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עבודת סמינר זו נכתבה בשנת הלימודים תשע"ז (2018) וזכתה בפרס על שם ניצה מאיר ז"ל. במרכזה עומד ניסיון לקריאה פרשנית מעמיקה ב'ספר חיי העולם הבא' וב'ספר האות' מאת רבי אברהם אבולעפיה, מקובל ספרדי בן המאה השלוש עשרה, שפיתח שיטה שלפיה האמין שיוכל להגיע לנבואה, וללמד אחרים לעשות זאת. 'הקבלה האקסטטית' שהוא היה מדבריה המרכזיים איימה אף על הזרם המרכזי של תורת הקבלה, והוא ותורתו נדחקו לקרן זווית הן בידי המקובלים והן בידי מנהיג יהדות ספרד באותה עת, רשב"א. העבודה מציגה את עיקרי שיטתו הנבואית ואת זיקתה להתפתחויות מקבילות בתיאולוגיה ובמיסטיקה הנוצרית של תקופתו וסביבתו.