Jewish Experience  -- The Middle Ages

By Michael Johnathan McDonald

Memorable events
Jews have their second temple destroyed. They believe this is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. Then they are kicked out of Palestine, by the Romans in c. 60 AD, and they go toward western Europe - many who wind up in Iberia ( Spain) and remain there. Then they get kicked out of Spain in 1492. These three things are measured as the worst events in Jewish history. This page of course deals with the Middle Ages and of course Spain and the reasons why.

 

General Locations during Middle Ages ( Pre- Early Modern Era)

Sephardic Jews (S) and the Ashkenazic Jews (A).
1. Two major groups categorized in Jewish Study of the Middle Ages in Europe: General description: Western Communities are tight-knit.

Ashkenazic Jews ( mainly in Central| Northern/ Europe)
Sephardic Jews ( mainly in Spain/ Southern Europe)

The two Jewish cultures differentiate in culture and customs, but both adhere to the same law. In essence, only their world views differed. The Askenazi Jews were more insular. This is contrasted by the Sephardic who were more conditioned to the world around them. Ashkanezi were slaves to the Christians governors in Northern Europe; however, in Spain, the Sephardic Jews were around Muslims and Christians in Spain. This was a very diverse place to live; the warmer temperatures ( better attitudes because of the weather) made it easier for loose comfortable clothing, loose casual feelings about life, and bright cheery atmospheres; With less depressing weather than their northern neighbors and more advantageous living conditions due to abundant sea trade and coastal harbors the Sephardic created a hardworking lifestyle that contributed to a splendid culture in Spain. The Spanish Jews of this time, also called the Sephardic Jews, were more rich, than their neighbors. This may and most possibly created some of the circumstances that led up to the friction between the Christians and the Jews. But this was not the real issue. In the back of the Spanish’s mind wait revenge.

The Sephardic Jews made a vertical alliance with the Umayyad Arabs after 711 and became wealthy and powerful. They loved their lifestyles and social influence. The Reconquista begin around the 12th-13th Centuries and this creates the chaotic climate that sets the ball rolling in Anti-Semitism. The North African Arabs came up to support the Umayyad armies of Spain. The N. African troops ( Berbers) believed the Jews were spies against the Umayyad and thus treated the Jews as enemies or with suspicion. The Jews moved up to the north avoiding violence. The Christians for a short time accepted their alliance. Many Jews join the Christians in fighting the Muslims, and in return the Jews are granted new lands in the North and treated favorably. This will bring a period of peace between the Christians and Jews until the Arabs are finally kicked out. But memories are not easily forgotten, Even the Jews have not forgiven Muhammad massacre of one of their tribes in the 7th Century. Then the Jews will face the Christians in a ‘convert or leave scenario’ then, it becomes more in depth or deeper with suspicion ( marranos) as the Jews further refuse to assimilate and are accused of converting but still practicing secretly Judaism. The name marrano means piss. The Christians treat the Jews as conduits, because they know more about the Muslim world and thus are good spies. The Berbers were correct. The Jews are able to adapt quickly to their surroundings which enables them to choose the side that offers the best living circumstances. For the time being, as the Christians celebrate victory and victory in winning back Spain, it is only time before the memories come forth and it is time for redemption.

Abraham Ben Meir Ibn Ezra: Toledo, Spain (b. 1092-3 -1167). He pioneered the study of Hebrew philology and Biblical exegesis (Critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text.), in the context of the Middle Ages. He makes available to the old world or western civilization the historical works kept by the Muslims in their main library in Spain. He translated many of the old western civilization works that were now in Arabic into Hebrew (which later others transcribed into various other Indo-European languages).

Moshe Ben Maimon (1135 -1204), a Jewish physician, rabbi and philosopher; often referred to in written work as the Maimonides. He was one of the few medieval Jewish philosophers who also influenced the non-Jewish world. Even today he is among the most respected of all Jewish philosophers.

Judah ha-Levi c.1075–1141. In this work he developed a philosophy of history wherein he explains the force of the “divine influence” at work in the world, known first by the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), through them by the Jewish people, and ultimately, through the martyrdom of the Jews, by all mankind. He became deeply versed in Greco-Arabic philosophy also. He had long yearned for the Holy Land. This yearning was deepened by his intense application to his religio-philosophical work and by his resulting clearer insight into Judaism; and at length he decided to set out on a journey to Palestine. He died in the Orient after 1140. Poetry: My heart is in the east. Also, Luandress is a secular poem. One would not think a German central Jew would write such a thing. Judah ha-Levi was devoted to poetry and philosophy. His poetry is usually classified under the heads of secular and religious, or, as in Brody's new edition of the "Diwan," under liturgical and non-liturgical (jewishencyclopedia.com). The letter to a friend. The ha –Lorki challenged has –Levi, asking whether his decision to convert had been motivated by materialistic or opportunistic considerations ( see below).


2. Isaac Luria, ( 1534 August-1572) born in Jerusalem to German parents. He unifies the best of the legal and mysticism of the day. Both Cordevero and Luria work to unify all mystical texts. They have circle meetings every Friday and confesses their sins ( they are not Catholic) to each other - to cleans the soul. He lives as a hermit. While still a child he lost his father, and was brought up by his rich uncle Mordecai Francis, tax-farmer at Cairo, who placed him under the best Jewish teachers. At the age of fifteen he married his cousin, and, being amply provided for, was enabled to continue his studies undisturbed. Shortly after he was married he turned his attention to the Mystical writings of Jewish mystics. He became an expert with the study of the Zohar, which had recently been printed due to the invention of the printing press. He always spoke in Hebrew, stayed isolated in a cottage close to the Nile, and visited his parents only on the Sabbath. He believed he had frequent interviews with the prophet Elijah, by whom he was initiated into sublime doctrines. He also is said to converse with the dead at cemeteries and to ask the dead, for spiritual guidance. To this circle which met on Fridays belonged great names of Jewish intellects, such as, Moses Cordovero, Solomon Alkabiz, Joseph Caro, Moses Alshech, Elijah de Vidas, Joseph Ḥagiz, Elisha Galadoa, and Moses Bassola.

3. Moshe Cordevero (1522-1570), known by the acronym the Ramak (Rema), was a Medieval rabbi and one of the greatest scholars of Judaism's Kabbalah. Luria studies Cordevero.

4. Marrano: Used as a disparaging term for a Converso. The word means something like piss.
Cordovero (Rema), the foremost mystic of his day. 548 published the work ‘ Pardes Rimonim ‘Pomegranate Orchard.’ ( 548). This is called the Lurianic Kabbalah. The book was a systemization of all Kabbalistic teachings up to that time.

• Yeshivah (College) hard to get into. ( Talmud academy) Jewish Law. Heder (elementary school |secondary school) everyone must go to the Heder, but only the top candidates go onto the Yeshivah academy.
Theodosian Code: Servi Camerae
• Joseph Caro *(born in Toledo Spain in 1488; died at Safed, Palestine, March 24, 1575). Shulhan Arukh (which was actually a digest of Bet Yosef, and a shorter version of four volumes). became the cannon of Jewish laws. He is also called Maran ("our master") or Ha-Mechaber ("the Author," i.e. the halachic author par excellence). Rabbi Joseph Karo left Spain in 1492 as a result of the Spanish expulsion of the Jews, and settled with his family in Turkey. In 1536, he emigrated to Israel and became the chief rabbi of Safed, an important center of Jewish learning and industry. His principal teacher in Safed was Rabbi Jacob Berab. In 1522 he is consumed in a work, that takes a long time, called Bet Yosef, ‘ the House of Joseph.’ Most works were named after the person who wrote them. It consisted of commentary on Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's Tur, a halachic code. It consisted of four large volumes. It was a very comprehensive and bulky. However, it was not received with as much enthusiasm. Caro set out to write a more condensed version with commentary of the Bet Yosef. This will became historical known as Shulkan Arukh. This work also included four volumes, but was a lot smaller than Bet Yosef. It however, gave Isseries great pains, and garnered a fabulous review. The Table Cloth ( or Prepared table), the meaning of Shalkan Arukh, will become the standard law code ( cannon) for the Jews. ( see Moses Isseries for competition and Ashkenazi significance). Additions: Bet Yosef presents an extensive survey of relevant halachic literature, from the Talmud down to works of Karo's contemporaries. Karo also wrote commentary on the of the standard commentaries on ‘Maimonides.' Shulkan Arukh: Rabbi Joseph Caro
• Bet Yosef: written in four volumes: Vol. 1. holidays. Vol. 2. Charity; Torah study; vast sea of laws on dietary. Vol.3. Marriage and divorce laws. Vol. 4. Jewish civil law.
The Shulkhan Arukh (Hebrew: "Prepared Table"), by Rabbi Yosef Karo (Caro) is considered the most authoritative compilation of Jewish law since the Talmud. With its commentaries, it is the main authoritative source of halakha (Jewish law and custom) and often referred to as the Code of Law for the Jews. “His followers looked upon him as a saint who had the power to perform all kinds of miracles, while he himself pretended to be Messiah ben Joseph, the forerunner of Messiah ben David” (jewishencyclopedia.com Joseph Caro). Sig: Joseph Caro's Shuløan Arukh ( the table cloth) would help make Caro's work relevant for Ashkenazic Jews, as well as Sephardic Jews by Moses Isseries commentary.
• Moses Isseries, was a Ashkenazi Polish Jew who was writing his own compendium of Jewish law in his book called Darkhe Moshe.
Moses Isseries, Isseries contributions of commentary to the Shuløan Arrukh and thus legitimizes the work for both Ashkenazi and Sephardic groups. Caro was considered more popular in general and thus he poised a clash to whom would get the ultimate prize of recognition. (Competes with Joseph Caro over compendium of a unified Halakhah) was an Ashkenazi Polish Jew who was writing his own compendium of Jewish law when he heard that Caro, a Saphardic Jew, was coming out with a book. Isseries book was called Darkhe Moshe, but Caro was more popular among the Jewish intellects . Shulchan Arukh – ( the table Cloth; literally, “set table”)) 16th century codification of halakhah by Joseph Karo (Caro) and Moses Isseries . significance: this compendium unifies and legitimizes the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jew’s legal system.
• Leading figure of the Jews Issac Abravenal (1443-1508) enumerates on the many histories of Jewish exile. Almost 2000 years of various expulsions. He puts Jewish expulsion in geographical context – (Jews) ‘moving from east to west’. He also believed that the Jews were part of the human race and not a special|superior race by this statement. “Don Issac Abravanel, a Spanish court Jew, summarized all aspects of the discussion over astrology in Judaism in his commentary on Deuteronomy 4:15. He first delves into the question of whether or not the stars have power over the Jewish people” (Chaburas). "In favor of the position that they do, he contended that the Jews are like all other human beings, that the stars are another functionary of nature and thus non-discriminatory, and that there were scriptural proofs to this end as well." (Chaburas). He goes on to cite how non-Jewish people were positively influence by the stars and sometimes the stars work for Jewish enemies while at the same time working against the Jews – thus a non-discriminatory observation connected to rational thought, Abravenel concluded that all people are the same, and in essence Jews were not special in context of Jewish literature.
• Johannes Pfefferkorn: Anti-Jewish propagandist and promoter of expulsions and conversion tactics.
• Josel of Rosheim (c. 1478-1554) He served the community of Jews for fifty-years, an astounding number giving him superstar status with legitimate influence. Three great-uncles, Elias, Eberlin, Mercklin connected to Endingen, Prussia-Germany 1470, murder trials immortalized in a famous play: Sig Endingen: Economic situation created atmosphere of extreme Jewish persecution and protection mandates by local and regional rulers.
• Moses ben Jacob Cordovero or Moshe Cordevero (1522-1570) . Cordovero (Rema), the foremost mystic of his day. 1548 published the work ‘ Pardes Rimonim ‘Pomegranate Orchard.’ ( 1548). The book was a systemization of all Kabbalistic teachings up to that time; known by the acronym the Ramak (Rema), was a Medieval rabbi and one of the greatest scholars of Judaism's Kabbalah. Luria studies Cordevero. At the age of twenty-two years old he studies the Zohar. The Zohar (Hebrew Zohar "Splendor, radiance") is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), written in medieval Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. It contains a mystical discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, and redemption, good and evil, and related topics. (Wikipedia). Around 550, the Ramak founded a Kabbalah academy in Safed, which he led for twenty or so years, until his death. Both Cordevero and Luria work to unify all mystical texts. Systematically They unify law and mysticism ( see below).

• Solomam Alami, an eyewitness to the rampages, argued that the conversions stemmed from a breakdown within the Jewish community. Connected great significance to the Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Toledo and Barcelona in 1391.

Greek thought of Plato, Aristotle. Vs. Strict theologian Jewish doctrine.

In Inggeret Musar ( Epistle of Ethical Admonition), Solomam Alami, an eyewitness to the rampages, argued that the conversions stemmed from a breakdown within the Jewish community.
The bickering by rival Rabbi’s over significance of halakhah and other important current issues.

“They believed that Plato and Aristotle brought us more light than Moses our Master. […] those who read a few columns in a book of Greek philosophy will soon tear to shreds the scroll of the Torah” (Inggeret Musar).


Programs of 1391 in Spain caused mass conversions in Spain.
• Beginning in Seville, anti-Jewish riots spread across Spain. Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Toledo and Barcelona in 1391. Many Jews leave Barcelona following massacres, though a large number remained in the city. More than 300 Jews massacred in Barcelona. Some groups of Jews leave to settle in Algeria
• Active in Toledo in history were: Isaac and Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, members of the Abulafia families.
• What is the reason that Christians ( mainly the Catholic Church agenda) in the Middle Ages didn’t kill off all the Jews or get rid of them? The Catholic Church believed that it was necessary to force them to convert so they would go to heaven like the rest of the Christians. ( I personally do not believe this was a widely believed issue – I believe it was believed by some and an excuse by others to keep on subjugating someone they didn’t want around. The Catholic Church didn’t force Spain to exile the Jews. This was an internal policy in the 15th Century because of the memories in Spanish history of the ill feelings toward the Jews siding with the Arabs ( Most of them or at least acting indifferent) in the 711 take Muslim take over of Spain.
Alami
1. Power and access to court corrupted the Jewish leaders.
2. Gluttony of living so well off. This would of course, for Alami, be comparable to the poorer Christians that struggled to kick out the Muslims.
3. One conclusion that Alami brought up in addition to these issues above is that Jewish structure that brought them so much success was in fact the same reason they fell in favor ( got kicked out). For one thing is that the vertical alliance system force certain assimilation with the Muslims. Materialism and vanity had become rampant as assimilation destroyed the more fiber of the community.
4. The very hallmark of the distinction of and creativity had been their undoing. For Alami, in short, the breakdown of Spanish Jewry was a breakdown of spirit [ ie. Adhering to the Jewish law] (Gerber, Chapter 5-Path to Expulsion, The Jews of Spain, pp. 166-117).
5. His upper-class insight doesn’t explain the poorer converts, who were not reading Aristotle.
6. What seems absent from most Jewish commentaries of this age is that it is quite possibly the fear of physical pain that made many of the poor Jews convert. Not all Jews had the readiness for martyrdom.

7. For example, many Jewish commentators do emphasized that many Jews converted, especially the ones that will become marranos, because of extreme pressure. Well they do not say that possibly this extreme pressure is physical violence, which in most cases it was. The thesis is that threats of violence can make a person do something that they would otherwise do. The reason possibly the commentators left this point out was that it is not a glorious and quite embarrassing. Even in modern Jewish commentary there is a movement of Jews to play down the real threat of torture by The Inquisition because they only went after marranos ( people who were converses, but practice in secret Judaism) and not after openly Jewish people. On the other hand, the current commentaries contrast themselves by saying that the average citizens of Christianity went after the Jews and beat them up or either killed them, which did happened in Toledo and Barcelona in 1391. So the real fear and threat of physical violence should not be played down. For the rich people, the draws of secular-sin, so to speak, was a plausible and proven culprits of almost every religious and secular history in regards to average people gaining money and varying degrees of juridical power. One can view this as the politician that pleases his constituency (thus he changes sides) who keeps him in power ( money and social importance).
8. Later in the story the Jewish converts were not enough for the Spanish Christians. This will become persecuted as many are mistreated then forced to flee in spite of conversion.

Significance of Loyalty in regards to memories.

The Jews of Iberia first confronted the Christian faith and its adherents when some of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire became Christianized the late antiquity. When the Christian Visigoths who had conquered the Roman provinces of Iberia were themselves defeated by the Muslims in 7, most Jews remained with the broad expanses of the peninsula that fell under Islamic control. Few if any joined the defeated Christians who retreated to the fastness of the mountain chains to the north. During the eleventh century, when the Christians began to make significant inroads against Muslim hegemony, an increasing number of Jews came to live in the regions dominated by the new rulers [Christians]. By the middle of the thirteenth century , when the Christians could boast of almost compete military success, the overwhelming majority of Iberian Jews lived within the kingdom of Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre (Gampel 390).

During the heyday of the reconquista – as the victors christened their military triumphs—peninsular Jews identified themselves as Sephardim after the verse in the Bible book of Obadiah that spoke of “ the exiles of Jerusalem who are in the Sephard.” Already in the tenth century , under Islamic sovereignty , Iberian Jews had viewed themselves as “ Exiles of Jerusalem” – that is, as the nobility of the Jewish people who, when their ancient kingdom had been destroyed, left their capital city and created a new homeland in the far western corner of the Mediterranean. (Gampel 390).

The significance of the loyalty betrayed by the Jews goes all the way back to partnerships forged when Jews living in Spain with Christians banded together to form a peaceful life. Yet, in life, sometimes there is responsibility demanded and when war comes about then friends must stick together. This didn’t happen and the Christians never forgot this betrayal. When it came time to decide on allowing the Jews to live in Spain after the Christians fought so long and hard to win back their land, many local people that understood the history of the land, never forgave the Jews. And thus, the real reason in history of why the Jewish issue stays muted in the history books is that with conscious, constant reminders of Christian forgiveness and political apologists, the Christians must forgive – but, secular Spanish who’s heritage came from the Roman times, and also living as Christians in Spain after the reconquista, didn’t care for forgiveness and wanted the Jews of whom betrayed them so long ago out of their lives. In history, banking, jobs, and money are cited for some of the reasons that the Jews were really kicked out, but this only a part of what was loyalty issue, played out a larger real life issue. The Jews finally left Spain in March 492, and believed that they were superior in everyway to the Christian. Later in Mythology, they will write about how they finally viewed the Spanish as the evil incarnate on Earth.

I all respects, and equal time given to both sides, some Jewish rabbi’s laid out the real concerns that many Jews didn’t want to face about the facts that led to the Spanish’s decisions. Some Rabbi’s spoke about Jewish gluttony, greed, excessive living and personal gloating against Christians. It was a fact that the Spanish Jews living under the Islamic system were very wealthy and socially, politically privileged and held a superiority complex over the ousted Christians for centuries. Even after the expulsions, the Sephardic Diasporas would gloat about how the Spanish kicked them out because they were superior in race. There is hardly any literature in common education to speak about such loyalty issues in connection to Spain. Loyalty is by far the most sacred word to a family unit and the Jewish people understood that this family unit was the most important thing, of the immediate and of the future, for the ultimate concern in life.

When the two words of loyalty and family become one, as is the concern of life, then when a family member betrays ‘the family’, then those families can and usually forgive that member, but that member is less trusted in the future and sometimes outcast or banned from the family. Thus, the disloyalty to the Christian Visigoths, and the siding of the Jews to the side of the Muslims during the Iberian Muslim conquests in 7, was the real reason of the expulsion of the Jews.



Spain
In 305 CE, the Council of Toledo passed an edict forbidding Jews from blessing the crops of non-Jews and prohibiting Jews and non-Jews from eating together (Weiner, Rebecca, Sephardim < http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html>Sept, 6, 2005).

El de los Fueros (literally, "He of the Rights" or "of the Charters")
General Statements of the Kehilla in Spain: Before 1391 CE, there are Jewish communities living in Spain under a charter. From 1391-1492 the conversos system was going alongside and with Jewish communities living in Spain. After 1492, everything was conversos or leave Spain.

General Statements of the Kehilla in Portugal: Before 1497 CE, there are Jewish Kehillas. After 1497 conversion systems are in place, but no decree to switch or leave as in Spain’s decisions.

The Golden Age of Muslim Spain Overview and general:
The situation improved in 711 when Spain fell under the rule of the Muslim Moors [ Umyadd faction] . Both Muslims and Jews built a civilization, based in Cordoba, known as Al-Andalus, which was more advanced than any civilization in Europe at that time. Jews were able to coexist peacefully with their neighbors; however, they were still treated as dhimmis, "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians) who are protected under Islamic law. Jews did not have complete autonomy and had to pay a special tax, the jizha , but were able to freely practice their religion (Weiner, Rebecca, Sephardim < http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html>Sept, 6, 2005).
The Ashkenazic Jews didn’t assimilate with the Christian rulers of central Europe, like they did with the Muslims. It is possible that because of the ethnic linkage of Arabs being thus firstly Jewish then Muslims from the onset as religious fact, linked to symbolism, goes, ( the cultures) this may have had an impact of physical origin from the onset. Just as the Spaniards will implement the Blood Laws, to insure that Christians are the only ones in Spain (after the reconquista and then in that the conversos does fail ) , this is similar in cultural significance. This was in fact a failure of diversity and political correctness on both levels affecting all the three faiths, not excluding the Christians alike. It was a step backwards in tolerance and assimilation on all sides. Was it just in nature? Is man/women a product that reason with sight first before the heart?

During the time the Jews help the Christians a tolerance is viewed amongst them. Later a new Christian bureaucracy emerges, as Castile and Aragon fall and Isabella and Ferdinand take the reigns of diplomacy and power. The new bureaucracy supercede the charters and the older legal code allowing guaranteeing the Jews privileges such as work, special protection are erased and they become subjects to common law.

Now a future uniformed law for all in the Spain area is enacted. This means no more special privileged life and veridical alliance was sustained. It is now a general law of the nation of Spain ( See primitive law of Spain during the reconquista). Signification: Loss charter and exceptional status - no more rights, economically or protections.

Grenada, was the last city to fall in Spain and the Islamic government lost its strong hold. This was January 2, 1492. When Castile and Aragon fell, ten days before Ferdinand, and Isabella’s (heiress of Castile, with Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Aragon) goal was set out to establish an all Christian nation. This meant all the Jews would have to convert of get out. The Catholic ( Latin) Church has never had a policy of forced conversion, and this was not one either, however this was one of the darker points in non-diversity of the Christian Middle Ages era.

A Marrano Diaspora took place after the conversos became suspicious to the Spaniards. The term Marrano, meant somewhat of slang for human secretion. It was not a nice word, and was used against them in order to make them feel belittled. . The Jews just didn’t want to assimilate, nor leave Spain and thus the contention of the whole issue. The Society ( the rulers carving out policy after the expulsion of the Muslims) was looking for a homogenous atmosphere. The rich Jewish people of the middle ages relied on assisting the powerful lords and governors ( mostly Muslims) because of their education principles, which somewhat earned them a protected place without the decree of forced assimilation. Now this period was over and the real light shed on the Jewish decisions to what to do – Nothing lasts forever. They didn’t want to convert, or want to leave, or support the Military - let alone when left alone they didn’t contribute to society as a whole unless it furthered their isolation agenda. The whole purpose of diversity is to mix it up – not to isolate oneselves, as the Jewish Kehillas did. The Jews didn’t assimilate within social integrations of Europe - just in business usually. Although they will blame the Catholic church’s policy of forcing them to convert to Christianity, it was more of an issue of social involvement and social intermingling. The vary hardcore fact that the Jews stayed within their own spheres was not about Christian intolerance as a whole concept (they wanted isolation from the start and lived this way for a long as one can remember) , and most Christians didn’t care if one was a Jew or not, they just wanted to get along, but about the Christian complainers within the business communities and social integration committees that saw a division in social unity instead of a participation in social diversity. This argument may not encompass the entire scope of the expulsion, not should it as there are many more variables spoken of here in this piece, but it played a role so commonly addressed within history itself. This is a perpetual social condition. There will always be racists, who do not want anyone around them that is not the same color and same heritage, but the majority of people are good in the world and social integration is key concept and spirit in facilitating this goodness. However, at the top of the leader chains, goodness hardly plays an influential role.

Inquisition: officially 1478; to root out heresy; heyday in 15th Century; ended 1834, but diminished. Not like Gestapo, or the KGB. Saw its self as “love of the soul of the believer." it was not like a police state; many people were let go and nothing done to them; it was more like pruning the tree, instead of rooting out the bad roots of society. It achieved the implications of a ‘fear society.’ Human rights problems: If someone didn’t like you they just complain and make up a story about one to the Inquisition. Watchwords, and watch scenes dominated society. For example, if smoke didn’t come out of chimney on Saturday then one could be accused of being a Jew because Jews were not aloud to burn anything on the Sabbath.

Stats : 13,000 people investigated and only a few died in comparison. Jews were not tried just because they were openly Jewish. It would be in the time of conversos period when one converted, but secretly practiced Judaism. Also, when large amounts of vegetables were visible at function right before a Jewish holiday, this was a symbol of Jews practicing their religion.

During the conversos, many Jews converted and reached high positions in society, and became rich. However, they blew their cover when they overtly didn’t assimilate with the Christians. For example, the conversos ( or now called Marranos) didn’t marry Christians, but decided only to marry within themselves, and cohabit within their little circles. This got the Christians extremely angry which led to the expulsion decree of March 31, 1492. The process of conversos began 100 years earlier ( 1390 1391 Seville riots) so the Jews had plenty of time to get with the program, but decided not too. Large numbers of Jews stayed after the riots and many converted. They actually loved Spain, whereas the Ashkenazic Jews never really like their lives in the German, Austria, and Northern French areas. The Ashkenazic never really converted in large numbers when a type of conversos wound up in their part of the woods, per say.

The 100 years say huge divisions within the Jewish tight knit framework of their Kehilla ( Community). An increased gap between the rich and the poor, which was the economically based side of the equation. And the converts vs. the non-converts that was the religious side of the equation.

One must realize that the intellect vs. the action oriented debate was huge in this period. Many learned jews turned to philosophy that brought them to question their faith - was it really a hoax, and the real truth is the Jews were just another ethic group on earth with not special qualities like all the rest of the gentiles? Many converted because life was much better as a Christian. First one had more freedom, and more freedom meant usually more fun. Living as a Jew at times had its great benefits, but one had to adhere to their customs and laws in the strictest sense of the word. In 1263 Barcelona, Spain, a dissertation to the public om " what is the truth" was a public disputation that created many questions as to whom the Jews were really questioning their legitimacy of the protected amongst God’s people.

Other reasons that this changed too place outside of the reconquista, was an archbishop who was recently converted to Christianity, but had sympathetic leanings towards the segregation wishes of the Jews, suddenly died and they lost their power base. In addition, the vacuum that was created by the change of the guard of middle Spain, the Jews lost their allies within the central authority, or vertical alliance as it was known. The Jewish vertical alliance was connected to the central authority, which had been the Muslims for many centuries - now it was Christian.

Doctors sent to see if blood was Jewish or not. Blood libels are an accusation that a person or group sacrifices humans and uses their blood for various rituals. Jews are the most common target of Blood Libels.


Survey & generalities – not specific or conclusive:
1. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the first Crusade, an act which led to a horrible decision by the ones who voted or decided to attack Jews in the Rhineland.

2. Rather than convert to Islam, some Jews in history martyred themselves as an act of faith or protest. Some Jews have never got over the early Islamic persecutions in Arabia by the very early Muslims. Muhammad treatment of three Jewish tribes: two were robbed and one was totally slaughtered. This left a lasting impression of how ( many) the two cooperate within social structures for the duration of life, not withstanding the modern Palestinian & Israeli conflict.

3. Jews were viewed as demonic Christ-killers, by the Christians, and commoners of Europe, and even more conspiratorial falsities of generalization of Jews as a whole were accused of killing Christian children to use their blood at Passover. This happened in the middle ages and happens even today, on the Internet.

4. Lateran Council in 25 imposed various restrictions regulating Jewish life.
5. Charters (of innovations) are laws and/or decrees with varying purposes in which one is to populate a region, town or community in the Middle Ages, and also protective qualities, special treatment qualities, and social reorganization seen as good or bad form varying perspectives in history.

6. Omar code; Theodosian code; both current Middle Age codes affecting Jewish relations, commerce and destiny. Both similar in juridical commands, but, as in Spain the Omar code was only in force when social instability, or economic instability arouse.

6a. Codex Theodosianus, Roman legal code, issued in 438 by Theodosius II , emperor of the East. It was at once adopted by Valentinian III, emperor of the West. The code was intended to reduce and systematize the complex mass of law that had been issued since the reign of Constantine I.

6b. 096 Henry the sixth (VI) gave laws protecting the Jews that held somewhat harsh laws against physically hurting a Jewish person. For example, one pound of Gold was the penalty if one robbed a Jew - no one could touch them either. One pound of gold was an enormous sum as well. The eyes could be put out of a Christian if one wounded a Jew but not mortally. Whenever and Wherever the Jews were attacked in the Middle Ages, for most of the time ( not all), the authority frowned on persecuting the Jews and protected them from “ open season” - a reference to hunting wild game.

6c. About 638 AD, the Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab , sometimes referred to as Umar Farooq or just as Omar or Umar, was from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraish tribe created a code for Christians and Jews. According to tradition, he entered Jerusalem and asked for a meeting with Aelia Capitolina, Omar, the second Caliph of Islam, then granted to the people of Jerusalem and to the Patriarch Safronius a covenant of peace and protection which came to be known the Covenant of Omar, or the Code of Omar. In Spain, the code existed on the books in the laws of the Islamic government, but was rarely enacted upon unless the economy or social instability, seen perceptively by the Islamic government, needed the procedures to foster recovery.

7.Hebrew in full Yehuda Ben Shemuel ha-Levi (born c. 1075, Tudela, Kingdom of Pamplona [Navarre] died July 4, Egypt) The Reconquista, the Christian sovereigns' struggle to regain the territories lost to the Muslims, was already under way. In 085 King Alfonso VI of Castile conquered Toledo and made it his capital. His works were the culmination of the development of Hebrew poetry within the Arabic cultural sphere of Spain. Among his major works are the poems collected in Diwan, the “Zionide” poems celebrating Zion, and the Sefer ha-Kuzari
(“Book of the Khazar”), presenting his philosophy of Judaism in dialogue.

8. MOELLIN, JACOB BEN MOSES (?360- 427), usually referred to as Maharil (Morenu ha-Rav Jacob ha-Levi) and also as Mahari Moellin), the foremost talmudist of his generation and head of he Jewish community of Germany, Austria, and Bohemia. His known works are Minhagei Maharil (Sefer Maharil) and Responsa, some copied and arranged by Eleazar b. Jacob. [Editorial Staff Encyclopaedia Judaica].

9. Soloman ha-Levi: Pablo de Santa Maria, a converso whose original name was Solomon Halevi, was born in Burgos in the middle of the fourteenth century. A teacher, scholar and chief rabbi of Burgos before his conversion to Christianity, he later became an important member of the Castilian establish-ment and a high-ranking Christian prelate. While still a Jew, he engaged in the popular medieval Jewish practice of Hebrew epistolography (the practices and principles of letter writing; art of epistolary composition.), wherein Jewish scholars throughout the Diaspora exchanged letters in Hebrew on a variety of learned topics. As a converso he continued to cultivate the written word, producing historiographic works in Spanish and theological treatises in Latin […] Unlike most of his Jewish contemporaries, he knew Latin and was familiar with Christian scholastic literature. (Kreiger).

Note: that is important to know of whom you are dealing with before a judgment. And the Jews make plenty of judgments without knowing Christianity. For example, when a young Jewish person wanted to know about Christianity, the last place to look in those days was to the Local rabbi. They were not concerned and they didn’t want to get involved in Christian theology, because they thought it heretical.

10. Massacres Influenced Conversion: Netanyahu posits that, at this point in Halevy's life [Soloman ha-Levi] , he was no longer ready to take risks for his Jewishness or for Judaism. He assumes that the chief Rabbi of Burgos was aware of the massacres of 39(4), soon after they began; and it was at this point that he opted to convert to Christianity (Hazary).

11. Joshua ha –Lorki, a young man form Aragonerse town of Alcaniz, wrote an open letter to his former teacher, attempting to discern why ha-Levi , a scholar and leader in the Jewish community, had abandoned his faith for Christianity (Gampel).

11a. On pages 68-7, Netanyahu opens by pointing out how Maimonides’ interpretation of Judaism in terms of Aristotelian philosophy enabled his disciples to find a common meeting ground with the Christian scholastics who were inclined to interpret Christian dogma from an Aristotelian perspective as well. He says that tradition has it that Paul2, the Christianized Solomon Halevy, “became infatuated with the works of Thomas Aquinas.”( Hazary)3

11b. The ha –Lorki challenged has –Levi, asking whether his decision to convert had been motivated by materialistic or opportunistic considerations (Gampel 39). This was especially significant as the Sephardic Jews lived more secular than the Ashkenazi Jews en général. A fact was that the Jewish symbiotic relationship with Islam, under the Umayyad, had allowed them to get political high positions, cushy jobs, and brilliant paychecks. This was the time of the prosperous and fruitful Andalusian period and Andalusian Jews culture reached great heights in wealth and prestige.

c. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Hebrew: Arabic: Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Kurtubi al-Israili; March 30, 35—December 3, 204), commonly known by his Greek name (Moses) Maimonides, was a Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher. Many Jewish works refer to him by the acronym of his title and name, RaMBaM ( in Hebrew). As such, he is frequently referred to as "the Rambam" ((Wikipedia) Sept 9.2005).

d. The Mishneh Torah or Yad ha-Chazaka is a code of Jewish Law written and compiled by Maimonides, and was the first comprehensive type in Jewish history. He also wrote The Guide for the Perplexed (Hebrew: Moreh Nevuchim) a major work, that harmonized and differentiated Aristotle’s philosophy.
12. Almoravids, and Berber tribes from North Africa didn’t treat of like the Jews. They thought they were spies. This is one reason the Jews fled to the north under the protection of the Christian reconquista forces.
13. Pioneer society of Spanish Jews is more secular in the Sephardic genre studies.
14. 1444 Fire and brimstone debates.

Theodosian Code 438

Theodosius called together a group of men to decide which laws would be made general and binding on all Roman subjects. This was not an easy process–especially given the disorder of the Western Empire. Theodosius set up a commission in Constantinople comprised of eight imperial law officials (or ex-officials) and a practicing lawyer. They were to collect all of the general pronouncements (constitutiones) they could find from of Emperors from Constantine forwards and arrange them in chronological order under subject headings (St. Olaf).

These men were given strict instructions not to combine conflicting laws, but rather to sort them by date. The most recent decrees would be binding.
When this commission was finished another (the 8 from the first commission and 8 more) was chosen to edit what the first had collected and offer interpretations for each (St. Olaf).

In the end, the Code did much to promote unity in the Empire. Now all lawyers, judges, students of law had no doubts about which laws were general. The codex also provided for mutual recognition of future laws by both east and west–they could simply be added to the appropriate section. In the Western empire especially, after the collapse of Roman imperial rule, the Theodosian Code served as a model for all national and regional law codes (St. Olaf).

In the Western empire especially, after the collapse of Roman imperial rule, the Theodosian Code served as a model for all national and regional law codes. No more Pagan or Constantine’s laws now. Jurisdiction and law remain, but the Jews must submit and recognize the subordinate legality that one ( the Jews) were now tethered too. The Jews now become serf-like and can only move around by charter. A charter is a legal document, like a contract. Usually it comprises some conditions and benefits from these conditions.


What did the Theodosian Code signify for the Jews?

1. Jews are now members of the inferior faith. - So now, the Jewish people and their government are dependent on Jewish recognition or subordinate status within the Roman Empire. This also applies to the middle ages in Europe.
2. They are called Servi Camerae ( Servants of the Charter). They are now the property of the Christian leaders, per say. The reason why most or the majority never converted to Christianity is that they do not prefer its laws and customs. It is the same way that Christians do not prefer the laws and customs of the Muslims or the Jews vise versa; Although, case in point, about successful societies in general, is that a need for adapting and submitting to the powers, which sometimes is a necessity, is a humiliating ordeal at the expense of personal pride, but which must be done to live in a relative peacefulness. The other option would be that the Jews start their own country and build their own military to protect it.
3. Merchants hostel to the Jews over competition. Jealous of special status given to the Jews. Theodosian code allowed Jews special treatment.
4. The Jews like to congregate their business activities around the ports and trade routs, receiving information from merchants on distant lands, which set up migration information and trade information.

As far as stereotypes of Jews and accusations that came from the bible but never really proven: Tomas Aquinas, blames the Jews for Crucifying Jesus. This reverberates across the ethos of Europe and Christendom. Others, in different countries saw a ‘ blame the other guy’ scenario for the crucifixion – So others blame the Jews as well and this brings great persecution amongst the people worldwide. Jews became imperial slaves or “servants of the chamber,” due to Theodosian and King Henry VI laws and decrees, and must submit to this persecution because of historical uncertainty to the Middle Age Christian officials.


Charter of Innovation.
Ashkenazic Jews
c. 1000 ACE the Jews are invited to help populate cities. Document (1084). Acronym SWM.
A) Speyer
B) Worms
C) Mainz

Jews were invited to help bring money into the cities sphere but the Jewish communities were stationed outside the city, and usually walled off for their protection. They could work at the harbors selling gold, silver and other various jobs. Since Jews were always being relocated or kicked out somewhere for some-odd reasons, they understood travel which brought them the distinction of informants of trade and landmass calculations.
There are also Jewish subject adherences before making the final decision to accept an offer of charter. When they move somewhere they must establish a place for burial rights, usually their burial heritage is the first thing thought about and determined-done before accepting a charter. The mayor would give the community a site, usually, or an option for purchase. If they needed more space a request was sent to the Mayor. Ashkenazis communities were small and homogeneous.

Communities: general: - Walled off both for protection and for inclusion, or exclusion by the Christians (mainly leaders decisions at hark of his constituents) who wanted separation. Jews were craftsmen and artisans and many came by way of France and German with merchants and tradesmen. The Jews lent their trade secrets, for favors, to the Christian local rulers because the Jewish history of movement made them experts in the fields of comprehensive travels in the Middle East. Jews of each town constituted an independent, self-governing entity that took real shape after the Theodosian Code, which now aloud autonomous self government. However, still, the states jurisdiction still applied to all relevant applications in regard to common law. Yet, still, preferential treatment became and the desired Jewish issue as the Jews form a vertical alliance with the aristocracy. This will in due course, upset many non-Jews in Europe.

In the Jewish communes, the Rabbi were the Juridical power (policing themselves) to protect their own people. The Jews also could employ Christians. The legal status now was better then any other time.

Vertical Alliance was the ways in which the Jewish community dealt publicly with the local administrations. Not forgetting that they are separate, non -integrated within society, the leaders in the Jewish communities gravitate to the heads in the local administration to win favor for the lives of the Jewish populations. In the scheme of the feudal pyramid the Jews are on the outside of the Pyramid, and the Princes need the Jews because of their expertise, brought by long traditions of education ( many Christians were illiterate - because of no learning institutions for the public) which garnered them prime constituents for the legal and business systems of the aristocracies. This meant that some of the Jews would move socially up the wealth ladder and the common Christian would resent this. But this is as much the decisions of their own Christian legislators, administrators, as themselves. The public learning institutions was non- excitant in the Middle Ages.

Thus the Jews were protected from the common people by the police of the middle ages whom were governed by the aristocracy that needed the educated Jewish peoples’ services. The Jews accept this vertical alliance and know that the common hated them for this. Many of the common people not knowing what to do to better their own circumstances went out to hurt and harm the Jews. One can see that non-integration really brought up this dire dilemma of harm of humans. One group is gifted by the elite ( the princes protected the Jews) and given special circumstances while the other, the conformists to the religious confines of the law, are kept out of the educational/bassness loop.

The T Code

Up until the 1096 date horrible things were said to the Jews. Like epitaphs of “Christ Killers” and such; however, no harm usually accompanied these verbal attacks. Things change as the Middle Ages and the preference treatment kick in to full swing. The Attacks physically began to happen, in spite of the laws. Why?
1. Jews are privileged now
2. Special princely treatment.
3. Open Season now begins.

The Crusades brought about by a necessity for opening the trade routs to the east that the Arab/Muslim kingdoms placed a reformation of blocking all European Christians from traveling the seas or land routs for economic purposes. The Arab leaders of the kingdoms knew that granting the access to trade tot he east would resurrect the west causing them to build sufficient armies to counter attack the Arab dominate powers in the world. So the Crusades are used as an excuse, both religiously and manipulatively for the Church to gain its own dominance in trade and not the common people ( as of capitalism).

While living under this special vertical alliance the Jews became confident and robust. They are getting rich. The common people lash out the administrations, who devise a plan to further the churches wealth - Crusades. The catch is if one takes paaaartt in the Crusades they can become wealthy and move up the economic ladder, not feasible when living under feudalist communities. So, the people take the hint and off they go to Palestine pumped up by religious dogma.

From the destruction of the Temple, the Jews forged a path of autonomous government where ever they went.

K e h i l l a

The basic structure for the community is called the Kehilla. In regard to the middle ages it was a feudal, non-permeable society. Today the word is still utilized.
The Middle Age significance: Jews stayed out of the feudal pyramid status structure, because they didn’t integrate or want to integrate with the Christians. Thus, the Kehilla was their support community, and their guidelines for their visions and goals within the community.
• Where was the center meeting place for the Kehilla?
Synagogue
From Greek συναγωγ_, transliterated sunagoge, "place of assembly" literally "meeting, assembly") is a Jewish house of prayer and study.

• What parts of the community or purposes did the Kehilla serve?

Autonomous Self Governance
highlights: Creative, communistic, caring ( for each other), ethical society ( not everyone followed ethics).

Two Leadership boards – Committee ( these can be and often were incorporated into the Kehilla system out of default).

Lay:
1) Administrative
2) Welfare
3) Security
4) Social needs ( including free loans)
5) (How too) dealt with Christians
6) Rules of taxations.

Rabbi:
1) Contractual law
2) Divorce
3) Dietary
4) Ritual purity
5) Sabbath
6) Holidays

Hervot, the Voluntary Society
Traditions: Visiting the sick was very serious and highly religious exercise in stickiness and duty.
Burial societies highly rated as one of the in staunch institutions. The Jews would move places where they could purchase, or be granted land to bury their dead. Free loans at no charge to Jewish individuals who fell on hard times. A hostage kitty set up to pay abductors the fees to buy back their loved ones. These were societies to pay captors.

Living under two legal systems.

Under Roman Rule, the Jews were aloud to practice their own laws and customs within their communities as long as national law was not broken. This was a self regulating system.

438 Change with the Theodosian Code


Girls, if schooled, had private tutors.
Boys usually had Jewish first names, however, girls could have, for instance in Italy, Italian names.
The word "Sephardim" comes from the Hebrew term for Spain, Sepharad (others cite bible).
Conversos: To convert to Christianity from whatever other faith one lives under ( usually a term in regarding the Jews) .

Taxes

Christians imposed tax amounts and the Jewish Lay governors went into the community to collect the taxes. However, Germany was a self tax system, and honesty was its backbone policy – this was another element of autonomy for Europe and taxes were heavy, but not overbearing in regards to the Jews payments. On the other hand, the Jews actually paid double the amount of taxes as they needed to financially support their kehillas (Community). The Jews paid large taxes to the Kehilla (Community). Thusly, the Jews were double taxed- first by the community then by the state.

The Kehilla tax provided for schools (Their number one interest) the community, the bath houses (hygienic), Torah scrolls ( an essential part of the religious aspects of life), the dowry ( Both Christians and Jews need dowries for marriage) and many other necessities and novelties. They even had a money savings bank just for schools and churches.

Burial societies were big Jewish corporations. Why? Everyone needed to be buried and even people that couldn’t pay needed an institution that could financially help them out and also help out poor families. The burial societies were bankers too; they were a powerful cog in the Jewish system and garnered a lot of wealth in this position. Sometimes a family could not pay for burial services, thus the society would foot the bill.

The Jews must pay the state tax like everyone else, although they retained their exclusive jurisdiction after the Theodosian Code was established. They did, however, have to admit that they were subordinates ( tethered) to Roman, Christian society as serf-like people ( not actual serfs, but serf-like). Sometimes they had to preach in Christian churches admitting they were subservient to the Christian’s faith. On the other hand if a Jewish person wanted to know about the real Christianity movement, the last place to look was the Rabbi. The Rabbi purpose was to keep his fellows in line with the Jewish ways (this is an over generality, but not untrue).


Schools
Kehillla ( community)

Girls, if schooled, had private tutors.
Boys usually had Jewish first names, however, girls could have, for instance in Italy, Italian names.


The 6th-8th Century in Poland was regarded a high scholarship area for the Ashkenazic Jews. These were the more strict and conservative line of Jews who didn’t want to assimilate ‘at all’ with their neighbors.

Constant production of scholars is the highest goals of the Jews. The two Jewish schools were equivalent to grade school and College. Only the ones who passed a rigorous examination at the end of the grade school could move on to the college level or the Yeshivah ( Talmud academy| Law school). Law school for the Jews incorporated everything from accounting to understanding geography and commerce. The Boys were schooled much narrower then they girl. The girls had a broader schooling encompassing women duties as well as the weaving, the embroidery, and the cooking - other traditional women jobs, as well.

The psychology of schooling was the method to get the people educated to the point of Christian aristocracy educated levels. If the Jewish people became smart and comparable to Christian officials or for that matter even smarter, then they could get in line for a great job with the aristocracy ( even Muslim under the Umayyad, in Spain, this took place all the time) , get special treatment, and achieve their goals of non-integration. The non-integration desire is a heavy subject but needs to be addressed as it was a real policy and contention between old time leaders and the young that wanted to leave the Kehilla and join the secular world. One can see parallels in the Amish societies of today where younglings can make choices to leave the community or stay – usually this is a tough issue for the young ones to make, but they are forced under laws of no-complaining later on about your decision. The reason why the Middle Age Jews didn’t migrate to Palestine is something not well-understood. Most likely it was tolerable to stay within their walled existence and offers of charters with the incentives. One can speculate that the Jewish people of this era were not a warlike people ( Like the Samuel Periods) and that fighting for land or their homeland was not an option.

Everyone went to school in the Kehilla ( community): The poor, the rich, the parentless -everyone. School is the most important thing for the Jews in regards to operating within outreaches of their chosen confines. While the Christians suffered from education at the behest of the Church’s secret agenda of dumb down and keep the people ignorant ( also trade issues were involved) agenda - to keep the people poor and ignorant - as good sheeple cannot follow if they start to question ( See intellectualism vs. Action argument) - the Jews excelled in the art of intellectual stimulation, which for good and bad, caused great success and sometimes community friction. Intellectual can be a means to progress, both personally and worldly. It can also have an impact of inactivity, indecision, and confusion. Whereas the simple minded have no clue, they can however be told what to do, have faith they are doing the right thing, and most importantly, get the Job done.

Intellectualism vs. Action
As the Jews became educated with philosophy the natural progression of intellectualism became a dire issue. The Jews, for so long believe what their rabbis and leaders told them about God and Israel, as the chosen ones, but something happened when the Middle Ages brought upon the Jews persecution and expulsion from many areas in Europe. Even before this time the expulsion was something that was seen as coming with the Christian winning victories, albeit slowly, and the memories of the disloyalty of the previous generations of Jews from Spain. The Kabbalah (Kabala)

The learned began to question the veracity of the scriptures. Were they really the protected of God. If so, then why was their circumstances so dire from one decade to the next. After the Theodosian laws, why were they now subjects of Christian princes, and serflike in common laws? The learned began to question the truths of the Bible. This didn’t sit well with some Jewish leaders whose mission was to keep the communities away from suspicion and trouble. Also, the more one ponders the infinites and mystical the less daily practical work is done. The Rabbi began to suspect Christian intellectualism as a horrible thing, and viewed it as a sin - thus intellectualism was closely guarded in the Kehillas. Secularism was practiced mainly by Jews in private amongst the affluent who chose to indulge in not following the laws strictly - something the mystics would call later on as sin (gluttony) in reference to the reasons why bickering erupted and disunity abounded creating factionalism prior to the expulsion.

Religion
Concepts:
Jewish and Muslim: religion and law go hand in hand.
Christianity: Religion and law are not supposed to go hand in hand.

Themes:
Jewish and Muslim: Government is a theocracy in general. Things have always changed and periodical circumstances change generalities.
Christianity: Government is separation of church and state under democracy and government is unified with church under kingship periods en général.

Ashkenazim focused on biblical and Talmudic studies. They were considered conservative, indicating this unique term of strict isolationism, beyond business contacts within the mostly Christian communities. They were very versed in Jewish law. They focused on educating their people as the number one issue of life. This gave a great legal and social edge to the Jews, in an otherwise non-education Christian’s middle age climate. The Jews practiced a form of public education, that one would think of today, with its social tax base ( within the Kehillas) and emphasis that every child must get an education, even the poorest of the poor.

In Judaic, Christian, and Germanic folklore immense power was ascribed to blood, especially human blood (Hsia). According to Mosaic laws, the tasting of blood is forbidden as it is thought that spirits could reside within its compound chemicals. This is similar to other cultures and beliefs around the world and from ancient times. Also:

According to Mosaic laws, Jews had to refrain from tasting blood because it contained the spirit of living beings; hence, animal or human blood was a polluting element (Lev.7). In the Nibelungenlied (5.2054), blood was imbibed to renew strength because it was widely believed that blood contained the power of the soul. Blood was used in love potions to spellbind lovers in the Middle Ages; this ritual persisted into the modern period in the folk customs of Baden, Hesse, Bohemia, and Oldenburg. As the embodiment of life, blood was also thought to be desired by the dead, giving rise to the legend of vampires (Hsia).

Kabbalah, derived from the mystical practice of folklore medicine. “The notion that Jews as sorcerers practiced ritual murder was entirely constructed by Gentiles. But, apart from the attribution of blood magic, the Jews of medieval Europe did possess a rich magical lore; it is derived from a tradition of occult learning, the mystical way known as the Kabbalah, and was part of the reflection of the practice of folklore medicine” (Hsia). The Kabbalah will have added portions eventually as new thought arrives after the expulsion from Spain.

General notes:

Vestiges of Middle Age’ existence all the way to modern age sense and ideals.

492 The expulsion from Spain: Possibly the third greatest Jewish disaster in history according to most Jewish historical opinion, up till this point in time. The other two are the Crusades and the Destruction of the Temple. There were expulsions dating back all the way through time, and some important European dates are 1306 in France, 1290 and 1348-50 when the plague was blamed on the Jews by opportunists whom saw a escape-goat in the making falsely accusing them of poisoning the waters, when in fact it was mosquitoes infected brought over from North Far Asia on the Silk Road, according the modern investigation.

The Middle Ages: see the Jews as the prime money lenders right before the Italians began loan banks, virtually shutting down the monopolized industry.

1450-1590: Dominicans and Franciscans oppose the moral laxity of Jews, in the work place and social places in Italy and some other countries, blaming them from the degradation supposedly seen in the upper classes and bourgeoning middle class.

Comparison and trends:
1450-1500 (comparison a see b)

Jews are a popular target by the common people, lower and some middle class and the upper class to aristocracy favor the Jews during this period ( there are always exceptions, but this was the over all consensus).
1470-1520,2 (comparison b see a) Jews are a popular target by the upper class ( and the Princes) now and the lower class somewhat sympathizes with them. Christians and Jews and their relations in the Middle Ages to Early Renaissance.
1. Social interaction is close to non excitant, but business dealings are how the two communities operated in social circumstances. Separation is desired by both parties.

2. Churches counter revolution against Protestant dealings caused the Jews the blame, again, and they were now rounded up and placed in Ghettos, and stripped of possessing a monetary monopoly. Sometimes this was a town to town activity, and not a region-wide decree.

3. Before the Catholic Church’s clamp down on Jews, and as the biblical people became revealed as the renaissance took shape, the Jews were relatively non-threatening to the Church. Mainly, one reason was that the Christian power structure was robust, unchallenged, and a dominating structure. When Luther cracks the unity fibers of the Catholic Church, in the reformation period, the Church fragments and doesn’t seem to posses the religious truth it once owned.

Two Groups of Jewish Calls (communities/word from Le Moyan Ages) in the Middle Age of Europe. First were the Sephardic Jews who were treated as the elite Jews, and the Ashkenazic Jews were the minority in the Middle Ages comprising roughly only 3% of the Jews compared to today’s 80% figures, now world wide. They lived in Germany, then onto Poland and Austria, and were the eastern Jews from the 0th Century till about the 9th Century. They spoke Slavic languages or Yiddish, when they permitted into Poland after being kicked out of Germany.

Dating back to the Judah kingdom then onto the Roman era, in the 8-9th Centuries they lived partly in the Pyrenees and the Alps. Between 300-600 C.E. they lived in Cologne, France. Jewish traders in Muslim lands also were part of the Ashkenazic Jews.

Sephardic Jews vs. Ashkenazic Jews

Ashkenazic Jews followed the Christian one wife doctrine, and scholar Gershom of Mainz banned the practice of polygamy which got him banned in the Iberian lands. In the Iberian lands, the Islamic civilization, and its practice of four wives, and the Jewish history of polygamy pervaded this region. In the Northern areas of Europe where Christians dominated the one women law influenced the Ashkenazic sector of Europe.

Most cohesive time for the Jews in from 1550-1750 (1798 - French revolution changes social and personal civil rights – everyone is equal to the law regardless of religion); most cohesive time in Jewish History; members of an antonymous self relationship within its own community. The development of the Jewish Self portrait is at its height, but still not a country, but an identity of a personable mark. Things were made by Jews for Jews up until the French Revolution. After the French Revolution they become citizens of a country and lose their autonomous self in respect to special privileges and self governing, which was granted from the c. 1000 (11th Century) period by certain European administrations. They do not feel special anymore.

1492 Spain - Kicked out and then asked to re-inhabbitt somewhere Else

Fights with the Christians who wanted to use the Jews for economic reasons and populate newly conquered areas. The Christians saw the Jews as mere brothers of the common three faiths, and saw Islam as the more barbaric less developed of the three faiths. The Christians didn’t want anything to do with Islam.

1570 reintegration into Western Europe.
The re emergence of Jewish Communities in Europe.
1) New Charters and privileges, letters of privileges.
2) Some odious restrictions removed. If not taken off the books then not enforced.
3) The things that the Jews feel were the most devastating things to happen to them in history.
4) The destruction of the temple. b) the Crusades c) Kicked out of Spain.
5) Marranos derogatory name.

When the Jews were kicked out of Spaniel, many went to the Ottoman Empire and to Poland. Poland was a major destination, because they gave the Jews basically free reign to live how they wanted to live. They do not assimilate languages. For example, in the Ottoman Empire the Jews speak in medieval Spanish and write with Hebrew characters (romance Language). In Poland, the Jews speak Yiddish a Germanic interpretation of their language ( Germanic Language). What does this do? This keep s them separated, also this keeps them a little vulnerable to jealously, or even worse envy - in which does occur to varying degrees.

Saphatic Spain: South Western Europe ( Less strict, and sometimes secular)
Ashkenazic Europe Northern Europe ( More strict)

Mercantile lifestyle

Mercantile lifestyle is prosperous for the Jews in these periods. The success breeds envy which leads later to obstacles then banishment from high positions in the economic world.
Structure: Limited meaningful contact outside of business. This can be viewed by others in a suspicious way. Normally, some people in society like outgoing social people and to say what it is on their minds no matter if hurts someone or causes conflict - as long as honesty is brought forth out into the open. When the Jewish community doesn’t interact socially with others in Europe then suspicions and second guessing arise whcih can and usually does lead to other groups harboring envy against the Jewish Communities.

Jews Spread to Lithuania and all the way to Jerusalem after being kicked out of Spain. However far apart they are The two distinct groups ( Poland, and the Ottoman Empire) manage to develop similarly in the ways the other has developed.

Jews are the beneficiaries of intellectual change. The Catholic Church used to have the truth but in the reformation period is being challenge by the Protestants over the truth that society accepts and then follows. The catholic couldn’t claim the truth anymore and not two truths emerge in a split that helps not only the Ottoman Empire grab Byzantium legitimize but cast doubt on the old world controllers, helping the Jews move into a niche in society that boosts their prestige. The Catholic Church, the ones whom persecuted the Jews fro so long now wanted to recruit them, because of their dwindling numbers and lost of a tax base.

Most Rabbis didn’t pray at synagogue, they just came to talk. Rabbis were interpreters of the law and not preachers.
The Knowlege of the right way and path.: Education.
• Heder (elementary school) every child must attend.
• Yeshivah (College) hard to get into.( Talmud academy)

Constant production of scholars, the education system, was the highest goal of the Jews.

Jewish nobility and Christian education for the ones that could get it was similar.
The education of all Jewish students was the most important, so they can serve public interests, mostly the elite, and survive in a non-integrated status, among the Christian dominance. Girl’s private tutors if parents couldn’t afford it.
Some Christians support integration, and some didn't remember the Jews were an important part of the Feudal system in the Middle Ages because they were the learned. With the expulsion, and later the Ottomans not able to take Vienna, the learned, of the Jews who translated books from antiquity, and the Ottomans seek influence from the west, trade routs open up for Italian merchants. .
16-18th Centuries were the highest scholarship for Jews; the study of the older language of the Torah.
Jews stilled made sacrifices, but also sold rights and honors. Sometimes when it was a poor persons turn to buy the animal for sacrifice the community would help out financially. Christians always respected Jews even after the expulsion.
Expulsion Decree Jan 2, 1492, Expulsion March 3, 1492.

Sephardic Jews in Spain on general were more secular then their counterparts to the North, the Ashkenazi.

1. Less emphasis on children’s education
2. Academy not as distinguished
3. Like to party and have tolerance of different cultures
4. Warm weather, meant more outside parties.
Jews also had a cultural separation of such. The poor vs. rich created a culture gap in the knowledge of religious doctrine.
Judah Halevi ( 1075-4) Poetry: ‘My heart is in the east’. He longs for return to Jerusalem. Then comes pathetic in that later the Spanish Jews will need to move east after the expulsion, and later the Jews do get to Jerusalem, as awhile, in the 20th Century. the Laundress (A woman employed to launder clothes or linens) - secular love poems." One would not think a German Central Jew would write such a thing."

note: The Pioneer Jewish society in Muslim Spain was more secular in a general sense.
Inquisition begun 1478

The Inquisition, in order to set a trap for the unhappy victims, issued a dispensation and called upon all Marranos guilty of observing Jewish customs to appear voluntarily before the court, promised the repentants absolution and enjoyment of their life and property if they came forth. Many appeared, but they did not obtain absolution, until, under the seal of secrecy and under oath, they had betrayed the name, occupation, dwelling, and mode of life of each of the persons they knew to be Judaizers, or had heard of another person described as such in the community. A large number of unfortunates were thus entrapped by the Inquisition. On the lapse of this decree all those who had been betrayed were summoned to appear before the tribunal within three days. Those that did not attend voluntarily were dragged from their houses to the prisons of the Inquisition. Then a law was issued, indicating in thirty-seven articles the signs by which backsliding Marranos might be recognized. These signs were enumerated as follows: Signs of Judaism.(see Llorente, "Histoire de l'Inquisition," i. 53, iv. Supplement, 6; "Boletin Acad. Hist." xxii. 8 et seq.; "R. E. J." xi. 96 et seq., xxxvii. 266 et seq.).

Castille and Aragon unite 479
Status of purity of blood 449
Sex

Fragmentation of the Jews who scatter north: There will be sex with non Jews, people’s lives and families torn apart. Some in the family stay in Spain and convert while their rest of the family leaves. The process of the expulsion begins about 390 (about one hundred years before) with the decree Jan 2, 1492 (fall of Grenada) and the exit date of March 3, 1492. One of the reasons that they Jews couldn’t fight this policy is that a high ranking archbishop and he was a Zealot moves in on the 1390-39 riots. Caste distinctions blurred; everyone for himself; some grab wealth and party. The change of the aristocracy from Muslims to Christians in Spain doomed the Jews. Although Jews allied with central authority, the different Muslims that came to fight in the resistance didn’t understand the contextual Spanish Jewry. So the Jews formed an alliance with the Christians. It would be different Christians that made the policy to oust to the Jews out of Spain .

Ashkenazis were not really concerned about the Spanish Jews. Some Jews in Spain converted. Some times blood money was paid by the Jews in order get a special treatment, and to fend off attackers. Rabbi renounces conversions. There was constant pressure making the 00 year period very unsettling for the Sephardic. Anti-Semitism was nourished and built up over time. Many new Christians flood into Spain, ones that didn’t know what the Jews were all about. So the people that were already in Spain played off there gullibility with hatred propaganda.

Converts enjoyed equal rights. This attracted many Jews that loved Spain and didn’t want to leave for an harder nomadic lifestyles or for the uncertainty of resettling elsewhere. Although, many had social economic authority, thus being learned gave them distinctive advantage over the less educated Christian populations.

Elliot Horowitz "Strange bedfellows "

Some Jewish men in the 5th Century, were engaged in premarital relations between Jewish men and Christian Women. Obadiah encountered in Palermo did not necessarily mean that young Jewish men were having more premarital relations that their young coreligionists to the north - but only, perhaps, that they were having it with their future wives. When he representatives of the leading communities met in Forli, in May 48, to review a set of sweeping proposals put forward in Bologna some two years earlier, considerable alarm was expressed concerning carnal relations between Jewish men and Christian women, which were described as having become widely accepted. ( See Louis Finkelstein, Jewish self-government in the Middle Ages ( New York, 924), chap. 0, and Bonafil, Jewish life -3.).

The Ubiquity of such relations is also evident thought the efforts of civil authorities to control them. In July 424, the Republic of Venice [General belief in commons thought the Jews corrupted the Italian life of piety] issued a formal decree prohibiting cohabitation between Jewish men and Christian women, under penalty of a fine or imprisonment, the length in which depended on the women’s status (Horowitz)..

Economics:
100 years of splitting.
Split: Rich and poor| Converts: yea and nay.

Halakhah, Philosophy, and Kabbalah

Spain ( Iberia and Northern Spain / Southern France) These issues of rationalism vs. truth of the Torah, come into major conflict.

Halakhah is a set of rules and practices that evolved over the entire existence of the Jews, where as the Torah is just the first five books of the Bible, but included and very important part to the Halakhah. The word "halakhah" is usually translated as "Jewish Law," although a more literal translation might be "the path that one walks." Some non-Jews and non-observant Jews criticize this legalistic aspect of traditional Judaism, saying that it reduces the religion to a set of rituals devoid of spirituality, but this is nothing new. Many religions have people that do not agree with all aspects of that religion. One may think that in a modern world these issues would arrive more frequently, however, in the Middle Ages this was surely a huge issue within the ‘Call’ and non-call aspects that received the Jewish attitudes within social society.

The object of rituals, or strictly following laws, is to be constantly reminded of your faith (or heritage if secular). The word "mitzvah" means "commandment." the heart of the Halakhah is Mitzvah 63 ans says that God gave to the Jewish People the Torah ( the first five books of the Old Testament/Bible). The Torah, along with its story telling with history, is a book compiled of laws for the Jewish People. Out of this book come the sacred Jewish customs, laws, and procedures of everyday living. During the Middle Ages, some Jewish Intellectuals who were guessing if God had abandoned them, because of the Persecution of various groups in the struggle of their reconquista period in Spain, began to question the accuracy of their faith. Was the torah really allegorically or was it fact and thus “The truth?” Mush of this came about because of the troubles the Jews experienced being caught in the middle of a struggle between the two other faiths, Christianity and Islam. They Jews were being used by both sides, as wells as they played both sides -politically which benefited them on one hand and hurt them economically on the other.

Systems after the destruction of the temple. 7th -8th Century.

Rabbi Joseph ben Ephraim Caro (1488-1575) wrote on Jewish law (halacha), mysticism, and historiography. He made his writings available to the masses, preferably to the Sephardic of whom he originated. He was born in Spain, but fled to Portugal, and later also fled to the Balkans, eventually settling in Northwestern Israel. He believed in ghosts or spirits and even had a familiar. In 1522 he is consumed in a work, that takes a long time, called Bet Yosef, ‘ the House of Joseph.’ Most works were named after the person who wrote them. This was a four volume compendium. He also wrote on the Sabbath, but it was not until he failed to see a positive response to his initial, the Bet Yosef, that he set out to write another compendium on Jewish Mysticism/Law incorporating these ideas into non-legal- but practiced law called Shul̉kan 'Arukh, in four parts. Printed in Venice, in1565 this became the piece of work that is of importance in Jewish halahkah (Law and ritual Culture codes). This did get all the rage (popular success) and critical acceptance: “we need a more systematic guider on Jewish law” Caro said. Caro was a great scholar and did much commentary of Spanish law and jewish law from the Spanish Jewish angle. What is also happening at this time is many of the Sephardic Jews are moving in, settling, and arranging affairs in the Ottoman Empire. The Spanish Jews meet up with indigenous Anatolia Jews who’s heritage span back to the BC era. There was much cultural conflict with opposing ideas between the two groups and skirmishes were common. Both conflict over traditions and secular beliefs. Both sides skirmished. Both sides then said “we need unity between us.” This was also a calling card for a compendium of Jewish law, in order to stop the bickering and infighting of who’s right.

Printing Press Causes Jewish Chaos on what is really Jewish Law? ( Also see Luther propaganda on printing press)

In addition to the chaos going on at this time there was the fact that Guttenberg’s invention created a plethora of wantabe Jewish law experts. The book market sprung up quickly and was so diverse that it caused confusion, thus making it mandatory for the Jews who wanted a type of structure in their lives and to have one or two people bring in the master Jewish law codes. Even if one was rich enough to print many volumes and pay for distribution, didn’t necessarily mean that the writer/promoter knew any real scholarship on the subject so elaborate as the intricacies of Jewish Law; this didn't mean that they knew what they were doing, as well. Like the modern internet in the very late 20th Century to early 21st Century, internet journalists, commentary personas, and upstart political commentaries have jumped up to claim legitimacy, often with confusing and contradictory views to other internet sites. Many are hacks, propagandists, and unintelligible emotionalists, who are just bent on professing (a) truth without a comprehensive resrech cited in their work. Some just read something, usually from once source and conclude that this is it - the truth. Most sites are dodgy, or heard some so-called fact from a passer-by on the street corner and create a website and promote is as doctrine. The level of incompetence reeked of overt self promotion, back then as it does on the modern internet today. When the printing press first started to churn out Jewish Law books, usually the same authors had different text, due to all the mistype setting, miss interpretation by under qualified workmanships in the printing houses. However, freedom of speech must rule, and this is one distraction that happens with these freedoms.

Significance: Caro unified one system of really historical precedence on Jewish Law and mysticism. The Mystical movements had popped-up in the 3rd Century.

What prompted Caro to write a piece on Jewish mystical-laws? He witness a rapid decline in Jewish scholarship (Their number one issue) because of the expulsion created chaos affecting the literary movements, thus he blames the scattering of Jews by a mystical or karmic unforeseen factor. He wants to correct this with his writings in hopes that it will bring a significant source of rectification and understanding for the Jews worldwide. Just as Isaac Abravanel wanted to explain why the Jews were always getting kicked out of countries, Caro looked toward the spiritual/mystical sides of the issue.

The exiles brought about ill feelings toward the propagators that caused negativism amongst the Jews in general. This of course, in turn created a social conflict when inter mingling Jewish communities of different locations began after the exile. Among newly met Jewish communities in these other states (countries), there were conflicts of past cultures. When the Sephardic Jews came into contact with other Jewish peoples in other areas of Europe and the Middle East the Sephardic often appeared conceited which drew away welcoming feeling between the two groups. To correct this, Caro thought he would uniform and update the halakhah ( Jewish Law).

Caro’s book was comprehensive and had methodological structure to it. He was then recognized as one of the great scholars of his day after his book was met with considerable success. He was interested in the laws of his day, but not necessary only them, but the laws of ancient and how they applied to today. Much of the work was a Sephardic commentary of the rabbi’s of Spain ( of whom commented on Spanish Law and Jewish Law). Beit Yosef didn’t solve any unity. So Caro writes another four volumes, however, this one was a little shorter in breadth than his initial book on this subject.
His major works, the Beit Yosef and the Shulhan Arukh ( table cloth) , are considered by many to be the ultimate authorities in halacha ( halakhah).
Caro * (born in Toledo Spain or Portugal in 1488; died at Safed, Palestine, March 24, 1575).

Moses Isseries, was a Ashkanezi Polish Jew who was writing his own compendium of Jewish law. When he found out that Caro was writing one too, he suddenly felt that same feeling as a Hollywood producer who finds out that another picture company is coming out around the same time, with the same story as you are. Nothing is more crushing to a writer then knowing that your competitor is coming out with a similar book as you are, and he is more popular in general with the people. Instead of fretting and competing, he waited and picked up Caro’s book and added commentary to his edition on Caro’s thoughts and opinions in the Shulhan Arukh. Caro was more known in the Jewish world and thus Isseries made a wise choice. Isseries calls his book Darkhei Moshe (ways of Moses). Vol. holidays. Vol. 2. Charity; Torah study; vast sea of laws on dietary. Vol.3 Marriage and divorce laws. Vol. 4. Jewish civil law. One thing to consider about Isseries picking up the book before he figured on publishing it was the fact that in Poland not many people cared or knew really about the Jewish expulsion. First their were very little refugees that decided to go to Poland. Second their was a blasé sense, because people really didn't understand the fights and inside struggling over the issues that would come to plague all Jews in the world at some time in the future ( intolerance with intent to rid). When Isseries made his final edit, he overtly said that the Ashkenazi system is the better system. He called the book Shulkhan Arnkh ( Prepared Table 654| tablecloth) the symbol is that a table cloth goes over the book of Caro. In the Arab group System of the Down, they have a military hit song, that played on MTV that went “ […] lies from the tablecloth.” When the song was speaking in regards to policies of war. This is possibly an old usage of this type of symbolism. However, this commentary, part of Isseries contribution to Jewish law, did legitimize the Sephardic Jews in Ashkenazi. It came to become what Caro wanted ultimately and what Isseries wanted ultimately – a unified system of Laws for the Jewish peoples – both were happy.

Significance of the halakhah now: The laws are given explanatory meaning.
1. Unity:
2. Rules start in the morning.
3. Very specific, mixed explanations for more understanding of mystical practices encompassed in the laws.
4. Ritual laws
5. A sense of the law in the specifics of the law.
6. Most complex set of laws are in the dietary laws. For example. Koshar Meat, in that all blood must be drained.

Significance: Communities come to Poland and new babies not yet born all need a systematic legal code for the purpose of unity against changing times. The Caro and is used and accepted with Issieries commentary.

World events that changed Jewish Kehillas globally

Expulsion Decree Jan 2, 1492, Expulsion Deadline March 3, 1492
Destruction of Second temple, Kicked out of Palestine, Kicked out of Spain

Ottoman Empire

Many chose not to go up north to the Ashkenazi and decided upon migrating to the Ottoman Empire.
Result:
Massive demographic shift; continues for decades. Displacement; decentralizing the Jews and lasting for many centuries
Reconstruction of the Sephardic Jewry. Statistics vary: 100,000-300,000 – we do not know, but this number is significant.
Each community was around 00-000 individuals.
“ We were exiled because we were superior.” Later they wonder why ( see Mysticism).
The will receive friction with other communities.
The splitting up of family members and converses. Fights over whom will stay and convert and the ones that will leave – but where also is the question. Three months in Spain is the final limitation.
Many leaders pick their sides further complicating decisions, and causing extreme emotional distress. Some were as crasy as to promote murder in one Jew decided to covert to Christianity. “ One should be shot, killed.” “One should be a martyr.”
Rabbi’s on the eve of the expulsion: “One cannot change the essence of a Jew if that Jew has already converted. They will always have that essence of jewness ( immutable) .”
Folklore: Wherever the Sephardic Jews went the glorified Spain that they lived under. The story may be a little exaggerated, but certainly it was a great place for them to live. The Jews even sang songs about Spain and celebrated Spain wherever they went. When they left they showed a pride, but deep down they were hurt.
Christopher Columbus wrote in his log, prior to leaving that he saw Jews standing on docks with their luggage.
Final Jewish thoughts: Our behavior ( Jewish sentiment in general Sephardic only) was not the reason for this.
Extremes: Jews are always good and everyone else is evil ( Some extreme outlooks did actually take place) .
Leading figure of the Jews Issac Abravenal (1443-1508) enumerates of the many histories of Jewish exile. Almost 2000 years of various expulsions. He put this one in context – moving from east to west.

Possible reasons: First the Jews never made up their minds to the ultimate reason, other than pure evil as one will see in the attitudes that change in regards to how one (a Jew) sees the world through the Mystics Laws that will come to dominate right up until today. The elites in the Jewish communities always bickered amongst themselves, especially about Jewish law. This helped to disunify them in a period of about 100 ( 1391-1492) years that led up to the exile from Spain. Anyone noticing that unity to ultimately kick out the old Arab regimes would notice that the Jews only chose the Christian’s side when mean Arabs from the North Coast of Africa joined the Spanish Muslims to fight the Christians. These Muslims from Africa hated the Jews and thought they were spies. Later new government officials cast a sour eye on the Jews noting that they didn’t back the Christians for many centuries in defiance of the Arabs, but instead chose to live richly under them. The fact that they were tied to the Old Islamic government for a long time also played a key role. Many hear about how the Jews were great at money management jobs and that now that the Christians took over they rather give those jobs to loyalists. Still many common Christians who were friends of common concerned were sorely missed by the exile decree and didn’t support it, openly in the streets that is.

Some Ashkenazi reportedly said after the Spanish expulsions that they didn’t like the Jewish secular lifestyle ( remember that the Ashkenazis were really strict in their Kehillas. “Bearers of gentile culture, we didn’t like you,” some said.

Some rabbi’s in the Jewish communities spoke about the reasons they though was of importance: The Christians were living more close to God then you ( the Spanish Sephardics’ en général). Some Jews saw the Christians had better morals than the Jews. “ Jews became gluttonous” some rabbi’s emoted. It was very true that many Jews in Spain reached a high level of economic society, becoming very rich. Sometimes much wealth can take one away from concentrating on the real importance of Jewish communities.

The negative view:
Social crisis.
 

Attitude of majority is negative.
Within the 00 years of noticing change in Spain one can see the Old Spanish Christians and a new breed of Christian sects emerge.


Iberian migrations
Spain, Portugal, Ottoman Empire.

st wave to Portugal and the (2nd) second wave to Ottoman Empire
There are no ghettos in the Ottoman Empire for the Jews. They are treated better than the Christians. This was in part because of the ambivalence and superior education system brought with them from Spain.

Migrations after the expulsion:
West: Europe, South America, Later America
East: Ottoman Empire, North Africa.

Note: Majority end up living in the Ottoman Empire:
Places: immediate locals:
London
In North Africa the Jews become Islamized.
Migrated to Port Towns all over Europe ( Small number). The biggest port towns will be in connection with the Ottoman shipping.
Some former merchants work for France ( Boudreaux) and Austrian governments in regards to middle men of Ottoman business ( see after Sulyman|Vienna)
Amsterdam.
Humboldt. North Germany.

Ottoman regions:
Balkans. Rumerlia, Albania, Serbia, Egypt, Macedonian regions ( later the rest).

Towns:
Constantinople/Istanbul
Salonkia ( en Rumelia)
Cairo
Safed
Jerusalem

Other regions of Sephardic migrations:
West Indies
Brazil
New York ( later)

Frozen in Time scenario: Most of the Sephardic Jews carry on a piece of Spanish Jewry with them and its culture they lived under where ever they went.
They endued with a compromise of Judaism and Spanish culture.
Fifty years later after the taking of Istanbul/Constantinople the Jews end up there as invites from Mehmed II.

Under Ottoman dominium the Jews live relatively stable lifestyles. Sometimes the Jews were relocated as other ethnicities were and sometimes very brutally as was the method of the early Ottoman styles.

Significance: the Jewish Communities could and did reconstitute themselves in an amenable way under the Ottomans.

Religions basic differences:
Christianity has the holy trinity, something that the Jews and Arabs do not adhere too. Jesus was the savior and part of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Islam and Jews see prophecy as their guiding religious overtones. Prophecy died with the Torah, or Muhammad. For the Christians, Prophecy is still going on in the acts and words of Jesus.
6th Century Language:

Yiddish: roughly 70% vocational Germanic, and 30% Hebrew and Arabic ( Ashkenazi)

Ladino: Language of the Middle Age Spanish. 99% Old Middle Age Spanish. When Spanish want to learn medieval Spanish they turn to the Jews because there is a lot of literature in this script. ( Sephardic)

At first the Sephardic dominated making the indigenous Romaiots ( Jewish tribes) very envious. Some can say that the exile left a bitter lasting impression that turned to aggression when one Jewish group met another form a different area – in this case the Romaiots.

Ottoman twice failed to take Vienna; once in 1529 and then again in 1683.

The Significance: The failure of the Vienna campaigns, in which ironically Sulyman forbade himself to take a part in, created an astronomic shift in Jewish-Christian-Ottoman relations. ; Thusly, Sulyman, knowing he wasn’t going to win the campaigns, that ultimately changed the political policies of the Ottoman Empire toward the Jews, understood that it was now time to befriend the Christians. So the chronology goes: After Spain kicked out the Jews, and many came to settle in the Ottoman Empire, the Sultans opened their arms, so to speak, and offered political protection dhimmi. Part of the Muslim decision in the Empire were for economic, scientific, and educational purposes. The Jews had talents that the Ottoman leaders could utilizes. The Ottomans at this time still had their eyes sent on conquering Europe.

Jews had a multi-fold talent pool that they offered the Ottomans in return for places to relocate after Spanish expulsion. Fist the Jews would do manual labor. Second many educated Jews were great at science, something the Ottomans always desired in their realms. Thirdly the Jewish people knew how to handle money and were always great at trade policy.

These policies affected the Jewish populations living in the Ottoman Empire. Before the policy change, the Jews lived side by side in the Ottoman Empire generally conflict free with the Muslims. It was the other indigenous old Greekish Jewish tribes that conflict seemed to go hand in hand, for reasons of boastfulness’ of idealized memories of Spain for some Sephardic Diasporas. The Ottomans, now looked to make peace treaties and generally take a good human policy toward the Christian Europe. They had conquered as far as they could ( minus answering the navel question |Why didn't the Ottoman Empire go full on military naval?) and relinquished claims of imperializing Europe. To this the Christian relations now flourished and the Jewish technology, educational, and general talent was not in use or desired as before. This left a gaping hole in Jewish legitimacy in the Ottoman empire – were they now needed anymore, on which the scale was seen during the first ten Ottoman Sultans?

1. Jews brought artistic talents to the Ottoman Empire.
2. The Jews brought education, and higher learning, including scientific research.

3. They brought changes in vitality and culture.

4. Knowledge of Politics: This was surely a blessing of the Vertical Alliance heritage groups – they now could use this experience as a hedge in Ottoman-Jewish elite relations ( In which they did).

5. Also they were not Christian, which made the Ottoman rulers the happier.
6. Ottomans accepted Jews like the Christians ( in town rebuilding schemes |otherwise called repopulations), but the overall Jewish status was superior in influence under the Ottomans up till the defeats of Vienna.

7. The Jews eventually got on better with the Ottoman leaders that the Christians. Why? Fifth column the Christians always subject. Could they be conspiring with Europe.

8. Jews seen as neutral to the Ottomans ( General 16-17th cc.) .

9. Tax incentives. Also the Jews brought money management skills with their superior education– something the Ottoman rulers desperately needed.

10. The Jews, at first didn’t want to compete for Jobs that the established second class citizens had claimed too. So they pick up a day labors, and general labor jobs as a show of good faith. They, however, quickly moved into dominate the regions in the Middle East.

11. Skills: Money lending applications and business know-how.

12. All these characteristics above I this list are beloved by the Ottomans, until the final defeat at Vienna, which forces Sülyman to concede to Christians because his armies cannot penetrate Europe - thus he makes deals to unite with the Christians in business, thus shutting out the Jews to expanding business opportunities.

Jewish contribution to the Ottomans, the Otto. administrations curried to the expertise of Jewish trade merchants that came over from Spain/Portugal after the expulsion: If this is a fact, then would the correct word, in this case the idiom ‘curry’ be acceptable if I presented this sentence in my notes?' 'Jewish importance in trade in the Ottoman Empire [...]. Joseph Nasi ( 520-79), for example, a refugee descended from a Portuguese Jewish family which had moved to Antwerp and then to Italy after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, came to Istanbul in 554. Nazi had European business and diplomatic connections, and soon became close advisor to Sülyman [0th Sultan of Ottoman ], played an influential role in French-Ottoman diplomatic relations, and in 566 was made Duke of Nazos and given a monopoly on customs revenues and the export of wine. Nazi was also a patron of Jewish community life and of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Lapidus’ opinion.... Thus the Ottoman system appears as a condominium of elites, some Muslim, some non-Muslim, who had partitioned with the various dimensions of the political economy among the ethnically or the religiously defined sub-elites," cites, Ira M. Lapidus 'A History of Islamic Societies' (Lapidus 264).

In the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth Centuries, however the Ottoman elite became more uniformly Muslim. (Lapidus 264). This showed a basic return to puritism of the Islamic Sunna, of the stricter sense involved in radial Islamic law. The Blood source question often arose, as a leading factory in whom is justly called an elite? Usually when things went economically toward to the down side, so to speak, the ultimate ruling party ( the Muslims) would tighten up ship, and chose homogeneous relations over outside promotion. When the economy or security returned to normal, then outside promotion would take up heed again.

From the ottoman point of view, the religious communities organized to administer the educational, judicial, and charitable affaires of the subject population were fundamental, writes Ira M. Lapidus "A History of Islamic Societies" (Lapidus 264)."From the ottoman point of view, the religious communities organized to administer the educational, judicial, and charitable affaires of the subject population were fundamental," writes Ira M. Lapidus "A History of Islamic Societies" (Lapidus 264). As discoursed in lecture, particularly of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Kehillas in Europe, in regards to self-government in their respected communities, my question is " was this similar construction of self- policy in the Jewish communities under the Ottomans as it was in the Middle Ages of Europe? - as this book goes into little detail about Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman administration curried to the expertise of Jewish trade merchants that came over from Spain/Portugal after the expulsion.*In other words, 'what was Spain’s loss was an Ottoman gain,' no? I think you said this statement in class? If true, can I then postulate, or is this fact, because I think I have heard this before, that Spain suffered financially ( in the long run) under the South American silver and gold rush period because of the decision of expulsion in which the Jews who were kicked out were not in Spain to 'manage' the intricacies of trade and banking?

From the time of the conquering of Constantinople ( Istanbul) the Ottoman prefer to see this as the beginning of their ‘modern age.’ I’m not sure if this timeline applies to the Jews living under their regime or not, at that particular time?



The Mysticism comes to the Forefront of Jewish Life
Radical functionary in Jewish History

The question: Why are the Jews always getting expulsed from hither and far?
Well, in the 3th Century there were arguments against Intellectualism, in regards to mysticism, and action in regards to accepting things how they are and just surviving by following other people’s interpretations of Jewish existence.
The Ottoman in 1592: there are eighteen Talmudic academies and the most important center is in Cairo which also boasts twenty-one synagogues.

Safad: Spelt differently in history books - Tzefiya (in the Talmud), Safad, Zefat, Sefad; 2,790 feet (850 meters), most important city in the 5-6th Centuries. Safed is Israel’s highest town. Jews came in large numbers after the Spanish expulsion.
General synopsis: Before expulsion the Jewish legal system more important; after the expulsion, Jewish mysticism more important.

People say: “ Lets find the esoteric meaning behind the reasons in life”. Shulhan Arukh became the cannon.

Isaac Luria, ( 534 August-572) born in Jerusalem to German parents. He unifies the best of the legal and mysticism of the day. He was an outstanding legalist at 5 year-old. After he married at 5 years-old, he changes legal studies path to some mysticism (texts). He hears voices, like many mystics can, and moves to start a movement to understand this arena of intelligence. He meets Cordovero (Rema), the foremost mystic of his day. 1548 published the work ‘ Pardes Rimonim ‘Pomegranate Orchard.’ ( 1548). The book was a systemization of all Kabbalistic teachings up to that time. Moses ben Jacob Cordovero or Moshe Cordevero (522-570), known by the acronym the Ramak (Rema), was a Medieval rabbi and one of the greatest scholars of Judaism's Kabbalah. Luria studies Cordevero. At the age of twenty-two years old he studies the Zohar. The Zohar (Hebrew Zohar "Splendor, radiance") is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), written in medieval Aramaic and medieval Hebrew. It contains a mystical discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, and redemption, good and evil, and related topics. (Wikipedia). Around 550, the Ramak founded a Kabbalah academy in Safed, which he led for twenty or so years, until his death. Both Cordevero and Luria work to unify all mystical texts.

Systematically unify law and mysticism.
Achievement
Saft, a circle of mystics, meets of Fridays and the people confess to each other as a cleansing of their souls, and not adherence to the Catholic church’s reasoning of confession. Or one can see this as a healing of the soul. The contemplation, the understanding of the Universe, cosmos, and human condition of the expulsion is there ultimate goal.
This is called the Lurianic Kabbalah.
God is everywhere at all times.
Issues: Free will of Adam. Is God is everywhere then how did evil come into play? Note: Many Jews saw the Spanish as the representatives of evil on earth for kicking them out.

Solution to evil: god is not expanding, but shrinking. Tsimtsum- God in action. Tsimtsum is how God contracts into himself, the literal meaning of this word.
God withdraws into himself. Evil can now take hold of the empty space. God reduces himself to make room for the Universe. The dark void is the evil. The significance: the view is God is shrinking and not expanding. Also, this is the primal exile. God has exiled himself.

If God is omnipresent, then where is room for everything else? There are trees. Rocks, land, etc…

 

Victimization
The Jews related this Tsimtsum to their plight of being exiled from so many places in history. This correlated with the Zohar. God and the Jews were people that got picked on and kicked out from most places they lived at and had to retreat, contract, and move away from whence they were. So god and The Jews are quite similar, and similar things make people comfortable.

Creation begins. There is a ray of light, in the Universe.
Ein Sof, is Hebrew for "without end" denoting "boundlessness", it is related to the Divines being stage of God. The timelessness. We live in time and therefore cannot comprehend this. From this Ein Sof, comes a ray of light into the world of time. All existence flows, or emanates from Ein Sof into time from the Ray of Light ( Note the Madonna song Ray of Light and her recent Khabbalah patronizing. The rays of light are forged out into the primordial space; then the primordial space emanates the Man. Things appear such as vessels in which sparks that come out of the orifices of man and other places of the body are, some caught and some not, into these vessels. The divine light as it is called doesn’t come out like the ray, but comes out in the form of sparks. The sparks are caught in the vessels and form divine light. Once the vessels are full the light returns to man (Adam). However, at a crucial moment, an accident occurred the vessels explode with all the light spilling out and broken shards spilling below and scattering. The shards of glass, Luria regards as evil ( Spanish who forced out the Jews). The breaking of the vessels is a cosmic mishap. The Sparks connected to the vessels ( Chards) are evil. What is required is the restoration of the vessels. Adam is supposed to represent the correct form of free will – then sparks restored to divine source Ein Sof.

Symbols:
As ordered: Prime Purpose ; Cosmic accident; exile; redemption/rebuild;
Exile is connected to the shards and evil is connected to the broken vessels, entrapped light, not returned to Adam are the Jews.

The Grand Mission Begins
Significance
Thus the Grand Mission Begins and the Jewish Mysticism become legitimized by the People accepting this system –
The people say, “lets repair the world”. Jewish Mysticism in context of the new form of the creation myth ( disregarding the older biblical Genesis) became the Jews explanation of why they are always exiled.
The Shulkan Arukh was not an emptied meaning as Freud would imply, but was a significant meaning to the Jews who viewed this as a vision of explanation to repair the world.
Luria: “It was not all divine punishment” – “there is certainly evil in this world and the Jews can help solve the evil in the world”. This is comparable to the old Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, who formed the early ethical laws that the west incorporated into their western philosophy and practices. The emphasis is to get the sparks away from the shards, which represent evil, in regards to the broken fragments of the vessels.
This whole process shows of Jewish intellectualism (resolve) and purpose expanding in history: Commandments, ritual, spiritual meaning.
Two centuries later this Grand Mission still electrifies the Jewish world and many others in the world today.
This transformed popular religion. For example, many in Hollywood practice forms of Khabbalah at local outlets in Los Angeles, California.
This gave Jews their own Creation Myth.
Discipline: Must be disciplined to follow these rituals and laws.

It was and is important to have meanings and explanations to issues such as evil.
This starts messianic movements, later on – but for now the question of exile is now solved. By the 6th Century there were only roughly sixteen volumes of the Jewish new myth, and this is comparably minute to other older established creation myths.

Look at the cosmic dimensions in a bigger picture of life. The wealth of the middle ages of the Jews and the fact that they received somewhat special status was now gone and they are forced to live as equal in a world that has differing religious opinions then themselves.
Jewry in the Age of Reformation
Luther and the Reformation.

Luther was German and was the first to transcribe a major work in to what would become modern German. The Lutheran Bible. In regards to Luther, and the Jewish significance there are two specific periods to deal with: the early Luther on the sympathetic side of the Jews trying to win converts to his new system that is more similar to the Jewish Religious system ( Protestant) and the later Luther who writes a book blasting the Jews with themes of vitriol and violence.

1348 Basel: 600 Jews burned at the stake.

Humanism takes shape. Erasmus’s basic attitude is that he didn’t like the Jews. Humanism era kicks off with a wiliness to learn Hebrew in context of the Old Testament, and how it influenced ancient times. Basel city council passes legislation in 1434 letting the Jews have schools with Hebrew instruction. Polemic not dialoged.

Johannes Reuchlin ( 1455-1522) was not a friend of the Jews , per say, but had a deep commitment to justice and human rights. Reuchlin was a "non-Jewish defender" of the Talmud and fought against the attempt of the apostate Johannes Pfefferkorn to have all copies of the Talmud burned (1507-1509) by order of the Catholic church. Prussia -Germany states consist around 100 principalities and each had a say in the matter. One of the leaders of the principalities voted against the burning of the books. Johannes Pfefferkorn was a Dominican Monk, before he was a Jew. He became hostel toward the Jews during the (1507-1509) period and was eventually indicted by the Church. Later he reformed back to Judaism. Reuchlin was concerned for the treatment of the Jews, and expressed real concern for the expulsions in 1348-1350 Germany. He would try his hardest to fight for equal rights for everyone. In regards to Humanism, he said that he heard god’s voice in the language of Hebrew in regards to the Biblical Language. He believed that if we (Europe) get rid of the Jews we lose connection to God, because they were the chosen ones in the bible. He was also refereeing the argument not to burn the books. During the 1507-1509 periods anti-Jewish pamphlets were working havoc on society, inciting riots. People would say “ the Jews could only see the light ( the truth of Christianity) if their books were gone from the world.” Then they wrote Maximilian I , to issue a decree to burn all the books. Some leaders of Germany vote it down. So it was agreed to have a debate. Reuchlin vs. Pfefferkorn. The debate centered on human rights and property rights and freedom to practice religion. This was in the period that would soon see the Freedoms emerge from the so-called dark ages. Some haters of Jews say that all the Jews are is a demonstrable blasphemy of Christians everywhere. This took precedence as the times of religious wars and the Catholic Church was desperately trying to stay in power. In 1520 Pope Leo X. declared Reuchlin guilty, and condemned. The Dominicans took up the fight that Pfefferkorn left off as he was on the run as well. The Liberal Church took up the side of the Dominicans to further attack the Jews. However, local law saved their books by the passion of Reuchlin. The significance is that this episode ratcheted up the ‘Jewdizer’ – the hatred for the Jews. Everyone was running scared from the Church. No one wanted to defend the Jews.

In Germany now, between 1492-1515 scores of expulsions resulted in different principalities. Uprising blamed on Jews. Reformation kicks in especially at Prussia-Germany. Some closed off travel to and from another, creating a gridlock or trap for the Jews. AS different Charters are examined by the Jews, a paragon of Jewish stalwartness rise up with worldly influence and money to make safe passage for the venturing populations and fight for the Jewish cause. Onto the scene comes a superstar in the Jewish world named Josel of Rosheim (c. 1478-1554) He served the community of Jews for fifty-years, an astounding number giving him superstar status with legitimate influence. He made his money like many other Jews as a money-lender, but became a judge assuring respect. His life’s work would include mitigating Prussia-German expulsions. He would sue Prussia and would lose, but the lawsuits would bring in recognition or resolve. He had money and raised money to help with the travel expenses of the expelled Jews. For fifty-years one Jew represented basically a large portion of the Jews in Europe. He was a strategic player, and a seasoned politician. He would say anything at the moment to get his way, even if he knew it was not the true or that it was possible for him to carry out as promised. He told leaders (“I can deliver the Catholic Vote”) that he would garner the Jewish vote for the Emperor Charles the V, of whom he held audience many times. He also paid cash to Charles for protection. Charles was always strapped for cash as he had many wars to fight, so this was not a bid deal in these times. He knew he could not deliver this, but he was winning some type of favor for the Jews at the time. He obtained letter for protection when Jews crossed exiled lands that were closed in by other exiled lands (view is as a modern transit visa). Rosheim also to play the legitimate European player submits legal redress for Christians. He put up persona as a Good Samaritan, as any smart politician should.

The significance is that he was the Jewish intercessor. The word or as one can say the Title of Intercessor is reserved for great historic Jewish figures. His lawsuits helped put the Jewish civil rights back on the map and back into the public arena. His court dealings also brought about Judenordnugen ( Jewish regulations). These are laws based upon jury regulations form out of the Rosheim lawsuits. Because he lasted fifty-years he made an impression. Background: reformation in full swing.

Luther was a huge historical figure who changed religion that had a history of over 1500 years in basically one night.

Jews continue to live in North Europe as Christianity is fragmenting. The Pope has a scheme to get the Jews on his side against the Protestants, but that is not for this lecture. The Jews for a brief period of time say “ Hey, the Church is not looking at us.” Anti-Jewish rhetoric has changed. The early Luther looked to get the Jews on his side against the Church and later the Church does the same. The Jews argue together at the schemes being played. “ what will happen if we support this entity or that entity. Catholic unity has broken off and now there is no group that posses the religious truth. Protestants bring some comfort to the Jews. The Protestant faith is centralized in the Old Testament. The interpretation benefits the Jews. Less Iconic symbolism; no pageantry; scaled down Church paraphernalia, and back to the basics. These were all similar things the Jewish people adhere too. The first impression of the Jews is positive, however closer insight shows that leaders were concerned the Protestants were another form of the Catholic Church’s dominant theology – so the Jews back down from supporting Luther, which makes him mad. It is said that Luther had a vicious tongue. He called the Pope many times the Anti-Christ. He also said that the current Catholic Church was paganistic and practiced in pagan rituals. This initially got the Jews on his side. He even supported their views that the Church worked as fear mongers to enlist new converts. He also said that forced conversions, refereeing to Spain, were not valid. Luther won sympathy of the Jews. Luther said “ Come going my group.” Many Jews wanted revenge for all the centuries the Catholic Church dogged them. Luther tried to win over the Jews with kindness, but after the secret meetings of the Jewish elders not to support him Luther countered in a totally different tone from his early work on supporting the Jews. He then wrote a book that caused enmity with the Jews. In 1530s Luther complained that the Jews were hardheaded and stiff-necked. “ I tried to be nice to them and they didn’t respond.” He accused the Jews of fermenting christens in Germany (a heresy) in order to get the Inquisition after them. He wrote the book “ Jews and their lies” which planted the seed of permanent separation between the Protestants and the Jews. In the book he promoted violence and vitriol. This was not the correct plan. In the book he promotes that Jews take up only jobs that consist of hard labor to facilitate sweaty foreheads, and Jews would not be allowed to use roads. Also, the promoted physical violence and property damage. He called for all their houses to be burned to the ground. The significance of this ordeal is that there was a change in Luther form the early sympathetic to a ravage fool inciting violence. Sigs: (1523) the nice Luther to the Jews. (1543) The mean Luther to the Jews.
Total Significance.

The inhibition of the Europeans to kick out the Jews in my opinion is of failed logic. The reason: If you didn’t want them, then why keep them. This is really a larger argument that I cannot address here but to caption this idea I will specify that: They (Europeans) thought that by kicking them out they would lose the crown jewel of Biblical legitimacy, but in reality they crucified the very people that legitimized them - in spite of themselves. In other words – ignorance was more comfortable than responsibility. A softer view, I have, is that it was a love-hate relationship between the two. It is very true that when the Jews had left Spain, many of the common Christians opined that they in deed missed them. This furthers my argument that the leaders in high office, remembering 711, wanted ultimate revenge for many the Jews siding with the Muslims, and this ultimately led to the expulsion of 1492. – and it was not the common people wishes, as we can detest to the truths of Christians longing for dearly departed friends.


________________________________Work Cited____________________________

Gampel, Benjamin R ‘ A Letter to A Wayward Teacher,’ The transformations of Sephardic Culture in Christian Iberia.’ New York : Schocken Books, ©2002 ISBN: 08052430.
Judah Ha-Levi < http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=643&letter=J&search=yehuda+halevi> Sept. 21, 2005

Hazary, Arye. Another Look At Solomon Halevy/Pablo de Santa Maria < http://www.cryptojews.com/another_look_at_solomon_halevy.htm > sept. 9. 2005.

Hsia, R. Po-Chia The Myth of ritual and Murder ‘Jews and Magic in reformation Germany’., Yale University Press 998.

Kreiger , Judith Gale Pablo de Santa Maria, The Purim Letter and Siete edades del mundo. Fall 998 issue of HaLapid <http://www.cryptojews.com/pablo_de_santa_maria.htm> Sept 9. 2005.

St. Olaf web public St. Olaf Campus-Wide Information System < http://www.stolaf.edu/people/carringt/30-209/Theodosian.html> Sept 6. 2005.
Chaburas –net. StarStruck the Place of Astrology in Judaism. <http://www.chaburas.org/astrolog.html> Sept. 21. 2005.
General Notes:
Violence will play a key roll in why the poor converted (mjm).
Halakhal http://www.jewfaq.org/halakhah.htm Link

Laws of Visagoths Law in Visigothic Spain I: The Visigoths were energetic and ambitious lawmakers
The Visigothic Code -http://medspains.stanford.edu/demo/meriiiddda/visigothic_code.html
Legislation Affecting the Jews from 300 to 800 CE

Notes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazic

With the onset of the Crusades, and the expulsions from England (290), France (394), and parts of Germany (400s), Jewish migration pushed eastward into Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. Over this period of several hundred years, some have suggested, Jewish economic activity was focused on trade, business management, and financial services, due to Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities by Jews, and preventing certain financial activities (such as "usurious" loans) between Christians.
 

By the 400s, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora [5]. It would remain that way until the Holocaust.
History: The word "Ashkenaz" first appears in the genealogy in the Tanakh (Genesis 0) as a son of Gomer and grandson of Japheth. It is thought that the name originally applied to the Scythians (Ishkuz), who were called Ashkuza in Assyrian inscriptions, and lake Ascanius and the region Ascania in Anatolia derive their names from this group. The "Ashkuza" have also been linked to the Oghuz branch of Turks including nearly all Turkic peoples today from Turkey to Turkmenistan.
Ashkenaz in later Hebrew tradition became identified with the peoples of Germany, and in particular to the area along the Rhine where the Alamanni tribe once lived (compare the French and Spanish words Allemagne and Alemania, respectively, for Germany).<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazic>Sept 4. 2005.
“Rushdie holds out little hope of a return to the Kashmir of his childhood, where he remembers Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims living happily side by side, bound together by a sense of being Kashmiri above all else.”
Mike Collett-White Rushdie tackles Kashmir, extremism in new novel LONDON (Reuters) <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/2005083/people_nm/rushdie_novel_dc >Sept 3, 2005

September 21, 2005.

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