Testing Boundaries: Jewish Conversion and Cultural Fluidity in Medieval Europe, c. 1200–1391

Through a linguistic analysis of the Hebrew Lord's Prayer, this article endeavors to reach a new understanding of the function of this text in the lives of its users, concluding that the ninth-century Carolingian writer/translator meant for this text to be sung aloud. This article goes back to the basics of textual research—philology and language study—in order to determine the correct historical framework through which to understand this much-debated text, thus adding to our understanding of the religious life and practice of the nuns of Essen at the polyglottic crossroads of Latin and German, Hebrew and Greek. This paper is also an invitation for future studies to continue its effort to rewrite the history of Hebrew in the church, for historians to broaden their toolbox, and for linguists and philologists to contribute their insights to other fields.

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Beauty and the Beast: On a Doe, a Devilish Hunter, and Jewish-Christian Polemics

Offenberg¹

2020

AJS Rev.

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Hunting scenes are common in Jewish illuminated manuscripts and are understood as allegories of the Jew, usually represented as a hare or a deer, being persecuted by the Christian, shown as a hunter and his dogs. This article will discuss a hunt scene from the Worms Maḥzor, an Ashkenazic illuminated prayer book produced in 1272, probably in Würzburg. At the top of folio 130r, an illumination of the piyyut (liturgical poem) “ʾAyelet ʾahavim” (the loving hind, or doe) for Shavuot displays a deer being hunted by a devilish hunter and his dogs. Examining the illustration in the context of contemporary textual evidence, I shall demonstrate that the deer in the Worms Maḥzor portrays the Torah itself being persecuted by the hunter, who can be understood not only as a Christian or Esau, but also as Jesus.

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Testing Boundaries: Jewish Conversion and Cultural Fluidity in Medieval Europe, c. 1200–1391

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

“Although He Sinned”: Spanish Conversos Between Law, Theology, and Jewish Popular Perception

“Although He Sinned”: Spanish Conversos Between Law, Theology, and Jewish Popular Perception

The Hebrew Translation of the Carolingian Lord's Prayer: A Case Study in Using Linguistics to Understand History

Beauty and the Beast: On a Doe, a Devilish Hunter, and Jewish-Christian Polemics

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