Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate

Yosie Levine (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

296 Seiten

2024
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (Verlag)
978-1-83553-641-4 (ISBN)

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With the social and cultural upheavals of early modern Europe, rabbis had to fight to preserve Jewish tradition. Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi, chief rabbi of Amsterdam, emerged as one of the leading halakhic authorities of the epoch, and the battles he waged would come to define rabbinic norms in the decades that followed.

With the social and cultural upheavals of early modern Europe, rabbis were constantly struggling to preserve Jewish tradition. Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi (1658—1718), the independent-minded chief rabbi of Amsterdam, came to be regarded as one of the leading halakhic authorities of this tumultuous era. The battles he waged changed Jewish practice in his lifetime and came to define rabbinic norms in the decades that followed, with relevance to the present day.

The challenges for a leading rabbi in a time of ferment were many. With advances in communication and the early stirrings of political emancipation in Jewish and secular society, how could one establish halakhic authority? How were rabbis to navigate the new reality in which mystical texts—once the exclusive province of the elite—became accessible to the masses? As geographical boundaries shifted and cultural barriers crumbled, how could one build a bridge between the worlds of Ashkenaz and Sepharad? How were the keepers of tradition meant to respond to the religious laxity that accompanied acculturation? And how could the religious establishment engage sectarians in general, and crypto-Sabbatians in particular?

Hakham Tsevi didn’t always win the battles he fought, but his arguments have endured. Products of his fierce independence, some of his responsa have attained near-canonical status., Today’s halakhic discussions of such contemporary issues as brain death and artificial intelligence often begin with the words he committed to posterity. Hundreds of years after his death, Hakham Tsevi and his work remain at the frontier of halakhic discourse.

Yosie Levine has been the rabbi at The Jewish Center in New York City since 2008. He received his rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University and his Ph.D. from the Bernard Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University. Before it was published, this book was a winner of the Association for Jewish Studies’ Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award.

List of Illustrations

Introduction

The World of Hakham Tsevi: From Biography to Geography

Epistolary Combatants in a Rabbinic Republic of Letters

Too Much Information: The Mystic who Waged War on Mystical Texts

The Rabbinate Under Siege: Laity, Laxity, Unworthy Clerics, and Subterranean Sectarians

An Ashkenazi Assault on the Ashkenazi Tradition

The Hayon Affair: A Battle for the Soul of Amsterdam

Afterlife: How Modern-Day Posekim Responded to Hakham Tsevi’s Early Modern Responsa

Conclusions

Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	19.11.2024
Reihe/Serie	The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Zusatzinfo	2 Maps
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Maße	163 x 239 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Judentum
ISBN-10	1-83553-641-7 / 1835536417
ISBN-13	978-1-83553-641-4 / 9781835536414
Zustand	Neuware