Jews and the Wine Trade in Medieval Europe
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (Verlag)
978-1-904113-24-9 (ISBN)
Although Jews were at the centre of commercial activity in medieval
Europe, a talmudic ban on any wine touched by a Gentile prevented them from
engaging in the lucrative wine trade. Wine was consumed in vast quantities in
the Middle Ages, and the banks of the Rhineland hosted some of the finest
vineyards in northern Europe. German Jews were, until the thirteenth century, a
merchant class. How could they abstain from trading in one of the region’s
major commodities? In time, they ruled that it was permissible to accept wine
in payment of debt, but forbade trading in it, and they maintained that ban
throughout the Middle Ages.
Further study in the twelfth century, however, led Talmudists to
discover that Jews were only forbidden to profit from trading in Gentile wine
if they dealt with idolaters, but that trade with Christians and Muslims was
permitted. Nevertheless, the German community refused to take advantage of this
clear licence. Using Jewish and Gentile sources, this study probes the sources
of this powerful taboo.
In describing the complex ways in which deeply held cultural values
affect Jews’ engagement in the economy of the surrounding society, this book
also illustrates the law of unintended consequences—how the ban on Gentile wine
led both to a major Jewish contribution to German viticulture and to the
involvement of Jews in moneylending, with all its tragic consequences.
Haym Soloveitchik is the Merkin Family Research Professor at Yeshiva University, New York, and the former director of the School of Jewish Studies at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has also taught at the Sorbonne and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He has published books in Hebrew on pawnbroking and usury, Jewish involvement in the medieval wine trade, and the use of responsa as a historical source. Three volumes of his Collected Essays have been published by the Littman Library, as well as a new edition of his landmark essay, Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Modern Orthodoxy.
1. To Trade or Not To Trade
2. Theory and Practice, Law and Taboo: Early Ashkenazic Traditions, Rashi, and the Tosafist School in Germany
3. Merchants, Vintners, and Credit Suppliers: Jewish History and General History
4. France: Rabbenu Tam, R. Yitsḥak of Dampierre, and the Abhorrence of Gentile Wine
5. France: In the School of R. Yitsḥak (Ri), the Cradle of the Tosafist Movement
6. Law, Change, and Solidarity: The ‘Holy Congregation’ of Ashkenaz
Appendices
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 28.7.2024 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization |
| Zusatzinfo | 2 Maps |
| Verlagsort | Oxford |
| Sprache | Hebrew |
| Maße | 163 x 239 mm |
| Gewicht | 368 g |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien |
| Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Finanzierung | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-904113-24-9 / 1904113249 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-904113-24-9 / 9781904113249 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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