a nation in flux #12

the 12th century

The Crusades in Israel

• 1099 - Karaite Community is Destroyed
• Dome of the Rock is becomes a Church

The Crusades in Europe

• The number of Jews murdered were not high, but now lived in fear.
• Pogroms exploded every few years. Church used violence as a tool.
• Jews were attacked for not converting, for sport, for unity, for theological reasons.
• Jews were the bottom rung of the social ladder.

The Christian World

• In the Christian world, Jews were the most educated on average.
• Many Jews worked as money lenders

SHU"M

• Jews continued to build the communities of the Rhineland.
• Life expectancy were low.
• Tosfos (in Kiddushin): "We marry off children under the age of 12, since the exile oppresses us. If a person has the money to marry off his daughter now, he should not wait, lest he not able to."

The Tosfos

• Students of Rashi
• Rashi only had daughters. His sons in law: Rivan, R' Meir b. Shmuel.
• R' Meir's children: Rabbeinu Tam and Rashbam, Rivam.

Rashbam

• Famous commentary on Torah.
• Owned a vinyard and processed wool.

Rabbeinu Tam

• R' Yaakov b Meir 1100-1171
• Learned from his father and later Rashbam.
• Developed a system of comparative talmudic analysis to isolate the central point of a discussion. (Case Study Method)
• Had many famous students.

Rabbeinu Tam vs Rashi

• Placement of mezuza: Rashi says upright, Rabbeinu Tam, horizontal. We slant it.
• Tefillin: The order of the parshiyos are differently arranged.
• Rivash (Yitzchak b Sheshes #394): Two great luminaries, Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam.

Rabbeinu Tam

• Christianity is Idolatry, but one is permitted to do business with them during their holidays.
• 1146: Second Crusade entered his home and attacked him. He was saved by a nobleman.
• 1171: Rabbeinu Tam declared a fast day on the 20th of Sivan as a result of a murderous blood libel.

Blood Libel

• 1144: Norwich, England. Jews were accused of crucifying a 12 yr old boy, William before Pesach.
• He became St William.
• Two years later, the Pope encouraged these libels.
• 1189: Richard the Lionhearted is crowned and Jews are massacred.

Anti Semitism

• 1182: King Phillip II of France expelled Jews from France. Most Tosfos had already relocated to France.
• Rabbi Efraim of Bonn wrote a chronicle of the violence against Jews in this time.
• 1190: Jews of York took refuge in Clifford's Tower and 150 Jews were burned to death.

Saladin

• A Kurdish warrior who defeated the Crusaders.
• July 4th 1187, Saladin conquers Jerusalem.
• The Dome of the Rock is converted back into a Church.
• Invited Jews to return to Jerusalem.

Third crusade

• Richard the Lionhearted, Phillip of France and Fredrick of Germany banded together but failed without conquering the Holy Land.

Spain

• Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi: 1080-1145. Learned from the Rif and Ri Migash.
• Wrote over 800 poems. Famous for the Kuzari.
• Kuzari (in Arabic) presents a compressive theology of Judaism.
• "You've exposed our shame."

Ibn Ezra

• 1089 - 1164: Fled the Almoravid invasion in 1135.
• His son converted to Islam, and after his return to Judaism the Ibn Ezra began wandering.
• Never managed to make a living: "If I made candles, the sun would stop setting, if I made shrouds, people would stop dying."

Binyamin of Tudela

• Visited communities to visit India, China, North Africa.
• First European to write about China.
• Published Masaot Binyamin.

Raavad i

• Avraham b David wrote a book of history
• Was executed in Toledo for refusing to convert to Christianity.

Rabbi Zrachya halevi

• Wrote the Baal HaMaor at the age of 18. "Old wine in a new vessel"
• Took on the Rif, would be debated by the Ramban in the next century.

The Rambam

• The Nesher HaGadol, 1135-1204.
• 1135-1204:
• Born in Cordoba and had challenging life.
• Fled Spain at the age of 13 when the Almohads over took Cordoba.
• Muslim Spain was safer for Jews, but all Muslims were alike.

Fez

• 1160: Rambam's Family arrived in Fez.
• Most Jews were outwardly Muslim, secretly Jewish.
• The Iggeret HaShmad permitted Jews to profess Islamic belief to buy time to flee.

Israel

• Two years in Israel
• Visited Jerusalem and Hebron
• Lack of community and persecution forced them to leave.

Egypt

• Soon after his arrival, tragedy struck, two sons dies, as well as David, the Rambam's younger brother.
• The depression from this lasted a year.To earn a living, he became a physician. (Studies that he learned in Cordoba and in Fes).He quickly gained fame as an expert.
• He quickly gained fame as an expert.

The Nagid

• 1177 - Rambam became the Nagid of Fustat. Appointed court physician to the Grand Vizier Al Qadi al Fadil then to Sultan Saladin.Worked tirelessly until his death in 1204.
• Appointed court physician to the Grand Vizier Al Qadi al Fadil then to Sultan Saladin.Worked tirelessly until his death in 1204.

Mishneh Torah

• 1170 - 1180
• First comprehenive guide to Jewish Law
• Includes Laws of Sacrifices and Beit HaMikdash

Moreh Nevuchim

• "Accept the Truth from whomever says it."
• Synthesized Torah and Aristotelian philosphy.
• Advocated the Study of Physics and Metaphysics.

I dwell at Fostat, and the sultan resides at Cairo [about a mile­and­a­half away].... My duties to the sultan are very heavy. I am obliged to visit him every day, early in the morning, and when he or any of his children or any of the inmates of his harem are indisposed, I dare not quit Cairo, but must stay during the greater part of the day in the palace. It also frequently happens that one of the two royal officers fall sick, and I must attend to their healing. Hence, as a rule, I leave for Cairo very early in the day, and even if nothing unusual happens, I do not return to Fostat until the afternoon. Then I am almost dying with hunger. . . I find the antechamber filled with people, both Jews and gentiles, nobles and common people, judges and bailiffs, friends and foes-a mixed multitude who await the time of my return.

I dismount from my animal, wash my hands, go forth to my patients and entreat them to bear with me while I partake of some slight refreshment, the only meal I take in the twenty­four hours. Then I go forth to attend to my patients, and write prescriptions and directions for their various ailments. Patients go in and out until nightfall, and sometimes even, I solemnly assure you, until two hours or more in the night. I converse with and prescribe for them while lying down from sheer fatigue; and when night falls I am so exhausted that I can scarcely speak.

In consequence of this, no Israelite can have any private interview with me, except on the Sabbath. On that day the whole congregation, or at least the majority of the members, come to me after the morning service, when I instruct them as to their proceedings during the whole week; we study together a little until noon, when they depart. Some of them return, and read with me after the afternoon service until evening prayers. In this manner I spend that day.

Mysticism

• Provence becomes the centre of Kabbalah.
• Raavad's son, Rabbi Yitzchak Sagi Nahor is a leader.
• Mysticism spreads to Ashkenaz. (Chassidei Ashkenaz)
• Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid, Sefer Chassidim: "Don't name a child after a living relative. Don't marry a women with the same name as your mother."