Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The fourth annual Early Modern Workshop in Jewish History, entitled “Jewish Consumption and Material Culture in the Early Modern Period,” took place at the University of Maryland at College Park in August, 2007.

The topic of material culture inJewish historiography has been explored predominantly in the context of ancient Jewish history. In contrast to early modern European history, or early American history, both of which have explored material culture and consumption, the study of Jewish history has been predominantly based on texts. Scholars of early modern Jewish history have tended to see the minhagim (customs) and responsa literatures as a particularly valuable source of information about daily life, but have tended to focus on specific data rather than to explore the significance of Jewish material culture. Similarly, few studies based on other types of sources such as memoirs (see the recently published edition of Gluckel of Hameln's memoir by Chava Turniansky), travel accounts, and the "ethnographic" descriptions of non-Jewish observers such as the Buxtorfs (father and son) and converts from Judaism such as Samuel Nahmias (Giulio Morosini, Via della Fede) reflected on questions related to material existence of early modern Jews. It is only recently that questions of the transformation of Jewish culture through consumption and material culture have been raised by scholars such as Elliott Horowitz, Zeev Gris, Shifra Baruchson, Shalom Sabar, or in art history Vivian Mann and Richard Cohen. The 2007 workshop intended to open up a new venue for inquiry and, in the process, foster links between historians and museums and their curators.

Speakers discussed the representation of Jews and their way of life in art and the use of various types of images and objects by scholars trying to learn about Jewish rituals, customs, and culture: images from Christian sources (Shalom Sabar), beakers (Vivian Mann), cloth and textiles used to make parokhet (Rachel Greenblatt). Can symbols used in synagogues and books tell us much about the values of the Jewish community? What role did ideology play in public representations of the Jewish community (Limor Mintz-Manor)?  Scholars discussed the usefulness and pitfalls of using inventory records, focusing on what is behind the significance ascribed by historians to material objects (Flora Cassen, Benjamin Ravid/Bernard Cooperman, Miriam Bodian). Can descriptions of rituals and processions in Christian cities tell us anything about material culture and clothing of the Jews (Nadia Zeldes)? Finally, what about the underclass? What can crime records tell us about the relationship to material possessions of the poorer strata of society (Magda Teter)?

Sponsors

• Wesleyan University’s Jewish and Israel Studies Certificate programs, the Office of Academic Affairs and the Academic Deans, Center for Faculty Career Development; Information Technology Services Department
• University of Maryland’s Louis L. Kaplan Chair of Jewish History at the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies.
• Yeshiva University