The legend of ger Ɠedek of wilno as polemic and reassurance

AJS Review

Volumn 29, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 237-263

  Teter, Magda ^a  

^a WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 85008566558     PISSN: 03640094     EISSN: 14754541     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0364009405000127     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. According to the definition of a legend used by cultural anthropologists studying folklore, legends, or historical legends, “are prose narratives, which, like myths, are regarded as true by the narrator and his audience, but they are set in a period less remote, when the world was much as it is today.” William Bascom, “The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives,” in Sacred Narrative, ed. Alan Dundes (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 9, see also 10-11. On the definition of the legend and its functions, see also, Linda Dégh, Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), especially chapters 1-2. W. Lynwood Montell and Barbara Allen, “Some Characteristics of Historical Legendry: The Narrative and the Narrator,” Arv [Stockholm] 37 (1981).
2. Hebrew manuscript, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930. One of the names mentioned in the text is that of Eliezer Shiskes, who in 1766 was a beadle (shames) in one of Vilna's synagogues. He is mentioned as a young prepubescent boy at the time of the execution of the gerz. edek, but the text indicates that he was dead at the time. His brother, Shaul Shiskes died at an old age in 1797. I would like to thank Dr. Mordekhai Zalkin from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for information on Shiskes and bibliographic references that follow, the following bibliographic reference, Israel Klausner, Toldot Ha-Kehilah Ha-HIvrit Be-Vilnah, vol. 1 (Israel, no place: 1968), 135.
3. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Wilno: Od Poczatków Jego Do Roku 1750 (Vilna: Józef Zawadzki, 1841), 3:173-81. But subsequently, other versions of the story were also published mostly in Yiddish and Hebrew.
4. Kraszewski, Wilno, 169. In the note, he explained that he bought the manuscript for the price in gold equal to its weight “or even more.” Kraszewski, Wilno, 183, n. 7.
5. Kraszewski notes it was a tightly written eight-page Hebrew manuscript, Kraszewski, Wilno, 184, n. 13. The JNUL manuscript is nine pages long.
6. The Polish text has “Pot… ” for Potocki, and “hetman Tys… ” for Tyszkiewicz. Kraszewski, Wilno, 176. Kraszewski admitted that some editorial deletions were made, Kraszewski, Wilno, 183, n. 7.
7. For example, the mention of Russia and the tsar at the end of the tale point to later additions. Legends are by their nature achronological. Montell and Allen, “Some Characteristics,” 78-79.
8. Hebrew Gir malHei h. akhamim ve-sofrim. Polish “miasta pelnego me2drców i pisarzy.” Kraszewski, Wilno, 173. France was famous for establishing academies for well-born members of aristocracy to receive education that focused on studies of academic subjects, music, dance, and manners-as well as military training. Perhaps it is these academies that the text refers to, or perhaps it simply refers to Paris as the increasingly important intellectual center, and the word academy is inconsequential. On the education of aristocracy in France and England, see, for example, Patricia-Ann Lee, “Some English Academies: An Experiment in the Education of Renaissance Gentlemen,” History of Education Quarterly 10, no. 3 (1970).
9. Stanislaw Obirek, Jezuici w Rzeczpospolitej Obojga Narodów 1564-1668 (Cracow: Wydzial Filozoficzny Towarzystwa Jezusowego, 1996), 77. The word in the Hebrew text is akademie.
10. Translated into Polish as namiot, and in Hebrew, it is referred to as sukkah.
11. Hebrew text: bavli and in Polish it is referred only as a book.
12. Ha-Rav in the Hebrew text and “rabin” in the Polish text.
13. The Polish text has: “You get your religion from the Pope.” Kraszewski, Wilno, 174.
14. The Polish text only stated that “the Popes strengthened the faith and issued a ban on your nation not to teach your son from this book.” The Polish text implies that the ban was issued against Christians studying the text. But the Hebrew implies that this ban was more general and perhaps refers to the burning of the Talmud and subsequent ban on publishing it in the Papal States. Kraszewski, Wilno, 174. On the Talmud in early modern Catholic thought, see, for example, Kenneth R. Stow, “The Burning of the Talmud in 1553 in the Light of Sixteenth Century Catholic Attitudes toward the Talmud,” Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 34 (1972).
15. Hebrew: bet ha-tiflah. A traditional expression and pun on bet ha-tefilah, house of prayer.
16. Kraszewski, Wilno, 175. Hebrew JNUL manuscript, p. 3.
17. Kraszewski, Wilno, 175.
18. The Polish text says “And they liked the customs of the Prussian people because the rural dwellings were much more beautiful than the dwellings of the Lithuanian lords, and a peasant's home lived in a house as nice as a Lithuanian lord.” Kraszewski, Wilno, 177.
19. A child can be converted by his father. If there is no father, and the child wants to accept Judaism (alone or with a mother), the conversion has to take place before the rabbinic court. Shulh.an GArukh, Yoreh DeGah, 268:7.
20. Ve-ne Gaset Givriyah. This follows rabbinic procedures for converting women. See B. Yevamot 47a-b for the procedures of converting non-Jews to Judaism. On 47b it is stated that one instructs the ger for the second time just before the immersion in the ritual bath. For women, she is accompanied by Jewish women to the ritual bath and instructed by learned men standing outside the pool. See also Luria, Yam shel Shelomoh, B. Yevamot 4:49; Tur and Shulh.an GArukh, Yoreh DeGah, 268:2.
21. On marriage laws governing converts, see, Shulh.an GArukh, Yoreh DeGah, 269.
22. Kraszewski, Wilno, 179.
23. Filip Sulimierski, Bronislaw Chlebowski, and Wladyslaw Walewski, Sownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego I Innych Krajów Sowian'skich (Warsw: Wydawnictwa Artsytyczne i Filmowe, 1975 [1880]), 3:258-59.
24. Hebrew MS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 7 (unnumbered); Kraszewski, Wilno, 179.
25. Hebrew MS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 8 (unnumbered); Kraszewski, Wilno, 180.
26. Kraszewski, Wilno, 181. Hebrew MS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 9 (unnumbered).
27. Kraszewski, Wilno, 181. Hebrew MS, JNUL, Microfilm F 52930, 9 (last page).
28. It is found only in the Hebrew text, koser. In the Polish text it only states that a letter came by mail. This probably would point us to a postpartition date, because traditionally, the Polish king was referred to as melekh in Hebrew texts.
29. Kraszewski, Wilno, 169. On Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, see Polski Sownik Biograficzny (Wroclaw, Warsaw, Cracow: Zaklad Narodowy Ossolin'skich, 1970), 15:221-29.
30. For the references to Ruth, see B. Yevamot 47b. For other positive examples of proselytes, see B. Avodah Zarah 11a.
31. R. Halbo's statement is to be found in B. Yevamot 47b. This section of the Talmud also heavily relies on Ruth chapter I to highlight the value of true proselytes. Halbo's statement is widely repeated both in the Talmud and the post-Talmudic rabbinic literature dealing with conversions, e.g., B. Yevamot 109b, B. Niddah 13b; Joseph Caro, Beit Yosef Yoreh DeGah, 268:2. “Turei Zahav” and “Siftei Cohen” on Shulh.an GArukh, Yoreh DeGah, 268:2. Halbo's statement is based on his interpretation of a combination of two biblical verses: Leviticus 13:2 and Isaiah 14:1.
32. B. Yevamot 24b and B. Avodah Zarah 3b. See also, Shulh.an GArukh, Yoreh DeGah, 268:12.
33. B. Yevamot 47a-b. On the development of conversion procedures, see Shaye J. D. Cohen, The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), chap. 7.
34. See, for example, B. Kiddushin 70b for a discussion on the relationship between God and Israel and God and the converts. M. Yevamot 8:2 allows a Jewish man with an injured penis to marry a convert or a freed slave but not a Jewish woman. See also, the discussion in B. Yevamot 76a-b on the marriage and acceptance of the converts into the congregation of Israel. I am indebted to Dr. Rami Reiner of Ben Gurion University for pointing me to the following rabbinic sources concerning a different status of the converts: M. Bikkurim 1:4; contrasting view in Y. Bikkurim 1:4 (64a). Maimonides rejected the Mishnah and followed Talmud Yerushalmi allowing the convert, Obadiah, to say all blessings, see Maimonides, Responsa no. 283 (Bar Ilan Responsa Project, 12). See also Cohen, The Beginnings of Jewishness, chap. 10.
35. On the question of cantors, see, e.g., Shulh.an GArukh, Orah. H. ayyim, 53:19, and “Turei Zahav.” On the morning prayer see, Tur Orah. H. ayyim, 46:4; Joseph Caro, Beit Yosef, ad loc.; Yoel Sirkes in Beit Hadash, ad loc. Also, Shulh.an GArukh, Orah. H. ayyim, 46.4, and “Turei Zahav,” ad loc. For a discussion of some of these issues, see Cohen, The Beginnings of Jewishness, 324-36.
36. Rashi on B. Niddah 13b. See also Rashi on B. Yevamot 47b, and on B. Kiddushin 70b. See also Tosafot on B. Kiddushin 70b.
37. See, e.g., Isserles on Shulh.an GArukh, Orah. H. ayyim, 46:4, and “Turei Zahav,” ad loc.
38. Shlomoh Luria, Yam Shel Shelomoh, B. Yevamot 4:49.
39. Jacob Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance: Studies in Jewish-Gentile Relations in Medieval and Modern Times (New York: Schocken Books, 1973), 144-45.
40. Takkanah 410, Simon Dubnow, Pinkas VaGad Ha-Medinah (Berlin: GAyanot, 1925). See also a takkanah of the community of Le2czna in 1681, which deals with a similar issue of expenses related to, among other things, proselityzing. Dubnow, Pinkas VaGad Ha-Medinah, 285.
41. Apostasy from Catholicism was punishable by death according to two sets of law in use in
42. MS Acta episcopalia 18 (1538-40) in Archiwum Kurii Metropolitalnej (Cracow), fol. 88v-92v. The notice of her execution on Saturday 19 April 1539 appears in the same volume, fol. 96v, as well as in MS Acta officialia 62 in Archiwum Kurii Metropolitalnej (Cracow), 645-6.
43. Arkheograficheski sbornik dokumentov otnosiashchikhsia k istorii severo-zapadnoi Rusi (Vilna, 1870), 7:112-13 and 142-43.
44. Fram, “Perception and Reception of Repentant Apostates.”
45. Arkheograficheski sbornik dokumentov otnosiashchikhsia k istorii severo-zapadnoi Rusi, 7:142-43.
46. Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, ed. Komissiia dlia razbora drevnikh aktov (Kiev: 1859-), 1/5: 268-70.
47. Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, 1/5:270.
48. Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, 1/5:267-69.
49. Arkhiv Iugo-Zapadnoi Rossii, 1/5:270.
50. Istoriko-Iuridicheskie Materialy Izvlechennye Iz Aktov Knug Gubernii Vitebskoi i Mogilevskoi Khraniashchikhsia V Tsentralnom Arkhive V Vitebske i Izdannye Pod Redaktseiu Arkhivariusa Sego Arkhiva Sozonova, ed. Sozonov, 32 vols. (Vitebsk: 1884), 15:229-38. See also Magda Teter, Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland: A Beleaguered Church in the Post-Reformation Era (Cambridge University Press, 2005), chap. 4.
51. The document is published in Adam Kaz'mierczyk, ed., Z. ydzi Polscy 1648-1772: Z'róda, vol. 6, Studia Judaica Cracoviensia (Cracow: Uniwersytet Jagiellon'ski Katedra Judaistyki, 2001), 187-89.
52. Kaz'mierczyk, Z. ydzi Polscy, 187.
53. Kaz'mierczyk, Z. ydzi Polscy, 188.
54. Kaz'mierczyk, Z. ydzi Polscy, 188.
55. Dégh, Legend and Belief, 24.
56. Dégh, Legend and Belief, 2.
57. Dégh, Legend and Belief, 2-3, 38.
58. Both stories in B. Gittin 57b.
59. On Onkelos see, B. Gittin 56b, and B. Avodah Zarah 11a. For the English translation of a version from the Mayseh bukh see, Moses Gaster, MaHaseh Book: Book of Jewish Tales and Legends (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1981).
60. Habermann, ed., Sefer Gezerot Ashkenaz Ve-Z. arfat, 35.
61. Sefer H. asidim in some cases encourages Jews to accept and to love them, see especially nos. 116, 377. Samuel Ha-H. asid Judah ben and Reuben Margulies, Sefer H. asidim (Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1957), 141.
62. David Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages: A Critical Edition of the Nizzahon Vetus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979), 216-19 (English), 151-53 (Hebrew), no. 227.
63. Judah Ha-Levi, The Kuzari (Kitab Al Khazari): An Argument for the Faith of Israel (New York: Schocken Books, 1964).
64. Prohibition of non-Jewish participation at the Passover Seder stems from Exodus 12:43.
65. Gaster, MaGaseh Book, 368-75, 410-18. On the Jewish pope legend see, David Lerner, “The Enduring Legend of the Jewish Pope,” Judaism 40, no. 2 (1991) and Joseph Sherman, The Jewish Pope: Myth, Diaspora and Yiddish Literature (Oxford: Legenda, 2003).
66. For a discussion of such tales in early modern Poland, see Teter, “Jewish Conversions to Catholicism,” 267-69.
67. Berger, Nizzah. on Vetus, 206-7 (English), 144-45 (Hebrew), no. 211.
68. Berger, Nizzah. on Vetus, 206-7 (English), 144-45 (Hebrew), no. 211.
69. See Konarski, Volumina Legum, 4:238-39 and 5:355. Also the Magdeburg law prevalent in Polish towns subjected apostates to the death penalty, Groicki, Porza2dek Sadow, 199. 485. Admittedly Zaremba's wife could have been considered an opportunistic convert, because she appears to have accepted Judaism to stay with her husband.
70. B. Pesah.im 68b.
71. I place the quotation marks around the word “converts” here because Ruth cannot be regarded as a convert to Judaism as understood later by the rabbis. For reading Ruth as a symbolic convert see, e.g., Ruth Rabah (Vilna), parsha 2:16 [Lerner no. 12], 2:22 [Lerner no. 16], see also Zohar H. adash, vol. 2 (Megillot), Megilath Ruth 38a, Rashi's commentary on Ruth 1:16, in The Bar Ilan Responsa Project, version 11. On the reading of Book of Ruth on Shavuot see, e.g., Sefer Abudraham, Tefilot Pesah., passage beginning with nehagu ha-Holam; Moses Isserles was aware of Abudraham's work and he referred to it in one of his responsum in which he also reiterated the custom of reading the Book of Ruth on the second day of Shavuhot, Shut ha-RemaH, no. 35; see also Magen Avraham on Shulh.an GArukh, Orah. H. ayyim, no. 490.8 and 490.17.
72. I am deeply indebted to Prof. Gershon Bacon of Bar Ilan University in Israel for this insight.
73. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron: A New Translation, trans. Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella (New York: Norton & Company, 1977), 28.
74. Boccaccio, The Decameron, 30.
75. Boccaccio, The Decameron, 31.
76. For a version of a few Boccaccio's stories in Yiddish see, e.g., Sheyne Artliche Geshichtn (Amsterdam, 1710). On this, see an article by Marion Aptroot, “A Yiddish Adaptation of Boccaccio's Decameron (Amsterdam 1710)” in Zutot 2003, ed. Shlomo Berger (Amsterdam: Kluwer, 2004). For another example of an adaptation of European literature into Yiddish, see Elia Levita's Bove Bukh. Levita adapted an Italian translation of the Anglo-Roman romance, “Sir Bevis of Hampton” into Yiddish, first published in 1541 and then followed by many editions. Stenschneider mentions an “imitation” of Dante's Divine Comedy, Moritz Steinschneider, Letteratura Italiana dei Giudei: Cenni (Rome: Tipografia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche, 1884), 33.
77. See Precetti da esser imparati dalle donne hebree, (Venice: Giacomo Sarzina, 1616), 3. The tales entered different cultures and influenced future writers. Gothhold Ephraim Lessing's Nathan the Wise is modeled on the third story of the first day in Boccaccio's Decameron. The story of Abraham was adapted by a number of different European authors, including Luther who adapted this tale in his Tischreden, see below. See also, Florence Nightingale Jones, Boccaccio and His Imitators in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian Literature, “the Decameron” (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1910), 12; Sonja Zoeller, “Abraham und Melchisedech in Deutschland, oder Von Religionsgesprächn, Unblelehrbarkeit und Toleranz: Zur Rezeption der beiden Juden aus Giovanni Boccaccios “Decamerone” in der deutschen Schwankliteratur des 16.Jahrhunderts,” Aschkenas 7, no. 2 (1997): especially, 308, 12-16.
78. Martin Luther, The Table Talk of Martin Luther, trans. William Hazlitt (London: H. G. Bohn, 1857), 353-54, no. 869.
79. Kraszewski admitted to shortening some “loose passages,” which perhaps might explain some of the inconsistencies. Kraszewski, Wilno, 183, n. 7.
80. The text actually has a spelling mistake and instead of masiah. has metsah. I thank Edward Fram of Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, for pointing out to me that the second part of this expression comes from Joseph Albo's Sefer GIkarim (4:28). The Polish text simply says “the Pope.”
81. I am not aware of any Catholic holidays during which the pope is believed to enter a secret holy chamber to commune with God or to ascend to heaven.
82. Leviticus 16. H. eder ha-h.aderim may be a parallel of kodesh ha-kadoshim, perhaps avoided here not to link the pope to the kodesh ha-kadoshim. See also M. Yoma 1.1 on the High Priest's preparations for Yom Kippur, and B. Yoma 2a-b, an entire discussion of the role of the High Priest. It
83. The Polish text instead focused on the prosperity of Prussia. “And they reached Königsberg and settled there for a year. They liked the customs of the people in Prussia because the rural dwellings there were more beautiful than the dwellings found in Lithuania. And a peasant in Prussia lives in a house as beautiful as a lord in Lithuania.” Kraszewski, Wilno, 177.
84. Anti-Christian invectives are nothing new here. See, for example, Sefer Toledot Yeshu, Gurland, Le-Korot Ha-Gezerot GAl YisraHel, Habermann, ed., Sefer Gezerot Ashkenaz Ve-Tsarfat, Ha-Levi, The Kuzari (Kitab Al Khazari). The phrase “dead dog,” kelev met, is used in I Samuel 24:14, in an exchange between Saul and David; ha-kelev ha-met in II Samuel 9:8, in Mephiboshet's humble response to David: “What is your servant that you should regard for a dead dog like me?”; and in II Samuel 16:9 by Avishai as an insult: “Why let that dead dog abuse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”
85. For laws concerning the non-Catholic Christians promulgated at the 1768 Sejm, see Konarski, Volumina Legum, 7:256-74. Article I, § III repeals death penalty and sets expulsion as the punishment for apostasy: Cum religionem Romanam Catholicam in Polonia dominantem, Iuribus Cardinalibus annumeremus, transitum ab EcclesiaRomana ad aliam quamcunque religionem in hoc Poloniae Regno, Magno Ducatu Lit. et in annexis Provinciis cirminale delictum declaramus. Qui itaque futuris temporibus transpire ausus fuerit, exul Dominiis Reipublicae esto, Konarski, Volumina Legum, 7:257.
86. For more on this, see Teter, “Jewish Conversions to Catholicism.”
87. Goldberg, Ha-Mumarim Be-Mamlekhet Polin-Lita, 37-39.
88. Teter, “Jewish Conversions to Catholicism.”
89. MS. 464 Luceoriensis in Archivio Segreto Vaticano, S. Congregationis Relationes Status ad Limina. Also in Relationes Status Dioecesium in Magno Ducatu Lithuaniae, 2:155. Studio itaque deperdito aliud assumpsi medium offici meo Pastorali incumbens evangelissandi videlicet in Sinagogis verbum Dei unde circum eundo, ac lustrando diaecesis meam in omnibus lucis Synagogas Judaeorum visitavi, praedicationes ac sermones pastorales pro conversione eorundem ipsemet feci, ac per alias personas habiles et eruditad eosdem fieri curavi.
90. MS. 464 Luceoriensis and Relationes Status Dioecesium in Magno Ducatu Lithuaniae, 2:155.
91. Alexander Kraushar, Frank i Frankis'ci Polscy, 1726-1816, 2 vols. (Cracow: G. Gebethner i spólka, 1895), 1:21.
92. Kraushar, Frank i Frankis'ci, 1:59-60.
93. Kraushar, Frank i Frankis'ci, 63-64.
94. Earlier view was that it was the Frankists who turned to the Church for help. Kraushar cites a statement of Bishop De2bowski of Kamieniec Podolski, saying that Frankists sub Nostram protectionem recurrentes [turned to Us for Our protection]. Kraushar, Frank i Frankis'ci, 1:77. But Pawel Maciejko argues in his work that it was the rabbis who turned to the Church to fight the spreading heresy. Pawel Maciejko, “The Development of the Frankist Movement in Poland, the Czech Lands, and Germany (1755-1816)” (Ph.D. diss., Hertford College of the University of Oxford, 2003).
95. Kraushar, Frank i Frankis'ci, 1:88-89.
96. Katechizm Missionarski Pismem Starego y Nowego Zakonu Tudziez
97. Podaniem Starodawnym Israelskim Obias'niony. Dla Nauki y C'wiczenia Tych Którzy z Wiary Z. ydowskiey do Wiary Chrzes'cianskiey Katolickiey Przychodza2 Napisany Przez Kaplana Soc: Jesu, (Lwów: Drukarnia Akademicka, 1760), see the foreword “Przedmowa.”
98. See, e.g., David E. Fishman, Russia's First Modern Jews: The Jews of Shklov, Reappraisals in Jewish Social and Intellectual History (New York: New York University Press, 1995), especially chap. 1.
99. Mordekhai Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim: Le Toledot Ha-Pulmus She Beneihem (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1970), 38, and also note 13 there, and 59. See also there, 52-53 for the emphasis on the study of Torah, Talmud, and Halakhah.
100. Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim, 45, 46-47, 50, 51.
101. Fishman, Russia's First Modern Jews, 12.
102. Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim, 39-40.
103. Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim, 54. A book Shever peshHim claimed that when h. asidim want to banish strange thoughts during prayers “they begin to scream greatly and loudly.” Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim, 54. In another place their screams were compared to those of bears, as cited in Wilensky, H. asidim U-Mitnagdim, 59 n. 15.
104. The battle between h. asidim and mitnagdim involved numerous denunciations and counterdenunciations to the Russian government in the 1790s. Fishman, Russia's First Modern Jews, 21.
105. On the early Haskalah in Russia see, e.g., Michael Stanislawski, Tsar Nicholas I and the Jews: The Transformation of Jewish Society in Russia, 1825-1855, 1st ed. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1983), 49-96. 131. Kraszewski, Wilno, 179.