The Jews in Genoa, Volume 1: 507-1681


Book Description

These volumes of the "Documentary History of the Jews in Italy", illustrate the history of the Jews in Genoa and surroundings from Antiquity to the French Revolution. The earliest documentary evidence takes the form of letters from King Theodoric. For the Middle Ages the documentation is relatively fragmentary and sporadic. Later there is greater abundance of historical evidence, which portrays chiefly the destinies of the Jews in the Republic from the sixteenth century on, when the presence of the Jews became permanent and a regular community was established also in the capital. The historical records presented illustrate mainly the relationship between the government of the Genoese Republic and the Jews, the latter's economic activities and their communal and social life. Some of the detailed descriptions of the Jewish population in Genoa, their living conditions and occupations, allow for a close examination of the social conditions of this Northern Italian community. For a while Genoa became a haven of refuge for some of the exiles from Spain, including the historian Joseph Hacohen and members of the Abarbanel family. The volumes are provided with an extensive introduction, bibliography, glossary and indexes.




The Jews in Rome 2


Book Description

This volume, the sequel to "Jews in Rome 1," recreates through a register and apt citation the second thousand acts of an archive known informally as the 'Notai ebrei', a collection of as many as 10,000 such acts drawn by Roman rabbis between 1536 and 1640. The acts in this volume cover the years 1551-1557. They form a mirror of Jewish social and cultural life, including such matters as litigations, broken engagements, adoption, synagogal disputes, as well as rentals contracts, and apprenticeships. Most noteworthy is the ownership of property by women. This encouraged and reflected the treatment of both men and women as individuals. Indeed, individualism, which also promoted the amalgamation and ethnic levelling of a society that after about 1500 was notably one of immigrants, was this society's most salient characteristic.




Economic Analysis in Talmudic Literature


Book Description

This lucidly written study is unique in that there is no book extant by an economic historian that discusses Talmudic economics in the light of modern economics. Its major focus is on the intricate debates, statements and principles that were forged by the Talmudic Rabbis. This ancient storehouse of learning includes a wealth of economic knowledge of modern sophistication. The book taps these "economic treasures" by way of analytic inquiry. The authors, both economic historians and economists, through their study of the original dialectics in the Talmud, were able to discern a wide range of macro- and micro-economic ideas of major significance. These concepts when viewed from either a contemporary or a modern perspective, display an extraordinary degree of insight and sophistication. Indeed, sections of the Talmud and the reflections of subsequent commentators on those passages, embody a wealth of economic thought that was later to become significant in the reasoning of political economists, or of their professional academic successors.




The Jews in Rome, Volume 1 (1536-1551)


Book Description

This volume recreates through a register and apt citation the first thousand acts of an archive known informally as the 'Notai ebrei', a collection of as many as 10,000 such acts drawn by Roman rabbis between 1536 and 1640. The acts in this volume cover the twenty years prior to the establishment of the Roman ghetto by Paul IV in 1555. A lengthy introduction reveals these acts as a mirror of Jewish social and cultural life, including such matters as litigations, broken engagements, adoption, synagogal disputes, as well as rentals contracts, and apprenticeships. Most noteworthy is the ownership of property by women. This encouraged and reflected the treatment of both men and women as individuals. Indeed, individualism, which also promoted the amalgamation and ethnic levelling of a society that after about 1500 was notably one of immigrants, was this society's most salient characteristic.




The Jews in Rome


Book Description

Together with its introduction and annotation, this collection of notarial acts drawn by 16th-century Roman Jewish rabbis offers a window onto Jewish social, cultural, and civic life in the decades immediately preceding the establishment of the Roman Ghetto by Paul IV in 1555.




The Targums


Book Description

This remarkable survey introduces critical knowledge and insights that have emerged over the past forty years, including targum manuscripts discovered this century and targums known in Aramaic but only recently translated into English. Prolific scholars Flesher and Chilton guide readers in understanding the development of the targums; their relationship to the Hebrew Bible; their dates, language, and place in the history of Christianity and Judaism; and their theologies and methods of interpretation.




The Jews in Genoa, Volume 2: 1682-1799


Book Description

These volumes of the "Documentary History of the Jews in Italy", illustrate the history of the Jews in Genoa and surroundings from Antiquity to the French Revolution. The earliest documentary evidence takes the form of letters from King Theodoric. For the Middle Ages the documentation is relatively fragmentary and sporadic. Later there is greater abundance of historical evidence, which portrays chiefly the destinies of the Jews in the Republic from the sixteenth century on, when the presence of the Jews became permanent and a regular community was established also in the capital. The historical records presented illustrate mainly the relationship between the government of the Genoese Republic and the Jews, the latter's economic activities and their communal and social life. Some of the detailed descriptions of the Jewish population in Genoa, their living conditions and occupations, allow for a close examination of the social conditions of this Northern Italian community. For a while Genoa became a haven of refuge for some of the exiles from Spain, including the historian Joseph Hacohen and members of the Abarbanel family. The volumes are provided with an extensive introduction, bibliography, glossary and indexes.




The Jews in Rome, Volume 2 (1551-1557)


Book Description

This volume, the sequel to Jews in Rome 1, recreates through a register and apt citation the second thousand acts of an archive known informally as the 'Notai ebrei', a collection of as many as 10,000 such acts drawn by Roman rabbis between 1536 and 1640. The acts in this volume cover the years 1551-1557. They form a mirror of Jewish social and cultural life, including such matters as litigations, broken engagements, adoption, synagogal disputes, as well as rentals contracts, and apprenticeships. Most noteworthy is the ownership of property by women. This encouraged and reflected the treatment of both men and women as individuals. Indeed, individualism, which also promoted the amalgamation and ethnic levelling of a society that after about 1500 was notably one of immigrants, was this society's most salient characteristic.




The Jews in Sicily: 383-1300


Book Description

This volume in the series Documentary History of the Jews in Italy illustrates the history of the Jews in Sicily from 1478 to 1489. It is the sequel to the first six volumes and covers the events during the first years of the rule of King Ferdinand II. These include the prelude to the expulsion, which witnessed a further deterioration in the position of the Jews on the island, At the same time, the Jewish community on the island reached its greatest expansion in population as well as economic prosperity. Some 900 documents - many of them published here for the first time - record the fortunes of the Jews and their relationship with the authorities and their Christian neighbours. Much new information has come to light, and many facets of Jewish life in Sicily have been uncovered. The abundance of historical records in the archives of the Crown and of local authorities again compares favorably with the relative scarcity of surviving documentation in earlier centuries. Therefore, many documents are reported in summary form. The volume is provided with additional bibliography and indexes, while the introduction will appear at the end of the series on the history of the Jews of the island.