Reading Formulaic Texts from Early Modern Ashkenaz: Three Case Studies in Law and Economics

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

The early modern period witnessed an increase in the emergence of formulaic documents in Europe, largely due to factors such as the printing press, increased bureaucracy, and the adoption of new forms of law. This session comprises three papers, each of which examines a different genre of highly stylized text. Jay Berkovitz will analyze the interpretive strategies employed by seventeenth and eighteenth-century POSEQIM (rabbinic decisors) in central and western Europe when formulating their responsa on economic and social conflicts. Joshua Teplitsky will deal with rabbinic approbations published as paratextual material to Jewish books, arguing that these stylized texts reflect important webs of interpersonal connections and were used to bolster rabbinic authority. Debra Kaplan will present a new reading of safe conducts, the documents one needed to obtain from Christian authorities in order to travel through different regions. She will interpret safe conducts through the lens of economic history, and will discuss the ways that these standardized permissions were utilized as commodities to be bought or donated. Yaacob Dweck, who has worked extensively on print and intellectual history, will serve as the session chair.

The session aims to stimulate a robust discussion about how historians can creatively read the highly stylized texts of the early modern period. We plan to share new data about each of the respective genres, as well as to conduct a larger methodological conversation about reading formulaic texts by bringing together these different types of documents.

Sub Unit

• Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History, Literature, and Culture

Chair

• Yaacob Dweck, Princeton University

Individual Presentations

• Interpretive Trends in Early Modern Ashkenazic Responsa: Cases of Social and Economic Conflict - Jay R. Berkovitz, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

• “Although I have seen but a few pages…” Reputation and Patronage in Approbations to Jewish Books - Joshua Z. Teplitsky, Stony Brook University

• Safe Conducts: From Passport to Currency - Debra Kaplan, Bar-Ilan University

Respondent

• Yaacob Dweck, Princeton University