Legalizing Emotions Across Jewish History

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

This panel engages with the dynamic intersection between law and emotion, asking how Jewish communities throughout history have grappled with this complex and problematic fusion. As a topic that has sparked controversy across the Humanities, the nexus between these two distinct categories offers fertile ground for emerging areas of research. The papers proposed for this panel provide a unique cross-section of Jewish history with texts spanning from the biblical to the early modern period. All three authors explore how the legalization of emotion demarcates a point of contention both internally as well as between each text’s represented community and others, whether they be competing Jewish groups or Christian counterparts.

Matthew Goldstone, in his investigation of late antiquity, describes the diverse appropriations of the scriptural injunction to transform hatred into reproof (Leviticus 19:17). He argues that early Christian and Jewish texts evince a variety of attitudes toward this commandment that correlate with the respective social and political aspirations of each group.

Jesse Abelman propels the conversation forward into the medieval period where he analyzes the sudden employment of anger as a legitimate excuse for Jews to bring complaints to non-Jewish courts. He details the ways through which this new attitude reflects a negotiation between fair arbitration and the limits of rabbinic judicial authority, demonstrating how this emerging legal mechanism aligns with the concomitant cultural context.

Joshua Schwartz carries the discussion into the early modern period with his characterization of the split between MISNAGDIM (opponents) and HASIDIM as revolving around the role of feelings and intention. Identifying the key case of religious prayer, Schwartz maps the debate onto the long standing tension between authentic spontaneity and regimented procedure. He argues that, contrary to the views of previous scholars, the approach of the HASIDIM must be understood as an innovative and holistic vision for incorporating feelings within legal discourse.

In her response, Suzanne Stone offers insights from contemporary legal theory to unite the chronologically diverse papers and to urge us to consider how this topic can advance our interdisciplinary engagement with Judaic Studies as a whole.

Sub Unit

• Interdisciplinary, Theoretical, and New Approaches

Chair

• Suzanne Last Stone, Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University

Individual Presentations

• Early Jewish and Christian Responses to the Biblical Commandment to Rebuke - Matthew Goldstone, New York University

• Anger and Informing in Jewish Law in Thirteenth Century Ashkenaz - Jesse Abelman, Yeshiva University

• The Affective Roots at the Heart of the Struggle Between Hasidim and Misnagdim - Joshua Simon Schwartz, New York University

Respondent

• Suzanne Last Stone, Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University