Volume zyxwvuts S Number zyxwvut 1 zyxwvuts / January 2002 zyxwvut Stephen D. Benin University of Memphis TWILIGHT OF A GOLDEN AGE: SE LECTED POEMS OF ABRAHAM IBN EZRA. zyxwvutsrqpon Edited and translated by Leon J. Weinberger. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Weinberger has rendered the scholarly com- munity a service with the publication of this col- lection of poems and translations by the medi- eval polymath of Sephardic Jewry, Rabbi Abra- ham ibn Ezra (1092-1167). A learned introduc- tion introduces readers to the genius of ibn Ezra and to the selections which make up this volume. One might quibble here and there with some of the translations, but this volume conveys power- fully the contours of ibn Ezra’s peripatetic life and remarkable learning which zyxwvutsr are the stuff of legends. His poetic and other efforts demonstrate his exceptional intellectual dexterity. He authored the pisan Tables, which was used by R. Bacon, and produced more than 100 volumes on a plethora of subjects. He traveled around the Mediterranean world, and his influence was even memorialized in R. Browning’s poem, “Rabbi Ben Ezra.” From Talmud to Bible to philosophy and medicine, ibn E m deserves to be known and appreciated by a larger audience. This is a most welcome addition to the cultural study of the me- dieval periad, and should be of interest to a wide variety of readers. Press, 1997. $44.95, ISBN 0-8173-0878-4. Stephen D. Benin University of Memphis READING THE ZOHAR: THE SACRED TEXT OF THE KABBALAH. By Pinchas Giller. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Pp. xviii + 246. $60.00, ISBN 0-19- The Zohar. the central text of Jewish mysti- cism, was written in a symbolic code that al- lowed for a wide variety of hermeneutic strate- gies. Giller argues that these strategies evolved into two primary schools of Zoharic interpreta- tion, a scholastic approach and one based on mystical revelation and transmission. His focus in this book is on R. Moses Cordovero and R. Isaac Luria, the two leading figures of the renais- sance of kabbalah in sixteenth-century Safed, and how they interpreted the Zohar. Concen- trating on several key Zoharic texts, Sabba de-Mishpatim, Hormanuta, and most centrally the Idrot, he analyzes how these texts were uti- lized by the Safed kabbalists in developing their new schools of thought and offers interesting in- sights which help explain why Lurianic kabbalah became the most influential school of thought among later kabbalists. He also demonstrates that Scholem’s theory that the renaissance of kabbalah in Safed was a response to the exile of the Jews from Spain cannot be supported and contrary to Scholem. there was significant conti- nuity between the ideas of the Zohar and the teachings of the Safed kabbalists. This book is an important contribution to the history of the Zohar and its interpretation. It is well written and is a 5 11 849-9. valuable resource for anyone interested in the Jewish mystical tradition. Morris M. Faierstein University of Maryland THE JEWS OF EUROPE AFTER THE BLACK DEATH. By Anna Foa. Berkeley: Uni- versity of California Press, 2000. Pp. xii + 276. This admirable translation of the 1992 Italian original makes available Foa’s nuanced and wide-ranging study of European Jewry from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Avoiding the “lachrymose” view of Jewish history, Foa concentrates not on the trials and tribulations which befell the Jews, but rather on the creative energies and aspects of Jewish life in diverse communities, as well as the continuities and sim- ilarities among those differing communities. In eight chapters, Foa explores the relationship of the Jews to the church; the boundaries of iden- tity; the Jews in Spain and Italy; the rise and func- tioning of the ghetto, with special attention to its society and relationship to the outside world; and the emergence of modernity and enlightenment and emancipation. Focussing primarily on Italy and Spain, Foa argues that a certain internal sta- bility underlay and survived external changes af- fecting the Jews of Europe, built upon the cre- ation of specific forms of Jewish identity. This is a refreshing and informative volume. $40.00, ISBN 0-520-08765-8. Stephen D. Benin University of Memphis CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND JEWS IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN SPAIN: INTERACTION AND CULTURAL CHANGE. Edited by Mark D. Meyerson and Edward D. English. Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies, 8. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000. Pp. xxi + 345. A solid introduction to these sixteen essays constitutes a fine overview of the lives and inter- actions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in me- dieval and early modem Spain. The essays are divided into four broad categories: Christians and Jews in Muslim Spain; Muslims and Jews in Christian Spain; Conversos; and Moriscos. Going beyond conventional notions and ideas such as convivencia, the authors explore the dy- namics and interrelationships among these reli- gious and ethnic groups, including social identi- ties, intellectual contacts, as well as transforma- tions and changes in power structures and ethnic and religious frontiers. As the introduction points out, applying concepts such as the “other” and ‘‘marginality” to these diverse groups raise numerous problems. The assumption that each faced similar problems in different times is prob- lematic, as is the premise that any of these groups were truly “marginal,” in the sense that they adopted other religions, were forced into exile, or were otherwise eliminated. Indeed. by the time Spanish sources employ terms for the “other.” the “other” was most probably quite familiar. These essays build on recent scholarship and this $26.00. ISBN 0-268-02263- 1. volume will be read with profit by a wide range of scholars in diverse fields of study. Stephen D. Benin University of Memphis THE LIGHT OF THE EYES. By Azariah De’ Rossi. Yale Judaica Series, 3 1. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001. Pp. xlix + 802. De’ Rossi’s masterpiece, first published in Mantua in 1573, established the foundations of critical Jewish historiography. As an intermedi- ary between Jews and Christians, De’ Rossi pre- sented arguments culled from a wealth of sources ranging from rabbinic texts to Augustine and Pic0 della Mirandola. His critical approach to di- verse topics, including most famously his argu- ment that the Jewish calendar dating from cre- ation was a post-talmudic creation, aroused such ire that his great work was at one time banned. Using both Jewish and Christian sources and fa- miliar with contemporary Catholics and Protes- tants, de’ Rossi helped clarify topics raised by Jewish sources and tradition in relationship to non-Jewish evidence while also championing the value of Jewish sources for issues pondered by non-Jews. This admirable translation, mu- pled with a highly informative and learned in- duction, is a superb contribution not only to Jew- ish thought in particular, but is an invaluable ad- dition to historical scholarship and humanistic studies in general. It richly deserves a prominent place in any serious library. $120.00. ISBN 0-300-07906-0. Stephen D. Benin University of Memphis JACOB FRANK: THE END TO TEE SABBATAIAN HERESY. By Alexandr Kraushar. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001. Pp. vii + 555. $64.00, ISBN The Frankist movement, founded by Jacob Frank ( 1726- 179 1 ), was the last major manifes- tation of the mystical messianic movement founded by Sabbatai Sevi (1626-1676) in 1666. After living in the Ottoman Empire for many years, Frank became the leader of the Sabbatians living in Poland in the 1750s. He and many of his followers nominally converted to Catholicism in 1759. The Frankists continued to live in a nether- world between Judaism and Catholicism until the middle of the nineteenth century when the movement gradually disappeared. The most comprehensive study of Frank and his move- ment was the two volume Polish work, Frank i Frankisci Polscy by Kraushar, published in 1895. The first volume was translated into He- brew by Nahum Sokolow in 1896. Kraushar’s work remains the primary source for the history of the Frankist movement to the present. This volume, edited by Herbert Levy, is the first com- plete translation of Kraushar’s seminal study. The editor has added an introduction and numer- ous explanatory notes. Students of Frankism and scholars of mystical heresies will welcome this translation. 0-7618-1863-4. 17480922, 2002, 1, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2002.tb00377.x by University Of Michigan Library, Wiley Online Library on [21/03/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License