T HE J EWISH Q UARTERLY R EVIEW, Vol. 108, No. 3 (Summer 2018) 316–349 Crossing Borders: Safe Conducts and Jews in Early Modern Germany DEBRA KAPLAN S OMETIME BEFORE 1699, two men referred to by the pseudonyms Reuben and Simon were about to travel from Frankfurt am Main to Worms. A Jewish woman and her adult daughter who had been visiting Frankfurt and wished to return to Worms approached them. Neither woman had the necessary travel documentation. Seeking to avoid the fine of ten gulden that was imposed on travelers who lacked papers, the older woman suggested that she could pose as Reuben’s wife, while her daugh- ter would pose as Simon’s daughter. 1 This deception was possible because both Reuben and Simon had safe conducts, the documentation required of early modern travelers who wished to cross from one region into another. In the Electoral Palatinate, the region through which these four individuals needed to pass, the safe conducts that were issued to Jewish men permitted them to travel with their wives and children. 2 Reuben and Simon agreed to the ruse. When the foursome reached Oppenheim, the guard at the checkpoint doubted the women’s stated identities. Puzzled as to how a young man like Reuben had such an old wife, and how a young man like Simon could have an adult daughter, he demanded that the two men swear as to the identity of the women and to their relationship to the men. Short of that, the guard demanded that the men kiss the women full on the mouth. The men protested, explaining that both women were menstrually impure, which meant that kissing them was forbidden according to Jewish law. In any case, they explained, it was unseemly among Jews to kiss one’s daughter. An exchange ensued, This article was supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation, for which I am very grateful. I also thank Elisheva Carlebach for her insights and suggestions. 1. Yair Hayyim Bacharach, Havot Yair (Frankfurt am Main, 1699), no. 182. 2. Bacharach’s description corresponds to the safe conducts in the archives, discussed below. See figure 1. The Jewish Quarterly Review (Summer 2018) Copyright  2018 Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. All rights reserved.