RLMFNC

Rabbinic Literature in Moravia from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Rabbinic literature is an important genre of primary sources of Jewish cultural, religious, social, and intellectual history. As a rule rabbinic texts were written by the rabbis who formed the intellectual elite of traditional Judaism. Rabbinic texts are often difficult to understand; nonetheless, researching them is quite rewarding. Besides providing many “hard facts” about the life of Jewish communities rabbinic texts also inform modern researchers about how reality was perceived by the intellectual elite of the Jewish minorities and they reveal the possibilities and limits of a religious authority that functioned for the most part of its long and complex history under the dire conditions of discriminated minority. The Jewish community of Moravia (a region in the Czech Republic) played a very important role in the Jewish life of the pre-modern period from the sixteenth until the nineteenth century. It was close to such important centers of Jewish life as Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest. The Moravian chief-rabbi (Landesrabbiner) was one of the most prestigious rabbinic positions in Europe. The rabbinic literature produced in the region is an eminent source-material about the social and intellectual history of Moravian Jews and extremely important from a comparative perspective as well. In spite of its importance, the history of the Jewish communities in Moravia has received little attention since the Holocaust period. This is true even more of the rabbinic literature written by or about Moravian Jews. The research project proposed here aims to realize this desideratum by (1) surveying the rabbinic sources that were produced in Moravia or about Jews living in Moravia from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century; (2) preparing an annotated bibliography of these sources; (3) preparing a sourcebook with English translations and comments; (4) analyzing these sources in papers published in English, Czech, and Hungarian.'

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Rabbis, in their capacity as spiritual and scholarly heads, produced writings that reflected the cultural, religious, social and intellectual history of Jews. Furthermore, they contextualised these texts in the broader context of the Jewish experience during a specific period in history.

Today's scholars use the rabbis' first person accounts and perspectives to provide better insight into this form of literature. These primary source materials are complex and require the assistance of an expert to understand them.

Moravia's Jews greatly influenced Jewish life from the 16th to the 20th centuries because of the region's proximity to major centres of influence such as Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Vienna. The rabbinic post occupied by its chief rabbi was one of the most prominent in Europe.

Source material originating from Moravia is valuable for the study of its community's social and intellectual history. It is also worthy of examination in relation to other rabbinic literature. However, these precious sources have remained largely neglected since the 1940s.

Funded by the EU, the 'Rabbinic literature in Moravia from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century' (RLMFNC) project researched Moravian Jews. Research involved the analysis of rabbinic literature written by or about the community during the particular time period. RLMFNC created an annotated bibliography of the studied sources.

The project produced a selection of sources that was later translated into Czech. Also, scholarly articles have been published on the source material in English, Czech and Hungarian.

The project's research results contribute to the understanding of the Jewish community of Moravia and advance the body of knowledge available on rabbinic literature. Project efforts have thus given fresh impetus to the exploration of Jewish primary sources.