5— The Innovative Argumentation
1. For a good overview of Christian awareness and utilization of post-biblical Jewish literature, see Merhaviah, Ha-Talmud be-Re'i ha-Nazrut * . For three twelfth-century figures who show incipient sensitivity to this approach, see above, chap. 1, especially n. 32. In none of these cases, however, is the random usage turned into a consistent technique, as happened in the middle of the thirteenth century. [BACK]
2. Herskowitz, Judaeo-Christian Dialogue, 110, citing Num. 15:38. [BACK]
3. Lev. 23:15-16. [BACK]
4. Herskowitz, Judaeo-Christian Dialogue, 133. [BACK]
5. Deut. 25:3. The translation has been altered slightly. [BACK]
6. Herskowitz, Judaeo-Christian Dialogue, 134. [BACK]
7. T. B., Shabbat, 104a. [BACK]
8. Herskowitz, Judaeo-Christian Dialogue, 115. For a version of this argument, utilizing the same rabbinic text, see Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate, 225. [BACK]
9. T. B., Sanhedrin, 98a. [BACK]
10. The text was edited by Marc Saperstein as part of his Ph.D. dissertation, The Works of R. Isaac b. Yedaiah (unpub., Harvard Univ., 1977), 479. [BACK]
11. On Friar Paul in general, see Ernest Renan, Les rabbins français du commencement du quatorzième siècle (Paris, 1877), 563-569, and Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, trans. Louis Schoffman et al. (2 vols.; Philadelphia, 1961-1968), I, 152-159; Chazan, Medieval Jewry in Northern France, 149-153; Jeremy Cohen, "The Mentality of the Medieval Jewish Apostate: Peter Alfonsi, Hermann of Cologne, and Pablo Christiani," Jewish Apostasy in the Modern World, ed. Todd Endelman and Jeffrey Gurock (New York, 1987), 35-41. [BACK]
12. The edicts of James I of Aragon can be found in Denifle, "Quellen zur Disputation," 235-236 and 236-237; the edict of Louis IX of France can be found in Bib. nat., fonds Dupuy, vol. 532, 79r, and in Eusèbe de Laurière, Ordonnances des roys de la troisième race (22 vols.; Paris, 1723-1849), I, 294; the letter of Pope Clement IV can be found in Denifle, "Quellen zur Disputation," 243-244. [BACK]
13. See, for example, the Latin report of the Barcelona disputation in ibid., 231-234, or in Baer, "The Disputation of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 185-187, and a Latin report on Friar Paul's preaching in Paris in Delisle, "Notes sur quelques mss.," 189. [BACK]
14. Published in Yeshurun VI (1868): 1-34. For the most recent treatment of this letter and its author, see Kenneth R. Stow, "Jacob of Venice and the Jewish Settlement in Venice in the Thirteenth Century," Community and Culture, ed. Nahum M. Waldman (Philadelphia, 1987), 221-232. [BACK]
15. This source will be treated extensively in chap. 6. break [BACK]
16. See, for example, the report published by Adolf Neubauer, "Literary Gleanings IX," Jewish Quarterly Review (o.s.), V (1892-93): 714. [BACK]
17. Isaac Lattes's Kiryat Sefer. The passage on Friar Paul is conveniently available in Adolf Neubauer, Medieval Hebrew Chronicles (2 vols.; Oxford, 1895), II, 238. [BACK]
18. Yeshurun VI (1868): 12-23. On the disinterring of Jewish corpses, see the valuable study by Joseph Shatzmiller, "Paulus Christianius: un aspect de son activité anti-juive," Hommages à Georges Vajda, ed. Gérard Nahon and Charles Touati (Louvain, 1980), 203-217. [BACK]
19. On Friar Paul's role in the imposition of the Jewish badge in southern Europe, see the important observations of Joseph Shatzmiller, "Provençal Chronography in the Lost Pamphlet of Shem-Tov Schanzolo" (Hebrew), Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research LII (1985): Heb. sec., 45-48 and 60-61. [BACK]
20. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 303. On the proper reading of this text, see chap. 3, n. 19. [BACK]
21. There is considerable scholarly literature on the Barcelona confrontation. For some of this literature, see Robert Chazan, "The Barcelona 'Disputation' of 1263: Christian Missionizing and Jewish Response," Speculum LII (1977): 824, n. 1. To this list should be added the Chazan article; Hans Georg von Mutius, Die Christlich-Jüdische Zwangsdisputation zu Barcelona (Frankfurt, 1982); Hyam Maccoby, Judaism on Trial (Rutherford, 1982); the important review by David Berger in Jewish Quarterly Review LXXVI (1986): 253-257; and the extensive treatment of the 1263 confrontation in Cohen, The Friars and the Jews. For the centrality of Barcelona in the kingdom of Aragon, see Bonner, Selected Works of Ramon Llull, I, 6. [BACK]
22. This report survives in two manuscripts. Denifle used the Barcelona ms., "Quellen zur Disputation," 231-234. The Gerona version is conveniently available in Baer, "The Disputation of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 185-187. [BACK]
23. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 302-320. No less than four English translations of this important text are available: Morris Braude, Conscience on Trial (New York, 1952), 69-94; o.S. Rankin, Jewish Religious Polemics (Edinborough, 1956), 178-210; Maccoby, Judaism on Trial, 102-146; and Ramban, The Disputation at Barcelona, trans. Charles B. Chavel (New York, 1983). See, also, the German translation of von Mutius in his Die Christlich-Jüdische Zwangsdisputation zu Barcelona. [BACK]
24. Martin A. Cohen, "Reflections on the Text and Context of the Disputation of Barcelona," Hebrew Union College Annual XXXV (1964): 157-192. [BACK]
25. Baer, "The Disputations of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 185. [BACK]
26. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 302. break
27. Ibid. [BACK]
26. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 302. break
27. Ibid. [BACK]
28. It is not clear who singled out Nahmanides as the Jewish spokesman. According to the Latin text, the Jews assembled by the king selected him; in his Hebrew report, Rabbi Moses has the king directly ordering him to dispute. [BACK]
29. Baer, "The Disputations of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 185. [BACK]
30. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 303.
31. Ibid., 310. See Cohen, "Reflections on the Text and Context," 166. [BACK]
30. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 303.
31. Ibid., 310. See Cohen, "Reflections on the Text and Context," 166. [BACK]
36. See the materials gathered and the literature cited in Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate, 248-252, comm. on pp. 60-62. [BACK]
37. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304. According to Nahmanides' own account, Friar Paul was careful to use the term koah * (power) and memshalah (authority), while Rabbi Moses insisted on using the term melukhah (kingship).
38. Ibid. Note the emphasis on melukhah. See the parallel sources cited in Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate, 249, comm. to p. 60, lines 28-29. [BACK]
37. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304. According to Nahmanides' own account, Friar Paul was careful to use the term koah * (power) and memshalah (authority), while Rabbi Moses insisted on using the term melukhah (kingship).
38. Ibid. Note the emphasis on melukhah. See the parallel sources cited in Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate, 249, comm. to p. 60, lines 28-29. [BACK]
39. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304. The seventy years of Babylonian exile serve to illustrate lack of kingship entirely; the three hundred eighty years of priestly rule illustrate the existence of royal power without its being lodged in the tribe of Judah. According to Nahmanides, neither contradicts the true meaning of the verse. [BACK]
40. T. B., Sanhedrin, 5a. [BACK]
41. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304.
42. Ibid., 307.
43. Ibid. See the materials gathered and the literature cited in Berger, TheJewish-Christian Debate, 283, comm. on pp. 114-116. For an interesting perspective, see Joel E. Rembaum, "The Development of the Jewish Exegetical Tradition regarding Isaiah 53," Harvard Theological Review LXXV (1982): 289-311. [BACK]
41. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304.
42. Ibid., 307.
43. Ibid. See the materials gathered and the literature cited in Berger, TheJewish-Christian Debate, 283, comm. on pp. 114-116. For an interesting perspective, see Joel E. Rembaum, "The Development of the Jewish Exegetical Tradition regarding Isaiah 53," Harvard Theological Review LXXV (1982): 289-311. [BACK]
41. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 304.
42. Ibid., 307.
43. Ibid. See the materials gathered and the literature cited in Berger, TheJewish-Christian Debate, 283, comm. on pp. 114-116. For an interesting perspective, see Joel E. Rembaum, "The Development of the Jewish Exegetical Tradition regarding Isaiah 53," Harvard Theological Review LXXV (1982): 289-311. [BACK]
44. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 306, citing T. P., Berakhot, 17a-b.
45. Ibid., 307, citing T. B., Sanhedrin, 98a. [BACK]
44. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 306, citing T. P., Berakhot, 17a-b.
45. Ibid., 307, citing T. B., Sanhedrin, 98a. [BACK]
46. Baer, "The Disputations of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 185. [BACK]
47. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 303. [BACK]
48. Chazan, "The Barcelona 'Disputation' of 1263," 831-832. [BACK]
49. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 311. In his Judaism on Trial, 120-121, Maccoby poses a significant issue. He notes that "all commentators have understood N. to say at this point that there has never been anyone apart from Jesus who claimed the Messiahship." Maccoby then indicates talmudic references to Bar Kokhba and suggests that the text cannot be read in this traditional way. continue
What he proposes instead is an emendation that results in: "So far there has never been any other man (leaving aside Jesus) who has claimed to be the Messiah (or has had that claim made for him) in whose Messiahship it is possible for me to believe." While ingenious, this suggestion is ultimately untenable. The Hebrew zulati is substantially weakened by the translation "(leaving aside Jesus)." Maccoby's reading would result in Nahmanides' saying that there had been no messianic claimant in whom he could believe except Jesus, and that is unthinkable. What the passage simply means is that there had been no one who had claimed the mantle of the Messiah and whose claims had been widely accepted except for Jesus. While Bar Kokhba (and others) had made the claim and while he had received some support, this support was hardly widespread enough to qualify. [BACK]
50. Baer, "The Disputations of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Nahmanides," 186. [BACK]
51. On this point, I disagree with Baer, "The Disputations of R. Yehiel and of Nahmanides," 180, who sees in this statement an outright lie. The way Nahmanides' ploy is reported in the Latin text makes it clear that this was a dangerous strategem to use. [BACK]
52. Jeremy Cohen interprets the Christian argumentation at Barcelona in a way that reinforces his contention of a new ecclesiastical view of Judaism. For my disagreement, see chap. 9. [BACK]
53. Chavel, Kitvei, I, 319-320. [BACK]
54. Denifle, "Quellen zur Disputation," 235-236. [BACK]
55. See chap. 3, and Chazan, Medieval Jewry in Northern France, 150-153. [BACK]