Magda Teter :: Professor of History

Our concept of the life of East European Jews has been dominated by the Hollywood and Broadway blockbuster FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. The shtetl has been the paradigm of East European Jewish experience. But the powerful imagery of the shtetl is largely a creation of 19th-century writers. This course will take us beyond the shtetl and will look at the history of the Jews in Eastern Europe from the initial settlement of the Jews there until the eve of modernity. We will examine how historians and writers have shaped our understanding of Jewish history in that region and the context in which the persisting imagery of Eastern European Jews was created. Why were certain stories told? What can different historical sources show us about Jewish life in Eastern Europe? We will discuss how Jewish history in Eastern Europe was studied by historians and couple the narratives created by scholars with historical sources: privilege charters, crime records, rabbinic response, anti-Jewish literature, and others. We will try to probe the relation between history, historical sources, and historical writings.

Course Requirements Course Readings

SCHEDULE

Week 1:

1. Monday 01/26 Introduction: ON ERESERVES:

Week 2:

2. Monday 02/02 The Shtetl.

ON ERESERVES:

Bibliographic Assignment Announced

Week 3

3.Monday 02/09 Simon Dubnow and the Writing of Eastern European Jewish History:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland pp. 495-499;
R. Seltzer "From Graetz to Dubnow: The Impact of the East European Milieu on the Writing of Jewish History" in The Legacy of Jewish Migration: 1881 and its Impact ed. D. Berger, pp.49-60;
S. Dubnow "The Doctrine of Jewish Nationalism,"Jews as a Spiritual (Cultural-Historical) Nationality in the Midst of Political Nations,"
HANDOUT (available on the BlackBoard): Dubnow "Autonomism: The Basis of the National Program," "On National Education," "Jewish History" Bibliographic Assignment Due

Week 4

4. Monday 02/16: Historians, Historical Sources, Historiography:

Hayden White, "Historical Text as a Literary Artifact," in Tropics of Discourse;
Natalie Davis, Fiction in the Archives, 1-36, 111-114;
Hayden White, "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality" in The Content of the Form, 1-25;
Jill Lepore, "Just the Facts, Ma'am: Fake memoirs, factual fictions, and the history of history," The New Yorker (March 24, 2008), 79-83.
Primary Text: Trial of Maryna Litwinianka on BlackBoard First Paper Assigned
Optional reading: Hyden White, The Burden of History" (section IV, 46-50), "Interpretation in History,""Fictions of Factual Representation" in Tropics of Discourse

By NOW YOU SHOULD HAVE DISCUSSED YOUR PAPER TOPIC WITH ME

Week 5

Monday 02/23 Narratives of the Origins:

S. Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pp. 1-16;
Omelijan Pristak "The Pre-Ashkenazic Jews of eastern Europe in Relation to the Khazars, the Rus' and the Lithuanians" in Ukrainian-Jewish Relations in Historical Perspective, pp. 3-21,
Baron SRHJ vol. III pp. 213-220, Baron SRHJ vol. XVI, pp 3-23;
Bernard Weinryb "Immigration and Settlement" in The Jews of Poland" pp.17-27;
Israel Ta-Shma "On the History of the Jews in Twelfth and Thirteenth-Century Poland, Polin 10 (1997): 287-317;
P. Wexler "The Reconstruction of Pre-Ashkenazic Jewish Settlements in the Slavic Lands in the Light of Linguistic Sources"
Hand-out on BB: Polish and Jewish Legends. DUE First Paper Draft Due

Week 6:

4. Monday 03/02: Legal Status:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pp. 16-45;
Rosman "The Lords' Jews, 1-74 (=60pp);
Baron SRHJ vol. XVI, pp. 120-163;
J. Goldberg "De non tolerandis iudaeis" Studies in Jewish History Presented to Professor Raphael Mahler, pp. 39-52;
Maurycy Horn, "Jewish Jurisdiction's dependence on Royal Power in Poland and Lithuania up to 1548" Acta Poloniae Historica [Poland] 1997 (76): 5-17;
The royal privilege of 1453 and the Jampol private privilege of 1711 presented by Adam Teller in Summer 2004, Privilege for the Jews of the Przemyśl Region and Rus', Privilege for the Jews of Lw? presented by Adam Teller in Summer 2008, and 1711 Lithuanian Tribunal Decree presented by Magda Teter in the Summer of 2005 all available on www.earlymodern.org
Bibliography for your term paper: Tuesday 03/03 9am

Final Draft of the First Paper Due FRIDAY 03/06 5 pm

SPRING BREAK 03/06-03/22

Week 7:

5. Monday 03/23: Jews in Polish Economy:

Dubnow, History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, 28-30, 66-69, 80-82 ;
Edward Fram, Ideals Face Reality, 106-128;
Moshe Rosman, Lords' Jews, pp. 75-184;
On ERESERVES: G. Hundert " Jews, Money and Society in the Seventeenth Century Polish Commonwealth: The Case of Cracow" in Jewish Social Studies 43/3-4 (Fall 1981) pp. 261-274.
Ereserves: Hundert Jews in Poland-Lithuania in the Eighteenth Century, 32-56.
Primary Text: The Will of Todros Kozuchowski translated by Moshe Rosman in 2006 at the www.earlymodern.org

Suggested Supplementary Reading: Bogucka, "Polish Towns between Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries" in J. Fedorowicz, ed., A Republic of Nobles (Cambridge University Press, 1982),135-152

Week 8: Jewish-Christian Relations: The Church, the accusations, and the daily contacts

6. Monday 03/30:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pp.82-87;
Baron SRHJ vol. XVI, pp 89-120
Edward Fram, Ideals Face Reality, pp. 15-37;
On ERESERVES: Kalik "Patterns of Contact between the Catholic Church and the Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: The Jewish Debts" in Studies in the History of the Jews in Old Poland in Honor of Jacob Goldberg, pp.102-122;
on ERESERVES: Teter, Jews and Heretics, pp. 21-40, 59-79, 99-121
Primary Text: Church Robbery and Host Desecration text on www.earlymodern.org, and the text of the trials of two converts to Judaism in Dubno 1716 presented by Magda Teter at the www.earlymodern.org website.

Suggested supplementary reading: Teter, Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland (Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp.1-20, 41-79, 122-141; also on course documents on BB: chapter drafts from Magda Teter's book-in-progress "From Bread to Blood, From Sin to Crime": Chapter 4-Poznan's Church ; Chapter 5-Host Desecration in 1556; and Magda Teter, The Legend of Ger Ẓedek (Righteous Convert to Judaism) of Wilno as Polemic and Reassurance AJS Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 237-263; Magda Teter and Edward Fram, Apostasy, Fraud, and the Beginnings of Hebrew Printing in Cracow, AJS Review, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Apr., 2006), pp. 31-66

Notes from your research due and paper outline DUE Tuesday 03/31, 9am

Week 9:

7. Monday 04/06: Jewish Community and Self-Government:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, pp. 28-51; 91-96;
Edward Fram, Ideals Face Reality, 38-47,
Moshe Rosman Lords' Jews, ch.7: "The Magnates and the Jewish Community";
Ereserve: Sh. Ettinger "The Council of the Four Lands" in Jews in Old Poland 1000-1795, pp. 93-109
Ereserves J. Goldberg "The Jewish Sejm; Its Origins and Functions". pp. 147-165,
Ereserve: Gershon Hundert "The Kehilla and the Municipality in Private Towns at the End of the Early Modern Period," Gershon Hundert Jews in Poland-Lithuania, 79-118;
HANDOUT: Adam Teller "Radziwill, Rabinowicz and the Rabbi of Swierz: The Magnates' Attitude to Jewish Regional Autonomy in the 18th Century,"
Mordekhai Nadav "Regional Aspects of the Autonomy of Polish Jews: The History of the Tykocin Kehilla, 1670-1782;
Primary Sources: Community ordinances of Cracow (1595), Ordinance of Poznań (1686) on www.earlymodern.org

Suggested supplementary reading: Israel Bartal "The Pinkas of the Council of Four Lands" in Jews in Old Poland 1000-1795, 110-118;

Week 10:

8: Monday 04/13: Religious Culture:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland pp. 51-65; 96-99;
Edward Fram, Ideals Face Reality, pp. 1-12, 48-105;
On ERESERVES: Edward Fram "Two Cases of Adultery and the Halakhic Decision-Making Process," AJS Review 26, no. 2 (2002), 277-300;
Ereserves Joseph Davis "The Reception of the Shulhan `Arukh and the Formation of Ashkenazic Jewish Identity," AJS Review 26, no. 2 (2002), 251-276;
HANDOUT : Moshe Rosman "The History of Jewish Women in Early Modern Poland" in Polin 18, 25-56;
ONLINE: A Responsum by Rabbi Isaac the Great of Poznań, A Book of Women's Commandments, Hillel Baal Shem on www.earlymodern.org FIRST DRAFT DUE

Week 11:

9. Monday 04/20: Narratives of the "Watershed:" The Chmielnicki Uprising of 1648-49:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland pp. 66-82,
Nathan Nata Hanover Abyss of Despair (Yeven Metsulah);
On ERESERVES:Edward Fram, "Creating a Tale of Martyrdom in Tulczyn, 1648" in Jewish History and Jewish Memory, ed. Elisheva Carlebach, John Efron, et al. (Brandeis University Press, 1998), 89-112
Supplementary readings: B. Weinryb The Jews of Poland pp. 181-205; F. Sysyn "A Contemporary's Account of the Causes of the Khmel'nytskyi Uprsing", HUS, vol.I, no.2, (1981) and "The Jewish Factor in the Khmiel'nyts'kyi Uprising" Ukrainian Jewish Relations in Historical Perspective, Edmonton 1990); .

Week 12:

10. Monday 04/27: Hasidism:

Dubnow History of the Jews in Russia and Poland pp. 107-117;
Handouts on BB: Essential Papers on Hasidism, Dubnow: pp. 25-85 (includes notes), Dinur pp. 87-113, 125-143, Rosman 209-225 (includes notes);

Supplementary: M. Rosman Founder of Hasidism, 11-94 and I. Etkes The Besht,

Week 13

11. Monday 05/04: Eastern European Jewish History: Reassessment: Moshe Rosman: "Innovative Tradition: Jewish Culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" in D. Biale ed. Cultures of the Jews (Schocken, 2002), 519-570. Israel Bartal, The Jews of Easter Europe 1772-1881, 58-81, 112-123, 143-156. FINAL DRAFT DUE ON Tuesday 05/05 by 5 pm