Thursday, August 05, 2010
Making the Jewish Oath in a German court in 1737; an elaborate piece of theater, complete with Kabbalistic formulae.
Here's the written procedure of a Jewish oath required of Jews in European courts until it was moderated, modified and finally abolished throughout the 19th century. This particular version is from a part of Germany, and it is dated 1737. Readers will notice that it calls for a Talmud and a "Coscher Sepher Thora," as well as a lengthy procedure whereby the Jew would don his tallit and tefillin, making the relevant blessings, and various biblical passages. It even required making a le-shem yichud! (pg. 12) I wonder what the Noda Beyehuda thought of that.
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i wasnt aware that 'sefardic' pronunciation was used in Arzei Ashkenaz (see the transliterations) before the advent of 'modern (i.e. post Ben-Yehuda) hebrew'
ReplyDeleteHa! The transliteration switches from Sephardic at the beginning to Ashkenazi for the later stuff (kometz, tav/sav etc.). Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteNo that there is any consistency there...
ReplyDeleteThe shoe's on the other foot: Phonemically, the Israeli pronunciation was taken davke from the standard used by German Christian theologians. They had taken it from Italian Jews originally, as well as they could with German ears and tongues, then it went its own way for some centuries inside German.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I suppose the denigrating part of the oath is to make Yekkes say a Leshem yichud.
http://groups.google.com/group/bring-the-jo-back
ReplyDeletePlease join us to discuss how we can convince the Agudath Israel of America to bring The Jewish Observer back into print. Even if you don't have any ideas to share, your joining the group is tantamount to signing a petition to see the JO brought back to life!
Other than nostalgia, what would be the reasons to bring the JO back?
ReplyDeleteYGB wrote many articles for the Jewish Observer. I guess they got more "hits" than his blog does. Losing your soap box can't be pleasant.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I suppose the denigrating part of the oath is to make Yekkes say a Leshem yichud.
ReplyDeleteI know you're trying to be funny, but still -- 18th-century Germany was a hotbed of Kabbalistic and Sabbatian activity, and the Yaavetz mentions the popularity of "Leshem Yichud" prayers there.
Oooh, got up on the wrong side of the bed, what?
ReplyDeleteAre you actually traying to teach me, or are you teaching walk-in readers with me as a fictionalised ignoramus?
I was especially surprised to see "es" transliterated as "&".
ReplyDelete>I was especially surprised to see "es" transliterated as "&".
ReplyDeleteI thought that was pretty great.
As is the exchange between Mar Gavriel and Lipman.
I hope you understand that this is nothing but friendly teasing - we're good friends.
ReplyDeleteTo make that clearer to the innocent outsider: I'm perfectly aware that German Jews were not at all untouched by kabbole, mysticism &c.; I was just parodying the self-images of the enlightened Neo-Orthodox and of the Ashkenazashkenazzi whose nusech was never influenced by anything remotely Eastern European, chas wescholaum.
I do understand. I wouldn't say that I was enjoying a mean-spirited exchange (even if I was enjoying it). ;-)
ReplyDeleteMeant more the general-reader "you".
ReplyDelete