Book Reviews and Abstracts of Books Received

Book Reviews
Book Reviews
The Hebrew Palaeography Project: Specimens of Medieval Hebrew Scripts.
Volume II: Sefardic Script, compiled by Malachi Beit-Arie and Edna Engel,
Jerusalem, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2002. (Introductions, pp. i-xxx. Plates 1-209. Indexes, pp. xxxi-xliv. English section, pp. IXVII)
This large book, which is the second volume in a series of specimens of medieval
Hebrew scripts, focuses on the commonest script found throughout the Jewish
Diaspora during the Middle Ages — the Sephardi script. The reader is offered a
practical comparative tool that can be used to identify scripts and to estimate the
date of a script by comparing it with typical dated manuscripts. Lovers of Hebrew
books will find here a breathtaking wealth of samples from ancient Jewish manuscripts in the field of the culture of the Sephardi book and which found their way
into libraries in the four corners of the world — from St. Petersburg in the East to
New York in the West and in various places along the way, such as Berlin and
Munich, Paris and London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Unlike the research on Latin script in Spain, which has enough material to work
on in Spain’s libraries,1 the volume we are discussing here has but one isolated
example of script appearing in a book copied in Spain (Zaragoza) in 1253 and
which is today on Spanish soil (in Salamanca).2 Naturally, the Jewish presence in
Spain was sharply reduced in the wake of the persecutions by Christian zealots in
1391 and the final expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492. It should be recalled here,
however, that the activity of copying Hebrew books was so entrenched in Spain
that it did not stop even after the expulsion. The copying work was carried on after
1492 by educated Jews who had converted to Christianity in adulthood and who
remained in Spain after that country’s Jewish community had been banished. These
living monuments of the culture of the past continued to copy Hebrew books on
Spanish soil throughout the first half of the 16th century. One of the most celebrated
of these converts was Alfonso de Zamora, who, for example, copied, in 1519 in
the city of Alcalá de Henares (near Madrid), books by the Spanish-Jewish Biblical
1
2
See S. Harrison Thomson, Latin Bookhands of the Later Middle Ages, 1100-1500,
Cambridge 1969, pls. 109-132 (Iberia).
Pl. 170. Ms. Salamanca, BU. 294; Mukhtasar all-‘ayin by Abu Bakr Muhammad b. alHasan al-Zabidi (compendicum of the Arabic dictionary Kitab al-‘ayn by al-Khalil b.
A˙mad al-Farahidi).
[Hispania Judaica *4 5764/2004]
Book Reviews
exegete Yosef Ibn Caspi. The manuscript is presented in a prestigious manner in
this volume and is accorded a chronological position befitting its status — among
the manuscripts of the early 16th century.3
Because of the unique “history” of Spanish Jews, not only their books disappeared from Spain, the Jews themselves also vanished. Thus, the definition of
Sefardi or Sephardi script is not just a geographic term but also — and mainly —
refers to a specific shape and style. Sephardi script appears in various forms and
transformations over a wide area centered around the Mediterranean Sea basin and
wherever Sephardi copiers appeared.
As one might have expected from a well-educated Jewish society, many of the
copiers were themselves authors. However, it is impossible to detect any substantial
differences between the scripts of hired copiers and those of authors who copied
their own books and who constituted a sizeable segment of Jewish society. Moreover, manuscripts written in Sephardi script account for nearly a third of the total
number of dated Jewish manuscripts. This fact attests to the wide dissemination of
Sephardi script as well as to the high degree of learnedness among those who used
the script and to their intellectual level.
The collection of specimens includes a broad chronologically arranged representation of samples of dated scripts up to 1540. Every manuscript contained in this
volume is presented in two plates facing each other on opposite pages: One plate
of a sample page from the manuscript and the second plate showing the alphabet
derived from this manuscript. The bibliographical details given on the “alphabet”
page include the date when the manuscript was copied, the place (if known) where
it was copied, the name of the copier and the contents of the manuscript. The
detailed indexes at the end of the book contain the names of the copiers and the
places where the copies were made; however, they do not contain the titles of the
compositions or the names of their authors and translators. This is not an accidental
lacuna. The volume’s professional editing is focused on the paleographic aspect of
the shape of the script and on the fabric of the writing, rather than on the content,
which the authors consider of secondary importance. Nevertheless, it should be
recalled that, of the approximately one thousand dated Sephardi manuscripts that
have survived, the volume being considered here presents over two hundred.
Despite the random nature of the compositions in toto that have survived, the 200
manuscripts in this volume are worthy representatives that reflect something of the
broad learning and intellectual interest demonstrated by a society that consumed
such manuscripts that were part of its contemporary culture — both the general
culture and the Jewish culture of that era.
3
Pl. 154. Ms. Rome, BA Or. 60.
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The unique interest displayed by the Jews of the Renaissance during the early
years of the age of printing in medical research and in medical practice is well
known. Many of those Renaissance Jews who took such an interest in medicine had
a thoroughly Sephardi scholastic background. It is, of course, no coincidence that,
in 1484, in Reggio di Calabria in southern Italy, someone who calls himself “Elazar
Parnass, the youngest of the scholars of medicine”, copies for his own use parts
of the great medical canon of Abu Ali al Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sena, who was
called Avicenna in Europe.4 During that period, the treatise had already gained a
reputation for itself in its Hebrew translation, which was carried out by the
Governor of Copiers (the Prince of Translators), Nathan Hameati, who completed
the translation work some two hundred years earlier.
Around this same time (in 1495), another scholar, in Crema, in northern Italy,
copies for himself the same treatise in translation — which is, in this case, a
reworking by Yosef ha-Lorki.5
Toward the end of the 15th century, ibn Sena’s canon became celebrated as the
largest work produced by the early Hebrew printing presses (in Naples) in 1491.
Using the Hebrew translation of ibn Sena’s work, medieval Jewish physicians were
able to enhance their knowledge of all the various fields of medicine. Jews also
served as mediators in the transmission of important medical knowledge from
Islamic culture to the Latin of European medical schools. At any rate, the Jewish
medical school of medieval Europe was far richer in knowledge than its non-Jewish
counterpart. Israeli medical schools would envy the superiority of medieval Jewish
schools of medicine in Europe.
Jews during the Middle Ages became familiar with general medical works, in
various editions. Some of the greatest medical works were produced by Maimonides,
author of Pirkei Moshe (“Moses’ Essays”) on medicine. These essays were a JudeoArabic treatise that acquired prominence through the Hebrew translation by Nathan
Hameati and which are represented, in the volume being reviewed here, by two
manuscripts – on plates 77 and 132.6
In the field of Jewish culture, of course, the most prominent work in this
volume, after the Bible and its commentaries, is the great code of Jewish law,
Mishneh Torah, which was written by Maimonides, known as the “The Great
Eagle”, and which appears here in twelve manuscripts.7 His philosophical work,
4
5
6
7
Pl. 134. Ms. Munich, BSB Cod. Hebr. 302.
Pl. 142. MS. Cambridge, UL Add. 1198.1.
Mss. Bologna, BU 3574 B and Modena, BE d.R. 88. (Q.30).
Pls. 25, 30, 34, 42, 60, 70, 71, 78, 90, 135, 169, 209.
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The Guide for the Perplexed, translated into Hebrew by Samuel ibn Tibbon, is
presented here in five manuscripts.8
In the field of Biblical exegesis, the most prominent works are the commentaries
of Rashi and commentaries on his commentaries. Six manuscripts represent all
these commentaries.9 The manuscripts of the Biblical commentaries by this
Ashkenazi exegetist had an impact on the shape of the Sephardi font appearing in
the first dated printed book known in the world of Hebrew books: “Rashi on the
Torah”, printed in Reggio di Calabria in 1475. This was the birth, in printed form,
of the most famous Sephardi script known today: A script that was paradoxically
called in the fifteenth century Rashi’s script. This is the script of Biblical and
Talmudic commentaries that appears in the margins of basic Jewish texts and which
accompanies the rectangular script of the main body of text. Since its shape is
midway between that of the rectangular and cursive scripts, Rashi’s script is termed
intermediary. For some reason, scholars in the field of Jewish studies who have not
had a strongly Jewish background consider this widely dispersed script to be a
hurdle hampering their ability to deal with Jewish texts.
Early examples of this intermediary script are represented by approximately 100
plates in the volume that is the subject of this review article. The remaining 100
plates offer almost equal representation for rectangular Sephardi script (the beginning section of the book) and cursive Sephardi script (the final section of the book)
respectively. The middle and largest section contains plates 63 through 161, which
represent the interim script.
The early period of each script, before the crystallization of the Sephardi book
script in the 12th century, is represented by documents from the Cairo Genizah that
are written in the personal script of the writers of letters and documents of the
Maghreb area (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), Sicily and Egypt. These specimens
include autographic documents produced by such prominent figures as R. Yehudah
Halevi (plate 168)10 and Maimonides (plate 169).11
The early documents from Spain were preserved primarily in the cathedrals of
the country’s Christian north. They include bilingual (Latin-Hebrew) deeds of sale
(plate 65).12 The style of the Hebrew script in these documents is still linked to the
style of the script that is known from later documents from Christian Europe, while
Latin writing dominates the background.
The Sephardi script that crystallizes and becomes a permanent fixture in Spain’s
Andalusian south rises to prominence in the Maghreb in those areas dominated by
8 Pls. 83, 84, 146, 172, 203.
9 Pls. 28, 37, 40, 92, 138, 200.
10 Ms. Cambridge, UL T-S 8J18.5.
11 Ms. Oxford BL. Ms. Heb. d. 32.
12 Ms. Barcelona, ACC Mitja escala arm. 2, n. 478.
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Islam and by the culture of Arabic script. Scribes who were experts in Sephardi
script found themselves, in the wake of the Reconquista under Christian rule, and
the Hebrew script they employed, like the material culture of Muslim construction
artisans (mudéjares), assumed a prestigious status in the eyes of the local European
population — Jews and Gentiles alike — whose taste was inferior.
In a similar manner, the Sephardi script became dominant in the northern
regions that were being recaptured by the Christians and to which Jews were
rushing en masse from the steadily shrinking Andalusian south. From the Christian
north, the Sephardi copiers continued northward and the impact of Sephardi script
can be felt from at least the early 13th century onward even in areas beyond the
Pyrenee Mountains. With the rise of Christian zealots and in the wake of the
expulsions of the Jews, Sephardi scribes turned eastward. They left a clear imprint
first and foremost on the culture of the book in Italy: About half of the dated
manuscripts written there in the 15th century were produced by immigrants from
Spain. Later, when the Spanish immigrants continued eastward, they returned to
their Muslim cultural roots — within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. In the
final analysis, when it returned to the areas in the East where Muslim influence was
dominant, the Sephardi script completed the circle of its wanderings, which had
begun in the Muslim Maghreb.
The culture of the Hebrew book owes a great debt to the learned compilers of
this volume for their wise judgment in the selection of manuscripts, for their refined
taste in the presentation of the representative pages from these manuscripts and
especially for their highly informative introductions, which are based on years of
scholarly research and which introduce the reader to a very significant chapter in
the writing of Sephardi culture.
Yosef Yahalom
Elena Romero (ed.), Judaísmo Hispano: Estudios en memoria de José Luis
Lacave Riaño, Junta de Castilla y León, Diputación Provincial de Burgos,
The Rich Foundation, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas,
Madrid 2002, 2 vols., 874 pp.
José Luis Lacave, one of the leading Spanish specialists on the preserved material
remains of the Jews of Medieval Spain, produced a considerable number of
historical works, not just on the past of the Jewish communities in Spain but also,
and primarily, on the topographical sites of the communities (Jewish quarters and
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streets, synagogues, cemeteries, ritual bathhouses, charitable trust buildings and
abattoirs, the site of matzot bakeries, gravestone and other inscriptions, ritual
articles and ornamental objects) and also a variety of Hebrew documents (wills,
regulations for ritual slaughter and the sale of kasher meat, mortgages, personal
seals in Hebrew, marriage contracts, a written commitment to grant levirate,
uncatalogued Hebrew manuscripts from the El Escorial Library, etc.). His efforts,
however, were not directed solely at archeological remains and other material
discoveries. He devoted much time to the work of translating several major works
of Jewish history and historiography. He translated into Castilian the book attributed to Abraham Zacut (partial translation) and all the monumental work of Yitzhak
Baer, The History of the Jews in Christian Spain, together with notes and bibliographical annotations. As a sign of appreciation of his life’s work, his colleagues,
friends and disciples dedicated the following two volumes of their research to his
memory.
The first volume opens with Elena Romero’s introduction [pp.7-8] and a section
on Lacave’s Vita: Haim Beinart (José Luis Lacave Riaño: Notas biográficas In
Memoriam [pp.11-13]), P. J. Bendahán (En recuerdo de un amigo bueno y sabio
[pp. 15-16]), I. M. Hassán (Decálogo cronológico de José Luis Lacave (1935-2000)
[pp. 17-36]), R. Sanz Iglesias (Bibliografía de José Luis Lacave Riaño [pp. 37-74])
and a list of people and institutions who did not contribute to the book, but wished
to express their appreciation for Lacave’s work [pp. 75-78]. The volume contains
twenty-two articles on philological studies in Massoretics, Spanish-Jewish poetry,
religious polemics, biblical translations, Sephardic literature and language, and
contemporary Spanish literature involving Jews. The first article by C. del Valle
Rodríguez (Un piyyut de Moisés ha-Cohén ben R. Samuel ha-Cohén ibn Chiquitilla
(siglo XI) [pp. 81-88]) is devoted to Ibn Chiquitilla as a grammarian, biblical
interpreter and poet and also provides a fragment of a Hebrew poem from the
Genizah. Ma. F. García Casar (El universo poético de una siónida de Yehudá haLeví [pp. 89-98] analyses the celebrated poem by Yehudah Halevi yearning for
Zion, revealing some aspects characterising Halevi’s aesthetics, such as a colourful
vigour, sensuousness and an idiosyncratic use of the Hebrew language dominated
by a sense of rhythm and music. M. Abumalham Mas and L. F. Girón Blanc (La
interpretación de los sueños o la poesía, oficio de alfarero [pp. 99-108]) write
about poetic composition through dreams, drawing a daring comparison between
dreams, prophetic and Talmudic visions, and concluding that poetic composition
while asleep is merely an extension of the poet’s daily activities. M. Gómez Aranda
(El maßal como método exegético en los comentarios de Abraham ibn ‘Ezra a
Eclesiastés y Job [pp.109-119]) examines in detail the different ways in which Ibn
Ezra uses the mashal in his first two Biblical commentaries. Sometimes Ibn Ezra
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provides rational explanations of the Biblical metaphors and allegories, making use
of his vast scientific knowledge; in other cases, he notes that the mashal cannot be
interpreted literally, or uses his own philosophical thought for a cosmological
concept of the universe. M. Lazar (Alfonso de Valladolid’s Mostrador de justicia:
A Polemic Debate Between Abner’s Old and New Self [pp. 121-134]) anticipating
his critical edition of the above in which Lazar emphasizes Alfonso de Valladolid’s
new dimension in the traditional anti-Jewish polemical debate, namely, the incorporation of the increasingly popular kabbalistic literature in Spain. Ma J. de
Azcárraga (Diferencias textuales en las masoras de un manuscrito español:
¿variantes o errores? [pp.135-143]) analyses the Massoretic differences between
the biblical manuscript of the Book of Numbers, M1, in the Complutense University of Madrid and the conventional text, ascertaining whether they are scribal
errors or actual textual variations. Ma T. Ortega Monasterio and E. Fernández
Tejero (Distintas manos en la Masora Parva del Pentateuco del Códice M1 [pp.
145-161]) present another Massoretic analysis, this time of some of the annotations
in the Pentateuch, underlining the information it contains and the changes made to
the text in order to adapt it to the Codex M1 from 13th century Toledo. A. García
(El Coloquio entre un cristiano y un judío (1370): Estampas de un conflicto
medieval [pp. 163-178]) takes some passages from this religious-polemical prose
colloquy (Ms. 1344, Biblioteca de Palacio de Madrid) and draws comparisons
between them and contemporary Castilian textual evidence. J. Targarona Borrás
and A. Sáenz-Badillos (Poemas y epigramas de Í elomoh ben Meßullam de Piera
(edición crítica y traducción) [pp. 179-208]) place the poet in his era and location;
the form in which his diwan was compiled is discussed, revising our current
knowledge of the subject. The main section is devoted to nine different poems,
some of which were probably not included in the diwan of Í elomoh ben Meßullam
de Piera and are published here for the first time. A. Navarro Peiro (El mundus
inversus (‘olam hafuj) en el Séfer ha-meßalim de Ya’acob ben El’azar de Toledo
[pp. 209-215]) describes the mundus inversus motif of the rule of foolishness over
wisdom as used by Ya’aqob ben El’azar from Toledo (12th-13th centuries) in his
Sefer ha-meshalim: the fools’ government that persecutes wise and noble men is
the incarnation of chaos. J. Manuel Cañas Reíllo (La versión de los Macabeos de
la Biblia de Ajuda y el Rollo de Antíoco [pp. 217-225]) identifies the 15th century
text of the Ajuda Bible (Lisboa: Biblioteca de Ajuda 52-XIII-1), a translation into
Spanish of a “tale” of the Maccabees which is very different from the version of
the Catholic Bible. Detailed research into its plot and episodes shows that this text
is neither a version nor an adaptation of Maccabees, but a translation into Spanish
of the Antiochus Scroll. F. Javier Pueyo Mena (La Biblia de Alba de Mosé Arragel
en las Bienandanzas e Fortunas de Lope García de Salazar [pp. 227-242]) examines in detail the sources of Lope García de Salazar’s work focusing on the first
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nine chapters of Genesis. Javier Pueyo discovers that these chapters, written in
1471, were mysteriously copied from the Alba Bible which scholars claim was
removed by the Catholic Church between 1430 and 1622. Ma V. Spottorno
(Bienaventurados [pp. 243-254]) shows that the Beatitudes in the Gospel of St.
Matthew are based on the Old Testament tradition in both their content and their
form. Biblical books of wisdom such as the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Isaiah II and III are the main support for the New Testament thinking developed
in the Gospel of St. Matthew. N. Fernández Marcos and E. Fernández Tejero (De
‘Elteqeh a Hita: Arias Montano, traductor de topónimos [pp. 255-264]) analyse the
different methods of translation and adaptation to Spanish used by Arias Montano
in his translation of the Latin commentary on the Book of Joshua. Arias Montano
is shown to have been a pioneer in his use of these methods, which were not to
reappear for another four centuries. E. Romero (Epístola a un levantino sobre los
usos de los occidentales [pp. 265-292]) edits and studies a letter by David Bahar
Moshe Atias included in his work La güerta de oro (Leghorn 1778) addressed to
a fictional “Levantine” friend, and giving an ironical description of the social lives
and customs of the “Francos”, that is, Italians, and stressing the differences between
them and their Ottoman co-religionists. P. Díaz-Mas (Quinot sefardíes y Complants
catalanes: lamentaciones por las ciudades santas perdidas [pp. 293-309]) compares between the motifs and subjects used in Sephardic laments and some Christian poems about the fall of Jerusalem and other holy cities written in Latin and
Romance languages showing that from the 13th century on, similar motifs inspired
by the biblical Book of Lamentations were used by both Jews and Christians.
Sephardic ‘lamentations’ emerge as Jewish poetry, but also as Romance poetry
with medieval roots. A. Berenguer Amador (Rasgos sintácticos y morfológicos del
verbo en dos obras de la lengua clásica sefardí [pp. 311-318]) analyses various
morphosyntactical features of the verb in Sefer lel ßimurim (19th century) and its
immediate sources, from the Sefer Me’am lo’ez to Genesis (18th century), discussing the morphology of the irregular form of the future, the use of tenses of the
subjunctive mood as well as three types of conditional sentences, thus contributing
to an understanding of classical Judaeo-Spanish literature. A. Ma Riaño López
(Edición del pasaje incial del Me’am lo’ez Yeßa’iá de Yishac Y. Abá (Salónica¨
1892) [pp. 319-328]) takes a fragment from the first chapter of Me’am lo’ez Yeßa’iá
written in Judaeo-Spanish and published in Salonika in 1892, in which the author
expands on the prophet Isaiah’s biography as well as his first prophecies about the
Kingdom of Israel. A. Quilis (Características acústicas de un idiolecto judeoespañol
de Sarajevo [pp. 329-339]) presents the results of an acoustic analysis of speech
sounds noted from a cultured Sephardi in the Judaeo-Spanish community of
Trabnik near Sarajevo. J. Cantera Ortiz de Urbina (Aportación cultural del refranero
sefardí [pp. 341-351]) studies some Judaeo-Spanish folk adages, comparing them
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with similar Spanish adages and thus contributing to a greater understanding of
some Spanish cultural traditions. Ma F. Vilches de Frutos (La dimensión histórica
y ética de una tragedia colectiva: San Juan, de Max Aub [pp. 353-361]) discusses
San Juan, the historical drama by Max Aub which depicts the voyage of Jews who
were kept imprisoned in a ship in 1938 and forbidden to land, to remind our
collective memory of the expulsion from Spain and warn against a recurrence of
wars and persecutions over racial, ideological and political differences. P. Nieva
de la Paz (Sefarad, de Antonio Muñoz Molina: La historia convertida en mito [pp.
363-373]), summarises the last novel by Muñoz Molina, with its kaleidoscope of
horrors caused by the 20th century’s totalitarian regimes emphasizing the global
significance of the persecutions and exiles as symbolized by the historic expulsion
of the Spanish Jews in the last decade of the 15th century. In the novel Sefarad is
transformed into a mythical reference as a paradigm for other persecutions in recent
history.
The second volume opens with the article of J. L. Cunchillos Ilarri (Informatizar
la epigrafía [pp. 387-397]), which explains the possibilities provided by new
technologies — image digitalisation and computer applications for texts and
images — for epigraphy in general and Semitic epigraphy in particular and shows
how these technologies also enable an improvement on the classical method. R.
González Salinero (Los judíos en el reino visigodo de época arriana: consideraciones
sobre un largo debate [pp. 399-408]), questions the historical and juridical context
of the Breviarus, showing that the Jewish minority did not enjoy greater tolerance
and freedom in the Visigothic kingdom of the Arian period; rather, after their
conversion to Catholicism, the Arian Visigoths’ anti-Jewish ideology took on even
more repressive forms. J. Ma Blázquez (Recientes aportaciones a la situación de
los judíos en la Hispania Tardoantigua [pp. 409-425]) surveying recent Spanish
research dealing with the Jews of late antiquity (4th-5th centuries), shows that Jews
and Christians lived together in harmony up to the forced conversions in Mahón
and draws a parallel between anti-Jewish expressions by Hispano-Roman writers
of the 4th and 5th centuries and later Christian writers. Ma J. Ferro Tavares (Cristãos
e judeus no Portugal medievo: Entre a convivencia e o afrontamento [pp. 427448]) maintains that the urban development and economic expansion of the Christian bourgeoisie had a profound effect on relations between Christians and Jews
in Portugal. A catalyst in this process was the arrival in Portugal of Castilian Jews
who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and the subsequent instability of Christian
society. J. Vallvé (Los judíos en al-Andalus y el Magreb (siglos X-XII) [pp. 449457]) discusses the 14th century work Fez Illustrious Families, probably written
by Abu l-Walid ibn Nasr of Granada and describes the activities and professions
of different ethnic groups that lived in al-Andalus. A special emphasis is placed on
the 12th century, when the almohades ordered the forcible conversion of both Jews
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and Christians. The author includes Maimonides among these converts and relates
how he and his family were compelled to leave Spain, and later settle in Egypt. J.
Castaño (Los documentos hebreos de León en su contexto prenotarial [pp. 459481]) using 11th and 12th century Hebrew legal documents from León, dwells on
the social and intellectual background of the Jewish community there. The author
makes some observations about the documentation and dating methods used, as
well as the work of Jewish notaries and the legal value of transactions between Jews
and Christians. An explanation is suggested for the fact that Jewish women took
precedence over their husbands in these transactions. J. Carrasco (La judería de
Cascante (1119-1410): entre el señorío y el realengo [pp. 483-505]) follows on
from Lacave’s initial study of the Jewish community of Cascante in Navarre, where
the rule was alternately held by the king and the aristocracy. Carrasco shows that
in addition to this dependency, the Jews of Cascante were also spiritually dependent
on the Jewish communal authorities of Tudela, although in the second half of the
15th century Cascante was granted autonomy. P. Matesanz Vera (Elementos judíos
en la intervención arqueológica en el convento de San Vincente Ferrer de Plasencia
(Cáceres) [pp. 507-517]) describes the findings of the archaeological excavations
in the convent of San Vicente Ferrer which produced important data on this part
of the city from the 12th to the 19th centuries, including proof of the existence of
Plasencia’s old Jewish Quarter. Among the findings were a bronze-made pointer
and several fragments of Hanukah lamps. F. Díaz Esteban (La ampliación de la
sinagoga de Carrión y sus inscripciones) [pp. 519-535]) discusses a hitherto almost
unknown incident involving the expansion of the Carrión de los Condes (Palencia)
synagogue, enabled by a gift from a wealthy Jewish lady in the local community,
doña Mira. No other research into the history of Spanish synagogues or of Carrión
mentions this interesting fact. A. Blasco (Franquicia perpetua otorgada por la
aljama de Zaragoza a favor de un matrimonio judío en 1366 [pp. 537-548])
analyses a document from Zaragoza in 1366. Interestingly, the author’s analysis
reveals that although the local Jewish community objected to tax exemptions and
other privileges, it was this community that was responsible for putting pressure
on Queen Leonor to confirm that Benay Frances and his wife Giva were granted
a lifetime exemption from paying taxes. J. Riera Sans (La precedencia entre judíos
y moros en el reino de Aragón [pp. 549-560]) studies a selection of the relevant
documents dealing with the participation of Moors and Jews in public ceremonies
in the Kingdom of Aragon between the 13th and 15th centuries which provoked
constant disputes and confrontations over matters of precedence. I. Montes RomeroCamacho (El judío sevillano don Yuçaf Pichón, contador mayor de Enrique II de
Castilla (1369-1379) [pp. 561-574]) gives careful thought to the case of the
Sevillian Jew Yuçaf Pichón, who, like many other Castilian Jews of the time, rose
high in the ranks of the Castilian court to become a royal favourite. These meteoric
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rises sometimes ended in total downfall, as happened to Pichón. M. Blasco Orellana
and J. R. Magdalena Nom de Déu (Una ketubbá inédita catalana de Santa Coloma
de Montbui (siglo XIV) [pp. 575-584]) edit, translate and comment on a Catalan
ketubbah found in the Archivo Parroquial of Santa Margarida d’Igualada, Barcelona. The manuscript was written in 1335 in Santa Coloma de Montbui, today Santa
Margarida de Montbui. E. Mirones Lozano (Otras aljamas de judíos del reino de
Navarra (1350-1498) [pp. 585-592]) examines closely some sporadic references
to almost unknown Navarrese aljamas, such as Sangüesa and Monreal, which were
apparently unique in that they cannot be equated with the well-documented aljamas
of Tudela, Estella, Pamplona, Val de Fumes and Viana. R. Amran (Mito y realidad
de los conversos castellanos en el siglo XV: El traslado de una carta-privilegio que
el rey Juan II dio a un hijodalgo [pp. 593-605]) describes in a critical study of Ms.
13043 of the National Library of Madrid, how the New Christians of Castille were
viewed by Christian society as liars, malicious, avaricious, greedy, gluttonous, etc.,
in fact as personifications of all the mortal sins. In contrast, the hidalgo was seen
as generous, modest, honest and God-fearing, all those traits which popular opinion
believed characterised the Old Christians. M. de Hervás (Nuevos datos sobre el
apartamiento judío y la sinagoga de Trujillo (1480-1492) [pp. 607-616]) studies
some new discoveries regarding the site of a synagogue in a separate Jewish quarter
in Trujillo which was established in 1480 by decree of Fernando and Isabel. E.
Cantera Montenegro (Los judíos y el negocio de la lana en las diócesis de
Calahorra y Osma a fines de la Edad Media [pp. 617-627]) describes the role
played by Jews in the wool trade in the dioceses of Calahorra and Osma. The
documents show that prior to 1492 the Jews were frequently middlemen in wool
transactions, and subsequently their role was often taken over by New Christians.
J. Hinojosa Montalvo (Artesanía y artesanos judíos en el reino de Valencia durante
la Edad Media [pp. 629-648]) traces an outline of the work of Valencian Jews, who
were prominent as shoemakers, tailors, weavers and dyers and also excelled as
goldsmiths, although there is no information about the existence of any Jewish
guilds. S. Planas Marcé (Aportación al estudio de la sociedad conversa de Girona:
el testamento de Blanca, esposa de Bernat Falcó [pp. 649-663]) gives the characteristics of the last will of Blanca, a New Christian, written in April 1437 which
is now found in the Girona General Historical Archives, Protocols Notarials No.
4, as a representative example of the lives of the New Christians in Girona. P.
Huerga Criado (Inquisición y criptojudaísmo en Ciudad Rodrigo [pp. 665-678])
studies the inquisitorial activities of the Llerena Court in Ciudad Rodrigo between
1490-1730, which demonstrates that there was an active Crypto-Jewish community. The essay deals with the repressive acts of this court, even though many of
the defendants were not actually guilty of the sins of which they were accused. C.
Carrete Parrondo and Y. Moreno Koch (Conflicto jurídico en la judería de Ávila
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Book Reviews
(1487) [pp. 679-687]) summarise the transcription of an execution order against the
Jewish community preserved in the Archivo de la Real Cancillería de Valladolid.
This order was issued to support a lawsuit instituted by Abraham Sevillano who
maintained that the community owed him money from the time when he was
mayor. L. Suárez Fernández (Las ciudades castellanas y el problema judío [pp.
689-698]) examines documentary evidence showing that persecutions against Jews
and New Christians were a popular phenomenon, not restricted to high society, and
this made it very hard for the legislation guaranteeing the status of the Jews to be
observed. I. Mateo Gómez (La visión crítica de los judíos en algunas
representaciones del arte español de fines del siglo XV [pp. 699-714]) examines
in detail the description of Jews as depicted in contemporary art, illustrating the
anti-Jewish feelings of the Church and Christian society. M. E. Cohen (Las
provisiones de expulsión de 1492: vigencia en el espacio y en el tiempo [pp. 715726]) maintains there was almost no opposition by the Spanish population to the
expulsion decrees of 1492 banning the return of the Jews to peninsular territories
and which remained in force continuously until 1869. M. A. Ladero Quesada
(Después de 1492: los “bienes e debdas de los judíos” [pp. 727-747]) provides new
documentary evidence about properties and debts confiscated from Castilian Jews
who were banished in 1492. These documents include particulars of the amounts
collected by royal officials in each of the Castilian dioceses, as well as debts handed
over to Fernán Núñez Coronel (Meír Melamed) and Luis de Alcalá, and also
including an appendix giving details of such confiscations in Valladolid and
Guadalajara. M. Diago Hernando, Efectos del decreto de expulsión de 1492 sobre
el grupo de mercaderes y financieros judíos de la ciudad de Soria [pp. 749-764])
notes the consequences for some outstanding Jewish families in Soria of the 1492
edict of expulsion and shows that while some of these families opted for immediate
baptism, others converted after a brief exile in Portugal and many decided to leave
the kingdom of Castile forever. The author also gives an account of the economic
problems faced by those who left and the efforts they made in Portugal to recover
the property they had abandoned in Castile. E. Gutwirth (The Sefer Yuhasin and
Zacut’s Tunisian Phase [pp. 765-777]) attempts to show that by the time Abraham
ben Shemuel Zacut arrived in Tunis, there was a long history of contacts between
Tunisia and the Iberian Peninsula which may be documented on various levels:
political, economic and cultural (both Christian and Muslim). A. Domínguez Ortiz
(Los “familiares” del tribunal de la Inquisición de Sevilla [pp. 779-789]) uses
documentary evidence taken from the Sevillian inquisitorial court to discuss the
role of the lay assistants who were initially held in high regard but later, because
of developments in the 17th century, lost much of their prestige. M. A. de Bunes
Ibarra (Una danza contra judíos de finales de siglo XVI) [pp. 791-797]) attempts
to reconstruct a dance performed by the town’s residents in Ezcaray (La Rioja)
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Book Reviews
jeering at Jews and New Christians and danced to mock some noblemen who had
lost a previous lawsuit in the Real Cancillería of Valladolid. M. Orfali (La retribución
divina en la historiografía sefardí (siglos XVI-XVII) [pp. 799-808]) discusses the
principle of divine retribution as one of the motifs appearing in the works of
Sephardi writers and chroniclers in the generations that followed the general
expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the persecutions of the Portuguese after their
baptism. Some of the writers saw the disasters that had occurred to the Catholic
Monarchs and their descendants as divine retribution for the suffering of the People
of Israel. Y. Kaplan (Ellis Veryard sobre judíos y judaísmo: impresiones de un
turista inglés del siglo XVII [pp. 809-817]) discusses excerpts from an account of
a journey through the Low Countries, France, Italy, Spain and the Middle East
published in London in 1701, in which Ellis Veryard gives information on the
Jewish communities he visited in Mantua, Avignon, Rome and Leghorn, reflecting
the negative stereotypes of Jews and Judaism prevailing in Early Modern Europe.
S. Palomero Plaza (Historia de los Judíos de España, por D. Adolfo de Castro
(Cádiz, 1847) [pp. 819-826]) re-examines Adolfo de Castro’s history of the Jews
of Spain, whose main interest lies not in its documentary evidence, but in its
“liberal” perspective on the historical Jewish presence in Spain, which conflicts
with the more traditional (though better documented) vision represented by Amador
de los Ríos and Menéndez Pelayo. P. Bádenas de la Peña (Los judíos de Grecia:
Luces y sobras de una relación intercomunal [pp. 827-847]) examines JewishGreek relations in different periods of modern Greece. The general pattern is a
rejection of the assimilation of the ethnic minorities (Jews, Muslims, etc.) in the
Balkans unless the process is accompanied by the adoption of a new cultural
identity by these minorities. One of the negative effects of this attitude is the Jews’
disappearance from the collective Greek memory which followed the almost
complete annihilation of Greek Jewry in World War II. J. Andrés-Gallego (Nazismo,
antisemitismo y jerarquía eclesiástica española [pp. 849-869]) raises some questions on the attitudes towards Nazism and anti-semitism by Spanish bishops,
examining their opposition to the Spanish-German cultural treaty of 1938, as well
as the pastoral epistles on Nazism and Jews written by the bishops of León and
Calahorra.
This collection is undoubtedly an important contribution to the study of Jews
in Spain and the Sephardi diaspora and a striking evidence of the efforts invested
in it by all those who helped, in one way or another, in publishing this work in
memory of the late José Luis Lacave, who was taken prematurely from his friends
and colleagues.
Moisés Orfali
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Book Reviews
Andrés Barcala Muñoz, Biblioteca antijudaica de los escritores eclesiásticos
hispanos, Volumen I: Siglos IV-V (España judía. Serie: Polémica JudeoCristiana), Madrid, Aben-Ezra Ediciones, 2003, 317 pp.
This is the first of three volumes of a project dedicated to the investigation of the
growth and development of anti-Jewish literature written by the Spanish Church
Fathers. The first volume, which deals with the fourth to fifth centuries, is divided
into two parts. The first section offers an exhaustive introduction to the ideological
background of the anti-Jewish literature of the Church Fathers as follows: The
different versions of the Old Testament, especially the Greek and Latin translations
and their influence; the relationship between the Old and New Testament and their
interpretation by the early Christians and Judeo-Christians; the allegorical and
typological interpretation by Christians writers, sources and the main themes of the
Jewish-Christian polemics.
The second part of the book is dedicated to specific issues relevant to this study:
the Elvira Council and its anti-Jewsih legislation, and a detailed description of the
life and writings of the Spanish Fathers: Juvencus, Priscillian, Pacian of Barcelona,
Gregory of Elvira, Prudentius, Orosius and others. The author concludes with a full
presentation of a source of this polemic literature, Altercatio Eccleasiae et Synagogue (fitfth century), and its translation into Spanish.
The book concludes with an English abstract, an index of biblical and patristic
sources, and subject and name indexes. In this research the author reveals his vast
knowledge and understanding of the Latin sources, his erudition in ecclesiastical
history, and familiarity with modern research. The author is aware of the growth
and development of conventions and stereotypes, which, although perhaps disconnected from reality, have nurtured anti-Judaic feelings. From a methodological
viewpoint the author does not focus only on the Spanish Church Fathers, but also
includes an overview of the history of a sect of Jewish origins, tracing the development of its anti-Judaic theology from earlier periods to the present.
This book is an essential tool for the study of the Jewish-Christian polemics and
the history of the Jews in Spain.
Shifra Sznol
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Abstracts of Book Received
Derekh: judaica urbinatensia, 0 (2002). Edizioni Parnaso, Trieste. Ed.
Michael Dallapiaza, 124, 4 pp.
This new multilingual annual publication of the University of Urbino, Centro Studi
di Cultura Ebraica, is intended to contain articles on Jewish history and culture,
including contemporary Jewish life and politics. Its first issue (number 0) has
articles by Susan Stern (‘Jews in Germany, 2001’), Winfried Frey (‘Das Motiv der
Zersttörung Jerusalems als Exempel in deutschen Texten des 16. Jahrhunderts. Ein
Versuch’), Luca Renzi (‘Wahrnehmung un Bild des Grosstadt. Von Benjamins
Städtebildern und den “Berliner Texten” bis Döblins Berlin Alexanderplatz’),
Christine Jöchler (‘Lo scandalo dell’ebraicità nella prospettiva antisemita’),
Gianfranco Tedeschi (‘Ebraismo e psicologia analitica’), Pinuccia Marigo
(‘Suggestioni dalla narrativa israeliana’) and Armando Spano (‘Episodi di vandalismo
antisemita perpetrati contro l’antico cimitero ebraico di Urbino nella seconda metà
dell’Ottocento’). Its section of reviews includes one by Maria Rosa Saurin de la
Iglesia on L’identità dissimulata. Giudaizzanti iberici nell’Europa cristiana dell’Età
Moderna, a cura di Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, Firenze 2000, on the history of the
Iberian conversos in Italy. Next issue (number 1) annonces an article of Rica Amran
on ‘La historia de los judíos en Sefarad según las crónicas hebreas medievales’.
Michael Studemund-Halévy, Biographisches Lexikon der Hamburger
Sefarden, Hamburg, Christians Verlag, 2000, 906 pp.
This voluminous lexicon on the members of the Sefardi community of Hamburg,
to which the author has already dedicated many works, opens with the history of
the communities from its origins and it contains a chronology of the Portuguese
Jews of Altona and Hamburg (pp. 63-74), an analysis of the historical sources and
a study of the tombstones in the old Portuguese cemetery in Hamburg. This is
followed by the biographies (pp. 155-854), a glossary and an exhaustive and
updated bibliography.
Jewish Catalonia, Published by Departament de Cultura Ajuntament de
Girona, Caixa de Girona, Àmbit Serveis Editorials, Barcelona, 2002, 272 pp.
Gvulim-Fronteras: Aspectos de la vida cotidiana judía en la Edad Media
hispana, Ayuntamiento de Murcia, Murcia, 2003, 32 pp. Con unas palabras
preliminares a cargo de Miguel Ángel Cámara Botía, alcalde de Murcia
These two catalogues, which are very different both in volume and extent, accompanied two exhibitions in two distinct places in Spain: Barcelona and Murcia.
[Hispania Judaica *4 5764/2004]
Abstracts of Books Received
Jewish Catalonia is a very richly illustrated catalogue with photographs of
objects, localities and medieval illuminated manuscripts produced by Jews from
Catalonia. The texts in the catalogue are: Yom Tov Assis “The Jewish People and
Catalonia; Some Aspects of their Internal History” (pp. 2-23); Eduard Feliu “Catalonia was not part of Sefarad: Observations concerning methodology” (pp. 24-35);
Victòria Mora “The Jewish communities of Catalonia: Barcelona, Tarragona and
surrounding area” (pp. 36-55); Sílvia Planas “The Jewish communities of Catalonia: Girona and surrounding area” (pp. 56-85); Prim Bertran i Roigé “The Jewish
communities of Catalonia: Lleida and surrounding area” (pp. 86-107); Albert Curto
Homedes “The Jewish communities of Catalonia: Tortosa and surrounding area”
(pp. 108-117); Asunción Blasco “Daily life in the Jewish quarter” (pp. 118-141);
Jordi Casanovas i Miró “The archaelogical testimony of Jews in mediaeval Catalonia” (pp. 142-159); José Ramon Magdalena “Hebrew texts from the Jewish
community in Catalonia: a brief miscellaneous anthology” (pp. 160-177); Ana M.
López Álvarez “The Jews of Catalonia as seen by their brothers in Sefarad” (pp.
178-201); Manuel Forcano “1391-1492: from Marginalisation to Expulsion” (pp.
202-215); Joan B. Culla i Clarà “The Chronicle of a Re-Encounter: the Jews in
Contemporary Catalonia” (pp. 216-231); Martine Berthelot “Recollections of the
Barcelona Jewish community pioneers (1914-1954). Appendices: Chronology,
Bibliography, Index of personal names. The catalogue opens with some preliminary words by Jordi Vilajoana (minister of Culture of the Government of Catalonia)
Anna Pagans i Gruartmoner (mayor of Girona), Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó (director of the Museum of the History of Catalonia), Andreu Claret (director of the
Catalan Institute of the Mediterranean) and Arcadi Calzada i Salavedra (president
of the Caixa de Girona Foundation)
Gvulim-Fronteras is the catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition
Fronteras, África III e Imágenes de las Tres Culturas during the fourth edition of
the “Festival Murcia Tres Culturas” (Murcia’s Festival of the Three Cultures). Its
32 pages are profusely illustrated; they attempt to give an idea on Jewish life in
that frontier zone by bringing five testimonies of five different historical personalities, four men (three of whom were converts) and a woman, who narrate their
particular case describing different aspects of the problems which the Jews of
Murcia and the surrounding area had to face in their daily life. The testimonies are
brought from real contemporary documents although they are presented as a
fiction. They enable the authors to write a series of comments which are designed
to give to both readers and visitors of the exhibition an idea of the life of Murcian
Jews.
[184]
Abstracts of Books Received
Le inquisizioni cristiane e gli ebrei: Tavola rotonda nell’ambito della
Conferenza annuale dellla Ricerca (Roma, 20-21 diciembre 2001), Roma,
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2003, 583, 4 pp.
The book contains part of the presentations submitted during a round table that took
place in the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Roma in december 2001. The book
opens with the complete program of this round table. The essays begin with the
contribution of Adriano Prosperi (pp. 7-28) “Inquisizioni cristiane ed ebrei” followed by the greetings by Alejandro Cifres (29-30). The two days of conferences
are divided into four parts: The first part on “The Modern Inquisition between
Continuity and Change” opens with an essay of Kenneth Stow (pp. 33-49) “Papi,
Chiesa e ebrei fino alla Inquisizione romana” followed by Stephan Wendehorst (pp.
51-63), “L’Inquisizione romana, l’Indice e gli ebrei: Nuove prospettive della
ricerca”; Stefania Pastore (pp. 65-104), “Nascita e fortuna di una leggenda
antiguidaica: Fray García de Zapata e gli inizi dell’Inquisizione di Toledo”; Federica
Grassi and Andrea De Luca (pp. 105-113), “Gli Ebrei e la Spagna alfonsina: ipotesi
di ricerca”; Bruno Feitler (pp. 115-121), “L’Inquisizione universale e le Inquisizioni
nazionali: Tracce per uno studio sui rapporti tra il Santo Uffizio romano e i tribunali
iberici”; Giuseppe Marcocci (pp. 123-193), “‘Catequização pelo medo’? Inquisitori,
vescovi e confessori di fronte ai ‘Nuovi Cristiani’ nel Portogallo del cinquecento”.
In the second part dedicated to “Jews and Judaizers According to Inquisitorial
Sources, the following essays are found: John Tedeschi (pp. 197-217), “Ebrei e
giudaizzanti negli archivi dispersi dell’Inquisizione romana”; Pier Cesare Ioly
Zorattini (pp. 219-233), “Ebrei e S. Uffizio a Venezia: Tre secoli di storia”; Renata
Segre (pp. 235-252), “Gli ebrei nelle carte dell’Inquisizione di Pesaro”; Lucia
Frattarelli Fischer (pp. 253-295), “Ebrei a Pisa e Livorno nel sei e settecento tra
Inquisizioni e garanzie granducali”; Guido Dall’Olio (pp. 297-321), “L’Inquisizione
romana e gli ebrei nella Ferrara del seicento: Prime indagini”). The third part deals
with “Reactions and Opinions on Inquisitorial Antijudaism”: Vincenzo Lavenia
(pp. 325-356), “Gli ebrei e il fisco dell’Inquisizione: Tributi, espropri e multe tra
‘500 e ‘600”; Pierroberto Scaramella (pp. 357-373), “La campagna contro i
giudaizzanti nel regno di Napoli (1569-1582): Antecedenti e risvolti di un’azione
inquisitoriale”; Ulderico Parente (pp. 375-405), “Su preteso giudaismo di Fra Sisto
da Siena davanti all’Inquisizione romana (1551-1553)”; Simona Feci (pp. 407429), “Guardare e vedere al di là del muro: Immagini sacre e iconoclastia ebraica
a Roma in età moderna”; Oscar di Simplicio (pp. 431-445) “Il porcesso contro
Finitia detta la Sciabacca, strega ebrea”. In the last part on “Jews, Judaizers and
Inquisition in XVIII-XIXth Centuries” appear the following articles: Frans Ciappara
(pp. 449-470), “The Roman Inquisition and the Jews in Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Century Malta”; Tommaso Caliò (pp. 471-501), “Il ‘puer a judaeis necatus’: Il
[185]
Abstracts of Books Received
ruolo del racconto agiograico nella diffusione dello stereotipo dell’omicidio rituale”;
Marina Caffiero (pp. 503-537), “‘La Caccia agli ebrei’: Inquisizione, casa dei
catecumeni e battesimi forzati nella Roma moderna’; David I. Kertzer (pp. 539556), “Inquisizione e ebrei negli stati pontifici, 1823-1846”. The book has an index
of names.
Navarra Hebraica, 2 vols., Vol I, Introducción y estudio histórico por Yom
Tov Assís (Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén) y José Ramón Magdalena
Nom de Déu (Universidad de Barcelona). Estudio lingüístico de la aljamía
romance en los documentos hebraiconavarros por Coloma Lleal Galcerán
(Universidad de Barcelona); Vol. II, Apéndice documental. Transcripción
anotada de los documentos hebraiconavarros del cajón 192 del Archivo
General de Navarra por Yom Tov Assís (Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén)
y José Ramón Magdalena Nom de Déu (Universidad de Barcelona). Índices
y vocabulario general por Coloma Lleal Galcerán (Universidad de Barcelona); Barcelona, 2003, 130, 409 pp.
The two volumes constitute an edition of the Hebrew documents found in caj. 192
in the Archivo General de Navarra (except the ketubot and the Biblical and
Talmudic fragments). This publication follows earlier editions of part of the
material which appeared in Hebrew in Jerusalem in 1990 (Zalman Shazar Center)
and in Spanish in Barcelona in 1992 (University of Barcelona). It includes 25
account books (pinqasim) and registers of loans, goods and real property, 9
extensive tax registers and other documents, consisting of loans, 3 lists of transactions, 2 declarations, one agreement, a list of commercial transactions and a
collection of taqqanot. The authors have arranged, as far as possible, the sources
according to chronological order and have indicated the place of their origin. The
first volume includes an introduction and a historical study by Yom Tov Assis and
José Ramón Magdalena Nom de Déu as well as linguistic studies on the Hebrew
of the Jews in Navarre and the Romance aljamía of the fourteenth century Hebrew
documents of Navarre. The last subject was studied by Coloma Leal Galcerán. The
second volume includes the documentary apprendix which contains the documents
transcribed and annotated by Assis and Magdalena and the indices and general
vocabulary by Lleal.
Carlos del Valle Rodríguez, Corpus Hebraicum Nebrissense: La obra
hebraica de Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Aben Ezra Ediciones, 2000, 349
pp.; Historia de la gramática hebrea en España. Volume I: Los Orígenes
[186]
Abstracts of Books Received
(Menahem, Dunas y los discípulos), Madrid, Aben Ezra Ediciones, 2002,
665 pp.
The first volume contains the works of the eminent Renaissance grammarian
(1441-1522) whose theme was Hebrew phonetics. Following his preface (pp. 1114), the author presents an introduction (pp. 19-95) in which he shows the development of Hebrew studies among Christian scholars in Spain before and during the
Renaissance, focusing on the figure of Nebrija, the first non-Jewish Spaniard,
according to him, who wrote on Hebrew grammar using the categories of classical
Latin grammar. The second part of the volume consists of the texts annotated and
commented by the author. These are the six works that Nebrija dedicated to
Hebrew, five of which have not been published again after the first edition
published during the author’s lifetime. The six works are De litteris hebraicis (pp.
97-159), a work that was written by the author around 1515; De accentu hebraico
(pp. 161-205), also written around 1515; De dictionum pereginarum et quarundam
aliarum accentu opus utilissimum (pp. 207-216), written in 1502; De peregrinarum
dictionum accentu (pp. 217-239), written in 1506; De corruptis hispanorum
ignorantia litterarum vocibus (pp. 241-269) (1486); De vi ac potestate litterarum
(pp. 271-317). The book concludes with a poem by Marcelo de Nebrija in memory
of his father (p. 319), a bibliography, an English abstract of the book (pp. 339-341)
and an index of names and subjects.
The second book of Carlos del Valle, Historia de la gramática hebrea en
España, is the first volume of a series in which the author intends to bring to the
Spanish-speaking public a full list of all the works in Hebrew linguistics written
by Hispanic Jews. The first volume contains research in three chapters on classical,
Syriac and Arabic grammar (pp. 29-96). There follow three more chapters (pp. 97210) on the grammatical tradition prior to that of the Spanish school (The Massora,
Saadia Gaon and North African school of Dunash ben Tamim, Yehudah ibn
Quraish and David ben Abraham Al-Fasi). Following these three chapters which
are in a way introductory chapters with short bibliographies, come the historical
chapters dedicated to Spanish Jews including a detailed research on the works and
historical context of Menahem ben Saruq and Dunash ben Labrat, and their
respective diciples (pp. 211-370). The appendices (pp. 373-590) are the Castilian
translation of the most important excerpts from the five works which serve the
present volume as a basis: The Mahberet of Menahem, the Teshuvot (Responses)
of Dunash ben Labrat, those of the disciples of Menahen against Dunash, and those
of Yehudi ben Sheshat, and, finally, the critique of Dunash ben Labrat against
Saadia Gaon. After the bibliography, there follow an English abstract of the book
(pp. 601-602) and the indices of Biblical citations, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic and
Hebrew terms as well as indices of names and subjects.
[187]