Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz. Elisheva Baumgarten

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СКАЧАТЬ teshuvat hagader, teshuvat hakatuv, teshuvat hamishkal, and teshuvat haharatah. Repentance is so great and exalted that it reaches the holy throne (kise hakavod), as it is written: “Return O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have fallen on account of your sin” (Hosea 14:1).¹⁹³

      In his commentary on Sefer Mitzvot Katan, Peretz b. Elijah explains each category in greater detail, quoting examples from Eleazar’s work. This supports the claim that French rabbinical scholars in Corbeil were well versed in the penitential system promoted by the German scholars. Ephraim Kanarfogel has suggested that the rabbis of Evreux—the center of learning where Isaac studied—were similarly conversant with these texts.¹⁹⁴ The main contribution found in the northern French sources on repentance is the distinction drawn between two types of confession, for public offenses and for private deeds. While Sefer Mitzvot Katan does not describe how such confessions should be conducted, other contemporaneous sources detail that these rituals entailed fasting, along with charity and prayer.¹⁹⁵

      Northern French halakhic compendia discuss fasting in many contexts. For instance, Peretz criticizes those who fasted in response to the death of a family member, scolding anyone whose abstinence was prompted by circumstances unrelated to repentance.¹⁹⁶ Peretz summarizes his position by stating: “Regarding one whose mourning incorporates fasting to atone for his sins, it has been written: ‘I note how they fare and will heal them: I will guide them and mete out solace to them and to the mourners among them’ [Is. 57:18].”¹⁹⁷ This discussion suggests that some mourners fasted as a means of expressing grief rather than as a way to better their own souls, a practice that contradicts the commonly endorsed motivations for fasting. Peretz also reprimanded anyone whose fast caused bodily harm.¹⁹⁸

      Twelfth- and thirteenth-century halakhic compendia and biblical commentaries from northern France describe men and women performing penitential fasts that corroborate those prescribed by halakhic authorities such as Isaac of Corbeil and Peretz.¹⁹⁹ So, too, a Tosafist commentary on Tractate Avodah Zarah mentions a man who fasted often, without reference to anything else about him.²⁰⁰ The widespread practice of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays is assumed in another text where Peretz is asked whether a community member who does not observe that pattern of fasts could be called to the Torah; Peretz concludes that this synagogue honor may be bestowed on the condition that the individual in question promises to make up for his missed fasts.²⁰¹ In the fourteenth century, Jacob b. Asher (son of Rosh, 1269–1343) remarked that fasting on Mondays and Thursdays was customary for German and northern French Jews, in contrast to the Jews of Spain who only practiced communal fasts that were part of the annual calendar.²⁰²

      Penitential fasts are also mentioned in commentaries on Genesis. By way of illustration, when discussing Reuben’s role in selling Joseph, the medieval commentators follow a late antique midrash when they explain that Reuben was absent when Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites because he was fasting for his sin with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Reuben is literally described as “fasting and wearing his sackcloth.”²⁰³ This midrashic explanation is recounted in medieval commentaries from Germany and France.²⁰⁴

      Although books such as Sefer Rokeah and Sefer Mitzvot Katan were written with the aim of equipping individuals to determine their repentant actions independently, rabbis were still consulted for guidance on how to atone. Such queries were so common that rabbis are known to have developed standard responses, as witnessed in responsa that prescribe repentant behavior after specific sins. Desecration of the Sabbath is a recurrent topic in the penitential literature by Judah and Eleazar as well as in writings by other thirteenth-century halakhic authorities. For example, relating to behavior required when a fire broke out and was then extinguished on the Sabbath, Isaac b. Moses discusses whether repentance and fasting are required, since putting out a fire constitutes a desecration of the Sabbath. According to Jewish law, this action is permissible if it saved lives, but it is considered a violation of the Sabbath if lives were not at risk, as Isaac explained:

      [In a case] when Jews extinguished a fire (on the Sabbath) where it was unclear whether lives were endangered.²⁰⁵ [Those who put the fire out] need not fast or give charity because of their deed, for they were acting with [divine] permission. Even if they wanted to give charity on that account, the court does not permit it, for if they did, in the future they might not respond to fires [or other dangers] in the same way. Some say they should fast because of this [deed], and in the event of another fire, they would instruct them to extinguish it and then fast … but as I have said, in my eyes the law should instruct that even if they wish to fast because of this [deed], they should be dissuaded from doing so lest they abstain from extinguishing a second fire (in the future).²⁰⁶

      Here it seems that community members wanted to fast after having put out a fire on the Sabbath, whereas their rabbis ruled this fast unnecessary, lest this expression of repentance deter Jews from extinguishing future fires on the Sabbath.

      Fasting as a means to seek atonement after violating the Sabbath is also mentioned in other sources.²⁰⁷ Samson b. Tzadok reports that Meir of Rothenburg instructed anyone who inadvertently desecrated the Sabbath to fast:

      He says: One who unintentionally desecrated the Sabbath by bringing an object into the public [realm],²⁰⁸ by manipulating fire or in whatever manner should give five hallische dinars to charity to receive atonement … and it would also be appropriate if he fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, as is customary throughout the world to fast on the morrow of the Sabbath (Sunday) for desecrating the Sabbath.²⁰⁹

      This instruction for repentance is outstanding for its exactitude in specifying the exact monetary sum to be contributed, and for its reference to these actions as standard practice, “as is customary throughout the world.”

      Another case of repentance for desecrating the Sabbath is addressed in a responsum attributed to Samuel b. Isaac (late thirteenth century):²¹⁰

      Once a woman was riding with a certain Jewish man through the city of Barby on a Friday.²¹¹ This Jewish woman could not remain in that city for the Sabbath because she feared that if her presence were known, non-Jews would seize her. So she rode on to Zerbst. It became dark on the way, but they rode on to that city even though they were desecrating the Sabbath. I asked my teacher, Samuel b. Isaac, to give her instructions [on how to repent]. He replied that they should fast for forty days, but they need not be stringent and fast consecutively. Rather, they should fast on Mondays and Thursdays each week—except on the New Moon and other festivals—until they reached [a total of] forty days. This is sufficient since they were coerced.²¹²

      Here a woman and her male travel companion sought counsel on how to atone for their transgression, indicating their awareness that repentance was needed. Samuel required identical actions for the man and the woman.

      In another source, Isaac b. Moses discusses improper conduct regarding Sabbath candles, a desecration that specifically pertains to women. He mentions women who fasted if they had touched the wax of a Sabbath candle during the Sabbath, to repent for their violation of that holy day.²¹³ A century later, Jacob Moellin (Maharil) was asked how his niece should atone for having forgotten to light the Sabbath candles one Friday evening. He responded: “[On every Sabbath eve] for the rest of her life, she should assiduously add one candle beyond her customary number.²¹⁴ When her fast occurs (ukeshe’era ta’anitah), she should be sure to confess this sin. [Furthermore,] if she wishes to obligate herself [to] fasts and to torment herself in order be granted atonement, may she be blessed.”²¹⁵ This responsum integrates individual confession, as promoted by Eleazar of Worms, with normative fasting. Maharil’s words suggest that Jewish women and men would customarily adopt additional fasts and other “torments” as components of repentance.

      In a responsum of a case that occurred in London, Jacob b. Judah Hazan (thirteenth century) relates СКАЧАТЬ