Papers by Emmanuel Bloch
Journal of Jewish Studies, 2024
This article revisits the important topic of interfaith encounters in nineteenth-century Germany,... more This article revisits the important topic of interfaith encounters in nineteenth-century Germany, an era during which Jews had just started to enjoy full equality (in law, if not always in fact). More specifically, I demonstrate that Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, German Jewry’s preeminent halakhic decisor at the turn of the century, held a nuanced and unique perception of Christian-Jewish encounters. His idiosyncratic Weltanschauung can be largely reconstructed from his legal and other writings. Additionally, I offer fresh methodological insights regarding the analytical tools used in historical and philosophical research into Jewish law. More than a half-century ago, Haym Soloveitchik proposed an evidentiary criterion, which he called ‘measurable deflection’, for gauging when medieval social historians may infer historical realia from halakhic sources. I contend, however, that the usefulness of ‘measurable deflection’ is, on the whole, limited, and that alternative benchmarks should be employed whenever possible.
Journal of Law and Religion 36:2 p. 255-277, 2021
This article explores one tumultuous encounter between a religious legal tradition and the modern... more This article explores one tumultuous encounter between a religious legal tradition and the modern principle of equality—an encounter that also has the potential to shed light on a much wider cluster of questions. The author tracks the ways that the responsa written by prominent Conservative rabbis on the subject of female rabbinic ordination and gender equality implicitly (but unambiguously) reflect the push toward increased equality that weighed on the movement's trajectory, showing that the debate about the ordination of female rabbis reveals two principal trends in Conservative legal rulings, which differ in their responses to the challenge of egalitarianism and their visions of the law, and notes two outlier responsa that cannot be neatly classified within either trend. The author then examines the deep-seated historical, ideational, and sociological processes concurrent with the rise of what some have called the egalitarian age, which have produced these diverging responses and visions, and it determines an appropriate framework to understand them. The author shows that the fight for increased gender equality is situated within an intricate social context that imbues it with meaning and shapes its outcomes and modes of expression. In concluding, the author suggests applying the insights gained in the course of the analysis to other circumstances in which gender egalitarianism clashes with religious tradition. The framework by which the ordination of women in the Conservative movement is analyzed also proves useful, mutatis mutandis, in understanding and comparing the responses of other faith communities as they deal with challenges caused by the egalitarian age.
The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, ... more The Hebrew Year 5782 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, the Hungarian-born rector of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin during the first decades of the 20th century. In addition to training a generation of rabbis, his literary legacy includes his commentaries and scholarly writings on the Pentateuch, volumes of halakhic responsa, and several treatises on Talmudic literature, especially on the formal composition of Tannaitic literature. These works not only display his breadth of knowledge and intellectual versatility, but also his capacity to inhabit different roles in parochial settings and the academy, to "code-switch" from the style and conventions of critical scholarship to the parlance of the traditional posek halakhah, engaging Wissenschaft des Judentums practitioners in one essay, then citing traditionalist authorities in his halakhic rulings. We will mark his centennial yahrzeit by examining these distinct elements of his works and activities with the aim of achieving a more rigorous and critical portrait of a person who became an exemplar for Jewish scholars who seek to navigate the standards of balanced, scientific investigation with remaining embedded in and committed to their faith communities. Scholars are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute lectures on aspects of Hoffmann's life, works, or legacy. The conference is scheduled to take place at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday,
Diné Israel, Volume 34 (2020) (5781), pp. 141*-172*, 2020
According to an oft quoted talmudic passage (b. Ber. 24a), a woman’s skin, thigh, hair and voice ... more According to an oft quoted talmudic passage (b. Ber. 24a), a woman’s skin, thigh, hair and voice are all considered nakedness (‘ervah). This article uses this brief sugya as a springboard for an in-depth analysis of the halakhic prohibition to recite holy words in the presence of nakedness, as understood in talmudic and rabbinic times.
The first part consists of a diachronic analysis showing that the same prohibition has been conceptualized in two distinct ways (“paradigms”), as well as two slightly less important subvariants, in the relevant sources. The second part frames the unfolding evolution of the interdiction within two ongoing, important scholarly discussions on rabbinic thought.
Hakirah, 2020
This article examines the so-called "code of Esther" through the crucible of a critical and detai... more This article examines the so-called "code of Esther" through the crucible of a critical and detailed analysis, a true counter-investigation in six separate acts. We will examine in succession the archeology of the biblical text, an ancient manner of punishing enemies, a little-known aspect of the anti-Jewish propaganda of the Nazi regime, and more.
This paper will aim at substantiating the claim that “halakhic dress codes” represent a surprisin... more This paper will aim at substantiating the claim that “halakhic dress codes” represent a surprising innovation within Jewish Law, and to this end it will present a brief diachronic presentation of the norms regulating women’s dress in the classical Jewish sources.
Modern Judaism, 2016
This article examines the legal writings of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, Germany's main legal deciso... more This article examines the legal writings of Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, Germany's main legal decisor (possek) in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Taking up the question of the relationship between Jews and Christians, the significance of which had become critical in an era during which Jews enjoyed full equality (in law, if not always in fact), this paper will focus specifically on the perception of Bismarckian Germany, its institutions and representatives, in the eyes of Hoffmann and of neo-Orthodox Jewry .
The analysis will pursue a double objective: first, to suggest here that Hoffmann’s teshuvot can serve as a window, giving us a rare, and almost unauthorized, glimpse into his personal Weltanschauung; and second, and on a deeper lever, to illustrate how Hoffmann’s decision-making was, consciously or unconsciously, profoundly influenced by his positive self-identification with the German Fatherland, to the point where his jurisprudence departed from all known precedents on two crucial issues which were presented to him.
L'objectif de cet article sera d'analyser, pour la première fois dans un cadre académique, un liv... more L'objectif de cet article sera d'analyser, pour la première fois dans un cadre académique, un livre rédigé par un prestigieux rabbin allemand de la seconde moitié du XIX e siècle, David Tsvi Hoffmann (1843-1921).
Ecrit en allemand, l'ouvrage avait pour objectif affiché de défendre la loi juive, laquelle était alors régulièrement vilipendée par la critique antisémite. Mais il sera démontré que les enjeux du livre étaient en fait bien plus vastes, et touchaient aux fondements de l'ethos religieux judéo-allemand. Apres avoir restitué le contexte de l'oeuvre et mis en exergue le dilemme présenté alors aux dirigeants orthodoxes allemands, nous examinerons tour à tour les objectifs fixés par Hoffmann à son ouvrage, sa manière de présenter son argumentation, ainsi que ses conclusions principales ; finalement, dans le but de faire ressortir la spécificité de l'ouvrage, nous comparerons l'approche de Hoffmann à celle de quatre autres penseurs éminents de la même époque, lesquels furent tous confrontés au même problème.
* * * * *
The goal of this article will be to analyze, for the first time in an academic setting, a book penned by a prestigious German Rabbi of the second half of the 19 th century, David Tzvi Hoffmann (1843-1921).
Written in German, the book's objective was to defend the Jewish Law, which was then regularly reviled by the anti-Semitic critique. But it will be shown that the book's stakes were much more significant, and touched upon the very foundation of the religious Judeo-German ethos.
This article examines how the founder and champion of German Neo-Orthodoxy, Rabbi Shimshon Raphae... more This article examines how the founder and champion of German Neo-Orthodoxy, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, and his philosophy of ‘Torah Im Derech Erets’, have been perceived by the leading rabbinic authorities in Eastern Europe over the last 150 years.
This perception was not limited, as was heretofore widely believed, to a begrudging post factum admission of the validity of the German approach, coupled with a strict limitation of its acceptability to the context of nineteenth century Germany. On the contrary, a close inspection of the relevant sources reveals a number of patterns and marked shifts in reaction over the period considered, as both Western and Eastern Jewries were variously affected by social evolution and historical events.
Beyond the question of the apprehension of German orthodoxy by Eastern European religious leaders, this article sheds light on the complex interactions between Western and Eastern Jewries and on the evolution of Orthodox Judaism.
Books by Emmanuel Bloch
Le Talmud : un vocable qui évoque instinctivement, pour les non-spécialistes, de gros tomes pouss... more Le Talmud : un vocable qui évoque instinctivement, pour les non-spécialistes, de gros tomes poussiéreux sur lesquels sont courbés, à longueur de journée, de pâles étudiants et des rabbins érudits et barbus ; par ailleurs, une logique certes brillante et incisive, mais aussi souvent absconse et excessivement formaliste. Or donc, au-delà des aprioris, le Talmud, vieux d'un millénaire et demi, titanesque produit de la créativité rabbinique, tour à tour décrié et adulé – ce Talmud continue-t-il de jouer un rôle important dans la vie des communautés juives contemporaines ? A n'en point douter, la réponse est positive, même s'il existe naturellement des différences de degré : plus l'on est observant, et plus le Talmud constitue, au sein de la religion juive, la fondation première de toute spiritualité. Le Talmud, en fait, remplit pour le Juif pratiquant deux fonctions bien distinctes: tout d'abord, le Talmud est le substrat principal du Limoud Ha-Torah, soit l'étude traditionnelle des textes sacrés, laquelle représente pour beaucoup le commandement religieux (Mitsva) le plus important de toute la Torah ; deuxièmement, le Talmud est la source principale du droit juif, la Halakha: c'est à travers l'examen minutieux des différents passages pertinents du Talmud que le décisionnaire (possek) détermine la norme juridique applicable à une situation donnée 1 : tel morceau de viande est-il kasher ou non ? Telle action est-elle permise le Chabbat ou non ? Etc. C'est cette deuxième fonction du corpus talmudique, de nature essentiellement juridique, et dont la portée religieuse est d'ordre propédeutique (car la clarification de la norme halakhique sert ici avant tout de préparation nécessaire en vue de l'accomplissement ultérieur d'une autre Mitsva), que notre propos aura pour but d'éclairer aujourd'hui. Si le Talmud est le point d'origine de la Halakha (loi juive) et sa référence ultime, il n'en demeure pas moins qu'en droit religieux juif, aucun passage talmudique n'est directement applicable de nos jours : ce sont les ouvrages contemporains qu'il faut consulter. Entre le Talmud, clôturé au 6ème siècle de l'ère actuelle, et la loi juive contemporaine, il y a quinze longs siècles de réflexion juridique : des commentaires, des codifications, mais aussi des innovations, des controverses, etc. Nous avons choisi de traiter ici des Lois de la Modestie (Tsniout) et de leurs sources talmudiques, un sujet quelque peu iconoclaste, comme nous aurons bientôt l'occasion de le préciser ; toutefois, avant d'entrer dans le vif du sujet, il est utile de rappeler succinctement l'intuition fondamentale qui sous-tend toute l'infrastructure de ce vaste édifice juridico-éthique qu'est la loi juive, depuis ses plus anciens soubassements et jusqu'à ses plus récents sommets ; on peut résumer cette intuition d'un épigramme lapidaire : c'est Dieu, et non le Diable, qui réside dans les détails. En d'autres termes, la loi juive, prenant à rebours la critique paulinienne (laquelle rejetait, comme chacun sait, la Loi au profit de la Foi 2), affirme qu'aucun aspect de la vie n'est jamais trivial ni futile ; dans cette 1 Je signale la parution récente d'un excellent petit livre par François-Xavier Licari, Le Droit Talmudique, aux éditions Dalloz. En anglais et en hébreu, la littérature sur le sujet, accessible aux non-spécialistes, est nettement plus fournie. 2 Cf. Epître aux Galates 2:16.
Conference Presentations by Emmanuel Bloch
This paper is a first draft of a research aiming at re-assessing Radatz Hoffmann's attitude towar... more This paper is a first draft of a research aiming at re-assessing Radatz Hoffmann's attitude toward modern academic study of the Torah. By pointing out nuances and complexities that have been so far neglected by the scholars who have dealt with the topic, I claim that Hoffmann adopted consciously, or was influenced unconsciously, by the modern academic methods of Bible studies, to a much greater extent than realized until now. Consequences for understanding Hoffmann's intellectual endeavors are discussed in conclusion.
On the face of it, the halakhic principle " Dina de-Malkhuta Dina " seems to be pure Diasporic La... more On the face of it, the halakhic principle " Dina de-Malkhuta Dina " seems to be pure Diasporic Law. First formally articulated in the Babylonian Talmud (but with likely roots in earlier strata of the halakhic literature), it originally served as a rule of recognition, enabling Jewish law to validate the power of foreign rulers to tax their subjects and, when necessary, expropriate their land. At a time when Jewish sovereignty seemed lost for the long term, " Dina " has proved itself to be one of the most efficient tools employed by rabbinic authorities in order to ensure that halakha remains functional even in Exile. This principle has been, in recent decades, the subject of intensive research, undertaken by both traditional and academic scholars (without claiming to be exhaustive, the following names come to mind: Rabbis Shlomo Goren, Ovadia Hadaya, Shaul Yisraeli, Ovadia Yosef, on the one hand; and Professors Gerald Blidstein, Arye Edrei, Eliav Schochetman, and Shmuel Shilo, on the other hand). Unsurprisingly, a good deal of this scholarly interest has focused on a cluster of issues generally falling under the broad category of " Religion and State " , especially in the context of the Israeli state: some of the topics analyzed include, for instance, whether Jewish law recognizes modern-day Israel as a " kingdom " and views consequently its law as binding? Alternatively, whether it is possible to construct a halakhic obligation for the Jewish state to abide by international standards of war (ius in bello)? This paper will retrace how the medieval theorizations of the principle, and especially the approach characteristic of Rashi (eleventh-century, France), took progressively a life of their own, eventually threatening to render inapplicable large swathes of the halakhic system, especially in early modern times. At the same time, and somewhat paradoxically, the reduction of the Jewish law's practical scope, which resulted from the intrinsic dynamism of the principle " Dina de-Malkhuta Dina " , has opened new opportunities for those traditional authorities desirous to allow the Jewish nation-state to become a member of the global community of nations, and to base this opening on the Jewish particularistic system of norms. Thus, the pluralistic model of the Jewish law that Dina intrinsically posits, at least in the mind of some its early medieval theorizers, became a primary tool in grounding a basis for the recognition of international sources of norms (treaties, codes, customs, …) and eventually the full integration of the Jewish law into the international public law.
Antisemitism is as ancient as the Jews themselves; and just like the object of its hatred, it has... more Antisemitism is as ancient as the Jews themselves; and just like the object of its hatred, it has always managed to accommodate to the different epochs, cultures, and countries in which it successfully rooted itself. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the hatred of the Jews mutated to adopt new forms, more in line with the modern sensitivities of the time. For the first time, anti-Semites tried to justify their hatred of the Jews based on " scientific " or " rational " considerations. Among these new lines or arguments, one emerging form of modern antisemitism is of special interest for this paper; it consisted in the reorientation, but with a modernist slant in accord with the sentiments of the day, of the age-old attacks heaped, since immemorial times, upon the Talmud and the Jewish Law. This new wave of criticisms on Halakha preceded the Emancipation, in some cases at least, by a few decades, but the enterprise was pursued with renewed vigor after the Jews became full-fledged citizens of their countries of residence. Their authors were sometimes scholars, orientalists, or more generally members of the local intelligentsia, like August Rohling, Johannes Gildesmeister, or Jakob Ecker; at other times, they were apostate Jews bent on criticizing their previous faith community, like Aaron Israel Brimann, a Romanian Jew converted to Christianity, and others. While the attacks sometime differed markedly in terms of form, medium, and scope of the arguments, their purpose was essentially the same: to denounce Jewish Law as particularistic, discriminatory, and anti-Christian; to affirm that the Jews necessarily became corrupted by the immoral nature of their traditional legal texts, and that they intrinsically lacked, as a result, the capacity to become German citizens. In other words, their goal was not, as in the Middle-Ages, to fan the flames of Jew-hatred, but rather, and perhaps in a sense more ambitiously, to disqualify the Jews from being active participants in one the essential civilizational projects of modernity – the nation-state. This paper will present briefly some of the main critiques leveled at the halakhic system but will essentially focus on the rejoinders authored by the Jewish thinkers of the time.
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Papers by Emmanuel Bloch
The first part consists of a diachronic analysis showing that the same prohibition has been conceptualized in two distinct ways (“paradigms”), as well as two slightly less important subvariants, in the relevant sources. The second part frames the unfolding evolution of the interdiction within two ongoing, important scholarly discussions on rabbinic thought.
Taking up the question of the relationship between Jews and Christians, the significance of which had become critical in an era during which Jews enjoyed full equality (in law, if not always in fact), this paper will focus specifically on the perception of Bismarckian Germany, its institutions and representatives, in the eyes of Hoffmann and of neo-Orthodox Jewry .
The analysis will pursue a double objective: first, to suggest here that Hoffmann’s teshuvot can serve as a window, giving us a rare, and almost unauthorized, glimpse into his personal Weltanschauung; and second, and on a deeper lever, to illustrate how Hoffmann’s decision-making was, consciously or unconsciously, profoundly influenced by his positive self-identification with the German Fatherland, to the point where his jurisprudence departed from all known precedents on two crucial issues which were presented to him.
Ecrit en allemand, l'ouvrage avait pour objectif affiché de défendre la loi juive, laquelle était alors régulièrement vilipendée par la critique antisémite. Mais il sera démontré que les enjeux du livre étaient en fait bien plus vastes, et touchaient aux fondements de l'ethos religieux judéo-allemand. Apres avoir restitué le contexte de l'oeuvre et mis en exergue le dilemme présenté alors aux dirigeants orthodoxes allemands, nous examinerons tour à tour les objectifs fixés par Hoffmann à son ouvrage, sa manière de présenter son argumentation, ainsi que ses conclusions principales ; finalement, dans le but de faire ressortir la spécificité de l'ouvrage, nous comparerons l'approche de Hoffmann à celle de quatre autres penseurs éminents de la même époque, lesquels furent tous confrontés au même problème.
* * * * *
The goal of this article will be to analyze, for the first time in an academic setting, a book penned by a prestigious German Rabbi of the second half of the 19 th century, David Tzvi Hoffmann (1843-1921).
Written in German, the book's objective was to defend the Jewish Law, which was then regularly reviled by the anti-Semitic critique. But it will be shown that the book's stakes were much more significant, and touched upon the very foundation of the religious Judeo-German ethos.
This perception was not limited, as was heretofore widely believed, to a begrudging post factum admission of the validity of the German approach, coupled with a strict limitation of its acceptability to the context of nineteenth century Germany. On the contrary, a close inspection of the relevant sources reveals a number of patterns and marked shifts in reaction over the period considered, as both Western and Eastern Jewries were variously affected by social evolution and historical events.
Beyond the question of the apprehension of German orthodoxy by Eastern European religious leaders, this article sheds light on the complex interactions between Western and Eastern Jewries and on the evolution of Orthodox Judaism.
Books by Emmanuel Bloch
Conference Presentations by Emmanuel Bloch
The first part consists of a diachronic analysis showing that the same prohibition has been conceptualized in two distinct ways (“paradigms”), as well as two slightly less important subvariants, in the relevant sources. The second part frames the unfolding evolution of the interdiction within two ongoing, important scholarly discussions on rabbinic thought.
Taking up the question of the relationship between Jews and Christians, the significance of which had become critical in an era during which Jews enjoyed full equality (in law, if not always in fact), this paper will focus specifically on the perception of Bismarckian Germany, its institutions and representatives, in the eyes of Hoffmann and of neo-Orthodox Jewry .
The analysis will pursue a double objective: first, to suggest here that Hoffmann’s teshuvot can serve as a window, giving us a rare, and almost unauthorized, glimpse into his personal Weltanschauung; and second, and on a deeper lever, to illustrate how Hoffmann’s decision-making was, consciously or unconsciously, profoundly influenced by his positive self-identification with the German Fatherland, to the point where his jurisprudence departed from all known precedents on two crucial issues which were presented to him.
Ecrit en allemand, l'ouvrage avait pour objectif affiché de défendre la loi juive, laquelle était alors régulièrement vilipendée par la critique antisémite. Mais il sera démontré que les enjeux du livre étaient en fait bien plus vastes, et touchaient aux fondements de l'ethos religieux judéo-allemand. Apres avoir restitué le contexte de l'oeuvre et mis en exergue le dilemme présenté alors aux dirigeants orthodoxes allemands, nous examinerons tour à tour les objectifs fixés par Hoffmann à son ouvrage, sa manière de présenter son argumentation, ainsi que ses conclusions principales ; finalement, dans le but de faire ressortir la spécificité de l'ouvrage, nous comparerons l'approche de Hoffmann à celle de quatre autres penseurs éminents de la même époque, lesquels furent tous confrontés au même problème.
* * * * *
The goal of this article will be to analyze, for the first time in an academic setting, a book penned by a prestigious German Rabbi of the second half of the 19 th century, David Tzvi Hoffmann (1843-1921).
Written in German, the book's objective was to defend the Jewish Law, which was then regularly reviled by the anti-Semitic critique. But it will be shown that the book's stakes were much more significant, and touched upon the very foundation of the religious Judeo-German ethos.
This perception was not limited, as was heretofore widely believed, to a begrudging post factum admission of the validity of the German approach, coupled with a strict limitation of its acceptability to the context of nineteenth century Germany. On the contrary, a close inspection of the relevant sources reveals a number of patterns and marked shifts in reaction over the period considered, as both Western and Eastern Jewries were variously affected by social evolution and historical events.
Beyond the question of the apprehension of German orthodoxy by Eastern European religious leaders, this article sheds light on the complex interactions between Western and Eastern Jewries and on the evolution of Orthodox Judaism.
On Monday, January 3rd, join me, Emmanuel Bloch, Elli Fischer, Adam Ferziger and others at Bar-Ilan University for a special conference marking a century since the death of this incredible figure -- to study his life, intellectual gifts, and the questions and ideas left to us today.