Modalities in Medieval Jewish Law for Public Order and Safety
Stephen M. Passamaneck
Modalities in Medieval Jewish Law includes chapters on punitive modalities, preventive and coercive modalities, and protective modalities, as well as appendixes on “A Plea for Calm,” “The Arresting Officer,” and “Human Rights and Kavod Habriut” and a comprehensive bibliography. Passamaneck’s discussion exposes some of the less exalted or inspiring episodes of medieval Jewish history.
The Canonization of a Myth
Martin A. Cohen
An adequate reconstruction of the “Marrano phenomenon” (the life of the New Christians) requires knowledge of a variety of documents. The many inquisitional trial records comprise the most important, but are only a fraction of all the primary documents necessary for the complex picture of New Christians. Cohen contributes to this picture by examining a critical document hitherto largely unfamiliar to the scholarly world, the Report from the Assembly of Tomar.
The Pennsylvania Old Assyrian Texts
W. C. Gwaltney
W. C. Gwaltney, Jr. helps to rectify this situation by providing transliterations and translations of the 82 tablets and fragments that constitute the collection of unpublished Old Assyrian texts in the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, together with notes and indices, giving scholars from a wide variety of disciplines interested in ancient economies access to these valuable primary texts.
Sumerian Hymnology: The Ersemma
Mark E. Cohen
Mark E. Cohen discusses the characteristics of the ersemma genre and its evolution, the circumstances of its composition, and the cultic setting in which it was typically used. He also provides a catalog of examples as well as transliterations and translations of selected texts with commentary.
The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah
Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
In this landmark study, Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi presents the Lisbon Massacre as one chapter in the history of alliances between Jews and the powers that have ruled over them. Through an exploration of Jewish attitudes and their consequences at this important juncture in Jewish history, he uncovers the “myth of the royal alliance” in the thought of Ibn Verga and others. He offers a fresh review of available data on the course of the pogrom and relates it to the Shebet Yehudah.