Jews, Christians and Muslims, Peoples of the Book, shared a common basis of their religious beliefs in the Jewish Bible aka the Old Testament. Recognising the two older systems as precursors to their own, Muslims granted freedom of worship to Jews and Christians within their dominions. The importance of canonic scriptures within these three related traditions set them apart from all cultures (Christopher Allen, The Australian 7/3/24).
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Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed,
The biblical scriptures were represented by a handsome Torah scroll which spoke of the global spread of Jewish culture: it was copied in the C17th in Kaifeng China, where a C10th Jewish community migrated from the Middle East. There were no images, but several displays showed how the sacred scriptures were used in everyday life.
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The exhibition also showed that marginal illustrations-micrography could be acceptable if they took the form of figures composed of tiny words, of textual commentary. In an C18th collection of prayers books, less sacred than the Torah itself, some remarkable illuminations included a view of Moses bringing Tablets of the Law from Mt Sinai.
The exhibition offered insights into the complex cultural interactions and exchanges between the Jews and others among whom they lived, often in the East. Thus there were stories and poems in Judaeo-Persian, Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Urdu, all written in Hebrew.
A maths treatise was written in Judaeo-Arabic and annotated in the margin in Arabic, showing the importance of linguistic and cultural exchange here. Hebrew itself had only been read by scholars since Hellenistic times, but the translation of Avicenna’s Canon medicinae into Hebrew endowed the language with a new medical and scientific vocabulary.
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All of these Sephardic texts were from Oriental, North African and Iberian authors. But after the expulsions from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s, the texts were later relocated to England and Holland. The central and eastern European Jewish tradition was called Ashkenazi. One Ashkenazi book was written in Hebrew letters but used Yiddish-German words.
There were works by the clever medieval Jewish philosopher, Maimonides. But Jewish intellectual life leant more to legalistic commentary than to philosophy, and over time commentaries accumulated. But unlike the Muslims, the Jews embraced printing when it was invented (C15th) and one display showed the ingenious way that the main commentaries were laid out around the sacred text itself.
In this exhibition several Jewish books were on mystical kabbala which fascinated Christian intellectuals. And there were important texts that bore witness to the Hebrew texts being subject to censors’ examination; they made sure the texts did not contain any anti-Christian ideas. Censorship was usually carried out by Jews who’d converted to Christianity, since reading Hebrew was difficult for Christians. See some Hebrew texts annotated with censors’ signatures.
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Spain, 1325-74
British Library
ALL civilisations had books of religious doctrine, scripture, wisdom and mythology. The Greeks had a body of Homeric and other hymns, but Greek religious belief was always evolving. The Indians had many sacred books, from several related religious traditions. The Chinese had the ancient divinatory texts, plus the different teachings of Confucius and Lao Tzu. But only the 3 Peoples of the Book developed a strict canon in which every sacrosanct word was credited to divine revelation. Such a strict approach to scripture favoured continuity, but also promoted orthodox thinking.
The role of the Book in ensuring the continuity of tradition was central. In the centuries after the Roman Empire fell, the Bible became the vehicle for culture and cohesion AND largely the only vehicle for calligraphy and illumination. In the Jewish and Islamic worlds there was an even greater emphasis on the writing of the word, since images were limited by the 2nd Commandment.
All books were portable, but the Bible was the one sacred text carried across the world. Pre-literate cultures were often tied to specific locations; but books allowed culture to be carried and established wherever people settled. The portability of culture was important in the history of Jews. Considering the centrality of the Promised Land in their tradition, they survived for a lot of their history in exile, until their return to their ancestral homeland. Being exiled from Israel seemed to have strengthened Jewish identity!
But even in Israel itself, Jews lived largely under foreign colonialisation: Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs or Turks. After the Temple’s destruction by Titus in 70 AD, the Jews spread across the Roman Empire. There were already large communities in cities like Alexandria where the Bible had been translated from Hebrew to Greek 250 BC. Life under these foreign masters was difficult, and Jews had to maintain their own identity and strict code of laws, while complying with local laws.
Jewish communities also faced persecutions, riots and expulsions. Christians knew that their religion was founded on Judaism, as was their Old Testament. But they believed that Christ’s birth led to a new honour, and that the Jews were persisting in obsolete beliefs. Many Christians blamed Jews for executing Christ, although in strict Christian theology the death was necessary to bring salvation into the world. Other ancient peoples lost their identity via intermarriage with other ethnic groups; only the Jews remained substantially the same people they’d been in antiquity.
Luminous: Thousand years of Hebrew manuscripts was a cool exhibition in Melbourne using 37 volumes lent by the British Library, illustrating the beauty and importance of Hebrew texts related to life, culture, science, religion, philosophy, music & magic. They were part of its Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word Exhibition, 2020. Plus there were loans from the Jewish Museum of Australia, private collections and State Library’s Rare Books.
The role of the Book in ensuring the continuity of tradition was central. In the centuries after the Roman Empire fell, the Bible became the vehicle for culture and cohesion AND largely the only vehicle for calligraphy and illumination. In the Jewish and Islamic worlds there was an even greater emphasis on the writing of the word, since images were limited by the 2nd Commandment.
All books were portable, but the Bible was the one sacred text carried across the world. Pre-literate cultures were often tied to specific locations; but books allowed culture to be carried and established wherever people settled. The portability of culture was important in the history of Jews. Considering the centrality of the Promised Land in their tradition, they survived for a lot of their history in exile, until their return to their ancestral homeland. Being exiled from Israel seemed to have strengthened Jewish identity!
But even in Israel itself, Jews lived largely under foreign colonialisation: Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs or Turks. After the Temple’s destruction by Titus in 70 AD, the Jews spread across the Roman Empire. There were already large communities in cities like Alexandria where the Bible had been translated from Hebrew to Greek 250 BC. Life under these foreign masters was difficult, and Jews had to maintain their own identity and strict code of laws, while complying with local laws.
Jewish communities also faced persecutions, riots and expulsions. Christians knew that their religion was founded on Judaism, as was their Old Testament. But they believed that Christ’s birth led to a new honour, and that the Jews were persisting in obsolete beliefs. Many Christians blamed Jews for executing Christ, although in strict Christian theology the death was necessary to bring salvation into the world. Other ancient peoples lost their identity via intermarriage with other ethnic groups; only the Jews remained substantially the same people they’d been in antiquity.
Luminous: Thousand years of Hebrew manuscripts was a cool exhibition in Melbourne using 37 volumes lent by the British Library, illustrating the beauty and importance of Hebrew texts related to life, culture, science, religion, philosophy, music & magic. They were part of its Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word Exhibition, 2020. Plus there were loans from the Jewish Museum of Australia, private collections and State Library’s Rare Books.
The biblical scriptures were represented by a handsome Torah scroll which spoke of the global spread of Jewish culture: it was copied in the C17th in Kaifeng China, where a C10th Jewish community migrated from the Middle East. There were no images, but several displays showed how the sacred scriptures were used in everyday life.
Torah scroll,
Kaifeng China, 17th century,
British Library
The exhibition offered insights into the complex cultural interactions and exchanges between the Jews and others among whom they lived, often in the East. Thus there were stories and poems in Judaeo-Persian, Judaeo-Arabic and Judaeo-Urdu, all written in Hebrew.
A maths treatise was written in Judaeo-Arabic and annotated in the margin in Arabic, showing the importance of linguistic and cultural exchange here. Hebrew itself had only been read by scholars since Hellenistic times, but the translation of Avicenna’s Canon medicinae into Hebrew endowed the language with a new medical and scientific vocabulary.
Astronomical tables,
Southern France or Spain, C15th,
British Library
There were works by the clever medieval Jewish philosopher, Maimonides. But Jewish intellectual life leant more to legalistic commentary than to philosophy, and over time commentaries accumulated. But unlike the Muslims, the Jews embraced printing when it was invented (C15th) and one display showed the ingenious way that the main commentaries were laid out around the sacred text itself.
In this exhibition several Jewish books were on mystical kabbala which fascinated Christian intellectuals. And there were important texts that bore witness to the Hebrew texts being subject to censors’ examination; they made sure the texts did not contain any anti-Christian ideas. Censorship was usually carried out by Jews who’d converted to Christianity, since reading Hebrew was difficult for Christians. See some Hebrew texts annotated with censors’ signatures.
Sloan Haggadah for Passover
Germany, 1740
State Library Victoria
image created from micrography
quirkbooks
Micrography was an art form unique to Judaism that developed during the Middle Ages, when illuminations were frowned up. Here reading, writing, and imagery come together in one, particularly in Spain and Portugal. Each letter might have been only 1 mm high.
Many thanks to Christopher Allen in The Australian and Victorian State Library.