Description
Book SynopsisIn Law’s Dominion, Jay Berkovitz offers a novel approach to the history of early modern Jewry. Set in the city of Metz, on the Moselle river, this study of a vibrant prerevolutionary community draws on a wide spectrum of legal sources that tell a story about community, religion, and family that has not been told before. Focusing on the community’s leadership, public institutions, and judiciary, this study challenges the assumption that Jewish life was in a steady state of decline before the French Revolution. To the contrary, the evidence reveals a robust community that integrated religious values and civic consciousness, interacted with French society, and showed remarkable signs of collaboration between Jewish law and the French judicial system. In Law’s Dominion, Jay Berkovitz has gathered and meticulously mined a dazzling array of rich and complex rabbinic texts and records from Western Europe during the early modern period, including the pinkas of the rabbinic court of Metz that he previously rescued from oblivion. What emerges is a remarkably fresh depiction and incisive comparative treatment of central aspects of Jewish law, religion and family, which will have far-reaching ramifications for all future studies in these disciplines. -Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry University Professor of Jewish History, Literature, and Law at Yeshiva University
Table of ContentsContents Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Maps Introduction Part 1: Foundations 1 Writing Jewish History through a Legal Lens Rabbinic Responsa Literature Communal Registers (Pinkasim) Lay and Rabbinic Court Records Law as a Cultural System The Production of the Metz Pinkas Beit Din 2 The Foundations of the Metz Kehillah Return of the Jews to France and the Establishment of the Metz Community Ritual and Identity Material Culture Economic Integration Part 2: Community, Governance, Authority 3 Communal Autonomy and Governance Electoral and Administrative Procedures Consumption and Social Status Poverty and Social Welfare Juridical Autonomy and Recourse to Non-Jewish Courts Policing Religious and Cultural Boundaries 4 Lay and Rabbinic Judicial Authority Lay and Rabbinic Tribunals Sources of Law Judicial Procedure Functions of the Beit Din 5 Navigating the Challenges of Multiple Jurisdictions Language Production of Bi-lingual Documents Patterns of Litigation in the Beit Din Judicial Behavior of the Metz Beit Din The Acquaintance of the Beit Din with French Law and Judicial Procedure Navigating the Two Systems The Impact of French Law on Rabbinic Jurisprudence Part 3: Family Affairs 6 Guardianship and Inheritance Guardianship Inheritance Testamentary Charity 7 Women, Marriage, and Property Betrothal and Marriage Marital Property Women in Credit and Commerce 8 Conclusion and Epilogue Glossary Bibliography Index
