Download pdf - Volume V, DIVISION V: RESEARCH PROJECTS-REPORTS AND ARTICLES BASED ON THE PROJECTS' FINDINGS; JEWISH DEMOGRAPHY / כרך ה, חטיבה ה: מפעלי מחקר בתחום מדעי

World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדות

ABSTRACTS OF ARTICLES IN THE HEBREW SECTIONSource: Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעיVolume V, DIVISION V: RESEARCH PROJECTS-REPORTS AND ARTICLES ,היהדות, כרך הBASED ON THE PROJECTS' FINDINGS; JEWISH DEMOGRAPHY / כרך ה, חטיבה ה: מפעלימחקר בתחום מדעי היהדות: דינים-וחשבונות ומאמרים מדעיים, המבוססים על תוצאות מפעליהמחקר; מאמרים בדמוגרפיה יהודיתpp. 55-77 תשכ"ט / 1969Published by: World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדותStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23524095 .

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ABSTRACTS OF ARTICLES

IN THE HEBREW SECTION



ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF AN ARTICLE IN THE

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY

Z. Ben-Hayyim, Jerusalem

The major task of a historical language dictionary is to provide the

biography of each dictionary item from its first appearance in the

language, in written form, until the closing of the dictionary. The task calls for the existence of all the appropriate records, extracted from the

sources, in the hands of the editors. Connected with this is the necessity for a precise placement of the items in chronological order, so that an

early form of the work will always precede later forms, The difficulty with a timetable applies particularly to the early period in the Hebrew

language, defined as the era from the end of the Biblical until the end of the Gaonic age (approximately 1050 A.D.), wherein the lexicographer and the historian of the language find it difficult to pinpoint the exact time location of a particular source. One reason is the fact that the sources

from which the dictionary items are derived often could be attributed to different periods.

An example is the material taken from the Tannaitic literature placed in the dictionary under period 0-300) ד A.D.) but quoted in the Talmud im (the תותיירב ), a literary source placed under period 300-600) ה

A.D.). The question therefore is the correct chronological placement suitable for an item taken from the תותיירב.

For the purposes of the lexicographer and the historian a distinction was made between three kinds of 1 :תיתיירב. The first type are

which appear in the Talmudim in the same form as in a תותיירב

Tannaitic source. 2. תותיירב which have their parallels in the Tan

naitic sources but are linguistically and stylistically different versions

of the same thing. 3. תותיירב which are the sole source for the Tannai

tic expression. The differentiation allows several ways of treatment. A quotation of

the first kind can be placed within the fourth chronological period, and, in cases of changes they can be presented as variae lectiones (by the citat

ion of the sources and the period ה )• Quotations falling under the second

and third categories should be catalogued in period ה, even though the

material comes from the Tannaitic period ד since linguistically it

cannot be attributed with certainty to the period ד. And by this rule the

of the Amoraim fail to present a special chronological תותיירב

problem for the dictionary.

57



58 ABSTRACTS

The above suggestion still leaves some chronological difficulties

standing. The paper shows how at times a later source (for example the Talmud versus a Tannatic source) preserves a linguistic form or an

ancient expression in contrast to what is presented by even earlier sources, whose manuscripts failed to maintain the original form. The very deter

mination of what is early or late in matters of language development of expression can be sometimes done by external sources only.

And therefore, in order to present the historical evolution correctly,

according to standards and opinions acceptable in linguistic research, the suggestion is here made to add, whenever necessary, a special rubric

'historical evaluation' of the material for a given item.

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREPARATION

OF DICTIONARY MATERIAL ON THE BASIS OF

MANUSCRIPTS

I. Yeivin, Jerusalem

The work of transcribing material gathered for the Historical Diction

ary of the Hebrew language of the Hebrew Language Academy is done

according to manuscripts rather than printed material. In this the task is

similar to that of a text editor who also works according to manuscripts. There are, however, two differences between him and the editor of a

dictionary. The editor of a text treats the work as a whole, but generally such works are not homogeneous. In most cases the version is ecclectic,

requiring corrections and completions which are done on the basis of other manuscripts. The dictionary editor deals with a citation only within its context, i.e. a passage. The passage must be homogeneous. Only thus is it listed under the title of one source and one manuscript. Secondly, the text editor is interested in the whole work and would like to present it to the reader in its completeness. The editor of a dictionary is more

likely to be satisfied with a selection from it, which seems to him impor tant to represent the language of this work or of its period.

This type of approach to manuscripts determines several matters in the working method.

1. The manuscripts on which the work of the dictionary is based, while in general containing words or forms more ancient than those found in printed material, are generally in worse condition, full of material defects (torn or unclear) and bearing traces of corrections done by dif



ABSTRACTS 59

ferent readers. Therefore the text which is the base of the dictionary work exhibits signs of deterioration, letters which are difficult to decipher, additions made by correctors, etc., and in general is less clear than the

printed version.

2. Usually the dictionary editor does not add completions, corrections

and such to the final version, even if there are deletions and errors. The

reason is that if additions were written into the text, on the basis of

other manuscripts or personal judgment, the uniqueness of the passage would be undermined, since a passage which contains secondary additions

on the basis of other manuscripts is no longer homogeneous. Even in cases where all the manuscripts of a source are damaged

such as in the Piyyutim or the Midrashim from the Geniza, which are

preserved in fragmented manuscripts, for the purposes of the dictionary each version of a manuscript is transcribed by itself, and the versions

are located next to each other. The dictionary editor does not compile one version out of two or more different transmissions, since in such a

compilation the passages would lack uniformity. 3. When working on the transcription of the varia lectiones, after a

certain passage was recorded according to one manuscript, and in ano

ther manuscript there is an important variation to one or more words

of the main passage, the dictionary worker does not insert this variation

into the passage, since in such a method the passage will no longer be

homogeneous, as it will contain words copied from two (or more)

manuscripts. The variations are transcribed in the dictionary work as

independent homogeneous passages, which are located next to the main

passage, but contain a context of their own, according to the manuscript and from which this variation was transcribed.

RESEARCH IN THE VOCABULARY OF MODERN

HEBREW LITERATURE

R. Mirkin, Jerusalem

Research in the vocabulary of modern Hebrew literature (from 1750 till

today) began in February 1969. By June 1972 fifty-nine sources were

examined thoroughly, containing 760,000 words, and seven additional

sources are being processed currently, with 150,000 works in them.

The material includes all types of literature: pure fiction, scientific public

ations, the press, Hassidic literature, publicism, letters, etc.



60 ABSTRACTS

One of the sources whose examination has been completed is the

first Hebrew story of Shalom Yaacov Abromovitz (Mendele Mocher

Sefarim) whose title is םינבהו תובאה ("Fathers and Sons") in

its triple version (1862, 1868 and 1912), containing 112,197 words.

The processing of this material yielded an amazing amount of dictionary material, till now unused. Some of the innovations are dealt with

in the article (section b-d). The last section deals with the quantitative factor, the difficulties of which are most pronounced in the collection of

material from modern Hebrew literature. One of the most complex questions deals with the selection of sources worthy of representing the modern Hebrew language in the historical dictionary.

Even the sources which are going to be processed automatically demand selection and classification before they can be presented to

the editors of the dictionary. A catalogue of 10,000,000 quotations might perhaps include 1,500,000

quotations for the ten most common lemmata. What follows are several

examples of the ways in which the material was selected and classified.

ISRAELI ARCHIVES —A GENERAL SURVEY

A. Bein, Jerusalem

This paper is meant as an introduction to the papers of my colleagues Dr. P. Alsberg (State Archives), Dr. M. Heymann (Zionist Archives), Dr. D. Carpi (Archives on the history of Jews in general), Dr. Y. Bauer

(Archives and Research on the period of the Holocaust). Its intention is to give a general survey of the historical archives in Israel as a common

project, their history and organization, their achievements and shortcom

ings, their plans for the future, their place in the life and historical con sciousness of the people in this country as well as the relations to similar

projects in the diaspora and the archive-systems of other countries.

Jewish Archives as part of administrative bodies in Israel and in the

Diaspora have a long tradition, but organized historical archives are of a more recent date. Whereas in Europe historical archives were organ ized, following the first Archival Law adopted in France during the French Revolution, in the course of the 19th century, the first organized Jewish historical archives came into existence only with the foundation of the Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden in 1906 and the Zionist Archives in 1919, both in Berlin. The transfer of the Zionist Archives to Jerusalem



ABSTRACTS 61

in 1934 marks the beginning of organized historical archives in Palestine. All the other archives founded here since that time (or even a short while

before it) were decisively influenced by its work and guidance.

A new period opened with the foundation of the State Archives shortly after the State of Israel came into being and with the adoption (in 1955) of the Archives Law and the putting of its provisions into effect system

atically since 1956-1957. This law, which is one of the most comprehen sive of its kind, tries to combine the advantages of Western and of East

European conceptions. It comprises in its framework all existing types of archives in the country: governmental, municipal, public and private

archives, and all stages of archival practice, from the first filing of the

record in the registries till the destruction of worthless material and the

preservation of historical records in the archives. At the same time it

does not unduly infringe on the rights of private persons and public bodies

to which certain archives belong, and avoids coercion as far as possible. A large part of the work of organizing and coordination is performed on a voluntary basis through the Israel Archives Association, which was

founded in 1956. It has as its members all Israeli Archives and their

professional staff. A general Guide to the collections of the Israel Archives

has been published by this Association.

One of the most important achievements of the Israeli Archives

Administation is the coordination of activities between the different

archives as well as between them and the archival departments of the

libraries.

Most archives in Israel keep not only records created in the country but also those which originate in the countries of the Diaspora. The

work of the archives is therefore in not a small measure dependent on

the cooperation of the relevant administrative, archival and research

bodies in the Jewish Diaspora as well as of the State Archives and other

public archives in many countries, which hold important supplementary documentation.

The Central Administration of the Archives together with the Hebrew

University and the Israel Archives Association organizes training courses

both on an academic and on a more techincal level. It takes an active

part in the work of the International Council on Archives, and in its

conventions it supported from the outset the liberalization of access to

archives. Its contribution was recognized by the International Council

by inviting representatives of the Israeli Archives as panelists in the

International Archives Conferences and Congresses and by electing the



61 ABSTRACTS

State Archivist as a member of its Executive Board and of the Editorial

Board of its official periodical Archivum.

In planning for the future, special attention will be given to the prob lems of publishing guides, collecting documents and strengthening the

connection between archival and historical research institutions in the

diaspora and in Israel as a centre of historical documentation and research

including the training of archivists not only for Israel but for Jewish

archives all over the world.

THE STATE AND MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES IN ISRAEL

P. A. Alsberg, Jerusalem

The system of national and municipal archives began to organize itself atfer the establishment of the State. The archival material for the

period of Turkish rule or the British Mandate, as far as it survived, was

a part of registries or secretarial services, and archives with scholarly, historical interest developed only after the establishment of Israel.

The lack of archives, under the impact of governmental changes in 1917

and again in 1948 resulted in the loss of or removal of a great deal of

valuable material.

The military archives were the first governmental archives, established

in 1948 by order of the Ministry of Defense. Their task was to gather the archival material on the War of Independence, the armed forces and

the defense organizations which preceded it.

A year after the establishment of these archives the government secretariat and the Prime Minister's office established the State Archives

{Ganzakh Hamedina; August 1949). Their first task was to organize the

extensive archival material of the former government institutions and

of the British mandatory association.

In 1955 the Law of Archives was passed defining the official position of the State Archives. Under the law the State Archivist supervises not

only the archival material of state agencies and municipal authorities

but also in general the records of government corporations, most of

which are economic institutions. The activities of the archives were to

include as well the systematic cataloguing of documents, duplicated or

printed, published by state agencies or local authorities. The State Archi

ves today contain about seven kilometers of files and publications made



ABSTRACTS 63

up of forty million documents, reflecting the life of the people in Eretz Israel for 120 years (1840-1960) from the political, social and economic

aspects. In order to replace missing government material — especially from

the Mandate period, and extensive project has begun of photographing the files of Eretz Israel in the Public Records Office in London. The State

Archives published a series of guides for researchers and most recently

began a mechanized treatment of archival material.

On the local level there is a difference between the institution of local

archives and the archival material of a locality. Archival material is

preserved in many settlements, most dating from the early 1900s. Local

archives are now in their infant stage. Many activities were conducted

in the last few years to encourage their establishment and the collection

of local archival material. Documentation on the period of settlement

and the beginning of local rule is available. The interested researcher

will find the relevant information in the archives of the institutions

active during the period or those administering or supervising the local

authorities.

ARCHIVES FOR THE HISTORY OF ZIONISM

M. Heymann, Jerusalem

The archives in Israel devoted to the history of Zionism and the Yishuv consist of the Central Zionist Archives and the archives of three groups of institutions: (a) historical archives of organizations representing a

specific ideology; (b) historical archives of professional/economic or

ganizations; (c) archives holding the papers of distinguished personages. The status and the functions of the Central Zionist Archives, as the his

torical archives of the Zionist movement, the Zionist Organization and

the Jewish Agency, were defined by the 24th Zionist Congress (1956). Most of the Zionist archives in categories (a) and (b) enjoy in practice a

similar status vis-a-vis their parent bodies.

Holdings and collections kept in these archives reflect the interterritorial

character and the geographical dispersion of the Zionist movement.

The various Zionist archives contain material produced in scores of

countries.

In order to safeguard its preservation, first priority has until recently been given to the acquistion of archival material. Only limited resources



64 ABSTRACTS

could be devoted to cataloguing publication of documents and other

ancillary activities.

Special efforts were made and continue to be made by the Zionist

archives in contrast to the practice of many state archives — to assemble

the private archives (or private papers) of leading personalities. These

private archives fill large gaps in the official records caused by the essenti

ally voluntary character of the Zionist movement and by the loss of

office files through negligence, revolutions and wars.

Since important material on the history of Zionism and the land of

Israel is preserved in foreign archives, Zionist archives in Israel have to

supplement their holdings through the acquisition of photocopies of

whole files and documents from abroad.

Libraries as well as collections of newspapers, irregular publications,

pictures (photographs), microfilms, tape recordings and cinema films,

supplement the main holdings of the various Zionist archives. Some

of these auxiliary collections are unique in their particular field.

To use Zionist documentary material properly and derive from it the

required information, researchers should familiarize themselves with

the ramified administrative set-up the Zionist Organization. They should

keep in mind that this documentary material was created within the org anizational farmework of a people on the way to statehood; it records the activities of diverse Zionist bodies, each having its specific functions.

Since procedures regulating the transfer of material from the filing

departments to the historical archives have by now been established, the

archives will, hopefully, henceforth devote a larger proportion of their

resources to the publication of research aids and documents, to the staging of exhibitions, and to research activities in general. Some noteworthy achievements in these fields can already be reported, among them the

publication of detailed lists describing the files of the Central Zionist offices in Vienna, Cologne and Berlin (covering the period 1897-1920); the publication of several volumes of Herzl's writings in Hebrew and of three volumes of Weizmann's letters in English, of Assufot, the journal of the "Labour Archives" as well as the setting up of museums and

permanent exhibitions by various archives, including the Herzl Museum, exhibitions at the Jabotinsky Institute, and at Yad Weizmann, etc.

The process of gathering material in the archives has not yet been com

pleted. There remain before us in this area not a few tasks.



ABSTRACTS 65

ARCHIVES AND RESEARCH ON THE HOLOCAUST

PERIOD

Y. Bauer, Shoval

The central archives housing material on the history of the Holocaust

are, of course, the Yad Vashem archives. Small archives dealing with

the same area are Moreshet and Lokhamei Hagetaot. These concentrate

mostly on material dealing with rebellion and opposition, but they include as well varied records on other aspects of the history of the

Holocaust. There is however, a significant number of other archives, whose main holdings are in other areas but which also house material

on the period of the Holocaust.

The Institute of Contemporary Jewry has begun to prepare an inclusive

guide to archival material on the Holocaust in Israel and abroad. This

work is now in progress and we hope to see its first fruits shortly. Ip the

not distant future the archives of Yad Vashem hope to present a classifi

cation of their many divisions which will complement the work of the guide. At our universities work is being conducted in the area of holocaust

research based on the archives in Israel. At the Hebrew University a

project in this area is being conducted trying to work over systematically different archival divisions under the framework of student papers.

From the point of view of desirability it should be mentioned that

organized work in this area is most difficult because of the great quantity of material and its special nature. A few years ago mechanization was

suggested in recording the material, to allow researchers amoreconve

nient approach to the papers he needs. There is justification for a re

newal of this suggestion and its speedy implementiation. The process of gathering material in the archives has not yet been

completed. More than a few tasks remain to be done.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY PROJECT FROM CONGRESS

TO CONGRESS

N. Ben-Menahem, Jerusalem

The Institute for Hebrew Bilbiography, which is completing its tenth

year, was founded by three bodies: The Hebrew University, Bialik

Institute at the Jewish Agency, and the Israel Ministry of Education and

Culture.



66 ABSTRACTS

Among the achievements and problems of the institute are: (a) com

pilation of a bibliography up to the letter'm', with an index of 72,000

cards; (b) the problem of spelling and copying foreign names; (c) a

record of haskamot and biographical notes on authors.

Regarding haskamot (point c above), the author illustrates his points.

WHAT MAKES ANTIQUE BOOKS SO RARE?

I. Mehlmann, Jerusalem

The term "rare book" describes volumes of which only a few copies have been preserved, usually in the best public libraries or private col

lections. The reasons for the rarity of Hebrew books can be grouped under four headings: 1. Time and events, 2. Place of publication, 3. Con

tent of the books, 4. External form.

1. Time destroys books and diminishes their number.

The first Hebrew books, almost 200 of them, printed up to the year 1500 are almost all extremely rare. The oldest Hebrew book with a

publication date, 1475, (Rashi's Commentary on theTorah) has survived

in one copy only, and in damaged form.

Not only time, but also timely events have taken their toll. The exile from Spain and Portugal, the decrees of 1648—1649 in the Ukraine, the civil wars at the beginning of the Russian Revolution and the Second World War are examples of it. In these periods the treasures of Hebrew

literature were destroyed. The persecutions of the Jews by the Catholic church in 1554 caused

the burning of many copies of the Talmud. 2. The place of publication is also significant. Printing establishments

that were concerned solely with local markets supplied a limited number of copies, as opposed to those located in the great commercial centers and interested in a world market. Thus books from Safed, Belucdere, Dels

Adrianople, Kurn—Tsheshme, from the 16th century or books from Cochin even in the 19th century (1877) are very rare.

3. Content of the book also determines its availability. Overusage destroyed most prayer books, the masechtot taught at Yeshivas, portions of the Bible—mainly the Pentateuch and the books of Psalms, and ancient Hassidic books (volumes of tales).

Secular books, popular among the people, such as travel accounts, chronicles, stories, interpretations of dreams and popular medical



Abstracts 61

books became scarce and disappeared because of their extensive use.

Popular literature written in the language of the people (Yiddish,

Ladino), suffered most because of overusage or neglect by scholars.

Two types of books were especially subject to persecution and destruct

ion because of their content — humorous works and polemics. 4. The printing form also influenced the fate of the book. Small books,

whether in size or number of copies were lost only a few years after

date of publication. Judgments, regulations or poetry books became

scarce or disappeared entirely. Small volumes which were printed in

limited editions on special occasions (Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, etc.) were rare from the day of publication. S. Y. Agnon published in Jerusalem

in 1933, the Hamitpachat in thirteen copies and achieved the limit in

the small number of copies printed. It should also be understood that often not one reason but a combin

ation of several factors can account for the rarity of a book.

THE RESPONSA INDICES AND THE INSTITUTE FOR

RESEARCH IN JEWISH LAW

M. Elon, Jerusalem

The report deals with the essence and meaning of the Responsa of

R. Asher B. Yehiel which were published by the Institute for Research

in Jewish Law of the Hebrew University. Following is an outline of the

main points in the report:

(1) Responsa literature and Jewish Law: a vast body of material, difficult for even the professional to work with; (2) Collections of indexed

responsa: books already indexed and books which are in the process of being indexed by members of the Institute; (3) the legal index, whose

main purpose is to deal with each question and answer, its comprehension and application of the principles and legal points inherent in it; (4) work

ing out a method for classifying Jewish Law; (5) index of sources,

vital to the study of Jewish law and halakhic literature; (6) use

of first editions and manuscripts; (7) make-up of the research staff

working on the index; (8) the use of computers in the research.

In summarizing the author reverts to the index of the Responsa, and

points out that the next project of the institute will deal with an index

of the Responsa literature of Spain and North Africa.



68 ABSTRACTS

MECHANIZED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL AS AN

AUXILIARY TOOL IN JEWISH LAW RESEARCH

A. S. Fraenkel, Rehovoth

The full text of the responsa of the Rivash was stored in a computer and various tests were performed on it for an experimental project in

legal information retrieval. The results reported include the following:

(i) Automatic generation of indexes. KWIC (Key-Word-in-Context) indexes were generated. These are indexes in which selected keywords,

arranged alphabetically, are displayed on consecutive lines of the page, each line containing a portion of the context of the keyword as it appears in the text. We also developed a method to generate indexes on some

special topics.

(ii) Mechanized searches. Our main results are in this field. Six searches

were conducted on the first 197 responsa of the Rivash, and four ad

ditional searches were run later on the totality of the responsa of the Riv

ash.

Every search was run just once. In the first search, which was of an

exploratory character, three out of five relevant responsa were retrieved.

To improve results of subsequent searches, new tools were developed at this stage which enabled employment of better controlled search

strategies.

In each of the other searches (except the third), all relevant responsa were retrieved as far as we know. The third search showed that the search

topic was not discussed in the text. This result is of course as important as that of obtaining all the relevant responsa in the other cases.

We obtained on the average 2.4 irrelevant responsa for each relevant

responsum. Tools such as KWIC indexes on those keyword combinations

causing retrieval of documents, enable the user to reject irrelevant ma

terial at a glance in most cases.

Our method avoids indexing completely. Indexing is always associated with loss and distortion of information and with the requirement of

professional manpower. Experience of one-and-a-half years shows that the pre-editing required for our method is at least 12 times as fast as that of the indexing required for the hierarchical index now produced manually by the Institute of Research in Jewish Law.

It is proposed to enlarge the present team so as to store a quarter of a million responsa within a relatively short period.

Possibilities for far-reaching improvements include embedding the



ABSTRACTS 69

system within a time-shared computing center so that the user can

communicate directly with the machine, and the use of an optical reader.

These developments are aimed at improving search results and at con

siderable shortening the time required for storing the data base.

ACTIVITIES AND PLANS OF THE FOLKLORE ARCHIVE

I. Ben-Ami, Jerusalem

(1) Burial rites among the Jews of North Africa: Analysis of burial

rites among North African Jews at the beginning of this century. The goals of the center are: (a) to collect data on all burial rites known

to North African Jews; (b) to compare these rituals with those of the Ar

abs and Berbers of the region, and to discover such interchange as may

exist; (c) to compare specific burial customs of North African Jewry to those which were practiced in the Biblical and Talmudic periods. The paper illustrated some of the findings of this research.

(2) Folk medicine in Israel: This research traces the methods of folk

medicine, and the beliefs connected with them.

THE OLDEST SETTLERS IN NORTH AFRICA IN THE PERIOD

OF THE SPANISH EXPULSION

M. Weinstein, Pet ah Tikvah

This research projects aims at a systematic recording of the information

in published Responsa literature on Jewish communities in the East, the names of their rabbis and leaders, their customs and their relations

with other Jewish diasporas. The part of the project dealt with in this

paper relates to the Responsa of North African rabbis, the main source

being the works of the rabbis of Algiers. When the Spanish exiles arrived in North Africa, they found remnants

of the North African Jewish population of pre-Almohad days, but we

have no information on North African Jewry under the Almohads and

their descendants until the second half of the 14th century. The flow of

information resumes, following the arrival of the refugees from the 1391

riots, headed by their rabbis Isaac bar Sheshet and Simon Ben Semah

Duran and their descendants.

The writings of the refugee rabbis contain questions relating to the



70 ABSTRACTS

local inhabitants, who acknowledged the superior learning of the scholars

newly arrived in Algeria and apparently accepted their spiritual and

religious leadership. A thorough examination of this Responsa literature reveals data

concerning the organisation and the economic, social and religious life

of the authochtonic population. The information gap of the time before

1391 is thus filled to some extent.

The first Spanish refugees went mainly to the Algerian coastal cities

and their surroundings, but the Responsa tell us also of an established

Jewish population away from the coast, extending as far as the oases of the

Sahara and including, inter alia, isolated Jews living among Arab tent

dwellers.

In spite of the distance and isolation, these ancient communities preser ved their Jewish tradition. They were strict about Mitzvot and the study of the Law, maintained a social-communal framework and had close

relations with the Jewish centres, especially the Algerian rabbis, whose

disciples would come to those remote outposts.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE BALKAN AND ISLAND

COMMUNITIES DURING THE SPANISH EXPULSION

S. Spitzer, Bnei Braq

Our brief survey is based on the indices of the research project on the

history of Eastern Jewry. The material was obtained from the Responsa literature of Eastern countries from the late 15th and early 16th centuries

onwards, such as the Responsa by R. Eliyahu Mizrahi, and his Responsa in Mayim 'Amuquim, Oholei Tarn by R. Tarn ben Yahya, Binyamin Ze'ev by Binyamin bar Matityahu and the Responsa of R. David Ha Cohen of Corfu, all these of Turkey and the Greek islands, and from the Responsa of R. Joseph Colon and R. Meir Padua, of the same period in Italy, who maintained close relations with the kehillot of the islands, then still under Venetian rule. A great deal of material was found on the kehillot of Constantinople and Salonika, Arta, Corfu, Venice and Ad

rianople, but fresh information was also obtained on smaller localities, such as Lepanto, Patras, Yanina and Trikkala.

We shall examine the composition of the various 'edot and kehalim referred to in the above-mentioned literature. We at first identified the various localities and ascertained the communal composition of their



ABSTRACTS 71

Jewish populations. As is known, most of the kehillot in the Ottoman

Empire had an old, established population of Romaniotes, Ashkenazim and also Italians; the determination of the existence, size and influence of these 'edot is one of our principal tasks. After the Expulsion from

Spain (1492) and the forced conversion (1497) in Portugal, these kehillot

were augmented by the exiles, which time and again led to intercommunal

difficulties and frictions.

An important place in that literature is occupied by the constitution

and social conditions of the kehalim. There are fundamental discussions

concerning haskamot (resolutions) and taqanot (regulations) and especially the procedure for making them. We know the spiritual and secular

leaders, their names and official titles, and the functionaries in the service

of the kehalim. Another important subject is the assessment and collection

of internal taxes and everything connected with it.

It should be stressed that everything contained in the paper is based on

the above-mentioned works. Research in this field is still in its initial

stages, and we can draw no final conclusions until we have examined, at least, the whole of the ramified responsa literature of the period and

area concerned.

INSTITUTE OF MICROFILMS OF HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS:

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PROJECTS

S. D. Loewinger, Jerusalem

The author reports on progress made in compiling the material of the

Institute since the Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies. He also dis

cusses the problems of editing and cataloging the material, while pointing out the projects being carried on jointly by the Institute and the Israel

Academy of Sciences: the Mishnah project, the piyyut and poetry in the Geniza project, the paleography project, the Bible project of the

Hebrew University, and the Research Project in Jewish Law, and others.

The report also mentions the cooperation with the Hebrew Language

Academy, with institutions within the framework of the National Library, with libraries and institutions abroad, and with private collectors.



ABSTRACTS 72

IDENTIFICATION OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE INSTITUTE OF

MICROFILMS OF HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS

E. Kupfer, Jerusalem

Out of the 23,000 manuscripts which are located in the institute (except the Geniza fragments), half were checked and identified. The vast major ity of the photographed manuscripts examined are without printed catalogues or even listings as manuscripts.

The article deals however with those manuscripts which are catalogued. The reason is the need fo a basic re-examination of the manuscripts or

their photographs. Only then will most of them remain useful to the

researcher and errors in identification or a complete lack of identification be avoided. Proof for such a need can be brought from manuscripts in

diverse fields, for example from the area of the Halacha:

The Responsa of the Maharam of Rottenburg went through many editions, including scientific editions, arranged by Rabbi Moses Arie Black (םימדרנ יציקמ edition) and Rabbi Isaac Zeev Kahane

(Rav Kook Insititute edition). For this purpose they dilligently collected the manuscripts these Responsa listed in the library catalogues. But it was enough for the transcriber of the Parma manuscript number 425 to call the transcribed collection םלוע ינואג ינוקת תובושתו תולאש for de-Rossi to list it under the heading of Gheonaerum Quaesita. Thus the manuscript which is identical with the Prague edition of the responsa 'disappeared' from the eyes of the researchers. And this manuscript is particularly rich in exact formulas and definitions. (Examples within the text). Other problems of this nature are discussed in the article.

Another example of the need for such a re-examination are manuscripts in the field of philosophy. The catalogues show that various libraries

possess manuscripts which contain short writings of Rabbi Eliahu Ben Eliezer from Kandia. On the basis of these sections several lines in the Hebrew Encyclopedia were devoted to him. In the manuscript the transcribers accorded him several titles of honour, calling him the divine

philosopher, the lofty sage, the grand philosopher. It is difficult to un derstand why such lofty titles were given to him. While checking his

writings I came across a manuscript (Paris number 1060) which clarified the mystery. On page 19 of the manuscript it states: "Conmentary on

Seven/chapters. . . from the teacher's book, commented by the sage Rabbi Elia the Jerusalemite." And at the end of the commentary the author states that he has finished



ABSTRACTS 73

this matter at the island of Kandia, "I, Elia, Ben Rabbi Eliezer." This

detail enabled us to identify the author of the Sefer Aderet Emuna

— to be found in the manuscripts of the Florence הנומא תרדא רפס

Lorenziana library (Or. 489). The title of the composition states that

"this book was written by the lofty philosopher, our rabbi Eliahu the

Jerusalemite." An examination of the writing shows that it belongs, without exaggeration, among the greatest writings in the field of Jewish

religious philosophy and justly entitled its author to be called the "di

vine philosopher." At the end I would like to direct the attention of the students of Jewish

history to an important source for the history of the Jewish community in Kushta during the 14th century, a period in which knowledge about

the conditions of the Jews there was missing. The source is a two volume

work entitled Eben Saphir ריפס ןבא• The author is Elnatan Kalki,

and the work is located in Paris, number 727-728 (examples of it being

given in the text). Other such problems are discussed in the article.

THE JEWS IN 18th CENTURY PALESTINE UNDER THE

OTTOMAN RULE

A. Cohen, Jerusalem

The 18th century was a period of decline in the life of the Jewish

community in Eretz Israel. This generalization is particularly applicable to the Jews of Jerusalem and Hebron, while being totally irrelevant to

the situation of the Jewish community in the north. Dahir al Umar, who

ruled the Galilee without interferences renewed the Jewish settlement

in Tiberias in the forties and allowed immigrants from Turkey to settle

there. He also aided the Jews in Zefat, who suffered from natural causes.

This attitude was continued by his successor, Jezzar Pasha, in the seven

ties.

The importance of the northern Israel Jews during the period can be

seen not only in connection with the acts of particular rulers, but as part

of the general social and economic picture. The initiative of the French

merchants who resided in the major coastal towns caused a process of

economic expansion in the region during the 18th century. Their major

activity was the purchase of local crops and their exportation to France,

the most important crop being cotton. In the cotton trade the Jews

served as the middlemen (called sensal) between the natives and the



74 ABSTRACTS

French merchants. Such a go-between filled out the order of the French

merchant in various villages, paid the peasants an advance, and saw to

the orderly transfer of the cotton to the port of embarkation. In addition

to the Christian sensals, there is proof that already in the first years of the

century the French employed Jewish sensals. Another occupation which

employed a grest number of Jews was monetary exchange, as Jewish

financiers aided the financing of ventures undertaken by the French

traders.

The money lenders included Jewish women from Acre and Tiberias, as well as rabbis.

Another element which aided the Jews in their function as middlemen

was the existence of a Jewish agricultural element, tilling the soil, in the

Galillee. Already prior to the middle of the century there is information

about Jewish peasants in Pekiin, Shefaram, Kfar Yasif, etc.

THE SHIFTS IN THE STATUS OF JEWS IN SYRIA AND

PALESTINE IN THE 19th CENTURY

M. Maoz, Jerusalem

The paper deals with the status of Jews in the Ottoman-Muslim

Empire, in Syria and Palestine, up to the last third of the 19th century. The author deals mainly with the conditions of Jews in the holy cities of Palestine and Syria, including Khaleb and Damascus, in the 19th

century.

A new era in the history of the region began with the conquest of

Syria and Palestine by Ibrahim Pasha the Egyptian: a pogrom against Hebron Jewry, attacks on the Jews of Safed, and a blood libel in Dam ascus. There was a marked improvement in the status of Syrian and Palestinian Jewry with the return of Ottoman rule in 1840/1, and during the period of Ottoman reform which lasted until the end of the 1870's.

Finally the author deals with the reasons for the changes which took

place in the status of Palestinian Jews.



ABSTRACTS 75

THE ATTITUDE OF THE GERMAN SETTLERS (ESPECIALLY

THE TEMPLARS) TOWARDS THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

IN PALESTINE (1868-1918)

A. CÄrmel, Jerusalem

The Temple society was founded in the middle of the nineteeenth

century in Württemberg, Germany. The Templars were part of the pietist stream of the evangelic church and wished to revive the way of life of

the early Christians. Their struggle against the contemporary church

which, in their opinion, had degenerated, eventually led to their expulsion from the established church. Their belief that the Kingdom of Heaven

would shortly return, and that the Ottoman empire was on the verge of collapse, together with political and economic motives, led them to

emigrate to Palestine as the pioneers of "God's people" to whom the

prophets had promised the holy land.

During the years 1868-1875 about 750 Templars — approximately a quarter of the society — settled in Palestine. After this period their

immigration almost ceased. In Germany also the society decreased in

numbers. The Templars, therefore, did not manage to expand their

numbers sufficiently to fulfil their aim of dominating the holy land.

The Templars founded their first colonies in Haifa, Jaffa and Sarona

(1869-1871). They had little contact wiith the "old Yishuv"—about

10,000 Jews — the majority of whom concentrated in the four holy cities. In the eyes of the Templars the Yishuv was an unproductive element which lived from "chaluka" and did not contribute to the

German aim of improving the pitiable state of the country. Also, they

did not treat seriously the movement which sprang up among European

Jewry in the middle of the nineteenth century to resettle Palestine.

The Templars reacted strongly when the Jewish movement to settle

Palestine received support from the Protestant church in Germany and

especially in England. They argued that while in fact the country had

been promised to the Jews, from the moment the Jews rejected Christ

they lost their right to inherit it. These religious polemics became mean

ingless for two reasons: first because they were theoretical: and secondly

because of the loss of religious impulse by the Templars soon after

settlement. Already in 1874 the society split, and a third of the settlers

returned to the evangelic church. Thus the foundation of Petakh Tikva

(1878), Zichron Yaakov and Rishon LeZion (1882) was welcomed by

the majority of the Germans. They willingly helped the newcomers



76 ABSTRACTS

with advice based on the experience they had already acquired by living there. The Germans also benefited from the construction of the first

Jewish colonies, and as they maintained their distance from the native

Arab population, the Jews made it easier for them socially. At that

stage, the Germans had already four well-situated colonies (including the center in Jerusalem) and the humble Jewish experiments did not

worry them. The relations changed gradually as the first "Aliya" in

creased, especially with the vast influx during the years 1890-1891.

The thousands of Jewish newcomers not only made the Germans nearly

invisible, but induced competition in agriculture, crafts and trade.

At the time when the first Zionist Congress met (1897), the Germans

still did not succeed in increasing the number of the four above-mentioned

colonies, while the Jews already had eighteen throughout the country. The Germans now feared that the growing Jewish immigration not only

negated their original hope to dominate Palestine but in light of the

Zionist ideas, it became doubtful whether they could even continue

living there. Before World War I, the Germans succeeded in founding three additional agricultural colonies (Wilhelma, Beyt-lahm and Wald

heim) but compared to the now seven established German settlements, the Jews already had forty. In spite of their most valuable pioneering achievements in agriculture, transportation, industry, handicrafts,

trade., and their prosperity, the 2000 Germans were now overshadowed

by the 100,000 Jews, who followed them to Palestine until 1914. Many Germans adapted themselves to the existing situation and kept proper relations with the Jews for the benefit of both sides, not to speak of

the many common German-Jewish problems and interests, as toward

the native Arab population and the Turkish administration. Other

Germans, who while probably a minority were more conspicuous, claimed that the original German plans were retarded by the Jews and they hand

led the Jews accordingly. They were annoyed with the Zionist program me to make Palestine a national homeland for the Jews; they claimed that the increase in land prices, (due to the mass purchase of land by the Jews)

prevented German expansion, that because of the Rothschild subsidies to the Jewish colonies, the main German agricultural branch (vineyards) was ruined and that because of the vast Jewish activities the Arabs increased their hatred of foreigners which also affected the Germans. These and other claims (which did not lack anti-semitic elements) preven ted a cordial understanding between the Templars and the Zionists, as their aims were divergent from the very beginning.



ABSTRACTS 77

THE YAD BEN ZVI PROJECTS

M. Avida, Jerusalem

In the 5 years since its inception, the Yad Ben Zvi had been com

piling an archive of the late President's works. Among its publications are the first 6 volumes of Ben Zvi's writings.

The goals of the Foundation are: (1) to make known the continuity of Jewish settlement in Palestine throughout the centuries, and carry on

research in the history of this community; (2) further research on the

history of Jerusalem; (3) further research into Eastern Jewish communi

ties. (4) to reflect the character of Ben Zvi as a president and leader in

the Zionist movement, labour movement, and Israel before and during statehood.

Following is an outline of the Foundation's planned research work:

(1) preparation of a bibliography on the history of the Yishuv, including a listing of relevant publications (from the Destruction of the Second

Temple till the establishment of the State of Israel); (2) recording the

history of the yishuv; (3) research on Jerusalem, past and present; (4)

cooperation with municipalities in local historical research in Israel;

(5) establishment of a library on the above.

