In a message dated 12/19/00 10:17:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:

> the early 11th cn seems (to some of us, at least), to be a time of great
>  religious and social creativity in western europe.  indeed, i wd go so far
>  as to say that it marks the beginning of modern europe, and certainly of
>  the "high middle ages" with its romanesque and gothic architecture and art,
>  its pilgrimages, universities, crusades, heresies and inquisitions...
>
>  curiously, in the same place and the same time (western europe, ca. 1000)
>  ashkenazic jewry becomes a major center of jewish culture.  up until that
>  time, we have virtually no rabbinic writings from the area, and lots of
>  evidence that jews sent their children and their questions to rabbis half
>  way around the world for authoritative results.  starting with rabenu
>  gershom of mainz "the light of the exile" (died 1028), northern european
>  jewry become one of the major cultural centers of world jewry.
>
>  any ideas on what this might mean beyond mere coincidence?

In art history, the year 1000 is usually regarded as the beginning of the
Romanesque period, with much attention to millennial ideas that were in the
air at the time.  I'd assume that Jews too could have been caught up in the
question of whether the millenial year of the Christians would be "special,"
and if so how. Granted, it was well past the year 1000 in the Jewish
calendar. But minority populations that use their own calendars for religious
purposes--e.g., Jews and Muslims--have always had to be aware of the
Christian calendar as well, not least of all because in the west it's been
the calendar used by the tax collector.

On your area of interest, you might want to look into the Karaites, Jews who
rejected the authority of the rabbis and the Talmud entirely. I'm not sure
what their reasoning was, but it seems to me there's a great deal of
Christianizing (and Islamicizing) influence on the Talmud, notably when it
comes to gender issues. The rabbinical idea of hiding women behind a curtain
in the synagogue always reminds me of all those medieval Christian moralists
who thought the fall should be blamed on Eve. Or it could be seen as a
toned-down version of the Muslim practice of hiding the female form in one
way or another. In itself, the custom only makes sense if one assumes that
the sight of women inflames men, and that male lust is an uncontrollable
force once released. But where was this supposedly uncontrollable male lust
at earlier dates? In the OT, after the Israelites cross the Red Sea, Miriam
leads the women in dancing and singing before the men, and nobody rushes for
curtains or chadors. Saint Augustine (who didn't approve) tells of seeing
Jewish women dancing on balconies on the Sabbath; so it remained an actual
practice even at that late date.  In our own day, don't  forget that the
Hasidim used to be frowned on by mainstream Jewry because they danced in the
synagogue. But the Hasidim might have it right. I get a strong impression
from the OT that Judaism was originally an ecstatic religion where, as in
Psalms, one is commanded to praise God by singing and dancing, or by joining
in the universal symphony of praise. At the time you're talking about,
Judaism becomes a much more puritanical religion, and I think we have to ask
why.

By "Ashkenazic Jewry" I assume you mean Jews living in and around Germany,
rather than Jews of German descent (who might be living anywhere).  Correct
me if I'm wrong, but I don't think of their being as central as you make them
sound. Were I asked to pick one singular "major center of jewish culture,"
I'd probably think first of Venice.

pat sloane