Israel Museum: Middle Ages

On our tiyul this past Wednesday, our class went to the Israel Museum to study Jewish customs, tradition, and culture as they were dispersed throughout Europe and the Middle East in the Middle Ages.  The Sparad and Ashkenaz, who were two of the major groups that lived around Spain and Germany at the time, showed signs of being immersed in the cultures around them as well as separating themselves from other cultures to show that they were Jewish weather it was by choice of by force in their kehilot (communities).  An example of being immersed in other cultures would be that many of the Jews began to change their dress, language, and names to fit in to the society they lived in.  

Head coverings worn by Jewish women

These pictures show the dress of women that are from a different culture but the head coverings show that they still followed Jewish tradition at the same time.  An example of the Jews separating themselves from other cultures would be that they all still kept kosher, Shabbat, and spoke Hebrew even though they were forced to learn the languages that surrounded them.  

The Jewish kehilot can be looked at as both separated and unified.  One reason some of the kehilot were looked at as separated from each other was that they adopted contrasting customs and traditions from living around many different societies and cultures around them.  An example of the different customs and traditions that the kehilot followed were the life cycles of birth, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, weddings, and death.  A few customs that I learned about were the Huppa Stone that was used for weddings in Bingen, Germany in 1700 to break the glass.  I also learned about the reuse of prayer shawls at circumcisions and Bar Mitzvahs that came from Morocco in the 20^th century.  On the other hand, the Jews were considered to be unified from the use of Hebrew as their universal language that everyone spoke.  Because many of the Jews were merchants and traveled for months at a time, they used Hebrew as an advantage to get food and shelter from the Jews that lived in other kehilot.  The use of one language allowed the traveling merchants to keep kosher, keep Shabbat, and celebrate holidays while they were away from their families and kehilot to continue tradition.  Another thing that many of the kehilot had in common was the use of Menorahs that were found and used by Jews all around the world.  In the museum, we got to a room that had the many Menorahs that were found and we were able to see the similarities and differences between them from the different kehilot and cultures.

Horb, Germany synagogue

Horb, Germany synagogue

Cochin, India synagogue

Because of the changing traditions that the Jews experienced from the involvement in other societies, different types of synagogues were built which represents the difference in Jewish culture in the different kehilot.  We were able to see an Indian and German synagogue to see the different types of artwork and what they valued in each kehilot. 

Manuscript with bird heads

We also got to see the illuminated manuscripts which showed us the importance of art and Judaism through it's writings while the Jews were dispersed throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Some of the artwork in the manuscripts were shown with the words but other artwork showed pictures of people with faces and others showed pictures of people with bird heads to avoid avodah zara.  This shows the true importance of Judaism while the Jews were spread out and how the artwork from the cultures around them eventually affected the Jewish culture. 

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Jews were dispersed but somehow managed to keep language and some similar traditions.  Would you say that the Jews were separated or unified in their many kehilot?  Why?  If you were a Jew living in the Middle Ages, would you want to blend in with the other cultures around you or would you want to distinguish yourself as a Jew?