Rabbinical Literature in Yiddish and Ladino

Overview & Synopsis

The volume offers a broad introduction to the rabbinical literature written in the two major traditional Jewish languages of Europe: Yiddish, the language which arose in the Middle Ages amongst the Jews of the German lands and was brought to many other lands, and Ladino (or Judezmo or Judeo-Spanish), the language which originated amongst the Jews of medieval Iberia and after their expulsions was carried to many other places. The scope is wide-ranging. Some of the contributions highlight the lives and work of outstanding rabbinical figures who wrote in Yiddish or Ladino, and the crucial role they played in the transmission of rabbinical knowledge among the more popular sectors of their communities, as well as in the shaping of the Yiddish and Ladino reading public. Close attention is paid to long-established genres such as the highly-popular Biblical commentaries, as exemplified by the Me'am lo'ez in Ladino (1730‒1899); prayer books and liturgical compositions in prose and verse; responsa collections; guides to religious observance; moralistic works; as well as more modern genres having rabbinical content such as the periodical press that appeared from the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Jewish communities of the Diaspora underwent radical cultural, religious, social and political changes