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Overlapping Spheres
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Jews and Christians in early modern Germany
BY ROBERT LIBERLES
The ¢rst Leo Baeck InstituteJerusalem International Summer ResearchWorkshoptook place inJerusalem between 13 July and 31 July 2009.* Fifteen scholars partici-pated in a three week examination of the topic OVERLAPPING SPHERES:JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY. Our objectivewas to reexamine the widely held formulation that relations between Jews andChristians during this period could best be described by the formulation ‘Ghettoand Separation.’ The conception of a ghetto-like separation was ardently main-tained by the lateJacob Katz, most especially in his book Exclusiveness andTolerance,but in recent years arguments have emerged questioning such a strict separation.Building onthe empirical basis that fewJews inGerman lands during this period ac-tually lived in compulsory and closed ghettos, the discussion proceeded to examinethe parameters of contact between the majority and minority communities.
In their presentations, participants suggested numerous spheres of daily lifewhich provided continual contact between the Jews living in German lands andtheir Christian neighbours. Not only didJews and Christians often live in proximityanddeal closely with each other economically, but the extent of their contact was re-£ected in diverse cultural and linguistic in£uences as well. Jewish calendars demon-strated a keen awareness of Christian holidays and time-cycles, while Christianpolemics demonstrated a well-versed knowledge of Jewish texts and customs. TheJewishvernacular of the period also showed the impact of theGerman surroundingsincorporating at times extensive borrowings depending on the context in which thelanguage was used. Changes in the status of Jewish women re£ected changes in theeconomic status of their families and could be compared with di¡erences fromthe status of Christian women. SomeJewish women even socialised with Christiansat summer resorts.
All of these studies also re£ect the lines of demarcation between the groups.Jews and Christians alike were always keenly aware of religious and legal di¡er-ences. Furthermore, considerable contact in these various spheres hardlyguaranteed increased toleration.Whether in the market place or the co¡ee house,
*The workshop was organised by the Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem and generously supported by theFritzThyssen Foundation.
� TheAuthor (2010). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Leo Baeck Institute.All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected]
Leo Baeck InstituteYear Book Vol. 55, 39^40 doi:10.1093/lbyb/ybq014Advance Access publication 9 June 2010
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Christians often complained in early modern Germany of the expanding Jewishpresence in spheres that they had previously assumed to be their own.
These papers demonstrate yet once again how early modern times were charac-terised by a complicated matrix of continuity and change and strides that wetend to see as progress combined with reversals. It was an exciting time inEuropean history and no less so inJewish history.
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