Joseph Isaac Lifshitz

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

This book is a scholarly examination of the political thought of Rabbi Meir (Maharam) of Rothenburg, the most important thirteenth century German Rabbi who was associated with the Pietist movement of the period. From the Maharam's responsa on community matters, a coherent political thought emerges that exercised nearly unprecedented influence on European Jewish communities up to the Jewish Emancipation. Rabbi Meir's extremely sophisticated attempt to balance the demands of the community against those of the individual was facilitated by a characteristic three-tiered structure to his political thought: concrete legal rules supported by value-laden legal principles built upon his general religious ideology. Through a systematic analysis of the Maharam's political thought, Isaac Lifshitz offers an original contribution to Jewish studies, political theory, and the study of legal philosophy. By considering the legal and theological underpinnings of one of Medieval Jewry's most influential figures, it also makes a contribution to the history of ideas in the Medieval period.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. Oktober 2015
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781316443798
• Artikelnr.: 52972701

Autorenporträt

Joseph Isaac Lifshitz is a senior lecturer at the Shalem College and a fellow of the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University. He also teaches Talmud at R' Yitzchak Yechiel Yeshiva in Jerusalem. His research areas include Jewish philosophy, Talmud, Jewish law, Jewish history, and political theory. He has published widely on the law and philosophy of the Sabbath and on Jewish economic thought.

Inhaltsangabe

Part I. Introduction: 1. Framing the discussion: overview of the literature
2. Methodology: identifying the relevant texts
3. Methodology: Halakha and Agada - laws, principles, and ideology
4. Overview of the book
Part II. Historical Background: 5. R. Meir of Rothenburg and his teachers and students
6. The history of the Jewish people and Jewish communities in Germany and Northern France (1000-1300)
7. The development of Talmudic exegesis in Germany and Northern France (1000-1300)
8. Highlights of R. Meir's biography
9. D. R. Meir's Halakhic approach
10. Political theory in Germany and Northern France (1000-1300)
Part III. Politics as Private Interest: 11. Community as partnership
12. The role of custom in monetary laws
13. Beyond partnership: the community as corporation
Part IV. The Sacred Nature of the Political Sphere: 14. The common good
15. Majority-rule
16. Agency and representation
17. The theological definition of community
Part V. Conclusion: 18. Politics as extra-legal activity: ambiguity in R. Meir's works
19. The theology of unity and despotism.