The Power of Song in Amsterdam: Pereq Shira in Yiddish and the Transmission of Piety | Amsterdam University Press Journals Online
2004
Volume 47, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1781-7838
  • E-ISSN: 1783-1792

Abstract

Abstract

One of the most fascinating products of late antique Judaism is , a collection of hymns sung by an assortment of God’s creatures in His praise. Thus far ample research has been conducted mostly into the manuscript traditions of . The early modern Amsterdam Yiddish print editions have, however, escaped extensive analysis.

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the paratexts of both the Yiddish and the Hebrew Amsterdam stand-alone editions (1692). My main methodology will be a paratextual analysis, using the theory developed by Gérard Genette and introduced into the field of early modern Yiddish studies by the late Shlomo Berger. The spiritual utility of the book in Yiddish is at the forefront, explaining its potential audience how the book would enhance their religious observance. This research is located at the intersection of the study of early modern Ashkenaz, Amsterdam book history and Yiddish scholarship. This article introduces and examines the paratexts of the Amsterdam Yiddish and Hebrew editions (1692), and reinforces the process of transmission of piety in early modern Ashkenaz through Yiddish.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.003.ZAID
2021-01-01
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/17817838/47/1/SR2021.1.003.ZAID.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.003.ZAID&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Ms. of Pereq Shira (Hamburg, 1663), Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, shelfmark ms. Cod. Levy 146
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Pereq shira u’ketsat divrei musser [Yiddish and Hebrew] (Amsterdam: Asher Anshel ben Eliezer & partners, 1692), The Bodleian Library, Oxford, shelfmark: Opp. 8º 878
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Pereq Shira u’ketsat divrei musser [Hebrew] (Amsterdam: Asher Anshel ben Eliezer, 1692), Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Amsterdam, shelfmark: RON A-4048(2)
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Ms. Aaron ben Gabriel Halevi from Trebitsch, Kapey Aharon [Amsterdam, ca. 1750-1769], Amsterdam: Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, shelfmark: Hs. Ros 562
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Ms. Pereq Shira, British Library, shelfmark: Oriental Ms. 1298Seder Korbn Minkhe (Amsterdam : Solomon ben Joseph Proops, 1725), Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, system number: 990013726410205171.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Abramowitsch, Shalom Yakov [Mendele Moykher Seforim]. Sefer Toledot Ha’teva (Hebrew). Lipsia, Zhytomir, Vilno, 1862-1672.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Aptroot, Marion. “Bible Translation as Cultural Reform: The Amsterdam Yiddish Bibles (1678 – 1679).” PhD diss., Oxford, University of Oxford, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Aptroot, Marion. “‘In Galkhes they do not say so, but the Taytsh is as it Stands Here.’ Notes on the Amsterdam Yiddish Bible Translations by Blitz and Witzenhausen.” Studia Rosenthaliana27, no. 1/2 (1993): 136-158.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bar-Asher, Avishai. “‘Berikh Shemeh’: The History of an Anonymous Aramaic Prayer That Found Its Way into Sefer Ha-Zohar and the Prayer Book.” Tarbiẕ86, no. 1 (2018): 147-198.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bar-Levav, Avriel. “Concept of death in Sefer ha-ḥayyim (The book of life) by Rabbi Shimon Frankfurt.” (Hebrew). PhD diss., Jerusalem, Hebrew University, 1997.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bar-Levav, Avriel.. “The Religious Order of Jewish Books: Structuring Hebrew Knowledge in Amsterdam.” Studia Rosenthaliana44 (2012): 1–27.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Bas, Shabbetai. Siftei Yeshenim. Amsterdam: David de Castro Tartas, 1680.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Baumgarten, Jean. “Prières, rituels et pratiques dans la société ashkénaze. La tradition des livres de coutumes en langue yiddish (XVIe siècle).” Revue de l’histoire des religions218, no. 3 (July-September2001): 369-403.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Baumgarten, Jean. Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Beit-Arié, Malachi. “Pereḳ Shirah: mevoʾot u-mahadurah biḳortit”. PhD diss., Jerusalem, Hebrew University, 1966.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Beit-Arié, Malachi, EmileSchrijver and JeremySchonfeld. Perek Shirah: An Eighteenth-Century Illuminated Hebrew Book of Praise: Companion Volume to Facsimile Edition (Introduction). London: Facsimile Editions Ltd., 1996.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Berger, Shlomo. “Hayyim ben Yacob Known as Hayyim Druker: Typesetter, Editor and Publisher in Amsterdam.” (Hebrew). A Touch of Grace: Studies in Ashkenazi Culture, Women’s History, and the Languages of the Jews Presented to Chava Turniansky (ed.). Bartal, Israel, GalitHasan-Rokem, AdaRapoport-Albert, ClaudiaRosenzweig, VickyShifriss, ErikaTimm. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2013: 157-180.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Berger, Shlomo (et al.). “Speaking Jewish – Jewish Speak: Introduction.” Studia Rosenthaliana36 (2002-2003): VII-XV.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Berger, Shlomo. “Reading Yiddish and Lernen: Being a Pious Ashkenazi in Amsterdam, 1650-1800.” The Religious Cultures of Dutch Jewry (ed.). Kaplan, Yosef and DanMichman. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2017.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Berger, Shlomo. Producing Redemption in Amsterdam: Early Modern Yiddish Books in Paratextual Perspective. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2013.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Berger, Shlomo. “An Invitation to Buy and Read: Paratexts of Yiddish Books in Amsterdam, 1650-1800.” Book History, 4 (2004): 31-61.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Burke, Peter. Social History of Knowledge: From Gutenberg to Diderot. Cambridge, UK: Polity; Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000:163-165.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Darnton, Robert. “‘What is a History of Books?’ Revisited.” Modern Intellectual History4, no. 3 (2007): 496-508.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Epstein, Yehiel-Mikhel. Sefer derekh hayashar le’olam haba.Frankfurt: Aptrud & Gamburg, 1720.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Fishman, David E.. “On Prayer in Yiddish: New Sources and Perspectives,” in Text and Context; Essays in Modern Jewish History and Historiography in Honor of Ismar Schorsch (ed.). Lederhendler, Eli and JackWertheimer (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 2005).
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Fuks, L. and Fuks-Mansfeld, R.G.. Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands 1585-1815: Historical Evaluation and Descriptive Bibliography.Leiden: Brill, 1984-1987.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Fuks, L. and Fuks-Mansfeld, R.G.. “De Sefardim in Amsterdam tot 1795: aspecten van een joodse minderheid in een Hollandse stad.” Hollandse studiën23. Dordrecht: Historische Vereniging Holland; Hilversum: Verloren, 1989.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Genette, Gérard. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Trans. Jane E.Lewin. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Goldschmidt, Salomon. Verzeichnis der Judaica aus der Bibliothek des Herrn Dr. H. B. Levy in Hamburg. Hamburg: Druck von Siegmund Nissensohn, 1900.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Gries, Ze’ev. The Literature of Customs: Its History and Place in the Life of the Followers of the Besht (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1990.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Gutschow, Mirjam. Inventory of Yiddish Publications from the Netherlands c. 1650- c.1950. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Kay, Devra. Seyder Tkinhes: The Forgotten Book of Common Prayer for Jewish Women. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2004.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Kleerkooper, M.M. and Van Stockum, W.P. (eds.), De boekhandel te Amsterdam,. De boekhandel te Amsterdam voornamelijk in de 17e eeuw. ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhof, 1914.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Luria, Shalom. Translated and Edited, Mendele Mokher Sefarim’s Perek Shira (Hebrew). Haifa and Tel Aviv: Zmora Bitan, 2000.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Meler, Judah Leib b.Joseph of Braubach (ed.). Megilat Ester. (Hebrew & Yiddish). Amsterdam: Uri Fayvesh Halevi, 1663.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. MendeleMoykher Seforim. Pereq Shira im Perush Tuv Ta’am. Zhytomir, 1875.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. MendeleMoykher Seforim. “Reshimot Le’toldotay,” in Kol Kitvey Mendele Moykher Sefarim (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1958.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Michels, Evi. “Aaron ben Gabriel Halevis zweisprachiges ethisches Werk Kapej Aharon.” Jiddistik Mitteilungen39 (April2008): 1-11.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Michels, Evi. “Jiddische Handschriften der Niederlande.” Studies in Jewish History and Culture38Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2013:123-129.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Noble, Shlomo. “Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein, Educator and Champion of Yiddish in the Seventeenth Century.” (Yiddish). Yivo Bleter35 (1951).
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Pach-Oosterbroek, Hilde. “Arranging Reality: The Editing Mechanisms of the World’s First Yiddish Newspaper, the Kurant (Amsterdam, 1686-1687).” PhD diss., Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2014.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Pettegree, Andrew and Arthur derWeduwen. The Bookshop of the World: Making and Trading Books in the Dutch Golden Age. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Prager, Leonard and BradSabin Hill. “Yiddish Manuscripts in the British Library.” British Library Journal21, 1 (1995): 81-108.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Rakower, Nahum. “The Legal Basis of the Prohibition Against Reprinting in the ‘Haskamot’ to Books.” Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies (1969), vol. III, division III, 333-343.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism.New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1995.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Schrijver, Emile G.L.. “‘Be-Otiot Amsterdam’. Eighteenth-century Hebrew Manuscript Production in Central Europe: The Case of Jacob ben Judah Leib Shamash.” Quaraendo, 20 (1990): 28-34.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Schrijver, Emile G.L.. “An Inventory of undescribed Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana.” Studia Rosenthaliana20, no 2 (1985): 169.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Shmeruk, Chone. “Hébreu, yiddish, polonais: une culture juive trilingue.” Baumgarten, Jean and DavidBunis (eds.). Le Yiddish, langue, culture, société. Paris: C.N.R.S. Editions, 1999.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Shmeruk, Chone. Yiddish Literature: Aspects of Its History (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1978.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Steinschneider, Moritz. Serapeum: Zeischrift für Bibliothekswissenschaft, Handschriftenkunde und ältere Literatur, 1848-1849; 1864.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Teplitsky, Joshua. Prince of the Press: How One Collector Built History’s Most Enduring and Remarkable Jewish Library.New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Trani, Moses ben Joseph di, ‘Perush pereq shira’ in Sefer Beit Elohim, quoted from Moses ben Joseph di Trani, Bet Elohim: …shaʻar ha-tefilah shaʻar ha-teshuvah ṿe-shaʻar ha-yesodot (ha-ʻiḳarim). Jerusalem: Mifʻale sefarim li-yetsu, 1978.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Turniansky, Chava. “On Didactic Yiddish Literature in Amsterdam (1699-1749).” Studies on the History of Dutch Jewry, 4 (1984): 163-177.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Turniansky, Chava. “Oral and Written Sermons as Mediating between Canonical Culture and the Public.” (Hebrew) Studies in the History of Popular Culture. (ed.). Kedar, Benjamin Z.. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish history, 1996: 184-185.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Turniansky, Chava. Glikl: Memoirs 1691-1719. Trans. Sarah P.Fridman. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, 2019.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Tyrnau, Isaac. Seyfer Minhogim. (Yiddish). Amsterdam: Uri Fayvesh Halevi, 1685.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Vital, Chaim ben Yosef, Sha’ar Hagilgulim. Jerusalem, 1683.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Wallet, Bart. “Links in a Chain: Early Modern Yiddish Historiography in the Northern Netherlands (1743-1812).” PhD diss., Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2012.
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Weinreich, Max. History of The Yiddish Language (ed.). Glasser, Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Weissler, Chava. Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers of Early Modern Jewish Women. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1998.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.003.ZAID
Loading
/content/journals/10.5117/SR2021.1.003.ZAID
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error