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Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

16 May

The festival of Shavuot/Pentecost begins tonight.

Nowadays, it commemorates the giving of the Torah and the Sinaitic revelation.

But like many other Jewish festivals, this is the product of a lengthy history of change and development.

Thread 🧵

1/9

In the bible, Pentecost is an agricultural festival with sacrificial rites.

The biblical names for the festival make this clear: Harvest Festival (Ex. 23:16) Festival of Weeks (Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10 - commemorating the agricultural count), and Day of First Fruits (Num. 28:26).

Often the transition from an agricultural/pilgrimage festival to one commemorating the giving of the Torah on Sinai is said to occur following the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, and primarily at the hands of the rabbis.

In fact, a less linear account is more accurate.

3/9

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Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

2 May

In light of the tragedy on Thursday night at the pilgrimage to Mount Meron in the Galilee, a 🧵about the site.

Today the pilgrimage is to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, held on the 33rd day of the Omer count.

Like many sites/festivals, it has transformed over time.

1/11

While there are occasional refs to Jewish holy sites in antiquity, they become very prevalent in the middle ages, in conjunction with a similar rise in holy sites/pilgrimage in Islamic & Christian sources.

At this point, a substantial genre of Jewish travelogues develops.

2/11

One of the earliest surviving travelogues, Benjamin of Tudela (12th c), is also one of the first to reference Mount Meron.

He says that the great early rabbis Hillel and Shammai are buried there, and nothing more.

He makes no mention of Shimon bar Yohai.

3/11

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Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

4 Apr

On Easter, let's remember that according to early sources, Pilate was a consistent & total ass.

During his 10 year stint as Judean governor, he was involved in brutally subduing Jews, popular movements & their charismatic figures..including Jesus.

Everyone hated Pilate.
🧵 1/12

Pilate arrived at his new post around 26 CE. One of the first things he did was to erect effigies of Caesar in Jerusalem.

This incensed the Jewish population, which begged him to remove them.

This incident was not the first nor the last time someone erected a statue in Jerusalem, such as Herod's golden eagle and Caligula's threat to erect an effigy of himself.

Erecting effigies or statues in Jerusalem, and especially in or around the temple, was terrible sacrilege.

Read 12 tweets

Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

3 Apr

TIL about Rotwelsch, the "language of swindlers" used in German speaking portions of Europe from the middle ages on.

It was used by hucksters, tricksters, & bandits, many of whom were... Jews!

How do we know? Because over 20% of the sociolect is made of Hebraisms!

1/4

The first major attestation of Rotwelsch is in the 1509 Liber Vagatorum, which included a preface by Martin Luther & was widely disseminated thanks to the printing press.

It describes the practices of swindlers & thieves, & includes a section on the vocabulary of Rotwelsch.

Luther says: "such Beggars’ Cant has come from the Jews, for many Hebrew words occur in the Vocabulary.."

Luther's well-known virulent anti-Judaism is expressed here in attributing the origins of Rotwelsch to Jews.

But the vocabulary shows Jews were undoubtedly participants.

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Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

31 Mar

Why do participants at the Passover Seder dip & remove 16 drops of wine when mentioning the plagues in Egypt?

The earliest explanations (c. 13th c.) make clear this is a kind of sympathetic magic: "[This custom] teaches us that we will not be injured [by the plagues]."

🧵

1/4

The caption under the woodcut in Prague Haggadah 1526, depicted above, says this quite clearly:

“It seems to me that it is a hint [that] ‘All of the illness which I put on Egypt, I will not put on you’ (Exodus 15:26).” In other words, “as if to say, they should not harm us”.

Others would reinterpret the custom to refer both to Jews being saved from plagues, & also as a call to bring the plagues upon their enemies.

Shalom of Neustadt (d. c. 1413): "we should be saved from these plagues & may they come upon the heads [of the nations of the world]."

Read 5 tweets

Simcha Gross

@Simcha_Gross

25 Mar

When did the Great Revolt against the Romans end?

Though typically dated to 74 CE & the fall of Masada, Josephus says that rebels survived & fled across the Jewish world, including to regions that would soon become centers of unrest.

Large movements rarely end so swiftly.

1/4

Josephus says:

"For the many Sicarii who were able to flee..were not content to have saved themselves, but undertook to make new disturbances, & persuaded many.. to assert their liberty, to [not esteem] the Romans, & to look upon God as their only Lord and Master."

This all happened "...when Masada was taken..." and as a result "this war afforded disturbances and dangerous disorders even in places very far remote from Judea. For still it came to pass, that many Jews were slain at Alexandria, in Egypt..."

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