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Chapter 13 - Jewish Religious and Communal Organization

from Part II - Social and Institutional History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2021

By
Arnold E. Franklin
Edited by
Phillip I. Lieberman
Phillip I. Lieberman
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
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Summary

Inherent in this provision is the notion that law was personal rather than territorial, that individuals were governed – at least with respect to civil matters – by the regulations of their respective religious communities, and not by a universally applied legal system. This chapter examines the authority structures that were maintained by the medieval Jewish community, and through which this fundamental dispensation was put into practice. Out of necessity, it focuses primarily on the two and a half centuries between 1000 and 1250, the period for which we have the most abundant sources.

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Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 450 - 483
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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