— The Political Theory of the Diaspora LE hhas often been assumed that, following the destruction of the Temple, the Jews abandoned politics and, Inthe _bscnce of a political lif, developed no politcal uicores The legal eystem known as halakha thatthe rabbis developed the centuries after 70 cx. is taken to be devold of pehneed impulses and fundamentally antithetical tothe nocmal poli al life o sovereign nation. The only theoriving aboue pl fics was projected into the messianic future, menor thought, it is generally argued, proves that the Jews were conscious of their politcal impotence, since they could ealy long for a restoration of ther lot sovercignty ins mess, ate, 1m fact, however, Jewish thought ater 70 c&. was mach ‘ore complex. On the one hand, all thinkers eeognised sha condition of galt (exile) as fundamentally abnormal and hus, milisting. In contrast to the memory (if not the Feit) ta golden age of ancient sovereignty and the expectotig of 2 ‘messianic restoration, the gelus Was viewed fe a peviou ct abject powerlessness, Yet, most of the very same thishes, ‘ecognized the politcal realities of Jewish ifn the Dlaspore The PoiclThaory ofthe Diaspora 3s and developed theories to explain and just over Jews wielded within their communities and the rel tionships they established with non-Jewish sources of power all required and promoted the evolution ofan authente po litical theory of the Diaspora, Jewish reflections on exile therefore operated at once in two dimensions the theological, to account for the lack of Jewish sovereignty, and the polit cal, to explain the actual power the Jews possessed, both of internal selégovernment and in the larger societies in which ‘hey lived. This duality explains why rabbini and medieval Jewish literature contains both a theology of powerlessness ‘nd politcal theory of Jewish power sas inthe atmosphere of relative power inthe century fotlowing the Bar Kokhba Revolt that the rabbis developea the political theory that gave conscious expression both tothe need for accommodation with the imperial world and tothe reality of partial sovereignty ot local autonomy. By trans forming the ideology of divin election, with its impliit de ‘mand fr full Jewish sovereignty into « more realise thesty of Jewish power, the rabbis ereated the political modus vivendi ofthe Middle Ages. Inthe centuries afer the comple: tion ofthe Babylonian Talmud around 500 che sutton ‘ies who succeeded the rabbis elaborated and extended rab binie political thought. Taken together, the wrtings of the rabbis of the talmudic period ad those of their medieval ‘secessors constitute a political theory of Diaspora. Theories of Exile Following the destruction of the Temple and the defeat of Bar Kothba, the rabbis took up the old prophetic search for Jewish sins that might have caused these catastrophes” The Stories collected in the tractate Git ofthe Babylonian Tal. ‘mud reflect this search for internal causes, They largely sop pressed the memory of the Hasmonean Revolt and clearly Voiced their disapproval of the two revolts against the Ro. ‘mans. Inthe manner of the prophetic response tothe Babylo.86 POWER AND POWERLESSNESS IN JEWISH HISTORY lan exile, the rabbis viewed the new exile asa punishment for sins. Extending the biblical doctrine of divine election, ‘they scarched forthe hand of God ia Jewish catastrophes, At the same time, however, the rabbis introduced an en- tirely new theology that transformed the theory olivine elec lon and of God's power in history. Far from demonstrating his Power, the exile wasa symptom of God's own impotence: God Himscif had gone into exile withthe Jews"This implicit dim nution of God's power becomes explicit in a midrash export ton of a biblical text) that relates how the men of the Great Assembly responded tothe destruction ofthe First Temple and the Babylonian exile by transforming the meaning ofthe verse “the great, powerful, and awe-inspiring God. Rather than portraying God as powerful in a conventional sense, they claimed that Go's power is demonstrated by its absence: "He controls His anger and is long-suffering to evildoers.” The rabbis were nevertheless troubled by thisteinterpretation and asked: “Why did these sages alter what Moses had ordained? ‘abby Elcazar replied: They knew of the Holy One, blessed be He, that He is truthful, and would say nothing untrue about Him“ The midrash recognizes the loss of Jewish power by diminishing God's power. Instead of using Hispowertopurish His people, inthe way the prophets of late First Temple times argued, God Himself isa victim of the enile In the sintecath century, the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria proposed « mystical like contractual partnership in which one parincr oat in the majority, does not have the night to course coon, Rabbenu Tam allowed the majority toimpose its will oo he ‘minority omly in order to enforce laws that had been pron curly enacted unanimously. But this argument for dosnt ‘ou consent was not necessarily an atm to breeds cnstats that the long Diaspora was no polities vacuum, fore decisively linked the sverige of evil with the ‘ln policy of moder. The ev of pola fessaniom, communal power and contract withthe nie fer, the abbisarielted an accommodation wih the Ire werd niche ew ght enone clement fica if. The Jew institions of the Diaspora, com eed a8 subetuies far monarchy snd taboo, ight fem the ral basis for renewed sovereignty. The conservative impute of medieval Jewish leaders was nota produc a pas sty toward politics ro mn acceptance of fering baton the contrary, an expresion of te poltial power they Welded and wished tocontinue to wie even fer the arrival Fie ing Mee pla hough he Mile Age tepresens'n ate to feo : ice imposed bythe condition of eile withthe rive Foner Jews actualy enjoyed in thelr Diaspora communitiesIl ~ Corporate Power in the _ Middle Ages "Ti bits Book ot ester foreshadows al ofthe ingre dics of Jewish power In aul Hore ae ee sisiceras close to the center af power inthe Fane whose polical acumen saves ther pple tom heer But the Jewish peopl in Eater are not merely men a sims, miraclouny tescud bythe courte Keaeed Wy take up arms a the nd lhe bok and scp tte Exen if t does not represent an atta hatonea ee Book of Esther lished the Jews ofthe rere Renee De ora and, ltr, the Jews ofthe Middle Agee ig ea mmvthof polite wien inex ‘The Book of Emer porta i the form of historical romance the pla! hry ote Diepors ha eee the last chapter. The implication of th thee sae Jews had a Sense oftheir own pow ete oy ene acutely conscious of thelr conten of exe The alo image careoponde closely to the sabia Pane Jew status the Mile Ages, both in crores the socits fn which they Ine nd neh ech Jevish politi theory was ot produced Ine ea [the partial sovereignty of antiqu © do with such a tentative a | comorate Power in the Middl Ager 0 rather e sped out of complex political situation in which ‘veontined throughout the Middle Ages in the form of communal autonomy. Rather than ‘pariah people on the outermost margins of society, the Jews Gl the Middle Ages, n both the Christian and Muslin world, Inhabited an uneasy region clove tothe centers of power at times enjoying considerable influence and security and at others experiencing terror and persecution. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Jews played political roles, even under the constraints of ther inferior and alien status ow to dafine the Jewish Middle Ages isa thoray ques: tion. The very term “Middle Ages” is really only Christian since Christianity believes in an age between the two # pearances of the Messiah. For Jews and Muslims the term is misplaced, I shall define the Jewish Middle Agee as that period after the Tews had ceased to have apolitical center in the Land of Israel but still enjoyed political autonomy and protected or privileged status in the lands of their disper Sion. Many of these characteristics apply as well to the ‘Greco-Roman Diaspora, so the beginning ofthe Middle Ages remains fuzzy. This definition also excludes ther features of the Jewish Middle Ages and may well appeat to be arbitrary land even circular: 4 assumes what still remains to be proven, namely, that the Jews possessed genuine politcal Autonomy in the Diaspora. But since periodization fs «cre ation of historians rather than history, we wil have to make ind problematic definition. Given such characteristics, the length of the Jewish Midale Ages ‘varied markedly from one community to another: it ended In Spain with the rise of s unified state snd the expulsion of the Jews in 1492; in Western and Central Europe with the Hise of the absolutst state inthe sixteenth and seventeenth ‘centuries (already foreshadowed In the expulsions from En- ‘land and France in the thirteenth and the fourteenth cent ries) in Eastern Europe with the breakup of the medieval Polish state in the eighteenth century; and in the Middle East with the decline of the Ottoman Enmpice under the i© ‘POWER AND POWERLESSNESS IN JEWISH HISTORY act of European imperiiso in the eighteenth ad in teenth centuries. ee oe ‘The Political Status ofthe Medieval Jews Second lass chienship, though second cas, a kind of et {eo lobes sme rah, hgh no al and iy af situation that prevals in many tates atthe pcsen hes here the minorities, and for that tie even te man, iene ior human ih ie al heepenen eee "te constthns, bt utterly thet Religious mentalities dominated both the Christan and Mualion Middle Ages, and theology stronly inhtcnced te political status ofthe Jew, as members ofa difleren Tligiog Yet, i was the very ambiguty with which Ehren oa Muli thology viewed tals that created Jew vl erable and opened opportunities for lewis pewe Both Christianity and islam dictated that Jes be mai tained in a second-class position divorced from politcal power, Since Christianity clalmed to have superseded Tada lm, the Jews had to be kept in a degraded condition, Asa fossil people,” a relic of God's chosenness which hed now passed tothe srae of the spirit, the Jews could not posseey ‘any political or spiritual power. Powerlessness was pros! of Corporate Power in the Middle Ages “ their theological rejection. For Islam, as for Christianity, fail lure 1o accept the prophets message had turned the Jess into historical anachronism who deserved both symbolic and ae tual degradation. Islam required that Jews be deprived of both the instruments and symbols of worldly postr. They ‘Were not allowed into government service and Were hurl ated in symbolie ways, such as being forbidden to ride hors. ‘The main practical impact of the law of the adhimma (the Islamic law governing non-Muslim subjects of Muslim states) ‘was financial, forthe dims were required to pay a special pallor head, ta. ‘Yer the theologies of Christianity and Islam dictated that the Jews be protected. Christianity viewed the Jews as living proof of the veracity of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, and their conversion to Christianity was regarded a= a necessary prerequisite for the Second Coming. The Jews hnad to be preserved for these purposes and therefore were entitled, from a theological standpoint, to protection. Islam treated Judaism and Christianity as religions of the Book AAs such, both minorities received protection and were thee retically not forced to convert. Althaugh the poll tax const tuted a considerable burden, the law ofthe dina othersrise interfered very litle in the dally lives of Fews and ther sub jet not Muslims, The tension between toleration and degra. dation in Islam and Christianity produced reality less monolithically hostile for Jews than theological images Would suggest. The Jews often exploited their protected sta ti to become a vital part ofthe societies in which they lived possessing considerable political and economic power be- {Yond what their theoretical status allowed them. In medieval Christian Europe, the existence of an independent secular law next to Church law made it possible for the Jews toevade the Srictures of theological inferiority. The Jews were successful in exploiting the fragmentation of power in Christian Europe by playing off secular against religious authorities, In Islam, ‘where church and state were unified, fewer sich legal and political possibilities existed, although persistent failures (0@ POWER AND POWERLESSNESS IN JEWISH HISTORY enforce the law of the dkimma opened avenues to power tha ‘ould have otherwise remained closed 1f toleration had a theological rationale it was also mot vated by practical concerns. Throughout the Middle Ages the exis proved to be remarkably adept a forming strates allt lances with both secular and religious powers, As an urban ‘merchant class, they were particulary important inthe de velopment of new cities, a role that they played in clevent «century France and Germany in alliance withthe monarchs and in sixteenth-century Poland in alliance with the nobility ‘As a group outside ofthe existing social erarchy, they could serve the needs of new and rising forces in society. "The ability to find allies among new elites can be traced from late antl 4uity and throughout the Middle Ages. In Babylonia, as early 8s the fitst and second centuries, the Jews allied them selves with the new political power ofthe Arsacd Parthians, ‘They found allies in the Muslims of ninth: and tenthcentuny Ira, the French and German kings from the Carolingian pe od tothe eleventh cemtury, the Christian forces of the Sen ish reconquista, and, finally, the Polish nobility of the Be teenth and sixteenth centuries. In the Rhineland fa the tenth and eleventh centuries and Poland in the fifteenth and six {centh centuries, the Jews were invited in by the rulers In the Rhineland, they received privileges as individuals or a fami lies, but these privileges gradually developed into corporat brivileges as the European Middle Ages became ineretelngly feudal. These privileges led to a varity of rights includioy the right to internal selEgovernment and the right of roy ‘The history ofthe Jews in the Middle Ages isthe history of such alliances with the ruling powers. The belief in ay alliance between rulers and the Jews persisted sx myth loog after it had ceased to mean what it di in the Middle Ages eee chapter 4, The legal status of the Jews in places such as Spain, France, Germany, and Poland was considerably better chan that of enserfed peasants and in many cases approached thet ofthe nobility andthe burgher cass In medieval Christian Europe, the Jews were considered to be fre people. One me- ieval writer, Martin Didaci @Aux, observed of Christian Spain A Saracen Jew cana oblige hinslby contact ante ‘esp inretroton for aime Nether doth) ry deserve tot ealled eapives rere nthe sec tht they may be sl Because according to law they have the ibeny of moving shout? ‘The Sachsenspiegel, the German lw cade of the thirteenth century, similarly regarded the Jews as fee. Freedom of movement, which was necessary for those engaged in co tmeee, distinguished the Jews from those bound o the land fae he taint own snr coating who Sad th legal right olive wberever they wise hes los tems af scorn o Mir cof Rothenburg, who wrote In the second hal ofthe thirteenth entry, when Jewish status va already in decline Jews at ot subjugated to thr ovrords a the Gentle a, inten ht thy eo ns os pair eed ‘ven wen thy do ot veins dana sas of he ow Sirhan hao ee ldo te lot ad fu otlone bs personal bare Since the Jews were typically urban dwellers, they top rhe sei a one beer They took full pat inthe life of ther cy, sometimes occupying tmunicipal ofces and contributing t the town's armed de fens, In many medieval towns in Germany, France, Spain fd aly, they were able to obtain falland equal chizennlp A bttonthvcentry Halian jurist formated the municipal status ofthe Jews in general terms: "fews are considered to be ol the same poople snd ofthe [political] boy othe same city although they may not be considered member of the Same splnitual body" As equal citizens, the Jews bad the Ste rights a all oer ctzen to acquire property ed sell