Jews were the main “Other” against which medieval Christian society defined itself, but that society recognized many other groups as marginal—women, children, the elderly, criminals, and so on. Each of these groups has been studied recently by historians, with impressive results. Ḥarigim be'al korḥam (Involuntary Marginals) suggests that a minority within a minority could elicit attitudes differing from those that the majority society directed toward its own minorities.
To test this assumption, Ephraim Shoham-Steiner studies the attitudes of Ashkenazic Jewish society in the Middle Ages toward marginal individuals in its midst—lepers, the insane, and the physically handicapped. Medieval Christians suffering from physical disabilities such as these often found themselves forced out of their communities. What about Jewish lepers? Were they treated by their fellow Jews as pariahs, or did the Jewish community, feeling itself already marginalized, avoid expelling its own “others”? This is the central question of the book, and the author proposes to find the answer in halakhic and moralistic literature from medieval Franco-Germany.
Following a methodological introduction, the book contains a section devoted to each of these categories. Leprosy and insanity are each studied in a lengthy chapter defining the condition medically; the author reviews a variety of Jewish and Christian theological positions on these diseases.
In Chapter 1, Shoham-Steiner emphasizes that Jewish and Christian thinkers closely shared assumptions about the conditions. Jews and Christians alike blurred the distinction between biblical leprosy (the described symptoms of which do not point to any identifiable medical condition) and the contagious disease known today as Hansen's disease. Both communities perceived leprosy as an affliction stemming from immorality and consequent divine punishment.
An innovative interpretation is offered in Chapter 2, on social attitudes toward lepers. Here it emerges that lepers were never expelled from Jewish society, nor were they branded as sinners. In contrast, some Christian jurists imposed measures to exclude victims of this disease from mainstream society. Most of the responsa that Shoham-Steiner discusses deal with issues related to marriages to lepers, usually cases in which the healthy spouse has tried to dissolve the marriage. These marital disputes were resolved on a case-by-case basis, and the community never considered imposing a blanket ruling in the matter. In fact, it seems that rabbinic lawyers (poskim) tended to favor the position of the woman, regardless of whether it was she or her husband who suffered from the disease.
In Chapters 3 and 4, Shoham-Steiner emphasizes the role of insanity in a wide spectrum of conditions. Most of the responsa discussed in the latter chapter deal with marital situations. Jewish law requires that both parties to a divorce be of sound mind. Often, the incipient signs of insanity in a husband or wife caused the other spouse to initiate divorce proceedings quickly, with the hope that the process would be completed before it was too late. The situation was further complicated (for men) by the famous ordinance of Rabbenu Gershom ben Yehudah forbidding polygyny. The advice of Maimonides, that the husband of a woman who was mentally ill should continue to provide for her needs while finding himself another wife, was inapplicable for Ashkenazic men. Thus, the pressure to find a way of undoing a marriage was great.
A short intervening chapter, Chapter 5, discusses the factors that could have caused insanity. The author includes a subsection on suicide (180–90) that discusses the famous story of Rabbi Yom Tov of London, who was tormented by the temptations of the cross and hanged himself on Shavuot eve.
The sources also suggest, according to the author in Chapter 6, that the responsibility of care for the mentally handicapped fell primarily upon the family unit. Christian documents describe madmen wandering the streets, but it would seem that the Jewish community was wary of choosing this option in its quarter. Women, especially, were perceived as being in need of protection and confinement, a responsibility placed squarely upon the shoulders of their families. This is perhaps one reason why rabbis often resisted pressure to dissolve the marriages of insane women, lest the wife might end up lacking a family home. Chapter 7 considers the problems caused by insanity within the family, especially with regard to financial responsibility.
Chapters 8–10 deal with physical disabilities, including leg injuries, blindness, and fertility problems. Chapter 9 contains an illuminating discussion on whether handicapped people might play active roles in performing public rituals such as the Priestly Blessing. Chapter 10 approaches interpersonal problems stemming from physical handicaps.
The range of sources supporting this study is impressive. Shoham-Steiner utilizes the work of social historians, as well as psychologists, sociologists, art historians, historians of religion, historians of medicine, and others. His Jewish sources are also varied, including responsa both published and in manuscript, biblical exegesis, magical recipes, and moralistic literature, including but not limited to Sefer Ḥasidim. This is a major step forward, as so much Jewish social history has been based almost exclusively on Sefer Ḥasidim, an idiosyncratic work that refracts popular beliefs through its own peculiar lens.
The heart of this book is a close reading of halakhic texts from the perspective of the social historian. Two major challenges are apparent. The first is the paucity of relevant sources, especially in comparison to the vast range of materials at the disposal of historians studying general European history. Shoham-Steiner believes the data he accumulated amounts to a “critical mass” sufficient to sustain such a discussion (19). In some sections, I believe he has succeeded, but in others (such as the descriptions of madness in Chapter 5), his material seems rather thin.
The second challenge is methodological, as the historical use of responsa literature is fraught with pitfalls (discussed best by Haim Soloveitchik in his various publications). The author has clearly made an effort to avoid these pitfalls. He consulted medieval manuscripts for his main sources and provided a careful report of textual variants and historical background on the books and their authors. Some errors, of course, remain (31 n. 43—read Sefer ha-Terumah instead of Maḥzor Vitry; 204, quoting Abudarham—not Raabad but his father-in-law). On the whole, the author has succeeded, but at the expense of the flow of his narrative.
The primary contribution of this book is its collection and organization of the source material. Some of the sources are obscure and will be new even to scholars. And even for certain well-known sources, Shoham-Steiner's comments suggest new and exciting readings (see especially 81–94 and 211–17). His lucid summary of international scholarship will be of great value to students of Jewish history, who are often sheltered within the confines of their own discipline, and his presentation of Jewish sources is certainly of great value to social historians who are unfamiliar with halakhic literature. Shoham-Steiner has a rare ability to read halakhic texts in a nuanced manner, and I, for one, am eager to anticipate the results of his future research.
