"To Sacrifice in Our Thoughts": Contemplative Rituals and Annihilation of the World in Rabbi Moses Isserles's Writings
AJS Review: The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies April 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1353/ajs.2025.a958100 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Moses Isserles transformed medieval Sephardic discussions of the world's anticipated annihilation at the end of history, adapting them to sixteenth-century Polish Jewry. Because philosophers were scarce in the Polish Jewish arena, the author contends, Isserles recast these philosophical debates as ritualized meditations in his homiletical writings. |
Abstract
Abstract: In this article, I examine Moses Isserles's (Kraków, 1525–1572) interpretation of the medieval tradition that anticipated the annihilation of the world at the end of history. Originating in a talmudic legend, this tradition was developed and debated in the writings of medieval Sephardic philosophers and kabbalists in various intellectual settings. As I show, Isserles's autodidactic and provincial reading of the Sephardic texts allowed him to transform these medieval discussions and adjust them to the different intellectual, cultural, and social contexts of sixteenth-century Polish Jewry. The dearth of philosophers in the Jewish Polish arena brought Isserles to appropriate these philosophical discussions into ritualized meditations. Isserles's homiletical writings are examined here as an intersection of early modern Jewish and European intellectual histories, the history of reading, and ritual studies.