Illustrated Yiddish Manuscripts, 15th-16th Centuries

Diane Wolfthal, Rice University

This video explores the earliest illustrated Yiddish manuscripts, which were all illuminated by their Jewish scribe.  Such manuscripts are sometimes overlooked because of their amateurish style, but they offer a window to understanding the middle rank of Jewish society.  The video focuses on a book of customs that presents a  positive view of the Jewish religion and community, highlighting the roles of women in ritual observance.

Video

Primary Source

Digitized version of the manuscript:  Recueil de coutumes et régles pour fixer les fêtes du calendrier hébreu .‫ מנהגי סדרי תפלות לכל השנה וכללי קביעת המועדים בלוח השנה : ביידיש

Further Reading

Baumgarten, Jean. Introduction to Old Yiddish Literature, trans. Jerold Frakes (Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

Wolfthal, Diane. Picturing Yiddish: Gender, Identity, and Memory in the Illustrated Yiddish Books of Renaissance Italy (Leiden: Brill, 2004).

Discussion Questions

  1. What is the picture of Jews that the scribe presents in this Book of Customs?
  2. How should we conceptualize Yiddish books?  Are they border dwellers, with one foot in the minority Jewish culture and the other in the dominant Christian culture?  Or should we think of these books as hybrid products or as translations or transformations of Hebrew or Christian texts and images?

Cite

Wolfthal, Diane. “Illustrated Yiddish Manuscripts, 15th-16th Centuries,” Middle Ages for Educators, October 25, 2024. Accessed [date]. https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/illustrated-yiddish-manuscripts-15th-16th-centuries