New blog
One of the most stimulating readers of this blog, Menahem Mendel, has branched out on his own. I wish him lots of luck.
In his first post, Menahem Mendel wrote about the medieval Ashkenazic exemption of scholars from payment of communal taxes. He compares this to a colonial American law that allowed clergy to escape the death penalty by reciting a biblical passage.
I have noticed a couple of instances where medieval Ashkenazic scholars found themselves embroiled in court proceedings, and used their Talmudic expertise to maintain a controversial position beneficial to themselves. The examples that come to mind are R Ya'akov Sevara of Krakow (not mentioned here, though he is apparently the first Polish rabbinic figure known by name), who married a woman who had recently given birth, and R Yoel ha'Levi of Bonne (in a case discussed recently by Brigit Klein, Zutot 3 [2003], 121-134).
But those rabbis did not exert any special influence, or receive any preferent treatment from the court. In fact, they lost (at least, R Ya'akov did. I don't remember the outcome of the R Yoel case), with tragic consequences (great material for a novel, which I once tried to write but realized my shortcomings).
In his first post, Menahem Mendel wrote about the medieval Ashkenazic exemption of scholars from payment of communal taxes. He compares this to a colonial American law that allowed clergy to escape the death penalty by reciting a biblical passage.
I have noticed a couple of instances where medieval Ashkenazic scholars found themselves embroiled in court proceedings, and used their Talmudic expertise to maintain a controversial position beneficial to themselves. The examples that come to mind are R Ya'akov Sevara of Krakow (not mentioned here, though he is apparently the first Polish rabbinic figure known by name), who married a woman who had recently given birth, and R Yoel ha'Levi of Bonne (in a case discussed recently by Brigit Klein, Zutot 3 [2003], 121-134).
But those rabbis did not exert any special influence, or receive any preferent treatment from the court. In fact, they lost (at least, R Ya'akov did. I don't remember the outcome of the R Yoel case), with tragic consequences (great material for a novel, which I once tried to write but realized my shortcomings).
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