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.So long as theJewish community had power over its members, the incipient revolts ofthe poor, who had to bear the main brunt of taxation, were suppressedby the combined force of the naked coercion of Jewish "self- rule" andreligious sanction.Because of all this, throughout the classical period (as well as inmodern times) the rabbis were the most loyal, not to say Zealous,supporters of the powers that be; and the more reactionary the regime,the more rabbinical support it had.3.The society of classical Judaism is in total opposition to thesurrounding non- Jewish society, except the king (or the nobles, whenthey take over the state).This is amply illustrated in Chapter 5.The consequences of these three social features, taken together, go along way towards explaining the history of classical Jewishcommunities both in Christian and in Muslim countries.The position of the Jews is particularly favorable under strong regimeswhich have retained a feudal character, and in which nationalconsciousness, even at a rudimentary level, has not yet begun todevelop.It is even more favorable in countries such as pre- 1795 Polandor in the Iberian kingdoms before the latter half of the 15th century,where the formation of a nationally based powerful feudal monarchywas temporarily or permanently arrested.In fact, classical Judaismflourishes best under strong regimes which are dissociated from mostclasses in society, and in such regimes the Jews fulfill one of thefunctions of a middle classbut in a permanently dependent form.Forthis reason they are opposed not only by the peasantry (whoseopposition is then unimportant, except for the occasional and rarepopular revolt) but more importantly by the non- Jewish middle class(which was on the rise in Europe), and by the plebeian part of theclergy; and they are protected by the upper clergy and the nobility.Butin those countries where, feudal anarchy having been curbed, thenobility enters into partnership with the king (and with at least part ofthe bourgeoisie) to rule the state, which assumes a national or proto -national form, the position of the Jews deteriorates.This general scheme, valid for Muslim and Christian countries alike, willnow be illustrated briefly by a few examples.England, France and ItalySince the first period of Jewish residence in England was so brief, andcoincided with the development of the English national feudalmonarchy, this country can serve as the best illustration of the abovescheme.Jews were brought over to England by William the Conqueror,as part of the French- speaking Norman ruling class, with the primaryduty of granting loans to those lords, spiritual and temporal, who wereotherwise unable to pay their feudal dues (which were particularlyheavy in England and more rigorously exacted in that period than inany other European monarchy).Their greatest royal patron was HenryII, and the Magna Carta marked the beginning of their decline, whichcontinued during the conflict of the barons with Henry III.Thetemporary resolution of this conflict by Edward I, with the formation ofParliament and of "ordinary" and fixed taxation, was accompanied bythe expulsion of the Jews.Similarly, in France the Jews flourished during the formation of thestrong feudal principalities in the 11th and 12th centuries, includingthe Royal Domain; and their best protector among the Capetian kingswas Louis VII (1137- 80), notwithstanding his deep and sincere Christianpiety.At that time the Jews of France counted themselves as knights (inHebrew, parashim) and the leading Jewish authority in France, RabbenuTam, warns them never to accept an invitation by a feudal lord to settleon his domain, unless they are accorded privileges similar to those ofother knights.The decline in their position beings with Philip IIAugustus, originator of the political and military alliance of the Crownwith the rising urban commune movement, and plummets under PhilipIV the Handsome, who convoked the first Estates General for the wholeof France in order to gain support against the pope.The final expulsionof Jews from the whole of France is closely bound up with the firmestablishment of the Crown's rights of taxation and the nationalcharacter of the monarchy.Similar examples can be given from other European countries whereJews were living during that period.Reserving Christian Spain andPoland for a more detailed discussion, we remark that in Italy, wheremany city states had a republican form of power, the same regularity isdiscernible.Jews flourished especially in the Papal States, in the twinfeudal kingdoms of Sicily and Naples (until their expulsion, on Spanishorders, circa 1500) and in the feudal enclaves of Piedmont.But in thegreat commercial and independent cities such as Florence their numberwas small and their social role unimportant.The Muslim WorldThe same general scheme applies to Jewish communities during theclassical period in Muslim countries as well, except for the importantfact that expulsion of Jews, being contrary to Islamic law, was virtuallyunknown there.(Medieval Catholic canon law, on the other hand,neither commands nor forbids such expulsion.)Jewish communities flourished in the famous, but sociallymisinterpreted, Jewish Golden Age in Muslim countries under regimeswhich were particularly dissociated from the great majority of thepeople they ruled, and whose power rested on nothing but naked forceand a mercenary army.The best example is Muslim Spain, where thevery real Jewish Golden Age (of Hebrew poetry, grammar, philosophyetc) begins precisely with the fall of the Spanish Umayyad caliphateafter the death of the de facto ruler, al- Mansur, in 1002, and theestablishment of the numerous ta'ifa (faction) kingdoms, all based onnaked force.The rise of the famous Jewish commander - in- chief andprime minister of the kingdom of Granada, Samuel the Chief (Shmu'elHannagid, died 1056), who was also one of the greatest Hebrew poets ofall ages, was based primarily on the fact that the kingdom which heserved was a tyranny of a rather small Berber military force over theArabic- speaking inhabitants.A similar situation obtained in the otherta'ifa Arab- Spanish kingdoms.The position of the Jews declinedsomewhat with the establishment of the Almoravid regime (in 1086- 90)and became quite precarious under the strong and popular Almohadregime (after 1147) when, as a result of persecutions, the Jews migratedto the Christian Spanish kingdoms, where the power of the kings wasstill very slight.Similar observations can be made regarding the states of the MuslimEast.The first state in which the Jewish community reached a positionof important political influence was the Fatimid empire, especially afterthe conquest of Egypt in 969, because it was based on the rule of anIsma'ili- shi'ite religious minority [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]