Practicing Piety in Medieval Ashkenaz. Elisheva Baumgarten

piety.⁴⁸ Vauchez’s research on sainthood emphasizes that perfection was measured by the degree of austerity practiced with regard to food, such as the length of fasts and the intensity of privations that were grounded in the belief that fasting provided a mechanism for denying the physical world and dedicating oneself to God. This view of fasting among candidates for sainthood and canonized saints pervades the observations of their deeds, as noted by witnesses and recorded by hagiographers.⁴⁹ Both Bynum and Vauchez and others who followed them have demonstrated that displays of abstinence represented a valuable form of social capital that religious leaders leveraged to assert their place in the societal hierarchy. Thus the vitas of bishops commonly detail their acts of fasting, prayer, and charity.⁵⁰

      Medieval Christian society was also home to individuals who took on public penance, whose observances were marked by wearing special shirts or robes and fasting more frequently than the general population. Many (but not all) of them committed themselves to celibacy⁵¹ and joined religious orders. No less significantly, moderate fasting and refraining from select foods were so commonly practiced in medieval Europe that they can reasonably be described as routine for clergy and laity alike.⁵² These practices stemmed from a culture of penance that endorsed self-denial as a path to salvation.

      Medieval Christian worshipers fasted on communally recognized occasions, in accordance with the annual calendar cycle, and as individual and social circumstances prompted: for instance, three-day communal fasts were often undertaken in preparation for special religious celebrations, such as the authentication of a relic or the dedication of a cathedral;⁵³ the entire community would fast throughout Lent and at other designated times, such as Ember and Rogation days; and individuals took on volitional fasts in response to events in their lives, such as an illness or a death in the family, as well as at times of danger and warfare.⁵⁴ A recent study estimates that the average Christian abstained from selected foods or fasted 220–240 days per year,⁵⁵ attesting to the ubiquity of this practice during the medieval period.⁵⁶

      As this survey shows, fasting was a fundamental religious practice in the Christian society in which medieval European Jews lived. It seems noteworthy for the consideration of medieval Jewish fasting that medieval Christian sources present their practices at odds with Jewish ones. Let us consider a text that situates our investigation of Jewish practice in its medieval Christian environs. In June 1239, Pope Gregory IX (d. 1241) sent a letter containing thirty-five accusations against the Talmud—presented as the causes of Jews’ blind refusal to embrace Christianity⁵⁷—to the Bishop of Paris and many other Christian authorities throughout Europe. The content of that papal dispatch was based on Gregory’s conversations with Nicholas Donin, a convert from Judaism, who was appointed to deliver the document to Church officials. Donin subsequently served as the lead prosecutor in the 1240 disputation against the Talmud that resulted in its burning in 1244.⁵⁸

      One topic in that letter from 1239 stands out for its seeming lack of connection to the broader charges levied therein. According to accusation #33, the Talmud declares that anyone who fasts is a sinner:

      “And all who fast are considered sinners.” This is read in Seder Mo’ed, in the first chapter of Tractate Ta’anit, where it is said: Samuel said: “Whosoever sits in fast is called a sinner, since we read this about the Nazarite: ‘And make expiation on his behalf for the guilt that he incurred through the corpse.’” And we read that Eleazar haKappar said: “What does ‘And make expiation’ mean? Against which soul did he sin? It means that [he incurred guilt because] he denied himself by abstaining from wine. Certainly we can reason, inferring from a minor assertion to a major one, that if this man who only denied himself wine is called a sinner, how much the more so one who denies himself enjoyment of ever so many things.⁵⁹

      This allegation is an almost verbatim citation from Tractate Ta’anit 11a in the Babylonian Talmud. However, a close reading of this passage in its original context quickly reveals that the pope and his counsel, Nicholas, were quoting selectively. This talmudic discussion continues with Eleazar taking the opposite position by claiming that one who fasts is holy, which concurs with the stance that the pope ascribes to Christianity.⁶⁰

      Why was this talmudic quotation (albeit taken out of context) inserted in this papal communiqué? Chen Merchavia reads its inclusion as a protest against a perceived attack on Christian fasting customs, especially those practiced by monks, whose position was seen by Christians as analogous to the biblical Nazarites. The charge that the Talmud equates fasting with sin was meant to highlight the absurdity of Jewish practice as exemplified by the Jewish miscomprehension of this key Christian ritual. This claim also provided an opportunity, in the spirit of Jerome, to condemn Jews of being excessively materialistic and, as a result, unable to put their spiritual interests over their carnal needs.⁶¹ In that cultural environment, the inclusion of an accusation against the alleged Jewish condemnation of fasting in a papal writ stresses the significance of fasting as a spiritual and tangible mode of devotion to God. In order to contextualize this accusation, let us turn to the Jews of medieval Ashkenaz to examine the role of fasting in their religious practice.

      Jewish Fasting in Medieval Europe

      The influence of the late antique heritage of fasting in Jewish communities seems to have faded somewhat over the centuries that followed, for the Ge’onim did not emphasize the value or practice of fasting. While ge’onic writings indicate that major fasts were maintained, consistent with earlier generations of the Babylonian schools of thought, they prohibited fasting on the Sabbath and other holidays, especially prior to Rosh haShanah and on a second day of Yom Kippur. Fasting an additional day for Yom Kippur was a late antique custom that was often reproved but that persisted throught the medieval period. Judai Ga’on (d. 761) notes that this period is known as the “Ten Days of Repentance” (aseret yemei teshuvah), not the “Ten Days of Fasting.” He questions what might have inspired a tendency to fast during these days. Similar views are attributed to Hai Ga’on (d. 1038).⁶² Nevertheless, these opinions represent points on a spectrum that extended from endorsement of fasts to discouragement from this practice, and it is evident that some people did fast during these times.⁶³ As for fasting on the Sabbath following bad dreams, the Ge’onim condoned the practice only after truly menacing ones.⁶⁴

      These heterogeneous stances toward fasting in Babylonian sources may explain why the lists of fast days that have reached us from the ge’onic period are less elaborate than their medieval parallels.⁶⁵ These distinctions should not be mistaken for a claim that medieval Jews living in Islamic societies did not fast; however, Jewish fasting practices in Muslim lands deserve consideration within their cultural context as well as a detailed comparison to Muslim practice, a topic for future consideration.

      As we shift our focus from Babylon to Europe, it is important to acknowledge that medieval Ashkenazic Jews were well aware of Babylonian halakhic trends and instructions.⁶⁶ In her recent book Lama tzamnu? (Wherefore have we fasted?),⁶⁷ Shulamit Elizur traces the history of Megillat Ta’anit Batra. This text first appeared in eighth-century Babylon under the title Sefer Halakhot Gedolot; it was copied widely then ultimately renamed and appended to Megillat Ta’anit. Megillat Ta’anit Batra enumerates fasts that were observed on dates that Jews have historically associated with biblical events (e.g., the deaths of Miriam, Aaron, Moses, and Joshua) and on post-biblical milestones, such as the day when the Greek translation of the Bible was completed. Elizur focuses on textual transmission rather than actual or presumed practices. Even though this list originated in early medieval Babylon, it is significant that it was copied and circulated most extensively in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Ashkenaz; indeed, custom books from medieval Ashkenaz attest that at least some of these fasts were observed.⁶⁸

      Although our earliest (eleventh century) sources from Ashkenaz bear no mention of widespread fasting, as other scholars have remarked, many prominent community leaders and scholars from that time in both Germany and northern France describe fasting as a regular component of their annual observances. Most notably, Rashi’s teachers, Judah b. Barukh (eleventh century) and Isaac b. Eliezer haLevi (ca. 1000–1080) in Worms, fasted for two days in observance of Yom Kippur, a practice that the Ge’onim had discouraged.⁶⁹