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Move
Over, Marco Polo!
The
Travel Diaries of Wandering Jews
Melton Graduate Course
Instructor: Marsha B. Cohen
Thursdays, Temple Beth Am, 8:00-9:30 pm
Oct. 16-Dec. 18, 2003
One of the most fascinating
lenses through which to understand Jewish history, culture, ethnography and
folklore is the study of diaries written by Jewish travelers. These exotic
ninth to nineteenth centuries accounts of the countries they visited and the
events they experienced will offer new perspectives of Jewish life in the
Land of Israel as well as Europe, Asia and Africa. We'll study the
firsthand chronicles of Eldad the Danite , Benjamin of Tudela, Petachya of
Ratisbon, Ovadia of Bartenura, messianic pretender David Reuveni, and Lady
Judith Montefiore, among others. Adventurers and armchair travelers
welcome!
Course
Outline
Recommended Reading:
Tzvi Howard Adelman, “Jewish Travelers Accounts: Community, Self, and Other” (JAFI)
Week 1 –
Out of Africa: Eldad the Danite (c. 880)
Excerpt
from Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages:
Thirteen Firsthand Accounts, ed. with an Introduction by Elkan
Nathan Adler, p. 4-21
Week 2 – Benjamin of Tudela
The
Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (1165-1173), Critical text, translation and
commentary by Marcus Nathan Adler
Week 3 – Letters from Medieval Jewish
Traders - the Cairo Geniza
Excerpts
from S.D. Goitein, Letters from Medieval Jewish Traders
Mark
R. Cohen, “Goitein, the Geniza and Muslim
History”
Week 4 – Petachia of
Ratisbon (Regensburg)
Travels
of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon (London: Trubner, 1856) trans. by A. Benisch (pdf)
Week 5 - Ovadiah of
Bartenura (Bertinoro)
Excerpts
from Pathway to Jerusalem:
The Travel Letters Of Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartenura Written Between 1488-1490
During His Journey To The Holy Land
Week 6 – David Reubeni (1522-1525)
Excerpts
from Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages:
Thirteen Firsthand Accounts, ed. with an Introduction by Elkan
Nathan Adler, pp. 251-328
Judaic
Treasures of the Library of Congress: “And May the
Messiah Come Soon”
Week 7 – Lady Judith
Montefiore
Excerpts from Judith
Montefiore (1826-27) Private Journal of a visit to Egypt and Palestine,
Photocopy of the London edition, 1836 (pages 128-234) Introduction: I. Bartal
Week 8 – These are the Names: Joseph Schwarz Makes History
Rabbi Joseph Schwarz
(1850), Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine.
Week 9 – The Real “Frisco Kids” - Jews in
the Wild, Wild West
Solomon Nunes Carvalho
(1856), Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West With Col. Fremont's
Last Expedition
Excerpts
from: I Married Wyatt Earp: The
Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp
