BOOK: Jay R. BERKOVITZ, Law's Dominion: Jewish Community, Religion, and Family in Early Modern Metz (Leiden-New York, Brill) ISBN 978-90-04-41740-3, EUR €63.00

(Source: Brill)

We learned of the publication of a new book on early modern Jewry and the law in Metz.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Law’s Dominion, Jay Berkovitz offers a novel approach to the history of early modern Jewry. Set in the city of Metz, on the Moselle river, this study of a vibrant prerevolutionary community draws on a wide spectrum of legal sources that tell a story about community, religion, and family that has not been told before.

Focusing on the community’s leadership, public institutions, and judiciary, this study challenges the assumption that Jewish life was in a steady state of decline before the French Revolution. To the contrary, the evidence reveals a robust community that integrated religious values and civic consciousness, interacted with French society, and showed remarkable signs of collaboration between Jewish law and the French judicial system.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jay R. Berkovitz, Ph.D. (1983), Brandeis University, is Distinguished Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies (Emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has published extensively in the fields of early modern history and law, including Protocols of Justice (Brill, 2014).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Maps

Introduction

Part 1: Foundations

1 Writing Jewish History through a Legal Lens
 Rabbinic Responsa Literature
 Communal Registers (Pinkasim)
 Lay and Rabbinic Court Records
 Law as a Cultural System
 The Production of the Metz Pinkas Beit Din

2 The Foundations of the Metz Kehillah
 Return of the Jews to France and the Establishment of the Metz Community
 Ritual and Identity
 Material Culture
 Economic Integration

Part 2: Community, Governance, Authority

3 Communal Autonomy and Governance
 Electoral and Administrative Procedures
 Consumption and Social Status
 Poverty and Social Welfare
 Juridical Autonomy and Recourse to Non-Jewish Courts
 Policing Religious and Cultural Boundaries

4 Lay and Rabbinic Judicial Authority
 Lay and Rabbinic Tribunals
 Sources of Law
 Judicial Procedure
 Functions of the Beit Din

5 Navigating the Challenges of Multiple Jurisdictions
 Language
 Production of Bi-lingual Documents
 Patterns of Litigation in the Beit Din
 Judicial Behavior of the Metz Beit Din
 The Acquaintance of the Beit Din with French Law and Judicial Procedure
 Navigating the Two Systems
 The Impact of French Law on Rabbinic Jurisprudence

Part 3: Family Affairs

6 Guardianship and Inheritance
 Guardianship
 Inheritance
 Testamentary Charity

7 Women, Marriage, and Property
 Betrothal and Marriage
 Marital Property
 Women in Credit and Commerce

8 Conclusion and Epilogue 
Glossary
Bibliography
Index 

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