Stories from Jewish History

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Every New Beginning*
👩🏻‍💻 An important newsletter announcement. (Yes, I'm going to keep writing! Just in a new format.)
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
6
Resurgence of Controversy: R. Shlomo Petit vs. R. Hillel of Verona & R. Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera
🎓 In the late 1280s, the attempt to ban Sefer ha-Madda and Moreh ha-Nevuchim resurfaced—but was firmly stamped out by Maimonideans, east and west.
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
16:26
Audio | Resurgence of Controversy: R. Shlomo Petit vs. R. Hillel of Verona & R. Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera
🎓 In the late 1280s, the attempt to ban Sefer ha-Madda and Moreh ha-Nevuchim resurfaced—but was firmly stamped out by Maimonideans, east and west.
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
Where Books Burn: The Maimonidean Controversy of the 1230s
🎓 The controversy about Rambam's theological stances, halachic method, and legal rulings, which simmered from the time of Raavad and Ramah, exploded in…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
11:44
Audio | Where Books Burn: The Maimonidean Controversy of the 1230s
🎓 The controversy about Rambam's theological stances, halachic method, and legal rulings, which simmered from the time of Raavad and Ramah, exploded in…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin

Recent posts

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The Ramah's Complex Campaign Against Rambam
🎓 The highly-regarded Toledo authority waged an uphill battle against what he viewed as problematic ideas and positions in Rambam's works—until he…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
Audio | The Ramah's Complex Campaign Against Rambam
🎓 The highly-regarded Toledo authority waged an uphill battle against what he viewed as problematic ideas and positions in Rambam's works—until he…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
12:22
Tishrei 5785: The Lives and Afterlives of U-Netaneh Tokef
❤️‍🔥 The haunting Rosh Hashana piyut U-Netaneh Tokef has a contested backstory, but the complex realities behind its many lives and afterlives tells…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
Audio | Tishrei 5785: The Lives and Afterlives of U-Netaneh Tokef
❤️‍🔥 The haunting Rosh Hashana piyut U-Netaneh Tokef has a contested backstory, but the complex realities behind its many lives and afterlives tells…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
14:44
An Early Maimonidean Controversy in the East
🎓 The Maimonidean controversies began even during the Rambam's lifetime. Today, we look closely at one of these early cultural conversations that took…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
Stories from Jewish History
Stories from Jewish History
Bringing premodern Jewish thinkers, events, and artifacts to life, from the famous to the obscure.
trmarvin.org
Resources & Guides
Book recommendations and how-to guides to online research and learning resources
Parsha Guides
Comprehensive Guides through the weekly Torah readings
Twitter Thread Index
Browse every Twitter thread I've posted by theme

Origins of Ashkenaz

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Chasidei Ashkenaz: The Rhineland Pietistic Movement
🏰 Following the harrowing events of the Crusades, rebounding Rhineland Jewish communities nurtured a small but influential pietistic movement that…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
3
The Jewish Experience of the Crusades and the Crusade Chronicles
🏰 The First Crusade in particular, but also the Second and Third Crusades, shattered the Jewish communities of the Rhineland Valley, profoundly…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
2
The Rhineland Valley (Shu"m) Communities
🏰 The cradle of Ashkenazi Jewish culture was the Rhineland Valley, and particularly the communities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz. Today, we explore the…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
2
The First Families of Ashkenaz
🏰 The four famed families of Rome and the multi-branched Kalonymos family were renowned as founders of Ashkenazi culture. Today, we further untangle…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
7

Origins of Sefarad

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Before History: Avraham Ibn Daud and his Sefer ha-Kabbalah
🌅 Centuries before the practices of modern history emerged, R. Avraham Ibn Daud, a devout Aristotelian rabbinic Jew, wrote us one of the most important…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
3
The Journey of Yehuda ha-Levi
🌅 Sefarad's golden boy turns his back on courtly pleasures and sets his sights on his once and future country.
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
2
Outsider/Insider: Shlomo Ibn Gabirol and Moshe Ibn Ezra
🌅 Today we explore the lives of two poet-philosophers, one the ultimate well-heeled Andalusi insider and the other an idiosyncratic, semi-tragic…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
3
Three Sefardi Halachists: Yitzchak Ibn Ghiyat, Ri Migash, Yehuda bar Barzillai
🌅 The these three early figures represent the flowering of Talmud learning in al-Andalus, proving influential both in the Islamicate world and in the…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
2

The Geonim

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The Late Geonic Period: Four Major Figures
🕍 The end of the Geonic period, about which we have the most information, includes four extraordinary figures who profoundly shaped the worlds of the…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
New Genres of Geonic Creativity
🕍 The Geonim of Babylonia created important new genres of writing which profoundly influenced, the Rishonim, including the Sheiltot, the early halachic…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
3
The Geonic Yeshivot and the Exilarchate
🕍 Today we explore the functioning of the great academies of Bavel and of the office of the Reish Galuta (Exilarch), principally based on the account…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
From Nasi to Gaon: Leadership in Byzantine Eretz Yisrael
🕍 We continue in our Geonim series with a closer look at the leadership situation in the Land of Israel, which had its own geonim, as well as…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1

Famous Hebrew Manuscripts

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Rishonim, Autographed and Illuminated
📜 For the conclusion of the Famous Hebrew Manuscript series, a look at important or beautiful manuscripts of Rashi, Rambam, and Tur.
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
Illuminated Hebrew Bibles
📜 From Spain to Germany to Yemen, Jews of the mid- to late Middle Ages began producing decorated Bibles, some with smaller ornamentation and others…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
2
Illuminated Medieval Haggadot
📜 We continue exploring illuminated Passover haggadot with blockbuster manuscripts from Ashkenaz and Sefarad.
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
The Mysteries of the Birds' Head Haggada
📜 In the first of two newsletters focused on illuminated Passover haggadot, we take a look at medieval Ashkenazi aniconism and the perplexing…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin

Maimonidean Controversies

View all
Resurgence of Controversy: R. Shlomo Petit vs. R. Hillel of Verona & R. Shem Tov Ibn Falaquera
🎓 In the late 1280s, the attempt to ban Sefer ha-Madda and Moreh ha-Nevuchim resurfaced—but was firmly stamped out by Maimonideans, east and west.
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
Where Books Burn: The Maimonidean Controversy of the 1230s
🎓 The controversy about Rambam's theological stances, halachic method, and legal rulings, which simmered from the time of Raavad and Ramah, exploded in…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
The Ramah's Complex Campaign Against Rambam
🎓 The highly-regarded Toledo authority waged an uphill battle against what he viewed as problematic ideas and positions in Rambam's works—until he…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
An Early Maimonidean Controversy in the East
🎓 The Maimonidean controversies began even during the Rambam's lifetime. Today, we look closely at one of these early cultural conversations that took…
 • 
Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin

Premodern Aliyah

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Ramban's Aliyah in 1267
🗺️ Aged around 70, Ramban made his way to Eretz Yisrael, fleeing persecution but also chasing a dream of coming to the Land. The journey left its mark…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
When Yehuda ha-Levi Brought his Heart to the East
🗺️ In today's newsletter, we explore a few texts that give us a closer look at R. Yehuda ha-Levi's journey, both physical and spiritual, to the Land of…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
Meshullam da Volterra's Vow to Visit the Land of Israel
🗺️ A banker and gem trader, Meshullam made a vow during a time of trouble to visit Eretz Yisrael. He recorded his journey there and back to Italy in…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
R. Eliyahu of Ferrara's Journey to Jerusalem
🗺️ An Italian rabbi who became a pillar of the premodern Jewish community in Jerusalem penned a succinct and fascinating letter about the reality of…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1

The History of Kabbala

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R. Chaim Vital: The Ari's Chief Disciple and Transmitter
🧿 The legacy of the Ari was closely guarded, and thus tied up in, the life and works of his self-proclaimed chief disciple, the prolific R. Chaim Vital…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
The Ari - R. Itzchak Luria Ashkenazi
🧿 The enigmatic R. Yitzchak ben Shlomo Luria Ashkenazi, better known as the Ari, was a creative master of Kabbala who effected profound changes on the…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
1
The Safed Circle II: R. Moshe Cordovero (Remak)
🧿 Another important figure of Pre-Lurianic Tzfat was the Kabbalist R. Moshe Cordovero, who popularized Kabbala and created a new genre of Kabblistic…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
The Safed Circle I: R. Yosef Karo and R. Yaakov Beirav
🧿 In the hillside town of Tzfat (Safed) in the Ottoman-ruled Land of Israel, victims of expulsions from Europe found space for Kabbalistic creativity…
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Dr. Tamar Ron Marvin
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