A Grin without a Cat, 1: 'Adversus Iudaeos' Texts in the Literature of Medieval Russia (988-1504) by Alexander s> Pereswetoff-Morath A Grin without a Cat, 2: Jews and Christians in Medieval Russia by Alexander s> Pereswetoff-Morath (review)

Abstract

Reviews Pereswetoff-Morath,Alexander. A GrinWithout a Cat,i. Adversus Iudaeos' Texts intheLiterature ofMedieval Russia(988-I504). Lund Slavonic Monographs, 4. Lund University, Lund, 2002. xxv + 313 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography.Index. Priceunknown. Pereswetoff-Morath,Alexander. A GrinWithout a Cat,2: Jews andChristians in Medieval Russia.Lund Slavonic Monographs, 5. Lund University, Lund, 2002. X+ I63 PP. Illustrations.Notes. Appendices. Bibliography.Index. Priceunknown. THE obscurityof thiswork'stitle, the formalityof itspresentation,the place of its publication, the specialized nature of its content and the density of its argument, ensure that many readers will miss its significance, if not its existence. At firstglance this is no more than a study of the various genres of medieval Russian ecclesiasticalliterature not normallya topic to make the heart beat faster. Nonetheless, it is a work of great importance indeed, essential reading for specialists in Russian history in general, and those with an interestin East EuropeanJewry in particular. The title of the two volumes comes from the image of Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat, whose grin remained long after the feline in question had disappeared.The Cat servesas a metaphorfortheJews who appearedin texts used by medieval Russian churchmen. Pereswetoff-Morathcontends that the oft-encounteredmotif of an active, proselytizingJewish community remained long after the Jews themselves had faded away. The principal topic under review is Adversus Judaeostexts, i.e. polemical religious materials directed againstJews andJudaism. Such texts have been widely used by historiansof Russian to document the existence of alleged activities of East European Jewish communities, as well as the attitudes of Christians towards them. Pereswetoff-Morath'scritique of such arguments is neatly summed up in an appendix of volume two, entitled 'Five Non-Existent Jewish Communities' (pp. 125-29). Likemuch thathasbeen saidabout the natureof medievalJews in Rus', these turn out to be communities that were conjured up through a mis-readingof the sources. Volume one deals, among others,with two texts that have been widely used to 'prove' the existence and activity of Jews in Kiev Rus', the 'Philosopher's Speech' in the Primagy Chronicle's account of Grand Prince Vladimir's choice of faith, and the 'Sermon on Law and Grace' of Metropolitan Hillarion of Kiev. As Pereswetoff-Morathreminds his readers, the Primary Chronicle tale is almost certainly a later interpolation of 'a perfect Byzantine account of salvation history' (p. 54), and tells us nothing about Vladimir, his times, or Khazar missionaries.Hillarion'ssermon is a product of numerous redactions and is filled with insertionsthat reflected the concerns of writersfar removed from eleventh-centuryKiev. In dealing with such texts as historicaldocumentation, Pereswetoff-Morath rightly indicts scholarsfor ignoring questions of genre, transmission,use and intention, i.e. who did the translations,where did the originals come from, I20 SEER, 84, I, 2006 who commissioned them, what were the potential and actual uses and what was the influence and popularityof each text. In all the texts that PereswetoffMorath reviews, he finds little that is 'faintly contemporary or "Slavonic"' (p. 230). Pereswetoff-Morath's initial task is to establish genres, differentiating between biblical writing, homiletics, disputations,tracts, epistles and poems. Even before embarkingon a close reading, he notes that virtuallyall of these workswere translationsfromnon-Slavic sources.None, strictlyspeaking,were contemporaryto the events or attitudesthey describe, and most of the dating and the attribution of individual works are contested. As for the texts themselves, he notes that each genre was shaped by the purpose for which it was composed (or, frequently,assembledfrom a variety of texts). Their 'antiJewish ' content mustbe viewed within thiscontext. Thus, Pascal sermons not unnaturallyturned on the role of theJews in the passion of Christ. This was done not so much to emphasize their hands-on commission of deicide, but to set up a series of juxtapositions: the Old Law and the New, Law and Grace, Isaac and Ishmael. Moreover, the statusof the sermon in the Orthodox liturgy in the period to which these texts reportedly date is unknown. Disputational literature provides another example of the danger of reading too much into rhetoric.At firstglance, such works,which addressJews directlyin the firstperson, offera dramaticexample of religious rivalry.On furtherconsideration,it is hardto conceive ofJews standingin the back of St Sophia's cathedral in Kiev while...