»A Straightforward Path for All«

Abstract

* This paper emerged from work presented at a colloquium at Princeton University in October 2006 that dealt with the expulsion of the Jews from France in the year 1306 and its aftermath. I would like to thank Bill Jordan for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to present my findings, and to all the participants for their helpful comments. I would also like to thank Susan Einbinder, Avi Shmidman and Nahum Wiessenstern for assisting me during the various stages of my research and writing. 1 Francis Bacon, The History of the Reign of King Henry VII in the Works of Lord Bacon (London: 1853), 794b. For a modern-day application of this observation, see Lewis A. Coser, Refugee Scholars in America: Their Impact and their Experiences (New Haven: 1984), 3 and 10-15. 2 H. Gross, Gallia Judaica (Amsterdam: 1969), 490-491 has argued that Jeruham was exiled together with most of the French Jews during the year 1 306. This assumption is most plausible based on the years of his known activity in Spain in the first half of the 14th century. For example, we do know from Jeruham's own testimony that he studied with the famous Ashkenazi scholar Asher b. Jehiel in Toledo. This scholar