Brandeis University
Border Jews: Jewish Life on Medieval Frontier. German Ashkenazim in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Ruthenia
Much has been written on the Turnerian idea of frontier as a political, cultural and social reality. While accepting most of the critical remarks that were published by numerous authours I would still argue that frontier, understood as concrete area or society constituted by the constand cultural (religious), political and linguistic interaction of different groups, remains a useful research tool for historians and anthropologists. Jews of Red Ruthenia were not only living in the frontierland with its all possible characteristics. Jewish experiences on this geo-, socio- and political frontier should be also understood in the light of the inherent «frontierness» of Jewish experience in the late medieval and early modern Europe. Jews were seen and saw themselves as «others» if not alien within their host societies. With no doubts such perception of the Jews and their position was commonly accepted in the late medieval and early modern Poland and more generally Central Europe. Depiction of the Jewish life in medieval and early modern Central Europe would not be complete without presentation of their unique legal position in the complicated legal systems of contemporary Europe.