Table Of ContentTheMarranoWay
Perspectives on Jewish Texts
and Contexts
Edited by
Vivian Liska
EditorialBoard
RobertAlter,StevenA.Aschheim,LeoraBatnitzky,RichardI.Cohen,
MarkH.Gelber,MosheHalbertal,ChristineHayes,MosheIdel,SamuelMoyn,
IlanaPardes,AlvinRosenfeld,DavidRuderman,BerndWitte
Volume 19
The Marrano Way
Between Betrayal and Innovation
Edited by
Agata Bielik-Robson
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Contents
AgataBielik-Robson
Introduction 1
Part 1:MarranoJudaism
LiberaPisano
TheWanderingJew:TheAnarchicChallengeofaMarranoLegend 57
SergeyDolgopolski
OutofPlace(OfTalmudicMarranos) 75
EladLapidot
ReadingtheOther?LevinasandtheHiddenTraditionofTalmud 97
GöranRosenberg
ASwedishMarrano?TheEcumenicalHeresiesofRabbiMarcus
Ehrenpreis 117
Part 2:MarranoPhilosophy
DanielH.Weiss
Spinoza’sTheological-PoliticalTreatise:JewishPhilosophy
inanAnti-JewishGuise? 133
DennisBaert
ThinkingThroughIdentity:TheMarranicEpistemologyofFranz
Rosenzweig 155
UrszulaIdziak-Smoczyńska
MarranismasWittgenstein’sReligiousPointofView 181
Part 3:Marrano Psychoanalysis
GiladSharvit
HeresyandMarranism:TheCaseofFreud 205
VI Contents
AdamLipszyc
OntheMarranoPsychotheologyofGender:Freud,Schreber,Frank 219
AgataBielik-Robson
Derrida’sElsewhere:TheCrypticLifeoftheMarranoSelf 231
Part 4:MarranoLiterature
JanSchwarz
TheEmancipationofYitskhokBashevis:TheSufferingsofaPolygamous
WertherinTheManofDreams 265
PrzemysławTacik
ClassicismasaMarranicDisguise:HermannBroch’sTheDeathofVirgil
andthePriceofSelf-Preservation 281
VivianLiska
Poet–Trickster–Marrano:ElseLasker-SchülerandtheLetter
thatSaves 307
Part 5:MarranoReligion(s)
AleksandrGaisin
Solovyov:APhilosophicalMarrano?TsimtsuminLecturesonDivine
Humanity 321
AntoineLevy
MetaphysicsofEsther:EdithSteinbetweenAquinasandScotus 341
NotesonContributors 365
Index 369
AgataBielik-Robson
Introduction
TheMarranoHypothesis: TheRiseoftheModern Subjectout
oftheSources of(Hidden)Judaism
FromJerusalemaremnantshallgoout,fromMountZionabandofsurvivors.
Isaiah37:32
EverythingthatIsaycanbeinterpretedasarisingfromthebestJewishtraditionandat
thesametimeasanabsolutebetrayal.Ihavetoconfess:thisisexactlywhatIfeel.
JacquesDerrida.1
HermannCohen’sfamousstipulation–thatJudaismistheoriginal“religionof
reason”andbecauseofthatmustbetreatedasthesourceofmodernEnlighten-
ment– lies, somewhat modified, atthe heartofthis volume. Allits essays put
tothetestthe“Marranohypothesis”:theideathat modernsubjectivity–thor-
oughly individuated, reflexive about its primary belonging, and keen on free-
dom of choice and thought – derives from the sources of marranismo as the
hiddenJewishtraditionwhichbroketheallegiancetotherabbinicJudaism,but
nonetheless preserved some elements of Jewish faith undercover, while wan-
dering into other cultures. Let us, therefore, imagine that it is not Descartes’s
egocogito,butratherMicheldeMontaigne’slivingselfthatformstheparadigm
ofmodernsubjectivity:notanabstractthinkingthing,naturallybornforphilo-
sophical reflection, but a complex psychic entity, torn by existential aporias
whichcannotbedetachedfromtheconcretecourseoflife.Letusimaginefur-
ther that these existentialaporias have reasonsandrootsthat can be located
intimeandspaceandattributedtoaquitespecificexperience.Wehaveread
alotaboutMontaigneasanalternativefounderofnovaera:akindofamod-
ernAugustine,butinreverse,investingnotintheintimaterelationwithGod,
but in the detailed and intensely secular description of his life in the world.
Together with Spinoza, Montaigne is often hailed as a pioneer of the modern
“free thinking” which, not necessarily atheistic itself, rejects all the religious
dogmas and often creates heterodox metaphysico-theological systems. Spi-
noza forged a powerful new system of metaphysics, which influenced the
wholemodern philosophy. Montaigne did not, he preferred to stay closeto the
1 “ConfessionetCircumfession,”indebatewithRichardKearney,inDesconfessions(Paris:
Stock,2007),83.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110768275-001
2 AgataBielik-Robson
meanderingarabesqueofhislife.Buttheyhaveonethingincommon:the“Mar-
ranoexperience.”
Montaigne, the Paradigmatic Marrano
MichelEyquemdeMontaignewasbornin1533asthesonofPierreEyquemand
AntoinettedeLouppesdeVillaneuve,adescendantoftheNewChristiansfrom
Spain, who migrated to France. The Eyquems were merchants and most likely
alsoofaSephardicancestry,whoarrivedtotheregionofBordeauxinthetime
ofthepersecutionoftheIberianJewsalreadyastheNuevosCristianos.Michel
droppedtheenigmaticalien-soundingpatronym(someclaimthatitmightde-
rive from the Hebrew Hayim) early on and kept only the name of his birth-
place, but this gesture should not be read as a sign of rejection of his Jewish
roots. In The Essays, there are many allusions to the sorry fate of the Iberian
conversos, but one fragment particularly is worth citing since it contains the
whole of the Marrano experience in the nutshell. First, as it is often the case
with Montaigne deeply in love with the Greco-Roman antiquity, he strikes a
comparison – a kind of a Benjaminian “flash of recognizability” – between
theIberianpersecutionoftheJewsandthePersianpersecutionoftheancient
Greeks:
Anyopinionispowerfulenoughforsomebodytoespouseitatthecostofhislife.Thefirst
articleinthatfairoaththatGreeceswore–andkept–inthewaragainsttheMedeswas
thateverymanwouldratherexchangelifefordeaththanPersianlawsforGreekones.In
thewarsoftheTurksandtheGreekshowmanymencanbeseenpreferringtoacceptthe
cruellestofdeathsratherthantorenouncecircumcisionforbaptism?2
AlthoughrespectfuloftheGreekimperativeofthehonorabledeath,Montaigne
doesnotendorseit.Intherapidshiftofhistoricalcontexts,heplungesstraigth
into the heart of the Marrano dilemma: should one renounce circumcision for
baptism and thus stay alive or should one accept the cruellest of deaths and
thus stay faithful to their religion? In the next few paragraphs, he launches a
bitterattackonthetwo16thcenturyIberiankings,CastillanandPortugal,who
contrivedaplotthatwouldobstructthemigrationofJewsfromthepeninsula
andfacethemwith aterriblechoice whichtheyhadtodecide ina veryshort
2 MicheldeMontaigne,TheCompleteEssays,trans.A.M.Screech(London:Penguin,2003),
59;emphasisadded.HenceforthasCE.
Introduction 3
time and under the extreme duresse: either conversion to Christianity or
slavery–
Thisdeedissaidtohaveproducedadreadfulspectacle,asthenaturalloveofparents
andchildrentogetherwiththeirzealfortheirancientfaithrebelledagainstthisharshde-
cree:itwascommontoseefathersandmotherskillingthemselvesor–anevenharsher
example–throwingtheirbabesdownwellsoutofloveandcompassioninordertoevade
thatlaw.Meanwhiletheallottedtimeranout:theyhadnoresources,soreturnedtoslav-
ery.SomebecameChristians:eventodayacenturylaterfewPortuguesetrustintheirsin-
cerityorinthatoftheirdescendants. (CE,61)
IndignantwiththetreacheryofthePortugueseKing,whofirstpromisedtheflee-
ingSpanishJewsasafepassagetoAfricaandthenwithdrewhisoffer,Montaigne
comments:“Thatisanexamplewhichallreligionsarecapableof”(CE,59;empha-
sisadded).Whyall?IsJudaismalsotobeaccusedofasimilarcruelty,byinducing
its believers tochoose martyrological death, as isChristianity, by producingthe
dubious Nuevos Cristianos with the“absoluteforce” of compulsoryconversion?3
AlthoughMontaignedescribestheordealofthetrappedJewswith“loveandcom-
passion,” he cannot identify with their “zeal for their ancient faith”: he cannot
find in himself a trace of a Zealot who would “prefer to accept the cruellest of
deaths” rather than the unheroic survival.4 What makes Montaigne suspicious
3 TheCatholicconceptofthe“absoluteforce”wasappliedbytheInquisitionincasesofthose
Marranoswhowerecoercedtoacceptbaptisminaparticularlyviolentmanner,preciselyas
theonedescribedbyMontaigne.WhennoticingthereferencestotheProvancalconversosin
themanualfortheinquisitors,composedbyBernardGui,MarinaRustovcomments:“Indeed,
BernardGui,indiscussingthevaryingdegreesofcoercionadmissibleindeclaringaconver-
siontoChristianitytobevalid,sayshimselfthatonlyiftheJewhasbeenledtothebaptismal
fontbymeansof‘absoluteforce’isheorshepermittedtoreturntoJudaism.Inpracticalappli-
cation,thisclausewasobviouslyamatteroftheinquisitor’sdiscretion:howshouldonedefine
‘absolute’?AmongtherelapsiBernarddiscusseswasaGermanJewofToulousenamedBarukh
whohadbeenbaptizedonthreatofdeathbyabandofPastoureauxduringtheShepherds’
Crusade;theInquisitionhadnotallowedhimtoreturntoJudaismonthereasoningthatthe
forcehadnotbeen‘absolute’afterall”:MarinaRustov,“YerushalmiandtheConversos,”Jew-
ishHistory,Vol.28,No.1/2014,39;emphasisadded.
4 OntheemergenceofmartyrdomasthenewformofprovingfidelitytotheJewishGod,see
HansJonas:“Inthelongagesoffaithfulnessthereafter,guiltandretributionnolongerfur-
nishedtheexplanation,buttheideaof‘witness’didinstead,thiscreationoftheMaccabean
age,whichbequeathedtoposterioritytheconceptofthemartyr.Itisofitsverymeaningthat
preciselytheinnocentandthejustsuffertheworst.Indeferencetotheideaofwitness,whole
communitiesintheMiddleAgesmettheirdeathbyswordandfirewiththeSh’maJisrael,the
avowalofGod’sOnenessontheirlips.TheHebrewnameforthisisKiddush-hashem,‘sanctifi-
cationoftheName,’andtheslaughteredwerecalled‘saints.’Throughtheirsacrificeshone
thelightofpromise,ofthefinalredemptionbytheMessiahtocome”:HansJonas,Morality
andMortality.ASearchfortheGoodafterAuschwitz,trans.LawrenceVogel(Chicago,Evanston:
4 AgataBielik-Robson
towards this“preference” is that it may indeed be a preference:a deepdesire to
proveone’sfidelitytoGodbytherenunciationoflifeintheself-sacrificialascetic
gesture.Hethusconcludestheentryontheconversoswithacrypticreferencetoa
friendwho,intheZealotmode,“pursueddeathwitharealpassion”:
Iwitnessedoneofmyfriendsenergeticallypursuingdeathwitharealpassion,rootedin
hismindbymany-facetedargumentswhichIcouldnotmakehimrenounce;quiteirratio-
nally,withafierce,burninghunger,heseizeduponthefirstdeathwhichpresenteditself
witharadiantnimbusofhonour. (CE,61)
Free of any thanatic fascination or a martyrological desire, Montaigne firmly
believesthatitisbettertolivethantodie:bettertolosegloryandsurvivethan
togaingloryandperish.HedoesnotpouranyscornonthoseJewswhobecame
Christians in order to secure their survival. If anything, he merely questions
whethertheybecameChristiansafterall,sinceitishardtoexpectasincereal-
legiance to the new religion, if one had been brought to it by the “absolute
force.” He thus sees those surviving conversos as the first subjects who found
NortwesternUniversityPress,1996),132–33.WhichisnottosaythatJudaismcanbeeasily
reduced to such thanatic cultic structures. Although there were rabbis who, in the newly
arisenZealotmode,woulddemandfromtheJewsfacingconversionafullreadinesstomar-
tyrologicalsacrifice,theprevalent,lessdemandingandcompassionate,positionwassetby
Maimonides:“Applyinghislogicalmindtothisburning(andperhapspersonal)question,Mai-
monidesdiscernedseveralmodalitiesanddegreesofconversion,andruledthataforcedcon-
vertmust‘abandoneverythinghepossessesandwalkdayandnightuntilhefindsaplace
wherehecanreconstitutehis[Jewish]religion’;meanwhile,heshouldkeepamaximumof
Jewishlawsinsecret”(OW,43;emphasisadded).Seealso:MosesMaimonides,“Epistleon
ConversionoraTreatiseonMartyrdom”(Heb.)inEpistles,ed.M.D.Rabinowitz(Jerusalem:
RavCookInstitute,1981),64–65,aswellasIsadoreTwersky,“Maimonides,”inJacobNeusner,
ed.,UnderstandingRabbinicJudaism.FromTalmudictoModernTimes(Eugene,Oregon:Wipf
andStock,2003),194,whichcontainsaconcisesummaryofMaimonides’LetteronConversion
(Iggeretha-Shemad).Indeed,thehumanesolutionproposedbyMaimonideshasagoodstand-
ingintheTalmudwhich,asDanielBoyarinconvincinglyshows,doesnotadvocateaheroic
andpossiblylethalconfrontation,butessentiallyunheroicartofevasionthatputsasfirstthe
valueofsurvival:“TheappropriateformofresistancethattheTalmudrecommendsforJewsin
thisplaceisevasion[. ..]ThecentralBabyloniantalmudicmythofthefoundationofrabbinic
Judaisminvolvessuchanactofevasionandtrickery,the‘grotesque’escapeinacoffinof
RabbiYohananbenZakkaifrombesiegedJerusalem,whichtheRabbisportrayastheveryan-
tithesisofthemilitaryresistanceoftheZealotswhowantedtofighttotheverylastmanand
preservetheirhonor.Herewefindthesamepoliticaltheory–Getoutofthere!”:DanielBoy-
arin,UnheroicConduct.TheRiseofHeterosexualityandtheInventionoftheJewishMan(Berke-
ley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1997),94.AccordingtoBoyarin,theRabbisdonotreally
recommendmartyrdom,butevenifitoccurs,theJewishvariantofmartyrologyappearsdiffer-
ent,somewhat“sweeter”thantheRoman-Christianmodelofabloodypainfuldeathascontin-
uationoftheasceticmortificationofthebody(ibid.,115).
