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Darrera modificació: 2020-07-01
Bases de dades: Sciència.cat
Jacobi, Leor, "Jewish hawking in Medieval France: falconry, Rabbenu Tam, and the tosafist", Oqimta, 1 (2013), 421-504.
- Resum
- Hawking (falconry) is the use of birds of prey in order to hunt or trap. It is demonstrated that this form of hunting was practiced by certain Jewish communities of medieval Northern France. -- Part I -- In his Shita Mekubetzet, Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi records a tradition, which maintains that Rabbenu Ya'akov ben Meir (Rabbenu Tam) used 'silver talons' on his own hawk for reasons of kashrut. It is argued that more likely is a historical attribution of the practice to Rabbi Isaac of Norwich, cited in Shita Mekubetzet according to the no-longer extant Tosafot Rabbenu Peretz on Tractate Hullin. Isaac was a leader of the English Jewish community, and was portrayed in an early anti-Semitic caricature as a three-headed antichrist. The rationale for the 'silver talons' and its practicalities are discussed in light of the testimony and writings of modern falconers. A dispute between Tosafists regarding the practice of falconry is explained on the basis of variant identifications of נץ as either the hawk or the falcon. -- Part II -- A bible commentary attributed to Rabbenu Tam describes that Jacob gifted Esau with a hawk. Perhaps Rabbenu Tam personally identified with the role of the shtadlan as “played” by his namesake, the patriarch Jacob. Rabbi Joseph Bechor Shor, a student of Rabbenu Tam, authored a similar type of commentary in which a riverside encounter between Moses and Pharaoh takes place while Pharaoh is hawking. This scene was depicted in a Spanish Passover Haggadah. Another commentary of Bechor Shor is discussed, one having to do with the then-controversial issue of kisui ha-dam, the commandment to cover the blood of a slaughtered wild animal or bird. It is suggested that those Jews who allegorically absolved themselves of the commandment may have been motivated by the desire to remain inconspicuous in a mixed hunting environment. -- Part III -- The halakhic decision attributed to Rabbenu Ephraim of Regensburg (another prominent student of Rabbenu Tam), by Rabbi Yitzhak of Vienna (Or Zarua), prohibits Jews from tying a hawk to the saddle of a horse they are riding, as it is comparable to the biblical prohibition against plowing with an ox and a donkey in tandem. That contested decision was then interpreted by Or Zarua in a surprising manner, one which does not seem to correspond to the realities of hawking. The evolution of this law is discussed in depth, from two original responsa of Rabbenu Ephraim, through a lost section of the Sefer Ha-Dinim by Rabbenu Peretz, to Or Zarua. This is explained in the context of or Zarua's own expressed fierce opposition to sport hunting, which has been contrasted by scholars with the actual French practice of hawking. Under Emperor Frederick II, a contemporary of Or Zarua and a noted falconer and scientist, the hunting practices evolved from an enjoyable means of sustenance, associated with, but not limited to, the royalty, to a bona fide royal sport. It is argued that Frederick's methods are more exemplary of the type of hunting to which Or Zarua reacted negatively, following the precedent of Talmudic opposition to Roman קניגיא/cynegeticus. Furthermore, Or Zarua represented the isolationist perspective of the 'Pious of Ashkenaz' towards the secular world, as opposed to that of the 'Sages of France,' who took a more accommodating stance, in general. -- An appendix discusses a halakhic decision from Rabbenu Tam's Sepher Ha-Yashar, in which he proclaims and demonstrates his knowledge of the practices of hawks and falcons. Dores, a category of forbidden birds, is defined by him as birds which consume other birds alive. In another responsum, he permits the consumption of the pheasant, a bird commonly hunted with the aid of hawks.
- Matèries
- Jueus
Veterinària - Falconeria i caça
- URL
- https://www.academia.edu/2978235/Jewish_Hawking_in_ ...
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