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Pushed beyond the pale By Shulamith Shahar Tags: Jews, Europe, disabled  "Harigim be'al korham: Meshuga'im umetzura'im behevrah hayehudit be'eyropa bimey habeynaim" ("Involuntary Marginals: Marginal Individuals in Medieval Northern European Jewish Society") by Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 304 pages, NIS 85 Marginal individuals and groups are a universal phenomenon: In every society there is an "other," usually a number of "others," who serve to reinforce the integration and identity of the majority. People are classified according to their inclusion in a certain group, their religious beliefs and opinions, their behavioral norms and their ethnic origins (especially if their skin color differs from that of the majority group). Once the categories are established, it is then possible to spot the marginal groups and individuals. The attitude toward the "other" is sometimes one of indifference and sometimes positive, and can arouse sympathy and even stir an urge to help. Alternatively, the "other" might be considered dangerous, impure and even frightening; these impressions can lead to stigmatization, distancing and even persecution of the "other." Advertisement Different cultures have different "others," and someone who is considered as such in one society might not be considered that way in another. Just compare the status of the usurer in medieval Christian society with that of a banker in the 21st century - someone whose work once made him a despised sinner has become a person with whom politicians love to rub shoulders. Some people freely choose a profession, religion or political ideology that sets them apart from the majority, and are willing to pay the price for this choice. However, the "others" in Ephraim Shoham-Steiner's "Involuntary Marginals: Marginal Individuals in Medieval Northern European Jewish Society" are truly "involuntary marginals." Indeed, two of the three groups discussed by him - lepers and the disabled - can be universally defined this way. Throughout history and up until today, in societies around the world, they have not been accepted as part of the majority. Societies do differ, however, in their attitude and behavior toward these groups. As for the third group - the mentally ill - the situation is less clear. According to French historian Michel Foucault, the ancient Greeks did not have a category for "insanity"; it was thus impossible to marginalize mentally ill people. Even when that category was established, the Greeks were inconsistent in their interpretation of the term. Throughout the book, Shoham-Steiner compares the perception, attitude and behavior of northwestern European Jewish society during the 11th-15th centuries toward members of each of these groups with those of Christian society in the same place, at the same time. While there were some similarities, the reality of Jewish society's own marginal status in Europe informed its attitude toward marginal groups within the community. The Jewish minority feared a possible reaction by the Christian majority to its "other." As a result, Jews prevented mentally disturbed men and women from going out in the street, for example, for fear they might utter something negative about Christianity and thus endanger the greater Jewish community. Sin and punishment It seems Jewish and Christian societies agreed more than they disagreed in terms of their attitudes toward lepers, the disabled and the mentally ill. This can be explained by the shared dependence on the same sources and influences, although the Christian influence on the Jews was stronger. In the words of the medieval work "Sefer Hasidim" (Book of the Pious), which Shaham-Steiner quotes in his book: "For every city, as is the custom of the gentiles, so too is the custom of the Jews who are with them in most places." Jews and Christians relied on the same medical texts: Both mistakenly identified the "leprous" condition that spread in Western Europe in the 12th century onward as the biblical tzara'at. Both groups saw disease and disability in general, and leprosy in particular, as tied to sin and its punishment - as portrayed in the Scriptures. Leprosy was considered not only a bodily disease, but also an expression of the inner man, of his corrupted soul. In Jewish texts dating back to the Middle Ages, leprosy is linked mainly to sexual sins and apostasy. Gradually, both for the Jews and the Christians, the disease became a metaphor for every evil and every sin, to which suspicion, wrath, wickedness, vengefulness, avarice, treachery and lust were attributed. The disabled, too, were considered "unnatural" and were associated with sin. As Jesus said of the lame man he healed: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee" (Luke 5:20). Jewish and Christian societies during the period in question believed that insanity stemmed from profound sorrow and demons. Both societies attributed religious conversion to insanity. Jewish and Christian societies wavered between rejection and isolation of the mentally ill, and feelings of pity and the desire to help them. The conflicting feelings manifested themselves in help and care, on the one hand, and abuse and segregation (under the order of the rabbis and Christian lawmakers) on the other. There were some differences in both societies' attitudes. As noted, among Jews, they largely derived from the fear of a Christian reaction; the Jewish community's segregation of its "other" was also less severe than that of Christian society. To the best of our knowledge, there were no Jewish leper colonies. And, whereas Christians established insane asylums, the Jewish community expected the family to care for its own. In general, the degree of separation from sanctified Jewish space (the synagogue) was less absolute than that of sacred Christian space (the church). It should also be noted that the Jews did not inform on the lepers in their midst who, together with Muslims, poisoned Christians' water sources. (This happened in France in 1312, when confessions were extracted under terrible torture; the assets of the leper colonies were confiscated and many were executed.) Suicide was forbidden in both Judaism and Christianity, but in the Jewish community suicide was usually explained as being caused by insanity, whereas Christian society considered it so grave a sin that the corpse was desecrated. On the other hand, the Christians tended to idealize suffering, which led to identification with the leper or the disabled person, considered to be close to Jesus Christ. There was even a ceremony, practiced by certain kings, such as Louis XI, of washing the feet of lepers. Some Christian holy men and women not only cared for lepers, but went so far as to kiss them. Although they were a minority, they were admired, and even if they did not bring about a significant change in attitudes toward lepers or disabled people, their actions sharpened Christians' ambivalence toward these groups. It appears that lepers and the disabled were rejected more because they were physically repellent than because they were perceived as sinful. But because the external was seen as a reflection of the internal, the disabled and especially the leprous were perceived as having corrupted souls. The Jew, because of the negative characteristics that were attributed to him, was also depicted as ugly. Indeed depictions of this ugliness in Christian art of the Middle Ages are well known. Some Jewish sages even accepted the Christian view of Jews' physical characteristics, but interpreted it in a positive way: The source of the ugliness was their sexual purity; the Christians were more beautiful, but their beauty derived from an impure source. This is a grim example of a minority group internalizing its oppressor's image of it. Whereas attitudes toward the "involuntary" marginal groups were far from ideal in the Middle Ages, there was never an attempt made to "purify" them. The idea of eugenic improvement of a race was introduced only at the beginning of the 20th century in Germany, England and the United States. (The Nazis were not the first to think of this; they just developed the theory and implemented it in all its horror.) Lacking exceptions Shoham-Steiner's book is a scholarly work that relies on a wide array of Jewish sources and on the best research on Christian marginal groups. It constitutes a significant contribution to research on a topic that has thus far not been properly studied. It does seem to me, though, that it would have been possible to have enriched the picture presented here by devoting more attention to the exceptions within the marginal groups. One example that the author does offer is the public stripping by Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order; he stripped to prove his complete disengagement from all property and from his wealthy father. Stripping naked in public was considered symptomatic of madness, but Francis was admired for it. Shoham-Steiner errs, however, in arguing that saints were depicted as role models - this was not the case. They were admired, but the faithful were not encouraged to imitate their behavior. This was too dangerous. Despite the admiration of beauty in all cultures, it also happens that sometimes ugliness, too, can be part of an individual's charismatic character; there are several known figures in history who were disabled or disfigured. In one of the chronicles of the 14th century, it is related that Bertrand du Guesclin, one of the great French commanders in the Hundred Years War, was exceedingly wild and ugly. A Jewish woman prophesied to his mother that he was destined for greatness. I'd like to add another criticism: Shoham-Steiner posits that marginal groups, through no choice of their own, have a low self-image. This is not the case. Some of those among the voluntary marginal not only have a negative attitude toward the ruling majority, but also take pride in standing apart from them. The Jews in the Middle Ages considered themselves morally superior to the Christians, and Gypsies in modern times scorned and mocked those who were sedentary. A new paperback edition of Prof. Shulamith Shahar's "Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages," first published in 1983, is due out shortly in the U.S. Her most recent work is on the Gypsies of Europe. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Good Avraham Hunting An ex-security guard solves a problem that has baffled mathematicians for decades. A better place Some 2,400 African refugees have entered Israel via Egypt since January.   1.   NT view of diabilities 20:14  |  Catholic Mom 17/03/08

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