Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies (2011) 9781463235529

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
THE GRACIOUS AMBIGUITY OF GRACE AGUILAR (1816–47): ANGLO-JEWISH THEOLOGIAN, NOVELIST, POET, AND PIONEER OF INTERFAITH RELATIONS
FROM THE CHRIST-KILLER TO THE LUCIFERIAN: THE MYTHOLOGIZED JEW AND FREEMASON IN LATE NINETEENTH- AND EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY ENGLISH CATHOLIC DISCOURSE
IMAGINING FIN-DE-SIÈCLE ANGLO-JEWISH MINORITY SUB-GENRES: PROTO-FEMINIST VISIONS OF RELIGIOUS REFORM IN “WEST END” LONDON IN AMY LEVY’S REUBEN SACHS AND LILY MONTAGU’S NAOMI’S EXODUS
‘A CONSTRUCTIVE FORM OF HELP’: VOCATIONAL TRAINING AS A FORM OF REHABILITATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1939-1948
A MULTIFACETED NUPTIAL BLESSING: THE USE OF RUTH 4:11-12 WITHIN MEDIEVAL HEBREW EPITHALAMIA

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EDITORS

Daniel R. Langton and Renate Smithuis EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Pauline Henry-Tierney, Francesca Frazer, Leo Mercer and Simon Mayers EDITORIAL BOARD, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

Philip Alexander, Moshe Behar, Rocco Bernasconi, Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Cathy Gelbin, Michael Hilton, Bernard Jackson, Les Lancaster, Harry Lesser, Alex Samely, Reuven Silverman, and Bill Williams INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

Miriam Ben-Zeev, Gad Freudenthal, Moshe Idel, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Shmuel Moreh, Norman Solomon, David Sorkin, Günter Stemberger, Paul Wexler and Eli Yassif

Volume 8 2011 EDITED BY

Daniel R. Langton and Renate Smithuis A publication of the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Co-published by

© University of Manchester, UK. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this volume may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, the University of Manchester, and the co-publisher, Gorgias Press LLC. All inquiries should be addressed to the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester (email: [email protected]). Co-Published by Gorgias Press LLC 954 River Road Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA Internet: www.gorgiaspress.com Email: [email protected] ISBN 978-1-4632-0221-7 ISSN 1759-1953 This volume is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standard for Permanence of paper for Printed Library Materials. Printed in the United States of America

Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies is distributed electronically free of charge at www. melilahjournal.org Melilah is an interdisciplinary Open Access journal available in both electronic and book form concerned with Jewish law, history, literature, religion, culture and thought in the ancient, medieval and modern eras. It was launched in 2004 by Bernard Jackson and Ephraim Nissan under the auspices of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester as the New Series of the journal of the same name founded by Edward Robertson and Meir Wallenstein and published (in Hebrew) by Manchester University Press from 1944 to 1955. Five substantial volumes, each of around two hundred pages, were XZWL]KMLJMNWZM\PM[MZQM[_I[LQ[KWV\QV]ML1VPQ[MLQ\WZQITNWZM_WZL\W\PMÅZ[\MLQ\QWV Robertson explained that Melilah had been established to promote Jewish scholarship in the face of the threat posed by the Second World War and its aftermath. The title of the journal refers to the ears of corn that are plucked to rub in the hands before the grains can be eaten (Deut. 23:25).

Volume 8 (2011) CONTENTS D ANIEL R. L ANGTON ‘The Gracious Ambiguity of Grace Aguilar (1816–47): Anglo-Jewish Theologian, Novelist, Poet, and Pioneer of Interfaith Relations’ ...............................1 S IMON M AYERS ‘From the Christ-Killer to the Luciferian: The Mythologized Jew and Freemason in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century English Catholic Discourse’ ......................................................................................30 L UKE D EVINE ‘Imagining Fin-de-Siècle Anglo-Jewish Minority Sub-Genres: Proto-Feminist Visions of Religious Reform in “West End” London in Amy Levy’s Reuben Sachs and Lily Montagu’s Naomi’s Exodus’ .......................................................69 K ATARZYNA P ERSON ‘ “A Constructive Form of Help”: Vocational Training as a Form of Rehabilitation of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, 1939–1948’ ............................ 84 A VI S CHMIDMAN ‘A Multifaceted Nuptial Blessing: The Use of Ruth 4:11–12 within Medieval Hebrew Epithalamia’............................................................................................... 96

THE GRACIOUS AMBIGUITY OF GRACE AGUILAR (1816–47): ANGLO-JEWISH THEOLOGIAN, NOVELIST, POET, AND PIONEER OF INTERFAITH RELATIONS Daniel R. Langton* ABSTRACT: Grace Aguilar was an early nineteenth-century Anglo-Jewish writer who concerned herself with the reform of Jewish religion and its relationship to Christianity in her theological works, novels, and poetry. She was interested in challenging the ways in which Jews and Christians represented each other in their teachings, tried to present both perspectives on the vexed question of Christian mission to the Jews, and sought to demonstrate that the theological barriers constructed between the two faiths were often less immoveable than tradition would have it. As a female Jewish theologian writing well before her time, she offered a remarkably innovative conception of female spirituality that allowed her to cross and re-cross the boundaries between the Jewish and Christian religious cultures she inhabited.

Any student of the history of Jewish-Christian relations is interested in Jewish views of Christianity. These views include ‘relational theologies’, that is, focused attempts by Jews to create a theological space for Christianity or to highlight the special relationship between Judaism and Christianity. As anyone familiar with the history of Jewish-Christian intercourse will know, such relational theologies have rarely been positive, and have tended to concentrate upon the construction and maintenance of the barriers that separate the two faith systems.1 Over the centuries Jews have traditionally regarded the Christian as the idolatrous oppressor who denies the unity of God, prays to saints, worships icons, and abrogates the Torah. The Christian is perceived to have misinterpreted the scripture and to be profoundly mistaken in claiming that the messianic age has begun. At best, Christianity has been understood as an instrument of God to help prepare the pagan world for the coming of the Jewish messiah, or to test the faith of his Chosen People. Against this backdrop, a positive, or constructive, or appreciative Jewish view of Christianity stands out starkly. In particular, positive relational * Professor of the History of Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Manchester. Email: daniel. TIVO\WV(UIVKPM[\MZIK]S )V MIZTQMZ LZIN\ WN  \PQ[ XIXMZ _I[ ÅZ[\ XZM[MV\ML I\ \PM KWVNMZMVKM WN  \PM *ZQ\Q[P Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS) in Birmingham in 2005. 1 Some well-known studies that emphasise the antagonistic nature of Jewish and Christian conceptions of the other include: James Parkes, QK\WZQIV-VOTIVL"2M_Q[P1LMV\Q\a IVL+PZQ[\QIV+]T\]ZM, Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture 35 (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Michael Galchinsky, /ZIKM)O]QTIZ";MTMK\ML?ZQ\QVO[ (Peterborough, Ont.; Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 2003); Judith W. Page, 1UXMZNMK\;aUXI\PQM["2M_[IVL2]LIQ[UQV*ZQ\Q[P:WUIV\QK 4Q\MZI\]ZMIVL+]T\]ZM (London: Palgrave, 2004); Judith W. Page, ‘Anglo-Jewry and the Politics of Cultivation in Hazlitt, Aguilar and Disraeli’ in Sheila A. Spector, QK\WZQIV-VOTIVL, 135, 139.

THE GRACIOUS AMBIGUITY OF GRACE AGUILAR (1816–47) (DANIEL R. LANGTON)

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as ?WUMVWN 1[ZIMT(1845). The same was true for her more formal theological works, such as