A Sephardic rabbi’s view of his Bosnian neighbours and common Ottoman culture as reflected in his writings

Abstract

"Bosnian Rabbi Eliezer Šem Tov Papo (Sarajevo, ? - Jerusalem, 1898) is the author of four compendia of Jewish religious law and moral teachings in Judeo-Spanish, and three similar, shorter religious works in Hebrew. All his books were printed in Hebrew characters and were published in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Izmir, and Jerusalem between 1862 and 1892. Papo’s literary work is an important source for expanding our knowledge of Sephardic religious culture. Besides its rabbinic content, his writings provide generous material about the private and public lives and the folklore and customs of traditional Sarajevo's Sephardic Jews in particular, and Bosnian Jewish communities in general, during the second half of the nineteenth century, a period in which Ottoman Bosnian society had already begun to experience the process of modernization and westernization. In this article, I wish to examine how this Sephardic rabbi sees his Bosnian neighbours and their otherness, and also, how and to what extent these neighbours and their culture influence his rabbinic writings and his way of life..."

"Bosanski rabin Eliezer Šem Tov Papo (Sarajevo, ? - Jerusalim, 1898) je autor četiri kompendije jevrejskog verskog prava i moralnih učenja na judeo-španskom, i tri slična, kraća religiozna dela na hebrejskom. Sve njegove knjige štampane su hebrejskim slovima i objavljivane su u Beogradu, Sarajevu, Izmiru i Jerusalimu između 1862. i 1892. Papov književni rad je važan izvor za proširenje našeg znanja o sefardskoj religijskoj kulturi. Pored rabinskog sadržaja, njegovi spisi pružaju izdašnu građu o privatnom i javnom životu i folkloru i običajima tradicionalnih sarajevskih sefardskih Jevreja posebno, i bosanskih jevrejskih zajednica uopšte, tokom druge polovine devetnaestog veka, perioda u kome je osmansko bosanskohercegovačko društvo već počelo da doživljava proces modernizacije i vesternizacije. U ovom članku želim da ispitam kako ovaj sefardski rabin vidi svoje bosanske susjede i njihovu drugost, te kako i u kojoj mjeri ovi susjedi i njihova kultura utiču na njegove rabinske spise i njegov način života..."