Joseph Karo and Shaping of Modern Jewish Law

“Roni Weinstein’s cross-denominational approach to Yossef Karo’s legal corpus is undoubtedly a turning point for scholars of Jewish and Ottoman legal traditions. This thorough book carefully maps out the Ottoman and broader Mediterranean contexts of Karo’s legal oeuvre, giving historians of Ottoman Islamic law much to consider.” – Guy Burak, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Librarian at NYU’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, USA.

“Roni Weinstein’s thought-provoking book situates the codification of Jewish law and mystical-cum-legal thought of Rabbi Joseph Caro, the ‘Master’ of Talmudic scholars in sixteenth-century Ottoman Safed, into a global early modern Eurasian context increasingly attuned to the community-making capacity of law. By engaging closely with recent research in anthropology of law, early modern Jewish and European history, as well as Ottoman legal history, Weinstein provides a new, dialogic reading of Caro. The book points to legal history as a fertile ground on which to explore not only global early modern trends such as the search for a ‘strong center’ (legal, spatial, or otherwise) as the basis for community-building but also ways of integration of non-Muslims into Ottoman society.” – Tijana Krstic, historian of the early modern Ottoman Empire and professor at Central European University, Hungary. 

“In Joseph Karo and Shaping of Modern Jewish Law: The Early Modern Ottoman and Global Settings Roni Weinstein engages an impressive range of scholarship and source materials as he crafts a valuable comparative analysis that cuts across early modern Islamic, Jewish, and Christian history and society. This book advances our knowledge of numerous legal issues—from canonization, codification, the anthropology of law, comparative law, the role of law in the rise of the modern state, and the relationship between law and mysticism, to the impact of printing. Weinstein’s impressive scholarship deepens our understanding of the work and life of the towering figure of Joseph Karo and adds nuance to the examination of many core early modern topics.” – Dean Phillip Bell, President/CEO and Professor of Jewish History, Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, USA.