Salonica in Jewish Historiography

Abstract

This article argues that the treatment of Salonican Jewry in scholarly literature remained for a long time deeply embedded within the paradigms that were established by the academic study of Judaism (Wissenschaft des Judentums) in the nineteenth century. Salonica was not noted for being distinctive except for its large Jewish population. Its study was part of the general interpretation of the history of Sephardic Jews in Muslim lands after the expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula. This history was seen as one of long decline into “Oriental” obscurantism, paralleling the trajectory of the Muslim world as a whole. Furthermore, the city became deeply associated with the worst crisis faced by early modern Jewry—Sabbateanism. It is only recently that scholarly works on Sephardic Jewish communities in general, and Salonica in particular, have begun to emancipate themselves from this narrative. Nevertheless, they remain marginalized and have yet to become integrated fully into general accounts of Jewish history.