Fractured history: Jewish sources and narratives of the plague and of the black death persecutions

Abstract

Yuspa Shammes (1604 - 1678), originally from Fulda, settles down in early modern Worms and collects stories about the medieval past of this important Jewish congregation. They are known to us as Mayse Nissim, Miraculous Stories, legends of former glory and of the wonders that happened to the Jewish community in the times long gone (Juspa 1991; Eidelberg 1994). One of these stories is set in the period of the Great Plague 1348 - 49 and deals with a topic that is quite illustrative for understanding the narrative patterns of Jewish resilience.