rabbis in the west (1000– 1500 ce) 321
that the conditions presupposed in the Talmud no longer apply. So, for
instance, the Tosafists claimed that contemporary neglect in France of the
role of washing hands after meals as required in the Talmud was justified:
the Talmud had required such washing to remove ‘Salt of Sodom’, which
was used in food and could cause blindness if it came into contact with
the eyes, but such salt was no longer in use. The Talmud had defended the
ruling of the Mishnah that dancing and clapping are forbidden on a fes-
tival day by proposing that such activities might encourage the repairing
of a musical instrument, which would definitely be forbidden, but, since
in fact French Jews enjoyed such dancing and clapping, the Tosafists
claimed, not very plausibly, that the skill in fashioning or repairing
musical instruments had been lost, so the original prohibition no longer
applied. R. Asher b. Yehiel, the Rosh, wrote in the early fourteenth cen-
tury about his own change of mind on leaving Germany for Spain about
rules regarding garments made of mixed materials which might lead to an
appearance of breaking the biblical law which forbids wearing wool
and linen together in one garment (see Chapter 4):
When I was in Germany I forbade the stitching of a garment of canvas
underneath a garment of wool because garments of canvas are not often
found in Germany and people will imagine it to be a garment of linen.
Nowadays, too, silken garments are often found among us so that every-
one recognizes these for what they are. Consequently, it is now permitted
to stitch a garment of silk underneath a garment of wool and strands of
silk are also permitted in a garment of wool.
In exceptional cases where common custom among religious Jews
had diverged entirely from the rules of the Talmud, the prominent
fifteenth- century German rabbi Israel b. Petahyah Isserlein condoned
simply ignoring the Talmud on pragmatic grounds. Hence his ruling on
the recitation of the night- time Shema while it was still light, as was
standard in northern climes during the summer when the days are long:
There is no defence for the practice according to the theory and reasoning of
the Talmud. But one must surmise that the habit was adopted as a result of the
weakness that has descended into the world so that the majority of the folk
are hungry and wish to have their meal while it is still full daylight in the long
days. If they were to have their meal before the afternoon prayers they would
spend so much time over it that they would not come to the synagogue at
all ... Because of this the scholars were unable to prevent the people from
saying their prayers and reciting the Shema while it is still full daylight.