Review of Rebekka Voß’s Sons of Saviors: The Red Jews in Yiddish Culture

The installation “Shrine to the Red Jews” by contemporary Brooklyn artist Michael (Mike) Levin recently visualized and reinterpreted the predominantly premodern legend of the “Red Jews” as a symbol of Jewish self-identification and hope for a Jewish Golden Age (167-171). ^{1 1}Shrine to the Red Jews by Mike Levin at B&AB, Brooklyn, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0qFQI0cUOQ. See also Sons of Saviors, fig. 32. In the history of modern art, one can also find traces of the motif of the “Red Jews” in Marc Chagall’s paintings, which relate Jews with the color red, and in the portraits of the Romanian-born Israeli artist Reuven Rubin. ^{2 2} Marc Chagall, The Jew in Red (1914), The Jew in Bright Red (1915) and indirectly, The Jew in Green (1914) (Sons of Saviors, fig. 24-26). Reuven Rubin, Red-bearded Jew (1923) (Sons of Saviors, fig. 28), The Poet Uri Zvi Greenberg (1925) (Sons of Saviors, fig. 31). These modern artistic depictions conclude Rebekka Voß’s fascinating, in-depth study of this uniquely visual and color-coded motif in Sons of Saviors: The Red Jews in Yiddish Culture.

The motif of the “Red Jews” dates to medieval times and was prevalent in Yiddish and German vernacular literature and oral traditions throughout the early modern period. In the nineteenth century, this medieval legend was revived in the Yiddish novel The Travels of Benjamin the Third by Sholem Yankev Abramovich, more commonly known as Mendele Moykher Sforim. ^{3 3} Mendele Moykher-Sforim [Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh], Ḳitsur Masʻot Binyamin ha-shelishi: dos heysṭ di nesie oder rayze-beshraybung fun Binyamin dem driṭen (Ṿilna: Romm, 1878). In his parody of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which he also modeled after the twelfth-century travel narrative of Benjamin of Tudela, Abramovich’s hero Benjamin the Third sets off on a journey in search of the “Red Jews.” This imaginary people lives far away from the rest of the world, trapped in an unknown place behind the mythical Sambatyon River, which is impassable for Jews. Six days a week, the torrent and the debris it carries make it impossible for anyone to cross the river. Only on Shabbat does the river come to rest. But, on that day, it is impossible for Jews to travel across it without violating religious laws. Only at the end of time, when the Messiah comes, will God put a stop to the roaring of the Sambatyon, so that the “Red Jews” will be able to cross it unharmed. Since Abramovich’s re-popularization of this literary motif, the “Red Jews” retained their popularity in Eastern European Jewish literature, art, and music well into the twentieth century.

While Sons of Saviors follows, across five chapters, the chronological development and changing meanings of the term “Red Jews” among Christians and Jews from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, the book is, at its core, a study of the emergence, reception, and transformation of (Old) Yiddish versions of the “Red Jews” motif, based on the most popular legend Ma’aseh Akdamut. This folktale emerged in the fourteenth century and was widely disseminated orally and in various print editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in large measure because it became connected to traditions around the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (7). ^{4 4} The Ma’aseh Akdamut legend explains why Rabbi Meir Shatz of Worms composed the religious poem “Akdamut Milin” in the eleventh century, which was recited on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot by Ashkenazi Jews. The appendix of Sons of Saviors includes a full translation of an existing sixteenth-century manuscript version in the Bodleian Library. ^{5 5}Ma’aseh Akdamut, Bodleian Library MS. Oppenheim 714, fols. 21v-34v. In Ma’aseh Akdamut, a little Red Jew crosses the Sambatyon, heeding the desperate plea of his Jewish brethren in the real world to fight against the machinations of a vicious Christian sorcerer, depicted as a Black Monk, who murders every Jew he encounters. In the ensuing magical contest, the little Red Jew, an unassuming and unlikely hero, defeats the mighty Black Monk in the final battle, an underdog victory reminiscent of the story of David and Goliath and of the story of Esther.

Rebekka Voß’s work builds upon Andrew Colin Gow’s groundbreaking literary and historical study, The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200-1600, which focused on the development of the “Red Jews” narrative in German medieval and early modern sources. ^{6 6} Andrew Colin Gow, The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200-1600 (Leiden: Brill, 1995). According to Gow, the core of the legend of the ”Red Jews” goes back to the Jewish biblical legend of the Ten Lost Tribes who would liberate the Jews from Christian dominion with the coming of the Messiah. In the medieval period, Christian narratives eventually merged this Jewish legend of the Ten Lost Tribes with the biblical Jewish and Christian apocalyptic tradition of Gog and Magog ^{7 7} In the Hebrew Bible, the Book Ezekiel prophesized that the defeat of Gog and Magog would usher in the age of the Messiah, a motif that was picked up in the apocalyptic Christian Book of Revelation. and further fused it with the unrelated Greek legend of Alexander, who had banished the “barbarians” behind a barrier in Asia. The Christian narrative culminated in the apocalyptic prediction that the Ten Lost Tribes would assist the Antichrist and unleash revenge on Christians before the second coming of Christ according to the Book of Revelations.

Sons of Saviors focuses on the image of the”Red Jews” in Jewish and, more specifically, in Yiddish culture. In addition, the author builds upon Gow’s work by addressing his open questions: Why the color red? And why does this striking visual motif only appear in German and Yiddish vernacular texts, albeit with different meanings? By comparison, the visual motif of “Red Jews” did not become a standard expression in Latin religious and scholarly depictions of the legend of the Ten Lost Tribes and was equally lost in translations into Hebrew for other Jewish audiences.

Both Voß and Gow did not discover any verbatim translations of the term “Red Jews” in Hebrew versions of the folktale, where it is generally translated as “Ten Tribes” or “Sons of Moses” (126). ^{8 8} The Hebrew Term “Bnei Mosheh” (Sons of Moses) in turn was probably the source of the epithet “Bnei mosh’iim” (Sons of Saviors) attributed to “Red Jews” in the Ma’aseh Akdamut version of the tale (77, 111). Overall, Voß concludes that there was no need for a linguistic neologism in Hebrew literature since the expression “Ten Tribes” was already known in earlier texts going back to the origin of the tale of the “Red Jews” (128). While Voß discovered a verbatim Latin translation in a sixteenth-century edition, she found that it was accompanied by a scholarly note in the margins that expressed incomprehension of this term (30); in general, the term was usually left out in Latin translations, or expressions such as “Gog and Magog” were used. Overall, the term ”Red Jews” was an organic element of vernacular German and Yiddish cultures and stayed in that sphere (127).

Gow observed that, early on, the color red became a motif in an entangled Jewish-Christian narrative. On the one side, Jews had begun to associate themselves, and especially the Ten Lost Tribes, with the color red, possibly due to Biblical and Midrashic sources that linked the color red with strength and vitality. Gow also studied how the Red Jews” motif appeared in medieval Christian literary forms, e.g., in legends, courtly epics, passion plays, and sermons, as well as in concrete visual depictions, such as in woodcut illustrations in books and broadsides as well as in objects, e.g., in stained glass church windows, where Jews were clad in red garments, and/or depicted with red faces, red hair, and red beards. In the Christian sphere, the color red, including in its use in connection with the “Red Jews,” had negative associations, ranging from trickery and deceit to bloodthirst.

Parallel to the Christian narrative, a captivating Yiddish counter-narrative about the Red Jews developed, as exemplified by Ma’aseh Akdamut. This medieval counter-narrative transformed the Christian nightmare of the “Red Jews” as a mighty army waiting to destroy Christendom into a Jewish myth of redemption. It reaffirmed the traditional role of the Ten Tribes, which had been distorted in Christian depictions (67). In this counter-narrative, the ”Red Jews” are shown in a positive light, and, as noted above, the color red became associated with strength and vitality. In the Yiddish sources, however, the color served predominantly as a (verbal) visual motif in written sources with few concrete visual depictions (2).

In the sixteenth century, the Christian version of the legend of the “Red Jews” rapidly declined and eventually disappeared due to several developments: the advent of critical Bible studies and iconoclasm during the Reformation, which, in essence, was also a conflict between (potentially deceitful) visual symbols and (true) inner meaning; the geographical and ethnographical explorations of the world, which provided a more realistic view on far-away lands and their populations; and the appearance of ‘concrete’ enemies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the Ottoman invasions of the Holy Roman Empire (42-48). Nonetheless, the moniker “Red Jews” remained an active although somewhat niche expression for the Ten Lost Tribes in Yiddish vernacular legends from Central and Eastern Europe. The literary and visual image of “Red Jews” was revived in the nineteenth century and flourished in Yiddish literature and in modern art, while taking on different roles – from unassuming underdog heroes to a wandering “Red Jew” and even muscular “Red Jews” in Zionist poetry (51, 139ff, 157ff).

Sons of Saviors expands on a chapter of Rebekka Voß’s previous monograph, which examined the history and reception of Jewish messianism in sixteenth-century German-speaking countries, recently translated into English. ^{9 9} Rebekka Voß, Disputed Messiahs: Jewish and Christian Messianism in the Ashkenazic World during the Reformation, trans. John R. Crutchfield (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2021), Chapter 3, subchapter 1: “The Red Jews: Christian and Jewish Coloring.” Originally: Rebekka Voß, Umstrittene Erlöser: Politik, Ideologie und jüdisch-christlicher Messianismus in Deutschland, 1500-1600 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 92–122: “Die Roten Juden: christliche und jüdische Färbung.” Both Voß and Gow see the “Red Jews” motif in late medieval and early modern times as intrinsically connected to the eschatological fervor of the period. Both Jews and Christians firmly believed that the end of the world was imminent, with Jews awaiting the Jewish Messiah and Christians the second coming of Christ.

Sons of Saviors is rooted in the social history concept of “histoire croisée” (intertwined history), ^{10 10} Michael Werner and Bénédicte Zimmermann, “Penser l’histoire croisée: entre empirie et réflexivité,” Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 58, no. 1 (2003): 5–36. which examines the interaction, mutual influence, and cultural exchange of different groups and traditions. In Jewish studies, Israel Jacob Yuval traced and researched the entangled and binary relationship between Jews and Christians since antiquity in his book Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. ^{11 11} Israel Jacob Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). Ivan G. Markus used the expression “inward acculturation” to describe how premodern Jews “expressed elements of their Jewish religious cultural identity in internalizing and transforming various genres, motifs, terms, institutions, or rituals of the majority culture in a polemical, parodic or neutralized manner.” ^{12 12} Ivan G. Marcus, “Jews and Christians Imagining the Other in Medieval Europe,” Prooftexts 15, no. 3 (1995): 209–26; here: 210. The “Red Jews” motif in medieval and early modern Yiddish sources is an example of a complexly doubled counter history, a “counter-counter-story,” as Voß has dubbed it in a related article. ^{13 13} Rebekka Voß, “Entangled Stories: The Red Jews in Premodern Yiddish and German Apocalyptic Lore,” AJS Review 36, no. 1 (2012): 1–41; here: 13.
Christians and Jews drew from a set of shared symbols and each group ascribed different meanings to them. The image of “the Other” reflects both their own identities and the interconnectedness of their relationships and projections.

The meaning of the “Red Jews” shifts in the move from Christian narratives, where it is a stigmatizing motif, to Yiddish texts, where it is a signifier of Jewish agency, of confident self-awareness, rebelliousness, and eschatological escapism (17-18). This reversal of a meaning of a motif is not only found in the ”Red Jews” narrative, but also in other early modern Hebrew and Yiddish tales, e.g., Toldot Yeshu, a polemic counter-biography of the life of Jesus of Nazareth (72-75).

The exploration of the visual dimension of the “Red Jews” motif, including the changing symbolic meanings of color in general and of the color red in particular, is one of the most fascinating aspects of Sons of Saviors. The introduction foregrounds this visual dimension, which literally runs like a red (!) thread through the entire book instead of being presented as a separate chapter. Voß states: “The imagology of the Red Jews highlights the interconnectedness of Jewish and Christian notions of identity and the Other in bright hues” (2). She identifies the color red as a key element in shaping the images of the threatening barbarian hordes in the Christian imagination and the unlikely hero or redeeming savior in the Jewish counter-narrative (2). As noted above, the color red was transformed from a badge of denigration in Christian sources into an emblem of Jewish empowerment. This change of meaning is in line with Voß’s more general observation that “minority cultures often reappropriate or reclaim derogative terms and tropes used against them as a subversive tactic” (7), in response to social and religious standards, hierarchies, and norms.

Voß notes that the term “Red Jews” was as memorable as it was graphic and therefore accessible to a wide audience (37). Real visual signals or “verbal sketches” for the “imagination of the inner eye” reflect both a literate and an illiterate audience’s desire for clear messages conveyed through the senses (38-39). The use of color allows for a multisensory experience that enables participation as a “viewer” and “listener” (39). Visual narratives rely on sparking the reader’s imagination and emotions (12-13). Modern psychological studies have affirmed that color affects consciousness and the psyche through its ability to evoke emotions, trigger memories, and spark fantasies (14). However, while images and visual thinking are a powerful medium of communication, underlying them was always an awareness that vision could be mistaken or manipulated, and that the eye and seeing were vulnerable to deception and thus a source of unwitting seduction and moral corruption (15).

For readers who are familiar with the story of the “Red Jews” and Andrew Gow’s research, Rebekka Voß’s work provides fascinating insights and interpretations. For readers who are not familiar with either the story or the literature, Voß’s arguments might be difficult to grasp when her study is read in linear form (especially the first chapter), since it assumes an in-depth familiarity with Gow’s work. While Voß’s study is arranged chronologically, her focus on the motif of “Red Jews” in Yiddish culture can be better understood if an uninitiated reader reads the book in almost reverse order – starting with familiar examples in modernity (chapter 5 and the epilogue), and then studying the captivating illustrations integrated in the book. Especially striking are several images of the “Red Jews” motif in still existing fourteenth-century church windows of St. Mary at Frankfurt an der Oder; the first illustration featuring contemporary Russian Matryoshka dolls in the form of redheaded Jews is not discussed in the text, but its relevance to the topic seems clear enough. Following this approach, it is then recommended to read the translation of Ma’aseh Akdamut in the Appendix, followed by its development and transmission history outlined in Chapters 2 to 4, which constitute the core of the book. An overview of the origins of the folk tale and the very different meanings it accrued in medieval and early modern Christian interpretations as outlined in chapter 1, based on Gow’s research, could follow as the penultimate chapter, to be concluded with the introduction, which offers an excellent outline of the visual theme.

While the work has an extensive collection of well-researched footnotes and a detailed bibliography, it does not always embrace bibliographical rigorousness. Some book titles are translated into English or crucial bibliographical information is split between the text, the footnotes, and the bibliography at the end, which makes it difficult to identify some of the primary sources and the secondary literature. An inconvenient minor issue is that the bibliography only lists the call numbers of referenced manuscripts in their various collections, but neither the titles nor the bibliographical information, which are only mentioned in the text or the footnotes.

Sons of Saviors: The Red Jews in Yiddish Culture stands out as a captivating and innovative interdisciplinary study, bridging a crucial research gap. Seamlessly integrating historical analysis and contextual exploration of the “Red Jews” motif with investigations into counter-histories, this work delves into literary motifs and societal dynamics. It lays the groundwork for examining a unique visual motif and color symbolism pervasive in both literary narratives and material culture. This symbol, ever-evolving, serves as a poignant reflection of the intricate tensions, projections, and relationships between Christian society and its Jewish minority.