Jethro and the Jews : Jewish biblical interpretation and the question of identity /
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In Jethro and the Jews , Beatrice J. W. Lawrence examines rabbinic texts that address the biblical character of Jethro, a Midianite priest, Moses' advisor and father-in-law, and the creator of the system of Jewish jurisprudence. Lawrence explores biblical interpretations in Midrash, Targum and Talmud, revealing a spectrum of responses to the presence of a man who straddles the line between insider and outsider. Ranging from character assassination to valorization of Jethro as a convert, these interpretive strategies reveal him to be a locus of anxiety for the rabbis concerning conversion, community boundaries, intermarriage, and non-Jews.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004348929 :
1571-5000 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Congress volume : Jerusalem, 1986 /
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English, French, and German.
Papers read at the Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, held Aug. 24-29, 1986, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004275638 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Private associations and Jewish communities in the Hellenistic and Roman cities /
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In Private Associations and Jewish Communities in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities, Benedikt Eckhardt brings together a group of experts to investigate a problem of historical categorization. Traditionally, scholars have either presupposed that Jewish groups were "Greco-Roman Associations" like others or have treated them in isolation from other groups. Attempts to begin a cross-disciplinary dialogue about the presuppositions and ultimate aims of the respective approaches have shown that much preliminary work on categories is necessary. This book explores the methodological dividing lines, based on the common-sense assumption that different questions require different solutions. Re-introducing historical differentiation into a field that has been dominated by abstractions, it provides the debate with a new foundation. Case studies highlight the problems and advantages of different approaches.
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Includes index. :
1 online resource. :
9789004407602
Ancient Readers and their Scriptures, Engaging the Hebrew Bible in Early Judaism and Christianity.
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explores the various ways that ancient Jewish and Christian writers engaged with and interpreted the Hebrew Bible in antiquity, focusing on physical mechanics of rewriting and reuse, modes of allusion and quotation, texts and text forms, text collecting, and the development of interpretative traditions. Contributions examine the use of the Hebrew Bible and its early versions in a variety of ancient corpora, including the Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Rabbinic works, analysing the vast array of textual permutations that define ancient engagement with Jewish scripture. This volume argues that the processes of reading and cognition, influenced by the physical and intellectual contexts of interpretation, are central aspects of ancient biblical interpretation that are underappreciated in current scholarship.
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1 online resource. :
9789004383371
Israel in Egypt: The Land of Egypt as Concept and Reality for Jews in Antiquity and the Early Medieval Period /
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In Israel in Egypt scholars in different fields explore what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world. For generations of Jews from antiquity to the medieval period, the land of Egypt represented both a place of danger to their communal religious identity and also a haven with opportunities for prosperity and growth. A volume of collected essays from scholars in fields ranging from biblical studies and classics to papyrology and archaeology, Israel in Egypt explores what can be known of the experiences of the many and varied Jewish communities in Egypt, from biblical sources to the medieval world.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004435407
9789004435391
The religious and spiritual life of the Jews of Medina /
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In The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina Haggai Mazuz offers an account of the halakhic character of the Jewish community of Medina in the seventh century CE. Making use of a unique methodology of comparison between Islamic and Jewish sources, Mazuz convincingly argues that the Jews of Medina were Talmudic-Rabbinic Jews in almost every respect. Their sages believed in using homiletic interpretation of the Scriptures, as did the sages of the Talmud. On many halakhic issues, their observations were identical to those of the Talmudic sages. In addition, they held Rabbinic beliefs, sayings and motifs derived from the Midrashic literature.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004266094 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Simon Dubnow's "new Judaism" : diaspora, nationalism and the world history of the Jews /
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In this volume Robert Seltzer examines Simon Dubnow (1860-1941) as the most eminent East European Jewish historian of his day and a spokesperson for his people, setting out to define their identity in the future based on his understanding of their past. Rejecting Zionism and Jewish socialism espoused by contemporaries, he argued in "Letter on Old and New Judaism" that the Jews of the diaspora constituted a distinctive nationality deserving cultural autonomy in the liberal multi-national state he hoped would emerge in Russia. Seltzer traces the young Dubnow's personal encounter with European intellectual currents that led him from the traditional shtetl world to a non-religious conception of Jewishness that resonated beyond Tsarist Russia.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004260672 :
1873-9008 ;
Representing the pas t a literary analysis of narrative historiography in the book of Samuel /
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Eschewing both so-called minimalist and maximalist readings, this volume advocates an understanding of the book of Samuel as ancient narrative historiography that must be understood according to its own conception and ideology of history before being judged as a historical source. This study shows how narrative strategies and literary embellishment, unaccustomed in modern historiography, are used to express familiar historical concepts such as causation, meaning and evaluation of the past. The requirements for historical 'accuracy' within the book's cultural milieu are investigated through analysis of the differences tolerated between the LXX and MT versions. Fresh interpretive insights for specific passages emerge as the conventions of historiography in Samuel are compared and contrasted to the ideals of modern historical theory.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Sydney, 2010. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-320) and index. :
9789004203419 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish and Christian communal identities in the Roman world /
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Jews and Christians under the Roman Empire shared a unique sense of community. Set apart from their civic and cultic surroundings, both groups resisted complete assimilation into the dominant political and social structures. However, Jewish communities differed from their Christian counterparts in their overall patterns of response to the surrounding challenges. They exhibit diverse levels of integration into the civic fabric of the cities of the Empire and display contrary attitudes towards the creation of trans-local communal networks. The variety of local case studies examined in this volume offers an integrated image of the multiple factors, both internal and external, which determined the role of communal identity in creating a sense of belonging among Jews and Christians under Imperial constraints.
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"This volume presents revised versions of lectures given in October 2013 at a Jerusalem symposium on Jewish and Christian Communal Identities in Antiquity. The Hebrew University's Scholion Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities and Jewish Studies together with the editorial board of Brill's Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity series kindly co-sponsored the symposium in memory of our colleague Friedrich Avemarie."--Preface. :
1 online resource (xi, 286 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004321694 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sources and interpretation in ancient Judaism : studies for Tal Ilan at sixty /
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Sources and Interpretation in Ancient Judaism: Studies for Tal Ilan at Sixty , a collection of studies by 14 scholars, is designed to honor an outstanding scholar in the field of Ancient Judaism, Tal Ilan. These studies reflect realms within the broad field of Ancient Judaism that are central to Ilan's scholarship: Second Temple literary sources and history, Gender, Jewish papyrology and rabbinic literature. The studies within this volume are of an interdisciplinary nature, offering new readings and interpretations of known sources such as Josephus and rabbinic texts, but also introducing the reader to an entirely new body of sources, namely Jewish papyri. The volume therefore aims to introduce specialists and non-specialists to new fields of research
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004366985 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The scientification of the "Jewish question" in Nazi Germany /
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The Scientification of the \'Jewish Question\' in Nazi Germany describes the attempt of a considerable number of German scholars to counter the vanishing influence of religious prejudices against the Jews with a new antisemitic rationale. As anti-Jewish stereotypes of an old-fashioned soteriological kind had become dysfunctional under the pressure of secularization, a new, more objective explanation was needed to justify the age-old danger of Judaism in the present. In the 1930s a new research field called "Judenforschung" (Jew research) emerged. Its leading figures amalgamated racial and religious features to verify the existence of an everlasting "Jewish problem". Along with that they offered scholarly concepts for its solution.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004341883 :
0169-8834 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Prophet und König im Nordreich Israel : Studien zur sogenannten vorklassischen Prophetie im Nordreich Israel anhand der Samuel-, Elija- und Elischa-Überlieferungen /
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The present book deals with the so-called "pre-classical" prophecy in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It becomes evident that the introduction of kingship in the early period of prophecy marks the beginning of a consideration of social situations. The prophet is placed over the king and stylized as the actual saviour figure. This development is examined along with the extensive prophetic traditions of Samuel, Elijah and Elisha. The texts are first analyzed from a diachronic standpoint to determine pre-deuteronomistic text components. These texts are then linked to their historical context and examined with respect to their medium and historicity. This book throws new light on the social and socio-structural importance of prophecy in this early period.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [485]-510) and index. :
9789004276239 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Defining identities : we, you, and the other in the Dead Sea Scrolls : proceedings of the fifth meeting of the IOQS in Gröningen /
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This volume contains 15 of the papers read at the Fifth Meeting of the IOQS, celebrated in Groningen 27-28 July, 2004. The meeting focused on the identity formation of the group or groups represented in the Scrolls, explored issues of self-definition of Jewish groups in relation to, or in reaction towards other groups within Judaism ("sectarian" identity, inner-Jewish discourses and polemics), and inquired into the development of Jewish identity vis-à-vis other non-Jewish persons, groups or peoples as reflected in the Scrolls.
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Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047432470 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jews and Christians in the first and second centuries : how to write their history /
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The papers in this volume are organized around the ambition to reboot the writing of history about Jews and Christians in the first two centuries CE. Many are convinced of the need for a new perspective on this crucial period that saw both the birth of rabbinic Judaism and apostolic Christianity and their parting of ways. Yet the traditional paradigm of Judaism and Christianity as being two totally different systems of life and thought still predominates in thought, handbooks, and programs of research and teaching. As a result, the sources are still being read as reflecting two separate histories, one Jewish and the other Christian. The contributors to the present work were invited to attempt to approach the ancient Jewish and Christian sources as belonging to one single history, precisely in order to get a better view of the process that separated both communities. In doing so, it is necessary to pay constant attention to the common factor affecting both communities: the Roman Empire. Roman history and Roman archaeology should provide the basis on which to study and write the shared history of Jews and Christians and the process of their separation. A basic intuition is that the series of wars between Jews and Romans between 66 and 135 CE - a phenomenon unrivalled in antiquity - must have played a major role in this process. Thus the papers are arranged around three focal points: (1) the varieties of Jewish and Christian expression in late Second Temple times, (2) the socio-economic, military, and ideological processes during the period of the revolts, and (3) the post-revolt Jewish and Christian identities that emerged. As such, the volume is part of a larger project that is to result in a source book and a history of Jews and Christians in the first and second centuries.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004278479 :
1877-4970 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Prince and the Sufi : The Judeo-Persian Rendition of the Buddha Biographies /
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The Prince and the Sufi is the literary composition of the seventeenth-century Judeo-Persian poet Elisha ben Shmūel. In The Prince and the Sufi: The Judeo-Persian Rendition of the Buddha Biographies , Dalia Yasharpour provides a thorough analysis of this popular work to show how the Buddha's life story has undergone substantial transformation with the use of Jewish, Judeo-Persian and Persian-Islamic sources. The complete annotated edition of the text and the corresponding English translation are thorough and insightful. This scholarly study makes available to readers an important branch in the genealogical tree of the Buddha Biographies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004442757
9789004442740
Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh : Tārīkh-i Banī Isrāʾīl /
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Rashīd al-Dīn Hamadānī's (d. 718/1319) Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh has been described by many as the first world history ever. Composed in Persian for the Mongol Il-khans Ghāzān (r. 1295-1304) and Öljeitü (Uljāytu, r. 1304-16), its aim was to set out the history and condition of the Mongol people, conquerors of the world (part one), followed by a description of the other peoples and nations of the world and their histories (part two). Given its unprecedented scope, Rashīd, vizier to both rulers, mobilized a whole team of specialists, informants, and collaborators to assist him in his task. Making use of written and oral sources, the part on the Mongols is a key source on the emergence and organisation of the Mongol empire, while the second part constitutes the first attempt ever at writing a history of the world. The section published here describes the history of the Jews.
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1 online resource. :
9789004404182
9789648700336
The Ottoman Middle East : studies in honor of Amnon Cohen /
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This collection of articles discusses various political, social, cultural and economic aspects of the Ottoman Middle East. By using various textual and visual documents, produced in the Ottoman Empire, the collection offers new insights into the matrix of life during the long period of Ottoman rule. The different parts of the volume explore the main topics studied by Amnon Cohen: Ottoman Palestine, Egypt and the Fertile Crescent under Ottoman rule, Ottoman Jews and their relations with the surrounding societies and various social aspects of Ottoman societies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004262966
Das Ezechielbuch als Trauma-Literatur /
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The book of Ezekiel has long astonished its readership. In the history of exegesis, the book's (supposed) author has often been regarded as mad or ill, or as suffering from \'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder\' according to a recent diagnosis. The present study radicalizes this approach by investigating the book of Ezekiel as trauma literature. On the basis of a multi-faceted trauma hermeneutics the peculiarities as well as the inconsistencies of the book are shown to be material aspects of a fictionalised trauma process in the context of Israel's experiences of siege warfare and mass deportation in the early 6th century bce. The analysis demonstrates that the potential for violence inherent in the catastrophe has created not only an intense discourse about blame and punishment but also a theologically disturbing picture of a traumatized deity; in both cases the purpose is to assure the survival of Yhwh and the people. Das Ezechielbuch hat seine Leserschaft seit jeher verwundert und verwirrt. Den vermeintlichen Autor des Buches hat man im Laufe der Auslegungsgeschichte immer wieder pathologisiert - zuletzt ist Ezechiel mehrfach die Diagnose "Posttraumatische Belastungsstörung" attestiert worden. Die vorliegende Studie nimmt diesen Krankheitsansatz auf und radikalisiert ihn, indem sie das Ezechielbuch konsequent als fiktionale Trauma-Literatur analysiert. Vor dem Hintergrund einer mehrdimensionalen Trauma-Hermeneutik erschließt sie die Ezechielprophetie neu als literarisch-theologische Auseinandersetzung mit den traumatisierenden Kriegsereignissen, die Juda und Jerusalem zu Beginn des 6. Jh.s volumeu.Z. getroffen haben. Es zeigt sich, dass die ungeheure Gewaltfülle der Exilskatastrophe nicht nur einen massiven Schuld-Strafe-Diskurs, sondern auch das theologisch erschütternde Bild einer traumatisierten Gottheit aus sich herausgesetzt hat - beides mit dem Ziel, das Überleben JHWHs und des Volkes zu sichern.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Marburg, 2011. :
1 online resource (xvi, 738 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [687]-714) and index. :
9789004227453 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish identity in early rabbinic writings /
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Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings is more than a question of legal status: it is the experience of being Jewish or of 'Jewishness' in all its social and cultural dimensions. This work describes this experience as it emerges in Talmudic and Midrashic sources. Besides the question of "who is a Jew?", topics include the contrast between Israel and the non-Jews, the physical embodiment of Jewish identity, the 'boundaries' of Israel and resistance to assimilation. Jewish identity, it is argued, hinges essentially on the Divine commandments ( mitzvot ) and on Israel's perceived proximity with the Divine. Drawing on a variety of disciplines, including the theories of William James and Merleau-Ponty, this study raises important issues in anthropology, as well as accounting for central aspects of early rabbinic Judaism.
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Rev. version of the author's thesis (D. Phil.)--Jews' College. :
1 online resource (xxxix, 269 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-266) and index. :
9789004332768 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.