Talmudic transgressions : engaging the work of Daniel Boyarin /
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Talmudic Transgressions is a collection of essays on rabbinic literature and related fields in response to the boundary-pushing scholarship of Daniel Boyarin. This work is an attempt to transgress boundaries in various ways, since boundaries differentiate social identities, literary genres, legal practices, or diasporas and homelands. These essays locate the transgressive not outside the classical traditions but in these traditions themselves, having learned from Boyarin that it is often within the tradition and in its terms that we can find challenges to accepted notions of knowledge, text, and ethnic or gender identity. The sections of this volume attempt to mirror this diverse set of topics. Contributors include Julia Watts Belser, Jonathan Boyarin, Shamma Boyarin, Virginia Burrus, Sergey Dolgopolski, Charlotte E. Fonrobert, Simon Goldhill, Erich S. Gruen, Galit Hasan-Rokem, Christine Hayes, Adi Ophir, James Redfield, Elchanan Reiner, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Lena Salaymeh, Zvi Septimus, Aharon Shemesh, Dina Stein, Eliyahu Stern, Moulie Vidas, Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, Elliot R. Wolfson, Azzan Yadin-Israel, Israel Yuval, and Froma Zeitlin.
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"Originated in a conference held at the University of California, Berkeley, in April 2014"--From the editors. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004345331 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jesus in the Latin Talmud : Judaism and Christianity during the Disputation of Paris in 1240 and Other Transcultural Issues /
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Between 1238 and 1239, the notorious Jewish convert Nicholas Donin persuaded Pope Gregory IX to condemn the Talmud, prompting European kings to intervene. Only King Louis IX of France agreed to a public disputation in 1240, subjecting the Talmud to scrutiny. Prominent Jewish and Christian figures debated Jesus in the Talmud. The Talmud was condemned between 1241 and 1242, but the Church of Paris, responding to Jewish pleas, allowed an appeal. Scholars were commissioned to translate portions of the Talmud, resulting in two anthologies titled Extractiones de Talmud-the first translation of this work. Still, this did not save the Talmud from burning.
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1 online resource (340 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004701601
Binding fragments of Tractate Temurah and the problem of lishana 'aḥarina /
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Binding Fragments of Tractate Temurah and the Problem of Lishana 'Aḥarina offers a critical edition of an important Talmud manuscript of tractate Temurah discovered in the library of New York University. Addressing the unique Lishana 'Aḥarina ("alternative version") phenomenon present in this tractate, the present volume suggests a new approach for understanding the editing and transmission of tractate Temurah. This volume also includes a thorough discussion of the conservation and treatment of the manuscript fragments, a codicological and paleographical analysis of the fragments, and a synopsis of the entire first chapter of this tractate. The present work is relevant for study of the redaction and transmission of tractate Temurah and the Babylonian Talmud, as well as for the study of Hebrew binding fragments.
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1 online resource (xiv, 278 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004367135 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Fighting over the Bible : Jewish interpretation, sectarianism and polemic from Temple to Talmud and beyond /
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Fighting over the Bible explores the bitter conflicts between main stream Jews and their internal and external opponents, especially between particular Jewish groups such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Qumranites, Samaritans, Rabbanites and Karaites, as well as with Christians and Muslims regarding their interpretations of Jewish Scripture. The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is an important sacred text for all branches of the Abrahamic faiths, but it has more often divided than unified them. This volume explores and exemplifies the roots of these interpretive conflicts and controversies and traces the rich exegetical and theological approaches that grew out of them. Focusing on the Jewish sources from the late Second Temple period through the high Middle-Ages, it illustrates how the study of the Bible filled the vacuum left by the Temple's destruction, and became the foundation of Jewish life throughout its long conflicted history.
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1 online resource (xi, 341 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004339118 :
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The Question of God's Perfection : Jewish and Christian Essays on the God of the Bible and Talmud /
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Philosophers have often described theism as the belief in the existence of a "perfect being"-a being that is said to possess all possible perfections, so that it is all-powerful, all-knowing, immutable, perfectly good, perfectly simple, and necessarily existent, among other qualities. But such a theology is difficult to reconcile with the God we find in the Bible and Talmud. The Question of God's Perfection brings together leading scholars from the Jewish and Christian traditions to critically examine the theology of perfect being in light of the Hebrew Bible and classical rabbinic sources. Contributors are James A. Diamond, Lenn E. Goodman, Edward C. Halper, Yoram Hazony, Dru Johnson, Brian Leftow, Berel Dov Lerner, Alan L. Mittleman, Heather C. Ohaneson, Randy Ramal, Eleonore Stump, Alex Sztuden, and Joshua I. Weinstein.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004387980 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mine and yours are hers : retrieving women's history from rabbinic literature /
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This book discusses the interaction between history, rabbinic literature and feminist studies. Recent approaches to rabbinic literature have overturned the traditional view of these writings and new literary methods were suggested, mostly denying them all historical value. But rabbinic literature constitutes the main source for the lives of Jews in Palestine and Babylonia during the late Roman period, and thus should not be totally rejected. This study suggests a new post-literary approach, id est it discusses the residue of the texts after these have been analyzed and dissected by literary critics. But mainly this is a book about women's history, adopting many assumptions of feminist criticism about the androcentric nature of all ancient texts, and approaches them with due suspicion. The Rabbis treated women differently from the way they treated men. This resulted in the former's marginalization and manipulation by the texts. On the other hand, however, it created an ironic situation whereby principles useful for the recovery of historical information on women, are useless when applied to men. This study describes such principles and demonstrates them with the help of many examples.
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1 online resource (xiii, 346 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-331) and indexes. :
9789004332454 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The rabbinic conversion of Judaism : the unique perspective of the Bavli on conversion and the construction of Jewish identity /
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In this volume, Moshe Lavee offers an account of crucial internal developments in the rabbinic corpus, and shows how the Babylonian Talmud dramatically challenged and extended the rabbinic model of conversion to Judaism. The history of conversion to Judaism has long fascinated Jews along a broad ideological continuum. This book demonstrates the rabbis in Babylonia further reworked former traditions about conversion in ever more stringent direction, shifting the focus of identity demarcation towards genealogy and bodily perspectives. By applying a reading-strategy that emphasizes late Babylonian literary developments, Lavee sheds critical light on a broader discourse regarding the nature and boundaries of Jewish identity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004352056 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish Martyrdom in Antiquity : From the Books of Maccabees to the Babylonian Talmud /
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This volume offers a comprehensive discussion of all relevant sources concerning Jewish martyrdom in Antiquity. By viewing these narratives together, tracing their development and comparing them to other traditions, the authors seek to explore how Jewish is Jewish martyrdom? To this end, they analyse the impact of the changing social and religious-cultural circumstances and the interactions with Graeco-Roman and Christian traditions. This results in the identification of important continuities and discontinuities. Consequently, while political ideals that are prominent in 2 and 4 Maccabees are remarkably absent from rabbinic sources, the latter reveal a growing awareness of Christian motifs and discourse.
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1 online resource :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004538269
The Literature of the sages /
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The literary creation of the ancient Jewish teachers or Sages--also called rabbinic literature--consists of the teachings of thousands of Sages, many of them anonymous. For a long period, their teachings existed orally, which implied a great deal of flexibility in arrangement and form. Only gradually, as parts of the amorphous oral tradition became fixed, was the literature written down, a process that began in the third century CE and continued into the Middle Ages. Thus the documents of the rabbinic literature are the result of a remarkably long and complex process of creation and editing. This volume gives a careful and succinct analysis both of the content and specific nature of the various documents, and of their textual and literary forms, paying special attention to the continuing discovery and publication of new textual material. The contributors are all engaged in academic teaching and research in Israel. Incorporating ground-breaking developments in research, their essays give a comprehensive presentation published here for the first time.
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1 online resource (xxi, 464 pages) :
9789004275133 :
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A legacy of learning : essays in honor of Jacob Neusner /
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In a career spanning over fifty years, the questions Jacob Neusner has asked and the critical methodologies he has developed have shaped the way scholars have come to approach the rabbinic literature as well as the diverse manifestations of Judaism from rabbinic times until the present. The essays collected here honor that legacy, illustrating an influence that is so pervasive that scholars today who engage in the critical study of Judaism and the history of religions more generally work in a laboratory that Professor Neusner created. Addressing topics in ancient and Rabbinic Judaism, the Judaic context of early Christianity, American Judaism, World Religions, and the academic study of the humanities, these essays demarcate the current state of Judaic and religious studies in the academy today.
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1 online resource (xiii, 430 pages) : illustrations (color) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004284289 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Deviancy in early rabbinic literature : a collection of socio-anthropological essays /
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Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature deals with the status of those groups and individuals who, for various reasons, appear to have no place in mainstream Rabbinic Jewish society, or may be perceived by that society as posing a threat to its norms and to its very existence. The book examines the thoughts and attitudes of the Rabbis set forth in various sections of the Mishnah, Tosefta and Talmud. Deviant groups studied include witches, prostitutes, Gentiles, bastards, Nazirites, soldiers, Kutites, the disabled and the menstruous woman. Social anthropological methodologies are used to provide a unique perspective on the implicit message of the redactors of these Rabbinic texts, and to make these important texts equally accessible to both scholars and laymen interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of these important issues.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-220) and index. :
9789047420187 :
1571-5000 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Mishnah : religious perspectives /
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Condensing research concerning questions of religion which encompass the social history of ideas and the religious uses of language, this book deals with three questions: the relationship of the Mishnah to Scripture, the relationship of the religious ideas people hold to the world in which they live, and the religious meaning of the formalization of language that characterizes the Mishnah in particular. In discussing how the Mishnah relates to Scripture - in the (later) mythic language of Rabbinic Judaism: \'the oral Torah\' to \'the written Torah\' - a complete analysis is presented, based on a systematic application of a single taxonomic program. Then an examination is made of how the stages in the unfolding of the Halakhah of the Mishnah relate to the principal events of the times, which delineate those stages. Here focus is given to those pre-70 C.E. components of the Halakhah that later come to the surface in the Mishnah, but discussion extends to the periods from the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. to the Bar Kokhba War, concluded in circa 135 C.E., then from the reconstruction, 135 C.E., to the closure of the Mishnah, 200 C.E. Finally attention is given to methods of interpreting the rhetorical forms of the Mishnah in the context of the social culture laid bare by the socio-linguistics of the documents concerned. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
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" ... this book completes the condensation and recapitulation of large-scale research of mine"--Preface. :
1 online resource (xii, 249 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004294110 :
0169-9423 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Simeon the Righteous in rabbinic literature : a legend reinvented /
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In Simeon the Righteous in Rabbinic Literature: A Legend Reinvented , Amram Tropper investigates the rabbinic traditions about Simeon the Righteous, a renowned Jewish leader of Second Temple times. Tropper not only interprets these traditions from a literary perspective but also deploys a relatively new critical approach towards rabbinic literature with which he explores the formation history of the traditions. With the help of this approach, Tropper seeks to uncover the literary and cultural matrices, both rabbinic and Graeco-Roman, which supplied the raw materials and literary inspiration to the rabbinic authors and editors of the traditions. Tropper's analysis reveals that in reinventing the legend of Simeon the Righteous, the rabbis constructed the Second Temple past in the image of their own present.
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1 online resource (vii, 249 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004245020 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studien zur Geschichte und Theologie des rabbinischen Judentums /
: "Der Sammelband vereinigt neun Aufsätze ... ; fünf dieser Beiträge wurden bereits an anderer Stelle veröffentlicht, vier werden hier zum erstenmal im Druck vorgelegt." : 1 online resource (305 pages) : Includes bibliographical references and index. : 9789004332683 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Torah centers and rabbinic activity in Palestine, 70-400 CE : history and geographic distribution /
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This book analyses the data about Torah centers and rabbinic activity in Palestine during Mishnaic and Talmudic times, 70-400 CE-the Roman and early Byzantine periods. The research is an interdisciplinary inquiry. It encompasses rabbinic literature as well as archeology, geography, and sociology, thus enriching the discussion of the history and scope of rabbinic activity in the different regions of Palestine. Arranged in chronological order, the book highlights the changes generated by historical events, in particular the relocation of rabbinic centers following the upheaval of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. In spite of this upheaval, Torah centers continued to develop in Palestine for several hundred years, until the end of the period under discussion.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047440734 :
1384-2161 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Rabbinisme et paganisme en Palestine romaine : étude historique des Realia talmudiques (Ier-IVème siècles) /
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This study deals essentially with the knowledge of the Palestinian Rabbis concerning paganism in the days of Mishna and Talmud. The Late Professor Saul Lieberman wrote that "Many isolated items on idolatry and idol worshippers are scattered all over rabbinic literature. It would require a large volume to treat this topic". This valuable and exhaustive study proves methodically that the Rabbis had deeper knowledge about Syrian, Arabian, Anatolian and Graeco-Roman Pagan cults than is commonly believed. Clear, accessible and displaying considerable scholarship this work will undoubtedly provide an important challenge to both historians, archaeologists, and scholars of Rabbinic texts. *** Cette étude traite essentiellement du niveau de connaissances des Rabbins de Judée et de Galilée concernant les cultes païens dans le sens le plus large du terme. Le Professeur Saul Lieberman affirmait : "Many isolated items on idolatry and idol worshippers are scattered all over rabbinic literature. It would require a large volume to treat this topic" Ce travail exhaustif, à travers l'ensemble du corpus talmudique et au regard de la réalité historique propre à la Palestine romaine, montre méthodiquement que les connaissances des Sages, tant sur les divinités du paganisme que sur des rites syriens, arabes, anatoliens voire gréco-romains, étaient bien plus vastes et approfondies, que ce qu'il est communément admis aujourd'hui par la recherche historique. De part sa clareté et son accessibilité, ce livre intéressera aussi bien les historiens du peuple juif, que ceux des religions antiques. Les archéologues, les historiens du Levant à l'époque romaine, ainsi que les spécialistes de la littérature talmudique y trouveront également un vif intérêt en vertu de son aspect extrêmement novateur.
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1 online resource (xx, 447 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 385-421) and indexes. :
9789047408277 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Shoshannat Yaakov : Jewish and Iranian studies in honor of Yaakov Elman /
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Shoshannat Yaakov honors Yaakov Elman, Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University, and celebrates Elman's contributions to a broad range of disciplines within Jewish and Iranian studies. The fruits of Elman's seminal project of bringing together of scholars of Iranian studies and Talmud in ways that have transformed both disciplines, are well represented in this volume, together with scholarship that ranges from Second Temple Judaism to Late Antique Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Samaritanism and Christianity.
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1 online resource (xxv, 485, 54 pages) : portrait, illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004235458 :
1571-5000 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.