DOCSLIB.ORG

Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash Judaism of the 3 Talmud and Midrash In this chapter The failure of the “Great Revolt” against Rome and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE resulted in the disappearance of the Sadducees and Essenes, and the prevalence of a Pharisaic style of Judaism that we refer to as “rabbinic” because its leaders and teachers bore the title “Rabbi.” The literature of the rabbis was largely concerned with academic questions of law and exegesis. The earlier portion of this era, known as “Tannaitic,” produced diverse com- pendia of oral religious teachings. The later period, the “Amoraic,” was largely devoted to the study of Tannaitic traditions, especially the Mishnah, a code of religious law compiled by Rabbi Judah the Patriarch. The diverse genres and topics of rabbinic learning are surveyed. The most important of these are: midrash (scriptural studies), mishnah (non-biblical tradi- tions), halakhah (laws) and aggadah (non-legal topics). The Amoraic era produced two vast commentaries on the Mishnah, the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds, whose structure, con- tents and distinctive style of logical debate are described in this chapter. Main topics covered • The historical context of rabbinic Judaism • The generations of the Tannaitic era: Yavneh, Usha, Tiberias • The era of the Amoraim • The genres of the oral Torah: midrash and mishnah, halakhah and aggadah ג The Talmuds: Palestinian and Babylonian • Part I: The Historical Framework 3 | Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash The historical context of rabbinic Judaism ollowing the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, we no longer hear of the sectarian controversies that dominated the earlier generations. It is generally understood that the Pharisees were the only one of the sects to survive, and that the “rabbis” of the talmudic era were the heirs to Pharisaism. The influ- ence of the Sadducees was so narrowly identified with the Temple and the priest- Fhood that their ideology was largely irrelevant to a Judaism that was struggling to survive without their Temple. We know so little about the Essenes that it would be overly speculative to surmise what befell them after 70. At any rate, they had always been a small, exclusive community removed from the mainstream of Jewish life, so they were unlikely to play a major role in post-Temple Judaism. The following centuries were largely a time of consolidation of ideas and institutions that had emerged from the previous eras. The religious developments of that time are known to us largely from works of literature that were redacted and became the foundation of Jewish life and thought in later times. These works, known as the Talmuds and the Midrash, will be de- scribed in greater detail further on in this chapter. The religious leaders who composed these works, and whose opinions are recorded in them, were known as “rabbis.” The Hebrew word rabbi means “my master,” and it is a term of respect that came into common use as a title for religious scholars towards the end of the first century CE. The use of the title became regulated as formal procedures were established for the ordination of authorities in the interpretation of Jewish religious law—which was the rabbis’ main function. It is therefore common to refer to this era and its literature as “rabbinic.” Although Jewish communities could be found throughout the expanses of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin, the religious literature that survived as authoritative was con- fined to two main geographical centers: the land of Israel (which the Romans named Palestine after the Philistines who had occupied its coastal planes in biblical times) and Babylonia (Mesopotamia, the fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers). This was a momentous era in both general and Jewish history. The destruction of Jerusalem left the Jews not only without their cherished center of worship, the holy Temple, but also resulted in immense loss of life and property, political repression, economic deprivation and social dislocation. It was the climax of a fierce insurrection against the the Roman empire that had broken out in 66, but it did not exhaust the determination of Jews to break the yoke of their conqueror. A garrison of Jewish Zealots held out until 73 at the desert fortress of Masada. Further revolts would break out, in 115 in Cyrene (Libya) and in Israel in 135. This last revolt, which was once known only from some vague allusions in rabbinic texts and in Roman histo- rians, has been subject to major scholarly reevaluation in recent decades as the result of new archeological discoveries. From the new evidence we have learned much about the personality 32 Part I: The Historical Framework 3 | Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash Jewish symbols on a coin minted in 68 CE during the war against Rome (courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.) of the leader, Simeon bar Kuziba, known as Bar Kokhba, whose surviving letters reveal him as a forceful general with a strong religious commitment. The extensive networks of underground passages that have been discovered in Judea attest to the intense and widespread popular sup- port that the revolt enjoyed. The archeological artifacts also tell us a story of extensive de- struction that followed in the wake of the rebellion’s suppression, as numerous Jewish villages in Judea became desolate. This was also a time of important changes in the world at large. The Roman empire was facing threats, both from its far-flung frontiers and in the anarchy of its internal politics. A crucial turning point in world history, and one that had a major impact on the status of the Jews, was the emperor Constantine’s adoption of Christianity in the early fourth century. In Babylonia, an important political transition occurred in 224 CE when the Hellenizing Parthian (Arsacid) dynasty, which had been tolerant of Jewish communal and religious autonomy, was overthrown by the centralist Sassanian dynasty whose aggressive advocacy of the dualistic Zoroastrian religion posed a threat to Judaism, sometimes erupting into outright persecutions. It is remarkable that the chronology of the major works of Jewish literature that were produced during this era has no substantial correlation with the political events that are of interest to historians. In spite of the determined efforts of historians to furnish historical explanations for literary or spiritual milestones, the evolution of rabbinic 33 Part I: The Historical Framework 3 | Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash literature seems to follow an internal logic of its own, unconnected to historical events. Sometimes the incongruity appears so glaring that one is moved to suspect that the rabbis did this on purpose, in order to preclude the impression that the eter- nal truths of the Torah are subject to the vagaries of history. The generations of the Tannaitic era: Yavneh, Usha, Tiberias As distinct from the important political and military milestones that marked the conventional history of the rabbinic era, the internal Jewish historiography of rabbinic literature speaks of two main divisions that were of religious significance to the development of Jewish religious tradition. They refer to the earlier division as the age of the Tannaim. The term derives from an Aramaic root (it is actually the Aramaic cognate to the Hebrew root that underlies mish- nah). The term was coined by later scholars to express the fact that their knowledge of the earlier oral traditions reached them by means of human memorizers, who were known as tannaim and whose job was to recall and recite the oral texts that served as topics of discussion in the academy. Apart from a few individual passages in Tannaitic literature that are ascribed to Jewish sages from early in the Second Temple era, the oldest strata of sub- stantial, organized rabbinic traditions seem to date from the generation preceding the destruction of the Temple, Jewish religious symbols on a second-century Roman goblet: seven- the middle of the first century branch candelabrum, lions (of Judah), the Temple, shofar (ram’s horn), CE. The end of the Tannaitic palm frond, etc. 34 Part I: The Historical Framework 3 | Judaism of the Talmud and Midrash era is conventionally identified with the official oral publication of its most authoritative and influential literary product, the Mishnah. The precise date of this event cannot really be fixed with any certainty. It occurred some time around the end of the second or the beginning of the third century CE. In reality, there is no straightforward demarcation between the Tannaitic era and what follows, because several collections of Tannaitic teachings were redacted and pub- lished in the years following the completion of the Mishnah. It is common among scholars of rabbinic history and literature to subdivide the Tannaitic era into generations whose names are derived from the towns that served as prominent scholarly centers, or as the homes of important scholars. In keeping with that convention, the decades immediately following the destruction of the Temple are referred to as the generations of Yavneh. Yavneh [also transliterated as Jabneh; or by the Greek form “Jamnia”] was a town on the Mediterranean coast where, according to rabbinic tradition, an assembly of Pharisaic sages convened in order to continue the process of religious scholarship that had been carried on during the days of the Temple. A legend that is related in rabbinic traditions describes how Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, one of the great leaders of his time, was in Jerusalem while the city was being besieged by the Romans, and while Jerusalem’s internal politics and institutions were under the control of extremist Zealots in whom the moderate Rabban Yohanan had no confidence. As it became clear that Jerusalem was doomed to destruction, he devised a des- perate plan to have himself smuggled out of the city walls under the pretext that he had died and his corpse was being conveyed for burial.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Humanity of the Talmud: Reading for Ethics in Bavli ʿavoda Zara By
    The Humanity of the Talmud: Reading for Ethics in Bavli ʿAvoda Zara By Mira Beth Wasserman A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Daniel Boyarin, chair Professor Chana Kronfeld Professor Naomi Seidman Professor Kenneth Bamberger Spring 2014 Abstract The Humanity of the Talmud: Reading for Ethics in Bavli ʿAvoda Zara by Mira Beth Wasserman Joint Doctor of Philosophy with Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, chair In this dissertation, I argue that there is an ethical dimension to the Babylonian Talmud, and that literary analysis is the approach best suited to uncover it. Paying special attention to the discursive forms of the Talmud, I show how juxtapositions of narrative and legal dialectics cooperate in generating the Talmud's distinctive ethics, which I characterize as an attentiveness to the “exceptional particulars” of life. To demonstrate the features and rewards of a literary approach, I offer a sustained reading of a single tractate from the Babylonian Talmud, ʿAvoda Zara (AZ). AZ and other talmudic discussions about non-Jews offer a rich resource for considerations of ethics because they are centrally concerned with constituting social relationships and with examining aspects of human experience that exceed the domain of Jewish law. AZ investigates what distinguishes Jews from non-Jews, what Jews and non- Jews share in common, and what it means to be a human being. I read AZ as a cohesive literary work unified by the overarching project of examining the place of humanity in the cosmos.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Fourteen Rabbinic and Other Judaisms, from 70 to Ca
    Chapter Fourteen Rabbinic and Other Judaisms, from 70 to ca. 250 The war of 66-70 was as much a turning point for Judaism as it was for Christianity. In the aftermath of the war and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple Judaeans went in several religious directions. In the long run, the most significant by far was the movement toward rabbinic Judaism, on which the source-material is vast but narrow and of dubious reliability. Other than the Mishnah, Tosefta and three midrashim, almost all rabbinic sources were written no earlier than the fifth century (and many of them much later), long after the events discussed in this chapter. Our information on non-rabbinic Judaism in the centuries immediately following the destruction of the temple is scanty: here we must depend especially on archaeology, because textual traditions are almost totally lacking. This is especially regrettable when we recognize that two non-rabbinic traditions of Judaism were very widespread at the time. Through at least the fourth century the Hellenistic Diaspora and the non-rabbinic Aramaic Diaspora each seem to have included several million Judaeans. Also of interest, although they were a tiny community, are Jewish Gnostics of the late first and second centuries. The end of the Jerusalem temple meant also the end of the Sadducees, for whom the worship of Adonai had been limited to sacrifices at the temple. The great crowds of pilgrims who traditionally came to the city for the feasts of Passover, Weeks and Tabernacles were no longer to be seen, and the temple tax from the Diaspora that had previously poured into Jerusalem was now diverted to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome.
    [Show full text]
  • THE HANDBOOK of PALESTINE MACMILLAN and CO., Limited
    VxV'*’ , OCT 16 1923 i \ A / <$06JCAL Division DSI07 S; ct Ion .3.LB Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/handbookofpalestOOIuke THE HANDBOOK OF PALESTINE MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd TORONTO DOME OF THE ROCK AND DOME OF THE CHAIN, JERUSALEM. From a Drawing by Benton Fletcher. THE HANDBOOK OF P A L E ST IN #F p“% / OCT 16 1923 V\ \ A A EDITED' BY V HARRY CHARLES LUKE, B.Litt., M.A. ASSISTANT GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM AND ^ EDWARD KEITH-ROACH ASSISTANT CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF PALESTINE WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY The Right Hon. SIR HERBERT SAMUEL, P.C., G.B.E. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR PALESTINE Issued under the Authority of the Government of Palestine MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1922 COPYRIGHT PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN PREFACE The Handbook of Palestine has been written and printed during a period of transition in the administration of the country. While the book was in the press the Council of the League of Nations formally approved the conferment on Great Britain of the Mandate for Palestine; and, consequent upon this act, a new constitution is to come into force, the nominated Advisory Council will be succeeded by a partly elected Legislative Council, and other changes in the direction of greater self-government, which had awaited the ratification of the Mandate, are becoming operative. Again, on the ist July, 1922, the adminis¬ trative divisions of the country were reorganized.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Community and Identity in the Early Modern Period
    EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 6: Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period, 2009, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Table of Contents Technology, Preservation, and Freedom of Expression · Bernard Cooperman, University of Maryland, USA A ruling against rabbis who have sought to delay the printing of the Zohar Responsa of Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona The "imprimatur" by Isaac de Lattes A publisher in service of his readers: prefaces to Amsterdam 1711 edition of the Tsene Rene · Shlomo Berger, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tsene Rene Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov · Moshe Rosman, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov: Likutei Amarim Leon Modena's Ari Nohem Between Print and Manuscript · Yaacob Dweck, Princeton University, USA The Roaring Lion The Paratexts of Judah Marcaria: Addressing the (Imagined) Reader in Mid-Sixteenth-Century Italy · Adam Shear, University of Pittsburgh, USA Abraham Klausner, Minhagim Levi ben Gershon (Gersonides) The Book of Rabbi Mordecai 1 EMW - Workshops EWM 2009 Putting Hebrew Books in Order · Avriel Bar-Levav, The Open University of Israel, Israel The lips of those who are asleep Jews under Surveillance: Censorship and Reading in Early Modern Italy · Federica Francesconi, University of California-Los Angeles, US 1. Rules for the expurgation of the Hebrew Books 2. Report regarding Hebrew Books
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix: a Guide to the Main Rabbinic Sources
    Appendix: A Guide to the Main Rabbinic Sources Although, in an historical sense, the Hebrew scriptures are the foundation of Judaism, we have to turn elsewhere for the documents that have defined Judaism as a living religion in the two millennia since Bible times. One of the main creative periods of post-biblical Judaism was that of the rabbis, or sages (hakhamim), of the six centuries preceding the closure of the Babylonian Talmud in about 600 CE. These rabbis (tannaim in the period of the Mishnah, followed by amoraim and then seboraim), laid the foundations of subsequent mainstream ('rabbinic') Judaism, and later in the first millennium that followers became known as 'rabbanites', to distinguish them from the Karaites, who rejected their tradition of inter­ pretation in favour of a more 'literal' reading of the Bible. In the notes that follow I offer the English reader some guidance to the extensive literature of the rabbis, noting also some of the modern critical editions of the Hebrew (and Aramaic) texts. Following that, I indicate the main sources (few available in English) in which rabbinic thought was and is being developed. This should at least enable readers to get their bearings in relation to the rabbinic literature discussed and cited in this book. Talmud For general introductions to this literature see Gedaliah Allon, The Jews in their Land in the Talmudic Age, 2 vols (Jerusalem, 1980-4), and E. E. Urbach, The Sages, tr. I. Abrahams (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 1987), as well as the Reference Guide to Adin Steinsaltz's edition of the Babylonian Talmud (see below, under 'English Transla­ tions').
    [Show full text]
  • Daf Ditty Pesachim 112
    Daf Ditty Pesachim 112: • Ownership: Is there a concept of “private property,” or does all property ultimately belong to God and/or the community? What can acquire the status of “property”? • The Moral Value of Wealth and Poverty: Is being wealthy a sign of divine favor? Is poverty ultimately a “better” state in which to live? • The Acquisition of Wealth: Are there better or worse ways to acquire wealth? Can one make money off the labor of others? How is the biblical prohibition against charging interest treated, and what are its ramifications? • Spending: What are good and bad ways of disposing of wealth? Do the poor have rights to the wealth of others? 1 The Sages taught: A person should not drink water from rivers or from ponds at night. And if he drank, his blood is upon his own head due to the danger. The Gemara explains: What is this danger? The danger of blindness. The Gemara asks: And if he is thirsty, what is his remedy? If there is another person with him, he should say to him: So-and-so, son of so-and- so, I thirst for water. And if there is no one else with him, he should say to himself: So-and-so, my mother said to me to beware of shavrirei, the demon of blindness. He should continue to say the following incantation, in the first part of which the demon’s name gradually disappears: Shavrirei berirei rirei yiri ri; I thirst for water in white earthenware cups. This is an incantation against those demons.
    [Show full text]
  • Torah She-Ba'al
    SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE Elu v'Elu: Two Schools of Halakha Face Off On Issues of Human Autonomy, Majority Rule And Divine Voice of Authority By Noam Zion Contents Copyright © 2008 Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel 1 hartman.org.il | [email protected] Elu v'Elu: Two Schools of Halakha Face Off On Issues of Human Autonomy, Majority Rule And Divine Voice of Authority1 By: Noam Zion Table of Contents Introduction – the Rabbinic Revolution – the Rule of the Interpreters 3 A. Two Great Debates of the Schools of Hillel / Shammai and the Bat Kol: Comparing TB Eruvin 13b and TB Baba Metzia 59a-b 7 B. Can Later Rabbinic Creativity Transcend Its Origins? Moshe Struggles to Understand his Spiritual Heir, Akiva (TB Menachot 29b) 16 C. The Power to Exclude from the Debate: Why Do the Rabbis Excommunicate Eliezer? 20 D. What is the Divine Perspective on the Eliezer / Yehoshua Debate? 21 E. Bat Kol: What is the Relationship between God’s Revelation and Halachic Decision-making? (TB Baba Metzia 59 and Eruvin 13b) 24 F. What is the Significance of Hillel’s Moral Virtues? Granting Priority to Hillel’s School over Shammai’s (TB Eruvin 13a) 26 G. Pluralism versus Monism in the Search for Truth and the Relationship to the Other’s View 29 H. Eliezer’s Crisis of Conscience: How Can We Be Obligated to Follow a “Wrong” Decision Made by the Rabbis because They Constitute the Majority? 40 I. Living with Disagreement: The Culture of Controversy – What are the Limits of Unity and of Diversity within a Common Community? Three Theories of Tolerance 43 1 Summarized based on Moshe Halbertal lectures to TICHON on Interpretation, Avi Sagi’s Elu vElu, and on Aviezer Ravitsky, “The Question of Toleration in Jewish Tradition: Between Pluralism and Paternalism” in Bein Samchut l’Autonomia, edited by Avi Sagi, Zeev Safrai p.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine
    Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum herausgegeben von Martin Hengel und Peter Schäfer 44 Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine An Inquiry into Image and Status by Tal Ilan ARTIBUS J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck) Tubingen Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme llan, Tal: Jewish women in Greco-Roman Palestine : an inquiry into image and status / by Tal llan. -Tiibingen : Möhr, 1995 (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum ; 44) ISBN 3-16-146283-1 NE: GT © 1995 by J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), P.O. Box 2040, D-72010 Tübingen. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher's written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was typeset by Computersatz Staiger in Pfäffingen using Times typeface, printed by Guide-Druck in Tiibingen on non-aging paper from Papierfabrik Buhl in Ettlin- gen and bound by Heinr. Koch in Tiibingen. Printed in Germany. ISSN 0721-8753 Dedicated to my teacher and mentor, the late Professor Menahem Stern and to his widow Chava Table of Contents Preface XI Introduction 1 The History of Research 2 Chronology 22 Geography 25 The Sources 27 The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha 28 Josephus 29 Josephus' Lost Sources 30 1. The Tobiad History 30 2. Nicolaus of Damascus 30 3. Josephus' Sources for the House of Agrippa 31 4. The Source for the Conversion of the Royal House of Adiabene 31 The New Testament 31 Rabbinic Literature 32 1. Tannaitic Literature 33 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Talmudic Literature As a Historical Source
    The main sources for the history of late-Roman Palestine are the rabbinic texts. The problem facing the researcher in dealing with this material is the question of the extent to which it is possible to use this material to extract factual information. Talmudic literature contains by definition historical details only coinciden- tally. Its aims are not historiographical and it Talmudic Literature focuses on legislation (halakhah) and didactic theology (aggadah), whose purpose is to draw as a Historical the attention of the reader to the Torah and its study. The associative and anecdotal nature of Source Talmudic literature also means that one cannot expect to extract from it a clear impression of Aharon Oppenheimer historical reality. Certainly there is no sense in looking for a systematic historical approach that aims to preserve information about “what really happened.” In Talmudic literature there are reflections of contemporary events side by side with anachronistic testimonies dealing with these events and with reports that attempt to justify them at a theological and historio- sophical level. There are various approaches in the scholarly literature dealing with Talmudic lit- erature as historical material. At one extreme is a naive method that attempts to accept the text as it stands and even to reconcile internal contradictions through harmonization. At the other extreme is an approach that considers each passage separately, analyzes the details accurately, and verifies whether it definitely reflects historical reality. Other scholars assume that Talmudic literature does not reveal any historical continuity, but merely provides anecdotes referring to isolated incidents; they conclude that literary, not historical, analysis is required.
    [Show full text]
  • Tosefta, Tractate Sanhedrin
    296 D17t 66-15725 Danby Tractate Sahedrin 8390 AUG. 2. 1975 ! 2 2 ,...........MAl FEB 1983 TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY DOCUMENTS SERIES III RABBINIC TEXTS TRACTATE SANHEDRIN TRACTATE SANHEDRIN MISHNAH AND TOSEFTA THE JUDICIAL PROCEDURE OF THE JEWS AS CODIFIED TOWARDS THE END OF THE SECOND CENTURY A.D. TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW WITH BRIEF ANNOTATIONS BY HERBERT DANBY, M.A. SUB-WARDEN OF ST. DEINIOL/S LIBRARY, HAWARDEN * LONDON : SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919 INTRODUCTION GENERAL CHARACTER AND CONTENTS SANHEDRIN is the title given to the fourth tract in the fourth of the six orders or series which make up the Mishnah}- This order, called nezikin, "damages" (or, in the Tosefta.yeshu'oth^ "redemp- tions "), deals more or less directly with the various branches of Jewish jurisprudence ; and Sanhedrin^ as its name implies, treats of the higher legislative courts, their constitution, authority, and method of procedure. The Mishnah and Tosefta, which are here trans- 2 lated, may be regarded as together giving the bulk of the traditions on the subject in the form in which they existed at the close of the second century A.D. The Mishnah gives an ordered, comprehensive sketch of the regulations which 1 On the general questions introductory to the study of Jewish literature, see the (forthcoming) volume in this series : A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical Judaism. s It is hardly necessary to say that the arrangement of alternate paragraphs <& Mishnah and Tosefta employed in the present transla- tion is not that found in the original texts.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered
    Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum Edited by Martin Hengel and Peter Schäfer 100 The Bar Kokhba War Reconsidered New Perspectives on the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome Edited by PETER SCHÄFER Mohr Siebeck In Memoriam Leo Mildenberg 1913-2001 ISBN 3-16-148076-7 ISSN 0721-8753 (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism) The Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at http://dnd.ddh.de © 2003 by J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), PO. Box 2040, D-72010 Tübingen. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher's written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. This book was typeset by epline in Kirchheim, printed by Guide-Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. Table of Contents Peter Schäfer Preface VII Peter Schäfer Bar Kokhba and the Rabbis 1 Martin Goodman Trajan and the Origins of the Bar Kokhba War 23 Yoram Tsafrir Numismatics and the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina: A Critical Review 31 Benjamin Isaac Roman Religious Policy and the Bar Kokhba War 37 Aharon Oppenheimer The Ban of Circumcision as a Cause of the Revolt: A Reconsideration 55 Ra'anan Abusch Negotiating Difference: Genital Mutilation in Roman Slave Law and the History of the Bar Kokhba Revolt ... 71 Hanan Eshel The Dates Used during the Bar Kokhba Revolt 93 Menahem Mor The Geographical Scope of the Bar Kokhba Revolt 107 Hannah M.
    [Show full text]
  • A Literary Study of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan
    Scholastic Rabbinism A Literary Study of the Fathers according to Rabbi Nathan ANTHONY J. SALDARINI Scholastic Rabbinism BROWN UNIVERSITY BROWN JUDAIC STUDIES Edited by Jacob Neusner Wendell S. Dietrich, Ernest S. Frerichs, Alan Zuckerman Board of Editors David Altshuler, George Washington University David R. Blumenthal, Emory University Baruch M. Bokser, University of California, Berkeley Joel Gereboff, Arizona State University David Goldenberg, Dropsie University Robert Goldenberg, State University of New York, Stony Brook David Goodblatt, Haifa University William Scott Green, University of Rochester Peter Haas, Vanderbilt University Martin Jaffee, University of Virginia Shamai Kanter, Temple Beth El, Rochester, New York Jack L. Lightstone, Concordia University Irving Mandelbaum, University of Texas Alan Mintz, University of Maryland Alan J. Peck, Tulane University Gary G. Porton, University of Illinois Marc L. Raphael, Ohio State University Richard S. Sarason, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Tzvee Zahavy, University of Minnesota Editorial Committee: Roger Brooks Louis Newman Number 14 SCHOLASTIC RABBINISM A Literary Study of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan by Anthony J. Saldarini SCHOLASTIC RABBINISM A Literary Study of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan by Anthony J. Saldarini Scholars Press SCHOLASTIC RABBINISM A Literary Study of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan by Anthony J. Saldarini Copyright © 2020 by Brown University Library of Congress Control Number: 2019953407 Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/ Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer- cial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/.
    [Show full text]