DOCSLIB.ORG

Drinking with Non-Jews Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: [email protected] 1. Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zara 31B רב

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Drinking with Non-Jews Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: Jziring@Torontotorah.Com 1. Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zara 31B רב Drinking with Non-Jews Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: [email protected] 1. Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zara 31b מפני מה אסרו]אמרו )ריטב"א([ שכר של עובדי כוכבים? רמי בר חמא אמר רבי יצחק: משום חתנות, רב נחמן אמר: משום גילוי… רב פפא מפיקין ליה לאבבא דחנותא ושתי, רב אחאי מייתו ליה לביתיה ושתי, ותרוייהו משום חתנות, רב אחאי עביד הרחקה יתירתא It has been stated: Why has beer of heathens been forbidden? Rami b. Hama said in the name of R. Isaac: Because of marriages. R. Nahman said: Because it might have been left uncovered… R. Papa used to drink beer when it was brought out to him to the door of the shop; R. Ahai used to drink it when it was brought to his house. Both of them held that the reason [for the prohibition] is intermarriage, but R. Ahai insisted on extraordinary precaution. 2. Tosafot Rid, Avodah Zara 65b פת ושלקות שבתחלה גזרו על בישולי גוים ולא על הפת ולבסוף גזרו על הפת משום דבישולי גוים זהו הוא דבר הצריך אומן לבשל שיש לך אדם שיודע לתקן תבשילו ולבסמו. וכשיהודי רואה גוי שיודע לתקן מאכלו היטב מתאוה לתבשילו ונמלך אחריו ומתחתן בו אח"כ גזרו על הפת שראו עוד שנמשך אחריהן ... וחתנות דשכר לא דמי לחתנות דתבשיל של גוים דאיסור חתנות של שכר אינו משום עשיית שכר שאפילו עשאו ישראל שכר אינו אלא מפני שאם היה מותר לשתות משכר שלה' היה הולך בביתו ומשתכר עמו ומתוך כך מתחתן עמו והילכך כי שתי בביתו של ישראל או אבבא דחנותא הוי הרחקה … The bread and cooked foods: First they decreed against cooked foods and not bread. Eventually they decreed against bread because of “bishul goyim”, that is those things that need an expert to cook, as there are people who know how to prepare and spice food. When a Jew sees a non-Jew who knows how to prepare food well, he desires the food and follows him and marries him. Then they decreed on bread, for they saw that people were being attracted to them because of their baking… The chatnut if beer is not like that of the cooked foods of non-Jews, as the prohibition is not because of the making of beer, because even if a Jew made it is forbidden. Beer [is forbidden] because if it was permitted to drink beer with them, you would go to their houses, get drunk with them, and marry them. Therefore, if you drink in the Jew’s house, or at the doors of the sore, you have made a distance. 3. Commentary of Rambam on Mishna, Avodah Zara 2:6 נאסרו כדי שנתרחק מהם ולא נתערב עמהם, כדי שלא נימשך בהתערבנו עמהם להתפקרות במה שאסור, והוא ענין אומרם משום חתנות.. These were forbidden to distance ourselves from them so that we won’t mix with them, so that we will not be led by our mixed with them to throwing off the yoke with forbidden things, and that is what is meant by chatnut. 4. Tosafot, Avodah Zara 31b איסור שכר לא מצינו לא במשנה ולא בברייתא ושמא בימי האמוראים אסרוהו. The prohibition of bear we did not find the Mishna or Beraita. Perhaps it was forbidden in the time of the Amoraim. 5. Rashba, Torat HaBayit 5:1 שכר של עו"ג אסור הרחקה יתירה נהגו בו משום חתנות… Non-Jewish beer: there became accustomed to treating it as forbidden to create extra distance… 6. Tosafot, Avodah Zara 31b ומ"מ שניהן לא היו שותין בבית העובד כוכבים וא"כ צריך ליזהר שלא לשתות שכר בבית העובד כוכבים …ומיהו המתאכסן בבית העובד כוכבים יכול להיות שמותר לשלוח בעיר לקנות שכר מן העובדי כוכבים דהוי כמו בביתו של ישראל ואף אם העובד כוכבים אכסנאי שלו נותן לו משלו )ושותה( משום איבה דלא אסרו משום חתנות אלא לקבוע שתיה בחנות או ברגילות לשתות בבית העובדי כוכבים אבל אקראי בעלמא שרי Neither would drink in the non-Jew’s house. If so, we must be careful not to drink beer in the house of a non-Jew… However, one who is a guest in a non-Jew’s house, it may be permitted to send for some beer from the non-Jews as it is as if it is the Jew’s house. And even if the non-Jew is his guest, he can give him because of hatred, for they only prohibited for chatnut, to establish drinking in a story or drinking in the non-Jew’s house on a regular basis, but once in a while it is permitted. 7. Or Zarua 4:163, Hilchot Avodah Zara אי נמי כגון נכנס בבית גוי ומזג לו כוס שכר נראה דשרי משום איבה: Alternatively, if you go into the non-Jews house and he poured you a cup of beer, it seems as if it is permitted because of hatred. 8. Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 114:1 כל שכר של כותים, אחד שכר של תמרים או של תאנים או של שעורים או של תבואה או של דבש, אסור משום חתנות. ואינו אסור אלא במקום מכירתו, אבל אם הביא השכר לביתו ושותהו שם, מותר, שעיקר הגזרה שמא יסעוד אצלו. ולא אסרו אלא כשקובע עצמו לשתות כדרך שאדם קובע בשתיה, אבל אם נכנס בבית העובד כוכבים ושתה דרך עראי באקראי, מותר. וכן מי שלן בבית העובד כוכבים, חשוב כביתו, ומותר לשלוח בעיר לקנות שכר מהעובד כוכבים. הגה: ויש מתירין בשכר של דבש ותבואה, וכן נוהגין להקל במדינות אלו. All beer of non-Jews, whether of dates, figs, barley, grain, or honey, it forbidden because of chatnut. It is only forbidden where it is sold, but if you bring it home and drink it there, it is permitted, for the main decreed was because you might eat there. It is only forbidden when you establish yourself to drink there, as people do for drinks, but if you go into the non- Jew’s house and drink in a not-set manner, it is permitted. So too, if you sleep at a non-Jew’s house, it is like your house, and you can send for beer from the non-Jews. Rama: Some permit honey or grain beer, and that is the custom in these countries. 9. Shut She’elat Yaavetz 2:142 והקאפיע בכלל הזה עמהם דין אחד לכולם Coffee it included in this – they all have the same law. 10. Chochmat Adam 66:14 ואף שבזמן הזה נוהגים להקל לשתות שכר של תבואה בבית העכו"ם ואין למחות בידם כי יש מקילין אבל ראוי לכל בעל נפש להרחיק מזה ... וכל זה בשכר שמצוי אבל יין תפוחים ושאר פירות מותר דדבר שאינו מצוי לא גזרינן וכן קאווע ושאקלאדע מותר לשתות בבית העכו"ם )פרי חדש(. אך בעוונותינו הרבים בזמן הזה כמה קלקולים באים מזה ...באו לידי זנות כידוע על כן כל אשר בו ריח תורה ירחיק מזה מלהכנס לבתיהם לשתות איזה משקה שיהיה Even though now the custom is to be lenient with grain beers in the non-Jew’s house, and we can’t protest because there are those who are lenient, it is proper for one who is careful to distance himself from this… This is all for beer, but apple or other fruit wines are permitted because we don’t make decrees about uncommon things. Coffee and hot chocolate are permitted to drink in the non-Jew’s house. However, in our many sins, nowadays many sins have come from this… besides for the fact that it is leads to promiscuity, as is known. Therefore, anyone who has a scent of Torah should distance himself from going into their houses to drink anything. 11. Shut Halachot Ketanot 1:9 דלאו מידי דמשכר הוא אבל משום מושב ליצים איכא It does not make one drunk [and so it is not shechar ] but it is does have the problem of a sitting of scorners. 12. Bars and Office Parties in Jewish Law by Jonathan Ziring Rabbi Herschel Schachter was hesitant to accept the leniencies of Rama. He accepted the stringent concern of Chochmat Adam, arguing that intermarriage is in fact a problem and even coffee should be forbidden in nochri stores. However, he considered being lenient if the reality is that people do not speak to strangers in coffee shops, but rather drink by themselves or with friends. As this is often the reality, there seems to be room to distinguish between our coffee houses and the taverns of Chazal, even if one were to include coffee in shechar. This argument is offered by Shulchan Melachim. Seemingly, this argument should apply to bars as well, though bars have more of a communal culture, especially near the bar itself. Additionally, it is more likely that the original decree of shechar applies to bars, and not just the ancillary concerns. Rabbi Mordechai Willig also urged avoiding bars. F. Grounds for Leniency Many Jews do in fact go to bars. Some go for social reasons, others for business. My friends who work in Washington tell me that much of the networking in politics happens in bars so it is necessary to go there. Therefore, it behooves us to understand whether it can be permitted. As Chochmat Adam pointed out, from the strict letter of the law, it is difficult to challenge people because they can rely on the Rama. Indeed, common practice in Europe seems to have followed the Rema… However, many Achronim challenge the Rama, and other argue that even if we accept his position it is strongly discouraged… Social gatherings in a bar, therefore, should be discouraged if not forbidden. As for business meetings, if it happens only once in a while, it would seem there is room to be lenient based on the positions of Tosafot recorded in Shulchan Aruch.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dxy Iig F"Qyz Oeygxn F"K November 17•18, '06 Say It Clearly
    zyxt zay e"dl dxy iig f"qyz oeygxn f"k November 17•18, '06 Say it clearly... and mean it Avraham sends Eliezer on a vital mission: to find a wife for Yitzchak. When he gets to the spring near Aram Naharayim towards evening, he realizes that he does not have a plan as to how to fulfill he task. He turns to G•d and asks A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical for kindness to his master Avraham. Eliezer now has a plan. He will ask the and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby girls who come to the spring to draw water, for a drink. The one that willbetter fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... give him a drink and also offer to water his camels • that's the one Thisfor Shabbat, we bench and Yitzchak. Okay, we all know that. And we also know that Rivka shows upannounce Rosh Chodesh Kislev, even before Eliezer's words are finished. And we know that she becamewhich will be Tuesday and Rivka Imeinu. But... Wednesday. "Usually", there is only one day R"Ch for Kislev, The Gemara says that even though Eliezer did not "ask" properly, he wassince Cheshvan "usually" has answered well. With his plan, he could have gotten an inappropriate shiduch only 29 days. In a "full" year (when there are 355 or 385 days for Yitzchak, but G•d sent him the right girl. Rambam takes this criticism of between one Rosh HaShana and the Eliezer one significant step further.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on the Noun Patterns in the Yemenite Tradition 51
    NOTES ON THE NOUN PATTERNS IN THE YEMENITE TRADITION 51 Matthew MORGENSTERN University of Haifa NOTES ON THE NOUN PATTERNS IN THE YEMENITE TRADITION OF JEWISH BABYLONIAN ARAMAIC* RÉSUMÉ La tradition yéménite de lecture du Talmud de Babylone a été perçue par certains savants (par exemple S. Morag), comme une source fiable pour la vocalisation du judéo-araméen de Babylonie. Cette étude confronte la vocalisation yéménite des formes nominales aux données que nous fournissent les manuscrits ainsi que d'autres matériaux et suggère que, dans plusieurs cas, la tradition yéménite ne con- serve pas les formes authentiques. La seconde partie de l'article consiste en un examen détaillé de cas d'alternance entre gentilices et nomina agentis dans les textes araméens de Babylonie. SUMMARY The Yemenite reading tradition of the Babylonian Talmud has been regarded by some authorities (e.g. S. Morag) as providing a reliable source for the vocalization of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. The present study considers the Yemenite vocaliza- tion of nominal forms in the light of manuscript evidence and comparative material and suggests that in many cases, the Yemenite tradition does not preserve the his- torical forms. The article cncludes with a detailed examination of interchanges be- tween the gentilic and nomen agentis forms in Babylonian Aramaic sources. Until recently, information on the noun patterns found in Jewish Babylo- nian Aramaic (JBA) could be gleaned from three published grammars. The first is the English edition of Levias’s A Grammar of the Aramaic Idiom Contained in the Babylonian Talmud, which lists numerous examples ac- companied by copious notes and comparisons.
    [Show full text]
  • Graphic Symbols for God's Name in an Unknown Recension of the Tanhuma from the Cairo Genizah •
    Oqimta 7 (2021) [135-173] Graphic Symbols for God's Name in an Unknown Recension of the Tanhuma from the Cairo Genizah • Tova Sacher and Moshe Lavee Introduction Samples of Hebrew manuscripts and codices from the tenth and eleventh centuries are rare, making the Cairo Genizah an important resource for study of Hebrew paleography.1 In addition to preserving unique texts and versions, Genizah fragments include some of the earliest examples of Hebrew manuscripts, predating European medieval manuscripts, and thus contributing greatly to the understanding of book history from the perspective of material culture. They are also the source of many innovations and insights regarding the earlier forms of Hebrew texts and the development of scribal practices.2 One of the more curious examples of this can be seen when examining the various conventions employed for rendering God's name. In this paper, we will describe the incidence of two * The The authors would like to thank Prof. Judith Schlanger, Prof. Marina Rustow, Prof. Gideon Bohak, Prof. Nathan James-Ford, Dr. Ohad Abudraham and Rivka Elitzur-Leiman for their advice and help. We are grateful for the permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for the publication of the images. This article was written under the auspices of the “Midrash in the Communities of the Genizah” Project at the University of Haifa and with the generous support of the Granchamp fund. 1 Edna Engel, “Styles of Hebrew Script in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries in the Light of Dated and Datable Genizah Documents” Te'uda, XV (1999): p. 366.
    [Show full text]
  • The Formation of the Talmud
    Ari Bergmann The Formation of the Talmud Scholarship and Politics in Yitzhak Isaac Halevy’s Dorot Harishonim ISBN 978-3-11-070945-2 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-070983-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-070996-4 ISSN 2199-6962 DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110709834 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020950085 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Ari Bergmann, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. The book is published open access at www.degruyter.com. Cover image: Portrait of Isaac HaLevy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isaac_halevi_portrait. png, „Isaac halevi portrait“, edited, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ legalcode. Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Chapter 1 Y.I. Halevy: The Traditionalist in a Time of Change 1.1 Introduction Yitzhak Isaac Halevy’s life exemplifies the multifaceted experiences and challenges of eastern and central European Orthodoxy and traditionalism in the nineteenth century.1 Born into a prominent traditional rabbinic family, Halevy took up the family’s mantle to become a noted rabbinic scholar and author early in life.
    [Show full text]
  • Download File
    Halevy, Halivni and The Oral Formation of the Babylonian Talmud Ari Bergmann Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Ari Bergmann All rights reserved ABSTRACT Halevy, Halivni and The Oral Formation of the Babylonian Talmud Ari Bergmann This dissertation is dedicated to a detailed analysis and comparison of the theories on the process of the formation of the Babylonian Talmud by Yitzhak Isaac Halevy and David Weiss Halivni. These two scholars exhibited a similar mastery of the talmudic corpus and were able to combine the roles of historian and literary critic to provide a full construct of the formation of the Bavli with supporting internal evidence to support their claims. However, their historical construct and findings are diametrically opposed. Yitzhak Isaac Halevy presented a comprehensive theory of the process of the formation of the Talmud in his magnum opus Dorot Harishonim. The scope of his work was unprecedented and his construct on the formation of the Talmud encompassed the entire process of the formation of the Bavli, from the Amoraim in the 4th century to the end of the saboraic era (which he argued closed in the end of the 6th century). Halevy was the ultimate guardian of tradition and argued that the process of the formation of the Bavli took place entirely within the amoraic academy by a highly structured and coordinated process and was sealed by an international rabbinical assembly. While Halevy was primarily a historian, David Weiss Halivni is primarily a talmudist and commentator on the Talmud itself.
    [Show full text]
  • On Women Joining in a Zimmun Yonatan Gershon
    On Women Joining in a Zimmun Yonatan Gershon Responses by Ya’akov Medan and Mikhal Tikochinsky Biographies: Yonatan Gershon studies Talmud at Yeshivat Har Etzion, Gush Etzion Israel. Rabbi Ya‘akov Medan is Rosh Yeshivah at Yeshivat Har Etzion. Michal Tikochinsky is a lawyer and directs the Beit Midrash for Women at Beit Morasha of Jerusalem. Abstract: This article argues that today it is halakhically permissible for women eating together with their families to help comprise a zimmun with their husbands, fathers or sons. The halakhic conditions that prevented women from helping to comprise a zimmun with men in the past, namely assumptions of promiscuity, lack of proficiency in the blessings, and not eating together with men of the family, are not present today. Given our contemporary practices of eating and education, it is therefore preferable for women to join a zimmun with family members rather than refrain from doing so as was done in the past. A Forum of Modern Orthodox Discourse Orthodox Modern of Forum A M e o r o t Meorot 9 Tishrei 5772 © 2011 A Publication of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School On Women Joining in a Zimmun* Yonatan Gershon** One of the key questions to be considered in free, and economically independent. this article* is whether the change in women‘s Regardless, therefore, of whether one standing within our society affects a woman‘s attributes the differing degrees to which men halakhic status and, if so, how. It is a subject and women are bound by the commandments on which much has been said and written.1 If to substantive differences between the sexes, it the change in women‘s standing is seen not as is necessary to consider whether every custom undermining the way of Torah but, rather as and practice related to gender differentiation is remedying Eve‘s curse2 or as fulfilling the worthy of being accepted and maintained.
    [Show full text]
  • S Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language,How Many Children Did Michal Have?
    Abraham’s Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language ABRAHAM’S CHALDEAN ORIGINS AND THE CHALDEE LANGUAGE by Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) Klein Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is the author of the newly publishedLashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew [available here]. His book is available online and in bookstores in Israel and will arrive to bookstores in America in the coming weeks. Rabbi Klein published articles in various journals including Jewish Bible Quarterly, Kovetz Hamaor, and Kovetz Kol HaTorah. He is currently a fellow at the Kollel of Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem and lives with his wife and children in Beitar Illit, Israel. He can be reach via email: [email protected]. For the purposes of this discussion, we shall divide the region of Mesopotamia (the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) into two sub-regions: the southern region known as Sumer (Shinar in the Bible) and the northern region known as Aram. Under this classification, Sumer incudes Babylon and the other cities which Nimrod (son of Cush son of Ham) built and ruled in southern Mesopotamia (Gen. 10:8–10). The northern Mesopotamian region of Aram includes the city ofAram Naharaim, also known as Harran, and Aram Zoba, also known as Aleppo (Halab). Both regions of Mesopotamia shared Aramaic as a common language. ABRAHAM WAS BORN IN SUMERIAN UR In painting the picture of Abraham’s background, most Biblical commentators assume that Abraham was born in Ur and that his family later migrated northwards to Harran. The Bible (Gen. 11:28; 11:31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7) refers to the place of Abraham’s birth as Ur“ Kasdim,” literally “Ur of the Chaldeans.” Academia generally identifies this city with the Sumerian city Ur (although others have suggested different sites).[1] According to this version of the narrative, Abraham’s family escaped Ur and relocated to Aram in order to flee from the influence of Nimrod.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies
    Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies Table of Contents Ancient Jewish History .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Medieval Jewish History ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Modern Jewish History ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Bible .................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Jewish Philosophy ............................................................................................................................................... 24 Talmud ................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Course Catalog | Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies 1 Ancient Jewish History JHI 6221 and 6239 also counts toward a Talmud concentration. JHI 6222 also counts towards a modern history concentration. JHI 5213 Second Temple Jewish Literature Dr. Joseph Angel Critical issues in the study of Second Temple literature, including biblical interpretations and commentaries, laws and rules of conduct, historiography, prayers, and apocalyptic visions. JHI 5215 Jews under Roman Rule Dr. Angel
    [Show full text]
  • The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions
    The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus 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 David Henkin Professor Naomi Seidman Spring 2011 The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions Copyright 2011 All rights reserved by Zvi Septimus Abstract The Poetic Superstructure of the Babylonian Talmud and the Reader It Fashions by Zvi Septimus Doctor of Philosophy in Jewish Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair This dissertation proposes a poetics and semiotics of the Bavli (Babylonian Talmud)—how the Bavli, through a complex network of linguistic signs, acts on its implied reader's attempt to find meaning in the text. In doing so, I advance a new understanding of how the Bavli was composed, namely as a book written by its own readers in the act of transmission. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Bavli scholarship focused on the role of the Stam (the collective term for those people responsible for the anonymous voice of the Bavli) in the construction of individual Bavli passages (sugyot). Stam theory details how sugyot were crafted out of pre-existing sources and how the Stam works to control those sources in the service of a particular worldview. This dissertation locates a different force at work in the construction of the Bavli as a single unified book, an authorship that is above and against the work of the Stam—a Superstam.
    [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]
  • Halevy and the Historiography of the Talmud
    Chapter 2 Halevy and the Historiography of the Talmud 2.1 Introduction The desire to write the history of the formation of the Babylonian Talmud (often referred to as the Bavli) gained impetus in the nineteenth century with the foun- dation of the modern discipline of historical scholarship, both in the German uni- versities and in the Jewish scholarship of Wissenschaft des Judentums and Hokhmat Yisrael. Several Jewish historians published important works address- ing the question of the formation of the Talmud, including Heinrich Graetz (Geschichte der Juden, 1853–1875) and Isaac Hirsch Weiss (Dor dor vedorshav, 1871–1891).1 These works provided a general account of the process of the Talmud’sformation.2 As historians, Graetz and Weiss relied on the scant “histori- cal” evidence available: a few germane sources scattered in the Talmud; two early Jewish attempts to reconstruct the rabbinic period, Seder Tannaim ve’amor- aim (STVA, ninth century) and the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon (tenth century); and a somewhat later one, Abraham ibn Daud’s Sefer haqabbalah (twelfth cen- tury).3 Where possible, Graetz and Weiss also looked to independent corrobora- tion of major events from outside sources. Graetz, for instance, in his analysis of the development of the Talmud in the fourth and fifth centuries (at the time of Abbaye, Rava, and Rav Ashi), drew upon external events in his search for cat- alysts of the process. As he explained in his History of the Jews, “The period during which the Roman empire was approaching a state of dissolution marks an epoch of decay and regeneration, destruction and rejuvenescence, ruin and reconstruction, in the history of the world.”4 Graetz saw the world’sdominant 1 On Graetz, see Heinrich Graetz, Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart (Leipzig: O.
    [Show full text]
  • Lost Jewish Culture Retrieved from Vienna Literary Treasures: a Single Remnant of a Halakhot Ketanot (?) Version in Judaeo-Arabic
    Aron Menczer (1917-1943) was an active member of the Gordonia Zionist youth movement in Vienna. Following the incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938 (the Anschluss), he became a central figure in the Youth Aliyah Organization in Vienna. Later – from September 1939 until the forced termination of the organization’s activities in the spring of 1941 – he directed the Youth Aliyah in Austria. In February 1939 he escorted a youth group to Palestine, but his commitment to Jewish children and youth still left in Austria made him return to Vienna, rejecting further options to leave Austria. Back in Vienna, he continued to facilitate and organize the emigration of Jewish children and youth, and when exit was cut off in late 1940 he concentrated all his efforts on Zionist educational and cultural work. At Menczer’s initiative, the Youth Aliyah training facilities in Vienna were turned into a regular Zionist-oriented school, giving hundreds of Jewish children and youngsters the only opportunity to acquire some structured education. At the same time, all the Zionist youth movements in Vienna joined forces under his leadership in an effort to continue their activity under adversity. These acts of resistance, keeping alive Jewish-Zionist identity and social cohesion, coupled with Aron Menczer’s charismatic and caring personality, made him and his fellow youth leaders a beacon of light for the Jewish youth in Vienna, sheltering them, at least for sometime, from the darkness of the day. Menczer continued his social and educational work in the forced-labor camp in upper Austria to which he was sent in May 1941, and in Terezin Concentration camp, to which he was deported in September 1942.
    [Show full text]