Handout Halachische Midrashim (Pdf)
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Feminist Sexual Ethics Project
Feminist Sexual Ethics Project Same-Sex Marriage Gail Labovitz Senior Research Analyst, Feminist Sexual Ethics Project There are several rabbinic passages which take up, or very likely take up, the subject of same-sex marital unions – always negatively. In each case, homosexual marriage (particularly male homosexual marriage) is rhetorically stigmatized as the practice of non-Jewish (or pre-Israelite) societies, and is presented as an outstanding marker of the depravity of those societies; homosexual marriage is thus clearly associated with the Other. The first three of the four rabbinic texts presented here also associate homosexual marriage with bestiality. These texts also employ a rhetoric of fear: societal recognition of such homosexual relationships will bring upon that society extreme forms of Divine punishment – the destruction of the generation of the Flood, the utter defeat of the Egyptians at the Exodus, the wiping out of native Canaanite peoples in favor of the Israelites. The earliest source on this topic is in the tannaitic midrash to the book of Leviticus. Like a number of passages in Leviticus, including chapter 18 to which it is a commentary, the midrashic passage links sexual sin and idolatry to the Egyptians (whom the Israelites defeated in the Exodus) and the Canaanites (whom the Israelites will displace when they come into their land). The idea that among the sins of these peoples was the recognition of same-sex marriages is not found in the biblical text, but is read in by the rabbis: Sifra Acharei Mot, parashah 9:8 “According to the doings of the Land of Egypt…and the doings of the Land of Canaan…you shall not do” (Leviticus 18:3): Can it be (that it means) don’t build buildings, and don’t plant plantings? Thus it (the verse) teaches (further), “And you shall not walk in their statutes.” I say (that the prohibition of the verse applies) only to (their) statutes – the statutes which are theirs and their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. -
The Relationship Between Targum Song of Songs and Midrash Rabbah Song of Songs
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TARGUM SONG OF SONGS AND MIDRASH RABBAH SONG OF SONGS Volume I of II A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2010 PENELOPE ROBIN JUNKERMANN SCHOOL OF ARTS, HISTORIES, AND CULTURES TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................................ 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. 2 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. 6 DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ 7 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ....................................................................................... 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DEDICATION ............................................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 11 1.1 The Research Question: Targum Song and Song Rabbah ......................... 11 1.2 The Traditional View of the Relationship of Targum and Midrash ........... 11 1.2.1 Targum Depends on Midrash .............................................................. 11 1.2.2 Reasons for Postulating Dependency .................................................. 14 1.2.2.1 Ambivalence of Rabbinic Sources Towards Bible Translation .... 14 1.2.2.2 The Traditional -
On the Status of the Tannaitic Midrashim Author(S): Daniel Boyarin Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol
Review: On the Status of the Tannaitic Midrashim Author(s): Daniel Boyarin Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1992), pp. 455- 465 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603081 Accessed: 19/08/2010 19:11 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org REVIEW ARTICLES ON THE STATUS OF THE TANNAITIC MIDRASHIM* DANIEL BOYARIN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY A critique of Jacob Neusner's latest contribution to Midrashic studies. -
Female Homoerotic Sexual Activity – Sources
Feminist Sexual Ethics Project Gail Labovitz Senior Research Analyst, Feminist Sexual Ethics Project Female Homoerotic Sexual Activity – Sources: The sources addressing female homoerotic sexual activity in rabbinic literature (link to glossary) are very few, and far less clear than those regarding sexual activity between men. There is a great deal of ambiguity in these texts as to what activities are forbidden, the consequences for women who engage in them, and the nature (that is, the source and/or the authority) of whatever prohibition does exist. Reading these sources suggests several potential reasons why rabbinic thinking on female homoerotic sexual activity is less developed than regarding male homoeroticism; these possibilities will be discussed in the course of the analysis of the texts below. Tannaitic Midrash There is no direct prohibition on female homoerotic sexual activity in the Hebrew bible, indeed, no explicit discussion of such activity at all. Biblical laws of forbidden sexual couplings (notably Leviticus 18 and 20) are generally addressed to male listeners/readers. With the exception of the prohibition against bestiality (Leviticus 18:23 and 20:15-16), in which the prohibition against women committing this act follows on the prohibition to men,1 sexual acts which do not involve male participants are not discussed. Nor do the Mishnah (link to glossary) or the Tosefta (link to glossary) discuss sexual acts between women in any way. Only one midrashic (link to glossary) text from this period addresses any form of homoeroticism between women. As midrash, that is, as a form of exegesis of scriptural text, to Leviticus 18:3, this passage thus invokes the authority of scripture for its discourse on female homoeroticism; it links marriage between two women to the practices of the Canaanites and Egyptians, which this verse and numerous others explicitly forbid, as well as to a number of other sexual/marital connections explicitly or implicitly forbidden in scripture [cite the verse?]. -
Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash
Poetik, Exegese und Narrative Studien zur jüdischen Literatur und Kunst Poetics, Exegesis and Narrative Studies in Jewish Literature and Art Band 2 / Volume 2 Herausgegeben von / edited by Gerhard Langer, Carol Bakhos, Klaus Davidowicz, Constanza Cordoni Constanza Cordoni / Gerhard Langer (eds.) Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Narratives from the Late Antique Period through to Modern Times With one figure V&R unipress Vienna University Press Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBN 978-3-8471-0308-0 ISBN 978-3-8470-0308-3 (E-Book) Veröffentlichungen der Vienna University Press erscheineN im Verlag V&R unipress GmbH. Gedruckt mit freundlicher Unterstützung des Rektorats der Universität Wien. © 2014, V&R unipress in Göttingen / www.vr-unipress.de Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk und seine Teile sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung in anderen als den gesetzlich zugelassenen Fällen bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Einwilligung des Verlages. Printed in Germany. Titelbild: „splatch yellow“ © Hazel Karr, Tochter der Malerin Lola Fuchs-Carr und des Journalisten und Schriftstellers Maurice Carr (Pseudonym von Maurice Kreitman); Enkelin der bekannten jiddischen Schriftstellerin Hinde-Esther Singer-Kreitman (Schwester von Israel Joshua Singer und Nobelpreisträger Isaac Bashevis Singer) und Abraham Mosche Fuchs. Druck und Bindung: CPI Buch Bücher.de GmbH, Birkach Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier. Contents Constanza Cordoni / Gerhard Langer Introduction .................................. 7 Irmtraud Fischer Reception of Biblical texts within the Bible: A starting point of midrash? . 15 Ilse Muellner Celebration and Narration. Metaleptic features in Ex 12:1 – 13,16 . -
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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. -
SYNOPSIS the Mishnah and Tosefta Are Two Related Works of Legal
SYNOPSIS The Mishnah and Tosefta are two related works of legal discourse produced by Jewish sages in Late Roman Palestine. In these works, sages also appear as primary shapers of Jewish law. They are portrayed not only as individuals but also as “the SAGES,” a literary construct that is fleshed out in the context of numerous face-to-face legal disputes with individual sages. Although the historical accuracy of this portrait cannot be verified, it reveals the perceptions or wishes of the Mishnah’s and Tosefta’s redactors about the functioning of authority in the circles. An initial analysis of fourteen parallel Mishnah/Tosefta passages reveals that the authority of the Mishnah’s SAGES is unquestioned while the Tosefta’s SAGES are willing at times to engage in rational argumentation. In one passage, the Tosefta’s SAGES are shown to have ruled hastily and incorrectly on certain legal issues. A broader survey reveals that the Mishnah also contains a modest number of disputes in which the apparently sui generis authority of the SAGES is compromised by their participation in rational argumentation or by literary devices that reveal an occasional weakness of judgment. Since the SAGES are occasionally in error, they are not portrayed in entirely ideal terms. The Tosefta’s literary construct of the SAGES differs in one important respect from the Mishnah’s. In twenty-one passages, the Tosefta describes a later sage reviewing early disputes. Ten of these reviews involve the SAGES. In each of these, the later sage subjects the dispute to further analysis that accords the SAGES’ opinion no more a priori weight than the opinion of individual sages. -
Forsaken HBI Series on Jewish Women
Forsaken HBI Series on Jewish Women Shulamit Reinharz, General Editor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Associate Editor Th e HBI Series on Jewish Women, created by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, publishes a wide range of books by and about Jewish women in diverse contexts and time periods. Of interest to scholars and the educated public, the HBI Series on Jewish Women fi lls major gaps in Jewish tudiesS and in Women and Gender Studies as well as their intersection. Th e HBI Series on Jewish Women is supported by a generous gift from Dr. Laura S. Schor. For the complete list of books that are available in this series, please see www.upne.com Sharon Faye Koren, Forsaken: Th e Menstruant in Medieval Jewish Mysticism Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle G. Saidel, editors, Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust Julia R. Lieberman, editor, Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora Derek Rubin, editor, Promised Lands: New Jewish American Fiction on Longing and Belonging Carol K. Ingall, editor, Th e Women Who Reconstructed American Jewish Education: 1910–1965 Gaby Brimmer and Elena Poniatowska, Gaby Brimmer: An Autobiography in Th ree Voices Harriet Hartman and Moshe Hartman, Gender and American Jews: Patt erns in Work, Education, and Family in Contemporary Life Dvora E. Weisberg, Levirate Marriage and the Family in Ancient Judaism Ellen M. Umansky and Dianne Ashton, editors, Four Centuries of Jewish Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook Carole S. Kessner, Marie Syrkin: Values Beyond the Self Ruth Kark, Margalit Shilo, and Galit Hasan-Rokem, -
Fragments of Midrash Sifra on Leviticus in the Baden State Library in Karlsruhe
chapter 4 Fragments of Midrash Sifra on Leviticus in the Baden State Library in Karlsruhe Andreas Lehnardt As has been emphasized in several articles already, fragments containing Mi- drashic texts preserved in bindings of books, registers and notarial files in Ger- man libraries and archives are very rare. Whereas in Italy several dozen frag- ments with parts of several known Midrashic works from late antiquity have been discovered,1 in Germany and several adjacent European countries only a very few pieces with remnants of these works had been identified. Most of these Midrashic fragments preserve well-known texts or versions of texts which transmit only small variances in comparison with other com- plete manuscripts or early printed editions of the same texts. Many of these remains—sometimes only tiny pieces of manuscript—are therefore consid- ered to be more of statistical value and do not much change our general under- standing of certain passages. In light of the rather small number of Midrash fragments discovered in Germany, however, these fragments clearly point to the fact that at the end of the Middle Ages the study of this particular rab- binic literary genre was—at least among Ashkenazic Jews—not so widespread as it might seem in light of today’s enormous research interest in Midrashic literature. The great number of fragments from other rabbinic works such as the Babylonian Talmud (Bavli), Mahzorim (with commentaries) or Halakhic codices even among the fragments from Italy are ample proof of the fact that manuscripts of Midrashim might have been less common.2 During the research undertaken by me in Germany in the last decade, for instance, I could iden- tify only very few fragments and pieces of fragments with parts from the great 1 See, for example, Mauro Perani and Enrica Sagradini (eds.), Talmudic and Midrashic Frag- ments from the ‘Italian Genizah’: Reunification of the Manuscripts and Catalogue (Florence: Giuntina, 2004). -
Conversations
CONVERSATIONS Orthodoxy: Widening Perspectives Autumn 2020/5781 Issue 36 CONVERSATIONS CONTENTS In Honor of Rabbi Hayyim Angel, on His 25 Years of Rabbinic Service v RABBI MARC ANGEL Editor’s Introduction vii RABBI HAYYIM ANGEL How the Torah Broke with Ancient Political Thought 1 JOSHUA BERMAN Walking Humbly: A Brief Interpretive History of Micah 6:8 13 ERICA BROWN It’s in the Gene(alogy): Family, Storytelling, and Salvation 21 STUART HALPERN Hassidim and Academics Unite: The Significance of Aggadic Placement 30 YITZHAK BLAU Love the Ger: A Biblical Perspective 37 HAYYIM ANGEL Does the Gender Binary Still Exist in Halakha? 47 NECHAMA BARASH Four Spaces: Women’s Torah Study in American Modern Orthodoxy 68 RACHEL FRIEDMAN Three Short Essays 74 HAIM JACHTER The Yemima Method: An Israeli Psychological-Spiritual Approach 89 YAEL UNTERMAN You Shall Love Truth and Peace 103 DANIEL BOUSKILA Agnon’s Nobel Speech in Light of Psalm 137 108 JEFFREY SAKS Re-Empowering the American Synagogue: A Maslovian Perspective 118 EDWARD HOFFMAN Yearning for Shul: The Unique Status of Prayer in the Synagogue 125 NATHANIEL HELFGOT Halakha in Crisis Mode: Four Models of Adaptation 130 ARYEH KLAPPER Responsiveness as a Greatmaking Property 138 ANDREW ARKING Religious Communities and the Obligation for Inclusion 147 NATHAN WEISSLER SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES If you wish to submit an article to Conversations, please send the Senior Editor ([email protected]) or the Editor ([email protected]) a short description of the essay you plan to write. Articles should be written in a conversa- tional style and should be submitted typed, double spaced, as Word documents. -
Jews and Judaism in the Rabbinic Era
Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism Edited by Maren Niehoff (Jerusalem) Annette Y. Reed (Philadelphia, PA) Seth Schwartz (New York, NY) Moulie Vidas (Princeton, NJ) 173 Isaiah M. Gafni Jews and Judaism in the Rabbinic Era Image and Reality – History and Historiography Mohr Siebeck Isaiah M. Gafni, born 1944; BA, MA, and PhD from the Hebrew University; 1967–2012 taught Jewish History of the Second Temple and Talmudic Periods (500 BCE – 500 CE) at the Hebrew University; currently Professor Emeritus in Jewish History at the Hebrew University, and President of Shalem College, Jerusalem. ISBN 978-3-16-152731-9 / eISBN 978-3-16-156701-8 DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-156701-8 ISSN 0721-8753 / eISSN 2568-9525 (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. www.mohrsiebeck.com 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 reproduc- tions, translations and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed on non-aging paper by Gulde Druck in Tübingen, and bound by Groß- buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. For Naomi Table of Contents Abbreviations.............................................................................................. IX I Introduction ......................................................................................... -
Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law Wasserfall: Women and Water Page Iii
Wasserfall: Women and Water page i Women and Water Wasserfall: Women and Water page ii BRANDEIS SERIES ON JEWISH WOMEN Shulamit Reinharz, General Editor Joyce Antler, Associate Editor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Associate Editor Susan Kahn, Associate Editor The Hadassah Research Institute on Jewish Women, established at Brandeis Uni- versity in 1997 by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., supports interdisciplinary basic and applied research as well as cultural projects re- lated to Jewish women around the world. Under the auspices of the Institute, the Brandeis series on Jewish Women publishes a wide range of books by and about Jewish women in diverse contexts and time periods. Marjorie Agosín, Uncertain Travelers: Conversations with Jewish Women Immigrants to America Rahel R. Wasserfall, ed., Women and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law Wasserfall: Women and Water page iii Women and WateR Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law Edited by Rahel R. Wasserfall Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England Hanover and London Wasserfall: Women and Water page iv Brandeis University Press Published by University Press of New England, Hanover, NH 03755 © 1999 by Brandeis University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 54321 cip data appear at the end of the book Illustrations are from Rabbi David Miller, The Secret of the Jew: His Life— His Family, © 1930 by Rabbi David Miller and published by the author. This book was published with the help of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, Inc. Wasserfall: Women and Water page v Contents Acknowledgments vii rahel wasserfall Introduction: Menstrual Blood into Jewish Blood 1 I.