The De-Evolution of the Jewish Warrior
THE DE-EVOLUTION OF THE JEWISH WARRIOR: SELF-IDENTITY AS ‘WARRIOR’ THROUGH JEWISH LITERATURE FROM 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. NICHOLASHOLTZ ANDERSON ThesisSubmittedinPartialFulfillmentofthe RequirementsforOrdination HebrewUnionCollege-JewishInstituteofReligion, GraduateRabbinicalProgram NewYork,NewYork February1,2008 RabbiAaronPanken,Ph.D “You who from the moment Pompey’s forces crushed you have never stopped rebelling.” -Titus accordingtoJosephus (Josephus, The Jewish War ,VI:25.) Overview: NicholasAnderson’s thesistitled,‘TheDe-evolutionoftheJewishWarrior,’ is adiachronic studyofthe Jewishself-viewas‘warrior,’coveringselectedJewishliteraturefromabout200 B.C.Eto200C.E.The premiseofthisthesis is thatsuchastudyofJewishliterature inits historicalcontextmightenable thehistoriantobetterunderstandtheJewishself-identityas ‘warrior’ inthosefourcenturies,as wellas the paradigmatic changefrom‘warrior’ to ‘accomodationist’ inthe wakeoftheBarKochbarevolt. Insevenchapters,this thesisconsistsofliteraryanalysis,historicalanalysis,andpartial translations ofIMaccabees,TheBookofJudith,‘TheScroll OfThe War OfTheSonsOf LightAgainstTheSons ofDarkness’from Qumran,Josephus’accountofMassada,the available literaturethattalksabouttheDiaspora revoltandtheBarKochbarevolt,and Megillat Ta’anit . 2 For my son, Maccabee 3 Acknowledgments: Thisthesiscouldnothavehappenedwithoutthe editing,guidance,supportandfriendshipof mythesisadvisor,RabbiAaronPanken.Forallthedrafts,meetings,andgoodideas,thank you,Dr.Panken. Ialsowouldlike tothankDr.LawrenceSchiffmanforhisideasandinsightsabout
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