DOCSLIB.ORG

Story Master from Ashkenaz Stories As Sources of Historical Information

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Story Master from Ashkenaz Stories As Sources of Historical Information Jewish Ideas Weekly www.jewishideasdaily.com September 14-28, 2012 Wednesday, September 19 the Talmud. nine, his family fled the impending Nazi In the 19th century scholars saw these doom and moved to Palestine. Fraenkel Story Master from Ashkenaz stories as sources of historical information. attended Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neriah’s yeshiva They believed that if they could clear away at Kfar Haroeh, the progenitor of Religious By Moshe Simon-Shoshan the layers of distortion and interpolation Zionist yeshivot in Israel today. There he Today, the use of literary theory and criti- that had been added over the years, the sto- studied Talmud with Rabbi Yitzhak Gilat, cism to study Midrash and Aggadah—non- ries would provide a front row seat at many who would become a leading scholar of hal- legal and interpretive rabbinic literature—is events in the rabbis’ lives and allow scholars akhic history at Bar Ilan University. a well-established and even popular en- to reconstruct the history of the rabbinic Fraenkel’s roots in the world of cultured deavor. Each year sees the publication of movement as a whole. Frankel completely German Orthodoxy informed much of his numerous books and articles seeking to rejected this idea. He argued that the sto- life, scholarship, and teaching. He was a understand rabbinic texts as literary and ries must first and foremost be treated as consummate Yekke, insistent on punctuali- cultural artifacts and many more academic, literary works. Moreover, the tools needed ty, decorum, and abiding by the rules. More religious, and popular courses and lectures to analyze the texts lay in the importantly, he held himself on similar themes. But this was not the theories and methods devel- and his students to the high- case when the young Talmud teacher Jonah oped and practiced in aca- est possible standards. It was Fraenkel first entered Hebrew University in demic departments of litera- not always easy or pleasant to the mid-1950s. In those days, the study of ture. be Fraenkel’s student. Midrash and Aggadah belonged to histori- Fraenkel developed a meth- For Fraenkel there was no ans and philologists. No one thought these od of formal analysis and distinction between academic texts should be viewed through the same “close reading” akin to the work and engagement in Tal- lens used to understand Shakespeare or practices of the New Critics mud Torah: His scholarship Dostoevsky. whose methods dominated was both an act of religious Perhaps more than any other individual, the Anglo-American critical devotion and a search for the Jonah Fraenkel, the Hebrew literature pro- scene in the mid-20th cen- truth as he defined it. In his fessor and Israel Prize laureate who died tury. For Fraenkel as for the readings of the Talmud, the last week at the age of 84, was the moving New Critics, the literary text Tannaim and Amoraim were, force behind this dramatic shift in the study is a closed hermeneutic structure in which like Fraenkel himself, non-mystical and fo- of Midrash and Aggadah in the academy artistic form and ideological content are cused on matters of ethics and interpersonal and the broader Jewish culture. With the inexorably intertwined. Fraenkel showed relations. In particular Fraenkel was skilled 1991 publication of his magnum opus, the that the “sage” stories were not artless anec- at drawing out the educational themes in two-volume Darkhei Ha-Aggadah VeHa- dotes but miniature works of narrative art rabbinic stories, arguing that many stories Midrash (The Ways of the Midrash and the that deserved the same careful attention of- concerned the teacher-student relationship. Aggadah), an encyclopedic guide to the ten lavished on more extended stories. He Fraenkel was himself a consummate teach- study of these texts, Fraenkel established particularly emphasized the way in which er; over the course of his long career he himself as master of all their forms and the rabbinic storytellers infused their works taught every level of student, from elemen- genres. Fraenkel made his greatest impact, with irony and paradox in order to shed tary school children to doctoral candidates. however, through more than three decades light on the fraught nature of interpersonal Fraenkel’s commitment to the lost heri- of studies culminating in his Sippurei Ha- relations and the human condition itself. tage of his childhood was even more pro- Agaddah—Ahdut shel Tokhen ve-Zurah Fraenkel was born in Munich in 1928 to nounced in his academic studies dealing (The Aggadic Narrative—Harmony of Form an Orthodox family in the best German tra- with the culture of Ashkenaz, the Jewish and Content), focusing on the single genre dition of Torah im Derekh Eretz. He grew up community that arose in the Rhine valley of “rabbinic sage” stories, which record the immersed in the study and practice of both and lasted a millennium until it was oblit- deeds and lives of the Tannaim and Amo- Torah and the best of Western culture and erated by the Nazis. Fraenkel’s first book, raim—the rabbis whose teachings make up scholarship. In 1937, when Fraenkel was based on his dissertation, was a monumen- Upcoming Features on Jewish Ideas Daily: strategic investment in Israel’s new war, krav maga, the Egyptian Jewish remnant, and much more! All on www.jewishideasdaily.com. Jewish Ideas Weekly, published by Jewish Ideas Daily, is a project of Bee.Ideas. To contact us, please email [email protected]. tal study of the methodology of Rashi, the Fraenkel also had a progressive side such as Daniel Boyarin and, later, Jeffery greatest scholar ever produced by the ye- to him. He was an early and enthusiastic Rubenstein, began to integrate Fraenkel’s shivot of western Germany. Fraenkel also adopter of Macintosh computers in an Is- insights into new and different approaches. devoted considerable energy, especially to- rael that is still heavily dominated by Win- Thus, Fraenkel’s work assumed a place in ward the end of his career, to the study of dows. More significantly, he was a strong the next generation of scholarship. Ashkenazic liturgy and piyyut (liturgical proponent of teaching Talmud to women Fraenkel himself remained steadfast in poetry). After the death his father-in-law, and girls. He personally his trained his his commitment to formalist, ahistorical Daniel Goldshmidt, the great scholar of lit- daughters in Talmud just as he did his sons. readings. However, my sense is that Fraen- urgy and a fellow product of Germany’s en- After the death of his wife Chava, he created kel well understood that as a teacher, his job lightened Orthodox community, Fraenkel a women’s Gemara class in her memory. was to help students reach a stage at which continued Goldschmidt’s project of creat- By the time I arrived at Hebrew Universi- they could develop ideas and approaches of ing critical editions of Makhzorim for festi- ty to study with Fraenkel in the early 1990s, their own. If only we, his students, could be vals, motivated both by his commitment to his rationalism and formalism had begun to blessed with his unstinting commitment to his father-in-law and to the collective his- look quaint. Yet it was around this time that Torah, scholarship, and the pursuit of truth, tory of Ashkenaz, of which he was among his work began to have perhaps its greatest which for him, of course, were all one and the last remnants. impact. A younger generation of scholars, the same. Thursday, September 20 es, such as the Heikhalot literature, which Rahamim remains in Orthodox prayer books are full of angelic ascensions and entreaties. with its unusual “theological hazard” warn- “I, and Not an Angel” ing sign, with some (like myself) skipping it, Yet the notion of turning to angels to others reciting it on purpose, and many, alas, By Shlomo M. Brody supplicate on our behalf ruffled many theo- unknowingly mumbling their way through “Warning: The Following Prayer May Be logical feathers in the medieval era. Mai- the theological minefield. Dangerous to Your Spiritual Health. Recite monides, in the fifth of his 13 principal with Caution, and Only with the Proper dogmas of Judaism, asserts that only God I have always wondered why so many Intention.” should be worshiped and praised. “Do not,” people, scholars and laypeople alike, con- he continues, “seize upon intermediaries in tinue to embrace this prayer, to the point at When was the last time you saw this kind order to reach Him but direct your thoughts which it has recently been popularized in of warning in a prayer book? Yet in most toward Him, may He be exalted, and turn a striking song by the Hasidic singer Mor- S’lihot prayer books, including the one that away from that which is oth- dechai Ben David. Leaving is most popular in the Israeli market, that is er than He.” Some scholars, aside the many halakhic and the message (OK, my translation is a bit of including Nahmandies and theological questions, do you a dramatic paraphrase) that actually accom- the Maharal of Prague, tried really want to roll the dice by panies one of the hymns. to ban such prayers, even as participating in an arguably other prominent scholars de- heretical rite while the Books The hymn in question is known by its fended their continued recita- of Judgment are open? Af- first words,Makhnisei Rahamim or “Ushers tion. Debates on the question ter all, there is no shortage of of Mercy.” It is the best known of the many continued into the early mod- prayers to recite; why place intercessory prayers, composed for this time ern period, with some schol- your bets on one that Mai- of the year, which call upon angels to deliver ars trying to placate both sides monides thinks can lose you our supplications to God: by suggesting grammatical your place in the World to emendations or apologetic Come? O you who usher in [pleas for] mercy, interpretations to make the may you usher in our [plea for] mercy, hymns theologically acceptable.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 24C the Soncino Babylonian Talmud
    YEVOMOS – 41a-63b 24c The Soncino Babylonian Talmud YYEEVVOOMMOOSS BOOK III Folios 41a-63b TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH WITH NOTES BY R E V . D R . I srael W. SLOTKI, M.A., Litt.D. UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF R A B B I D R I. EPSTEIN B.A., Ph.D., D. Lit. CHAPTERS IV-VI Reformatted by Reuven Brauner, Raanana 5772 www.613etc.com 1 YEVOMOS – 41a-63b The question was raised: If his wife 18 died may he marry his sister-in-law? 19 — Both Yebamoth 41a Rab and R. Hanina stated: If his wife died he is permitted to marry his sister-in-law. But The Rabbis have enacted a preventive both Samuel and R. Assi stated: If his wife measure 1 in respect of her who accompanies died he is forbidden to marry his sister-in-law. the Haluzah to court; 2 in the case, however, of Said Raba: What is Rab's reason? — Because her who does not accompany her to court 3 the she is a deceased brother's wife who was 20 21 Rabbis enacted no preventive measure. 4 permitted then forbidden and then again permitted 22 and who consequently reverts to MISHNAH . WHERE HE PARTICIPATED IN A her first state of permissibility. HALIZAH WITH HIS DECEASED BROTHER'S WIFE, AND HIS BROTHER MARRIED HER R. Hamnuna raised an objection: If two of SISTER AND DIED, 5 THE WIDOW6 MUST three brothers were married to two sisters PERFORM HALIZAH BUT MAY NOT BE13 and the third was unmarried, and when one TAKEN IN LEVIRATE MARRIAGE.
    [Show full text]
  • צב | עב January Tevet | Sh’Vat Capricorn Saturn | Aquarius Saturn
    צב | עב January Tevet | Sh’vat Capricorn Saturn | Aquarius Saturn Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 | 17th of Tevet* 2 | 18th of Tevet* New Year’s Day Parashat Vayechi Abraham Moshe Hillel Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov Rabbi Salman Mutzfi Rabbi Huna bar Mar Zutra & Rabbi Rabbi Yaakov Krantz Mesharshya bar Pakod Rabbi Moshe Kalfon Ha-Cohen of Jerba 3 | 19th of Tevet * 4* | 20th of Tevet 5 | 21st of Tevet * 6 | 22nd of Tevet* 7 | 23rd of Tevet* 8 | 24th of Tevet* 9 | 25th of Tevet* Parashat Shemot Rabbi Menchachem Mendel Yosef Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon Rabbi Leib Mochiach of Polnoi Rabbi Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzeira Rabbi Yisrael Dov of Vilednik Rabbi Schulem Moshkovitz Rabbi Naphtali Cohen Miriam Mizrachi Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler 10 | 26th of Tevet* 11 | 27th of Tevet* 12 | 28th of Tevet* 13* | 29th of Tevet 14* | 1st of Sh’vat 15* | 2nd of Sh’vat 16 | 3rd of Sh’vat* Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat Parashat Vaera Rabbeinu Avraham bar Dovid mi Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch HaRav Yitzhak Kaduri Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli Posquires Rabbi Yehoshua Yehuda Leib Diskin Rabbi Menahem Mendel ben Rabbi Shlomo Leib Brevda Rabbi Eliyahu Moshe Panigel Abraham Krochmal Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin 17* | 4th of Sh’vat 18 | 5th of Sh’vat* 19 | 6th of Sh’vat* 20 | 7th of Sh’vat* 21 | 8th of Sh’vat* 22 | 9th of Sh’vat* 23* | 10th of Sh’vat* Parashat Bo Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeirah Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum Rabbi Nathan David Rabinowitz
    [Show full text]
  • Reasonable Man’
    The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2019 The conjecture from the universality of objectivity in jurisprudential thought: The universal presence of a ‘reasonable man’ Johnny Sakr The University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Law Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details Sakr, J. (2019). The conjecture from the universality of objectivity in jurisprudential thought: The universal presence of a ‘reasonable man’ (Master of Philosophy (School of Law)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/215 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Conjecture from the Universality of Objectivity in Jurisprudential Thought: The Universal Presence of a ‘Reasonable Man’ By Johnny Michael Sakr Submitted in accordance with the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy University of Notre Dame Australia School of Law February 2019 SYNOPSIS This thesis proposes that all legal systems use objective standards as an integral part of their conceptual foundation. To demonstrate this point, this thesis will show that Jewish law, ancient Athenian law, Roman law and canon law use an objective standard like English common law’s ‘reasonable person’ to judge human behaviour.
    [Show full text]
  • Final Copy of Dissertation
    The Talmudic Zohar: Rabbinic Interdisciplinarity in Midrash ha-Ne’lam ​ by Joseph Dov Rosen 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 Deena Aranoff Professor Niklaus Largier Summer 2017 © Joseph Dov Rosen All Rights Reserved, 2017 Abstract The Talmudic Zohar: Rabbinic Interdisciplinarity in Midrash ha-Ne’lam ​ By Joseph Dov Rosen Joint Doctor of Philosophy in Jewish Studies with the Graduate Theological Union University of California, Berkeley Professor Daniel Boyarin, Chair This study uncovers the heretofore ignored prominence of talmudic features in Midrash ​ ​ ha-Ne’lam on Genesis, the earliest stratum of the zoharic corpus. It demonstrates that Midrash ​ ​ ha-Ne’lam, more often thought of as a mystical midrash, incorporates both rhetorical ​ components from the Babylonian Talmud and practices of cognitive creativity from the medieval discipline of talmudic study into its esoteric midrash. By mapping these intersections of Midrash, Talmud, and Esotericism, this dissertation introduces a new framework for studying rabbinic interdisciplinarity—the ways that different rabbinic disciplines impact and transform each other. The first half of this dissertation examines medieval and modern attempts to connect or disconnect the disciplines of talmudic study and Jewish esotericism. Spanning from Maimonides’ reliance on Islamic models of Aristotelian dialectic to conjoin Pardes (Jewish ​ ​ esotericism) and talmudic logic, to Gershom Scholem’s juvenile fascination with the Babylonian Talmud, to contemporary endeavours to remedy the disciplinary schisms generated by Scholem’s founding models of Kabbalah (as a form of Judaism that is in tension with “rabbinic Judaism”), these two chapters tell a series of overlapping histories of Jewish inter/disciplinary projects.
    [Show full text]
  • SPECIAL ARTICLES Courtesy of the Menorah Journal
    SPECIAL ARTICLES Courtesy of The Menorah Journal BENJAMIN NATHAN CARDOZO 1870-1938 BENJAMIN NATHAN CARDOZO BY EDGAR J. NATHAN, JR. Justice, justice shalt thou follow That thou mayest live and inherit the land Which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Deuteronomy 16.20. In an address to the graduates at the commencement exercises of an institute for the training of Rabbis, Preachers and Teachers in Israel, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, then Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, speaking on "Values", gave an insight into his religious soul and, perhaps unwittingly, revealed the inspiration of his zeal for the pursuit of justice, which he inherited from the tradition of his people. He said: "The submergence of self in the pursuit of an ideal, the readiness to spend oneself without measure, prodigally, almost ecstatically for something intuitively apprehended as great and noble, spend oneself one knows not why — some of us like to believe- that this is what religion means. " Later in the same address, referring to the Hebrew "prophets and saints and heroes and martyrs", he said: "In persecution and contumely they knew that there were values of the spirit greater than any others, values for whose fruits they would have to wait 'perhaps a hun- dred years, perhaps a thousand', values whose fruits might elude them altogether, yet values to be chosen unfalteringly uncomplainingly with cheer and even joy." In a home imbued with religious spirit, where the observance of the Jewish religion was an integral part of the family life, Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was born, on May 24, 1870 in New York City.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization
    THE TIKVAH CENTER FOR LAW & JEWISH CIVILIZATION Professor J.H.H. Weiler Director of The Tikvah Center Tikvah Working Paper 02/10 Beth A. Berkowitz A Short History of the People Israel from the Patriarchs to the Messiah: Constructions of Jewish Difference in Leviticus Rabbah 23 NYU School of Law New York, NY 10011 The Tikvah Center Working Paper Series can be found at http://www.nyutikvah.org/publications.html All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission of the author. ISSN 2160‐8229 (print) ISSN 2160‐8253 (online) Copy Editor: Danielle Leeds Kim © Beth A. Berkowitz 2010 New York University School of Law New York, NY 10011 USA Publications in the Series should be cited as: AUTHOR, TITLE, TIKVAH CENTER WORKING PAPER NO./YEAR [URL] A SHORT HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE ISRAEL FROM THE PATRIARCHS TO THE MESSIAH: CONSTRUCTIONS OF JEWISH DIFFERENCE IN LEVITICUS RABBAH 23 By Beth A. Berkowitz Abstract “Did Judaism exist in antiquity?” is a question that on the face of it seems absurd, but it has recently been argued that Judaism as an abstract system – as a “religion” rather than an ethnicity – did not come into being until later. This paper proposes that a pericope in Leviticus Rabbah is preoccupied with this very question. Leviticus Rabbah 23, whose anchoring verse is Leviticus 18:3’s instruction to Israel to separate from surrounding peoples, explores the nature of Jewish difference and, in so doing, the nature of Jewishness itself. This midrash produces a variety of paradigms of Jewish identity that include moral probity, physical appearance, relationship to God, ritual life, political status, economics, demographics, and sexual practice, demonstrating that classical rabbinic notions of Jewish identity go well beyond the categories of religion and ethnicity that scholars typically apply.
    [Show full text]
  • THE S Y N a G O G U E S S O U T H of MT. JU D a H by Prof. Shmuel
    ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION THE SYNAGOGUES SOUTH OF MT. JUDAH by Prof. Shmuel Safrai During recent years information has come to hand of several syna- gogues to the south of Mt. Judah. The first known was the synagogue at Masada which was an auxiliary building within the wall surrounding Masada, C. E.). Next came the synagogue ־built during the war of destruction (6070 in the citadel of Herodium and that too was an auxiliary building inside the citadel. Then came detailed information of the synagogue at Samoa, which is the biblical and Talmudic Eshtemoa, and of the synagogue at nearby Khirbet Susia. To these few observations and reflections, I wish to add the Gedi, since it too is situated in the region of Judah though־synagogue at En not on the mountain but in the valley on the western shore of the Dead Gedi was located at the eastern extremity of the “southern” region־Sea. En and as such belonged to the Beth Guvrin (Eleutheropolis) area. No final account has yet been given concerning these synagogues, but in our discus- sion which will be mainly historical it is already possible from a consideration of all hitherto written about these discoveries to make several inferences.1 The discovery of the remains of an ancient synagogue occurs in many instances through pure chance, as a result of digging an area for some other purpose, or the fortuitous baring of the upper area of the ground. One could say generally, however, that a chart of ancient synagogues is superimposed upon a map of those Jewish settlements known to us from Jewish and non-Jewish literary sources.
    [Show full text]
  • A New Experiment in the Dissemination of Knowledge
    The Open Access Project www.YasharBooks.com/Open WELCOME TO A NEW EXPERIMENT IN THE DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE MEET SCHOLARS AND DISCOVER THEIR LATEST INSIGHTS DEBATE THEIR FINDINGS AND OFFER YOUR OWN VIEWS At Yashar Books’ Open Access Project www.YasharBooks.com/Open Volume 1 Number 9 The Open Access Project www.YasharBooks.com/Open ashar Books is a new venture in Jewish scholarship. It was Yfounded by Gil Student and Moshe Schapiro, two young Orthodox rabbis with a mission: to give Open Access to the world of Jewish inquiry. his contribution to the Open Access Project is the Rabbi Gidon TRothstein's doctoral dissertation titled Writing Midrash Avot. Rabbi Rothstein analyzes commentaries to Pirkei Avot written in the fifteenth century and notes a distinct shift in approach – between peshat and derash methodologies – from earlier commentators. The Open Access Project www.YasharBooks.com/Open Gidon Rothstein Thesis Advisor: Professor Jay M. Harris ABSTRACT OF: WRITING MIDRASH AVOT: THE CHANGE THAT THREE FIFTEENTH CENTURY EXEGETES INTRODUCED TO AVOT INTERPRETATION, ITS IMPACT AND ORIGINS The dissertation identifies and analyzes a fifteenth century shift in the hermeneutics of the third century Mishnaic tractate, Avot, known in English as Ethics of the Fathers. Relying on the distinction between peshat and derash already articulated in studies of Midrash, the study shows that Avot commentators before the fifteenth century read the text in ways that could constitute a peshat reading (best translated as a contextually accurate plainsense rendering) of the text. In sharp contrast, the fifteenth century saw the rise of “reading in” to Avot the way that Midrash “read in” to the Biblical text, particularly in the writings of commentators such as Mattathias haYizhari, Joseph Hayyun, and Isaac Abarbanel.
    [Show full text]
  • Ruah Ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature
    The Dissertation Committee for Julie Hilton Danan Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE DIVINE VOICE IN SCRIPTURE: RUAH HA-KODESH IN RABBINIC LITERATURE Committee: Harold A. Liebowitz , Supervisor Aaron Bar -Adon Esther L. Raizen Abraham Zilkha Krist en H. Lindbeck The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature by Julie Hilton Danan, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2009 Dedication To my husband, Avraham Raphael Danan Acknowledgements Thank you to the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School, the Middle Eastern Studies Department, and particularly to the Hebrew Studies faculty for their abundant support over my years of study in graduate school. I am especially grateful to the readers of my dissertation for many invaluable suggestions and many helpful critiques. My advisor, Professor Harold Liebowitz, has been my guide, my mentor, and my academic role model throughout the graduate school journey. He exemplifies the spirit of patience, thoughtful listening, and a true love of learning. Many thanks go to my readers, professors Esther Raizen, Avraham Zilkha, Aaron Bar-Adon, and Kristen Lindbeck (of Florida Atlantic University), each of whom has been my esteemed teacher and shared his or her special area of expertise with me. Thank you to Graduate Advisor Samer Ali and the staff of Middle Eastern Studies, especially Kimberly Dahl and Beverly Benham, for their encouragement and assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • CREATING JUDAISM History, Tradition, Practice
    CREATING JUDAISM History, Tradition, Practice Michael L. Satlow Columbia University Press New York Creating Judaism Michael l. Satlow Creating Judaism 3 History, Tradition, Practice 4 Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York, Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2006 Michael L. Satlow All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Satlow, Michael L. Creating Judaism : history, tradition, practice / Michael L. Satlow p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBn 0-231-13488-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBn 0-231-13489-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBn 0-231-50911-1 (ebook) 1. Judaism. 2. Jews—Identity. I. Title. Bm45.s226 2006 296—dc22 2006018056 Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Jacqueline r contents Acknowledgments ix Chronology xi Introduction 1 1 Promised Lands 22 2 Creating Judaism 69 3 Between Athens and Jerusalem 96 4 The Rabbis 115 5 Rabbinic Concepts 140 6 Mitzvot 164 7 The Rise of Reason 187 8 From Moses to Moses 209 9 Seeing God 229 10 East and West 250 Epilogue: Whither Judaism? 288 Glossary 297 Bibliographical Notes 307 Index 325 acknowledgments riting this Book has brought me far outside of my usual comfort zone, and I have turned to many colleagues, students, friends, and family for guidance. It is a pleasure for me to ac- Wknowledge their help and generosity.
    [Show full text]
  • Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period, 2008, Yeshiva University, New York, NY
    EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 EARLY MODERN WORKSHOP: Jewish History Resources Volume 5: Law: Continuity and Change in the Early Modern Period, 2008, Yeshiva University, New York, NY Table of Contents Expanding Legal Horizons? · Edward Fram, Ben-Gurion University, Israel Shulhan `arukh Siftei Kohen-The Priest's Lips Turei Zahab-The Golden Columns The Legal Status of the Wife in Ashkenazi Jewish Legal Tradition: Continuity and Change in the Sixteenth Century · Elimelech (Melech) Westreich, Tel Aviv University Law School, Israel Responsa Maharshal Responsa Maharshal Shulkhan Arukh, Glosses by Moses Isserles Takkanot Kahal and the origin of communal structures in a Franconian village community in the 17th century · Stefan Litt, Bar Ilan University, Israel / Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria , Community Statutes of Ühlfeld Challenging Herem in Hamburg, 1732 · David Horowitz, Columbia University, USA Decree of the Hamburg Senate in Response to Josel Joseph Jonas' Petition Letter of Josel Joseph Jonas to the Senate in Hamburg Petition of the Jewish Elders of the Ashkenazi Synagogue in Hamburg Supplication of Josel Josef Jonas of Hamburg The Herem as the Source of Authority of the Lay Governing Council 1 EMW - Workshops EMW 2008 · Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania, USA Exhortation to those who fear the Lord, not to fall into sin due to lack of understanding of the precepts of his Holy Law. Evasion as a Legal Tactic: The 1616 Amsterdam Regulations Concerning the Jews · Miriam Bodian, University of Texas at Austin, USA The Regulations for the Jews of Amsterdam (1616) Under imperial Protection? Jewish Presence on the Imperial Aulic Court in the 16th and 17th Centuries · Barbara Staudinger, Institute for Jewish History in Austria, Austria Supplication of Samuel Ullman to Emperor Ferdinand II in case of restitution ct.
    [Show full text]
  • With Letters of Light: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish
    With Letters of Light rwa lç twytwab Ekstasis Religious Experience from Antiquity to the Middle Ages General Editor John R. Levison Editorial Board David Aune · Jan Bremmer · John Collins · Dyan Elliott Amy Hollywood · Sarah Iles Johnston · Gabor Klaniczay Paulo Nogueira · Christopher Rowland · Elliot R. Wolfson Volume 2 De Gruyter With Letters of Light rwa lç twytwab Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Early Jewish Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism in Honor of Rachel Elior rwayla ljr Edited by Daphna V. Arbel and Andrei A. Orlov De Gruyter ISBN 978-3-11-022201-2 e-ISBN 978-3-11-022202-9 ISSN 1865-8792 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data With letters of light : studies in the Dead Sea scrolls, early Jewish apocalypti- cism, magic and mysticism / Andrei A. Orlov, Daphna V. Arbel. p. cm. - (Ekstasis, religious experience from antiquity to the Middle Ages;v.2) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “This volume offers valuable insights into a wide range of scho- larly achievements in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish apocalypti- cism, magic, and mysticism from the Second Temple period to the later rabbinic and Hekhalot developments. The majority of articles included in the volume deal with Jewish and Christian apocalyptic and mystical texts constituting the core of experiential dimension of these religious traditions” - ECIP summary. ISBN 978-3-11-022201-2 (hardcover 23 x 15,5 : alk. paper) 1. Dead Sea scrolls. 2. Apocalyptic literature - History and criticism. 3. Jewish magic. 4. Mysticism - Judaism. 5. Messianism. 6. Bible. O.T. - Criticism, interpretation, etc. 7. Rabbinical literature - History and criticism.
    [Show full text]