DOCSLIB.ORG

The Altars of Gentiles a Note on the Jewish “Ius Sacrum”*

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Altars of Gentiles a Note on the Jewish “Ius Sacrum”* THE ALTARS OF GENTILES A NOTE ON THE JEWISH “IUS SACRUM”* I According to rabbinic teaching which presumably codifi ed the practice of the Temple of Jerusalem, Gentiles like Israelites, were allowed to present voluntary oblations to God, for instance in payment of a vow. Therefore, they could offer two kinds of sacrifi ces: The holocaust ({olah) and the peace-offerings (shelamim), eaten before the Lord. They might not, however, bring obligatory offerings which were to be brought by the Jews at specifi ed times and occasions in fulfi lment of the ritual laws set down in the Torah.1 Thus, a gentile mother, after the birth of a * Abbreviations: B.C., = Information supplied by Prof. B. Cohen. Cook = A.B. Cook, Zeus I–III, 1914–1940. Cumont = F. Cumont, Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain, 4th ed. 1929. Goodenough = E.R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols I–VI, 1953–1956. Juster = J. Juster, Les Juifs dans l’Empire Romain I–II, 1914. MAMA = Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua. Maim. = Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Abodah. Engl. transl. Maimonides, Code Book VIII transl. M. Lewittes, Yale Judaica Series XII, 1957. Nilsson = M.P. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion II, 1950. Robert = L. Robert, Hellenica I–X, 1940–1955. In dealing with rabbinic materials I received invaluable assistance from my friend Professor Boaz Cohen (The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York). References to him, by his initials, in notes, acknowledge only a part of my obligations to his learning. My warmest thanks are due also to my friend Professor S. Lieberman (The Jewish Theological Seminary) and to my friend and colleague, Professor Morton Smith, for their generous aid. 1 M. Shek. I, 5: “This is the general rule: They accept from them (the Gentiles) all that is vowed or offered voluntarily”. A discussion between R. Akiba and R. Jose the Galilean, perhaps conducted with regard to the expected restoration of the Temple service in the Bar-Kochba rebellion, about the year 130, concerned the sacrifi cial rights of the heathens. According to R. Akiba (R. Jose in Menah. 73b): “You accept from them holocausts, peace-sacrifi ces, birds, meal offerings, wine, wood, frankincense, and salt”. Holocausts and peace-offerings (shelamin) were animal sacrifi ces. Birds are pigeons which could be offered as holocausts (Lev. 1, 14). Meal offerings (menahot) could be brought by themselves as fl our (wafers, etc.) with salt, oil and frankincense (lebonah). Cf. Maim. 5, 12. Wine was a part of a “drink offering” (wine and salted fl our) which accompanied the animal sacrifi ce. Yet, a man could offer fl our, or wine, or frankincense, or oil by itself (Maim., 5, 14, 1). All animal and cereal offerings required salt (Maim., 5, 5, 11). Salt and wood (for altar fi re) had to come from the Temple stores (Maim., 4, 5, 13) but could be offered to the Temple (Maim., 5, 14, 1, who mentions wood alone). In the list of R. Akiba oil, by chance, is lacking. He deduced the permissibility of the above named gentile offerings from a rather strained interpretation of Lev. 22, 18. In fact the verse mentions the vow and free-will holocausts of the sojourners. Accordingly R. Jose (R. Akiba in Menah. 73b) permits the whole burnt offerings only. This restric- Bickerman_f25_596-617.indd 596 5/9/2007 6:26:26 PM the altars of gentiles a note on the jewish “ius sacrum” 597 son, was able to offer any animal authorized for sacrifi ce, say a lamb one year old, at any time, in recognition of the blessing bestowed on her. But she was not permitted to bring a one year lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon as sin-offering as an Israelite woman of means was required to do forty days after the birth of her son.2 On the other hand, the didrachma tribute, collected annually for the Temple, the offering of the fi rst-born of clean cattle, tithes, and other sacred levies imposed on the Jews in the Torah, were not accepted from a gentile. This disability must have been quite agreeable to the pagan subjects of the Maccabees and the Herodian dynasty.3 Whether agreeable or not to gentiles, these discriminatory rules with regard to the sacred rights and duties, followed from the principle that the commandments of the Torah were addressed to the children of Israel alone, just as, say, the Roman ius divinum was no concern of the Jews and other peregrini. Though the Roman government protected the burial places of the provincials, these tombs were not loca religiosa in the meaning of the pontifi cal law, but pro religiosa, as Gaius, a contempo- rary of R. Akiba, says. Trajan reminded his governor of Bithynia that a temple on foreign soil, though consecrated to a deity (Mater Magna) worshipped by the Roman State, could not be “dedicated” to her in the terms of “our law”.4 Yet, the fact that some oblations of gentiles were accepted in the Temple of Jerusalem necessarily involved the pagan offerers in the intricacies of Jewish sacral law. Obviously a victim offered by a tion was accepted by Maimonides (5, 3, 2). Cf. T. Shek. I, 7; Menah. 73b; Sifra on Levit. 22, 19; p. 96a, ed. I.H. Weiss; Sifre on Numer. 15, 3, § 107, p. 111 ed. H.S. Horovitz. These texts are mostly translated in H.L. Strack, P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament III, 1924, p. 549. Sifra, and Sifre are translated in B. Ugolinius, Thes. Antiq. Sacr. vol. XIV, XV. German transl.: Jacob Winter, Sifra, 1938, p. 569. Cf. also P. Levertoff, Midrash Sifre, 1926, p. 91. 2 Cf. Lev. 3, 1 and on the other hand, Lev. 12, 6. It is said expressly (M. Shek. 1, 5) that the atonement sacrifi ce after childbirth is not accepted from a gentile mother. 3 See M. Shek. 1, 5; M. Bekorot 1, 1 (fi rst-born), Aboda Zara, 21a (tithes). This was obviously the reason of the rabbinic rule forbidding the sale or rental of houses or fi elds to gentiles in the Holy Land (M. Aboda Zara 1, 9) of which a rather anachronistic explanation, in the spirit of modern nationalism, has been proposed. Cf. Louis Ginzberg, On Jewish Law and Lore, 1955, p. 85. In fact, the parallel interdiction of sale of cattle to gentiles had been already enacted before the destruction of the Temple, and probably goes back to the Maccabean period, as Ginzberg, ib. p. 83 has shown. 4 Gaius, 2, 2–7; Plin., Epist. ad Traj. X, 50. Cf. also X, 70–1. On the protection of burial-grounds in Palestine cf. the famous diatagma so often discussed since its fi rst publication in 1930. Cf. L. Robert, Collection Fröhner, 1936, no. 70 = Fontes Juris Rom. I, no. 69. Bickerman_f25_596-617.indd 597 5/9/2007 6:26:29 PM.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lamb of God" Title in John's Gospel: Background, Exegesis, and Major Themes Christiane Shaker [email protected]
    Seton Hall University eRepository @ Seton Hall Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs) Fall 12-2016 The "Lamb of God" Title in John's Gospel: Background, Exegesis, and Major Themes Christiane Shaker [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Shaker, Christiane, "The "Lamb of God" Title in John's Gospel: Background, Exegesis, and Major Themes" (2016). Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). 2220. https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2220 Seton Hall University THE “LAMB OF GOD” TITLE IN JOHN’S GOSPEL: BACKGROUND, EXEGESIS, AND MAJOR THEMES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THEOLOGY CONCENTRATION IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY BY CHRISTIANE SHAKER South Orange, New Jersey October 2016 ©2016 Christiane Shaker Abstract This study focuses on the testimony of John the Baptist—“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” [ἴδε ὁ ἀµνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁµαρτίαν τοῦ κόσµου] (John 1:29, 36)—and its impact on the narrative of the Fourth Gospel. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of this rich image and its influence on the Gospel. In an attempt to do so, three areas of concentration are explored. First, the most common and accepted views of the background of the “Lamb of God” title in first century Judaism and Christianity are reviewed.
    [Show full text]
  • A HISTORY of the HEBREW TABERNACLE CONGREGATION of WASHINGTON HEIGHTS a German-Jewish Community in New York City
    A HISTORY OF HEBREW TABERNACLE A HISTORY OF THE HEBREW TABERNACLE CONGREGATION OF WASHINGTON HEIGHTS A German-Jewish Community in New York City With An Introduction by Rabbi Robert L. Lehman, D. Min., D.D. December 8, 1985 Chanukah, 5746 by Evelyn Ehrlich — 1 — A HISTORY OF HEBREW TABERNACLE THANK YOU Many individuals have contributed toward making this project possible, not the least of which were those who helped with their financial contributions. They gave “in honor” as well as “in memory” of individuals and causes they held dear. We appreciate their gifts and thank them in the name of the congregation. R.L.L. IN MEMORY OF MY DEAR ONES by Mrs. Anna Bondy TESSY & MAX BUCHDAHL by their loved ones, Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Grumbacher HERBERT KANN by his wife, Mrs. Lore Kann FRED MEYERHOFF by his wife, Mrs. Rose Meyerhoff ILSE SCHLOSS by her husband, Mr. Kurt J. Schloss JULIUS STERN by his wife, Mrs. Bella Stern ROBERT WOLEMERINGER by his wife, Mrs. Friedel Wollmeringer IN HONOR OF AMY, DEBORAH & JOSHUA BAUML by their grandmother, Mrs. Elsa Bauml the CONGREGATION by Mrs. Gerda Dittman, Mr. & Mrs. Paul Ganzman, Ms. Bertha Kuba, Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Maier, Mrs. Emma Michel, Mrs. Ada Speyer (deceased 1984), Mrs. Joan Wickert MICHELLE GLASER and STEVEN GLASER by their grandmother, Mrs. Anna Bondy RAQUEL and RUSSELL PFEFFER by their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Oppenheimer HANNA ROTHSTEIN by her friend, Mrs. Stephanie Goldmann and by two donors who wish to remain anonymous — 2 — A HISTORY OF HEBREW TABERNACLE INTRODUCTION Several factors were instrumental in the writing of this history of our congregation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Modern Christian Perspective on Global Poverty in Light of Economic Globalization
    A MODERN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL POVERTY IN LIGHT OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION an Honors Project submitted by Isaac B. Sharp 6825 Mountain Shadow Dr Knoxville, Tennessee 37918 (865) 256-9595 in partial fulfillment for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Religion with Honors April 28, 2010 Project Advisor: Dr. Ross Brummett © 2010 Isaac B. Sharp Approval Sheet A MODERN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL POVERTY IN LIGHT OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION _________________________ _________________________ Faculty Director Chair, Department of Religion _________________________ Director, Honors Program ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project could not have been completed without the diligent work and support of several people. By no means can I take all of the credit for the completion of this project, and I would be remiss if I did not thank those who have guided me along the way for their efforts. I first must thank Dr. Christine Jones and Dr. Don Garner for their invaluable editing of and suggestions for the drafts of each of the chapters. As members of the hearing committee, it was far above and beyond their duties to be as involved as they were. The final project is infinitely better than it would have been if they had not assisted along the way. I also want to thank Ken Massey for his service on my hearing committee. Most importantly, I want to thank Dr. Ross Brummett. His tireless efforts in every step of this process have been without parallel, and he truly has embodied what it means to be an Honors Project advisor. If not for Dr. Brummett, there is truly no way that this project would have been completed.
    [Show full text]
  • Besa: All Will Live As One Family
    The papers are based on remarks delivered at the United Nations Civil Society Briefing, “A Matter of Humanity: The Rescue of Jews in Albania during the Holocaust”, held at United Nations Headquarters on 31 January 2019. Besa: All Will Live as One Family by Ms. Majlinda Myrto, family of rescuers1 Shyqyri Myrto, my father-in-law, didn’t see himself as particularly heroic for sheltering his friends Josef and Keti at his house in a small little town of Albania in 1943. As a citizen of an occupied, poor and freedom-thirsty country, my father-in-law, Shyrqyri was fortunate to witness some of the most humane, civil and noble acts of Albanian people. Resisting the occupation, the Albanians sheltered and shared the war's grievous days with thousands of Jews who chose Albania as a place of refuge during the Holocaust. My father-in-law became friends with Josef Jakoel, a Jewish boy, while they were both students in the same school in Albania before the Second World War. After the Nazi occupation of Albania in September 1943, the situation for Jews in Albania was very fragile. Josef’s family used to live in Vlorë, a town with a lot of Jewish people, but with a new wave of Jews fleeing from Greece and telling terrible stories about the tragedy they had endured there, Josef did not feel safe continuing to live in Vlorë. He contacted my father-in-law and asked for help. And thus, Joseph and his sister Keti came to live in the Myrto’s house.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sin Offering No
    Sermon #739 Metropolitan tabernacle Pulpit 1 THE SIN OFFERING NO. 739 A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 10, 1867, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. “If the priest that is anointed do sin, according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bullock without blemish, unto the LORD for a sin offering.” Leviticus 4:3. IN the previous chapters of the book of Leviticus, you read of the burnt offering, the peace offering, and the meat offering—all types of our Lord Jesus Christ, as seen from different points of view. Those three sacrifices were sweet savor offerings, and represent the Lord Jesus in His glorious person and perfect righteousness as an offering of a sweet smell unto God. The chapter before us, the whole of which we shall require as a text, describes the sin offering, which although quite distinct from the sweet savor offerings, is not altogether to be separated from them, for the Lord Jesus Christ viewed in any light is very dear unto His Father, and even when beheld as a sin offering is elect and precious unto God, as we shall have to show you in the type before us. Still, the sin offering does not set forth the acceptance of the substitute before the Lord, but rather brings out the abhorrence which God has towards sin, the putting away from His holy presence of everything upon which sin is laid. This morning, if God shall enable us, we hope to impress upon your minds, first of all, the great evil of sin and secondly, the great and wonderful power of the blood of atonement by which sin is put away.
    [Show full text]
  • Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple
    Rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple March 13, 2015 – Shabbat Vayakheil/Pekude Rabbi Barry Block This Shabbat’s Torah portion, like those of the last three weeks, provides details of the construction of the Tabernacle, the portable Temple for the Children of Israel during their forty years of desert wanderings. Scholars tell us that these sections actually describe the ancient Jerusalem Temple, cast backwards in history to the Exodus to enhance the legitimacy of King Solomon’s colossal construction project. We might well ask why we should continue to read this section of the Torah, which doesn’t seem to apply to us or to our modern times. Why should we care, for example, about the gold rings on the corners of the Ark of the Covenant, into which gilded wooden poles were to be inserted, so that nobody need touch the Ark in order to transport it from one encampment to the next? Well, there is a good answer to that specific question and to many others about this otherwise arcane section of Torah. Torah commands that those poles never be removed from the Ark’s golden rings. In other words, the Ark always had to be prepared for transport. The message ought not be lost on us, even thousands of years later: When Jewish life becomes untenable in any particular place, or even if we simply decide to move, we should be prepared to pick up the Torah, literally or figuratively, carrying our faith and our religious action with us. No, we don’t read these sections because we need to know the exact dimensions of the incense altar.
    [Show full text]
  • Best Evidence We're in the Last Days
    October 21, 2017 Best Evidence We’re In the Last Days Shawn Nelson Can we know when Jesus is coming back? Some people have tried to predict exactly when Jesus would come back. For example, Harold Camping predicted Sep. 6, 1994, May 21, 2011 and Oct. 21 2011. There have been many others.1 But the Bible says we cannot know exact time: Matthew 24:36 --- “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Acts 1:7 --- “And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” We might not know the exact time, but we can certainly see the stage is being set: Matthew 16:2-3 --- ‘He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! [speaking to Pharisees about events of his 1st coming] You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6 --- “5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night… 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
    [Show full text]
  • Parashat Tazria Our Parasha Opens with the Laws of a Yoledet
    Parashat Tazria Our parasha opens with the laws of a yoledet (a woman who gives birth). As we go through the section discussing these laws, we find a passuk that commands us to perform the mitzvah of brit milah on the eighth day, from which Chazal learn that the brit milah must be performed by day, not by night, and that it is performed even if the eighth day falls on Shabbat. This raises the following question, asked by both the Chizkuni and the Ohr HaChaim: Why does the Torah interrupt the halachot of yoledet with a passuk discussing brit milah? This passuk seemingly belongs in parashat Lech Lecha with the rest of the halachot of brit milah, not here in the middle of the halachot of yoledet! The Chizkuni and Ohr HaChaim suggest that we might have mistakenly thought that brit milah was performed on Shabbat only before kabbalat haTorah, but now that we have the mitzvah of Shabbat, the brit milah would be pushed to Sunday if the eighth day was Shabbat. This passuk therefore teaches us that even after kabbalat haTorah, brit milah on the eighth day trumps Shabbat. Although the answer of the Chizkuni and the Ohr HaChaim explains the necessity of this passuk, it doesn't seem to explain its seemingly incongruous placement in the middle of the section discussing yoledet! This, then, is our first question: What is the passuk of brit milah doing here in the middle of the parasha of yoledet? The Torah goes on to obligate the yoledet to bring a korban chatat (a sin-offering).
    [Show full text]
  • SIN, PURIFICATION and SACRIFICE: Analysis and Comparison of Texts from the Book of Leviticus and Malagasy Traditional Rituals
    SIN, PURIFICATION AND SACRIFICE: Analysis and Comparison of Texts from the Book of Leviticus and Malagasy Traditional Rituals Submitted by Olivier Randrianjaka In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) VID Specialized University, Stavanger February 2020 i ABSTRACT This study is an analysis and comparison of rituals in two different settings. Due to its ancient content, the book of Leviticus has been negatively received or is simply ignored by most western Churches. They see the book of Leviticus as irrelevant to today’s Christians. This research grows out of the interest to find why Malagasy Christians feel at home when reading the book of Leviticus. My research starts from the hypothesis that there might be some identifiable correspondences between ancient rituals in the book of Leviticus and some traditional Malagasy rituals. These correspondences might be the rationale behind the familiarity of Malagasy readers with the book of Leviticus and hence their positive acceptance. All these rituals have to do with sin, purification and sacrifice. My research is divided into two main parts. In Part One, I study three rituals from the book of Leviticus, namely, the ritual purification relating to intentional and unintentional sins in Lev 4:1– 5:13, the postpartum ritual purification in Lev 12 and the global ritual purification on the Day of Atonement in Lev 16. Part Two is devoted to the study of three seleted traditional Malagasy rituals, namely, the ritual purification relating to violation of taboo (fady), the eighth day postpartum ritual purification of the Malagasy northern ethnic groups and the New Year royal bath ritual of purification called fandroana.
    [Show full text]
  • The Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism. Nancy Perkins East Tennessee State University
    East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 12-2011 The Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism. Nancy Perkins East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Perkins, Nancy, "The Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism." (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1397. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1397 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism _____________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of History East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Arts in History _____________________ by Nancy Perkins December 2011 _____________________ William D. Burgess Jr., PhD, Chair Keith Green, PhD Henry Antkiewicz, PhD Keywords: Book of Enoch, Judaism, Second Temple ABSTRACT The Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism by Nancy Perkins This thesis examines the ancient Jewish text the Book of Enoch, the scholarly work done on the text since its discovery in 1773, and its seminal importance to the study of ancient Jewish history. Primary sources for the thesis project are limited to Flavius Josephus and the works of the Old Testament. Modern scholars provide an abundance of secondary information.
    [Show full text]
  • The Techniques of the Sacrifice
    Andm Univcrdy Seminary Stndics, Vol. 44, No. 1,13-49. Copyright 43 2006 Andrews University Press. THE TECHNIQUES OF THE SACRIFICE OF ANIMALS IN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA: NEW INSIGHTS THROUGH COMPARISON, PART 1' JOANNSCURLOCK ELMHURSTCOLLEGE Elmhurst, Illinois There is an understandable desire among followers of religions that are monotheistic and that claim descent from ancient Israelite religion to see that religion as unique and completely at odds with its surroundrng polytheistic competitors. Most would not deny that there are at least a few elements of Israelite religion that are paralleled in neighboring cultures, as, e.g., the Hittites: 'I would like to thank the following persons who read and commented on earlier drafts of this article: R. Bed, M. Hilgert, S. Holloway, R. Jas, B. Levine and M. Murrin. Abbreviations follow those given in W. von Soden, AWches Han&rterbuch, 3 301s. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1965-1981); and M. Jursa and M. Weszeli, "Register Assyriologie," AfO 40-41 (1993/94): 343-369, with the exception of the following: (a) series: D. 0.Edzard, Gnda and His Dynarg, Royal Inscriptions of Mesopommia: Early Periods (RIME) 311 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997); S. Parpola and K. Watanabe, Neo-Assyrin Treatzes and Lq&y Oaths, State Archives of Assyria (SAA) 2 (Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1988); A. Livingstone, Court Poety and Literq Misceubnea, SAA 3 (Helsinki Helsinki University Press, 1989); I. Starr,QnerieJ to the Sungod, SAA 4 (Helsinki Helsinki University Press, 1990); T. Kwasrnan and S. Parpola, Lga/ Trama~~lom$the RoyaiCoz& ofNineveh, Part 1, SAA 6 (Helsinki Helsinki University Press, 1991); F.
    [Show full text]
  • (The Father) in Wiesel's Night As Response to the Holocaust
    humanities Article Father and God (the Father) in Wiesel’s Night as Response to the Holocaust Shannon Quigley Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel; [email protected] Abstract: The proposed paper will begin by looking at the father–son relationship in Elie Wiesel’s Night. I will then briefly note the father–child relationship between God and Israel in the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. I will link the two challenges evident in Wiesel’s Night and in his continuing thought after the Shoah—the loss of family and the loss of God, his faith and/or his understanding of God—and note how these affect one another. After further assessing Wiesel’s father imagery in Night, I will note how Wiesel’s story, eventually making its way into the current version of Night, played a critical role in affecting the thought of Christian leaders and post-Holocaust Jewish–Christian reconciliation efforts. Keywords: Holocaust; Shoah; post-Holocaust; Elie Wiesel; Night; religiosity; Jewish–Christian relations; father–son 1. Introduction The Holocaust/Shoah has left behind countless afflicted hearts and souls who lived through its unrelenting fire, most of whose stories will never be known. But those that have shared their experiences have affected generations in the comprehension of what the Holocaust was and what unrelenting hate (of wicked people), alongside the unwillingness to stand for what was right (of “good” people who did nothing), can produce. Elie Wiesel’s Citation: Quigley, Shannon. 2021. Night is one of those stories. Father and God (the Father) in Wiesel’s memoir of his experience of the Holocaust through Night (first published in Wiesel’s Night as Response to French as La Nuit) gave multitudes a tiny window in.
    [Show full text]