Shoshannat Yaakov The Brill Reference Library of Judaism Editors Alan J. Avery-Peck (College of the Holy Cross) William Scott Green (University of Miami) Editorial Board David Aaron (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati) Herbert Basser (Queen’s University) Bruce D. Chilton (Bard College) José Faur (Netanya College) Neil Gillman ( Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Mayer I. Gruber (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) Ithamar Gruenwald (Tel Aviv University) Maurice-Ruben Hayoun (University of Geneva) Arkady Kovelman (Moscow State University) David Kraemer ( Jewish Theological Seminary of America) Baruch A. Levine (New York University) Alan Nadler (Drew University) Jacob Neusner (Bard College) Maren Niehoff (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Gary G. Porton (University of Illinois) Aviezer Ravitzky (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Dov Schwartz (Bar Ilan University) Günter Stemberger (University of Vienna) Michael E. Stone (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Elliot Wolfson (New York University) VOlume 35 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/brlj Yaakov Elman (Courtesy of the Yeshiva University Archives) Shoshannat Yaakov Jewish and Iranian Studies in Honor of Yaakov Elman Edited by Shai Secunda and Steven Fine LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: Halakhic Inscription from the Rehov Synagogue, 6th–7th century CE. Photograph by Yair Talmor. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shoshannat Yaakov : Jewish and Iranian studies in honor of Yaakov Elman / edited by Shai Secunda and Steven Fine. p. cm. — (The Brill reference library of Judaism, ISSN 1571-5000 ; v. 35) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-90-04-23544-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-23545-8 (e-book) 1. Judaism— Influence. 2. Iran—Civilization—Jewish influences—To 640. 3. Iran—Intellectual life—To 640. 4. Talmud—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 5. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 6. Sassanids—Intellectual life. I. Elman, Yaakov. II. Secunda, Shai. III. Fine, Steven. BM537.S56 2012 296—dc23 2012023430 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1571-5000 ISBN 978-90-04-23544-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-23545-8 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Contributors ........................................................................................ xi Yaakov Elman: List of Publications ........................................................... xv Preface ................................................................................................................ xxiii The Re-Presentation of ‘Biblical’ Legal Material at Qumran: Three Cases from 4Q159 (4QOrdinancesa) ......................................... 1 Moshe J. Bernstein Medieval and Modern Philology: Notes on the First Sugya of BT Nazir ............................................................................................................... 21 Daniel Boyarin What Must the Jew do to Help the Cooking? An Analytic Resolution to bAZ 38 ................................................................................ 33 Shalom Carmy Biblical Influence on Virgil .......................................................................... 43 Louis H. Feldman “For this Schoolhouse is Beautiful”: A Note on Samaritan ‘Schools’ in Late Antique Palestine ........................................................................ 65 Steven Fine Sorting Out the Wages of Adultery: Execution, Ordeal or Divorce .......................................................................................................... 77 Shamma Friedman “One Day David Went Out for the Hunt of the Falconers”: Persian Themes in the Babylonian Talmud ...................................................... 111 Geoffrey Herman The Agonistic Bavli: Greco-Roman Rhetoric in Sasanian Persia ..... 137 Richard Hidary A Late Antique Babylonian Rabbinic Treatise on Astrology ............. 165 Richard Kalmin viii contents Redesigning Tzitzit in the Babylonian Talmud in Light of Literary Depictions of the Zoroastrian kustīg ................................................... 185 Yishai Kiel Irano-Talmudica II: Leviathan, Behemoth and the ‘Domestication’ of Iranian Mythological Creatures in Eschatological Narratives of the Babylonian Talmud ...................................................................... 203 Reuven Kiperwasser & Dan D.Y. Shapira Learning from the Tāg: On a Persian Word for ‘Crown’ in Jewish Aramaic ......................................................................................................... 237 Aaron Koller The adwadād Offence in Zoroastrian Law .............................................. 247 Maria Macuch Qui coierit cum muliere in fluxu menstruo . interficientur ambo (Lev. 20:18): The Biblical Prohibition of Sexual Relations with a Menstruant in the Eyes of Some Medieval Christian Theologians .................................................................................................. 271 Evyatar Marienberg ‘Until Tzadok Arose’ in the Damascus Document: Tzadoq and his Appointment as High Priest in Early Jewish Interpretation ........ 285 Chaim Milikowsky Astrology and the Head of the Academy ................................................ 301 Jeffrey L. Rubenstein The Curving Shore of Time and Space: Notes on the Prologue to Pushkin’s Ruslan and Ludmila ............................................................... 323 James R. Russell The Samaritans in Amoraic Halakhah ..................................................... 371 Lawrence H. Schiffman Parva—a Magus .............................................................................................. 391 Shai Secunda contents ix Religious Actions Evaluated by Intention: Zoroastrian Concepts Shared with Judaism ................................................................................. 403 Shaul Shaked Hairy Meat? On Nērangestān, Chapter 47.1–20 ..................................... 415 Prods Oktor Skjærvø Yefet in the House of Shem: The Influence of the Septuagint Translation of the Scroll of Esther on Rabbinic Literature ........... 441 Joseph Tabory Scripture Versus Contemporary (Interpretive) Needs: Towards a Mapping of the Hermeneutic Contours of Zoroastrianism .......... 465 Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina Hebrew Section סעודת ליל הסדר: בין הלל להגדה ..................... א דוד הנשקה להגדרתם של קרבן יחיד ושל קרבן ציבור ..................... כט צבי אריה שטיינפלד LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Moshe J. Bernstein Professor of Bible and Jewish History Yeshiva University Daniel Boyarin Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture University of California, Berkeley Shalom Carmy Assistant Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Bible Yeshiva University Louis H. Feldman Abraham Wouk Family Chair in Classics and Literature Yeshiva University Steven Fine Professor of Jewish History Director, Center for Israel Studies Yeshiva University Shamma Friedman Benjamin and Minna Reeves Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics The Jewish Theological Seminary of America David Henshke Professor of Talmud Bar Ilan University Geoffrey Herman Fellow, Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies Richard Hidary Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies Yeshiva University xii list of contributors Richard Kalmin Theodore R. Racoosin Chair of Rabbinic Literature The Jewish Theological Seminary of America Yishai Kiel Harry Starr Fellow Harvard University Reuven Kiperwasser Scholar in Residence Paideia—The European Institute for Jewish Studies, Sweden Aaron Koller Assistant Professor of Bible Yeshiva University Maria Macuch Professor of Iranian Studies Freie Universität Berlin Evyatar Marienberg Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and the E.J. and Sara Evans Fellow of Jewish History and Culture The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chaim Milikowsky Professor of Talmud Bar Ilan University Jeffrey L. Rubenstein Skirball Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics New York University James R. Russell Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies Harvard University Lawrence H. Schiffman Vice Provost and Professor of Judaic Studies Yeshiva University list of contributors xiii Shai Secunda Mandel Fellow Scholion Center of Interdisciplinary Jewish Research The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Shaul Shaked Schwarzmann University Professor (emeritus) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Dan D.Y. Shapira Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Bar Ilan University Prods Oktor Skjærvø Aga Khan Professor of Iranian Harvard University Zvi-Arie Steinfeld Professor of Talmud (emeritus) Bar Ilan University Joseph Tabory Professor of Talmud Bar-Ilan University