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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Judaism > General
Throughout the history of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the
investigation of religious sacrifice has often been neglected. This
book examines the views of sacrifice in the non-biblical sectarian
Dead Sea Scrolls, through exploration of the historical and
ideological development of the movement related to the scrolls (the
DSS movement), particularly from the vantagepoint of the movement's
later offshoot group known as the Qumran community.
Ma?berot Immanuel is a collection of twenty-eight chapters in
Hebrew of rhymed prose and poetry written by the poet and amateur
philosopher Immanuel of Rome during an era of rapid political
change in late medieval Italy. The final chapter, Mah?beret
Ha-Tofet Ve-ha-'Eden (A Tale of Heaven and Hell), like Dante's
Commedia, depicts Immanuel's visits to hell and heaven. Bridging
Worlds focuses on the interrelation of Immanuel's belletristic work
and biblical exegesis to advance a comprehensive and original
reading of this final chapter. By reading Immanuel's philosophical
commentaries and literary works together, Dana Fishkin demonstrates
that Immanuel's narrative made complex philosophical ideas about
the soul's quest for immortality accessible to an educated
populace. Throughout this work, she explains the many ways
Mah?beret Ha-Tofet Ve-ha-'Eden serves as a site of cultural
negotiation and translation. Bridging Worlds broadens our
understanding of the tensions inherent in the world of late
medieval Jewish people who were deeply enmeshed in Italian culture
and literature, negotiating two cultures whose values may have
overlapped but also sometimes clashed. Fishkin puts forth a
valuable and refreshing perspective alongside previously unknown
sources to breathe new life into this extremely rich and culturally
valuable medieval work.
This book offers a fresh look at the status of the scribe in
society, his training, practices, and work in the biblical world.
What was the scribe's role in these societies? Were there rival
scribal schools? What was their role in daily life? How many
scripts and languages did they grasp? Did they master political and
religious rhetoric? Did they travel or share foreign traditions,
cultures, and beliefs? Were scribes redactors, or simply copyists?
What was their influence on the redaction of the Bible? How did
they relate to the political and religious powers of their day? Did
they possess any authority themselves? These are the questions that
were tackled during an international conference held at the
University of Strasbourg on June 17-19, 2019. The conference served
as the basis for this publication, which includes fifteen articles
covering a wide geographical and chronological range, from Late
Bronze Age royal scribes to refugees in Masada at the end of the
Second Temple period.
The Jewish practice of bar mitzvah dates back to the twelfth
century, but this ancient cultural ritual has changed radically
since then, evolving with the times and adapting to local
conditions. For many Jewish-American families, a child's bar
mitzvah or bat mitzvah is both a major social event and a symbolic
means of asserting the family's ongoing connection to the core
values of Judaism. Coming of Age in Jewish America takes an inside
look at bar and bat mitzvahs in the twenty-first century, examining
how the practices have continued to morph and exploring how they
serve as a sometimes shaky bridge between the values of
contemporary American culture and Judaic tradition. Interviewing
over 200 individuals involved in bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies,
from family members to religious educators to rabbis, Patricia Keer
Munro presents a candid portrait of the conflicts that often emerge
and the negotiations that ensue. In the course of her study, she
charts how this ritual is rife with contradictions; it is a private
family event and a public community activity, and for the child, it
is both an educational process and a high-stakes performance.
Through detailed observations of Conservative, Orthodox, Reform,
and independent congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Munro
draws intriguing, broad-reaching conclusions about both the current
state and likely future of American Judaism. In the process, she
shows not only how American Jews have forged a unique set of bar
and bat mitzvah practices, but also how these rituals continue to
shape a distinctive Jewish-American identity.
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