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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Judaism > General
This volume presents a selection of articles by acclaimed experts in their respective areas of Jewish law. A fascinating account of the status among the Jews of Yemen of the two principal codexes of Jewish law, Maimonides' Mishne Torah and R. Joseph Caro's Shulhan Arukh, is presented in a paper by Yosef Tobi. He explains the historical, social and political background against which Maimonides' code lost its unrivaled primacy as the authoritative legal source among the Yemenites. His explanation situates the Code--Shulhan Arukh rivalry within the context of a broader tension, that between the unique local baladi rite of the Yemenites, and the 'imported' but more mainstream shami rite. As the article notes, despite everything, the former not only managed to retain some standing, but has, to a degree, begun to regain ground. Two of the papers consider the work of Israeli scholar H. Dagan in the area of unjust enrichment, inquiring into the degree to which Dagan's analysis of the halakhic attitude to unjust enrichment is in fact correct.; The late Irwin Haut's paper asks whether the stance of Jewish law on unjust enrichment is as far from that evinced by American law as Dagan claims; Jonathan Blass's paper considers whether an inference can be drawn from the laws of unjust enrichment to the liberal socio-economic vision for society Dagan attributes to the halakha. The judicial process is the focus of two other papers. Shimshon Ettinger explores the question of whether judges who have, by happenstance, witnessed an incident that subsequently becomes the subject of legal proceedings, can sit in judgment without hearing the testimony of additional witnesses. He demonstrates that the classic commentaries on the Talmud are not in agreement as to the acceptability of witnesses serving as judges. Steven H. Resnicoff considers the thorny problem of what is to be done when recourse to lying and deceit in legal proceedings is the only means by which a just outcome can be secured. Can good ends justify evil means?; Resnicoff opens his discussion with a short survey of the views of philosophers such as Augustine and Kant, before proceeding to a comprehensive account of the many halakhic discussions on recourse to deceit to procure just outcomes in civil cases. A survey of the views of the great philosophers also opens a paper by Yehiel Kaplan on the propriety of using imprisonment to enforce divorce judgments in Jewish law. He cites classic philosophical understandings of liberty to contextualize his thorough account of the position of Jewish law on curtailing personal freedom by imprisonment as a means of inducing recalcitrant husbands to agree to release their 'chained wives' ( agunot ). This issue is currently at the top of the agenda for many feminist groups within Orthodox Judaism, and Kaplan's paper seeks to maximize the scope for halakhic solutions to this pressing problem. A chronicle section analyzes American cases that raise significant Jewish issues, and Israeli decisions in cases where Jewish law is germane, thereby making the annual a journal of record. The volume concludes with a survey of recently published articles and books on Jewish and biblical law.
Study of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible and the contemporary cultures in the ancient Near Eastern world is evolving rapidly as old definitions and assumptions are questioned. Scholars are now interrogating the role of oral culture, the rhetoric of teaching and didacticism, the understanding of genre, and the relationship of these factors to the corpus of writings. The scribal culture in which wisdom literature arose is also under investigation, alongside questions of social context and character formation. This Companion serves as an essential guide to wisdom texts, a body of biblical literature with ancient origins that continue to have universal and timeless appeal. Reflecting new interpretive approaches, including virtue ethics and intertextuality, the volume includes essays by an international team of leading scholars. They engage with the texts, provide authoritative summaries of the state of the field, and open up to readers the exciting world of biblical wisdom.
Addressed to Jews and non-Jews alike, though aware that these two reader groups were likelyn to approach the book with very different presuppositions, Daiches sets out to define Judaism in relation to philosophy, to explain Kant's philosophy through the superiority of halakhah, defend a biblically based Jewish interpretation of history, and champion Judaism as a religion of freedom guaranteed by halakhah (Jewish law).
This is an unusual and extremely timely collective effort. It appears at a moment inwhich Israelis not only must confront their Arab neighbors, but must deal with one another as Jews possessing radically different views on the present and future of the Jewish tradition. With this seventh volume of the series, the Israeli Sociological Society has turned its attention to religion, an area that for many years has been of high importance, but low profile in Israeli affairs and in the wider Middle Eastern context. Chapters and contributors include: "Jewish Civilization: Approaches to Problems of Israeli Society" by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt; "Life Tradition and Book Tradition in the Development of Ultraorthodox Judaism" by Menachem Friedman; "Religious Kibbutzim: Judaism and Modernization" by Aryei Fishman; "The Religion of Elderly Oriental Jewish Women" by Susan Sered; and "Hanukkah and the Myth of the Maccabees in Ideology and in Society" by Eliezer Don-Yehiya. The increasing presence of religious activism in contemporary Israel, side by side with subtle changes in the religion of Israeli Sephardim, makes the topic of religion essential for an understanding of Israel and much of the Middle East generally. Israeli Judaism is a significant work, and will be of interest to theologians, philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, and political theorists.
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in religion and religious issues. Some have linked this to a neo-liberal form of individualism, while others noted that secularism has left people bereft of a humanly necessary link with the transcendent. The importance of identity issues has also been remarked upon. This book examines how liberal forms of religion are allowing people to engage with religion on their own terms, while also feeling part of something more universal. Looking at liberal approaches to the Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Protestant and Roman Catholic Christianity and Islam - this book teases out how postmodern culture has shaped the way in which people engage with these religions. It also compares and contrasts how liberal thinking and theology have been expressed in each of the faiths examined, as well as the reactionary responses to its emergence. By considering how liberalism has influenced the narrative around the Abrahamic faiths, this book demonstrates how malleable faith and spirituality can be. As such, it will be of interest to scholars working in Religious Studies, Theology, Sociology and Cultural Anthropology.
Muslim and Jew: Origins, Growth, Resentment seeks to show how and why Islam and Judaism have been involved in political and theological self-definitions using the other since the seventh century. This short volume provides a historical and comparative survey of how each religion has thought about the other and, in so doing, about itself. It confines itself to those points at which Judaism and Islam intersect and cross-pollinate, and explores how this delicate process continues into the present with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Muslim and Jew thus seeks to move beyond the intersection of a monolithic Judaism and a monolithic Islam and instead examines and organizes the messiness of the encounter as both religions sought to define themselves within, from, and against the other.
The first scholarly biography of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv in English in over thirty-five years. Defender of the Faithful explores the life and thought of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv (1740-1809), one of the most fascinating and colorful Hasidic leaders of his time. This is an intellectual and religious biography, a reading of the development of his thought and career. Featuring examples of Levi Yitshak's extraordinary texts alongside insightful analysis by scholar and theologian Arthur Green, Defender of the Faithful is a compelling study of both Levi Yitshak's theology and broader philosophy.
"Introduction to Jewish Ethics" offers a concise overview of the Jewish ethical tradition as it has evolved from biblical times to the present. The volume provides a broad conceptual overview of the central beliefs of classical Judaism and the ways in which these frame traditional Jewish approaches to issues in ethics, both theoretical and practical and it familiarizes readers with the distinctive ways in which contemporary Jewish ethics draw upon this rich tradition of religious-ethical reflection as they address key ethical issue of our day. The volume examines religion, ethics and religious ethics, Judaism and Jewish Ethics, sources of Jewish ethics, contours of Jewish moral life, foundations of moral obligation in Judaism and Jewish ethics in modern times. For those interested in religion and ethics.
The present publication is the first that has attempted to portray the separate and progressive history of the Jews in the different countries which they have made their homes, since their expulsion from the land which they had been identified for something like thirty centuries. In these pages the author has endeavoured to compile a narrative of a great part of what has occurred to the Jews of Asia in the last eighteen and a half centuries.
The Jewish religion is grounded in belief about the nature of God and his relation to the world, and this expertly written volume offers an accessible account of the Jewish faith, its core beliefs and practices. It introduces the reader to the God of the Jews, describing his transcendence, omnipotence and goodness, and his eternal covenant with Israel. The main festivals, celebrations and practices are explored in depth, including Sabbaths, home ceremonies and personal piety, as well as rites of passage and Jewish high days and holidays. With over 300 informative photographs, this is a fascinating guide to an immensely rich and complex religion.
"For there is no rung of being on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times". The sacred tales and aphorisms collected here by Martin Buber have their origins in the traditional Hasidic metaphor of life as a ladder, reaching towards the divine via ascending rungs of perfection. Through Biblical riddles and interpretations, Jewish proverbs and spiritual meditations by turns profound, fanciful and tender, they seek to awaken in the reader a full awareness of the urgency of the human condition, and of the great need for self-recognition and spiritual renewal. Progressing from "The Rung of God and Man" through to the ultimate "Rung of Redemption", "Ten Rungs" provides a profound, exquisite insight into the mystical piety and joy that defines Hasidic lore. Yet, true to Martin Buber's own faith in the dialogic relation between men as a mirror of God's eternal presence with us, they also emphasize practical advancement and the central meaningfulness of earthly existence. "No one can really be devout in relation to God, if he is not devout toward His creation and so, dear reader, these pages are not concerned with the mysteries of heaven, but with your life and m
Modern Arab and Muslim hostility towards Jews and Israel is rooted not only in the Arab-Israeli conflict and traditional Islamic teaching but also in Christian anti-Semitic attitudes brought into the Islamic world by Western colonial powers. In this volume, Raphael Israeli examines how the worsening situation in the Middle East together with large waves of Muslim immigration to Europe, North America, and Australia has brought about a comingling of two anti-Semitic traditions.As the author explains, the unique interaction of Muslim immigrants in the West with the host societies brought them into contact with local, traditional anti- Semites of the xenophobic fascist and racist Right along with the avowedly anti-Zionist Left, to build a formidable wall of hatred against the Jewish state and its people. To complicate this picture further, the same Muslim immigrants share with them minority status in a Christian majority society. Often finding themselves at odds with the majority host society, they find themselves subject to criticism and censure on all sides. They are engaged simultaneously in battle with both their host society into which they cannot integrate, and their Jewish compatriots who are a model of good integration. Consequently, they feel exposed and lose ground in the struggle for social acceptance.Israeli lays out the nature and ideologies of the Muslim immigrant world and shows how in each European country they create their own ethnic sub-groups and religious communities, often in competition with each other. This remarkable and courageous book will be of interest to sociologists, Middle East specialists, and political scientists.
The Cambridge Companion to Genesis explores the first book of the Bible, the book that serves as the foundation for the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. Recognizing its unique position in world history, the history of religions, as well as biblical and theological studies, the volume summarizes key developments in Biblical scholarship since the Enlightenment, while offering an overview of the diverse methods and reading strategies that are currently applied to the reading of Genesis. It also explores questions that, in some cases, have been explored for centuries. Written by an international team of scholars whose essays were specially commissioned, the Companion provides a multi-disciplinary update of all relevant issues related to the interpretation of Genesis. Whether the reader is taking the first step on the path or continuing a research journey, this volume will illuminate the role of Genesis in world religions, theology, philosophy, and critical biblical scholarship. |
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