aFor the general reader, and the ever-burgeoning number of students in Jewish studies programs, the "Essential Papers" series brings together a wealth of core secondary material, while the commentaries offered by the editors aim to place this material in critical comparative context.a
--"Jewish Journal of Sociology"

No work has informed Jewish life and history more than the Talmud. This unique and vast collection of teachings and traditions contains within it the intellectual output of hundreds of Jewish sages who considered all aspects of an entire peopleas life from the Hellenistic period in Palestine (c. 315 B.C.E.) until the end of the Sassanian era in Babylonia (615 C.E.). This volume adds the insights of modern talmudic scholarship and criticism to the growing number of more traditionally oriented works that seek to open the talmudic heritage and tradition to contemporary readers. These central essays provide a taste of the myriad ways in which talmudic study can intersect with such diverse disciplines as economics, history, ethics, law, literary criticism, and philosophy.

Contributors: Baruch Micah Bokser, Boaz Cohen, Ari Elon, Meyer S. Feldblum, Louis Ginzberg, Abraham Goldberg, Robert Goldenberg, Heinrich Graetz, Louis Jacobs, David Kraemer, Geoffrey B. Levey, Aaron Levine, Saul Lieberman, Jacob Neusner, Nahum Rakover, and David Weiss-Halivni.

Martyrs create space and time through the actions they take, the fate they suffer, the stories they prompt, the cultural narratives against which they take place and the retelling of their tales in different places and contexts. The title "Desiring Martyrs" is meant in two senses. First, it refers to protagonists and antagonists of the martyrdom narratives who as literary characters seek martyrs and the way they inscribe certain kinds of cultural and social desire. Second, it describes the later celebration of martyrs via narrative, martyrdom acts, monuments, inscriptions, martyria, liturgical commemoration, pilgrimage, etc. Here there is a cultural desire to tell or remember a particular kind of story about the past that serves particular communal interests and goals. By applying the spatial turn to these ancient texts the volume seeks to advance a still nascent social geographical understanding of emergent Christian and Jewish martyrdom. It explores how martyr narratives engage pre-existing time-space configurations to result in new appropriations of earlier traditions.

In this groundbreaking study, Avi Sagi outlines a broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text.This is the first volume to attempt to provide a comprehensive map of the available views and theories concerning the theological, hermeneutical, and ontological meaning of dispute as a constitutive element of Halakhah. It offers an attentive reading of the texts and strives to present, clearly and exhaustively, the conscious account of Jewish tradition in general and of halakhic tradition in particular concerning the meaning of halakhic discourse.The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies publishes new research which serves to enhance the quality of dialogue between Jewish classical sources and the modern world, to enrich the meanings of Jewish thought and to explore the varieties of Jewish life.

This volume clears away myths and deliberate falsehoods to reach the bedrock of truth about Western society's Judeo-Christian tradition. In The Final Superstition Joseph Daleiden examines the origins of Judaism, Catholicism, and the various Christian fundamentalist sects. He demonstrates that in every instance the proponents of new religions exploit the misery and ignorance of their followers to gain control over their lives, resulting in a ruthless despotism that vigoiously stamps out all dissent. Sound ethics and effective social doctrines must not be grounded in myth and falsehood. Written in a lively dialogue form, The Final Superstition offers a devastating counterattack against those religionists who have for too long dictated public policy, often with dire consequences. While many who have looked to religion for comfort will find its conclusion unsettling, open-minded readers of this book will discover powerful arguments for emancipation from ancient superstition and erroneous moral systems.

In A Jewish Philosophy of History, Prof. Paul Eidelberg unites three disciplines--politics, philosophy, and science--in reader-friendly language. overcome Arab hostility, Eidelberg sets forth a comprehensive remedial program. This requires nothing less than a reconstruction of the mentality as well as the system of governance that dominates Israel and hinders a renaissance of Hebraic civilization. This renaissance is essential for overcoming the clash of civilizations between the West now mired in relativism, and Islam long trapped in absolutism. Eidelberg explains that Judaism is not a religion, but a verifiable system of knowledge. Citing the works of eminent physicists from Einstein to Hawking, he reveals the convergence of science and Torah. He then sets forth the world-historical program of the Torah. scientists, and empires since the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 586 BCE, have unwittingly facilitated the Torah's world-historical program precisely what mankind needs to avoid the scourge of nihilism and barbarism.

The relationship between morality and religion has long been controversial, familiar in its formulation as Euthyphro's dilemma: Is an act right because God commanded it or did God command it because it is right. In Morality and Religion: The Jewish Story, renowned scholar Avi Sagi marshals the breadth of philosophical and hermeneutical tools to examine this relationship in Judaism from two perspectives. The first considers whether Judaism adopted a thesis widespread in other monotheistic religions known as 'divine command morality,' making morality contingent on God's command. The second deals with the ways Jewish tradition grapples with conflicts between religious and moral obligations. After examining a broad spectrum of Jewish sources-including Talmudic literature, Halakhah, Aggadah, Jewish philosophy, and liturgy-Sagi concludes that mainstream Jewish tradition consistently refrains from attempts to endorse divine command morality or resolve conflicts by invoking a divine command. Rather, the central strand in Judaism perceives God and humans as inhabiting the same moral community and bound by the same moral obligations. When conflicts emerge between moral and religious instructions, Jewish tradition interprets religious norms so that they ultimately pass the moral test. This mainstream voice is anchored in the meaning of Jewish law, which is founded on human autonomy and rationality, and in the relationship with God that is assumed in this tradition.

Spirit possession is more commonly associated with late Second Temple Jewish literature and the New Testament than it is with the Hebrew Bible. In Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible, however, Reed Carlson argues that possession is also depicted in this earlier literature, though rarely according to the typical western paradigm. This new approach utilizes theoretical models developed by cultural anthropologists and ethnographers of contemporary possession-practicing communities in the global south and its diasporas. Carlson demonstrates how possession in the Bible is a corporate and cultivated practice that can function as social commentary and as a means to model the moral self. The author treats a variety of spirit phenomena in the Hebrew Bible, including spirit language in the Psalms and Job, spirit empowerment in Judges and Samuel, and communal possession in the prophets. Carlson also surveys apotropaic texts and spirit myths in early Jewish literature-including the Dead Sea Scrolls. In this volume, two recent scholarly trends in biblical studies converge: investigations into notions of evil and of the self. The result is a synthesizing project, useful to biblical scholars and those of early Judaism and Christianity alike.

Traditionally, in the year 312, the Roman emperor Constantine experienced a "vision of the Cross" that led him to convert to Christianity and to defeat his last rival to the imperial throne; and, in 394, a divine wind carried the emperor Theodosius to victory at the battle of the Frigidus River. Other stories heralded the discovery of the True Cross by Constantine's mother, Helena, and the rise of a new kind of miracle-maker in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. These miracle stories helped Christians understand the dizzying changes in their fortunes during the century. They also shed light on Christianity's conflict with other faiths and the darker turn it took in subsequent ages. In A Century of Miracles, historian H. A. Drake explores the role miracle stories played in helping Christians, pagans, and Jews think about themselves and each other. These stories, he concludes, bolstered Christian belief that their god wanted the empire to be Christian. Most importantly, they help explain how, after a century of trumpeting the power of their god, Christians were able to deal with their failure to protect the city of Rome from a barbarian sack by the Gothic army of Alaric in 410. Augustine's magnificent City of God eventually established a new theoretical basis for success, but in the meantime the popularity of miracle stories reassured the faithful - even when the miracles came to an end. A Century of Miracles provides an absorbing illumination of the pivotal fourth century as seen through the prism of a complex and decidedly mystical phenomenon.

Much more than a particular period in world history, modernity has fundamentally transformed how we think and live, and especially how we understand and relate to religious traditions. As the 'ghetto walls' have fallen, both empirically and metaphorically, Judaism is compelled to compete in an open marketplace of ideas. Jews can no longer count on an assumedly necessary Jewish identity or commitment, nor on the rallying force of anti-Semitism to ensure an individual and collective sense of belonging. Rather Jewish moral, spiritual and historical values and ideas must be read with new eyes and challenged to address modernity's proliferating array of questions and realities. The pertinent questions modern Jewry faces are how to embrace modernity as Jews and what such an embrace means for the meaning and future of Jewish life. This collection of essays, authored by scholars of the Shalom Hartman Institute, addresses three critical challenges posed to Judaism by modernity: the challenge of ideas, the challenge of diversity, and the challenge of statehood, and provides insights and ideas for the future direction of Judaism. Providing readers with new insights into Judaism and the Jewish people in contemporary times, the collection explores a wide range of issues that includes: the significance of Israel for the future of Judaism; the Jewish people as a people; the relationship between monotheism and violence; revelation and ethics; Judaism and the feminist challenge; and Judaism and homosexuality.

This reference provides a comprehensive survey of human rights in Judaism. It includes both theoretical discussions of the nature and substance of human rights and practical applications of that theory either by Jews or to Jews. While numerous dissertations and audio-visual materials focus on human rights and Judaism, the bibliography is limited to books and articles. The majority of the works have been written in English or Hebrew, but significant studies in other languages, chiefly French and German, have also been included. The volume contains more than 700 citations, each accompanied by a descriptive annotation.

The book begins with an introductory essay that examines the basic concerns of the works that follow. The annotated entries are then presented in five chapters. The first chapter includes anthologies, references, and periodicals. The second chapter includes studies of human rights in the Bible and Talmud. The third chapter includes works on Jewish theories of human rights. The fourth chapter, broken down into smaller sections, includes works on Judaism and particular human rights. The fifth chapter contains entries for works on contemporary Judaism and human rights. The volume concludes with author, title, and subject indexes.

This accessible study is the first critical investigation of the cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria and the Near East. Josef Meri's critical reading of a wide range of contemporary sources reveals a vibrant religious culture in which the veneration of saints and pilgrimage to tombs and shrines were fundamental.

In the long history of the monotheistic tradition, violence - often bloody with warfare - have not just been occasional but defining activities. Since 9/11, sociologists, religious historians, philosophers and anthropologists have examined the question of the roots of religious violence in new ways, and with surprising results. In November 2004, the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion brought together leading theorists at Cornell University to explore the question whether religions are viral forms of a general cultural tendency to violent action. Do religions, and especially the Abrahamic tradition, encourage violence in the imagery of their sacred writings, in their theology, and their tendency to see the world as a cosmos divided between powers of good and forces of evil? Is such violence a historical condition affecting all religious movements, or are some religions more prone to violence than others?;The papers collected in this volume represent the independent and considered thinking of internationally known scholars from a variety of disciplines concerning the relationship between religion and violence, with special reference to the theories of 'just war' and 'jihad', technical terms that arise in connection with the theology of early medieval Christianity and early Islam, respectively.

A collection of essays by leading scholars from the perspective of each faith addressing key issues which both divide and unite Jews, Christians and Muslims. The world today is only too painfully aware of the tension, suspicion and at times outright hostility that exists among followers of the three great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Abraham's Children distinguished scholars from all three faiths examine the key issues which either unite or divide Jews, Christians and Muslims today and offer constructive suggestions for developing mutual understanding, trust and co-operation. The book is divided into two parts. Part One, Foundations of Faith, explores the significance of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Part Two, Resources for the Modern World, deals with such diverse topics as the image of God in humanity, religion and pluralism, gender, the environment and life after death. Each section is followed by a chapter identifying areas of common ground, as well as continuing differences and questions needing further exploration. The Oxford Abrahamic Group has been meeting for more than ten years. whom are highly conscious that monotheism itself is under question in the modern world. The book demonstrates that faith cannot be shared more widely without an acute awareness of the questions the world poses.

Jews lived in Egypt over many centuries, from biblical times until the middle of the previous century. Nevertheless, Jewish life in medieval Islamic Egypt was for many years an obscure and understudied theme. The present book offers the reader a wide-ranging picture of Jewish life in medieval Egypt as depicted by most recent scholarship. Starting from the last phases of the Byzantine era and ending with the Mamluk period, the book presents a scholarly yet vivid description of Jewish communal organization, judiciary, economic frameworks, family life, and lingual practices, as well as religious and literary activities of the medieval Jews of Egypt.

Sceptical Paths offers a fresh look at key junctions in the history of scepticism. Throughout this collection, key figures are reinterpreted, key arguments are reassessed, lesser-known figures are reintroduced, accepted distinctions are challenged, and new ideas are explored. The historiography of scepticism is usually based on a distinction between ancient and modern. The former is understood as a way of life which focuses on enquiry, whereas the latter is taken to be an epistemological approach which focuses on doubt. The studies in Sceptical Paths not only deepen the understanding of these approaches, but also show how ancient sceptical ideas find their way into modern thought, and modern sceptical ideas are anticipated in ancient thought. Within this state of affairs, the presence of sceptical arguments within Medieval philosophy is reflected in full force, not only enriching the historical narrative, but also introducing another layer to the sceptical discourse, namely its employment within theological settings. The various studies in this book exhibit the rich variety of expression in which scepticism manifests itself within various context and set against various philosophical and religious doctrines, schools, and approaches.

In Brothers from Afar, Ephraim Kanarfogel challenges a long-held view that those who had apostatized and later returned to the Jewish community in northern medieval Europe were encouraged to resume their places without the need for special ceremony or act that verified their reversion. Kanarfogel's evidence suggests that from the late twelfth century onward, leading rabbinic authorities held that returning apostates had to undergo ritual immersion and other rites of contrition. He also argues that the shift in rabbinic positions during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was fundamentally a response to changing Christian perceptions of Jews and was not simply an internal halakhic or rabbinic development. Brothers from Afar is divided into seven chapters. Kanarfogel begins the book with Rashi (1040-1105), the pre-eminent European rabbinic authority, who favored an approach which sought to smooth the return of penitent apostates. He then goes on to explain that although Jacob Katz, a leading Jewish social historian, maintains that this more lenient approach held sway in Ashkenazic society, a series of manuscript passages indicate that Rashi's view was challenged in several significant ways by northern French Tosafists in the mid-twelfth century. German Tosafists mandated immersion for a returning apostate as a means of atonement, akin to the procedure required of a new convert. In addition, several prominent tosafists sought to downgrade the status of apostates from Judaisim who did not return, in both marital and economic issues, well beyond the place assigned to them by Rashi and others who supported his approach. Although these mandates were formulated along textual and juridical lines, considerations of how to protect the Jewish communities from the inroads of increased anti-Judaism and the outright hatred expressed for the Jews as unrivaled enemies of Christianity, played a large role. Indeed, medieval Christian sources that describe how Jews dealt with those who relapsed from Christianity to Judaism are based not only on popular practices and culture but also reflect concepts and practices that had the approbation of the rabbinic elite in northern Europe. Brothers from Afar belongs in the library of every scholar of Jewish and medieval studies.