Through literary, historical, archaeological, and engendered readings, this collection of essays presents a multidisciplinary analysis of rabbinic texts. Such a conversation between diverse scholars illuminates the hermeneutical issues generated by the contemporary study of the Talmud and Midrash.

A lively, thoughtful history of America's Jews, exploring their complex relationships with national culture, identity, and politics-and each other. You can be called a Bad Jew-by the community or even yourself-if you don't keep kosher, don't send your children to Hebrew school, or enjoy Christmas music; if your partner isn't Jewish, or you don't call your mother enough. But today, amid fears of rising antisemitism, what makes a Good or Bad Jew is a particularly fraught question. There is no answer, argues Emily Tamkin. Several million now identify as American Jews; but they don't all identify with one another. American Jewish history, like all Jewish history, has been about transformation-and full of discussions, debates and hand-wringing over who is Jewish, how to be Jewish, and what it means to be Jewish. Bad Jews is a rich, absorbing reflection on 100 years of American Jewish identities and arguments. Tamkin's fascinating, diverse interviews explore the complex story of American Jewishness, and its evolving, conflicting positions, from assimilation, race, and social justice; to politics, Zionism, and Israel. She pinpoints the one truth about Jewish identity: It's always changing.

Jewish Theology Unbound challenges the widespread misinterpretation of Judaism as a religion of law as opposed to theology. James A. Diamond provides close readings of the Bible, classical rabbinic texts, Jewish philosophers, and mystics from the ancient, medieval, and modern period, which communicate a profound Jewish philosophical theology on human nature, God, and the relationship between the two. The study begins with an examination of questioning in the Hebrew Bible, demonstrating that what the Bible encourages is independent philosophical inquiry into how to situate oneself in the world ethically, spiritually, and teleologically. It explores such themes as the nature of God through the various names by which God is known in the Jewish intellectual tradition, love of others and of God, death, martyrdom, freedom, angels, the philosophical quest, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel, all in light of the Hebrew Bible and the way it is filtered through the rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions.

2013 Finalist, 26th Annual Oregon Best Book Award Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Frederick Douglass, one of the most prominent figures in African-American and United States history, was born a slave, but escaped to the North and became a well-known anti-slavery activist, orator, and author. In The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass, Nicholas Buccola provides an important and original argument about the ideas that animated this reformer-statesman. Beyond his role as an abolitionist, Buccola argues for the importance of understanding Douglass as a political thinker who provides deep insights into the immense challenge of achieving and maintaining the liberal promise of freedom. Douglass, Buccola contends, shows us that the language of rights must be coupled with a robust understanding of social responsibility in order for liberal ideals to be realized. Truly an original American thinker, this book highlights Douglass's rightful place among the great thinkers in the American liberal tradition. Podcast - Nicholas Buccola on Frederick Douglass and Liberty.

Abram to Abraham explores the Abraham saga (11:27-22:24) through a literary lens, following the legendary figure of Abraham as he navigates the arduous odyssey to nationhood. Rather than overlook the textual discrepancies, repetitions and contradictions long noted by diachronic scholars, this study tackles them directly, demonstrating how many problems of the ancient text in fact hold the key to deeper understanding of the narrative and its objectives. Therefore, the book frequently notes the classic division of the text according to primary sources, but offers an alternative, more harmonious reading based on the assumption that the narrative forms a single, intentionally designed unit. The narrative's artistic design is especially evident in its arrangement of the two halves of the story around the protagonists' change of name. The stories of Abram and Sarai in the first half of the cycle (11:27-16:16) are parallel to the stories of Abraham and Sarah in the second half (18:1-22:24). A close reading of this transformation in the biblical narrative illuminates the moral and theological values championed by the figure of Abraham as luminary, soldier, family man, and loyal subject of God.

Drawing upon the concepts of cultural and linguistic hybridity developed by Homi Bhabha, Salman Rushdie, Mikhail Bakhtin, and others, Garroway suggests that the first generation of Gentile converts were uncertain whether they had become Jews or remained Gentiles in the wake of their baptism into Christ.

Focusing on the concepts of time and the life cycle, this collection of articles examines Jewish life in the Talmudic period through the lens of Jewish law and custom of the time. The essays are the work of Nissan Rubin (one of them written in collaboration with Admiel Kosman) and come together to present the cultural perspective of the sages and scholars who produced the stepping-stones of Jewish life and custom. By using a structural approach, Rubin is able to identify processes of long-term change in a society that remains largely traditional and stable. Symbolic analysis supplies an additional dimension to these studies, enabling the reader to experience the cultural subtexts.

The sanctification of Israel, the people, endures 1] in the absence of the cult and 2] in alien, unclean territory and 3] whatever the source of the food that Israel eats. Israel s sanctity is eternal, un-contingent, absolute. The sanctification that inheres in Israel, the people, transcends the Land and outlives the Temple and its cult. Since the sanctity of Israel, the people, persists beyond the Temple and outside of the Land, that sanctity stands at a higher point in the hierarchy of domains of the holy that ascend from earth to heaven and from Man to God. That theological construction (Chapters One, Two and Three) gained support from a science and a philosophy (Chapters Four, Five, and Six) that accomplished the hierarchical classification of nature and of the social order. Nature and society arose from the complex to the simple, and conversely the many descended from the one. These represented the theological givens, sustained by the philosophical premises, of Judaism. The law constructed its propositions upon generalizations that pertained universally, so bringing the Israelite norms into accord with natural law. This emerges in the way in which the law sorted out mixtures by their types, fully in line with the Stoic theory of mixtures. The philosophical categorization and classification of the power of intentionality, shaded over into the consideration of classes of causation and responsibility in the Aristotelian manner from deliberate to inadvertent. But how does Judaism integrate into a coherent system its premises, the theological propositions, and its recurrent analytical protocols, the philosophical principles. The book sets forth the integrating conceptions in Chapters Seven and Eight. The philosophical and theological components are integrated in an encompassing composition.

Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag, Gersonides; 1288-1344), one of medieval Judaism's most original thinkers, wrote about such diverse subjects as astronomy, mathematics, Bible commentary, philosophical theology, "technical" philosophy, logic, Halakhah, and even satire. In his view, however, all these subjects were united as part of the Torah. Influenced profoundly by Maimonides, Gersonides nevertheless exercised greater rigor than Maimonides in interpreting the Torah in light of contemporary science, was more conservative in his understanding of the nature of the Torah's commandments, and was more optimistic about the possibility of wide-spread philosophical enlightenment. Gersonides was a witness to several crucial historical events, such as the expulsion of French Jewry of 1306 and the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Papacy. Collaborating with prelates in his studies of astronomy and mathematics, he apparently had an entree into the Papal court at Avignon. Revered among Jews as the author of a classic commentary on the latter books of the Bible, Kellner portrays Gersonides as a true Renaissance man, whose view of Torah is vastly wider and more open than that held by many of those who treasure his memory.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

This volume outlines the author's scepticism about the veridity of some Old Testament history and provoked an open dispute with Samuel Chandler. Many of the theological ideas presented here are embedded in innovatory and persuasive ideas about ethics, language, anthropology and epistemology.

The book brings together specially-commissioned contributions by leading scholars, who survey what has been achieved in recent research on medieval Hebrew language and texts, and shed light on various aspects, particularly the ways the Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars in the Middle Ages influenced each other. There are contributions by long-established and younger scholars from around the world, and particularly from western European countries where Hebrew studies are currently flourishing (Britain, Holland, France, Spain).

This volume provides a historical narrative, historiographical reviews, and scholarly analyses by leading scholars throughout the world on the hitherto understudied topic of Shanghai Jewish refugees. Few among the general public know that during the Second World War, approximately 16,000 to 20,000 Jews fled the Nazis, found unexpected refuge in Shanghai, and established a vibrant community there. Though most of them left Shanghai soon after the conclusion of the war in 1945, years of sojourning among the Chinese and surviving under the Japanese occupation generated unique memories about the Second World War, lasting goodwill between the Chinese and Jews, and contested interpretations of this complex past. The volume makes two major contributions to the studies of Shanghai Jewish refugees. First, it reviews the present state of the historiography on this subject and critically assesses the ways in which the history is being researched and commemorated in China. Second, it compiles scholarship produced by renowned scholars, who aim to rescue the history from isolated perspectives and look into the interaction between Jews, Chinese, and Japanese.

A moving Passover experience using body and mind.This family-friendly traditional Haggadah engages all five senses and weaves in activities to promote a full-body connection to the Passover story and rituals. Through active participation, and using the traditional seder text, Seder in Motion invites families to connect personally to the story of the flight form slavery to freedom. Experience familiar rituals and songs in a new way. Create hand motions for the Ten Plagues. Act out the march toward freedom in Dayeinu by stomping your feet and drumming on the table. Explore traditions from around the world, such as the Morroccan custom of passing a platter of matzah overhead to symbolize the 'passing over." Engage in mindfulness moments: draw the light of Passover toward you during the candle lighting, swish the wine in your mouth for Kiddush, an wash away negative thoughts and feelings in the ritual handwashing. Includes tips for actively involving participants who are physically distant. Also includes: instructions for conducting a Search for Chametz A complete list of ritual items and foods you will need for your seder. Directions for creating your seder plate Blessings, prayers and the Four Questions provided in Hebrew, Hebrew transliteration, and English The beginning of the Counting of the Omer for the Second Night of Passover Songs included: Dayeinu Eliyahu Hanavi Echad Mi Yodea: Who Knows One? (Complete, in Hebrew transliteration and English) Chad Gadya: One Little Goat (Complete, in Hebrew transliteration and English)

This book untangles a web of ideas about politics, religion, exile, and community that emerged at a key moment in Jewish history and left a lasting mark on Jewish ideas. In the shadow of their former member Baruch Spinoza's notoriety, and amid the aftermath of the Sabbatian messianic movement, the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of seventeenth-century Amsterdam underwent a conceptual shift that led them to treat their self-governed diaspora community as a commonwealth. Preoccupied by the question of why and how Jews should rule themselves in the absence of a biblical or messianic sovereign state or king, they forged a creative synthesis of insights from early modern Christian politics and Jewish law and traditions to assess and argue over their formidable communal government. In so doing they shaped a proud new theopolitical self-understanding of their community as analogous to a Christian state. Through readings of rarely studied sermons, commentaries, polemics, administrative records, and architecture, Anne Albert shows that a concentrated period of public Jewish political discourse among the community's leaders and thinkers led to the formation of a strong image of itself as a totalizing, state-like entity-an image that eventually came to define its portrayal by twentieth-century historians. Her study presents a new perspective on a Jewish population that has long fascinated readers, as well as new evidence of Jewish reactions to Spinoza and Sabbatianism, and analyses the first Jewish reckoning with modern western political concepts.

Part 1 of the latest volume in "The Jewish Law Annual" comprises a symposium on parent and child, examining such issues as parental authority and the contrast between the Bible and Rabbinic law. Part 2 covers current legal thought on religious freedom in the United States as well as contemporary developments in Jewish laws in Israel. Part 3 is a major survey of recently published titles, organized according to major legal categories.

First Order: Zeraim / Tractates Kilaim and eviit ist der dritte Band in der Edition des Jerusalemer Talmuds und ein grundlegendes Werk der Judischen Patristik. Der Band prasentiert grundlegende judische Texte aus dem Bereich der Landwirtschaft: verbotene Mischungen von Saaten, Tieren und Geweben (Kilaim) sowie das Verbot landwirtschaftlicher Tatigkeit im Sabbatjahr, in dem auch alle Schulden zu erlassen sind ( eviit). Dieser Teil des Jerusalemer Talmuds hat so gut wie keine Entsprechung im Babylonischen Talmud. Ohne seine Kenntnis bleiben die diesbezuglichen Regeln der judischen Tradition unverstandlich."

This book examines the most frequent form of Jew-hatred: Israel-related antisemitism. After defining this hate ideology in its various manifestations and the role the internet plays in it, the author explores the question of how Israel-related antisemitism is communicated and understood through the language used by readers in below-the-line comments. Drawing on a corpus of over 6,000 comments from traditionally left-wing news outlets The Guardian and Die Zeit, the author examines both implicit and explicit comparisons made between modern-day Israel and both colonial Britain and Nazi Germany. His analyses are placed within the context of resurgent neo-nationalism in both countries, and it is argued that these instances of antisemitism perform a multi-faceted role in absolving guilt, re-writing history, and reinforcing in-group status. This book will be of interest not only to linguistics scholars, but also to academics in fields such as internet studies, Jewish studies, hate speech and antisemitism.

In February 1945, Israele Zolli, chief rabbi of Rome's ancient Jewish community, shocked his co-religionists in Italy and throughout the Jewish world by converting to Catholicism and taking as his baptismal name, Eugenio, to honor Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) for what Zolli saw as his great humanitarianism toward the Jews during the Holocaust. Almost a half a century after his conversion, Zolli still evokes anger and embarrassment in Italy's Jewish community. This book is the first authoritative treatment of this astonishing story.

What induced Zolli to embrace Catholicism will probably never be known. Nonetheless, by painstaking scholarly detective work, through interviews in Italy and elsewhere, through the unearthing of private papers not previous known to exist, and through the study of previous inaccessible archival materials, the authors have succeeded in explaining why Zolli left the Jewish fold and joined the Catholic Church.

Like Zolli's rabbinical career, Pius XII's long pontificate tells us much about the Church of Rome and its relationship to the Jewish people, particularly with reference to the issue of conversion. The authors focus on the pontiff's World War II policies vis-a-vis the Jews, a subject that has been heatedly debated since Rolf Hochhuth's "The Deputy" was performed in the early 1960s. What Pacelli knew abut the extermination of the Jews and when he knew it, what he said and failed to say, are given special attention in this book. Through the examination of previous scholarship and primary materials (including Pius XI's encyclical on race and anti-Semitism, Pacelli's behavior is evaluated to determine if Zolli accurately gauged the Holy Father's efforts to save Jews. This saga of the two Eugenios will interest historians of the Second World War and the Holocaust and students of history alike.

In Israel, where the Orthodox rabbinate wields historically sanctioned influence over the legal definitions of marriage and parenthood, same-sex parenthood raises important questions such as what constitutes belonging to the national collective, who has the authority to define the norms of reproduction, and where the boundaries of Orthodox Judaism begin and end. Judaism in Motion addresses these questions from a transgenerational perspective that pays heed to how religiously informed rules, norms, and practices of transferring material properties, names, and societal belonging are adopted and transformed. It presents a detailed ethnographic account of the dynamic interaction between kinship, religion, and the state that complicates the commonly held assumption that places same-sex parenthood in a radically secular sphere that stands in stark opposition to Orthodox Judaism. Taking same-sex parenthood as a prism through which society at large is reflected, this volume further explores how transformations of societal structures take place, and what flexibility and leeway exist in organized religions.

First Published in 1990. With the publication of this book, the author inaugurates a new series at the Institute of Jewish Law. In recent years there has been a growing interest in Jewish law in American law schools. In turn, this casts an obligation on those involved in Jewish law to make available in the English language publications which focus on contemporary issues and their analysis in traditional Jewish sources. Jewish Law inContext will attempt to do precisely this by presenting Jewish law in its own context as well as in the context of our milieu. This is Volume I.