Designed for general readers and scholars, this study explores the Lutheran commentary in Bach's St. John Passion and suggests that fostering hostility to Jews is not its subject or purpose. Also included are a literal, annotated translation of the libretto and an appendix discussing anti-Judaism and Bach's other works.

Postmodernity marks a time of creative conflict when the voices of the other, previously rendered silent by the majority, are prominently heard. What effect has postmodernism had on Judaism?

The neat narratives and metanarratives of the Jewish past are being questioned and deconstructed, allowing for different versions of Jewish history to emerge. For example, a postmodern exploration of the place of women in Talmudic culture can upset portraits of women as powerless and rabbis as closed off to female experience thereby helping to secure a place for women today. Similarly, an analysis of Zionism using concepts drawn from postmodern thinkers problematizes such basic Zionists concepts as nation, exile, and normalization, and raises significant questions concerning the relationship of Israel and the diaspora.

The twelve contributors, including Daniel Boyarin, Elliot R. Wolfson, and Laurence J. Silberstein, shed new light on the central texts and issues of Judaism through their postmodern interpretations. They offer up provocative perspectives on Bible and Midrash; Talmud and Halakhah; Kabbalah; Zionism; the Holocaust; feminism; literature; pedagogy; and liturgy.

The Companion to Ancient Israel offers an innovative overview of ancient Israelite culture and history, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields. Distinguished scholars provide original contributions that explore the tradition in all its complexity, multiplicity and diversity. * A methodologically sophisticated overview of ancient Israelite culture that provides insights into political and social history, culture, and methodology * Explores what we can say about the cultures and history of the people of Israel and Judah, but also investigates how we know what we know * Presents fresh insights, richly informed by a variety of approaches and fields * Delves into religion as lived, an approach that asks about the everyday lives of ordinary people and the material cultures that they construct and experience * Each essay is an original contribution to the subject

Human leadership is a multifaceted topic in the Hebrew Bible from a synchronic as well as diachronic perspective. A large range of distributions emerges from the successive sharpening or modification of different aspects of leadership. While some of them are combined to a complex figuration of leadership, others remain reserved for certain individuals. Furthermore, it can be considered a consensus within scholarly debate, that concepts of leadership have a certain connection to the history of ancient Israel which is, though, hard to ascertain. Following a previous volume that focused on the Pentateuch and the Former Prophets (BZAW 507), this volume deals with different concepts of leadership in selected Prophetic (Hag/Zech; Jer) and Chronistic literature Ezr/Neh; Chr). They are examined in a literary, (religious-/tradition-) historical and theological perspective. Special emphasis is given to phenomena of transforming authority and leadership claims in exilic/post-exilic times. Hence, the volume contributes to biblical theology and sheds new light on the redaction/reception history of the texts. Not least, it provides valuable insights into the history of religious and/or political "authorities" in Israel and Early Judaism(s).

A fitting contribution to Gorgias Liturgical Studies, Sebastian Brock's The Holy Spirit in the Syrian Baptismal Tradition is a sensitive and evocative treatment of an issue key to any liturgical tradition-that of the role of the Holy Spirit in worship. With a keen awareness of the tradition of Syrian Christianity, Brock begins his exploration with the concept and the role of the Holy Spirit in the Syriac Bible, symbols of the Spirit, the sources used to glean this information, and how it ties in with the Eucharist and Pentecost, as well as baptism itself and the subsequent practice of anointing.

Jewish Languages in Historical Perspective is devoted to the diverse array of spoken and written language varieties that have been employed by Jews in the Diaspora from antiquity until the twenty-first century. It focuses on the following five key themes: Jewish languages in dialogue with sacred Jewish texts, Jewish languages in contact with the co-territorial non-Jewish languages, Jewish vernacular traditions, the status of Jewish languages in the twenty-first century, and theoretical issues relating to Jewish language research. This volume includes case studies on a wide range of Jewish languages both historical and modern and devotes attention to lesser known varieties such as Jewish Berber, Judeo-Italian, and Karaim in addition to the more familiar Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino. "On top of Brill's Journal of Jewish Languages and a number of recent publications providing systematic overviews of Jewish languages as well as related theoretical discussions, this volume is a valuable addition to the increasing interest in Jewish languages and linguistics." -Wout van Bekkum, Groningen, Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXVI 3-4 (2019)

This fascinating narrative illustrates and clarifies rabbinic views relating to more than 250 topics. The Talmud has been a source of study and debate for well over a millennia. What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics from the Talmud brings that discussion out of the yeshiva to describe and clarify the views of the talmudic rabbis for modern readers. Much more than a compilation of isolated rabbinic quotations, the book intersperses talmudic statements within the narrative to provide a thoroughly engaging examination of the rabbinic point of view. Exploring the development of traditional Jewish thought during its formative period, the book summarizes the major rabbinic comments from the vast expanse of the Talmud and midrashic literature, demonstrating, among other things, that the rabbis often took divergent positions on a given issue rather than agreeing on a single "party line." As it delves into such broad topics as God, the Torah, mitzvot, law and punishment, synagogue and prayer, and life-cycle events, What the Rabbis Said will help readers understand and appreciate the views of those who developed the rabbinic Judaism that persists to the present day. Numerous endnotes provide a wealth of information for the scholarly reader without interrupting the flow of the text A glossary of lesser-known terms facilitates understanding

The present book is a sequel to Ephraim Chamiel's two previous works The Middle Way and The Dual Truth-studies dedicated to the "middle" trend in modern Jewish thought, that is, those positions that sought to combine tradition and modernity, and offered a variety of approaches for contending with the tension between science and revelation and between reason and religion. The present book explores contemporary Jewish thinkers who have adopted one of these integrated approaches-namely the dialectical approach. Some of these thinkers maintain that the aforementioned tension-the rift within human consciousness between intellect and emotion, mind and heart-can be mended. Others, however, think that the dialectic between the two poles of this tension is inherently irresolvable, a view reminiscent of the medieval "dual truth" approach. Some thinkers are unclear on this point, and those who study them debate whether or not they successfully resolved the tension and offered a means of reconciliation. The author also offers his views on these debates.This book explores the dialectical approaches of Rav Kook, Rav Soloveitchik, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Samuel Hugo Bergman, Leo Strauss, Ernst Simon, Emil Fackenheim, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer, his uncle Isaac Breuer, Tamar Ross, Rabbi Shagar, Moshe Meir, Micah Goodman and Elchanan Shilo. It also discusses the interpretations of these thinkers offered by scholars such as Michael Rosenak, Avinoam Rosenak, Eliezer Schweid, Aviezer Ravitzky, Avi Sagi, Binyamin Ish-Shalom, Ehud Luz, Dov Schwartz, Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Lawrence Kaplan, and Haim Rechnitzer. The author questions some of these approaches and offers ideas of his own. This study concludes that many scholars bore witness to the dialectical tension between reason and revelation; only some believed that a solution was possible. That being said, and despite the paradoxical nature of the dual truth approach (which maintains that two contradictory truths exist and we must live with both of them in this world until a utopian future or the advent of the Messiah), increasing numbers of thinkers today are accepting it. In doing so, they are eschewing delusional and apologetic views such as the identicality and compartmental approaches that maintain that tensions and contradictions are unacceptable.

Volume XXV of the distinguished annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry explores new understandings and approaches to Jewish "ethnicity." In current parlance regarding multicultural diversity, Jews are often considered to belong socially to the "majority," whereas "otherness" is reserved for "minorities." But these group labels and their meanings have changed over time. This volume analyzes how "ethnic," "ethnicity," and "identity" have been applied to Jews, past and present, individually and collectively.
Most of the symposium papers on the ethnicity of Jewish people and the social groups they form draw heavily on the case of American Jews, while others offer wider geographical perspectives. Contributors address ex-Soviet Jews in Philadelphia, comparing them to a similar population in Tel Aviv; Communism and ethnicity; intermarriage and group blending; American Jewish dialogue; and German Jewish migration in the interwar decades. Leading academics, employing a variety of social scientific methods and historical paradigms, propose to enhance the clarity of definitions used to relate "ethnic identity" to the Jews. They point to ethnic experience in a variety of different social manifestations: language use in social context, marital behavior across generations, spatial and occupational differentiation in relation to other members of society, and new immigrant communities as sub-ethnic units within larger Jewish populations. They also ponder the relevance of individual experience and preference as compared to the weight of larger socializing factors.
Taken as a whole, this work offers revisionist views on the utility of terms like "Jewish ethnicity" that were given wider scope by scholars in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Judaism covers the history of the Jewish religion, ranging from its biblical roots, through its formulation in the era of the Talmud, to the present day. This collection covers the development of Judaism in the medieval Christian and Islamic worlds, its varied responses to Enlightenment and modernity, the creation of new philosophies of Judaism in the wake of the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel, and contemporary issues such as feminism, secularism, and the ethics of war and medicine. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 800 cross-referenced entries on important personalities in Jewish religious history, including biblical personalities with an emphasis on how they are understood in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Judaism.

This volume gathers together studies on various ""engagements"" between Judaism and Christianity. Following an introduction on ""my odyssey in New Testament interpretation,"" Professor Davies examines such topics as the nature of Judaism, canon and Christology, Torah and dogma, law in Christianity, and the promised land in Jewish and Christian tradition. Part II focuses on Paul and Judaism, with special attention to Paul and the exodus, Paul and the law, and the allegory of the two olives in Romans 11:13-24. Part III looks at the background and origins of the Gospels, centering specifically on Matthew and John. Part IV takes up an exclusively American engagement with Judaism, that is, the Mormon's claim to be Christian and their assertion that they are genealogically connected with Jews and therefore physically a recovered, restored, and reinterpreted Israel. The volume concludes with a discussion and critique of ""mystical anti-Semitism,"" that is, ascribing to ""The Jews"" (not to ""Jews"") the central role in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, leading to a view of ""The Jews"" as essentially satanic or demonic. This collection of seminal essays by a preeminent New Testament scholar highlights the encounter of two great religious traditions and stimulates the dialogue between them. W. D. Davies was Emeritus Ivey Professor of Advanced Studies and Research in Christian Origin at Duke University. He was the author of many books, including Paul and Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish and Pauline Studies.

The phrase "Daughter of Zion" is in recent Bible translations often rendered "Daughter Zion". The discussion behind this change has continued for decades, but lacks proper linguistic footing. Parlance in grammars, dictionaries, commentaries and textbooks is often confusing. The present book seeks to remedy this defect by treating all relevant expressions from a linguistic point of view. To do this, it also discusses the understanding of Hebrew construct phrases, and finds that while there is a morphological category of genitive in Akkadian, Ugaritic and Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac do not display it. The use of this term as a syntactical category is unfortunate, and the term should be avoided in Hebrew grammar. Metaphor theory and the use of irony are also tools in the discussion of the phrases. As a result of the treatment, the author finds that there are some Hebrew construct phrases where nomen regens describes the following nomen rectum, and the description may be metaphorical, in some cases also ironical. This seems to be the case with "Daughter of Zion" and similar phrases. This understanding calls for a revision of the translation of the phrases, and new translations are suggested.

This exploration of the Judean priesthood's role in agricultural cultivation demonstrates that the institutional reach of Second Temple Judaism (516 BCE-70 CE) went far beyond the confines of its houses of worship, while exposing an unfamiliar aspect of sacred place-making in the ancient Jewish experience. Temples of the ancient world regularly held assets in land, often naming a patron deity as landowner and affording the land sanctity protections. Such arrangements can provide essential background to the Hebrew Bible's assertion that God is the owner of the land of Israel. They can also shed light on references in early Jewish literature to the sacred landholdings of the priesthood or the temple.

Following the failure of the Bar-Kokhba revolt in the second century, the majority of the Jewish population of Palestine migrated northward away from Jerusalem to join the communities of Jews in Galilee and the Golan Heights. Although rabbinic sources indicate that from the second century onward the demographic center of Jewish Palestine was in Galilee, archaeological evidence of Jewish communities is found in the southern part of the country as well. In The Ancient Synagogues of Southern Palestine, 300-800 C.E., Steve Werlin considers ten synagogues uncovered in southern Palestine. Through an in-depth analysis of the art, architecture, epigraphy, and stratigraphy, the author demonstrates how monumental, religious structures provide critical insight into the lives of those who were strangers among Christians and Muslims in their ancestral homeland.

This book outlines what the Bible teaches about the Jewish people and religion. Jewish Themes in the New Testament is an examination of what the New Testament teaches about the Jewish people in the era of the New Covenant. The core of that teaching is an affirmation of God's continued faithfulness to them. In a day when opinions regarding the Jewish people are increasingly polarised as some stress their position centre-stage and others consign them to the dustbin of history, this book seeks to demonstrate from the New Testament that both extremes are wrong. This unique book considers the theological issues, but it is concerned for much more; it is about Jewish people and the Jews as a people, as the New Testament sees them.

This volume contains the papers presented at the 2017 meeting of the SBL Program Unit on Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature in Boston, MA. The theme of the sessions was the interpretation of Torah in deuterocanonical literature. The contributions cover a variety of concepts and themes related to Torah and trace these through the Hebrew Bible, into the Septuagintal deuterocanonical books and other relevant and cognate literature.

The study assesses the main issues in the current debate about the early history of Pesach and Easter and provides new insights into the development of these two festivals. The author argues that the prescriptions of Exodus 12 provide the celebration of the Pesach in Jerusalem with an etiological background in order to connect the pilgrim festival with the story of the Exodus. The thesis that the Christian Easter evolved as a festival against a Jewish form of celebrating Pesach in the second century and that the development of Easter Sunday is dependent upon this custom is endorsed by the authora (TM)s close study of relevant texts such as the Haggada of Pesach; the a oePoem of the four nightsa in the Palestinian Targum Tradition; the structure of the Easter vigil.

The Rabbis of the first five centuries of the Common Era loom large in the Jewish tradition. Until the modern period, Jews viewed the Rabbinic traditions as the authoritative contents of their covenant with God, and scholars debated the meanings of these ancient Sages words. Even after the eighteenth century, when varied denominations emerged within Judaism, each with its own approach to the tradition, the literary legacy of the talmudic Sages continued to be consulted.
In this book, Michael S. Berger analyzes the notion of Rabbinic authority from a philosophical standpoint. He sets out a typology of theories that can be used to understand the authority of these Sages, showing the coherence of each, its strengths and weaknesses, and what aspects of the Rabbinic enterprise it covers. His careful and thorough analysis reveals that owing to the multifaceted character of the Rabbinic enterprise, no single theory is adequate to fully ground Rabbinic authority as traditionally understood.
The final section of the book argues that the notion of Rabbinic authority may indeed have been transformed over time, even as it retained the original name. Drawing on the debates about legal hermeneutics between Ronald Dworkin and Stanley Fish, Berger introduces the idea that Rabbinic authority is not a strict consequence of a preexisting theory, but rather is embedded in a form of life that includes text, interpretation, and practices. Rabbinic authority is shown to be a nuanced concept unique to Judaism, in that it is taken to justify those sorts of activities which in turn actually deepen the authority itself.
Students of Judaism and philosophers of religion in general will be intrigued bythis philosophical examination of a central issue of Judaism, conducted with unprecedented rigor and refreshing creative insight.

Unlocking the Garden: A Feminist Jewish Look at the Bible, Midrash, and God, is a collection of 15 articles which are exemplars of the state of the art of feminist Jewish interpretation of biblical texts. In these articles Naomi Graetz explores some of the reasons why biblical women are extolled in post-biblical sources when they adhere to their prescribed roles yet deprecated by these same midrashic sources when they speak up. The author demonstrates that much of present-day thinking about Jewish marriage is conditioned by metaphors. She discusses the theological implications of the dangerous marriage metaphor which describes God and Israel in an abusive husband and wife relationship and addresses the problem of God's responsibility for Israel's suffering. Graetz combats the approach of rabbinical midrash, not only by critique, but by writing Jewish midrash that is consciously feminist in its intent. Naomi Graetz is the author of The Rabbi's Wife Plays at Murder (Shiluv Press, 2004); S/He Created Them: Feminist Retellings of Biblical Stories (Gorgias Press, 2003) and Silence is Deadly: Judaism Confronts Wifebeating (Jason Aronson, 1998). She has written many articles about women and metaphor in the Bible and Midrash. Graetz teaches critical reading skills at Ben-Gurion University in the English Department and describes herself as a feminist Jew who is grounded both in Jewish tradition and feminist thought who has to grapple with problems of modernity while seeing the value of tradition.

The Book of Job has held a central role in defining the project of modernity from the age of Enlightenment until today. The Book of Job: Aesthetics, Ethics and Hermeneutics offers new perspectives on the ways in which Job's response to disaster has become an aesthetic and ethical touchstone for modern reflections on catastrophic events. This volume begins with an exploration of questions such as the tragic and ironic bent of the Book of Job, Job as mourner, and theJoban body in pain, and ends with a consideration of Joban works by notable writers - from Melville and Kafka, through Joseph Roth, Zach, Levin, and Philip Roth.

This volume of the Jerusalem Talmud comprises the fourth and fifth tractates of the Second Order. Pesahim introduces the prescriptions regarding Passover; Yoma covers regulations related to Yom Kippur, especially the role of the Kohen Gadol and the order of services. The tractates are vocalized by the rules of Rabbinic Hebrew with an English translation. They are presented with full use of existing Genizah texts and with an extensive commentary explaining the Rabbinic background necessary for understanding the texts.