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This set of varied and stimulating papers, by an international
group of younger as well as senior scholars, examines the manner in
which peoplehood was understood by the Jewish communities of the
Second Temple period and by the religious traditions that emerged
from those communities and later flourished in Christianity and
Rabbinic Judaism. The Hebrew and Greek terms for "people" and
"nation" and the name "Israel" are closely analyzed, especially in
forays into wisdom literature, Jewish apologetic and the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and their uses are related to geographical, political and
theological developments, as well as statehood, authority and
rulership in the Persian world, Hasmonean times and Ptolemaic
Egypt. Especially interesting are the carefully argued and
documented suggestions about how Jewish peoplehood expressed itself
with regard to charitable behavior, pagan deities, and marital
regulations. Those interested in the history of cultural and
theological tensions will be intrigued by the studies centered on
how the opponents of Jews behaved towards "the people of God", how
Hellenistic Jewish culture located the Jews on the Roman rather
than on the Greek side, and how early Christian discourse saw the
mission among the peoples and interpreted earlier sources
accordingly. The idea of the Jewish "way of life" is seen to have
influenced the writer of the longer Greek version of Esther and
works of fiction are shown to have had important historical data
within them. Modern social theory also has its say here in a
careful consideration of Cognitive theory of ethnicity and the
dynamic of ethnic boundary-making.
This volume contains essays by some of the leading scholars in the
study of the Jewish religious ideas in the Second Temple period,
that led up to the development of early forms of Rabbinic Judaism
and Christianity. Close attention is paid to the cosmological ideas
to be found in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Bible and to
the manner in which the translators of the Hebrew Bible into Greek
reflected the creativity with which Judaism engaged Hellenistic
ideas about the cosmos and the creation. The concepts of heaven and
divine power, human mortality, the forces of nature, combat myths,
and the philosophy of wisdom, as they occur in 2 Maccabees, Ben
Sira, Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, are carefully analysed and
compared with Greek and Roman world-views. There are also critical
examinations of Dead Sea scroll texts, early Jewish prayers and
Hebrew liturgical poetry and how they these adopt, adapt and alter
earlier ideas. The editors have included appreciations of two major
figures who played important roles in the study of the Second
Temple period and in the history and development of the ISDCL,
namely, Otto Kaiser and Alexander Di Lella, who died recently and
are greatly missed by those in the field.
In his articles Stefan Reif's articles have dealt with Jewish
biblical exegesis and the close analysis of the evolution of Jewish
prayer texts. Some fourteen of these that appeared in various
collective volumes are here made more easily available, together
with a major new study of Numbers 13, an introduction and extensive
indexes. Reif attempts to establish whether there is any
linguistic, literary and exegetical value in the traditional Jewish
interpretation of the Hebrew Bible for the modern scientific
approach to such texts and whether such an approach itself is
always free of theological bias. He demonstrates how Jewish
liturgical texts may illuminate religious teachings about wisdom,
history, peace, forgiveness, and divine metaphors. Also clarified
in these essays are notions of David, Greek and Hebrew, divine
metaphors, and the liturgical use of the Hebrew Bible.
In his articles Stefan Reif deas with Jewish biblical exegesis and
the close analysis of the evolution of Jewish prayer texts. Some
fourteen of these that appeared in various collective volumes are
here made more easily available, together with a major new study of
Numbers 13, an introduction and extensive indexes. Reif attempts to
establish whether there is any linguistic, literary and exegetical
value in the traditional Jewish interpretation of the Hebrew Bible
for the modern scientific approach to such texts and whether such
an approach itself is always free of theological bias. He
demonstrates how Jewish liturgical texts may illuminate religious
teachings about wisdom, history, peace, forgiveness, and divine
metaphors. Also clarified in these essays are notions of David,
Greek and Hebrew, divine metaphors, and the liturgical use of the
Hebrew Bible.
Given the recent interest in the emotions presupposed in early
religious literature, it has been thought useful to examine in this
volume how the Jews and early Christians expressed their feelings
within the prayers recorded in some of their literature.
Specialists in their fields from academic institutions around the
world have analysed important texts relating to this overall theme
and to what is revealed with regard to such diverse topics as
relations with God, exegesis, education, prophecy, linguistic
expression, feminism, happiness, grief, cult, suicide, non-Jews,
Hellenism, Qumran and Jerusalem. The texts discussed are in Greek,
Hebrew and Aramaic and are important for a scientific understanding
of how Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity developed their
approaches to worship, to the construction of their theology and to
the feelings that lay behind their religious ideas and practices.
The articles contribute significantly to an historical
understanding of how Jews maintained their earlier traditions but
also came to terms with the ideology of the dominant Hellenistic
culture that surrounded them.
Jewish customs and traditions about death, burial and mourning are
numerous, diverse and intriguing. They are considered by many to
have a respectable pedigree that goes back to the earliest rabbinic
period. In order to examine the accurate historical origins of many
of them, an international conference was held at Tel Aviv
University in 2010 and experts dealt with many aspects of the
topic. This volume includes most of the papers given then, as well
as a few added later. What emerges are a wealth of fresh material
and perspectives, as well as the realization that the high Middle
Ages saw a set of exceptional innovations, some of which later
became central to traditional Judaism while others were gradually
abandoned. Were these innovations influenced by Christian practice?
Which prayers and poems reflect these innovations? What do the
sources tell us about changing attitudes to death and life-after
death? Are tombstones an important guide to historical
developments? Answers to these questions are to be found in this
unusual, illuminating and readable collection of essays that have
been well documented, carefully edited and well indexed.
The discovery of Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira in the Cairo
Genizah has shaped and transformed the interpretation of the book.
It is argued here that a proper appreciation of the manuscripts
themselves is also essential for understanding this ancient work.
Since their discovery 120 years ago and subsequent identification
of leaves, attention has been directed to the interpretation of the
ancient book, the Wisdom of Ben Sira. Serious consideration should
also be given to the Hebrew manuscripts themselves and their
particular contributions to understanding the language and
transmission of the book. The surprising appearance of a work that
was preserved by Christians and denounced by some Rabbis raises
questions over the preservation of the book. At the same time,
diversity among the manuscripts means that exegesis has to be built
on an appreciation of the individual manuscripts. The contributors
examine the manuscripts in this light, examining their discovery,
the codicology and reception of the manuscripts within rabbinic and
medieval Judaism, and the light they throw on the Hebrew language
and poetic techniques. The book is essential reading for those
working on Ben Sira, the reception of the deuterocanon, and
Medieval Hebrew manuscripts.
Jewish customs and traditions about death, burial and mourning are
numerous, diverse and intriguing. They are considered by many to
have a respectable pedigree that goes back to the earliest rabbinic
period. In order to examine the accurate historical origins of many
of them, an international conference was held at Tel Aviv
University in 2010 and experts dealt with many aspects of the
topic. This volume includes most of the papers given then, as well
as a few added later. What emerges are a wealth of fresh material
and perspectives, as well as the realization that the high Middle
Ages saw a set of exceptional innovations, some of which later
became central to traditional Judaism while others were gradually
abandoned. Were these innovations influenced by Christian practice?
Which prayers and poems reflect these innovations? What do the
sources tell us about changing attitudes to death and life-after
death? Are tombstones an important guide to historical
developments? Answers to these questions are to be found in this
unusual, illuminating and readable collection of essays that have
been well documented, carefully edited and well indexed.
Much of the primary research summarized here relates to Cambridge
Genizah manuscripts, a thousand-year-old source that testifies to
liturgical (as well, of course, as non-liturgical) developments
that greatly predate other source material. When the research is
concerned with pre-Genizah history, the Genizah evidence is also
relevant since the historian of religious ideas must ultimately
decide how to date, characterize, and conceptualize its contents
and how to explain where they vary significantly from what became,
or is regarded (rightly or wrongly) as having become, the standard
rabbinic liturgy sanctioned by the Iraqi Jewish authorities from
the ninth to the eleventh century.
This collection of original contributions by an international group
of experts summarizes recent developments in Genizah research.
Stefan Reif's overview of a century of work on the famous
Taylor-Schechter Collection of Hebrew manuscripts at Cambridge
University Library is followed by Menahem Kister's textual
interpretations of the Ben Sira fragments. Michael Klein uncovers
targumic contexts and renderings, while Menahem Kahana demonstrates
how Genizah texts permit the reconstruction of early midrashim.
Neil Danzig's analysis sheds light on ninth-century prayers and
homilies, and Joseph Yahalom chronicles Judah Halevi's last years.
Haggai Ben-Shammai assesses S. D. Goitein's contribution to Jewish
historiography and touches on Jewish theology, and Paul Fenton
reveals that Muslims and Jews often co-operated professionally and
sometimes enjoyed close social contact. Mordechai Friedman
concentrates on child brides, family violence and Jewish marriage
documents, while Joel Kraemer describes letters between women and
their relatives. There are extensive indexes as well as 22 plates.
This study traces the origins of Hebrew prayer among the Jews and
explains how the first volumes of formal Jewish liturgy emerged. It
describes in a lively and thought-provoking manner the leading
rites and personalities of medieval Jewish worship and explains how
the various interpretations of Judaism in the modern world have
responded in their own way to the challenge of dialogue with the
divine. Existing theories are challenged, and new theories offered,
and the result should make liturgical research accessible to modern
readers.
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