Sources and Interpretations

Studies in Ancient Jewish History, Literature, and Religion
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-71571-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 78, 18 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 1971 g

Reihe: The Brill Reference Library of Judaism

This volume brings together over fifty of Schiffman’s Studies on Ancient Judaism that have helped to shape this emerging field. Throughout, these studies display a wide-ranging perspective, bringing together all kinds of sources, written or archaeological, to illuminate ancient Judaism and its complex history. Topics explored include the history of the Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity, the Bible in Jewish tradition, ancient Jewish thought, law, and liturgy, magic and mysticism, relation of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Rabbinic Literature, Judean Desert texts, and Judaism and Christianity. The volume concludes with studies of the work of several modern rabbis and academic scholars.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schiffman, Lawrence H

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part1 Ancient Jewish History

1 The Conversion of the Royal House of Adiabene in Josephus and Rabbinic Sources

2 Politics and Religion: Do They Mix? The Patriarch and His Court in Roman Palestine

3 Historical Perspectives on Dissent and Disobedience: Jews against Jews in Late Antiquity

4 Models of Community in the Ancient Jewish World

Part2 The Bible in Jewish Tradition

5 What Is a Jewish Biblical Text?

6 The Term and Concept of Torah

7 The Rabbinic View of Prophecy and Prophets

8 “A Fence around the Torah”: Rabbinic Strategies for Policing the Canon

9 Translation as Commentary: Targum, Midrash, and Talmud

10 The Reception of the Bible in Ancient Judaism

Part3 Jewish Thought

11 The Rabbinic Understanding of Covenant

12 Second Temple Period Rationales for the Torah’s Commandments

13 Commandment or Emotion? Love of God, Family, and Humanity in Classical Judaism

14 War in Jewish Apocalyptic Thought

15 Messianism and Apocalypticism in Rabbinic Texts

16 Exegesis and Polemic: Rabbinic Responses to Antisemitism

17 Monarchy and Polity: Systems of Government in Jewish Tradition

Part4 Jewish Law

18 Was There a Galilean Halakhah?

19 The Samaritans in Tannaitic Halakhah

20 The Samaritans in Amoraic Halakhah

21 Conversion to Judaism in Tannaitic Halakhah

22 Talmudic Monetary Theory: Currency in Rabbinic Halakhah

Part5 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah

23 Jewish Law in the Hasmonean Period

24 The Temple Scroll and the Systems of Jewish Law of the Second Temple Period

25 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah

26 Disputes in Tannaitic Literature in Light of the Judean Desert Scrolls

27 “Of the Making of Books”: Rabbinic Scribal Arts in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Part6 Judean Desert Texts

28 On the Edge of the Diaspora: Jews in the Dead Sea Region in the First Two Centuries CE

29 Witnesses and Signatures in the Hebrew and Aramaic Documents from the Bar Kokhba Caves

30 Reflections on the Deeds of Sale from the Judean Desert in Light of Rabbinic Literature

Part7 Judaism and Early Christianity

31 Biblical Exegesis in the Passion Narratives and the Dead Sea Scrolls

32 Jewish Law in the Gospels in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls

33 The New Testament as a Source for the History of Jewish Law

34 The Bleeding Woman in Mark, Matthew, and Luke: Perspectives from Qumran and Rabbinic Literature

35 The Halakhic Response of the Rabbis to the Rise of Christianity

Part8 Faith, Worship, and Liturgy

36 Jewish Spirituality in the Bible and Second Temple Literature

37 The Importance of the Temple for Ancient Jews

38 The Early History of Public Torah Reading

39 The Haf?arah: A Historical Introduction

40 Additions to Birkat Yo?er for Sabbath

41 Min?ah: A Halakhic and Historical Analysis

42 From Observation to Calculation: The Development of the Rabbinic Lunar Calendar

43 History and Liturgy: The Evolution of Multiple Prayer Rites

Part9 Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism

44 2?Enoch and Halakhah

45 3?Enoch and the Enoch Tradition

46 A Forty-two-letter Divine Name in the Aramaic Magic Bowls

47 The Recall of Rabbi Ne?uniah ben Ha-Qanah from Ecstasy in the Hekhalot Rabbati

Part10 Rabbis and Scholars

48 The Vilna Gaon’s Methods for the Textual Criticism of Rabbinic Literature

49 The Rebbe as a Torah Scholar: Synthesis and Unity

50 Viktor Aptowitzer: Tradition, Haskalah, and Wissenschaft

51 The Pharisees Revisited: Louis Finkelstein on the Second Temple Period

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Lawrence H. Schiffman is Global Distinguished Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. He is author of numerous books and articles on ancient Judaism including, most recently, The Temple Scroll (with A.D. Gross, Brill, 2021).