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A Bridge Linking Greek Religion and Judaism to Christianity

Maria‐Zoe Petropoulou

in Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200

This chapter introduces the world of Christians — who came from both the Greek religious environment (Gentile Christians) and Judaism (Jewish Christians) — but also from the group of pagans who were ... More

This chapter introduces the world of Christians — who came from both the Greek religious environment (Gentile Christians) and Judaism (Jewish Christians) — but also from the group of pagans who were ready to convert to Judaism (the so-called ‘God-fearers’). Emphasizing the multiplicity of backgrounds, the chapter aims at warning the reader that conclusions concerning early Christianity and its relation to animal sacrifice cannot be definite, especially as regards the Christians who lived in Jerusalem that is next to the Temple, before AD 70.Less

A Note on the Jerusalem Palimpsest of Euripides *

W. S. Barrett

in Greek Lyric, Tragedy, and Textual Criticism: Collected Papers

This chapter confronts the question of the original order of the plays contained in the Jerusalem palimpsest. This is perhaps a trivial question, but it is one which admits of a quite certain answer.

Here Begins The Prologue to The Last Book

Bridget Morris (ed.)

in The Revelations of St. Birgitta of Sweden: Volume III: Liber Caelestis, Books VI–VII

Book VII describes Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372. Within a chronological framework the book describes the outward journey from Rome, via Naples and Cyprus, to Jerusalem and ... More

Book VII describes Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372. Within a chronological framework the book describes the outward journey from Rome, via Naples and Cyprus, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The two central visions are the crucifixion and nativity, both thought to have had an influence on subsequent depictions in Christian iconography and art. There are messages concerning the political situation in Cyprus and a secular political message is thereby woven into the devotional visions and underlines their contemporary impact. Birgitta’s death and some of her final messages to humankind are recorded at the end of the book.Less

Weaving the Crown of Pilgrimage: The Spiritual and Polemical Dimensions of Pilgrimage and the Holy Places from an Anti‐Chalcedonian Perspective

Cornelia B. Horn

in Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine: The Career of Peter the Iberian

This chapter examines the role of the Holy Land as a singular setting for the Christological controversies in the 5th century. In the context of pilgrimage to the numerous holy places, Peter’s own ... More

This chapter examines the role of the Holy Land as a singular setting for the Christological controversies in the 5th century. In the context of pilgrimage to the numerous holy places, Peter’s own role as a pilgrim to the Holy Land comes into focus. The spiritual and political implications of his personal pilgrimage as well as the sensitivities of anti-Chalcedonians concerning the fact that the holy places were in the hands of ‘heretical’ Chalcedonians are crucial to understand both Peter’s role as well as the model held out for future generations by Rufus.Less

 Liturgical Semiotics: Moses Mendelssohn's “Jerusalem”

Steven Kepnes

in Jewish Liturgical Reasoning

One of the major tasks of Mendelssohn and other Jewish thinkers is to formulate a larger vision of the Enlightenment, in which the Jews would not only participate but also take the lead. In Jerusalem ... More

One of the major tasks of Mendelssohn and other Jewish thinkers is to formulate a larger vision of the Enlightenment, in which the Jews would not only participate but also take the lead. In Jerusalem (Berlin, 1783), Mendelssohn presents Jewish liturgies as particularly sophisticated forms of rational and theological semiosis. The group performance of Jewish liturgies is a signifying event in which the dynamism of God's spirit and the living wisdom and guidance of God's Torah is represented. Thus, liturgical semiosis is especially important to Judaism because it defeats all idolatrous attempts to fix spirit and wisdom in concrete forms. Mendelssohn's view is that all commandments and laws provide scripts for countless behavioral performances. This moves Jewish commandments out of the realm of civil and criminal law into a philosophical, theological, and aesthetic arena that is led by signs.Less

Immigration to the Land of Israel, 1808–1840

Arie Morgenstern

in Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel

The Jewish population of the Land of Israel more or less doubled in size between 1808 and 1840. A significant segment of the immigrants were disciples of the Vilna Ga’on, who undertook an organized ... More

The Jewish population of the Land of Israel more or less doubled in size between 1808 and 1840. A significant segment of the immigrants were disciples of the Vilna Ga’on, who undertook an organized immigration effort beginning no later than 1806. Many were motivated by messianism, but some came in an effort to escape hardship in Europe. Many settled in the Galilee, in and around Safed, while others came to Jerusalem; there was a degree of rivalry between the groups (respectively led by Israel of Shklov and Menahem Mendel of Shklov). Immigration was adversely affected by recurring epidemics, natural calamities, poverty, and political instability. It increased substantially during the relatively enlightened and stable reign of Muhammad Ali, an Egyptian who took control of the Land of Israel from the Ottomans in 1831 and remained in power through the 1830s. The Montefiore Census of 1839 shows that nearly half of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel that year were under the age of twenty.Less

“Raising the Shekhinah from the Dust” by Rebuilding Jerusalem

Arie Morgenstern

in Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel

After coming to Jerusalem in 1815, the Perushim led by Menahem Mendel of Shklov, directed their principal efforts to rebuilding and resettling the Judah Hasid ruins (the Hurvah), thereby showing ... More

After coming to Jerusalem in 1815, the Perushim led by Menahem Mendel of Shklov, directed their principal efforts to rebuilding and resettling the Judah Hasid ruins (the Hurvah), thereby showing their intention to reestablish themselves in the city. In accord with the doctrine of “awakening below”, rebuilding one of Jerusalem’s ruins would represent the first step in the rebuilding of the entire city. This chapter recounts in detail the lengthy legal, political, and financial dealings that culminated with the beginning of the actual project in 1836 (under the reign of the enlightened Muhammad Ali); the new study hall in the Hurvah courtyard (named “Menahem Ziyyon”) was dedicated in January 1837. The project continued to be opposed by Israel of Shklov, the leader of the Safed Perushim who objected to the independence of the Jerusalem Perushim (now led by Zalman Zoref [Salamon]); matters were complicated by competition for funding by Zevi Hirsch Lehren and his family and continued intra-Jewish rivalries. But the success of the project was seen by the Jerusalem Perushim as evidence that the redemption was underway in earnest, a sense confirmed by the tragic earthquake that destroyed most of the Safed community in 1837.Less

Epilogue: Emergence of a Jewish Majority in Jerusalem

Arie Morgenstern

in Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel

The beginning of the modern historical period in the Land of Israel was marked by the European powers’ new interest in the region and by the Jews’ own changed attitudes toward the Land. Jews began ... More

The beginning of the modern historical period in the Land of Israel was marked by the European powers’ new interest in the region and by the Jews’ own changed attitudes toward the Land. Jews began settling the Land in increasing numbers, largely in anticipation of the Messiah’s expected appearance in 1840; settlement continued even after those expectations were dashed. The new motives for Aliya were spiritual and religious under the oppression of the governments in Europe. Thus, due to the expansion of the yishuv, Western philanthropists used their influence to modernize Jerusalem. Jerusalem expanded beyond the old city walls, laying the basis for what would become West Jerusalem. Ultimately, it was only thanks to the existence of a Jewish yishuv in the Land of Israel during the first half of the 19th century that masses of Jews in the Diaspora as well as the nations of the world became aware of the reality of the Land of Israel as a place in which the Jewish nation could settle in the future.Less

Introduction

Andrew Mein

in Ezekiel and the Ethics of Exile

The early sixth century BCE was a time of almost unparalleled crisis for the Jewish people, as successive Babylonian invasions left Judah devastated and Jerusalem in ruins. The book of Ezekiel forms ... More

The early sixth century BCE was a time of almost unparalleled crisis for the Jewish people, as successive Babylonian invasions left Judah devastated and Jerusalem in ruins. The book of Ezekiel forms a commentary on these events, and explains in lurid detail how the fall of Jerusalem and subsequent exile are the result of moral failure. The present work demonstrates that many of the book's most distinctive ethical ideas can best be explained as a response to the experience of exile. Ezekiel has always been a controversial figure: his book has provoked strong reactions from its readers, and this is nowhere clearer than in questions of morality. Some commentators have been straightforwardly critical of Ezekiel's ethics, while others have taken a more positive view. This study takes a broad view of the book's moral concerns and priorities by looking at a range of different texts and issues.Less

Jerusalem in Religious Perspective

Richard Harries

in After the Evil: Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Jerusalem is important for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, it is important in different ways. Within Christianity, Jerusalem became de‐territorialized and a symbol for heaven. So Christian ... More

Jerusalem is important for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, it is important in different ways. Within Christianity, Jerusalem became de‐territorialized and a symbol for heaven. So Christian concern with Jerusalem is for free access to the holy sites. For Islam, Jerusalem is important because of its connection with Muhammad in Islamic tradition and because it was for many centuries part of the realm of Islam. For Judaism, the actual geographical place has always remained important, not just as a symbol of world peace, but of the hope of an ingathering on this earth of the people to their promised land. In all three religions at the moment, there is a terrible contrast between the symbolic aspects of Jerusalem and the present divided reality.Less

The Pharisees

Adele Reinhartz

in Jesus of Hollywood

The biopic genre requires that the hero confront hostility and opposition. The Gospels point to a bewildering array of Jewish groups who are hostile to Jesus: scribes, elders, chief priests, ... More

The biopic genre requires that the hero confront hostility and opposition. The Gospels point to a bewildering array of Jewish groups who are hostile to Jesus: scribes, elders, chief priests, Herodians (Mark 3:6), Pharisees, and Sadducees. But during Jesus' ministry, it is the Pharisees who constitute Jesus' most implacable opposition. Were the Pharisees merely another long-gone 1st-century Jewish sect, their portrayal would pose no problem for filmmakers. While the Pharisees are no longer in existence as such, they are nevertheless considered within the Jewish tradition to be the forerunners of the rabbis who shaped Jewish belief and practice as they are still known today. The filmmaker's dilemma arises from this contradiction between the Pharisees' hateful role as Jesus' enemies within the Christian scriptures and their heroic place in Jewish tradition. The danger is that in portraying the Pharisees as Jesus' harsh enemies, filmmakers become vulnerable to the charge of anti-Semitism.Less

‘Ista est Jerusalem’. Intertextuality and Visual Exegesis in Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi and Werner Rolevinck’s Fasciculus temporum

Andrea Worm

in Imagining Jerusalem in the Medieval West

This chapter analyses the circular plan of Jerusalem in Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a synopsis of history widely disseminated and frequently adapted. The plan of ... More

This chapter analyses the circular plan of Jerusalem in Peter of Poitiers' Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a synopsis of history widely disseminated and frequently adapted. The plan of Jerusalem reveals how Peter of Poitiers modified and fused different sources, including Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica, to create a visually persuasive image of perfect formal and social order, with six gates foreshadowing the twelve gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The visual alignment of the plan of Jerusalem and other diagrams in the Compendium prompts the beholder to reflect on analogies of structures and events, and thus on the order and meaning of history. This argument extends to the late fifteenth-century diagram of the heavenly Jerusalem in Werner Rolewinck's Fasciculus temporum, which functions at the same time as a visualization of the Creed and as an allegorical image of the church, predetermined and eternal.Less

In Imagination

Raymond P. Scheindlin

in Song of the Distant Dove: Judah Halevi’s Pilgrimage

The chapter studies four poems in which Halevi, still in al-Andalus, describes his longing for and vision of the Land of Israel. Among these poems is Halevi’s most famous poem, the Ode to Jerusalem. ... More

The chapter studies four poems in which Halevi, still in al-Andalus, describes his longing for and vision of the Land of Israel. Among these poems is Halevi’s most famous poem, the Ode to Jerusalem. It is interpreted as speaking not, as usually understood, on behalf of the people as a whole, but as the voice of an individual who, toward the end, becomes the spokesman of a small, elite group of Zion’s true devotees.Less