Deborah A. Green and Laura S. Lieber
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199206575
- eISBN:
- 9780191709678
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206575.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Judaism
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the academic career of Michael Fishbane. Since his first teaching post at Brandeis University in 1969, Fishbane has been shaping the ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the academic career of Michael Fishbane. Since his first teaching post at Brandeis University in 1969, Fishbane has been shaping the understanding of Jewish texts and traditions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The chapter then considers his scholarly contributions. Fishbane wrote and edited more than nineteen books and hundreds of articles and reviews in scholarly journals and encyclopedias. His most influential works includes Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (1985), Garments of Torah: Essays in Biblical Hermeneutics (1989), The Kiss of God: Spiritual Death and Dying in Judaism. An overview of the subsequent chapters in this book is presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the academic career of Michael Fishbane. Since his first teaching post at Brandeis University in 1969, Fishbane has been shaping the understanding of Jewish texts and traditions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The chapter then considers his scholarly contributions. Fishbane wrote and edited more than nineteen books and hundreds of articles and reviews in scholarly journals and encyclopedias. His most influential works includes Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (1985), Garments of Torah: Essays in Biblical Hermeneutics (1989), The Kiss of God: Spiritual Death and Dying in Judaism. An overview of the subsequent chapters in this book is presented.
Richard H. Popkin
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227366
- eISBN:
- 9780191678684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227366.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, History of Religion
This chapter examines an important source of anti-Christian ideas on the circulation of Jewish polemics against Christianity during the early nineteenth century. Christian intellectuals generally ...
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This chapter examines an important source of anti-Christian ideas on the circulation of Jewish polemics against Christianity during the early nineteenth century. Christian intellectuals generally believed that the Last Judgement should be preceded by the conversion of the Jews. This led to the circulation of Jewish religious polemics, which their enemies believed they should be familiar with in order to refute them. The discussion explains the stages by which the writings of authors such as Saul Levi Mortera and Isaac Orobio de Castro entered general circulation in manuscript and in print. Jewish texts were not only the open anti-Christian treatises in circulation during the Enlightenment. There were also various subversive compilations such as the Theophrastus redivivus and the Traité des trois imposteurs.Less
This chapter examines an important source of anti-Christian ideas on the circulation of Jewish polemics against Christianity during the early nineteenth century. Christian intellectuals generally believed that the Last Judgement should be preceded by the conversion of the Jews. This led to the circulation of Jewish religious polemics, which their enemies believed they should be familiar with in order to refute them. The discussion explains the stages by which the writings of authors such as Saul Levi Mortera and Isaac Orobio de Castro entered general circulation in manuscript and in print. Jewish texts were not only the open anti-Christian treatises in circulation during the Enlightenment. There were also various subversive compilations such as the Theophrastus redivivus and the Traité des trois imposteurs.
Kálra Móricz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520250888
- eISBN:
- 9780520933682
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520250888.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The debate about the extent to which Bloch was a “Jewish” or a “universalistic” composer intensified as a response to Bloch's Sacred Service. Paradoxically, it was the Sacred Service, the only ...
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The debate about the extent to which Bloch was a “Jewish” or a “universalistic” composer intensified as a response to Bloch's Sacred Service. Paradoxically, it was the Sacred Service, the only composition Bloch wrote to a Jewish liturgical text, that represented most intensely the composer's aspirations to universality. However, considered by both Jews and non-Jews as deeply flawed for what was seen as a diluted racial expression, the Sacred Service demonstrated that, however scientifically untenable, race remained a strong enough cultural factor to hinder Bloch's universal claims.Less
The debate about the extent to which Bloch was a “Jewish” or a “universalistic” composer intensified as a response to Bloch's Sacred Service. Paradoxically, it was the Sacred Service, the only composition Bloch wrote to a Jewish liturgical text, that represented most intensely the composer's aspirations to universality. However, considered by both Jews and non-Jews as deeply flawed for what was seen as a diluted racial expression, the Sacred Service demonstrated that, however scientifically untenable, race remained a strong enough cultural factor to hinder Bloch's universal claims.
Sara Raup Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233072
- eISBN:
- 9780520928435
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This study investigates the creation of historical fictions in a wide range of Hellenistic Jewish texts. Surveying so-called Jewish novels, including the Letter of Aristeas, Second Maccabees, Esther, ...
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This study investigates the creation of historical fictions in a wide range of Hellenistic Jewish texts. Surveying so-called Jewish novels, including the Letter of Aristeas, Second Maccabees, Esther, Daniel, Judith, Tobit, and Josephus's account of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem and of the Tobiads, Artapanus, and Joseph and Aseneth, the book demonstrates that the use of historical fiction in these texts does not constitute a uniform genre. Instead it cuts across all boundaries of language, provenance, genre, and even purpose. It argues that each author uses historical fiction to construct a particular model of Hellenistic Jewish identity through the reinvention of the past. The models of identity differ, but all seek to explore relations between Jews and the wider non-Jewish world. The book goes on to present a focal in-depth analysis of one text, Third Maccabees. Maintaining that this is a late Hellenistic, not a Roman, work it traces important themes in Third Maccabees within a broader literary context. It evaluates the evidence for the authorship, audience, and purpose of the work and analyzes the historicity of the persecution described in the narrative. Illustrating how the author reinvents history in order to construct his own model for life in the diaspora, this book weighs the attitudes and stances, from defiance to assimilation, of this crucial period.Less
This study investigates the creation of historical fictions in a wide range of Hellenistic Jewish texts. Surveying so-called Jewish novels, including the Letter of Aristeas, Second Maccabees, Esther, Daniel, Judith, Tobit, and Josephus's account of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem and of the Tobiads, Artapanus, and Joseph and Aseneth, the book demonstrates that the use of historical fiction in these texts does not constitute a uniform genre. Instead it cuts across all boundaries of language, provenance, genre, and even purpose. It argues that each author uses historical fiction to construct a particular model of Hellenistic Jewish identity through the reinvention of the past. The models of identity differ, but all seek to explore relations between Jews and the wider non-Jewish world. The book goes on to present a focal in-depth analysis of one text, Third Maccabees. Maintaining that this is a late Hellenistic, not a Roman, work it traces important themes in Third Maccabees within a broader literary context. It evaluates the evidence for the authorship, audience, and purpose of the work and analyzes the historicity of the persecution described in the narrative. Illustrating how the author reinvents history in order to construct his own model for life in the diaspora, this book weighs the attitudes and stances, from defiance to assimilation, of this crucial period.
Naomi Seidman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226745053
- eISBN:
- 9780226745077
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226745077.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book reads translation history through the lens of Jewish–Christian difference, which, conversely, it views as an effect of translation. Subjecting translation to a theological-political ...
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This book reads translation history through the lens of Jewish–Christian difference, which, conversely, it views as an effect of translation. Subjecting translation to a theological-political analysis, the author asks how the charged Jewish–Christian relationship—and more particularly the dependence of Christianity on the texts and translations of a rival religion—has haunted the theory and practice of translation in the West. Bringing together central issues in translation studies with episodes in Jewish–Christian history, the book considers a range of texts, from the Bible to Elie Wiesel's Night, delving into such controversies as the accuracy of various Bible translations, the medieval use of converts from Judaism to Christianity as translators, the censorship of anti-Christian references in Jewish texts, and the translation of Holocaust testimony. It ultimately reveals that translation is not a marginal phenomenon but rather a crucial issue for understanding the relations between Jews and Christians, and indeed the development of each religious community.Less
This book reads translation history through the lens of Jewish–Christian difference, which, conversely, it views as an effect of translation. Subjecting translation to a theological-political analysis, the author asks how the charged Jewish–Christian relationship—and more particularly the dependence of Christianity on the texts and translations of a rival religion—has haunted the theory and practice of translation in the West. Bringing together central issues in translation studies with episodes in Jewish–Christian history, the book considers a range of texts, from the Bible to Elie Wiesel's Night, delving into such controversies as the accuracy of various Bible translations, the medieval use of converts from Judaism to Christianity as translators, the censorship of anti-Christian references in Jewish texts, and the translation of Holocaust testimony. It ultimately reveals that translation is not a marginal phenomenon but rather a crucial issue for understanding the relations between Jews and Christians, and indeed the development of each religious community.
Mladen Popović
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479823048
- eISBN:
- 9781479873975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479823048.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the transmission of astronomical and astrological learning between Babylonians, Greeks, and Jews. More specifically, it considers influences and cultural encounters between ...
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This chapter examines the transmission of astronomical and astrological learning between Babylonians, Greeks, and Jews. More specifically, it considers influences and cultural encounters between Babylonia and Jewish Palestine. It first compares the Babylonian and Jewish texts for similarities and differences in order to identify which Babylonian elements were familiar to Jewish scholars and how they appropriated, used and reworked these. It then explores some of the social and cultural aspects that may have determined the context of transmission of Babylonian elements of astral sciences in Jewish texts and goes on to discuss Jewish texts that attest to knowledge of some elements from Babylonian astronomy, including the Astronomical Book of Enoch. It also highlights evidence suggesting that Babylonian sciences such as astronomy and astrology were transmitted beyond the Mesopotamian cultural realm to the west.Less
This chapter examines the transmission of astronomical and astrological learning between Babylonians, Greeks, and Jews. More specifically, it considers influences and cultural encounters between Babylonia and Jewish Palestine. It first compares the Babylonian and Jewish texts for similarities and differences in order to identify which Babylonian elements were familiar to Jewish scholars and how they appropriated, used and reworked these. It then explores some of the social and cultural aspects that may have determined the context of transmission of Babylonian elements of astral sciences in Jewish texts and goes on to discuss Jewish texts that attest to knowledge of some elements from Babylonian astronomy, including the Astronomical Book of Enoch. It also highlights evidence suggesting that Babylonian sciences such as astronomy and astrology were transmitted beyond the Mesopotamian cultural realm to the west.
Marc Saperstein
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764494
- eISBN:
- 9781800341081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764494.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter is based on the responsa of Rabbi Judah ben Asher, a member of one of the leading rabbinic families in early fourteenth-century Castile. His responsa often diverges dramatically and ...
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This chapter is based on the responsa of Rabbi Judah ben Asher, a member of one of the leading rabbinic families in early fourteenth-century Castile. His responsa often diverges dramatically and explicitly from the principles of classical Jewish legal texts in addressing what the writer saw as the needs of his time. The chapter looks particularly at extra-halakhic aspects of his decision-making — the extent to which his adjudication is explicitly motivated, influenced, or guided by factors other than the interpretation of the classical sources of halakhah — and what this can say about Jewish life in fourteenth-century Castile. The question of takanot, communal legislation inconsistent with the traditional law, is relevant here. So are decisions manifestly said to be not in accordance with Torah law, whether because of urgent immediate needs or because changing historical circumstances seemed to make the talmudic principle no longer applicable.Less
This chapter is based on the responsa of Rabbi Judah ben Asher, a member of one of the leading rabbinic families in early fourteenth-century Castile. His responsa often diverges dramatically and explicitly from the principles of classical Jewish legal texts in addressing what the writer saw as the needs of his time. The chapter looks particularly at extra-halakhic aspects of his decision-making — the extent to which his adjudication is explicitly motivated, influenced, or guided by factors other than the interpretation of the classical sources of halakhah — and what this can say about Jewish life in fourteenth-century Castile. The question of takanot, communal legislation inconsistent with the traditional law, is relevant here. So are decisions manifestly said to be not in accordance with Torah law, whether because of urgent immediate needs or because changing historical circumstances seemed to make the talmudic principle no longer applicable.
Marc Saperstein
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764494
- eISBN:
- 9781800341081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764494.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter analyses three brief, powerful passages, from different environments and different literary genres. These reveal an enduring ambivalence towards Jewish life in ‘exile’, a reluctance to ...
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This chapter analyses three brief, powerful passages, from different environments and different literary genres. These reveal an enduring ambivalence towards Jewish life in ‘exile’, a reluctance to concede that the centuries of Jewish life in foreign lands were devoid of any positive qualities, and even — rather surprisingly — the suggestion that life in exile might have religious advantages for Jews that were not available in the Holy Land. In short, the actual treatment of exile in Jewish literary texts reveals more nuanced and multivalent aspects. The familiar geography of the traditional concept — exile as forced removal from the Land of Israel and the end of exile as return to that land — is occasionally subverted in unexpected ways. Perhaps even more surprising is a revalorization of the concept, in which living in the ancestral homeland is no longer automatically identified as good, and living outside the land as bad. This chapter attempts to illustrate some of the permutations of this central concept through a literary and conceptual analysis of the three pre-modern passages from Jewish literature.Less
This chapter analyses three brief, powerful passages, from different environments and different literary genres. These reveal an enduring ambivalence towards Jewish life in ‘exile’, a reluctance to concede that the centuries of Jewish life in foreign lands were devoid of any positive qualities, and even — rather surprisingly — the suggestion that life in exile might have religious advantages for Jews that were not available in the Holy Land. In short, the actual treatment of exile in Jewish literary texts reveals more nuanced and multivalent aspects. The familiar geography of the traditional concept — exile as forced removal from the Land of Israel and the end of exile as return to that land — is occasionally subverted in unexpected ways. Perhaps even more surprising is a revalorization of the concept, in which living in the ancestral homeland is no longer automatically identified as good, and living outside the land as bad. This chapter attempts to illustrate some of the permutations of this central concept through a literary and conceptual analysis of the three pre-modern passages from Jewish literature.
Elliot N. Dorff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262033732
- eISBN:
- 9780262270632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262033732.003.0030
- Subject:
- Biology, Bioethics
This chapter introduces the various ways religions draw upon ancient texts and traditions to make sense of contemporary challenges. It illustrates that from the tradition and perspectives of Judaism, ...
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This chapter introduces the various ways religions draw upon ancient texts and traditions to make sense of contemporary challenges. It illustrates that from the tradition and perspectives of Judaism, there is a strong presumption in favor of medicine and the moral legitimacy of altering the natural world for a good purpose, and thus in favor of germline modification. The Jewish discussion of all medical issues is presented, and five Jewish texts that can be used in modifying human genetic structure are then analyzed. The chapter shows that the strong Jewish commitment to medicine argues that genetic manipulation should be engaged to cure or prevent diseases.Less
This chapter introduces the various ways religions draw upon ancient texts and traditions to make sense of contemporary challenges. It illustrates that from the tradition and perspectives of Judaism, there is a strong presumption in favor of medicine and the moral legitimacy of altering the natural world for a good purpose, and thus in favor of germline modification. The Jewish discussion of all medical issues is presented, and five Jewish texts that can be used in modifying human genetic structure are then analyzed. The chapter shows that the strong Jewish commitment to medicine argues that genetic manipulation should be engaged to cure or prevent diseases.
Seth L. Sanders
Jonathan Ben-Dov (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479823048
- eISBN:
- 9781479873975
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479823048.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Since the 1990s, Early Modern and Medieval Science in Jewish sources has been actively studied, but the consensus was that no real scientific themes could be found in earlier Judaism. This book ...
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Since the 1990s, Early Modern and Medieval Science in Jewish sources has been actively studied, but the consensus was that no real scientific themes could be found in earlier Judaism. This book points them out in detail, and posits a new field of research: the scientific activity evident in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Jewish Pseudepigrapha. The publication of new texts and new analyses of older ones reveals crucial elements that are best illuminated by the history of science, and may have interesting consequences for it. The book attempts to account for scientific themes in Second Temple Judaism. It investigates the meaning and purpose of scientific explorations in an apocalyptic setting. An appreciation of these topics paves the way to a renewed understanding of the scientific fragments scattered throughout rabbinic literature. The book first places the Jewish material in the ancient context of the Near Eastern and Hellenistic worlds. While the Jewish texts were not on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, they find a meaningful place in the history of science, between Babylonia and Egypt, in the time period between Hipparchus and Ptolemy. The book uses recent advances in method to examine the contacts and networks of Jewish scholars in their ancient setting. Second, the book tackles the problematic concept of a national scientific tradition. It explores the tension between the hegemony of central scientific traditions and local scientific enterprises.Less
Since the 1990s, Early Modern and Medieval Science in Jewish sources has been actively studied, but the consensus was that no real scientific themes could be found in earlier Judaism. This book points them out in detail, and posits a new field of research: the scientific activity evident in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Jewish Pseudepigrapha. The publication of new texts and new analyses of older ones reveals crucial elements that are best illuminated by the history of science, and may have interesting consequences for it. The book attempts to account for scientific themes in Second Temple Judaism. It investigates the meaning and purpose of scientific explorations in an apocalyptic setting. An appreciation of these topics paves the way to a renewed understanding of the scientific fragments scattered throughout rabbinic literature. The book first places the Jewish material in the ancient context of the Near Eastern and Hellenistic worlds. While the Jewish texts were not on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, they find a meaningful place in the history of science, between Babylonia and Egypt, in the time period between Hipparchus and Ptolemy. The book uses recent advances in method to examine the contacts and networks of Jewish scholars in their ancient setting. Second, the book tackles the problematic concept of a national scientific tradition. It explores the tension between the hegemony of central scientific traditions and local scientific enterprises.
Menachem Kellner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113294
- eISBN:
- 9781800340381
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113294.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter addresses the question of what holiness is. This question has very rarely been asked of Jewish texts, perhaps because the notion of holiness is so pervasive in Judaism that asking Jewish ...
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This chapter addresses the question of what holiness is. This question has very rarely been asked of Jewish texts, perhaps because the notion of holiness is so pervasive in Judaism that asking Jewish texts about the nature of holiness is like asking fish about the nature of water. Maimonides held a different view of holiness. Holiness is the name given to a certain class of people, objects, times, and places which the Torah marks off. According to this view, holiness is a status, not a quality of existence. This sort of holiness does not reflect objective reality; it helps constitute social reality. Holy places, persons, times, and objects are indubitably holy, and must be treated with all due respect, but they are, in and of themselves, like all other places, persons, times, and objects. What is different about them is the way in which the Torah commands that they be treated. Their sanctity derives from the uses to which they are put; in that sense, it is teleological.Less
This chapter addresses the question of what holiness is. This question has very rarely been asked of Jewish texts, perhaps because the notion of holiness is so pervasive in Judaism that asking Jewish texts about the nature of holiness is like asking fish about the nature of water. Maimonides held a different view of holiness. Holiness is the name given to a certain class of people, objects, times, and places which the Torah marks off. According to this view, holiness is a status, not a quality of existence. This sort of holiness does not reflect objective reality; it helps constitute social reality. Holy places, persons, times, and objects are indubitably holy, and must be treated with all due respect, but they are, in and of themselves, like all other places, persons, times, and objects. What is different about them is the way in which the Torah commands that they be treated. Their sanctity derives from the uses to which they are put; in that sense, it is teleological.
Yaakov Ariel
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814770689
- eISBN:
- 9780814762936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814770689.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter recounts the history of Protestant interest in Jews in the modern era, particularly the precedents and inspirations that have offered a model for evangelical interaction with the Jews. ...
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This chapter recounts the history of Protestant interest in Jews in the modern era, particularly the precedents and inspirations that have offered a model for evangelical interaction with the Jews. Protestant reformers re-evaluated the Christian position toward the Jews, at times following traditional Christian perceptions, and at other times questioning them, renewing their views on Judaism and its position in relation to Christianity. They took a renewed interest in the Jews and in the Hebrew Bible. Some of them, including Martin Luther himself, participated in the Hebraist tradition of the Renaissance and at times developed an appreciation of postbiblical Jewish texts. It was within the ranks of Protestantism, both in the radical left wing of the Reformation and among the mainline thinkers, that a new appreciation developed toward the Jews.Less
This chapter recounts the history of Protestant interest in Jews in the modern era, particularly the precedents and inspirations that have offered a model for evangelical interaction with the Jews. Protestant reformers re-evaluated the Christian position toward the Jews, at times following traditional Christian perceptions, and at other times questioning them, renewing their views on Judaism and its position in relation to Christianity. They took a renewed interest in the Jews and in the Hebrew Bible. Some of them, including Martin Luther himself, participated in the Hebraist tradition of the Renaissance and at times developed an appreciation of postbiblical Jewish texts. It was within the ranks of Protestantism, both in the radical left wing of the Reformation and among the mainline thinkers, that a new appreciation developed toward the Jews.
Moshe Idel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300126266
- eISBN:
- 9780300155877
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300126266.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter aims to show that, although all three main kabbalistic models, the ecstatic, the theosophical-theurgical, and the magical, were well represented in kabbalistic literatures available in ...
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This chapter aims to show that, although all three main kabbalistic models, the ecstatic, the theosophical-theurgical, and the magical, were well represented in kabbalistic literatures available in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century, the spectrum of Jewish texts dealing with mystical topics was much more variegated. In addition to these literatures, there were extensive writings concerned with two other forms of spirituality. Their impact may have been less profound than that exercised by kabbalistic literature, but nevertheless they should not be ignored. The earliest form of Jewish mystical literature, the so-called Heikhalot literature stemming from late antiquity, had been preserved mostly by the Ashkenazi Pietists. Another form of medieval Jewish mysticism, which was relatively widespread in Laurentian Florence, was that of Hasidei Ashkenaz.Less
This chapter aims to show that, although all three main kabbalistic models, the ecstatic, the theosophical-theurgical, and the magical, were well represented in kabbalistic literatures available in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century, the spectrum of Jewish texts dealing with mystical topics was much more variegated. In addition to these literatures, there were extensive writings concerned with two other forms of spirituality. Their impact may have been less profound than that exercised by kabbalistic literature, but nevertheless they should not be ignored. The earliest form of Jewish mystical literature, the so-called Heikhalot literature stemming from late antiquity, had been preserved mostly by the Ashkenazi Pietists. Another form of medieval Jewish mysticism, which was relatively widespread in Laurentian Florence, was that of Hasidei Ashkenaz.
Tova Hartman and Charlie Buckholtz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199337439
- eISBN:
- 9780199362370
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199337439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religion and Literature
This volume offers a rereading of several canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy using devoted resistance as the interpretative lens. These include the stories of Isaac and Iphigenia who ...
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This volume offers a rereading of several canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy using devoted resistance as the interpretative lens. These include the stories of Isaac and Iphigenia who were used as exemplars of a total and unyielding commitment to the values of God and country, the Talmudic “Snake Oven” story, which is considered by many as a triumphant source-text for human autonomy as a Jewish religious value, the iconic Talmudic figure Beruriah and the biblical figure of Hannah, who was elevated by the Talmud into a central paradigm for Jewish prayer. These stories highlight the ways in which cultural heroes can distort key parts of themselves and their traditions in the name of tradition itself. This volume explains the tendency of carriers of culture to enshrine authoritative voices in the collective imagination through their selection of canonical stories and to stigmatize and marginalize traditions seen as standing in opposition to the dominant system. It also discusses the effectiveness of devoted resistance as a literary interpretative tool in allowing us to hear the voices of people who have been marginalized, and yet ultimately preserved, by the often brutal mechanisms of cultural authority.Less
This volume offers a rereading of several canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy using devoted resistance as the interpretative lens. These include the stories of Isaac and Iphigenia who were used as exemplars of a total and unyielding commitment to the values of God and country, the Talmudic “Snake Oven” story, which is considered by many as a triumphant source-text for human autonomy as a Jewish religious value, the iconic Talmudic figure Beruriah and the biblical figure of Hannah, who was elevated by the Talmud into a central paradigm for Jewish prayer. These stories highlight the ways in which cultural heroes can distort key parts of themselves and their traditions in the name of tradition itself. This volume explains the tendency of carriers of culture to enshrine authoritative voices in the collective imagination through their selection of canonical stories and to stigmatize and marginalize traditions seen as standing in opposition to the dominant system. It also discusses the effectiveness of devoted resistance as a literary interpretative tool in allowing us to hear the voices of people who have been marginalized, and yet ultimately preserved, by the often brutal mechanisms of cultural authority.
Nicholas Horsfall
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198863861
- eISBN:
- 9780191896187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198863861.003.0039
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This paper examines the question of Virgil’s Jewish sources, whether present or absent. It does not pretend to offer a new or decisive answer, whether for Buc. 4 or for Aen. 6, but is hoped to have ...
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This paper examines the question of Virgil’s Jewish sources, whether present or absent. It does not pretend to offer a new or decisive answer, whether for Buc. 4 or for Aen. 6, but is hoped to have made some progress in understanding the cultural context in which the question(s) of influence should be studied. The Greco-Jewish texts at the centre of this paper were certainly a rarity, an oddity at Rome, but the textual evidence that there had been cultural contact between the Jewish and Roman literary traditions is very strong, and the existence of a cultural context in Rome which could account for fruitful contacts proves unexpectedly easy to sketch. If the balance of probability in the old debate over Virgil and the Jews should be thought to have shifted slightly, that would be a real step forward.Less
This paper examines the question of Virgil’s Jewish sources, whether present or absent. It does not pretend to offer a new or decisive answer, whether for Buc. 4 or for Aen. 6, but is hoped to have made some progress in understanding the cultural context in which the question(s) of influence should be studied. The Greco-Jewish texts at the centre of this paper were certainly a rarity, an oddity at Rome, but the textual evidence that there had been cultural contact between the Jewish and Roman literary traditions is very strong, and the existence of a cultural context in Rome which could account for fruitful contacts proves unexpectedly easy to sketch. If the balance of probability in the old debate over Virgil and the Jews should be thought to have shifted slightly, that would be a real step forward.
Tova Hartman and Charlie Buckholtz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199337439
- eISBN:
- 9780199362370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199337439.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religion and Literature
This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about the devoted resistance of supporting characters in canonical stories. This volume presents a rereading of several iconic ...
More
This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about the devoted resistance of supporting characters in canonical stories. This volume presents a rereading of several iconic Jewish texts and one Greek tragedy with significant similarities to a Jewish work. These works were chosen for this study because some of the more nuanced cultural messages they carry within them have been missed by other readers. This volume also suggests that many of the cultural values embedded within these stories are animated, highlighted, sharpened, and nuanced through narratives concerning personal relationships between characters in positions of cultural dominance and less powerful or supporting characters.Less
This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about the devoted resistance of supporting characters in canonical stories. This volume presents a rereading of several iconic Jewish texts and one Greek tragedy with significant similarities to a Jewish work. These works were chosen for this study because some of the more nuanced cultural messages they carry within them have been missed by other readers. This volume also suggests that many of the cultural values embedded within these stories are animated, highlighted, sharpened, and nuanced through narratives concerning personal relationships between characters in positions of cultural dominance and less powerful or supporting characters.
Tova Hartman and Charlie Buckholtz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199337439
- eISBN:
- 9780199362370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199337439.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religion and Literature
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the devoted resistance of some supporting characters in canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy. It argues that the use of the ...
More
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the devoted resistance of some supporting characters in canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy. It argues that the use of the interpretive lens of devoted resistance allows the critical relational voice of supporting characters to be detected in central canonical stories and characters of Jewish tradition. It highlights the recurring motif of supporting characters critiquing culture heroes and even stripping them of their authority, their status, and their names. This chapter concludes that devoted resistance complicates the legacies of all the canonical supporting characters examined in this study and holds the potential to complicate others.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the devoted resistance of some supporting characters in canonical stories in Jewish texts and Greek tragedy. It argues that the use of the interpretive lens of devoted resistance allows the critical relational voice of supporting characters to be detected in central canonical stories and characters of Jewish tradition. It highlights the recurring motif of supporting characters critiquing culture heroes and even stripping them of their authority, their status, and their names. This chapter concludes that devoted resistance complicates the legacies of all the canonical supporting characters examined in this study and holds the potential to complicate others.