Richard Kalmin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784998
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306198.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in the 3rd through 6th centuries CE, by rabbis living under Sasanian Persian rule in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What kind of society did ...
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The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in the 3rd through 6th centuries CE, by rabbis living under Sasanian Persian rule in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What kind of society did these rabbis inhabit? What effect did that society have on important rabbinic texts? This book offers a re-examination of rabbinic culture of late antique Babylonia. It shows how this culture was shaped in part by Persia on the one hand, and by Roman Palestine on the other. The mid 4th century CE in Jewish Babylonia was a period of particularly intense “Palestinianization,” at the same time that the Mesopotamian and east Persian Christian communities were undergoing a period of intense “Syrianization.” The book argues that these closely related processes were accelerated by 3rd-century Persian conquests deep into Roman territory, which resulted in the resettlement of thousands of Christian and Jewish inhabitants of the eastern Roman provinces in Persian Mesopotamia, eastern Syria, and western Persia, profoundly altering the cultural landscape for centuries to come. The book also offers new interpretations of several fascinating rabbinic texts of late antiquity. It also demonstrates how Babylonian rabbis interacted with the non-rabbinic Jewish world, often in the form of the incorporation of centuries-old non-rabbinic Jewish texts into the developing Talmud, rather than via the encounter with actual non-rabbinic Jews in the streets and marketplaces of Babylonia.Less
The Babylonian Talmud was compiled in the 3rd through 6th centuries CE, by rabbis living under Sasanian Persian rule in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. What kind of society did these rabbis inhabit? What effect did that society have on important rabbinic texts? This book offers a re-examination of rabbinic culture of late antique Babylonia. It shows how this culture was shaped in part by Persia on the one hand, and by Roman Palestine on the other. The mid 4th century CE in Jewish Babylonia was a period of particularly intense “Palestinianization,” at the same time that the Mesopotamian and east Persian Christian communities were undergoing a period of intense “Syrianization.” The book argues that these closely related processes were accelerated by 3rd-century Persian conquests deep into Roman territory, which resulted in the resettlement of thousands of Christian and Jewish inhabitants of the eastern Roman provinces in Persian Mesopotamia, eastern Syria, and western Persia, profoundly altering the cultural landscape for centuries to come. The book also offers new interpretations of several fascinating rabbinic texts of late antiquity. It also demonstrates how Babylonian rabbis interacted with the non-rabbinic Jewish world, often in the form of the incorporation of centuries-old non-rabbinic Jewish texts into the developing Talmud, rather than via the encounter with actual non-rabbinic Jews in the streets and marketplaces of Babylonia.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed ...
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This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. This book argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis‘ self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud, produced in the rabbinic academies of late ancient Mesopotamia, the book analyzes key passages to show how the Talmud's creators contrasted their own voice with that of their predecessors. It also examines Zoroastrian, Christian, and mystical Jewish sources to reconstruct the debates and wide-ranging conversations that shaped the Talmud's literary and intellectual character.Less
This book offers a new perspective on perhaps the most important religious text of the Jewish tradition. It is widely recognized that the creators of the Talmud innovatively interpreted and changed the older traditions on which they drew. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that the ancient rabbis were committed to maintaining continuity with the past. This book argues on the contrary that structural features of the Talmud were designed to produce a discontinuity with tradition, and that this discontinuity was part and parcel of the rabbis‘ self-conception. Both this self-conception and these structural features were part of a debate within and beyond the Jewish community about the transmission of tradition. Focusing on the Babylonian Talmud, produced in the rabbinic academies of late ancient Mesopotamia, the book analyzes key passages to show how the Talmud's creators contrasted their own voice with that of their predecessors. It also examines Zoroastrian, Christian, and mystical Jewish sources to reconstruct the debates and wide-ranging conversations that shaped the Talmud's literary and intellectual character.
Alexander Samely
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199296736
- eISBN:
- 9780191712067
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296736.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book surveys the corpus of rabbinic literature, which was written in Hebrew and Aramaic about 1,500 years ago and which contains the foundations of Judaism, in particular the Talmud. The ...
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This book surveys the corpus of rabbinic literature, which was written in Hebrew and Aramaic about 1,500 years ago and which contains the foundations of Judaism, in particular the Talmud. The rabbinic works are introduced in groups, illustrated by shorter and longer passages, and described according to their literary structures and genres. Tables and summaries provide short information on key topics: the individual works and their nature, the recurrent literary forms which are used widely in different works, techniques of rabbinic Bible interpretation, and discourse strategies of the Talmud. Key topics of current research into the texts are addressed: their relationship to each other, their unity, their ambiguous and ‘unsystematic’ character, and their roots in oral tradition. The book explains why the character of the texts is crucial to an understanding of rabbinic thought, and why they pose specific problems to modern, Western-educated readers.Less
This book surveys the corpus of rabbinic literature, which was written in Hebrew and Aramaic about 1,500 years ago and which contains the foundations of Judaism, in particular the Talmud. The rabbinic works are introduced in groups, illustrated by shorter and longer passages, and described according to their literary structures and genres. Tables and summaries provide short information on key topics: the individual works and their nature, the recurrent literary forms which are used widely in different works, techniques of rabbinic Bible interpretation, and discourse strategies of the Talmud. Key topics of current research into the texts are addressed: their relationship to each other, their unity, their ambiguous and ‘unsystematic’ character, and their roots in oral tradition. The book explains why the character of the texts is crucial to an understanding of rabbinic thought, and why they pose specific problems to modern, Western-educated readers.
Arie Morgenstern
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305784
- eISBN:
- 9780199784820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305787.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to ...
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Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to 1840 C.E. The firmly entrenched belief appears in documents from throughout the Jewish world: Persia and Kurdistan, Morocco, the Land of Israel, Eastern Europe (Hasidic and non-Hasidic alike), and Western Europe. The documents are relatively few, given the Jews’ reluctance to discuss such matters in writing, but it appears as well in accounts by Christian missionaries of their conversations with Jews in most of those areas.Less
Various End-reckonings, based on both the Talmud and the Zohar, led to the conclusion that the Messiah would appear in 5600 A.M. (the six-hundredth year of the sixth millennium), corresponding to 1840 C.E. The firmly entrenched belief appears in documents from throughout the Jewish world: Persia and Kurdistan, Morocco, the Land of Israel, Eastern Europe (Hasidic and non-Hasidic alike), and Western Europe. The documents are relatively few, given the Jews’ reluctance to discuss such matters in writing, but it appears as well in accounts by Christian missionaries of their conversations with Jews in most of those areas.
Richard Kalmin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306198.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter argues that Persian attitudes and practices with regard to idols and idol worship had a significant impact on Babylonia, constituting another respect in which Babylonia was more Persian ...
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This chapter argues that Persian attitudes and practices with regard to idols and idol worship had a significant impact on Babylonia, constituting another respect in which Babylonia was more Persian than Roman during the period under discussion. Specifically, it is argued that the Babylonian Talmud attests to a distinction between Parthian and Sasanian Babylonia that corresponds to and provides a measure of confirmation of scholarly claims regarding the different policies of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties with respect to idols.Less
This chapter argues that Persian attitudes and practices with regard to idols and idol worship had a significant impact on Babylonia, constituting another respect in which Babylonia was more Persian than Roman during the period under discussion. Specifically, it is argued that the Babylonian Talmud attests to a distinction between Parthian and Sasanian Babylonia that corresponds to and provides a measure of confirmation of scholarly claims regarding the different policies of the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties with respect to idols.
Richard Kalmin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195306194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195306198.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter attempts to exemplify the contention first presented in the introduction that significant aspects of the history of the Jews of late antiquity will have to be rewritten once the latest ...
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This chapter attempts to exemplify the contention first presented in the introduction that significant aspects of the history of the Jews of late antiquity will have to be rewritten once the latest developments in Talmud text criticism are taken into account. Although these developments greatly complicate the historian's task, they add depth and subtlety to the historian's arguments and ensure that conclusions rest on a firmer literary foundation. Among the more significant findings will be the discovery that there is less reason than earlier scholars thought to view early Babylonian rabbis as important players in the Jewish community's interactions with the Persian government. The chapter strengthens and adds subtlety to one of the central arguments of this book: that the Babylonian Talmud tends to portray Babylonian rabbis as inward-looking, with the study house to a significant extent the sum total of their experience, even in situations where it had been the consensus of earlier scholarship that they served as the pre-eminent leaders of the Jewish community.Less
This chapter attempts to exemplify the contention first presented in the introduction that significant aspects of the history of the Jews of late antiquity will have to be rewritten once the latest developments in Talmud text criticism are taken into account. Although these developments greatly complicate the historian's task, they add depth and subtlety to the historian's arguments and ensure that conclusions rest on a firmer literary foundation. Among the more significant findings will be the discovery that there is less reason than earlier scholars thought to view early Babylonian rabbis as important players in the Jewish community's interactions with the Persian government. The chapter strengthens and adds subtlety to one of the central arguments of this book: that the Babylonian Talmud tends to portray Babylonian rabbis as inward-looking, with the study house to a significant extent the sum total of their experience, even in situations where it had been the consensus of earlier scholarship that they served as the pre-eminent leaders of the Jewish community.
Alexander Samely
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199296736
- eISBN:
- 9780191712067
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296736.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines the literary features in the Babylonian Talmud. The Gemara's use of earlier rabbinic voices appears partly carefully orchestrated and partly merely accumulative. The lemmatic ...
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This chapter examines the literary features in the Babylonian Talmud. The Gemara's use of earlier rabbinic voices appears partly carefully orchestrated and partly merely accumulative. The lemmatic division which defines the Gemara as a commentary of sorts on the Mishnah is described, the dialectical conversation which gives it its ‘talmudic’ flavour is analyzed, and some recurrent drills by which the Gemara interprets the Mishnah are listed. The way in which the Gemara suggests that the statements it quotes were historically connected, while presenting itself in an unbounded diversity of form and contents, is discussed.Less
This chapter examines the literary features in the Babylonian Talmud. The Gemara's use of earlier rabbinic voices appears partly carefully orchestrated and partly merely accumulative. The lemmatic division which defines the Gemara as a commentary of sorts on the Mishnah is described, the dialectical conversation which gives it its ‘talmudic’ flavour is analyzed, and some recurrent drills by which the Gemara interprets the Mishnah are listed. The way in which the Gemara suggests that the statements it quotes were historically connected, while presenting itself in an unbounded diversity of form and contents, is discussed.
Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, Yehudah Cohn, and Fergus Millar
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265222
- eISBN:
- 9780191771873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265222.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter describes the following Talmudic texts: the Mishnah; the Tosefta; the Talmud Yerushalmi/Palestinian Talmud; the Talmud Bavli/Babylonian Talmud; Minor Tractates; and external tractates ...
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This chapter describes the following Talmudic texts: the Mishnah; the Tosefta; the Talmud Yerushalmi/Palestinian Talmud; the Talmud Bavli/Babylonian Talmud; Minor Tractates; and external tractates (Tractate Derekh Erets Zuta and Pereq HaShalom, Tractate Derekh Erets Rabbah, Tractate Kallah, Kallah Rabbati, Tractate Soferim, Tractate Semaṭot, Avot DeRabbi Natan and (Sefer) HaMaasim). For each of these texts, details on the contents, dating, language, printed editions, translations, commentaries, bibliography, electronic resources and manuscripts are provided.Less
This chapter describes the following Talmudic texts: the Mishnah; the Tosefta; the Talmud Yerushalmi/Palestinian Talmud; the Talmud Bavli/Babylonian Talmud; Minor Tractates; and external tractates (Tractate Derekh Erets Zuta and Pereq HaShalom, Tractate Derekh Erets Rabbah, Tractate Kallah, Kallah Rabbati, Tractate Soferim, Tractate Semaṭot, Avot DeRabbi Natan and (Sefer) HaMaasim). For each of these texts, details on the contents, dating, language, printed editions, translations, commentaries, bibliography, electronic resources and manuscripts are provided.
Jonathan Klawans
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195162639
- eISBN:
- 9780199785254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162639.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines an array of rabbinic sources concerning the temple, including Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud, drawing a number of contrasts with Qumran literature in particular. The Rabbis seem ...
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This chapter examines an array of rabbinic sources concerning the temple, including Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud, drawing a number of contrasts with Qumran literature in particular. The Rabbis seem to agree with the sectarians that the temple was flawed, recalling instances of priestly greed, theft, and even murder. But the rabbis downplay the moral defilement of the temple and deny to the end that the temple was ritually defiled to any significant degree before its destruction by Romans in 70 CE. Unlike the sectarians, the rabbis took a stance toward the temple and its purity that was less idealistic, but more practical and permissive.Less
This chapter examines an array of rabbinic sources concerning the temple, including Mishnah, Midrash, and Talmud, drawing a number of contrasts with Qumran literature in particular. The Rabbis seem to agree with the sectarians that the temple was flawed, recalling instances of priestly greed, theft, and even murder. But the rabbis downplay the moral defilement of the temple and deny to the end that the temple was ritually defiled to any significant degree before its destruction by Romans in 70 CE. Unlike the sectarians, the rabbis took a stance toward the temple and its purity that was less idealistic, but more practical and permissive.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines the historical development of the anonymous layer, complicating the notion that the division in style and function between the stam and the traditions reflects a difference in ...
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This chapter examines the historical development of the anonymous layer, complicating the notion that the division in style and function between the stam and the traditions reflects a difference in provenance between two corpora. Instead, it argues that the Babylonian Talmud's creators produced both the anonymous layer and the cited traditions, or better, the division between them. This division is not simply a reflection of the different dating of these elements; it was, rather, constructed and imposed by the Bavli on earlier structures and sources. The chapter compares a sugya preserved in the Palestinian Talmud as well as in the Babylonian Talmud. In the earlier, Palestinian version, attributed traditions are employed both for interpretive, narrating functions and for apodictic rulings and brief exegetical comments. The Bavli reorganizes the sugya to create a distinction in function, dividing the material between two layers: a narrating, interpretive, discursive anonymous layer, and a layer of brief, non-discursive, attributed rulings.Less
This chapter examines the historical development of the anonymous layer, complicating the notion that the division in style and function between the stam and the traditions reflects a difference in provenance between two corpora. Instead, it argues that the Babylonian Talmud's creators produced both the anonymous layer and the cited traditions, or better, the division between them. This division is not simply a reflection of the different dating of these elements; it was, rather, constructed and imposed by the Bavli on earlier structures and sources. The chapter compares a sugya preserved in the Palestinian Talmud as well as in the Babylonian Talmud. In the earlier, Palestinian version, attributed traditions are employed both for interpretive, narrating functions and for apodictic rulings and brief exegetical comments. The Bavli reorganizes the sugya to create a distinction in function, dividing the material between two layers: a narrating, interpretive, discursive anonymous layer, and a layer of brief, non-discursive, attributed rulings.
George P. Fletcher
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195156287
- eISBN:
- 9780199872169
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195156285.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the influence of religious ideas on legal values and experience, citing examples from religious law (especially Jewish law and the Talmud), the French civil code, and the ...
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This chapter discusses the influence of religious ideas on legal values and experience, citing examples from religious law (especially Jewish law and the Talmud), the French civil code, and the German Constitution. The idea of law as a path to redemption for a people or nation is examined. The author points out that he considers the “original intent” of the framers of the Constitution (and its subsequent Amendments) irrelevant for the purposes of this book's analysis.Less
This chapter discusses the influence of religious ideas on legal values and experience, citing examples from religious law (especially Jewish law and the Talmud), the French civil code, and the German Constitution. The idea of law as a path to redemption for a people or nation is examined. The author points out that he considers the “original intent” of the framers of the Constitution (and its subsequent Amendments) irrelevant for the purposes of this book's analysis.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328806
- eISBN:
- 9780199870196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328806.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The Beit El circles, from their inception to the present, have seen themselves as practicing the most essential and avant‐garde form of Judaism. To this end, the Beit El tradition developed specific ...
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The Beit El circles, from their inception to the present, have seen themselves as practicing the most essential and avant‐garde form of Judaism. To this end, the Beit El tradition developed specific models of behavior for its adepts. The contemporary Jerusalem kabbalist Yaʾakov Moshe Hillel has presented a revamped set of rules for the aspiring acolyte. There is an inherent tension in the role of the kabbalist in the community, as Beit El acolytes are drawn from an economic and social cross section of the Israeli religious community. In urban areas, the kabbalists live as mendicant pietists supported by the largesse of the public. Hillel also is compelled to resolve the role of the Yeshivah in the milieu of ultra‐orthodox Jerusalem, particularly the relationship to Talmud study, which is an article of power in the economic life of that community. Insofar as the kavvanot practice of Beit El is the apex of prayer, the kabbalists also have an ambivalent relationship to exoteric prayer.Less
The Beit El circles, from their inception to the present, have seen themselves as practicing the most essential and avant‐garde form of Judaism. To this end, the Beit El tradition developed specific models of behavior for its adepts. The contemporary Jerusalem kabbalist Yaʾakov Moshe Hillel has presented a revamped set of rules for the aspiring acolyte. There is an inherent tension in the role of the kabbalist in the community, as Beit El acolytes are drawn from an economic and social cross section of the Israeli religious community. In urban areas, the kabbalists live as mendicant pietists supported by the largesse of the public. Hillel also is compelled to resolve the role of the Yeshivah in the milieu of ultra‐orthodox Jerusalem, particularly the relationship to Talmud study, which is an article of power in the economic life of that community. Insofar as the kavvanot practice of Beit El is the apex of prayer, the kabbalists also have an ambivalent relationship to exoteric prayer.
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, which shifted the religious leadership within the Jewish community and transformed Judaism from a cult based on ritual sacrifices in the temple to a religion whose main norm required every Jewish man to read and to study the Torah in Hebrew and to send his sons from the age of six or seven to primary school or synagogue to learn to do so. The implementation of this new religious norm during the Talmud era determined three major patterns in Jewish history: the growth and spread of literacy among the predominantly rural Jewish population, a comparative advantage in urban skilled occupations, and the voluntary diaspora of the Jews in search of worldwide opportunities in crafts, trade, commerce, moneylending, banking, finance, and medicine.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Jews' transition into urban and skilled occupations. This transition was the outcome of a profound transformation of the Jewish religion after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, which shifted the religious leadership within the Jewish community and transformed Judaism from a cult based on ritual sacrifices in the temple to a religion whose main norm required every Jewish man to read and to study the Torah in Hebrew and to send his sons from the age of six or seven to primary school or synagogue to learn to do so. The implementation of this new religious norm during the Talmud era determined three major patterns in Jewish history: the growth and spread of literacy among the predominantly rural Jewish population, a comparative advantage in urban skilled occupations, and the voluntary diaspora of the Jews in search of worldwide opportunities in crafts, trade, commerce, moneylending, banking, finance, and medicine.
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines the arguments set forth to explain why the Jews became a population of skilled craftsmen, traders, bankers, and physicians and why they created a worldwide urban diaspora. These ...
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This chapter examines the arguments set forth to explain why the Jews became a population of skilled craftsmen, traders, bankers, and physicians and why they created a worldwide urban diaspora. These arguments are grouped into two main categories: ones that highlight exogenous factors (discrimination, restrictions, persecutions, massacres) and ones that emphasize endogenous choices (voluntary self-segregation in order to maintain religious rites, voluntary migration to cities to preserve group identity). The chapter then presents the thesis that in a world populated by illiterate people, the ability to read and write contracts, business letters, and account books using a common alphabet gave the Jews a comparative advantage over other people. The Jews also developed a uniform code of law (the Talmud) and a set of institutions (rabbinic courts, the responsa) that fostered contract enforcement, networking, and arbitrage across distant locations. Thus, high levels of literacy and the existence of contract-enforcement institutions became the levers of the Jewish people.Less
This chapter examines the arguments set forth to explain why the Jews became a population of skilled craftsmen, traders, bankers, and physicians and why they created a worldwide urban diaspora. These arguments are grouped into two main categories: ones that highlight exogenous factors (discrimination, restrictions, persecutions, massacres) and ones that emphasize endogenous choices (voluntary self-segregation in order to maintain religious rites, voluntary migration to cities to preserve group identity). The chapter then presents the thesis that in a world populated by illiterate people, the ability to read and write contracts, business letters, and account books using a common alphabet gave the Jews a comparative advantage over other people. The Jews also developed a uniform code of law (the Talmud) and a set of institutions (rabbinic courts, the responsa) that fostered contract enforcement, networking, and arbitrage across distant locations. Thus, high levels of literacy and the existence of contract-enforcement institutions became the levers of the Jewish people.
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter shows that the implications of the economic theory in the previous chapter are consistent with what happened to the Jewish people during the five centuries following the destruction of ...
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This chapter shows that the implications of the economic theory in the previous chapter are consistent with what happened to the Jewish people during the five centuries following the destruction of the Second Temple. An impressive body of evidence from both the Talmud and archaeological discoveries indicates that during the Talmudic period, Jews in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia began obeying the religious obligation to educate their sons. Indeed, a larger and larger proportion of Jewish farmers sent their sons to the primary schools located in or near synagogues. As for conversions, many Jewish farmers converted to Christianity during the Talmud era. By embracing Christianity, Jews who converted still maintained their core belief in the existence of one God and the pillar of the Written Torah but were no longer obliged to obey the religious laws and tenets of Judaism, including the costly norm requiring fathers to educate their sons.Less
This chapter shows that the implications of the economic theory in the previous chapter are consistent with what happened to the Jewish people during the five centuries following the destruction of the Second Temple. An impressive body of evidence from both the Talmud and archaeological discoveries indicates that during the Talmudic period, Jews in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia began obeying the religious obligation to educate their sons. Indeed, a larger and larger proportion of Jewish farmers sent their sons to the primary schools located in or near synagogues. As for conversions, many Jewish farmers converted to Christianity during the Talmud era. By embracing Christianity, Jews who converted still maintained their core belief in the existence of one God and the pillar of the Written Torah but were no longer obliged to obey the religious laws and tenets of Judaism, including the costly norm requiring fathers to educate their sons.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153902
- eISBN:
- 9781400842285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153902.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear ...
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This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear evidence that certain rabbis felt attracted to the idea of a second divine figure, enjoying equal rights with God. The angry rejection of this idea by other rabbis demonstrates that such “heretical” ideas gained a foothold within the rabbinic fold of Babylonian Jewry. The Bavli's Daniel exegesis finds its counterpart in the David Apocalypse, which gives an elaborate description of the elevated David and his worship in heaven. This unique piece is structurally similar to the elevation of the Lamb (that is, Jesus Christ) in the New Testament Book of Revelation and can be interpreted as a response to the New Testament.Less
This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear evidence that certain rabbis felt attracted to the idea of a second divine figure, enjoying equal rights with God. The angry rejection of this idea by other rabbis demonstrates that such “heretical” ideas gained a foothold within the rabbinic fold of Babylonian Jewry. The Bavli's Daniel exegesis finds its counterpart in the David Apocalypse, which gives an elaborate description of the elevated David and his worship in heaven. This unique piece is structurally similar to the elevation of the Lamb (that is, Jesus Christ) in the New Testament Book of Revelation and can be interpreted as a response to the New Testament.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153902
- eISBN:
- 9781400842285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153902.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter focuses on Metatron, that enigmatic figure assuming the title “Lesser God.” It begins with an analysis of a midrash transmitted only in the Bavli, in which Rav Idith—a Babylonian amora ...
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This chapter focuses on Metatron, that enigmatic figure assuming the title “Lesser God.” It begins with an analysis of a midrash transmitted only in the Bavli, in which Rav Idith—a Babylonian amora of the fourth or fifth century—deflects the fierce attacks of certain heretics who insist on assigning Metatron divine status. No doubt, the notion of a second divine power alongside that of God has gained followers among the Babylonian Jews. In order to substantiate this claim, the chapter surveys all the relevant Metatron passages preserved in rabbinic literature. It turns out that almost all of them are found either in the Babylonian Talmud or in the Hekhalot literature, most notably in 3 Enoch. The Metatron of the Bavli and the Hekhalot literature is a deliberate response on the part of the Babylonian Jews to the challenges posed by Christianity.Less
This chapter focuses on Metatron, that enigmatic figure assuming the title “Lesser God.” It begins with an analysis of a midrash transmitted only in the Bavli, in which Rav Idith—a Babylonian amora of the fourth or fifth century—deflects the fierce attacks of certain heretics who insist on assigning Metatron divine status. No doubt, the notion of a second divine power alongside that of God has gained followers among the Babylonian Jews. In order to substantiate this claim, the chapter surveys all the relevant Metatron passages preserved in rabbinic literature. It turns out that almost all of them are found either in the Babylonian Talmud or in the Hekhalot literature, most notably in 3 Enoch. The Metatron of the Bavli and the Hekhalot literature is a deliberate response on the part of the Babylonian Jews to the challenges posed by Christianity.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153902
- eISBN:
- 9781400842285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153902.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter discusses the emergence of “Christianity” from “Judaism,” examining a famous midrash in the Jerusalem Talmud about the disappearance of the newborn Messiah. Instead of tracking the more ...
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This chapter discusses the emergence of “Christianity” from “Judaism,” examining a famous midrash in the Jerusalem Talmud about the disappearance of the newborn Messiah. Instead of tracking the more elaborate efforts of differentiation and demarcation, one witnesses an early and archaic attempt to excrete “Christianity” from “Judaism”—yet this is a Christianity that is still regarded as part and parcel of Judaism and at the same time recognized as something that will become Judaism's worst enemy. Hence, this Baby Messiah is simultaneously the Jewish and Christian Messiah, caught at that tragic moment when Judaism was desperately trying to retain the Messiah within its fold but was also vaguely sensing that it would ultimately fail and that a new religion had already been born.Less
This chapter discusses the emergence of “Christianity” from “Judaism,” examining a famous midrash in the Jerusalem Talmud about the disappearance of the newborn Messiah. Instead of tracking the more elaborate efforts of differentiation and demarcation, one witnesses an early and archaic attempt to excrete “Christianity” from “Judaism”—yet this is a Christianity that is still regarded as part and parcel of Judaism and at the same time recognized as something that will become Judaism's worst enemy. Hence, this Baby Messiah is simultaneously the Jewish and Christian Messiah, caught at that tragic moment when Judaism was desperately trying to retain the Messiah within its fold but was also vaguely sensing that it would ultimately fail and that a new religion had already been born.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book examines compositional practices, historical developments, and passages that reveal the way the creators of the Babylonian Talmud (or Bavli) conceived themselves. It complements the ...
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This book examines compositional practices, historical developments, and passages that reveal the way the creators of the Babylonian Talmud (or Bavli) conceived themselves. It complements the continuous creative revision with a freezing of tradition and its containment in a way that produces discontinuity; it complements the fusing of horizons with a literary design that foregrounds one horizon from another. Part I of the book explores the Talmud's literary practice through a close analysis of selected passages, or sugyot. Part II focuses on the Talmud's creators‘ rhetoric of self-presentation and self-definition, arguing that they defined themselves in opposition to those who focused on the transmission of tradition, and that the opposition and hierarchy they created between scholars and transmitters allows us both to understand better the way they conceived of their project as well as to see this project as part of a debate about sacred texts within the Jewish community and more broadly in late ancient Mesopotamia.Less
This book examines compositional practices, historical developments, and passages that reveal the way the creators of the Babylonian Talmud (or Bavli) conceived themselves. It complements the continuous creative revision with a freezing of tradition and its containment in a way that produces discontinuity; it complements the fusing of horizons with a literary design that foregrounds one horizon from another. Part I of the book explores the Talmud's literary practice through a close analysis of selected passages, or sugyot. Part II focuses on the Talmud's creators‘ rhetoric of self-presentation and self-definition, arguing that they defined themselves in opposition to those who focused on the transmission of tradition, and that the opposition and hierarchy they created between scholars and transmitters allows us both to understand better the way they conceived of their project as well as to see this project as part of a debate about sacred texts within the Jewish community and more broadly in late ancient Mesopotamia.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines the famous opening sugya of tractate Bava Qamma to show how the Babylonian Talmud's creators could use an ambitious literary design to highlight the gap between their own words ...
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This chapter examines the famous opening sugya of tractate Bava Qamma to show how the Babylonian Talmud's creators could use an ambitious literary design to highlight the gap between their own words and an Amoraic tradition. This sugya has been used before as an example of the strategies the Talmud's creators employed seamlessly to incorporate tradition to the literary and logical structures they constructed. This chapter suggests the opposite, arguing that the sugya is designed to emphasize the distance between the approach expressed by the stam (the creators‘ anonymous layer) and the approach expressed by the Amoraic dictum that it cites. Far from “hiding” themselves behind tradition or voicing their agenda through it, the authors of the stam become a presence in their own creation.Less
This chapter examines the famous opening sugya of tractate Bava Qamma to show how the Babylonian Talmud's creators could use an ambitious literary design to highlight the gap between their own words and an Amoraic tradition. This sugya has been used before as an example of the strategies the Talmud's creators employed seamlessly to incorporate tradition to the literary and logical structures they constructed. This chapter suggests the opposite, arguing that the sugya is designed to emphasize the distance between the approach expressed by the stam (the creators‘ anonymous layer) and the approach expressed by the Amoraic dictum that it cites. Far from “hiding” themselves behind tradition or voicing their agenda through it, the authors of the stam become a presence in their own creation.
