Richard Harries
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199263134
- eISBN:
- 9780191600616
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199263132.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
There is a tradition in Judaism of a positive attitude towards Christianity as well as a negative one, associated with Maimonides and more recently Leo Baeck, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, William ...
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There is a tradition in Judaism of a positive attitude towards Christianity as well as a negative one, associated with Maimonides and more recently Leo Baeck, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, William Herberg, and Abraham Heschel. More recently, a group of Jewish scholars associated with Dabru Emet have sought to understand some traditional terms such as trinity and incarnation in terms of Jewish ideas.Less
There is a tradition in Judaism of a positive attitude towards Christianity as well as a negative one, associated with Maimonides and more recently Leo Baeck, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, William Herberg, and Abraham Heschel. More recently, a group of Jewish scholars associated with Dabru Emet have sought to understand some traditional terms such as trinity and incarnation in terms of Jewish ideas.
Elliot Wolfson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520246195
- eISBN:
- 9780520932319
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520246195.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western ...
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This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western philosophy is far more intimate and extensive than any previous scholar has ever suggested, the book draws an extraordinary range of thinkers such as Frederic Jameson, Martin Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, William Blake, Julia Kristeva, Friedrich Schelling, and a host of kabbalistic figures into deep conversation with one another. The book discusses Islamic mysticism and Buddhist thought in relation to the Jewish esoteric tradition as it opens the possibility of a temporal triumph of temporality and the conquering of time through time. The framework for this examination is the rabbinic teaching that the word emet, “truth,” comprises the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alef, mem, and tau, which serve, in turn, as semiotic signposts for the three tenses of time—past, present, and future. By heeding the letters of emet we discern the truth of time manifestly concealed in the time of truth, the beginning that cannot begin if it is to be the beginning, the middle that re/marks the place of origin and destiny, and the end that is the figuration of the impossible disclosing the impossibility of figuration, the finitude of death that facilitates the possibility of rebirth. The time of death does not mark the death of time, but time immortal, the moment of truth that bestows on the truth of the moment an endless beginning of a beginningless end, the truth of death encountered incessantly in retracing steps of time yet to be taken—between, before, beyond.Less
This book explores the nexus of time, truth, and death in the symbolic world of medieval kabbalah. Demonstrating that the historical and theoretical relationship between kabbalah and western philosophy is far more intimate and extensive than any previous scholar has ever suggested, the book draws an extraordinary range of thinkers such as Frederic Jameson, Martin Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, William Blake, Julia Kristeva, Friedrich Schelling, and a host of kabbalistic figures into deep conversation with one another. The book discusses Islamic mysticism and Buddhist thought in relation to the Jewish esoteric tradition as it opens the possibility of a temporal triumph of temporality and the conquering of time through time. The framework for this examination is the rabbinic teaching that the word emet, “truth,” comprises the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, alef, mem, and tau, which serve, in turn, as semiotic signposts for the three tenses of time—past, present, and future. By heeding the letters of emet we discern the truth of time manifestly concealed in the time of truth, the beginning that cannot begin if it is to be the beginning, the middle that re/marks the place of origin and destiny, and the end that is the figuration of the impossible disclosing the impossibility of figuration, the finitude of death that facilitates the possibility of rebirth. The time of death does not mark the death of time, but time immortal, the moment of truth that bestows on the truth of the moment an endless beginning of a beginningless end, the truth of death encountered incessantly in retracing steps of time yet to be taken—between, before, beyond.
Vera Schwarcz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838737
- eISBN:
- 9780824868857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838737.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
Starting with Jewish writers such as Avraham Isaac Kook and Haim Nahman Bialik, this chapter explores Chinese and Hebrew expressions for truth. Each has a distinctive connotation, each adds a new ...
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Starting with Jewish writers such as Avraham Isaac Kook and Haim Nahman Bialik, this chapter explores Chinese and Hebrew expressions for truth. Each has a distinctive connotation, each adds a new dimension to the quest for veracity. Emet, in Hebrew for example, suggests a commitment to comprehensive examination of a subject, from A to Z as it were. Zhen, in Chinese, emphasizes the need to reorient the subject’s eye/I and to develop a greater capacity for sincerity. Torah commentaries as well as Chinese classical and modern etymologies are explored to recover an “ear for truth” that has been lost among us moderns.Less
Starting with Jewish writers such as Avraham Isaac Kook and Haim Nahman Bialik, this chapter explores Chinese and Hebrew expressions for truth. Each has a distinctive connotation, each adds a new dimension to the quest for veracity. Emet, in Hebrew for example, suggests a commitment to comprehensive examination of a subject, from A to Z as it were. Zhen, in Chinese, emphasizes the need to reorient the subject’s eye/I and to develop a greater capacity for sincerity. Torah commentaries as well as Chinese classical and modern etymologies are explored to recover an “ear for truth” that has been lost among us moderns.
Vera Schwarcz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838737
- eISBN:
- 9780824868857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838737.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
The Hebrew term for spiritual “service” is used to define the deepest meanings of a quest for truth. Similarly, the symbol of the Menorah enables us to describe the fractured luminosity that is the ...
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The Hebrew term for spiritual “service” is used to define the deepest meanings of a quest for truth. Similarly, the symbol of the Menorah enables us to describe the fractured luminosity that is the humble reward at the end of this quest, as opposed to harsh, total illumination. The reanimation of the old, a slow paced project, also lies at the core of Confucianism. This gradualism is the surest pathway toward veracity. Even an undergraduate once ill at ease with truth-talk finds his way to affirming the importance of seeking truth embedded in the fabric of memory and of the universe itself.Less
The Hebrew term for spiritual “service” is used to define the deepest meanings of a quest for truth. Similarly, the symbol of the Menorah enables us to describe the fractured luminosity that is the humble reward at the end of this quest, as opposed to harsh, total illumination. The reanimation of the old, a slow paced project, also lies at the core of Confucianism. This gradualism is the surest pathway toward veracity. Even an undergraduate once ill at ease with truth-talk finds his way to affirming the importance of seeking truth embedded in the fabric of memory and of the universe itself.
Yoram Jacobson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199959808
- eISBN:
- 9780199366408
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199959808.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter analyzes the Sefat Emet, a late nineteenth-century work that shaped the theology of Gur Hasidism. It identifies the two territorial belongings—the land of Canaan and the land of ...
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This chapter analyzes the Sefat Emet, a late nineteenth-century work that shaped the theology of Gur Hasidism. It identifies the two territorial belongings—the land of Canaan and the land of Israel—as representing two spiritual phases in the process of the redemption of reality. Inspired by the Zoharic Kabbalah and the thought of Maharal of Prague, the Canaan-Israel juxtaposition comes to represent the theosophical dichotomies of natural/supernatural, impure/sanctified, unified/diverse, and so on. The conquest of the land of Canaan was not an actual aggressive act, but rather an act by which the natural, impure, and fragmented conditions of reality were redeemed to become a supernatural, sanctified, and united order. This spiritualized interpretation not only escapes ethical and theological difficulties, but also redefines the relationship between Canaan and Israel as one of reciprocal cooperation within the divine plan and the cosmic order.Less
This chapter analyzes the Sefat Emet, a late nineteenth-century work that shaped the theology of Gur Hasidism. It identifies the two territorial belongings—the land of Canaan and the land of Israel—as representing two spiritual phases in the process of the redemption of reality. Inspired by the Zoharic Kabbalah and the thought of Maharal of Prague, the Canaan-Israel juxtaposition comes to represent the theosophical dichotomies of natural/supernatural, impure/sanctified, unified/diverse, and so on. The conquest of the land of Canaan was not an actual aggressive act, but rather an act by which the natural, impure, and fragmented conditions of reality were redeemed to become a supernatural, sanctified, and united order. This spiritualized interpretation not only escapes ethical and theological difficulties, but also redefines the relationship between Canaan and Israel as one of reciprocal cooperation within the divine plan and the cosmic order.
Aaron Levine
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199826865
- eISBN:
- 9780190261368
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199826865.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
This chapter discusses the economic perspective of a birth right sale between Jacob and Esau using the bilateral monopoly model, explaining that the outcome of the sale will depend on the relative ...
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This chapter discusses the economic perspective of a birth right sale between Jacob and Esau using the bilateral monopoly model, explaining that the outcome of the sale will depend on the relative leverage each party perceives he has over the other. It also presents the application of the bilateral monopoly model in Jewish law that highlights the issues of fairness of price, the ethics of engaging in strategic behavior, and the option of whether to seize or not an opportunity.Less
This chapter discusses the economic perspective of a birth right sale between Jacob and Esau using the bilateral monopoly model, explaining that the outcome of the sale will depend on the relative leverage each party perceives he has over the other. It also presents the application of the bilateral monopoly model in Jewish law that highlights the issues of fairness of price, the ethics of engaging in strategic behavior, and the option of whether to seize or not an opportunity.
Will Kynes
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198777373
- eISBN:
- 9780191823091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198777373.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Despite the undeniable importance of the concept of wisdom to Proverbs, reading the book as Wisdom Literature creates similar problems as it does for Job and Ecclesiastes. The book’s interpretation ...
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Despite the undeniable importance of the concept of wisdom to Proverbs, reading the book as Wisdom Literature creates similar problems as it does for Job and Ecclesiastes. The book’s interpretation profits from better appreciating its complexity, perhaps more so because the obviousness of its Wisdom classification has previously discouraged attempts to do so. The groupings before Wisdom, such as Sifrei Emet and Poetry, provide forgotten nuances. The book’s widespread inclusion in a Solomonic collection invites comparison with the account of that king’s reign in 1 Kings 1–11. The variegated presentation of wisdom in that account associates the concept with political, legal, cultic, and prophetic texts. This intersection of potential genre groupings in 1 Kings 1–11 is also evident in Proverbs. Genres, such as Wisdom, are not “real” and should not restrict the insights from other textual comparisons.Less
Despite the undeniable importance of the concept of wisdom to Proverbs, reading the book as Wisdom Literature creates similar problems as it does for Job and Ecclesiastes. The book’s interpretation profits from better appreciating its complexity, perhaps more so because the obviousness of its Wisdom classification has previously discouraged attempts to do so. The groupings before Wisdom, such as Sifrei Emet and Poetry, provide forgotten nuances. The book’s widespread inclusion in a Solomonic collection invites comparison with the account of that king’s reign in 1 Kings 1–11. The variegated presentation of wisdom in that account associates the concept with political, legal, cultic, and prophetic texts. This intersection of potential genre groupings in 1 Kings 1–11 is also evident in Proverbs. Genres, such as Wisdom, are not “real” and should not restrict the insights from other textual comparisons.
Benjamin Williams
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198759232
- eISBN:
- 9780191819858
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198759232.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Judaism
This chapter examines the editions of Midrash Rabba printed in the sixteenth century, their readership, and the commentaries written to accompany them. It argues that commentators responded to ...
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This chapter examines the editions of Midrash Rabba printed in the sixteenth century, their readership, and the commentaries written to accompany them. It argues that commentators responded to potential difficulties in studying particular printed editions, for instance by providing readers with lists of errata or compiling glosses and corrections for printers to incorporate into reprints. A primary contribution of Abraham ben Asher to the study of midrash was the addition of extensive homiletic discourses to the Venetian text of Midrash Rabba. He thereby sought to guide readers to a correct and detailed appreciation of the sages’ expositions of the Bible.Less
This chapter examines the editions of Midrash Rabba printed in the sixteenth century, their readership, and the commentaries written to accompany them. It argues that commentators responded to potential difficulties in studying particular printed editions, for instance by providing readers with lists of errata or compiling glosses and corrections for printers to incorporate into reprints. A primary contribution of Abraham ben Asher to the study of midrash was the addition of extensive homiletic discourses to the Venetian text of Midrash Rabba. He thereby sought to guide readers to a correct and detailed appreciation of the sages’ expositions of the Bible.
