Martin S. Jaffee
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195140675
- eISBN:
- 9780199834334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140672.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the ...
More
Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the entire rabbinic tradition originated in Sinaitic revelation to Moses as unwritten Torah in the Mouth. Of great comparative interest is the Greco‐Roman tradition of rhetorical education, represented in the tradition of rhetorical textbooks (Progymnasmata), which prized memorization of written texts for exclusively oral performances that included rule‐governed transformations and revisions of texts in the performative setting. The chapter examines Amoraic traditions of Byzantine Galilee (the Palestinian Talmud, Midrash Tanhuma, Midrash Pesiqta Rabbati) for evidence that they were mastered from written versions and intentionally revised in performative settings. From this comparative perspective, the chapter concludes that the rabbinic conception of Torah in the Mouth is designed to legitimate the authority of the sage in the setting of discipleship training.Less
Explores the connection between the presence of written versions of rabbinic tradition and the emergence among Galilean sages of the third century c.e. of an explicit ideological claim that the entire rabbinic tradition originated in Sinaitic revelation to Moses as unwritten Torah in the Mouth. Of great comparative interest is the Greco‐Roman tradition of rhetorical education, represented in the tradition of rhetorical textbooks (Progymnasmata), which prized memorization of written texts for exclusively oral performances that included rule‐governed transformations and revisions of texts in the performative setting. The chapter examines Amoraic traditions of Byzantine Galilee (the Palestinian Talmud, Midrash Tanhuma, Midrash Pesiqta Rabbati) for evidence that they were mastered from written versions and intentionally revised in performative settings. From this comparative perspective, the chapter concludes that the rabbinic conception of Torah in the Mouth is designed to legitimate the authority of the sage in the setting of discipleship training.
Beth A. Berkowitz
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195179194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784509
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195179196.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter focuses on the people who enact an execution according to rabbinic law, beginning with those found in the Bible: the blood-avenger, the community, and the witnesses to the crime. It ...
More
This chapter focuses on the people who enact an execution according to rabbinic law, beginning with those found in the Bible: the blood-avenger, the community, and the witnesses to the crime. It argues that the blood-avenger serves as a focal point for tensions between the individual and the rabbinic authorities. In addressing the role of the community and witnesses, it shows that the Rabbis withdraw the agency of execution from the community and deliver it into the hands of the crime’s witnesses. This transfer of power can be interpreted as a strategy for controlling the power of execution, while at the same time maintaining some distance from the execution itself.Less
This chapter focuses on the people who enact an execution according to rabbinic law, beginning with those found in the Bible: the blood-avenger, the community, and the witnesses to the crime. It argues that the blood-avenger serves as a focal point for tensions between the individual and the rabbinic authorities. In addressing the role of the community and witnesses, it shows that the Rabbis withdraw the agency of execution from the community and deliver it into the hands of the crime’s witnesses. This transfer of power can be interpreted as a strategy for controlling the power of execution, while at the same time maintaining some distance from the execution itself.
Yonatan Y. Brafman
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198811374
- eISBN:
- 9780191848407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198811374.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This study addresses the project of grounding the legitimacy of halakhic-legal authorities, like rabbis or rabbinic courts. Importantly, this inquiry is distinct from, but related to, investigation ...
More
This study addresses the project of grounding the legitimacy of halakhic-legal authorities, like rabbis or rabbinic courts. Importantly, this inquiry is distinct from, but related to, investigation into the justification of halakhic norms. I begin by exploring the work of Eliezer Berkovits. I argue that he offers a robust teleological justification of halakhic norms by showing how they are aimed at a moral purpose and how this purpose guides halakhic-legal practice. On this account, the directives of halakhic-legal authorities do not possess any independent normativity, for they only direct individuals to perform actions that they already have reason to do anyway, specifically the reasons that Berkovits indicates in his justification of halakhic norms. I offer a new model for grounding the legitimacy of halakhic-legal authorities that links it to the justification of halakhic norms without reducing it to that effort.Less
This study addresses the project of grounding the legitimacy of halakhic-legal authorities, like rabbis or rabbinic courts. Importantly, this inquiry is distinct from, but related to, investigation into the justification of halakhic norms. I begin by exploring the work of Eliezer Berkovits. I argue that he offers a robust teleological justification of halakhic norms by showing how they are aimed at a moral purpose and how this purpose guides halakhic-legal practice. On this account, the directives of halakhic-legal authorities do not possess any independent normativity, for they only direct individuals to perform actions that they already have reason to do anyway, specifically the reasons that Berkovits indicates in his justification of halakhic norms. I offer a new model for grounding the legitimacy of halakhic-legal authorities that links it to the justification of halakhic norms without reducing it to that effort.
Eliyahu Stern
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300179309
- eISBN:
- 9780300183221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300179309.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter discusses the philosophical leanings of Elijah ben Solomon during the Enlightenment. Historians commonly misrepresented Elijah by stating that he was a traditionalist who defended ...
More
This chapter discusses the philosophical leanings of Elijah ben Solomon during the Enlightenment. Historians commonly misrepresented Elijah by stating that he was a traditionalist who defended traditional rabbinic Judaism. It argues that Elijah actually questioned the canons of rabbinic authority through his hermeneutic idealism, while his opponent, Moses Mendelssohn, ardently defended the historical rabbinic tradition to German-speaking audiences.Less
This chapter discusses the philosophical leanings of Elijah ben Solomon during the Enlightenment. Historians commonly misrepresented Elijah by stating that he was a traditionalist who defended traditional rabbinic Judaism. It argues that Elijah actually questioned the canons of rabbinic authority through his hermeneutic idealism, while his opponent, Moses Mendelssohn, ardently defended the historical rabbinic tradition to German-speaking audiences.
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780195373707
- eISBN:
- 9780190226589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373707.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History, Comparative Law
Chapter 2 focuses on the development of Jewish law from the standpoint of both Divine Revelation and the actions of the post-Biblical sages during the Talmudic era. It explores Revelation in the ...
More
Chapter 2 focuses on the development of Jewish law from the standpoint of both Divine Revelation and the actions of the post-Biblical sages during the Talmudic era. It explores Revelation in the Torah, the Written Law, and the development of halakhah in the biblical and post-biblical periods. The discussion focuses on rabbinic authority in the period following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ce and illustrates how during this period the Pharisee sect reformulated Judaism through the Oral Law by developing innovative measures with a basis in the tradition. Through this process, the Pharisees made Revelation a continuing reality in the lives of the Jews of the post-destruction era. The concluding section explores the influence of Hellenistic culture on the development of early Jewish law, illustrating that minority traditions not only borrow from, but also reinterpret, elements from the surrounding majority cultures.Less
Chapter 2 focuses on the development of Jewish law from the standpoint of both Divine Revelation and the actions of the post-Biblical sages during the Talmudic era. It explores Revelation in the Torah, the Written Law, and the development of halakhah in the biblical and post-biblical periods. The discussion focuses on rabbinic authority in the period following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 ce and illustrates how during this period the Pharisee sect reformulated Judaism through the Oral Law by developing innovative measures with a basis in the tradition. Through this process, the Pharisees made Revelation a continuing reality in the lives of the Jews of the post-destruction era. The concluding section explores the influence of Hellenistic culture on the development of early Jewish law, illustrating that minority traditions not only borrow from, but also reinterpret, elements from the surrounding majority cultures.
Michael D. Swartz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814740934
- eISBN:
- 9780814723784
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814740934.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This concluding chapter states how in ancient Judaism, methods of interpretation and discourse on the nature of signs were not confined to scripture and its interpretation, but extended to the world ...
More
This concluding chapter states how in ancient Judaism, methods of interpretation and discourse on the nature of signs were not confined to scripture and its interpretation, but extended to the world of celestial, terrestrial, and ritual things and occurrences. The primary circles of rabbinic authorities were more likely holding to the notion of the Torah, as elaborated by scholastic tradition, as the exclusive source of revelation. But at the same time, some sectors of Jewish culture in late antiquity embraced alternatives to this worldview. This suggests that the pantextual theory of revelation was an ideological development in rabbinic thought that shared space with a more encompassing view of divine signification.Less
This concluding chapter states how in ancient Judaism, methods of interpretation and discourse on the nature of signs were not confined to scripture and its interpretation, but extended to the world of celestial, terrestrial, and ritual things and occurrences. The primary circles of rabbinic authorities were more likely holding to the notion of the Torah, as elaborated by scholastic tradition, as the exclusive source of revelation. But at the same time, some sectors of Jewish culture in late antiquity embraced alternatives to this worldview. This suggests that the pantextual theory of revelation was an ideological development in rabbinic thought that shared space with a more encompassing view of divine signification.
Abraham P. Socher
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804751360
- eISBN:
- 9780804767682
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804751360.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
With extraordinary chutzpa and deep philosophical seriousness, Solomon ben Joshua of Lithuania renamed himself after his medieval intellectual hero, Moses Maimonides. Solomon Maimon was perhaps the ...
More
With extraordinary chutzpa and deep philosophical seriousness, Solomon ben Joshua of Lithuania renamed himself after his medieval intellectual hero, Moses Maimonides. Solomon Maimon was perhaps the most brilliant and certainly the most controversial figure of the late eighteenth-century Jewish Enlightenment. He scandalized rabbinic authorities, embarrassed Moses Mendelssohn, provoked Immanuel Kant, charmed Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and inspired Johann Gottlieb Fichte, among others. This study of Maimon integrates his idiosyncratic philosophical idealism with his popular autobiography, and with his early exegetical, mystical, and Maimonidean work in Hebrew. In doing so, it illuminates the intellectual and spiritual possibilities open to a European Jew at the turn of the nineteenth century.Less
With extraordinary chutzpa and deep philosophical seriousness, Solomon ben Joshua of Lithuania renamed himself after his medieval intellectual hero, Moses Maimonides. Solomon Maimon was perhaps the most brilliant and certainly the most controversial figure of the late eighteenth-century Jewish Enlightenment. He scandalized rabbinic authorities, embarrassed Moses Mendelssohn, provoked Immanuel Kant, charmed Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and inspired Johann Gottlieb Fichte, among others. This study of Maimon integrates his idiosyncratic philosophical idealism with his popular autobiography, and with his early exegetical, mystical, and Maimonidean work in Hebrew. In doing so, it illuminates the intellectual and spiritual possibilities open to a European Jew at the turn of the nineteenth century.
David Malkiel
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804759502
- eISBN:
- 9780804786843
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804759502.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This book shows that, contrary to traditional accounts, the Jews of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were not a society of saints and martyrs, and offers revisions of commonly held ...
More
This book shows that, contrary to traditional accounts, the Jews of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were not a society of saints and martyrs, and offers revisions of commonly held interpretations of Jewish martyrdom in the First Crusade massacres, the level of obedience to rabbinic authority, and relations with apostates and with Christians. In the process, it also reexamines and radically revises the view that Ashkenazic Jewry was more pious than its Sephardic counterpart.Less
This book shows that, contrary to traditional accounts, the Jews of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages were not a society of saints and martyrs, and offers revisions of commonly held interpretations of Jewish martyrdom in the First Crusade massacres, the level of obedience to rabbinic authority, and relations with apostates and with Christians. In the process, it also reexamines and radically revises the view that Ashkenazic Jewry was more pious than its Sephardic counterpart.
