The Midrash
The Midrash

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: Jason Aronson

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 672

ISBN-13: 9780876688144

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An introduction to the seven Midrash compilations with a lucid account of their main points. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism
Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism

Author: Annette Yoshiko Reed

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-01-16

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 052111943X

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A new explanation of the beginnings of Jewish angelology and demonology, drawing on non-canonical writings and Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Social Structure of the Rabbinic Movement in Roman Palestine
The Social Structure of the Rabbinic Movement in Roman Palestine

Author: Catherine Hezser

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 582

ISBN-13: 9783161467974

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"While rabbinic literature enables us to know more about the rabbis than any of the other members of the Jewish population of Roman Palestine, the social structure of the rabbinic movement remained largely unexplored. In the present study Catherine Hezser combines a critical analysis of the available literary, legal, and epigraphic evi-dence with a selective employment of sociological models. She examines the definition of the boundaries of the rabbinic movement, deals with the nature of the relationships amongst rabbis, and investigates the relationship between rabbis and their contemporaries, that is students, the community, and the patriarch."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

First Century Judaism in Crisis
First Century Judaism in Crisis

Author: Jacob Neusner

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2006-02-01

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1597525391

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No generation in the history of Jewry has been so roundly, universally condemned by posterity as that of Yohanan ben Zakkai. A crisis was taking place in Palestine Ð a conflict between the Romans' need for expanding their empire, trade, and strategic locale, and the Jews' need for continuing to serve God with their laws and their holy land. Beginning with the destruction by the Romans of the second temple in A.D. 70, we have a continuing picture of Pharisee Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, leader of Jewish reconstruction and founder of contemporary Judaism as we know it today: how the Torah affected Yohanan's education, war activities, social problems, and theological issues. Especially important to Jews and Christians alike is the picture of Pharisees and Pharisaism that emerges and the enlightening story of what happened to the many Jews of this first-century who did not become Christians. First-Century Judaism in Crisis is a popularized version of the author's prize-winning biography of Yohanan ben Zakkai (Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1970).

Akiva
Akiva

Author: Reuven Hammer

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0827612486

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The legendary Akiva ben Yosef has fascinated Jews for centuries. Arguably the most important of the Tannaim, or early Jewish sages, Akiva lived during a crucial era in the development of Judaism as we know it today, and his theology played a major part in the development of Rabbinic Judaism. Reuven Hammer details Akiva's life as it led to a martyr's death and he delves into the rich legacy Akiva left us. That legacy played an extraordinarily important role in helping the Jewish people survive difficult challenges to forge a vibrant religious life anew, and it continues to influence Jewish law, ethics, and theology even today. Akiva's contribution to the development of Oral Torah cannot be overestimated, and in this first book written in English about the sage since 1936 Hammer reassesses Akiva's role from the period before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE until the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE. He also assesses new findings about the growth of early Judaism, the reasons why Akiva was so outspoken about "Christian Jews," the influence of Hellenism, the Septuagint, and the canonization of the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately Hammer shows that Judaism without Akiva would be a very different religion.