Introducing Tosefta
Introducing Tosefta

Author: Harry Fox

Publisher: Ktav Publishing House

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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Tosefta has long been the stepchild of rabbinic studies even though it represents the link between two of the most authoritative sources for Halakhah, the Mishnah, and the Jerusalem Talmud, and, to some extent, the Babylonian Talmud. This collection of articles, based on a conference held at the University of Toronto in April 1993, attempts to give an account of the major issues in Tosefta studies: the question of whether the Mishnah and Tosefta were transmitted as oral texts; the relationship of the Talmuds to tannaitic sources, especially Tosefta; and the intertextual allusions to material otherwise hidden from immediate view, but whose links add nuance to the text, properly understood. Among the participants in this volume are Harry Fox, Jacob Neusner, Reena Zeidman, Shamma Friedman, Yaakov Elman, Tirzah Meacham, Judith Hauptman, Herbert Basser, and Paul Heger.

What Were the Early Rabbis?
What Were the Early Rabbis?

Author: Jack N. Lightstone

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-06-05

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 1666762490

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Over the first eight centuries CE, the religious cultures of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and many European lands transformed. Worship of "the gods" largely gave way to the worship of YHWH, the God of Israel, under Christianity and Islam, both developments of contemporary Judaism, after Rome destroyed Judaism's central shrine, the Jerusalem Temple, in 70 CE. But concomitant changes occurred within contemporary Judaism. The events of 70 wiped away well-established Judaic institutions in the Land of Israel, and over time the authority of a cadre of new "masters" of Judaic law, life, and practice, the "rabbis," took hold. What was the core, professional-like profile of members of this emerging cadre in the late second and early third centuries, when this group first attained a level of stable institutionalization (even if not yet well-established authority)? What views did they promote about the authoritative basis of their profile? What in their surrounding and antecedent sociocultural contexts lent prima facie legitimacy and currency to that profile? Geared to a nonspecialist readership, What Were the Early Rabbis? addresses these questions and consequently sheds light on eventual shifts in power that came to underpin Judaic communal life, while Christianity and Islam "Judaized" non-Jews under their expansive hegemonies.

What Is the Mishnah?
What Is the Mishnah?

Author: Shaye J. D. Cohen

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2023-03-07

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0674293703

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The Mishnah is the foundational document of rabbinic Judaism—all of rabbinic law, from ancient to modern times, is based on the Talmud, and the Talmud, in turn, is based on the Mishnah. But the Mishnah is also an elusive document; its sources and setting are obscure, as are its genre and purpose. In January 2021 the Harvard Center for Jewish Studies and the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law of the Harvard Law School co-sponsored a conference devoted to the simple yet complicated question: “What is the Mishnah?” Leading scholars from the United States, Europe, and Israel assessed the state of the art in Mishnah studies; and the papers delivered at that conference form the basis of this collection. Learned yet accessible, What Is the Mishnah? gives readers a clear sense of current and future direction of Mishnah studies.

In the Seat of Moses
In the Seat of Moses

Author: Jack N. Lightstone

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-08-18

Total Pages: 478

ISBN-13: 1532659016

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In the Seat of Moses offers readers a unique, frank, and penetrating analysis of the rise of rabbinic Judaism in the late Roman period. Over time and through masterly rhetorical strategy, rabbinic writings in post-temple Judaism come to occupy an authoritarian place within a pluralistic tradition. Slowly, the rabbis occupy the seat of Moses, and Lightstone introduces readers to this process, to the most significant texts, to the rhetorical styles and appeals to authority, and even to how authority came to be authority. As a seasoned and honest scholar, Lightstone achieves his goal of introducing novice readers to the often obscure world of rabbinic literary conventions with astounding success. This book is an excellent contribution to the Westar Studies series focused on religious literacy.

Rereading the Mishnah
Rereading the Mishnah

Author: Judith Hauptman

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9783161487132

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Judith Hauptman argues that the Tosefta, a collection dating from approximately the same time period as the Mishnah and authored by the same rabbis, is not later than the Mishnah, as its name suggests, but earlier. The Redactor of the Mishnah drew upon an old Mishnah and its associated supplement, the Tosefta, when composing his work. He reshaped, reorganized and abbreviated these materials in order to make them accord with his own legislative outlook. It is possible to compare the earlier and the later texts and to determine, case by case, the agenda of the Redactor. According to the author's theory it is also possible to trace the evolution of Jewish law, practice, and ideas. When the Mishnah is seen as later than the Tosefta, it becomes clear that the Redactor inserted numerous mnemonic devices into his work to assist in transmission. The synoptic gospels may have undergone a similar kind of editing.

Rabbis, Language and Translation in Late Antiquity
Rabbis, Language and Translation in Late Antiquity

Author: Willem F. Smelik

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 1107026210

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A comprehensive discussion of how languages and translations were perceived and practised in the multilingual Jewish societies of Late Antiquity, featuring close readings and translations of the original sources. Smelik explores key themes including the reception of translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, multilingualism in society and rabbinic rules for translation.

Targums and Rabbinic Literature
Targums and Rabbinic Literature

Author: Zondervan,

Publisher: Zondervan Academic

Published: 2024-09-10

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0310495741

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Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies is a multivolume series that seeks to introduce key ancient texts that form the cultural, historical, and literary context for the study of the New Testament. Each volume will feature introductory essays to the corpus, followed by articles on the relevant texts. Each article will address introductory matters, provenance, summary of content, interpretive issues, key passages for New Testament studies and their significance. Neither too technical to be used by students nor too thin on interpretive information to be useful for serious study of the New Testament, this series provides a much-needed resource for understanding the New Testament in its first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman context. Produced by an international team of leading experts in each corpus, Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies stands to become the standard resource for both scholars and students. Volumes include: Apocrypha and the Septuagint Old Testament Pseudepigrapha The Dead Sea Scrolls The Apostolic Fathers Philo and Josephus Greco-Roman Literature Targums and Early Rabbinic Literature Gnostic Literature New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash

Author: Hermann Leberecht Strack

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 9781451409147

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Gunter Stemberger's revision of H. L. Strack's classic introduction to rabbinic literature, which appeared in its first English edition in 1991, was widely acclaimed. Gunter Stemberger and Markus Bockmuehl have now produced this updated edition, which is a significant revision (completed in 1996) of the 1991 volume. Following Strack's original outline, Stemberger discusses first the historical framework, the basic principles of rabbinic literature and hermeneutics and the most important Rabbis. The main part of the book is devoted to the Talmudic and Midrashic literature in the light of contemporary rabbinic research. The appendix includes a new section on electronic resources for the study of the Talmud and Midrash. The result is a comprehensive work of reference that no student of rabbinics can afford to be without.

To Fix Torah in Their Hearts
To Fix Torah in Their Hearts

Author: Jaqueline S. Du Toit

Publisher: Hebrew Union College Press

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0878201653

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In this volume, students of beloved teacher B. Barry Levy come together to honor his erudition, superb pedagogy, kindness, and verve, with a collection of essays that reflect Levy's wide range of interest and expertise. Levy, sensitive to the meaning of a text for its original and intended audience, but also to how that meaning changes and develops over the course of years of interpretation, gave his students the broadest education in the evolving context of biblical study. This expansive focus is evident in the essays included in this book. From a study of astronomical observations in the ancient Near East, to an exploration of the excesses of obedience and sacrifice as recounted in the stories of Abraham and Isaac and the Buddhist Vessantara Jataka, from Talmud, to modern Bibles for children, to the evolution of the Dead Sea Scrolls from text and artifact to sacred object, To Fix Torah in Their Hearts is a diverse and engaging collection, of value to scholars and general readers alike.