The Contemplative Soul
The Contemplative Soul

Author: Adena Tanenbaum

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 9004120912

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During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Andalusian Jewish poets introduced philosophical theories into their devotional verse. This study explores the impact of their rich intellectual and cultural life on their Hebrew poems devoted to the soul.

Nahmanides
Nahmanides

Author: Moshe Halbertal

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-09-22

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 0300140916

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A broad, systematic account of one of the most original and creative kabbalists, biblical interpreters, and Talmudic scholars the Jewish tradition has ever produced Rabbi Moses b. Nahman (1194–1270), known in English as Nahmanides, was the greatest Talmudic scholar of the thirteenth century and one of the deepest and most original biblical interpreters. Beyond his monumental scholastic achievements, Nahmanides was a distinguished kabbalist and mystic, and in his commentary on the Torah he dispensed esoteric kabbalistic teachings that he termed “By Way of Truth.” This broad, systematic account of Nahmanides’s thought explores his conception of halakhah and his approach to the central concerns of medieval Jewish thought, including notions of God, history, revelation, and the reasons for the commandments. The relationship between Nahmanides’s kabbalah and mysticism and the existential religious drive that nourishes them, as well as the legal and exoteric aspects of his thinking, are at the center of Moshe Halbertal’s portrayal of Nahmanides as a complex and transformative thinker.

Jewish Law and American Law, Volume 1
Jewish Law and American Law, Volume 1

Author: Samuel J. Levine

Publisher: Academic Studies PRess

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 1644695634

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This volume contributes to the growing field of comparative Jewish and American law, presenting twenty-six essays characterized by a number of distinct features. The essays will appeal to legal scholars and, at the same time, will be accessible and of interest to a more general audience of intellectually curious readers. These contributions are faithful to Jewish law on its own terms, while applying comparative methods to offer fresh perspectives on complex issues in the Jewish legal system. Through careful comparative analysis, the essays also turn to Jewish law to provide insights into substantive and conceptual areas of the American legal system, particularly areas of American law that are complex, controversial, and unsettled.

Jewish Concepts of Scripture
Jewish Concepts of Scripture

Author: Benjamin D Sommer

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2012-10-29

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0814724604

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What do Jews think scripture is? How do the People of the Book conceive of the Book of Books? In what ways is it authoritative? Who has the right to interpret it? Is it divinely or humanly written? And have Jews always thought about the Bible in the same way? In seventeen cohesive and rigorously researched essays, this volume traces the way some of the most important Jewish thinkers throughout history have addressed these questions from the rabbinic era through the medieval Islamic world to modern Jewish scholarship. They address why different Jewish thinkers, writers, and communities have turned to the Bible—and what they expect to get from it. Ultimately, argues editor Benjamin D. Sommer, in understanding the ways Jews construct scripture, we begin to understand the ways Jews construct themselves.

Joseph
Joseph

Author: Alan T. Levenson

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2016-09-01

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0827612508

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The complex and dramatic story of Joseph is the most sustained narrative in Genesis. Many call it a literary masterpiece and a story of great depth that can be read on many levels. In a lucid and engaging style, Alan T. Levenson brings the voices of Philo, Josephus, Midrash, and medieval commentators, as well as a wide range of modern scholars, into dialogue about this complex biblical figure. Levenson explores such questions as: Why did Joseph’s brothers hate him so? What is achieved by Joseph’s ups and downs on the path to extraordinary success? Why didn’t Joseph tell his father he was alive and ruling Egypt? What was Joseph like as a husband and father? Was Joseph just or cruel in testing his brothers’ characters? Levenson deftly shows how an unbroken chain of interpretive traditions, mainly literary but also artistic, have added to the depth of this fascinating and unique character.

A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages
A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages

Author: Colette Sirat

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1990-11-30

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 9780521397278

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This comprehensive survey of medieval Jewish philosophy provides in-depth coverage for such major figures as Saadiah Gaon, Maimonides, Abraham Ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Abraham Ibn Daoud and Gersonides.