Journal of Jewish Studies

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Articles

In Memoriam
Arthur Marmorstein

1st quarter, 1948-49 | vol. 1 | no. 1 | pp. 003–003
10.18647/1/JJS-1948

Marmorstein | Arthur

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The Extent of the Influence of the Synagogue Service Upon Christian Worship
O. S. Rankin

Second Recension of the Phœnician Inscription from Karatepe
Jacob Leveen, Cyril Moss

Jewish Mysticism
L. Baeck

The Dead Sea Scrolls
J. L. Teicher

Hosea XII, 1
Ch. W. Reines

The Jewish Revolt in Cyrene in 115-117, and the Subsequent Recolonisation
Shimon Applebaum

Abu Naḍḍara, an Egyptian Jewish Nationalist
Jacob M. Landau

The Book of Haggai and Zechariah I-VIII
Peter R. Ackroyd

The Old Palestinian Ritual—New Sources
N. Wieder

Studies in the Language of the Dead Sea Scrolls
M. H. Gottstein

The "Law-Interpreter" of the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Second Moses
N. Wieder

The Term in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Hebrew Liturgical Poetry
N. Wieder, N. Wieder

Notes and Communications: Two Akkadian Cognates
W. G. Lambert

The Habakkuk Scroll
J. L. Teicher

"God's Seal Is Truth"
Joshua Podro

The Liturgy of Hanukkah and the First Two Books of Maccabees—II
S. Stein

Jeremiah, xii, 6
G. R. Driver

The Mediæval Mind
J. L. Teicher

Notes and Communications : On a Puzzling Passage in the Damascus Fragments
Chaim Rabin

Notes and Communications : Hebrew D = "Hand"
Chaim Rabin

Notes and Communications : Rabbi Colon and Messer Leon
H. Rabinowicz

The Theological Aspect of Some Variant Readings in the Isaiah Scroll
Arie Rubinstein

Notes: The Septuagint's Καππαδοκα for Caphtor
G. A. Wainwright

The Shapira Forgery and the Qumran Scrolls
M. H. Goshen-Gottstein, M. H. Goshen-Gottstein

The Dietary Laws of the Damascus Covenant in Relation to Those of the Ḳaraites
Norman Golb, Norman Golb

Problems of Diaspora History in XIXth-Century Germany
Hans Liebeschütz

Notes: A Contemporary Poem on the Appearance of the Zohar
J. G. Weiss

Note: On the Formula melekh ha-`olam as Anti- Gnostic Protest
J. G. Weiss

Eleazar of Worms' Ḥokhmath Ha-'Egoz
Alexander Altmann

The Formula melekh ha-`olam
Joseph Heinemann

The Significance of Judaism in Peter Abaelard's Dialogus
Hans Liebeschütz

Birkath Ha-Zimmun and Ḥavurah-Meals
Joseph Heinemann

The Decline of the Jewish Diaspora in Egypt in the Roman Period
Victor A. Tcherikover

The Avoidance of Public Office in Papyrus Oxy. 1477 and in Talmudic Sources
S. Safrai

Sheṭār Abēzārīh
S. M. Stern

Teaching of Pietists in Mishnaic Literature
S. Safrai

A Treatise in Defence of the Pietists by Abraham Maimonides
S. D. Goitein

Notes: The Death of the Upright and the World to Come
Samuel E. Loewenstamm

Notes: The Reconversion of Simon Deutz
Cecil Roth

The Number of the Jews in Mediaeval Egypt
E. Ashtor

1967 | vol. 18 | no. 1-4 | pp. 009–042
10.18647/548/JJS-1967

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The Number of Jews in Mediaeval Egypt
E. Ashtor

Hofprediger Stöcker and the Wandering Jew
Sander L. Gilman

Franz Rosenzweig's Unpublished Writings
Rivka Horwitz

Literary Motifs in the Testament of Job
Irving Jacobs

Mourning Customs in 1, 2 Samuel
Eileen F. de Ward

Mendel of Buda in Nuremberg
Alexander Scheiber

On the Identification of Todros Halevi
Judith Dishon

The Impact of Deism on the Hebrew Literature of the Enlightenment in Germany
Moshe Pelli

Early Halakhah in the Palestinian Targumim
Joseph Heinemann

Prophecy and Priesthood in Josephus
Joseph Blenkinsopp

Sforno and Berossus
Albert I. Baumgarten

The Memra of YHWH and the Development of Its Use in Targum Neofiti I
Robert Hayward

Aaron, Bethel, and the Priestly Menorah
Leon Yarden

Isaac Euchel: Tradition and Change in the First Generation Haskalah Literature in Germany (I)
Moshe Pelli

Popular Religion in Ancient Israel
J. B. Segal

A Note on Exodus 22:4 (MT)
Bernard S. Jackson

A Test Case for Formal Variants in Proverbs
Susan Niditch

Maimonides and Aquinas on Naming God
Clyde Lee Miller

Hasidim in the Maccabean Period
Philip R. Davies

The Background to the Maccabean Revolution: Reflections on Martin Hengel's "Judaism and Hellenism"
Fergus Millar

A New Pseudo-Philo
Michael Wadsworth

Passover and the Dating of the Aqedah
Philip R. Davies

The Jewish Attitude Towards Women
J. B. Segal

Alexander Jannaeus and the Pharisee Rift
Markham J. Geller

Typology in Josephus
David Daube

The Concept of God in the Works of Flavius Josephus
R. J. H. Shutt

The Essenes and History
Geza Vermes

Four Notes on the Triennial Lectionary Cycle
Michael L. Klein

Traumatic Surgery in Biblical Scholarship a Note on Methodology
Robert Gordis

The Late Bronze, Iron Age, and Hellenistic Defences of Gezer
William G. Dever

Une allusion à `Anath, déesse guerrière en Ex. 32: 18?
M. Delcor

Notes on the "Imago Mundi" of the Book of Jubilees
Philip S. Alexander

Le livre des Jubilés, Melkisedeq et les dîmes
André Caquot

An Analysis of Baruch's Prayer (Syr. Bar. 21)
Jacob Licht

The Credibility of Josephus
Magen Broshi

The Roman Diaspora: Six Questionable Assumptions
A. T. Kraabel

The Petiḥtot in Leviticus Rabba: "Oral Homilies" or Redactional Constructions?
Richard S. Sarason

Bibliography of Yigael Yadin
Jacob Neusner

Enderwartung und Reinheitsidee
Bernd Janowski, Hermann Lichtenberger

Jonah: A Reminiscence
David Daube

Three Unpublished Letters from Ernest Renan to Adolph Neubauer
Lionel Kochan, Miriam Kochan

The Origins of the Doctrine of Creation Ex Nihilo
Jonathan A. Goldstein

A Subjunctive in the Aramaic of the Palestinian Targum
J. W. Wesselius

The Revolt of Bar Kokhba: Ideology and Modern Scholarship
Benjamin Isaac, Aharon Oppenheimer

The Qumran Covenant Festival and the Temple Scroll
Torleif Elgvin

Sur l'origine de quelques enluminures juives du Moyen-âge
Gabrielle Sed-Rajna

The Targum of Ruth — A Sectarian Composition?
D. R. G. Beattie

A Further Note on the Hebrew Letters of Prester John
Edward Ullendorff, C. F. Beckingham

Research into Rabbinic Literature: An Attempt to Define the Status Quaestionis
Peter Schäfer

Overturning the Lamp
Burton L. Visotzky

Learning to See: A Manner of Realising Martin Buber's Thought
Haim Gordon

The Qumran Texts: A New Study Edition
Philip R. Davies

The Figure of Joseph in the Targums
Maren Ruth Niehoff

Law, Virtue and Supererogation in the Halakha: The Problem of `Lifnim Mishurat Hadin' Reconsidered
Louis E. Newman

Dating Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Some More Comments
Avigdor Shinan

The Taqqanah in Tannaitic Literature: Jurisprudence and the Construction of Rabbinic Memory
Martin S. Jaffee

Bibliographical Survey
Geza Vermes, Sarah Kochav

Spring 1991 | vol. 42 | no. 1 | pp. 138–140
10.18647/1598/JJS-1991

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Unwritten Law in Philo: A Response to Naomi G. Cohen
John W. Martens

Qumran Corner: Qumran Publications
Geza Vermes

Exegesis of Genesis 1-3 in the New Testament
M. D. Goulder

Qumran Corner: Sectarianism, Geography, and the Copper Scroll
Stephen Goranson

Bibliographical Survey
Daniel Frank

Autumn 1992 | vol. 43 | no. 2 | pp. 332–337
10.18647/1675/JJS-1992

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Qumran Corner: 4Q252: Addenda
Howard Jacobson

Qumran Corner: Notes on Some New Texts from Qumran
Menahem Kister

4Q252: From Re-Written Bible to Biblical Commentary
Moshe J. Bernstein

The Jewish Origin of Julius Africanus
Ephrat Habas (Rubin)

4Q393: A Communal Confession
Daniel K. Falk

Qumran Corner: Zab Impurity in Qumran and Rabbinic Law
Joseph M. Baumgarten

Josephus as Interpreter of Biblical Law: The Representation of the High Court of Deut. 17:8-12 According to Jewish Antiquities 4.218
Sarah Pearce

The Red Cow Purification Rites in Qumran Texts
Joseph M. Baumgarten

A Note on the Function of Room 30 (The 'Scriptorium') at Khirbet Qumran
Ronny Reich

Bavli Berakhot 55a-57b: The Talmudic Dreambook in Context
Philip S. Alexander

The Status of the Patriarch in the Third and Fourth Centuries: Sources and Methodology
Lee I. Levine

Resolving the Buber—Scholem Controversy in Hasidism
Barry J. Hammer

John the Baptist and the Essenes
Joan E. Taylor

Bibliographical Survey: The Study of Polish Jewry
John D. Klier

Autumn 1996 | vol. 47 | no. 2 | pp. 406–409
10.18647/1940/JJS-1996

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Language and Literature in the Second Temple Period
Matthew Morgenstern

Thackeray's Assistant Hypothesis: A Stylometric Evaluation
David Salter Williams

Doom and Promise in the Targum of Isaiah
Alberdina Houtman

'One Who Loves His Wife like Himself': Love in Rabbinic Marriage
Michael L. Satlow

Michael Weitzman, Reader in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London, 25 July 1946-21 March 1998
Ada Rapoport-Albert

Autumn 1998 | vol. 49 | no. 2 | pp. 215–217
10.18647/2113/JJS-1998

Weitzman | Michael

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Corpse and Leper
Hyam Maccoby

Qumran Corner: Ptolas and the Archelaus Massacre (4Q468g=4Qhistorical Text B)
Magen Broshi

Claude Montefiore and Christianity: Did the Founder of Anglo-Liberal Judaism Lean Too Far?
Daniel R. Langton

Dating Targum Onkelos by Means of the Tannaitic Midrashim
Israel Drazin

The Proper Name in 4Q468g: Peitholaus?
William Horbury

Jews, Semites and their Cultures in Fergus Millar's 'Roman Near East'
Tessa Rajak

Aggadat Bereshit and the Triennial Lectionary Cycle
Lieve Teugels

Biblical Interpretation as Political Manifesto: Ben Sira in his Seleucid Setting
James K. Aitken

Jewish Biblical Interpretation and Genuine Jewish–Christian Debate in The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila
Lawrence Lahey

Praying King and Sanctuary of Prayer, Part I: David and the Temple's Origins in Rabbinic Psalms Commentary (Midrash Tehillim)
Esther M. Menn

The Determination of Jewish Identity below the Mason-Dixon Line: Crossing the Boundary From Gentile to Jew in the Nineteenth-Century American South
Dana Evan Kaplan

Three Books on Jewish Faith
Norman Solomon

Further Manuscript Evidence of Pesiqta Rabbati: A Description of MS JTS 8195 (and MS Moscow 214)
Rivka B. Kern Ulmer

Reading Crowned Letters and Semiotic Silences in Menachot 29b
Nachman Levine

Acceptance of the Other: Liberal Interpretations of Islam and Judaism in Egypt and Israel
Shimon Shamir

Us and the Cross: Russian-Jewish Intellectuals Take a Stand on the Crucifix Question
Matthew Hoffman

Abraham’s Oracular Tree (T. Abr. 3:1–4)
Dale C. Jr. Allison

The Commentary of Rabbi David Kimhi on Proverbs: A Case of Mistaken Attribution
Naomi Grunhaus

The Earliest Jewish Embassy to the Romans: 2 Macc. 4:11?
L.T. Zollschan

How Jewish is Jewish Family Law?
Bernard S. Jackson

Giblews, Jews and Genizah Views
Stefan C. Reif

Between Liturgy and Social History: Priestly Power in Late Antique Palestinian Synagogues?
Steven Fine

Neither Adding nor Omitting Anything: Josephus' Promise not to Modify the Scriptures in Greek and Latin Context
Sabrina Inowlocki

Without Measure and Without Analogy: The Tradition of the Divine Body in 2 (Slavonic) Enoch
Andrei A. Orlov

The Inner World of Biblical Character Explored in Naḥmanides’Commentary on Genesis
Michelle Levine

Imposing Romanisation: Flavian Coins and Jewish Identity
Edward M. Zarrow

Another Fragment of SdeirGenesis
Yosi Baruchi, Hanan Eshel

Studies on the Confucianisation of the Kaifeng Jewish Community
Qianhong Zhang

From Markets to Marvels: Jews on the Maritime route to China ca. 850-ca. 950 CE
Adam Silverstein

Spring 2007 | vol. 58 | no. 1 | pp. 091–104
10.18647/2707/JJS-2007

In this article it is argued that Jewish travellers to China between 850 and 950 CE contributed to－and were the products of－a Judeo-Islamic culture, both in their mercantile activity and in the literary output that it spawned. It is argued that events in the Near East and in China in the late 9th and early 10th centuries had an irreversible effect on trade relations between the Near East (from which most Jewish traders of the time emanated) and China. The decline in trade missions to the Far East coincided with an eruption of literary activity in the Islamic world that encouraged works of ‘fiction’ and marvels. The travelogue of Eldad ha-Dānī is considered within this Arabo-Islamic context and reinterpreted accordingly.

Middle Ages | Islam | trade | Silk Route | China | tales | Eldad the Danite

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The Strength of Women and Truth: The Tale of the Three Bodyguards and Ezra's Prayer in First Esdras
Timothy J. Sandoval

Autumn 2007 | vol. 58 | no. 2 | pp. 211–227
10.18647/2731/JJS-2007

Most commentators believe the Tale of the Three Bodyguards in 1 Esdras 3－4 serves, simply and primarily, to enhance the status of Zerubbabel, the early leader of the returned exiles. A consideration of a number of thematic and rhetorical links between the Tale of the Three Bodyguards (1 Esdras 3:1－4:41[63]) and Ezra's prayer-sermon recounted later in the book (1 Esdras 8:65－87; Eng.=8:74－90), however, demonstrates that the story also functions to undergird the response of Ezra and his associates to the intermarriage crisis recounted in 1 Esdras 8:65－87 (Eng.=8:68－90). The rhetoric of especially Zerubbabel's speeches on women and Truth (1 Esdras 4:13－41) effectively anticipates and mitigates the reader's possible moral objections to the expulsion of the foreign women. This suggests that a major reason 1 Esdras was composed was to weigh in on Jewish in the Hellenistic period regarding intermarriage with Gentiles.

Post-biblical literature | 1 Esdras | Tale of the Three Bodyguards | Zerubbabel | Ezra | Hellenism | restoration | women | intermarriage

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Were Tefillin Phylacteries?
Yehudah Cohn

Spring 2008 | vol. 59 | no. 1 | pp. 039–061
10.18647/2773/JJS-2008

The article analyses anomalies in the Qumran tefillin corpus, the earliest archaeological evidence for the practice, in the light of which I argue that tefillin originated as ‘length-of-days’ amulets. These anomalies and other features of Qumran tefillin are also explained, with reference to this hypothesis, against the backdrop of comparative evidence for ancient amuletic ritual. A popular / private model for tefillin practice is highlighted, and I additionally argue that the etymology of the word ‘tefillin’ reflects the objects’ function as a prayer in material form. I conclude that tefillin were indeed protective amulets, i.e. phylacteries, calling into question the implications of this finding for the Jewish encounter with Hellenistic religion. In an appendix I bring the Qumran mezuzot into the picture, suggesting that these may in fact have been tefillin, and that they are in any event support for my argument.

Post-biblical literature | Qumran | Dead Sea Scrolls | magic | prayer | tefillin | mezuzah | New Testament | Gospel of Matthew

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The Many Worlds of the Late Antique Diaspora: Supplements to the ‘Cambridge History of Judaism’ vol. IV
Fergus Millar

Spring 2008 | vol. 59 | no. 1 | pp. 120–138
10.18647/2778/JJS-2008

The fourth and final volume of the Cambridge History of Judaism, edited by Steven Katz, is an impressive achievement, covering a wide range of topics at a high level. But it also fails to make sufficient use of documentary evidence, both from the Land of Israel and from the Diaspora, and in particular of evidence which is either new or has been re-dated or reinterpreted. This review article points to some areas, for instance Jewish Aramaic, where documents on perishable materials or inscribed on stone could have made a contribution. But its main aim is to supplement the volume’s presentation of our evidence for Jewish life in Late Antiquity by surveying the sharply contrasting evidence from Eastern Europe and the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Near East and above all Arabia, where the documentary evidence gives real substance to literary evidence for Jewish presence and influence in the period leading up to the preaching of Islam.

Late Antiquity | diaspora | Jewish community | Syria | Arabia | archaeology | inscriptions | Hebrew | Aramaic

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Creation Imagery in Qumran Hymns and Prayers
Matthew E. Gordley

Autumn 2008 | vol. 59 | no. 2 | pp. 252–272
10.18647/2830/JJS-2008

The hymns and prayers found in the Dead Sea Scrolls provide examples of the ways Second Temple Jewish poets both preserved and adapted earlier traditions. This study explores one specific motif, biblical creation imagery, to examine how it is utilised across the corpus of Qumran hymns and prayers. By observing the deployment of creation imagery in liturgical and non-liturgical texts, both those composed at Qumran and those composed prior to the founding of the community, this study demonstrates the ways that Qumran creation imagery echoes the biblical models. Further, this study shows that creation imagery is deployed in ways that go beyond the biblical models only in the Qumran hymns and prayers which serve an instructional purpose. These didactic hymns and prayers provide examples of how some Second Temple Jewish writers drew upon earlier, honoured traditions about creation and creatively adapted them to meet the needs of the day.

Post-biblical literature | Qumran | Dead Sea Scrolls | Bible | creation | liturgy | prayer | poetry | psalms

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Daniel as Mediator of Divine Knowledge in the Book of Daniel
Phoebe Makiello

Spring 2009 | vol. 60 | no. 1 | pp. 018–031
10.18647/2846/JJS-2009

In this article I examine the epistemological value of visions in the Book of Daniel and analyse the seer’s gradual increase in understanding of the divine and of divinely revealed secrets concerning the terrestrial realm. I find that the visionary’s progress both in knowledge and to some extent in stature is dependent upon the type of vision. It is most effective when he receives message visions, that is, where the vision contains a speech delivered by an angel or other supernatural being. Greater knowledge of the divine world and of future earthly happenings can also be acquired, though less successfully, through symbolic visions if they are explained to the visionary either by a man enjoying the protection of God (Daniel, who interprets the kings’ visions), or by an angel (for instance, the angel of the presence who interprets Daniel’s vision). The ritual and spiritual preparation of the seer, as well as the type of vision, has a significant impact upon the visionary’s capacity to acquire greater knowledge in both the Aramaic and the Hebrew portions of the Book of Daniel.

Biblical literature | Book of Daniel | Daniel | visions | dreams | angels | revelation | prophecy | eschatology

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‘Pure Thought’ in R. Abraham bar Hiyya and Early Kabbalah
Jonathan V. Dauber

Autumn 2009 | vol. 60 | no. 2 | pp. 185–201
10.18647/2877/JJS-2009

This study suggests that there is a degree of truth to the first Kabbalists’ view that the philosophy of R. Abraham bar Hiyya resonates with their own theosophical speculations. My analysis focuses on the significance of the term ‘pure thought’, which these Kabbalists borrowed from bar Hiyya. According to them, it refers to the first or second of the sefirot, which function as intra-divine intellectual faculties. While bar Hiyya did not adhere to a notion of sefirot, I suggest that he did conceive of three intra-divine intellectual faculties, one of which is ‘pure thought’. Thus, the Kabbalists emerge as largely accurate in their interpretation of the term. This analysis points to a certain similarity between bar Hiyya’s conception of divine unity and that of some of the first Kabbalists. Each rejects the philosophical account of divine unity as simplicity and allows for multiple aspects to inhere in God.

Medieval philosophy | Abraham bar Hiyya | divine attributes | mysticism | Kabbalah | sefirot | Isaac the Blind | Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona | Azriel of Gerona

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Rabbis as Jurists: On the Representation of Past and Present Legal Institutions in the Mishnah
Naftali S. Cohn

Autumn 2009 | vol. 60 | no. 2 | pp. 245–263
10.18647/2881/JJS-2009

In light of the growing consensus that the rabbis of Late Antiquity were not a powerful and dominant group with roots in the time of the Temple, this article reexamines the portrayal of the rabbinic present and the rabbinic past in the Mishnah. The Mishnah, I propose, pictures the rabbis acting as jurists—modelled on Roman jurists—who issue opinions primarily on matters of Jewish ritual law. This claim for a legal-judicial role for the rabbis in post-destruction Jewish society, furthermore, shapes the rabbinic memory of the past in which the Court of Temple times is the predecessor to the rabbis and in which this Court has ultimate authority over Temple ritual. In their construction of both the present and the past, the rabbis make a powerful claim for authority over ritual law and ritual practice, an authority which it seems they did not yet have.

Rabbinic literature | Mishnah | halakhah | Beit Din | Sanhedrin | Temple | rituals | Rabbinic movement | Roman law

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From Their Bread to Their Bed: Commensality, Intermarriage, and Idolatry in Tannaitic Literature
Jordan D. Rosenblum

Spring 2010 | vol. 61 | no. 1 | pp. 018–029
10.18647/2919/JJS-2010

In the tannaitic corpus, a novel innovation appears: sharing bread is understood to lead to sharing a bed. As such, the Tannaim problematise and marginalise commensal interactions between Jews and non-Jews. In several instances, commensality with non-Jews is equated with idolatry, the binary opposite of Jewishness in rabbinic literature. While this connection is absent from Hebrew Bible texts and, at best, inchoate in a handful of Second Temple period sources, it is explicit in later amoraic literature. This article explores the gap between these corpora: tannaitic literature, in which we first encounter the rabbinic connection between bread and bed.

Rabbinic literature | Tannaim | halakhah | intermarriage | idolatry | terminology | food

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The Title ‘Rabbi’ in Third- to Seventh-Century Inscriptions in Palestine: Revisited
Ben Zion Rosenfeld

Autumn 2010 | vol. 61 | no. 2 | pp. 234–256
10.18647/2961/JJS-2010

The title Rabbi is found on gravestone inscriptions and dedicatory inscriptions dating from the third to seventh centuries in Palestine. The title also appears in the rabbinic literature of the same period. A variety of proofs indicate that the title Rabbi in both is identical: it is a professional title, denoting the social status of the rabbinic group. Elucidating the meaning of this title can contribute to an understanding of this group’s perception of itself as well as the way it was perceived by Jewish society at that time.

Late Antiquity | Rabbinic movement | Palestine | title | ‘Rabbi’ | inscriptions | epitaphs | Rabbinic literature |

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Jacob’s melancholic descent from the ladder: a Maimonidean biblical construct
James A. Diamond

Spring 2011 | vol. 62 | no. 1 | pp. 056–078
10.18647/3008/JJS-2011

Maimonides’ use of a biblical persona to illustrate various aspects of prophecy or providence offers valuable material for constructing medieval psychological portraits of central biblical characters. Jacob, whose narrative life moves through a series of challenges posed by melancholia to the religious life, is particularly instructive. This study will assemble a Maimonidean construct of Jacob, which embodies Maimonides’ juristic and philosophical conceptions of the emotions and their effects on intellectual and prophetic development. This is intended as a model for further Maimonidean and other medieval configurations of biblical personalities.

Medieval philosophy | Maimonides | Moses | Guide for the Perplexed | Book of Genesis | patriarchs | Jacob | prophecy | providence |

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Custom, ordinance or commandment? The evolution of the medieval monetary-tithe in Ashkenaz
Judah Galinsky

Autumn 2011 | vol. 62 | no. 2 | pp. 203–232
10.18647/3041/JJS-2011

In this study the author describes the evolution of the medieval monetary-tithe ( ma̔asar kesafim ) in Germany from the late twelfth century until the fifteenth century. He traces the references to the practice found in rabbinic literature and describes the developments that occurred in terms of its practice and with regard to its perception. The monetary-tithe first appears in rabbinic sources in the late twelfth century and early thirteenth century as an established practice, but one whose character is that of a pious custom. Later on, during the late thirteenth century, there is evidence that in certain communities the tithe became part of public policy, as part of an initiative to organize communal charity. And finally during the fifteenth century, again at least in certain areas, the practice is described as a rabbinic commandment incumbent upon all segments of society.

Middle Ages | Germany | Jewish community | Ashkenazim | charity | tithe | taxation

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Text-preserving observations in the midrash Ruth Rabbah
Elvira Martín-Contreras

Autumn 2011 | vol. 62 | no. 2 | pp. 311–323
10.18647/3045/JJS-2011

This article presents a study of the eighteen identified cases in the midrash Ruth Rabbah in which a textual detail is commented in the language of the Masorah. The identified cases deal with diverse textual features. The treatment given to these textual features in the midrash and the structure of the cases is very homogeneous. Apart from one case, all the textual information recorded in them is endorsed by the Masora. These results stress the value of the literary production of the rabbis in the reconstruction of the history of the biblical text.

Rabbinic literature | Ruth Rabbah | scribes | textual criticism | Masorah

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Rabbi’s successors: the later Jewish Patriarchs of the third century
Alan Appelbaum

Spring 2012 | vol. 63 | no. 1 | pp. 001–021
10.18647/3069/JJS-2012

Historians of the Patriarchate generally claim (1) that primogeniture was firmly in place at least by the time of R. Judah the Patriarch; (2) that Origen’s account of meeting a Patriarch is to be ignored (unlike his other, less plausible, claims of Patriarchal power), and (3) that two Patriarchs were called Judah Nesiah. This article challenges each aspect of that consensus. By drawing on anthropological studies of other dynasties, on the practices of Second-Temple Jewish dynasties and on studies of the reproductive patterns of ancient families; by taking Origen’s witness seriously, and by rereading Talmudic material, it proposes a different understanding of the identity, sequence, and dates of third-century Patriarchs to advance the understanding of the Patriarchate’s origins and to move toward refiguring the history of the Patriarchs as the history of a series of individual members of a dynasty rather than the history of an institution or an office.

Late Antiquity | Rabbinic movement | patriarchate | dynasties | Judah | ha-Nasi | Origen | Judah Nesiah

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Universalism, ethnic identity and divided nationality: Abba Hillel Silver’s role in American Zionism
Zohar Segev

Spring 2012 | vol. 63 | no. 1 | pp. 105–126
10.18647/3074/JJS-2012

Among the most significant events in American Zionism between 1938 and 1948 was the rise of Abba Hillel Silver to the leadership of American Jewry in the late 1940s. A close reading shows that throughout his public career in general, and in relation to the establishment of Israel in particular, Silver sought, in theory and in practice, to enlarge the concept of Israeli sovereignty on one hand and to create a theoretical and practical basis for the continued ethnic-national existence of the Jews in the United States on the other. He tried to minimize as far as possible any injury to the status of Jews as American citizens because of their Zionist activity. Silver regarded Jewish national existence in the Diaspora in a most favourable light, maintaining that it could and must continue alongside Israel.

Modern period | diaspora | United States of America | Zionism | Silver | Abba Hillel

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‘Anonymous hasid’ stories in halakhic sugyot in the Babylonian Talmud
Yonatan Feintuch

Autumn 2012 | vol. 63 | no. 2 | pp. 238–262
10.18647/3093/JJS-2012

One type of aggadic story that appears several times in the Babylonian Talmud (BT) begins with the formula ‘Ma̓asse be- hasid ̔ehad’ – a story about a certain anonymous hasid (pious man). This article examines the three cases in which a ‘One hasid ’ story follows a halakhic discussion that deals with a certain law in the Mishnah. The three stories are revealed to share a common role with respect to the halakhic discussions which precede them. Source-critical and redaction-critical analyses of the stories illuminate the work and methods of the BT redactors, who by composing new stories or reworking earlier traditions, and juxtaposing them with halakhic discussions, facilitate the creation of sugyot that convey a complex halakhic message. This article attempts to add yet another tier to the study of the redaction of the BT, specifically with respect to the role of aggadic material in halakhic contexts.

Rabbinic literature | Babylonian Talmud | halakhah | aggadah | Ḥasidim | literary analysis | redaction | parallelism

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A Karaite tool-kit for teaching Hebrew grammar
Nadia Vidro

Spring 2013 | vol. 64 | no. 1 | pp. 098–118
10.18647/3117/JJS-2013

Medieval Karaites advocated independent interpretation of the Scripture and considered grammatical knowledge indispensable for understanding the true meaning of the Bible. A distinctive stage in the development of the Karaite grammatical tradition is constituted by pedagogical grammars of Biblical Hebrew intended for beginning students. These grammars concentrate on verbal morphology and employ numerous didactic strategies designed to facilitate learning and equip students with tools for the independent investigation of the biblical text. The present article describes the Karaite framework of presenting the verbal morphology of Biblical Hebrew and studies didactic tools developed in Karaite pedagogical grammars, including lucid sample paradigms, the gradual character of presentation, rules of derivational relations, systems of mnemonics, algorithms of parsing verbal forms, and model analyses of biblical passages.

Middle Ages | Karaites | Bible | Biblical Hebrew | Hebrew grammar | education

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The religious provenance of the Aquila manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah
Edmon L. Gallagher

Autumn 2013 | vol. 64 | no. 2 | pp. 283–305
10.18647/3141/JJS-2013

The Cairo Genizah yielded two palimpsest manuscripts of Aquila’s Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. For more than a century, scholars have commonly assumed, often without argument, that these manuscript fragments derive ultimately from Jewish circles. This in turn has led to citations of them in arguments regarding the Jewish reception of Greek scripture in Late Antiquity and the origins of the system of contractions known as nomina sacra . However, the opinion that these are Jewish manuscripts cannot claim universal scholarly assent, though doubts in this regard have not often been noted. This article surveys the use of these Genizah manuscripts in arguments concerning the Jewish use of Greek scripture and the nomina sacra and then examines the evidence to hand regarding their religious provenance. It concludes that the general assumption of a Jewish provenance remains unproven.

Middle Ages | Cairo Genizah | manuscripts | Bible | translations | Greek | Aquila

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A marital dilemma: French courts, foreign Jews and the secularization of marriage
Zvi Jonathan Kaplan

Autumn 2013 | vol. 64 | no. 2 | pp. 365–382
10.18647/3145/JJS-2013

In spite of the 1905 law separating church and state, foreign law technically applied to foreign Jewish nationals in France in matters relating to personal status, and they could not rely on French civil authorities to divorce. In this article, I explore how the French courts struggled to balance the dictates of French law, which promoted the secularization of marriage, and foreign law, which reflected the principles of religious law. In a review of the relevant case law, I demonstrate how the courts, to the consternation of the Jewish community, were slow to resolve these tensions, which led to the denial of civil protections to foreigners in France. The adherence of courts to foreign law reveals how both civic equality and the principle of the secularization of marriage remained elusive for thousands of residents more than a century after the French Revolution and nearly two decades after the separation of church and state.

Modern period | France | Jewish community | law | court | marriage | divorce

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‘United we stand’: Israelite solidarity in two Jubilean clan rosters
Atar Livneh

Spring 2014 | vol. 65 | no. 1 | pp. 026–037
10.18647/3160/JJS-2014

This article focuses on two lists of Jacob’s sons, representing the Israelite tribes. The first list (Jubilees 38:4–8), which is partially based on Numbers 2 and Ezekiel 48:30–5, depicts the tactical formation of Jacob’s sons in four companies facing the four points of the compass in a battle against Esau and his allies. In ‘mixing and matching’ sons from different mothers, as well as the southern and northern tribes, in each group/unit, the Jubilean author highlights their military alliance. The reworking of the second clan roster (Jubilees 33:21–3), which reflects Genesis 35:22b–6, possibly also serves to highlight Israelite cohesion, the author incorporating the tribal list into an account of how Jacob and ‘all his sons’ practise familial harmony by living together and respecting their elders. The two passages thus possibly serve to demonstrate Israelite unity during war and peace.

Post-biblical literature | Book of Jubilees | tribes | genealogy | Jacob | Esau

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The myth of the ̓ôṣār in Second Temple-period ritual baths: an anachronistic interpretation of a modern-era innovation
Yonatan Adler

Autumn 2014 | vol. 65 | no. 2 | pp. 263–283
10.18647/3183/JJS-2014

The first installation to be identified as an ancient Jewish ritual bath ( miqweh ) was discovered by Yigael Yadin at Masada in 1964, and consisted of a stepped pool connected to an adjacent pool via a hole in the wall shared by the two installations. Yadin identified one installation as the immersion pool of the miqweh , and the second as an ̓ôṣār (lit. ‘reservoir’), used to ritually purify the water in the immersion pool. Yadin’s explanation regarding the functioning of this double-pool ritual bath has gone unchallenged since it was first suggested half a century ago, and set the stage for future identifications of ̓ôṣār installations found adjacent to other Second Temple-period ritual baths. This article argues that the ̓ôṣār is an innovation of the modern period, and that the commonly accepted view that an ̓ôṣār was employed in ritual baths dating to as early as the Second Temple period is no more than an unqualified anachronism.

Second Temple period | archaeology | mikveh | bath (ritual) | purity | Rabbinic literature | halakhah

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Evidence of an early form of the Ashkenazic liturgical rite from the Cairo Genizah
Michael Rand, Binyamin Loeffler

Spring 2015 | vol. 66 | no. 1 | pp. 001–023
10.18647/3208/JJS-2015

The present article gathers together a number of scattered Genizah fragments that contain piyyutim for various festivals and Special Sabbaths and originally belonged to several closely related liturgical booklets. The fragments are analysed with a view to showing that the booklets represent an early form of the Ashkenazic liturgical rite. Some suggestions are then offered for a reconstruction of two related historical processes: the redaction of the corpus of the Byzantine payyetan Eleazar be-rabbi Qillir and the transmission of the Classical piyyut tradition, in which he occupies a central position, from the east to Europe. These processes have heretofore been shrouded in obscurity for lack of data. The reconstruction of the liturgical booklets offered here is part of an attempt to fill the documentary gap.

Middle Ages | Egypt | Cairo Genizah | liturgy | maḥzor | piyyut | Ashkenaz | Qillir | Qalonymus | Shimon bar Yitshaq

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The verbal noun of the qal stem in Rabbinic Hebrew traditions and qĕṭēlâ/qĕṭîlâ alternations
Uri Mor

Spring 2015 | vol. 66 | no. 1 | pp. 079–096
10.18647/3212/JJS-2015

The verbal noun שְׂרִיפָה ‘burning’ in Rabbinic Hebrew stands in contrast to its biblical counterpart שְׂרֵפָה ‘fire’ both in form and in function. This contrast is not, as has been suggested, a simple alternation between nominal patterns or between vowels, but rather part of a wide morphological change in Rabbinic Hebrew: the transition of the verbal nouns into a grammatical category, which can be seen in other forms and other nominal patterns as well. The inherited biblical forms that, like שְׂרֵפָה did not fit the new alignment and were not considered appropriate verbal nouns any more, were kept in use and maintained their potential lexical status, but for expressing the verbal noun they were often replaced by other patterns.

Linguistics | Hebrew | grammar | Biblical Hebrew | Rabbinic Hebrew | orthography

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Creation by emission: reconstructing Adam and Eve in the Babylonian Talmud in light of Zoroastrian and Manichaean literature
Yishai Kiel

Autumn 2015 | vol. 66 | no. 2 | pp. 295–316
10.18647/3236/JJS-2015

This study attempts to broaden the Judeo-Christian prism through which the rabbinic legends of Adam and Eve are frequently examined in scholarship, by offering a contextual and synoptic reading of Babylonian rabbinic traditions pertaining to the first human couple against the backdrop of the Zoroastrian and Manichaean creation myths. The findings demonstrate that, while some of the themes and motifs found in the Babylonian rabbinic tradition are continuous with the ancient Jewish and Christian heritage, others are absent from, or occupy a peripheral role in, ancient Jewish and Christian traditions and, at the same time, are reminiscent of Iranian mythology. The study posits that the syncretic tendencies that pervaded the Sasanian culture facilitated the incorporation of Zoroastrian and Manichaean themes into the Babylonian legends, which were in turn creatively repackaged and adapted to the rabbinic tradition and world-view.

Biblical literature | Book of Genesis | Adam | Eve | creation | myths | Babylonian Talmud | Zoroastrianism | Manichaeism | sexuality

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Isaac and Jesus: a Rabbinic reappropriation of a ‘Christian’ motif?
Karin Hedner Zetterholm

Spring 2016 | vol. 67 | no. 1 | pp. 102–120
10.18647/3261/JJS-2016

If, as recent scholarly insights suggest, adherence to Jesus was a largely intra-Jewish affair during the first few centuries CE, it increases the likelihood of interaction and exchange of ideas between such Jesus-oriented Jews and Jews of other inclinations. This article argues that the motif of the atoning power of the death of the beloved son – developed within first-century Judaism, as evidenced by Paul and the Gospels, and embraced by Jesus-oriented groups – was later reappropriated by Rabbinic Judaism through interaction with Jesus-oriented groups with a Jewish self-identity, and applied by Rabbinic Jews to Isaac. The presence of the aqedah motif in synagogues from the third to six centuries may testify to the reappropriation by non-Jesus-oriented Jews of the motif of the atoning power of the death of the beloved son, and possibly also to the presence and impact of Jesus-oriented groups or individuals in the synagogue of late antiquity.

Biblical literature | Book of Genesis | Akedah | Isaac | New Testament | Jesus | Rabbinic movement | Jewish-Christian relations

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The Jewish high priesthood for sale: farming out temples in the Hellenistic Near East
Andrew Monson

Spring 2016 | vol. 67 | no. 1 | pp. 015–035
10.18647/3256/JJS-2016

During a period of turmoil in Jerusalem, c.175–145 BCE, Antiochus IV and his successors repeatedly sold the Jewish high priesthood rather than observing the customary hereditary succession. According to 2 Macc. 11:1–3, the Seleucid governor intended to institute an annual sale, so that the temple would generate revenue ‘like the sacred enclosures of the other peoples’. In Egypt and Babylonia it was common since the sixth century BCE to farm out to wealthy notables the financial management of large temples, whose administrative structure was not unlike that of the Jerusalem temple. The Ptolemies inherited the Egyptian practice, modifying the annual appointment of high priests with Greek tax-farming procedures, while the Seleucids probably adopted tax farming on Babylonian temple estates as well. This article suggests that Antiochus IV attempted similar reforms of the Jerusalem temple in response to fiscal pressure, exploiting intra-elite competition for the high priesthood.

Second Temple period | high priesthood | temple administration | tax farming | Antiochus IV Epiphanes | Maccabean revolution | Book of Maccabees | historiography

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The fatal chamber pot and the idol of Pe̓or – covert anti-Zoroastrian polemic in the Bavli?
Natalie C. Polzer

Autumn 2016 | vol. 67 | no. 2 | pp. 267–290
10.18647/3279/JJS-2016

Through the analysis of five aggadic traditions in the Bavli and Palestinian parallels, the article explores intercultural exchange between Babylonian rabbinic Jews and Zoroastrian Persians relating to ritual impurity, most specifically the impurity of excrement. While current research on such intercultural exchange tends to focus on the positive attitudes of Babylonian Jews to the beliefs and practices of their Zoroastrian neighbours, this article argues that these aggadic traditions may exhibit a negative, even hostile, Jewish response to Zoroastrian purity practices. The argument is supported by the comparative analysis of the aggadot with their Palestinian parallels, showing that the Babylonian versions are consistently more humorous, contain more scatological detail and exhibit an enhanced negative view of the non-Jewish ‘Other’. This evidence supports the argument that these aggadot may project a covert, negative view of Zoroastrians, specifically that their beliefs and practices concerning the ritual impurity of excrement are exaggerated and absurd.

Rabbinic literature | Babylonian Talmud | aggadah | polemics | Zoastrianism | purity | impurity | humour

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Simon B. Scheyer (1804–1854): a forgotten pioneer of the scientific study of medieval Jewish philosophy
Gad Freudenthal

Autumn 2016 | vol. 67 | no. 2 | pp. 363–391
10.18647/3284/JJS-2016

Simon B. Scheyer is one of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers of the scholarly study of medieval Jewish philosophy, especially of Maimonides, some of whose works are still used by scholars today. Despite his role as a precursor and his scholarly excellence, he has been all but forgotten by history and has not been the subject of even a single entry in any work of reference. The purpose of this article is to offer Simon Scheyer the place that is his due in the history of Jewish scholarship. I sketch his (tragic) biography, reconstituted from printed and archival sources, and present his work.

Modern period | Germany | Jewish philosophy | Wissenschaft des Judentums | Scheyer | Simon | Maimonides | Moses | Guide for the Perplexed | translations

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Textual criticism of the Bible in the writings of Jacob Reifmann: a re-evaluation
Eran Viezel

Spring 2017 | vol. 68 | no. 1 | pp. 097–115
10.18647/3303/JJS-2017

Jacob Reifmann (Poland, 1818–1895), one of the most fascinating figures of the Enlightenment in Eastern Europe, was a prolific scholar and intellectual whose books and articles cover a variety of subjects in Jewish intellectual history. Most of the scholars – scholars of Reifmann’s work and scholars of Jewish biblical research during the Enlightenment – usually present him as someone who worked extensively on the biblical text and proposed hundreds of emendations to the traditional (Masoretic) text. As I will endeavour to show in this article, the place of the critical study of the biblical text within Reifmann’s scholarly oeuvre needs to be re-evaluated. The conclusion reached in the course of our discussion is that Reifmann in fact made only a few suggestions for emending the biblical text, while the hundreds of comments that scholars have understood as proposals for textual emendation should be understood in a different way.

Modern period | Eastern Europe | Enlightenment | Reifmann | Jacob | Biblical literature | Masoretic text | textual criticism

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Israeli, Jewish, Mizraḥi or Traditional? On the nature of the Hebrew of Israel’s periphery
Yehudit Henshke

Spring 2017 | vol. 68 | no. 1 | pp. 137–157
10.18647/3305/JJS-2017

This article deals with the sociolect of native Hebrew speakers, born in Israel, whose (distant) origin is in the Jewish communities of the Arab east and west. The article reviews several terms that have been used to refer to this sociolect but argues that none of these terms accurately describes either the sociolect or its speakers. Since the majority of the Israelis who speak this sociolect are traditional (masoratiyim) in terms of their religious identity, I propose to refer to this sociolect as Traditional-Mizrahi Hebrew, which occupies an intermediate place between ‘Jewish Hebrew’ and ‘Israeli Hebrew’. This term has the advantage of accurately reflecting the contemporary Israeli reality. The second part of the article provides detailed evidence for the suitability of this term. It reviews various linguistic characteristics of this sociolect that reflect its affinity to the Jewish tradition as it is perceived by the Jewish communities of the Muslim countries.

Sociolinguistics | Israel | Mizrahi Jews | Modern Hebrew | Judeo-Arabic | ethnolect | phonology

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The Jewish elite of Sepphoris in late antiquity: indications from burial inscriptions
Jacob Ashkenazi, Mordechai Aviam

Autumn 2017 | vol. 68 | no. 2 | pp. 308–323
10.18647/3327/JJS-2017

The inscriptions from the cemeteries of Sepphoris serve as a vivid reflection of Jewish life and culture in this vibrant city of late antique Palestine. Two of these burial inscriptions are studied in this article: a bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) and a Greek inscription that was uncovered more than a century ago and mistakenly read as a dedicatory inscription from an unexcavated synagogue. Reading the first one and rereading the second introduces us to senior Jewish officials in the Roman provincial and imperial administration. It affords us a unique glance into the social and cultural background of the Jewish elite of Sepphoris at the turn of the fourth–fifth centuries, at a time when the Christianization of the Roman administration had accelerated and Jews were forced once again to deal with questions of identity and introspection.

Late Antiquity | Palestine | Sepphoris | Jewish community | archaeology | inscriptions | burial | epitaphs | synagogues

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Calendar tables in manuscript and printed Arba̔ah Ṭurim: Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim, chapter 428
Nadia Vidro

Spring 2018 | vol. 69 | no. 1 | pp. 58–85
10.18647/3351/jjs-2018

This article is a case study in the creation, transmission and evolution of calendar tables in medieval and early modern Jewish sources. It looks at calendar tables in Arba̔ah Ṭurim by Jacob ben Asher (early fourteenth century), one of the most influential rabbinic codes of law. Calendar tables in printed editions of Arba̔ah Ṭurim (Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim, chapter 428) deviate from the normative rabbinic calendar and can lead to celebrating religious holidays at the wrong times. The inclusion of non-standard tables in an authoritative code of law has long raised questions about their authenticity. This article examines the history of calendar tables in Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim by investigating all extant manuscripts and fifteenth- to sixteenth-century printed editions of the code. The article highlights the unstable connection of calendar tables with authorial compositions and the lack of calendar expertise among copyists and users of calendar tables.

Middle Ages | Early Modern period | Jewish calendar | Jacob ben Asher (Baal HaTurim) | Arba̔ah Turim | manuscripts | printing

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Towards a re-dating of Pompey’s conquest of Jerusalem
Duncan Cameron

Autumn 2018 | vol. 69 | no. 2 | pp. 225–247
10.18647/3370/jjs-2018

The date of Pompey’s conquest of Jerusalem is examined in light of the accounts of Josephus, contemporary hints found in Cicero, and the narratives of other ancient chroniclers. It is established that word of Pompey’s victory in the East was received in Rome during the first half of 63 BCE and that the conclusion of the siege necessarily preceded this. Evidence for a fall victory is presented, which strongly suggests that Pompey’s siege ended in 64 BCE. Pompey’s organization of the eastern provinces is considered as further evidence that his time in Syria was briefer than is typically maintained.

Second Temple period | Pompey the Great | Jerusalem | calendar | historiography | Josephus | Jewish Antiquities | Cicero

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Ashkenaz and France in the Middle Ages – were they one cultural entity? R. Hayim Ha-Kohen as a test case
Avraham Rami Reiner

Autumn 2018 | vol. 69 | no. 2 | pp. 303–318
10.18647/3375/jjs-2018

Rabbi Hayim Ha-Kohen was a Tosafist, active in France and Ashkenaz in the twelfth century. In the scholarly literature he is considered a French scholar, but, as will be demonstrated in this article, this assumption is erroneous. Though he was born in Germany, he travelled to France in order to study under Rabbeinu Tam, then returned to Germany to teach in Mainz. After a few years, he migrated back to France, where he was active until his death. This fact is significant for three reasons: (1) like Ashkenazi scholars, and in contrast to French scholars, Rabbi Hayim opposed immigration to the Land of Israel; (2) he taught and interpreted the order Qodashim – and specifically the tractate Zebahim – in line with Ashkenazi scholars; (3) his son wrote a commentary on Ashkenazi piyyutim that contains many French words. That the prayer rite was Ashkenazi but the language French reflects the family’s migration pattern.

Middle Ages | France | Ashkenaz | Jewry | migration | Tosafists | Hayim Ha-Kohen | Tam (Rabbenu)

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The original order of Pesikta de-Rav Kahana
Arnon Atzmon

Spring 2019 | vol. 70 | no. 1 | pp. 1–23
10.18647/3394/jjs-2019

Determining the original order of the text of Pesikta de-Rav Kahana has plagued scholars since its discovery and reconstruction. This question is not merely technical; rather, it relates to the very essence of the work. The fact that multiple full and partial textual witnesses of the Pesikta have been discovered has not brought this question to its resolution, for these witnesses present the Pesikta in three significantly different orders. This article analyses the textual evidence supporting the order of the text found in these three different versions of the Pesikta. The article also takes into consideration the conceptual consequences of these findings on the nature and essence of the Pesikta. The article concludes by arguing in favour of the order found in one of these versions and with an explanation of the processes that led to the creation of the other two orders.

Rabbinic literature | Pesiqta de Rab Kahana | Pesikta Rabbati | manuscripts | textual tradition

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The persecution of Jews in Persia as described in a sermon of the Jesuit Tomasz Młodzianowski
Anna Augustyniak

Spring 2019 | vol. 70 | no. 1 | pp. 110–132
10.18647/3399/jjs-2019

This article investigates matters relating to Jews and Judaism in the sermons of Tomasz Młodzianowski, a well-known seventeenth-century Polish Jesuit. Młodzianowski spent some time in Persia where he claims to have witnessed an expulsion of the Jews. The reliability of his account is questioned, as well as the extent to which his description of Persian policies towards the Jews was based on his own experience or on other sources. Other, contemporary sources of Persian, Armenian and European origin are analysed to distinguish popular tales in that period from actual events in Persia.

Early Modern period | Persia | Jewish community | persecutions | Tomasz Młodzianowski | Jesuits | sermons

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Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona and the Sabians
Jonathan V. Dauber

Autumn 2019 | vol. 70 | no. 2 | pp. 276–297
10.18647/3418/jjs-2019

In his Commentary on the Talmudic Aggadot, Ezra ben Solomon of Gerona (d.c.1235), one of the first Kabbalists, claims that certain views of ‘philosophers’ and views of Kabbalists are identical, with the only differences between them being ones of nomenclature. These philosophic views, however, turn out to be views of the Sabians, a group that Maimonides erroneously believed was dominant during biblical times. Ezra was well aware of the Sabian origin of these views for he took his account of them almost verbatim from Maimonides’ description of Sabian belief and practice in The Guide of the Perplexed. Maimonides viewed Sabian belief as idolatrous and antithetical to Judaism and claimed that the Torah was determined to combat Sabianism. In arguing, therefore, for the identity of Sabian and Kabbalistic beliefs, Ezra intends to polemicize against Maimonides by rehabilitating sources that the latter rejected.

Medieval philosophy | mysticism | Kabbalah | Maimonides | Moses | Guide for the Perplexed | Ezra of Gerona | Commentary on the Talmudic Aggadot | Sabians

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The Oven of Hakhinai: the Yerushalmi’s accounts of the banning of R. Eliezer
Moshe Simon-Shoshan

Spring 2020 | vol. 71 | no. 1 | pp. 25–52
10.18647/3437/jjs-2020

This article presents an analysis of the Talmud Yerushalmi’s version of the story of ‘The Oven of Akhnai’, Mo’ed Qatan 3:1 (81c–d). The first part is a philological analysis of the Yerushalmi account which traces the development of ‘The Oven of Akhnai’ traditions from the Mishnah and Tosefta, through the Yerushalmi and Bavli. The second part is a literary reading of the Yerushalmi text which demonstrates that the Yerushalmi is far more sympathetic to Rabbi Eliezer and his world-view than is the Bavli. I also consider the significance of the place of this passage in a sugya about the laws of excommunication and the distinctive image of the legendary study house at Yavne, which is markedly different from that found in other rabbinic narratives about the sages of that generation.

Rabbinic literature | Palestinian Talmud | tractate Mo’ed Qatan | Oven of Akhnai | Rabbi Eliezer | Yavne | excommunication

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The Disraeli family and the history of the Jews
Martin Goodman

Spring 2020 | vol. 71 | no. 1 | pp. 141–160
10.18647/3442/jjs-2020

One of the illustrated Victorian editions of Whiston’s translation of Josephus, printed in London in 1848, contains ‘a Sequel to the History of the Jews; continued to the present time’. The title page gives no indication of the origins of this Sequel, which comprises a substantial history of the Jews from the first century CE to the nineteenth century. This article discusses the reasons to suppose that the Sequel was composed by the literary historian Isaac D’Israeli and completed rapidly after his death by his children, Benjamin Disraeli and his sister Sarah. The composition and publication history of the Sequel shed light both on the Jewish identity of Isaac and on the complex attitude of Benjamin to the public debates on Jewish emancipation, in which he intervened dramatically for the first time in December 1847.

Modern period | historiography | Josephus | Flavius | Jewish Antiquities | Jewish War | Whiston | William | D’Israeli | Isaac | Disraeli | Benjamin | Disraeli | Sarah

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Affinities between the yoṣerot of Saadya Gaon and Shelomo Suleiman al-Sanjari: a window onto the Gaon’s early career
Eden Hacohen

Autumn 2020 | vol. 71 | no. 2 | pp. 297–320
10.18647/3461/jjs-2020

Addressing the nature of Saadya Gaon’s creative activity in Palestine prior to his arrival in Babylonia, this article primarily explores the reciprocal relationship discovered between his yoṣerot cycle and that of the ninth-century Palestinian paytan Shelomo Suleiman al-Sanjari. It also attempts to explain the long-standing puzzle of the appearance of the names Shelomo and Suleiman in the acrostic signatures in Saadya’s yoṣerot. Comparison of representative examples of the yoṣerot of these two liturgical poets evinces structural and topical affinities between them: Saadya’s adoption of al-Sanjari’s yoṣerot pattern and adaptation of his themes and, more surprisingly, hints of Saadya’s language and anti-Karaite campaign in al-Sanjari’s cycle. It is suggested here that Saadya was exposed to the legacy of Palestinian piyyut while residing in Tiberias and composed a cycle patterned on that of al-Sanjari, perhaps for performance by Suleiman himself in the synagogue, acrostically signing the name of the precentor in line with local practice.

Middle Ages | manuscripts | poetry | liturgy | piyyut | yoṣerot | Saadiah Gaon | Shelomo Suleiman al-Sanjari | Karaites | polemics

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Herod’s golden eagle on the Temple gate: a reconsideration
Jonathan Bourgel

Spring 2021 | vol. 72 | no. 1 | pp. 23–44
10.18647/3480/jjs-2021

Flavius Josephus reports that Herod the Great erected a golden eagle over the great gate of the Jerusalem Temple (JW 1:648–55; Ant 17:149–63). Sometime before his death, two doctors of the law convinced their disciples to pull the eagle down, for it ‘had been erected in defiance of their fathers’ laws’. Eventually, they were arrested and sentenced to be burned alive by Herod. This account is often taken to reflect Herod’s impious attitudes towards Jewish law, on the one hand, and his unfailing loyalty to the Romans, on the other, the golden eagle supposedly being a symbol of Roman power. However, a careful reading of this account does raise questions serious enough to reconsider its historicity. The present article proposes that the episode of the golden eagle is a martyrdom narrative conveying a legend.

Second Temple period | historiography | Josephus | Flavius | Jewish Antiquities | Jewish War | Herod I (‘the Great’) | Second Temple | martyrdom

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R. Nachman of Tshe’erin’s Kuntres Inyan ha-Hishtahut
Alexandra Mandelbaum

Spring 2021 | vol. 72 | no. 1 | pp. 116–135
10.18647/3485/jjs-2021

The focus of this article is the Kuntres ‘Inyan ha-Hishtahut al Kivrei Zaddikim (A Pamphlet about the Matter of Prostration on the Graves of the Righteous) by R. Nachman Goldstein of Tshe’erin (1825–1894). My goal is to show how this short pamphlet contributed to the formation and development of one of the central traditions of Bratslav Hasidim: the annual pilgrimage to the grave of R. Nachman of Bratslav in Uman on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. This core Bratslav practice keeps Bratslav Hasidism alive and vibrant and serves to expand its ranks. The Kuntres advances the idea of the kibbutz hakadosh (holy gathering) as an essential Bratslav ritual. Later, when historical forces made it impossible to travel to Uman, Bratslav Hasidim in Poland transformed Uman into an object of spiritual longing. This article tells the story of the connection between the pamphlet, theology and history in Bratslav Hasidism.

Modern period | Ukraine | Poland | Uman | Ḥasidism | Bratslav | Naḥman Goldstein | pilgrimage | Naḥman of Bratslav | cemeteries

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Aviv barley and calendar diversity among Jews in eleventh-century Palestine
Nadia Vidro

Autumn 2021 | vol. 72 | no. 2 | pp. 283–312
10.18647/3504/jjs-2021

One of the most salient medieval Qaraite practices was setting the calendar by observation of natural phenomena. While the Rabbanites followed arithmetical schemes, Qaraites set months by sighting the new moon and intercalated years on the basis of the state of ripeness of barley crops (aviv). Multiple Qaraite treatises on the aviv are preserved, but documentary evidence of empirical intercalation is scarce, making it difficult to learn how it was performed in practice. This article examines two Qaraite calendar chronicles that document barley observations and decisions regarding intercalation in a range of years in the eleventh century. They shed important light on how the Qaraite calendar operated over periods of time and attest to frequent calendar difference within the Qaraite movement and between Qaraites and Rabbanites. The chronicles make it clear that the Qaraite calendar of the period was not a monolithic system counterposed to that of the Rabbanites.

Middle Ages | Cairo Genizah | Karaites | manuscripts | calendar | Palestine | agriculture | intercalation

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David Zvi Hoffmann’s (1843–1921) commentary on the Pentateuch in the context of German-Jewish Orthodoxy’s struggle over the dogmatic principles of Torah
Alexander A. Dubrau, Meir Seidler

Autumn 2021 | vol. 72 | no. 2 | pp. 397–417
10.18647/3509/jjs-2021

The present article explores Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann’s (1843–1921) exegetical writings – especially his approach to biblical criticism – in the hitherto unexplored context of German-Jewish Orthodoxy’s struggle over the dogmatic principles of Torah. It highlights the parallels and the differences between Hoffmann and other important exegetical protagonists of German Judaism, especially German-Jewish Orthodoxy, as well as the outstanding significance of his enterprise for the latter. Though Hoffmann’s exegetical conclusions conform to a large extent with traditional Jewish exegesis, his methodological principles, his language and the problems he deals with are closely related to contemporary Wissenschaft. So far as the crisis of German-Jewish Orthodoxy at the beginning of the twentieth century is concerned, the question of how much Hoffmann’s exegesis succeeded in bridging the dichotomy between the dogmatic principles of Torah and Wissenschaft remains open.

Modern period | German | Berlin | Rabbinical Seminary | Hoffmann | David Zvi | orthodoxy | Pentateuch | commentary | Bible criticism

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The female authorship of Babylonian Jewish incantation bowls
Tal Ilan, Dorit Kedar

Autumn 2022 | vol. 73 | no. 2 | pp. 288–304
10.18647/3543/jjs-2022

The general consensus in scholarly research is that rabbis, male scribes and male practitioners wrote the incantation bowls. However, a survey of the Jewish-Aramaic incantation bowls published thus far shows a majority of named female authors. This article will elaborate on five of them who wrote incantation bowls in a unique style. The female authors presented in their magical formulae ideas in a discourse which opposes the religious and cultural perception of the rabbinic milieu. Therefore searching the internal space of the Jewish community is not sufficient. Rather, it would be more fruitful to look for an answer to the question of who wrote the incantation bowls using a wider prism. We should, in this case, explore the society and culture of the Sasanian Empire in particular, and late antiquity in general.

Late Antiquity | Babylonia | magic bowls | scribes | gender | magic | Babylonian Talmud | Sasanians

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The impact of the diaspora on family life in the Yishuv (1920–1948)
Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman

Autumn 2022 | vol. 73 | no. 2 | pp. 378–402
10.18647/3547/jjs-2022

Rejection alongside an embrace characterized the Yishuv’s attitude toward the diaspora, as shall be evidenced by the test cases discussed in this article. The concept of the ‘negation of the diaspora’ served as a central axis around which the Zionist leadership sought to organize Jewish society in Mandatory Palestine. Its implementation, however, proved to be a challenge. The majority of the population were immigrants who brought with them the views and cultural norms of their countries of origin. This article examines the complex role the diaspora played in the shaping of the Yishuv via two test cases drawn from family-life experiences. Drawing on diverse primary sources, the first relates to a wedding controversy in the 1920s, the second to birth-rate issues in the 1930s and 1940s. Representing contrary social practices, the test cases illustrate the way in which, while the diaspora was denounced in theory, it continued to play a role in the daily life of the Yishuv.

Modern period | Mandatory Palestine | Jewish society | Yishuv | diaspora | immigration | Zionism

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A Dead Sea Scrolls fragment with the name of Aristobulus
Eibert Tigchelaar

Spring 2023 | vol. 74 | no. 1 | pp. 1–4
10.18647/3562/jjs-2023

A tiny Qumran Cave 4 fragment (IAA Plate 76 frag. 15) preserves the oldest transliteration in Hebrew letters of the name Aristobulus. The fragment probably derives from a historical record describing events around the Roman conquest, and the use of the Greek name for Aristobulus II agrees with the thesis that he did not have a Hebrew name.

Post-biblical literature | Qumran | Dead Sea Scrolls | names | Aristobulus | Hasmoneans | Greek | transliteration

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The motivations behind E.H. Lindo’s The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal
Carla Vieira

Spring 2023 | vol. 74 | no. 1 | pp. 92–116
10.18647/3567/jjs-2023

This article analyses three main aspects of Elias Haim Lindo’s motivation in writing his work The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal (London, 1848): the personal circumstances of the author; his desire to present an impartial and original narrative; and his response to the contentious environment of the time, marked by Christian conversionism and the controversy surrounding Jewish emancipation. To illustrate the contrasting points of view existing at the time of Lindo’s History, we will compare it with works by his contemporaries, in particular James Finn. We will thereby identify three intertwined ideas that are at the core of The History: the value of the Sephardic cultural legacy; the concept of Iberian Jews as the link between the Ancient Hebrews and the nineteenth-century English Jews; and the perception of the Iberian Jewish experience as a model for the ability of contemporary Jews to put down roots in England.

Modern period | Enlightenment | Iberia | Sephardim | conversos | Lindo | Elias Haim

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Gershom Scholem’s ‘laments project’ and the question of gender
Ghilad H. Shenhav

Spring 2023 | vol. 74 | no. 1 | pp. 192–216
10.18647/3571/jjs-2023

This article proposes a new strategy for expanding the conversation on gender and Jewish philosophy with an emphasis on modern German-Jewish thought. The works of German-Jewish thinkers touch on a variety of issues, but almost always engage with Jewish Scriptures. The scriptural texts are abundant and include a gallery of female and male voices. The article asserts that by examining the way Scriptures are selectively interpreted and integrated into philosophical arguments, we can learn about the suppression of women’s voices, as well as concepts of gender and femininity in Jewish thought. I develop this assertion by examining Gershom Scholem’s early philosophical-theological essay ‘On Lament and Lamentation’ (1917), written as an epilogue to the book of Lamentations. Scholem’s principal claim is that laments epitomize a realm that does not represent concrete content and thus can allude to two radical categories of language: Divine revelation and absolute silence. The article argues that by emphasizing the absolute categories and neglecting the heterogenic content of laments, Scholem specifically suppresses the voices of women within the liturgical text. I illuminate Scholem’s oversight by comparatively reading his essay alongside the book of Lamentations and Midrash Lamentations Rabbah. The comparative reading demonstrates how the concepts which occupy Scholem (silence/revelation) are represented in Scriptures not only as absolute categories, but also through the bodies and voices of women.

Modern period | Jewish philosophy | Germany | Scholem | Gershom | gender | language | Book of Lamentations | Lamentations Rabbah

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The date and provenance of the Aramaic Targum to Canticles
Hsin-Chih Perng

Autumn 2023 | vol. 74 | no. 2 | pp. 345–358
10.18647/3586/jjs-2023

Targum Canticles is an allegorical interpretation of the biblical book of Canticles written in a special literary form of Aramaic, extant in over one hundred manuscripts dating from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. The majority of scholars have believed that the work was written in Palestine in the seventh or eighth century, but the linguistic evidence clearly indicates that the author was not an Aramaic or Arabic speaker and did not live in Palestine. In this article I try to show how the language of the Targum suggests that it was written in southern Italy in the eleventh century. This conclusion, based on in-depth analysis of the language of the Targum and comparison with numerous sources, is supported by direct and indirect textual witnesses of the work and has implications for the study of other late Targums.

Biblical literature | Book of Song of Songs | translations | Aramaic | dialects | Targum | Italy

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