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Benjamin Wold
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Articles
Judaea after AD 70
Benjamin Isaac


10.18647/1121/JJS-1984

Late Antiquity | Judea | historiography | Josephus | Flavius | Jewish War | Vespasian (emperor)

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


10.18647/1180/JJS-1985

Late Antiquity | Bar Kokhba revolt | ideology | historiography | scholarship

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Metaphorical Poverty in 'Musar leMevin'
Benjamin G. Wold


10.18647/2710/JJS-2007

This essay argues that the language of poverty should be understood on some occasions in Musar leMevin (4QInstruction)metaphorically in relation to angelic beings. Given how fragmentary the document is and how enigmatic its language, prudent caution needs to be exercised before concluding firmly on previous interpretive suggestions. Rather than conceiving of poverty in Musar leMevin as strictly reflecting a ‘this-worldly’ lacking, and thus the Sitz im Leben of the community behind the document, it may describe an aspect of human nature and, therefore, relate to ‘other-worldly’ imagery. It is understood that the addressee lacks wisdom, which he is urged to seek and obtain. Accordingly this deficiency of understanding is a part of human nature and, just as the one addressed is repeatedly urged to seek wisdom, so too is he reminded: ‘you are poor’. Furthermore, Musar leMevin is not ‘Essene’, and one should not presuppose that its so-called social situations reflect on the Qumran community.

Post-biblical literature | Qumran | Dead Sea Scrolls | Wisdom literature | apocalypticism | 4QInstruction | metaphor | poverty

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Breuer, Hirsch and Jewish nationalism: change and continuity – principle versus supra-principle
Benjamin Brown


10.18647/3146/JJS-2013

The article suggests a simple model, based on the distinction between principles and supra-principles, as a tool for tracking the continuity that may exist between teacher and follower in spite of the apparent difference between them. The model is exemplified through a particular case study: Isaac Breuer was the grandson of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, and presented himself as his disciple. However, a critical examination of the opinions of the two regarding the crucial question of Jewish nationalism reveals that their principles were quite different: Hirsch was against Jewish nationalism, Breuer fought for it. Notwithstanding, at the level of supra-principles the continuity is preserved: advocating the supra-principle of Torah im Derekh Eretz , both viewed ‘Torah’ (i.e. the Halakhah) as eternal and immutable and ‘ Derekh Eretz ’ (work/culture) as the demand to give changing responses to the changing challenges of the time. The change in principles regarding Jewish nationalism was, therefore, concomitant with the change in challenges. This model is likewise found to be applicable to the opposite change that took place in Hungarian ultra-Orthodoxy, from warm support of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael to fierce opposition to it. The supra-principle of building fences against the ‘New’ (i.e. the modern and the moderns) stood behind both of them.

Modern period | Germany | Hirsch | Samson Raphael | Breuer | Isaac | neo-orthodoxy | nationalism | Zionism

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‘Many books on issues of divine service’: Defining musar in early modernit
Patrick Benjamin Koch


10.18647/3436/jjs-2020

The article examines R. Shabbetai ben Joseph Meshorer Bass’s (1641–1718) bibliographical project of organizing the genre nowadays known as sifrut ha-musar or ‘Jewish ethical literature’. By exploring Bass’s modus operandi, it highlights both the diverse literary expressions conveying the conception of musar and the entanglement of the emic and etic frameworks – that is, perspectives ‘from within’ and ‘from without’. Based on an analysis of Siftei Yeshenim, it shows how Bass’s notion of musar comprises a spiritual-psychological dimension, on the one hand, and a philosophical-moralistic, on the other. Furthermore, it illustrates how Bass’s endeavour was strongly inspired by Christian Hebraism and non-Jewish librarianship, and that he was explicitly positive about non-Jewish bodies of knowledge – including them in his work and recommending them for study.

Early Modern period | Shabbetai Bass | ethics | musar | Siftei Yeshenim | bibliography | Christian Hebraism

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The Disraeli family and the history of the Jews
Martin Goodman


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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What did the Rabbis know about grammar? Exegesis and grammatical gender in late antiquity
Benjamin Williams


10.18647/3520/jjs-2022

The first systematic analyses of Hebrew grammar were composed by Rabbanite and Karaite scholars of the tenth and eleventh centuries, partly by drawing on the conventions of Arabic linguistics. However, certain technical grammatical terms, including the expressions leshon zakhar (‘masculine’) and leshon neqevah (‘feminine’), can be found in Midrashic and Talmudic texts. This article considers the grammatical knowledge underlying the rabbinic expositions. Points of comparison are sought in late-antique grammatical treatises and non-rabbinic interpretive works, including Philo’s commentaries and scholia on the Iliad and Aeneid, with particular attention to perceived relationships between grammatical gender and cultural gender norms. By differentiating this understanding of linguistic gender from those articulated in the commentaries and grammars of medieval Jewish scholars of the Muslim world, the article argues that the rabbinic expositions were shaped by grammatical concepts that are well attested in late-ancient Graeco-Roman textual scholarship.

Rabbinic literature | Hebrew | grammar | gender | exegesis | Philo of Alexandria | Jerome | Greek literature

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Reviews
The Doctrine of Election in Tannaitic Literature by Benjamin W. Helfgott
Reviewed by R. J. Zwi Werblowsky


10.18647/282/JJS-1956



King's Crown Press (Columbia University) | 1954 | xii+209

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Mavo' la-Mishnah by Hanokh Albeck
Reviewed by Benjamin de Vries


10.18647/426/JJS-1959



Devir | 1959 | viii, 295

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, Together with a New Commentary, Variant Readings, and Source References: Massekheth Bava Meṣ`a by M. N. Zobel, H. Z. Dimitrovski
Reviewed by Benjamin de Vries


10.18647/495/JJS-1963



Devir | 1960 | 231

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Peshat and Derash in the Exegesis of Rashi by Benjamin J. Gelles
Reviewed by Sarah Kamin


10.18647/1200/JJS-1985



E. J. Brill | 1981 | Etudes sur le Judaïsme Médiéval IX | x, 171

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The Orchard by Benjamin Tammuz, Richard Flantz
Reviewed by Glenda Abramson


10.18647/1235/JJS-1985



Copper Beech Press | 1984 | 88

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The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies by Benjamin Mazar
Reviewed by P. R. S. Moorey


10.18647/1347/JJS-1987



Israel Exploration Society | 1986 | ix + 266;

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The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East. Revised Edition by Benjamin Isaac
Reviewed by Tessa Rajak


10.18647/1696/JJS-1993



Clarendon Press | 1992 | xiii, 536,

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Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic World 1391-1648 by Benjamin R. Gampel ed.
Reviewed by Raphael Loewe


10.18647/2227/JJS-1999



Columbia University Press | 1997 | xvi, 413

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The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity by Benjamin Isaac
Reviewed by Margaret H. Williams


10.18647/2591/JJS-2005



Princeton University Press | 2004 | xiv, 563 | 0-691-11691-1

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The Jews of Early Modern Venice by Robert C. Davis, Benjamin Ravid ed.
Reviewed by Joanna Weinberg


10.18647/2603/JJS-2005



John Hopkins Press | 2001 | 344 | 0-8018-6512-3

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The Searchable and Bookmarked Syriac-English Dictionary: A Searchable PDF of J. Payne Smith’s A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith by George Anton Kiraz ed.
Reviewed by Benjamin Williams


10.18647/2850/JJS-2009



Gorgias Press | 2007 | ISBN 978-1-59333-790-2

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Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Reciprocity and Solidarity in Ancient Judaism by Seth Schwartz
Reviewed by Benjamin G. Wright


10.18647/3058/JJS-2011



Princeton University Press | 2010 | x, 212 | ISBN 978-0-691-14054-4

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Translating Religion: Linguistic Analysis of Judeo-Arabic Sacred Texts from Egypt by Benjamin H. Hary
Reviewed by E. M. Wagner


10.18647/3059/JJS-2011



Brill | 2009 | xxi, 360 | ISBN 978-90-04-17382-8

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Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: A Multi-Lingual Corpus of the Inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad , Volume III: South Coast by Walter Ameling, Hannah M. Cotton, Werner Eck, Benjamin Isaac, Alla Kushnir-Stein, Haggai Misgav, Jonathan Price, Ada Yardeni ed.
Reviewed by Sacha Stern


10.18647/3200/JJS-2014



Walter de Gruyter | 2014 | xxv, 736 | ISBN 978-3-11-033746-4

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Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition by Benjamin D. Sommer
Reviewed by David Arthur Lambert


10.18647/3312/JJS-2017



Yale University Press | 2015 | 440 | ISBN 978-0-30015-873-1

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‘Sit at my Right Hand’: The Chronicler’s Portrait of the Tribe of Benjamin in the Social Context of Yehud by Benjamin D. Giffone
Reviewed by H. G. M. Williamson


10.18647/3405/jjs-2019



Bloomsbury T&T Clark | 2016 | xiii, 270 | ISBN 978-0-56766-731-1

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