Goy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Paul's Letters

The distinction between Jew and his other, the gentile, has been so central to Jewish history that the vast scholarship dedicated to Jewish-gentile relations has treated the category of the gentile as self-evident and has never questioned its history. This book shows that this category was in fact born at a particular moment, that it replaced older categories of otherness, and that it was both informed by and embedded in new modes of separation of Jews from non-Jews. The book traces the development of the term and category of the goy from the Bible—where it simply means “people,” through the plurality of others in Second Temple literature, to rabbinic literature—where it signifies any individual who is not a Jew, erasing all ethnic and social differences among different others. The book argues that the abstract concept of the gentile first appeared in Paul’s Letters, but only in rabbinic literature did this category become the center of a stable and long-standing discursive structure. It then reconstructs the specific type of other the goy came to be, and compares it to the famous other of Greek and Hellenistic antiquity—the Barbarian.

The Missing Goy in Second Temple Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adi Ophir ◽  
Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Discursive Formation ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Paul's Letters

This chapter examines a loose groups of texts from the Second Temple period, tracing some early and scattered evidence of an effort to abstract the biblical ethnic categories. It argues that the discursive formation that would later characterize the rabbinic goy cannot be found in any of the texts written before Paul’s letters. The goal of the chapter is twofold: first, to analyze the conceptual configurations through which the distinctions between Jews and their others were articulated in texts and compositions in which the concept of the goy is not yet the organizing principle. Second, to reconstruct discursive options that existed before the formation of the goy consolidated, and that disappeared after it took hold.

Invention of a Bathing Tradition in Hasmonean Palestine

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-177
Author(s):  
Danielle Steen Fatkin
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
The Political ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Second Temple Literature

AbstractWhile scholars have known about the earliest ritual immersion pool in the Buried Palace at Jericho for more than thirty years, they have yet to produce a clear understanding of why the Hasmoneans began building ritual immersion pools when they did. Further, scholars have also failed to acknowledge the innovative nature of these spaces. I argue that we can best resolve these shortcomings by understanding the construction of the earliest known purpose-built ritual immersion pool (PBRIP) by John Hyrcanus I as an innovation driven by the political and social disruptions of the late second century BCE, and that once he had pioneered the idea of a PBRIP that it rapidly gained popularity. This article contextualizes the PRBIPs within the framework of Hellenistic palatial architecture and Second Temple literature rather than rabbinic literature.

Review of: Aramaic Studies. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Vol. 14. 264 p. ISSN: 1477-8351

2020 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Николай Шаблевский
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Previous Issue ◽  
Semitic Languages ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Comprehensive Study

В предшествующем выпуске журнала «Библия и христианская древность» была опубликована рецензия на «Aramaic Studies» за 2015 г. Настоящий труд является своеобразным продолжением изучения журнала, посвящённого всестороннему исследованию арамейских языков. Как отмечает С. В. Лёзов, письменная традиция арамейских языков, в том числе и его современных бесписьменных идиом, носители которых постепенно по разным причинам переходят в вечность (а вместе с ними исчезают и диалекты арамейских языков), сопоставима по временным рамкам разве что с китайским и греческим. Несмотря на безусловную значимость арамейских языков, в том числе и для исторического языкознания, а также и для изучения Библии, литературы Второго Храма, таргумов, Талмуда и тому подобного, «история арамейского языка до сих пор остаётся неисследованной... “мы отвечаем за арамейский язык перед небытием”», поэтому отрадно видеть, что специальный журнал посвящён столь важной области семитских языков. The previous issue of The Bible and Christian Antiquity published a review of Aramaic Studies for 2015. The present work is a continuation of the journal's study of a comprehensive study of the Aramaic languages. As S. V. Lyozov points out, the written tradition of the Aramaic languages, including its modern unwritten idioms, whose speakers are gradually passing into eternity for various reasons (and with them the dialects of the Aramaic languages are disappearing), is comparable in time frame only to Chinese and Greek. Despite the undoubted importance of the Aramaic languages, including for historical linguistics, as well as for the study of the Bible, Second Temple literature, the Targums, the Talmud and the like, "the history of the Aramaic language is still unexplored... "we are responsible for the Aramaic language before nothingness", so it is encouraging to see a special journal devoted to such an important area of Semitic languages.

Fraud: From the Biblical Basis to General Commercial Law in Roman Palestine

2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-627
Author(s):  
Ben-Zion Rosenfeld ◽  
Joseph Menirav
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Commercial Law ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rabbinic Law ◽  
Roman Palestine

AbstractThe article deals with the understanding of the historical and legal components of the law prohibiting fraud (honayah) as appears from the Bible to Rabbinic literature. The first section reviews this law and its understanding from Biblical times until the destruction of the Second Temple. Then follows a discussion of the changes that arose after this period, based on the information gleaned from the rabbinic literature, on fraud, its development, and its structure. The law declares that every deviation of one sixth of an accepted price is called fraud. The article analyzes the main issues of the law such as: is this sixth of the gross price or of the net price? How can one set the legal definitions of profit and fraud for an object that was resold several times. The authors analyze cases in which it is difficult to set a price due to various reasons, or items that both the buyer and seller cannot complain of fraud. The rabbinic law is compared and contrasted to the contemporary Roman law.

The Hegemony of the Biblical in the Study of Second Temple Literature

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-35
Author(s):  
Eva Mroczek
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Cultural Consciousness ◽  
Finish Line ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Canonical Process ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
Concrete Entity

Despite growing recognition that early Jewish culture was far broader than the Bible, the biblical retains its hegemony in the study of early Jewish literature. Often, non-biblical materials are read either as proto-biblical, para-biblical, or biblical interpretation, assimilated into an evolutionary narrative with Bible as the telos. But ancient Jewish literature and culture are far more than proto-biblical. Through a case study of psalmic texts and Davidic traditions, this article illustrates how removing biblical lenses reveals a more vibrant picture of the resources and interests of early Jews. First, it discusses evidence showing that despite a common perception about its popularity, the “Book of Psalms” was not a concrete entity or well-defined concept in Second Temple times. Instead, we find different genres of psalm collection with widely varied purposes and contents, and a cultural consciousness of psalms as an amorphous tradition. Second, it demonstrates how David was remembered as an instructor and founder of temple and liturgy, rather than a biblical author, a notion that, despite common assumptions, is not actually attested in Hellenistic and early Roman sources. Third, it reconsiders two Hellenistic texts, 4QMMT and 2 Maccabees, key sources in the study of the canonical process that both mention writings linked with David. While their value to the study of the canon has been challenged, the assumption that they use “David” to mean “the Psalms” has remained largely unquestioned. But when we read without assuming a biblical reference, we see a new David, and the possibility that the ancient writers were alluding to other discourses associated with him – namely, his exemplary, liturgical, and calendrical legacy – that better fit their purposes. Early Jews were not marching toward the biblical finish line, but lived in a culture with diverse other traditions and concerns that cannot always be assimilated into the story of scripture. Recognizing this fact allow us to see Second Temple literature more clearly on its own terms.

Cairo geniza

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence H. Schiffman
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The 19Th Century

The Cairo geniza was a storeroom for no longer usable holy books in the synagogue of Fustat, Old Cairo, where for centuries, old Jewish manuscripts, mostly in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo- Arabic, including also secular documents and communal records, were deposited. In the 19th century, European scholars became aware of this collection and manuscripts were removed to a variety of libraries in Europe and the United States. This material provides those studying the ancient world and ancient Jewish texts in particular with an amazing treasure of documents, throwing light on the history of the biblical text and its interpretation, the Hebrew language, Greek and Syriac versions of the Bible, Second Temple and Rabbinic literature, Jewish liturgy and the later history—political, economic, and religious—of the Jews in the Mediterranean basin. This material has totally reshaped our understanding of these fields. In the area of Bible, these texts illustrate the manner in which the vocalization and cantillation symbols were developed. Hebrew versions of some important Second Temple literature, later found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, had earlier been discovered in the geniza. Many previously unknown Midrashim and rabbinic exegetical materials have become known only from this collection. This material has provided an entirely new corpus of liturgical poetry.

“Who is Rich”?

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-299
Author(s):  
Ben Zion Rosenfeld ◽  
Haim Perlmutter
Keyword(s):  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Roman Palestine

This article analyzes the wealthy strata of Jewish society in Roman Palestine in the first centuries after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C. E. It examines the use of the term “wealthy” in Jewish literature of the time, demonstrating that the authors of this literature used it differently than modern use. “Rich” for them is primarily “not poor,” and may reflect differing levels of property possession. One level is a person who is wealthy compared to his neighbors. Another use of the word relates to those perceived to be objectively wealthy. The use of the term in the Hebrew Bible and the Second Temple literature serves as a background for discussion of its use in the New Testament and in rabbinic literature. In addition, this article surveys the archaeological finds that help to determine the various kinds of “wealth” in contemporary society. This analysis aids in our understanding of the distribution of wealth in Roman Palestine and can even serve as a paradigm for wealth distribution elsewhere in the Roman East.

The Emergence of Rabbinic Culture from the Perspective of Qumran

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-274
Author(s):  
Vered Noam
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Jewish Culture ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Set Up

The rabbinic halakhic system, with its many facets and the literary works that comprise it, reflects a new Jewish culture, almost completely distinct in its halakhic content and scope from the biblical and postbiblical culture that preceded it. By examining Jewish legislation in the area of corpse impurity as a test case, the article studies the implications of Qumranic halakhah, as a way-station between the Bible and the Mishnah, for understanding how Tannaitic halakhah developed. The impression obtained from the material reviewed in the article is that the direction of the “Tannaitic revolution” was charted, its methods set up, and its principles established, at a surprisingly early stage, before the destruction of the Second Temple, and thus at the same time that the Qumran literature was created.

Bavli Menaḥot 29b and the Diminution

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-105
Author(s):  
Azzan Yadin-Israel
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Temple Literature ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Interpretive Authority

The first part of this essay offers a new interpretation of the narrative in b. Men. 29b that sees Moses travel forward in time to Rabbi Akiva’s bet midrash. Though this passage has been discussed extensively, I argue that scholars have failed to note the overriding significance of the corresponding mishnah (m. Men. 3.7) for the interpretation of the Bavli. To wit, the tale of God delaying the completion of the Torah in order to append crowns to the letter, is a narrative midrash on the phrase כתב אחד מעכב in the Mishnah. In the second part of the essay, I examine the image of Rabbi Akiva as one who is able to bring to light the interpretive secrets hidden in the Torah. I argue that this view represents the return of a model of interpretive authority that enjoyed great prominence in Second Temple literature but lost favor in Tannaitic sources.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document