Holiness in the Rabbinic Period

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzvi Novick
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Natural Property ◽  
Second Temple Period

The chapter examines the conceptualization and role of holiness in classical rabbinic and para-rabbinic literature. The first part contends that while holiness structured the thought world of sectarians in the late Second Temple period, it figures less importantly for the rabbis themselves, who in an assortment of texts appear self-consciously to disrupt holiness-based hierarchies. They instead assign a structuring role to law. The second part of the chapter surveys the ways in which texts from rabbinic Palestine deploy holiness discourse, and ventures that the rabbis continue to think of holiness as closer to a natural property than to an evaluative shorthand.

Fellowship, Pharisees and the common people in early Rabbinic tradition

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 339-356
Author(s):  
Tracy Ames
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Common People ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The Common

This paper explores the phenomenon of non-priestly purity within the ancient Jewish purity system and examines passages in Tannaitic literature that refer to p'rushim (Pharisees), haverim and ne'e-manim, all of whom have been associated with practising non-priestly purity laws during the Second Temple period. The 'am ha-aretz, people accused of non-compliance with ritual purity, are also a focus of the paper. An analysis of the terms p'rushim, haverim, ne'emanim and 'am ha-aretz reveals that variant meanings have been attached to these categories in different passages of rabbinic literature and that the terms are fluid and resist classification. The findings of this paper challenge some of the prevailing theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon of non-priestly purity in ancient Israel.

scholarly journals The Praise of God and His Name as the Core of the Second Temple Liturgy

2015 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika S. Pajunen
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Early Judaism ◽  
Primary Element ◽  
Liturgical Texts ◽  
Liturgical Practice

Das Lob Gottes wurde schon immer als wichtigstes Element des liturgischen Lebens am 2. Tempel verstanden. Formkritiker haben dieses Moment der liturgischen Praxis vor allem durch die Analyse der Psalmen nachgezeichnet. Demgegenüber erscheint die Rolle der Klage zumindest in der späten Phase des 2. Temepls randständig. Allerdings fehlt ein Bindeglied zwischen der hellenistischen Phase der Liturgie und dem Lob in den Qumran Texten des 1 Jh. v. Chr. Der Blick auf das Motiv der Schöpfung erschließt dieses Bindeglied und erklärt zugleich, warum das Lob als Verpflichtung Gott gegenüber verstanden wurde.Praise of God has always been understood by scholars as a primary element of the liturgical life of the Second Temple period. Form-critics have situated the praises of God in the liturgical practice of the period most of all by analyzing the Psalms now in the MT Psalter. However, at least in the late Second Temple period the role of laments seems to be marginal. Thus far a link has been missing in scholarship between this centrality of praise perceivable in the liturgical practice of the Hellenistic period and the all-encompassing nature of praise in the texts of the Qumran movement from the first century BCE. This is a link that may in part explain why prayer, or during this time more properly praise, came to be seen in early Judaism as an obligation towards God. This question is explored by investigating how the Second Temple liturgy is in many texts from the second century BCE given an explicit basis in the creation, and how such traditions in turn served an important function in the composition of new liturgical texts.La louange de Dieu a toujours été comprise par les exégètes comme un élément essentiel de la vie liturgique de la période du Second Temple. A l’aide de la critique des formes, certains exégètes ont situé les louanges de Dieu dans la pratique liturgique de cette période, en analysant surtout les Psaumes actuellement présents dans le psautier du TM. Le rôle des lamentations, en revanche, semble marginal, au moins dans la période tardive du Second Temple. Jusqu’à présent la recherche n’a pas établi de lien entre la centralité de la louange perceptible dans la pratique liturgique de la période hellénistique et l’importancede la louange dans les textes qumrâniens du premier siècle av. J.-C. Ce lien pourrait expliquer, en partie, pourquoi la prière, ou à plus proprement parler la louange, a été de plus en plus perçue, durant cette période, comme une obligation envers Dieu dans le judaïsme primitif. Cette question est explorée à travers l’analyse de nombreux textes du deuxième siècle av. J.-C. qui montrent comment la liturgie du Second Temple a été basée explicitement sur la Création et comment de telles traditions ont occupé en retour une place importante dans la composition de nouveaux textes liturgiques.

The Origins of the Seder and Haggadah

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-134
Author(s):  
Joshua Kulp
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Last Supper ◽  
Death Of Jesus ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Temple

Emerging methods in the study of rabbinic literature now enable greater precision in dating the individual components of the Passover seder and haggadah. These approaches, both textual and socio-historical, have led to a near consensus among scholars that the Passover seder as described in rabbinic literature did not yet exist during the Second Temple period. Hence, cautious scholars no longer seek to find direct parallels between the last supper as described in the Gospels and the rabbinic seder. Rather, scholarly attention has focused on varying attempts of Jewish parties, notably rabbis and Christians, to provide religious meaning and sanctity to the Passover celebration after the death of Jesus and the destruction of the Temple. Three main forces stimulated the rabbis to develop innovative seder ritual and to generate new, relevant exegeses to the biblical Passover texts: (1) the twin calamities of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the Bar-Kokhba revolt; (2) competition with emerging Christian groups; (3) assimilation of Greco-Roman customs and manners. These forces were, of course, significant contributors to the rise of a much larger array of rabbinic institutions, ideas and texts. Thus surveying scholarship on the seder reviews scholarship on the emergence of rabbinic Judaism.

The Shema in the Second Temple Period

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarit Kattan Gribetz
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Community Rule ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
The Temple ◽  
At Home

The precise historical moment when Deut 6 (Shema Israel) was transformed into a prayer ritual is uncertain and a matter of scholarly debate. It is generally assumed that by the time of the Mishnah’s redaction (ca. 200 C. E.), the recitation of the Shema was already a standardized ritual because the Mishnah refers to it as a well-known practice. Indeed, the Mishnah takes for granted that its audience is so familiar with the prayer that it does not define it at all, but rather delves immediately into detailed discussions of its timing and exceptions that might arise in everyday life. Other sources from the Second Temple period, however, challenge the idea of the antiquity and ubiquity of such a standard prayer ritual composed of biblical verses from Deuteronomy and Numbers. This paper examines a number of key texts from the Second Temple period that seemingly refer to the recitation of the Shema prayer and that have been used by scholars to reconstruct the origins of this liturgical ritual. Through a close reading of four of these sources (the Letter of Aristeas, Philo, the Community Rule, and Josephus), I argue that they might not refer to the practice of the Shema recitation that we know from later rabbinic literature. Rather, they provide us with a lens into the diversity of ways that Deut 6:6–7 – “take to heart these instructions… impress them on your children… recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up” – was understood and fulfilled in the Second Temple period. The Letter of Aristeas describes an act of meditating on God’s works of creation; the Community Rule prescribes daily recitation of laws; Philo emphasizes the instruction of justice; and Josephus frames the obligation as a commandment to commemorate the deliverance out of Egypt twice daily. The particular framing of the Shema ritual that we come to know in the Mishnah might have appropriated and extended the practice of reciting the Shema in the temple (some evidence suggests that the Shema was recited in the temple), but this was only one of the ways in which Deut 6:7 was enacted and fulfilled in the pre-destruction period.

The Sacrifice of the Souls of the Righteous upon the Heavenly Altar: Transformations of Apocalyptic Traditions in Medieval Ashkenaz

2018 ◽  
pp. 49-72
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Era ◽  
The Sacrifice

This chapter describes the surprising motif found in early medieval rabbinic traditions that appears in some manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud and concerns the sacrifice of 'the souls of the righteous' upon the heavenly altar. It compares the motif, background, and transmission of medieval rabbinic traditions with other traditions concerning the 'souls of the righteous' in rabbinic literature and with precedents in texts of the Second Temple period. The chapter outlines early Enochic traditions, apocalyptic texts of the Second Temple period, and early Christian cultural traditions and beliefs. It indicates the nexus between Christian and Byzantine Jewish traditions, which became manifest in the development of motifs and textual sources during the first centuries of the Common Era and later expressed in medieval Ashkenazi texts. It also provides evidence on cultural transmission between Byzantine works, traditions of the East, and the cultural milieu of medieval Ashkenaz.

Constructing Justice: The Selective Use of Scripture in Formulating Early Jewish Accounts of the Courts

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-515
Author(s):  
David C. Flatto
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Court System ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Judicial Administration ◽  
Base Text ◽  
Biblical Sources

AbstractElaborate depictions of the court system in Second Temple and rabbinic literature signify its centrality for the Jewish legal tradition. Rather than offering positivistic descriptions, these representations are better thought of as templates of how to organize justice. While historically less informative, they are vivid expressions of the early Jewish legal imagination and its fascinating fixation on the architecture of justice.A measure of the ahistoric quality of early accounts of judicial administration is their considerable exegetical strata. This article surveys how four seminal Second Temple and rabbinic works constructed accounts of the judiciary on the foundation of Scripture. The variances among them unfold from decisive hermeneutical choices, beginning with the threshold question of which among several, internally inconsistent, biblical sources to select as a base text. What animates these various choices, in turn, are competing conceptions of the origin and nature of legal authority within a religious tradition that enshrines the role of law.

scholarly journals Joodse religieuse uitbreiding in die Nuwe-Testamentiese tydvak: Was die Judaïsme ’n missionêre godsdiens? (Deel II)

1997 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-66
Author(s):  
A. B. Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
First Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Negative Conclusion ◽  
Cross Current

Jewish religious expansion in the New Testament era: Was Judaism a missionary religion? (Part II) In the first part of this article five factors were identified which would have contributed to the significant numerical increase of Jews towards the end of the Second Temple period. Here six others are discussed: Jewish slaves in non-Jewish households, adoption of children, the universalistic tendency in certain circles, the role of the synagogue, the attractiveness of Judaism in spite of a negative cross-current and the influence of apologetic-propagandistic literature. In weighing the evidence for a full-scale centrifugal missionary movement a mostly negative conclusion is reached. In this sense first century Judaism cannot be described as a missionary religion. We could, however, speak of an indirect mission in the sense that non-Jews were attracted to Judaism mainly through the quality’ of Jewish belief and life-style and that they were encouraged to do so.

Deeds, Reward, and Divine Mercy: Jewish Views and Pauline Passages

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Menahem Kister
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
The Law ◽  
Divine Mercy ◽  
Inner Tension

Abstract The present article deals with a strand of ancient Jewish theological notions (in rabbinic literature, Fourth Ezra, and elsewhere) and Pauline ones. In these Jewish passages—sharing similar religious sensitivities and using similar terminology—human works stand vis-à-vis God’s mercy and his benevolence (צדקה). In some passages these categories turn out to be in tension in view of human sinfulness, since no human being can comply with the rigid standards of observing God’s commandments, resulting in the emphasis of divine mercy. Paul’s view, according to which “works (of the law)” and “grace” are mutually exclusive, is a radical intensification of this tension. Paul’s distinct ideas display the inherent dynamics of contemporary Jewish notions and reveal the inner tension within Jewish thought of the late Second Temple period, a tension that continued in Jewish writings (including rabbinic literature) after the Second Temple’s destruction.

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