Stoic Ethics in the Service of Jewish Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren R. Niehoff
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Mosaic Law ◽  
Harsh Criticism ◽  
Jewish Religion

This chapter shows how Philo's exposition of Mosaic law is motivated by the apologetic need to counter Apion's slanders and persuade a broader Roman audience of the value of Jewish customs. Confronted with harsh criticism of the Jewish religion, which has immediate political implications for his embassy to Gaius, Philo devotes several treatises to the Decalogue and the special laws, which hardly interested him in his early Alexandrian period. He engages typically Stoic notions, using them not only as general gestures, as he did at the beginning of his career, but accepting the fundamental ethical principles of the school most popular in Rome. Philo also appeals to the realia of Roman feasts and law to explain the Jewish tradition in an understandable way. Ultimately, Philo's philosophical interpretation of Mosaic law offers an enlightened form of ethnicity.

Finding God’s Purpose: Hermann Cohen’s Use of Maimonides to Establish the Authority of Mosaic Law

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Y. Kohler
Keyword(s):  
Central Point ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Rational Theology ◽  
The Law ◽  
Mosaic Law ◽  
Religion Of Reason ◽  
Guide Of The Perplexed ◽  
Original Reading ◽  
Jewish Religion

AbstractThe most important Jewish source for Hermann Cohen’s rational theology of Judaism is Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Indeed, the Guide is of such importance that Cohen bases his entire idealistic interpretation of the Jewish religion on it. In particular, Cohen derives his discussion of the continued authority of Mosaic law from the Guide. What follows focuses on Cohen’s discussion of the “Law” in his Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism, and attempts to fill a gap in recent Cohen research by dealing with questions of halakhah and the interpretation of rabbinical sources. Cohen’s original reading of, inter alia, Guide III.31‐32 led him to formulate a theory wherein Mosaic law—and by extension Judaism—guarantees the highest end of human morality. In identifying God with this end, Cohen eventually finds the ultimate criterion for the decision of how much of traditional Jewish law must still be observed in the need for the preservation of the purest monotheism—another central point in Maimonides’ philosophy.

scholarly journals ‘He passed away because of cutting down a fig tree’: The similarity between people and trees in Jewish symbolism, mysticism and halakhic practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham O. Shemesh
Keyword(s):  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Tree Comparison ◽  
Rabbinical Literature ◽  
Current Article ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Jewish Religion

Comparing people to trees is a customary and common practice in Jewish tradition. The current article examines the roots and the development of the image of people as trees in Jewish sources, from biblical times to recent generations (Bible, classical rabbinical literature, medieval to modern rabbinic literature and popular culture), as related to the prohibition against destroying fruit trees. The similarity between humans and trees in the Jewish religion and culture was firstly suggested in biblical literature as a conceptual-symbolic element. However, since the Amoraic period (3rd–5th centuries CE), this similarity was transformed to a resemblance bearing mystical and Halakhic (Jewish Law) implications. Various sources in rabbinical literature describe trees as humans that may be spoken to or yelled at to produce fruit. Cutting down a tree was perceived by the rabbis of the Talmud (3rd–5th centuries CE) not only as an unethical act or vandalism, but also as a hazard: the death of the tree corresponds to the death of the person who resembles it. All societies, cultures and religions have a system of values and practices that are aimed at shaping people, society and the environment according to a certain worldview.Contribution: The discussion in this article on the relationship between religion-culture and nature (plants) indicates how the Jewish religion shaped believers’ attitude to the world of flora over the generations by transforming the man-tree comparison into one with binding and even threatening practical religious meaning.

“One of our Predecessors”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Law ◽  
Biblical Narratives ◽  
Mosaic Law

Origen mentions Philo by name only three times in his surviving works. More often, he refers to Philo obliquely as “one of our predecessors” or, more literally, “one of those who came before us.” An analysis of Origen’s references to Philo in light of his usage of the terms Jew, Hebrew, Israel, and Ebionite in Contra Celsum and the Commentary on Matthew reveals Origen’s approval of Philo’s allegorical interpretations of biblical narratives. Yet on one occasion, Origen criticizes Philo for failing to interpret the commandments of the Jewish law “according to the spirit” rather than “according to the letter.” Origen charges Philo with committing the same error that he charges against Jews in general, namely, the failure to interpret and observe the commandments of the Mosaic law spiritually rather than literally.

“The Iron Crucible” and Loci of Religious Contact

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-172
Author(s):  
Clémence Boulouque
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Crucial Aspect ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Iron Crucible ◽  
Assimilation Process ◽  
Jewish Religion

Chapter 14 focuses on the meaning and loci of religious encounters in the Bible and in the Jewish tradition, and analyzes the concept of “iron crucible,” the metaphor Benamozegh used for the complexity of religious assimilation. This metaphor, which refers to the Israelites’ sojourn in Egypt, designates a place where identities intermingled and where the Jewish religion was refined through its contact with paganism—but also where, paradoxically, this blending did not preclude a sense of hierarchy in this assimilation process. This concept is a crucial aspect of Benamozegh’s system, whereby the greater the proximity, the greater the tension across religious traditions.

scholarly journals Giorgio Agamben—A Modern Sabbatian? Marranic Messianism and the Problem of Law

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Piotr Sawczyński
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Radical Critique

The article analyzes the influence of the kabbalistic doctrine of Sabbatianism on the messianic philosophy of Giorgio Agamben. I argue against Simon Critchley that Agamben’s critique of the sovereign law is not inspired by Marcion’s idea of the total annihilation of law but by Sabbatai Zevi’s project of deactivating its repressive function. I further argue that Agamben also adopts the Sabbatian idea of Marranic messianism, which makes him repeatedly contaminate the Jewish tradition with foreign influences. Although this strategy is potentially fruitful, it eventually leads Agamben to overemphasize antinomianism and problematically associate all Jewish-based messianism with the radical critique of law. In the article, I demonstrate that things are more complex and even in the openly antinomian works of Walter Benjamin—Agamben’s greatest philosophical inspiration—Jewish law is endued with some emancipatory potential.

scholarly journals Pensamiento económico en la t radición judía, con especial referencia a Moisés Ben Maimónides: la perspectiva austriaca

2017 ◽  
pp. 213-255
Author(s):  
Abie Grynspan Gurfinkiel
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Austrian School ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Laissez Faire

Despite not having a formal treatise that encompasses economic thought, the Jewish tradition, through its legal and religious texts, tackles a wide range of economic subject matter. As early as Biblical times, Jewish law and Jewish moral doctrine began to govern economic activity and social life in ge-neral. Both of these continued to evolve until the 12th century when Moses ben Maimonides, interpreting and documenting the Jewish oral tradition laws (with Aristotelian influence as well as that of Ibn Bayya, among other philosophers), developed an individualistic, subjectivist, and rationalist moral philosophy ex-ploring topics such as the theory of subjective value, the paradox of value, hu-man action, the limits of reason, social cooperation, and division of labor. This article investigates, from an Austrian School perspective, the economic thought contained in the Jewish tradition and its possible impact on the emer-gence of the capitalist system and modern civilization. Additionally, it explores the influence that the Jewish tradition and Maimonides’ philosophy had on the doctrines of Saint Thomas Aquinas; doctrines which were taken and enriched by the Scholastics of Salamanca and are, according to some thinkers, the foun-dation of the Austrian School of Economics. Keywords: capitalism, scholasticism, Judaism, laissez-faire. JEL Classification: A13, B11, N01, Z12. Resumen: A pesar de no existir un tratado que englobe un pensamiento econó-mico, la tradición judía, a través de textos legales y religiosos, aborda temas económicos de naturaleza muy variada. Desde tiempos bíblicos se fueron for-mando el derecho judío y la doctrina moral judía, que regulaban la actividad económica y la vida social en general. Estos fueron evolucionando, y ya para el siglo XII, Moisés ben Maimónides, interpretando y documentando las leyes orales de la tradición judía, con influencia aristotélica y de Ibn Bayya, entre otros filósofos; había desarrollado una filosofía moral individualista, subjetivis-ta y racionalista; explorando temas como la teoría del valor subjetivo, la para-doja del valor, la acción humana, los límites de la razón, la cooperación social y división del trabajo. En el presente artículo se investiga, desde una perspectiva austriaca, el pensamiento económico que contiene la tradición judía, y su posible impacto en el surgimiento del sistema capitalista y la civilización moderna. Asimismo, se estudia la influencia que tuvo la tradición judía y la filosofía de Maimónides, en las doctrinas de Santo Tomás de Aquino; las cuales, tomadas y enriqueci-das por los escolásticos de Salamanca, son de acuerdo a algunos pensadores, el tronco de la Escuela Austriaca de Economía. Palabras clave: capitalismo, escolástica, judaísmo, laissez-faire. Clasificación JEL: A13, B11, N01, Z12.

scholarly journals Kobiece micwot – rola i pozycja kobiety w świetle religijnego prawa żydowskiego

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-39
Author(s):  
Szoszana Keller
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Life ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Religious Law ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Purity

Women’s Mitzvot: The Role and Position of Women in the Light of the Jewish Religious Law It is not possible to understand the history and present day of Jewish women without placing them in the Jewish tradition, resulting mainly from religion which for centuries was the foundation of Jewish life, regulating its finest aspects. The article describes how the regulations of the religious Jewish law, halakha, determine the place of Jewish women in traditional society, and how the resulting adjustments relate to Jews according to gender. The analysis covers three so-called special women’s mitzvot, i.e. the lighting of the Sabbath lights, the separation of the challah, and the observance of the laws related to the family purity, as well as the resulting positioning of women within a clear apportionment into female−male, public−domestic, or culture−nature.

The Law in the Late Second Temple Period

2019 ◽  
pp. 366-382
Author(s):  
John J. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Law

The Torah of Moses was recognized as the ancestral law of Judah from the time of Ezra. Its status was revoked briefly by Antiochus Epiphanes. In the Hasmonean era there was a turn to intensive halakhic discussion, attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This was a factor in the rise of sectarianism. The papyri from the early second century ce take a flexible attitude to laws, drawing on Jewish or Roman law as seemed advantageous. The literature from the Hellenistic Diaspora treats the law broadly as a summary of Jewish tradition. Despite some claims that the law functioned as a civic law in the Diaspora, there are only a few instances in the papyri where Jews base appeals on Jewish law, and we do not know what the judges decided in those cases.

The Morality of Warfare

2012 ◽  
pp. 514-526
Author(s):  
Immanuel Jakobovits
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Just Cause ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Moral Teachings ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses a sermon by Immanuel Jakobovits. This sermon does not directly respond to a war situation — the war in the Falklands. However, it does survey themes that provide the background for any wartime sermon drawing on Jewish tradition in response to contemporary circumstances. Jakobovits begins his address by justifying his topic in a manner that suggests a reaction to the view that rabbis should ‘stick to religion’ and stay away from politics. In addition to their primary responsibility to promote the observance and understanding of Jewish law, he insists that ‘Rabbis should also be expected to relate the wider moral teachings of Judaism to the contemporary scene’. The remainder of the sermon contains few surprises. Jewish teachings do not sustain a pacifist repudiation of war under all circumstances; they do not question the right to defend a just cause by war when necessary.

scholarly journals Shabbetai Tsvis nedstigning til Farao – et jødisk eksempel på forløsning gennem urenhed

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Marianne Schleicher
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
English Abstract ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Conversion To Islam ◽  
Robert Bellah ◽  
Jewish Religion

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As a Jewish example of redemtion through impurity, this article analyses the ’strange acts’ of the Jewish mystic Shabbetai Tsvi. These acts included pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, liturgical subversions of synagoge service and Jewish praxis in general, odd approaches to sex, praying at grave sites, extreme asceticism, and conversion to Islam. Referring to theories by Robert Bellah, Philippe Descola, and Hans J. Lundager Jensen, I argue for the adequacy of ’inverted dualism’ as a concept that can explain these strange acts in conflict with Jewish law. The explanation is situated in the historical development of Israelite-Jewish religion from a monistic worldview, over a direct dualistic worldview, to an inverted, this-worldly dualism with great bearings on how Jews would perceive evil and the Torah. DANSK RESUMÉ: Som et jødisk eksempel på forløsning gennem urenhed analyseres den jødiske mystiker Shabbetai Tsvis ’fremmedartede handlinger’ så som udtalelse af tetragrammet, liturgiske omkalfatringer af synagogegudstjenesten og jødisk praksis generelt, mærkværdige tilgange til sex, grave som bedesteder, ekstrem askese og konversion til islam. Med reference til teorier af Robert Bellah, Philippe Descola og Hans J. Lundager Jensen argumenterer jeg for begrebet ’inverteret dualisme’ som egnet til at forklare disse fremmedartede handlinger i konflikt med jødisk lovstof. Forklaringen indlejres i den israelitisk-jødiske religions udvikling fra en monistisk verdensopfattelse over en direkte dualistisk verdensopfattelse til en inverteret dualisme i det dennesides, hvilket især har konsekvens for opfattelsen af ondskab og Torah.

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