Rabbinic Perceptions of Christianity and the History of Roman Palestine

This chapter evaluates the use of rabbinic literature in the study of the history of Christianity in Roman Palestine. It explains that this issue goes back to medieval Jewish-Christian controversy and intertwines with the whole history of the reception of the Talmud in Europe and the western world. It suggests that the view that Christians are most often envisaged in the rabbinic references to minim is consistent with the likelihood that Christianity is envisaged in a number of rabbinic and targumic passages which do not mention minim.

Rabbinic Literature and the History of Judaism in Late Antiquity: Challenges, Methodologies and New Approaches

This chapter examines the methodologies, new approaches, and challenges in the use of rabbinic literature to study the history of Judaism in late antiquity. It provides some examples that demonstrate some of the issues concerning the applicability of rabbinic literature to the study of Judaism in late-Roman Palestine. It concludes that rabbinic literature can serve as a historical source, especially when read indirectly and through the lens of well-defined theoretical frameworks, and when perceived as a rabbinic cultural product that reflects delicate, sophisticated and hardly recoverable relationships between text and reality.

Material Culture and Daily Life

This chapter evaluates the use of rabbinic literature in the study of Jewish daily life and material culture. It explains that one of the main problems associated with research on material culture and daily life is the establishment of a proper relationship between rabbinic literary references and archaeological data, between text and object. It suggests that these problems can be resolved by approaching the issues on the basis of a historical-critical study of rabbinic sources in a broad interdisciplinary framework, which takes account of archaeological research within the Graeco-Roman and early Byzantine context and which uses tools, methods and models developed by the social sciences.

‘Rabbinic Culture’ and Roman Culture

This chapter examines Roman culture through an analysis of rabbinic literature. The findings indicate that Rabbinic texts tell satisfyingly complex stories about Roman culture and its reception. The analyses of some rabbinic stories also attest to a relatively unfraught process of romanisation. However, the rabbinic tales are complicated by all sorts of contextual issues including the rabbis' rejection of Rome and of romanitas in all its manifestations.

Halakhic Midrashim as Historical Sources

This chapter evaluates the usefulness and reliability of the halakhic midrashim as a historical resource. It explains that the halakhic midrashim as commentaries on the biblical books of Exodus through Deuteronomy with a special emphasis on their importance for the halakhah or the religious law. It describes the manuscripts, printed editions, and translations of the halakhic midrashim. It concludes that the halakhic midrashim do not offer information on political history, they offer lot of details regarding daily life in Palestine in the second and third centuries and the way the rabbis understood it.

The Tosefta and Its Value for Historical Research: Questioning the Historical Reliability of Case Stories

This chapter examines the reliability of using the tosefta for historical research. It explains that the tosefta is a compilation of early rabbinic legal traditions which date from the first to the early third century CE. It discusses the different manuscripts, editions and translations of the tosefta. It concludes that the narratives or case stories in the tosefta possess significance for historical research and their relevance ranges from an increased understanding of the daily life of the Jews in Palestine and the activity of the rabbis in society to the more precise determination of their power and position within society.

The State of Mishnah Studies

This chapter examines the current state of research into mishnah, the first major work of rabbinic Judaism. It explains that the mishnah is primarily an edited anthology of brief and often elliptical pronouncements on matters of Jewish law and practice, frequently providing conflicting views on the individual matters discussed. It discusses the six sedarim of the mishnah and mentions that the mishnah frequently digresses from its main topics at every level of the organisational hierarchy.

Using Rabbinic Literature as a Source for the History of Late-Roman Palestine: Problems and Issues1

This chapter examines problems concerning the use of rabbinic literature as a resource for studying the history of late-Roman Palestine. It discusses the rabbinic corpus, the composition and transmission of the texts, the language and the genres of rabbinic literature. It concludes that rabbinic literature requires very heavy processing before its potential as a historical source can be realised and it states that the extent to which scholars engaged with this literature have done the preliminary work remains patchy.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the application of rabbinic literature in studying the history of late-Roman Palestine. It has been demonstrated that a great deal of evidence preserved within the rabbinic tradition in medieval manuscripts originated in the Roman provinces of Palestine between c.200 and c.700 CE. It was also shown that rabbinic texts, even at their most reliable, can only provide a very partial glimpse of late-Roman Palestine. This chapter also highlights the inherent problems using rabbinic texts as historical source and suggests ways to overcome them.

The Epistle of Sherira Gaon

This chapter comments on the epistle of Sherira Gaon, which is considered an extraordinary instance of the genre of Geonic responsa written in 986 or 987. Sherira's Epistle is exceptional both in terms of its length and subject matter and it addresses a number of questions formulated by Rabbi Nissim b. Jacob ibn Shahin on behalf of the scholars of Qayrawan. This chapter questions Sherira's use of talmudic sources and oral traditions in the responsa and suggests that Sherira's statements are almost inversely proportional to the extent to which they are supported by the Talmud itself.