{"title":"How to Live Communally Amidst Doubts: Moshe Halbertal, The Birth of Doubt: Confronting Uncertainty in Early Rabbinic Literature","authors":"N. Berman","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341386","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41499138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Traces of Early Halakhot in the “Hava Amina” of the Sages in Second Temple Literature and the Ethiopian Halakhah","authors":"Yosi Ziv","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341383","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This essay seeks to add a further layer to the discussion of associations between ancient Halakhah and that of Beta Israel by examining correlations between halakhic traditions that were preserved among Ethiopian Jewish communities and the Hava Amina mentioned by the Sages. It demonstrates that opinions espoused by the sages’ opponents can be identified within the Hava Amina of the Talmudic discussion. The discussion presents three examples: The use of fire on Shabbat, Kosher slaughtering by someone other than a priest, and the status of an unborn child. The article concludes that the sages were familiar with ancient halakhic traditions parallel to those of the Ethiopian Halakhah, rejected these traditions from the accepted Halakhah, yet preserved traces of them in the Hava Amina of the Talmudic give and take.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49607427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Changing Relations between Prophets and Rulers in the Bible","authors":"R. Furman","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341380","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article discerns a change of tendency in the nature of the relations between prophets (“religion”) and rulers (“state”) in the Bible. The examination concentrates on the differences between pre-exilic and post-exilic prophets. The sample survey shows a change of tendency between the two eras. Pre-exilic prophets act as opposition to the government, while Haggai, as a representative of post-exilic prophecy, endorses the heads of the restoration community. This change is rooted in the communal trauma of destruction and exile, as well as in the social, political and theological changes that followed.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45443708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Eunuch and the Baldhead: Sexuality in Early Jewish-Christian Polemic","authors":"I. Rubin","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341382","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341382","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Defining appropriate attitudes towards sexuality has always been an issue in Jewish-Christian polemic. Contemporary Jewish writers tend to boast of Judaism’s liberal attitude toward sexuality, while medieval Jewish polemicists were defensive when confronting Christian attacks on this matter. In ancient times, when sexual puritanism was less popular, Jewish theologians did not refrain from showing their contempt for the Christian value of celibacy. This article proposes a new reading of the Talmudic legend about an argument between Joshua b. Karhah and a Christian eunuch. In this reading, the Christian figure stands for Origen, a Church father described in Christian sources as having castrated himself owing to a literal interpretation of the New Testament. In this reading, the debate summarizes the Talmudic rabbis’ perspective on the difference between Jewish and Christian views of sexuality.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47837179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Onqelos in Byzantium in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: The Relationship of R. Samuel of Rossano and R. Meyuhas ben Elijah to the Aramaic Translation","authors":"J. Jacobs","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341384","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This study addresses the views of two Byzantine commentators regarding Targum Onqelos: R. Samuel Roshano of the twelfth century and R. Meyuhas ben Elijah of the thirteenth. R. Samuel explicitly refers to the translation forty-six times; R. Meyuhas makes explicit reference to it 104 times. But there are differences between the two commentators in their relation to the Targum: R. Samuel never mentions the name Onqelos, while R. Meyuhas does so explicitly; R. Samuel systematically cites the text of the Targum, while in most cases in R. Meyuhas’ commentary, there is no accurate citation. The qualitative difference is in their respective relationships with the Targum: all of R. Samuel’s references to it signal his agreement; R. Meyuhas, on the other hand, while frequently agreeing with Onqelos, also brings the Targum as one of two possible alternatives and sometimes openly challenges its interpretation.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49259300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“For I Say”: A Keeper at the Rabbinic Gates of Doubt","authors":"Mitchell A. Baris","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341375","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The rabbinic idiom “for I say” (שאני אומר) has been construed philologically as a specific type of presumption, buttressed with first-person rhetoric. From the perspective of legal analysis, I contend that “for I say” and presumption are diametrically opposed decision-rules, employed consistently in tannaitic and amoraic literature. While presumptions are exclusionary rules, circumscribing doubt, “for I say” is an inclusionary rule, validating doubt. The versatility of the “for I say” rule testifies to its preliminary nature – while the outcome is determined by a robust set of primary decision rules. “For I say” should be read as: for I can say, legitimizing doubt and calling on primary rabbinic rules for treating cases of factual uncertainty, in contestable instances.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"24 1","pages":"56-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42522570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pitched between Scylla and Charybdis: Metz Jews’ Litigation Hurdles in the Metz Beit Din and Ancien Regime French Courts","authors":"S. Herman","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341373","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000During the eighteenth century, French courts expanded their competence over Jewish disputes in order to consolidate the kingdom’s hegemony over Alsatian Jewry. In Metz, the expansion was sanctioned by a royal order for the composition of the Recueil des Loix, Coutumes, et Usages Observes par les Juifs de Metz (1742). A blend of Jewish law and French customary law tailored for ancien regime Alsatian courts, the Recueil enabled a Jewish claimant to sue in either the beit din or a French tribunal. These judicial alternatives posed strategic dilemmas. French rulings were frequently vehicles for persecuting Jewish claimants and debasing their law, while rabbinical enforcement mechanisms typically lacked the aggressive bite of their French judicial counterparts. This article examines how the law, and these options, worked in practice.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"24 1","pages":"1-45"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45961583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Re-examination of Homonymic and Polysemic Roots","authors":"Haim Dihi","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341374","url":null,"abstract":"This paper re-examines the classification of two roots from the book of Ben Sira that are defined as homonymic and polysemic, respectively. The re-examination is carried out in light of a novel principle suggested by Prof. Chaim Cohen. The examination of the roots in Ben Sira includes a comparison with biblical evidence. In some cases, the re-examination supports the generally accepted classification, while in others it is shown that a re-classification is needed.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"24 1","pages":"46-55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41961660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From the “Man of Jerusalem” to the Beit El Yeshiva: Late Nineteenth Century Rabbinic Leadership in the Jewish Community of Tripoli","authors":"Ronel Atia","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341377","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article details a polemic among the rabbinical leadership of the Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya, in the late nineteenth century. At stake was an initiative of the community’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Eliyahu Bechor Hazzan, to change the traditional educational system to include secular topics and foreign language. The communal rabbis who opposed the idea wrote the rabbinical leadership of Jerusalem, requesting support in overturning Rabbi Hazzan’s proposal. This study details the issues at stake in this aspect of the infiltration of modernism into Jewish communities in Muslim countries and presents the letter written to the rabbinic authorities of the land of Israel that led Rabbi Hazzan to abandon his initiative and, later, to resign from his leadership post.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"24 1","pages":"95-116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47746285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Changes of Meaning in Biblical and Modern Given Names of the YIQTOL Noun Pattern","authors":"Bat-Zion Yemini","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341378","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341378","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The biblical Hebrew tense system has two aspects: the perfective, indicating a completed action, and an imperfective aspect, denoting an action that has not yet ended. From the period of the rabbinic sages of the first centuries CE to today’s Modern Hebrew, an absolute tense system has been the norm, employing past, present, and future. This change in the system of tenses influenced the meaning of names created in the Qatal and Yiqtol patterns. The reason for the changed meanings is Modern Hebrew speakers’ lack of proficiency in the biblical system of tenses. To shed light on the language and culture of Modern Hebrew speakers, this article presents biblical and modern given names in the Yiqtol pattern and explains the changes in the modern names.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"24 1","pages":"117-134"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48185968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}