{"title":"“I Am the One:” A Monist Looks at the Double Death and Life of Rabba bar Naḥmani","authors":"Mitchell A. Baris","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341362","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The rabbis portray two arenas in which Torah is studied. Above the terrestrial academy of the sages, the Rabbis posit a transcendent, celestial yeshiva. This dual system seems central to the rabbinic doctrine of retribution in a sequential afterlife. In contrast to the standard dualist reading and accepted dogma, I propose a monist’s reading of these aggadic texts, which sees a single arena of human action and endeavor, with multivalent significance. My starting point is the dramatic narrative of the persecution, flight, and ultimate death of one of the leading Talmudic sages, Rabba bar Naḥmani. These esoteric stories go beyond familiar taxonomies as modes of concealment. Not cyphers to be cracked, they offer a nuanced way of thinking about the world, accessible through narrative as an adaptive mode of transmission.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"23 1","pages":"19-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341362","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41698988","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":"Between Old and New in Yemenite Midrashic Literature","authors":"Eliezer Schlossberg","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341364","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Midrashim mentioned and described briefly in this article—R. Avraham ben Shlomo’s commentary on the early and later prophets, the Midrash Shoʿel U-Meshiv, and the anonymous Midrash on the Torah written at the beginning of the sixteenth century—represent the transitional stage between the classic and the later Yemenite Midrash. The former are written in a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic, based on rabbinic writings and on the teachings of great medieval scholars such as R. Saadia Gaon and Maimonides, while the latter are written almost solely in Hebrew and based mainly on esoteric, symbolic, allegorical, and kabbalistic elements. Those written in the intermediate period between the old and the new combine all these characteristics.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"23 1","pages":"75-88"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341364","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45801506","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":"Defining Identity through Divine Retribution in Tannaitic Judaism","authors":"F. Zanella","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341361","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This essay deals with the notion of divine retribution in Tannaitic literature. It argues that this concept can be used to establish traditions and create identity. After introductory remarks on the different Tannaitic perspectives on divine retribution, the paper focuses on the main features of the Tannaitic idea of divine retribution, exploring the key questions: Why and when does God punish? Why and when does God bestow a reward? Who is supposed to be rewarded, and why? Who will be punished, and why? It then deals with the different uses the Tannaim made of the concept of retribution.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"59 1","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341361","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64909778","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":"Toward Nationalism’s End: An Intellectual Biography of Hans Kohn, written by Adi Gordon","authors":"S. Whitfield","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341366","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":"23 1","pages":"127-130"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341366","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46574535","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":"B. Yoma 35b: Some Observations Concerning Divine Mediators and Rabbis","authors":"H. Basser","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341355","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The familiar “Hillel-meets-his-teachers” tradition (B. Yoma 35b) reveals a deeper story that features mystical, apocalyptic images representing none other than the beloved masters of early rabbinic culture. Here we find the image of a heavenly being enthroned on high that was identified in non-rabbinic circles with God’s demiurge (Enoch, Yehoel, Metatron). This provides evidence that rabbis defused the mystical stories that were leading to two-power challenges to rabbinic authority and to the increasingly antinomian positions of Jews inside and outside of Christian churches. We can therefore appreciate the Rabbis’ portrayal of Torah scholars as embodying true Enochian power.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341355","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42847350","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":"Benjamin Franklin’s Influence on Mussar Thought and Practice: a Chronicle of Misapprehension","authors":"Shai Afsai","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341359","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Benjamin Franklin’s ideas and writings may be said to have had an impact on Jewish thought and practice. This influence occurred posthumously, primarily through his Autobiography and by way of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Lefin’s Sefer Cheshbon ha-Nefesh (Book of Spiritual Accounting, 1808), which introduced Franklin’s method for moral perfection to a Hebrew-reading Jewish audience. This historical development has confused Judaic scholars, and Franklin specialists have been largely oblivious to it. Remedying the record on this matter illustrates how even within the presumably insular world of Eastern European rabbinic Judaism—far from the deism of the trans-Atlantic Enlightenment—pre-Reform, pre-Conservative Jewish religion was affected by broader currents of thought.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341359","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44213452","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":"André LaCocque, Jesus the Central Jew","authors":"M. Gruber","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341360","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341360","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48132145","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":"Levirate Marriage in Beta Israel","authors":"Yosi Ziv","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341357","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The halakhah observed by the Beta Israel community is decisive and extremely detailed. This halakhic system, which was preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next as an oral tradition, can shed light on previously hidden aspects of the early halakhah. This article the examines Beta Israel practice regarding the levirate marriage (yibum), including its rationale and sources. Beta Israel refrained from performing levirate marriage. This abstention is surprising, since Beta Israel possessed the written Torah, and the Beta Israel halakhah generally follows the simple meaning of Scripture. Why, then, did this community not observe levirate marriage as set forth in the Torah? The article provides a detailed explanation of the reasons and seeks intimations in Jewish literature throughout the generations of the Beta Israel practice.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341357","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48408756","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":"Work and Material Creation in the Teaching of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik","authors":"Amir Mashiach","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341356","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341356","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Rabbi Joseph Ber Halevi Soloveitchik (1903–1993), one of the most prominent religious Zionist rabbis as well as the leader of Modern Jewish Orthodoxy in the U.S., presented a theologically consistent approach to the issue of work and material production, to which he ascribed a religious value. His leading principle in his consideration of work and material production emerged from the Halakhic dictum, “You shall walk in His ways,” a commandment that demands that human beings follow the ways of God, emulating His actions and His attributes. In Rabbi Soiloveitchik’s view, just as God worked to fashion the world of matter, so must man work, take action, and create.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341356","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47982212","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":"Cisterns, Waterways, and Rabbis: a Rabbinic Lens into Conflict Avoidance in the Riparian World","authors":"Meir Wachs","doi":"10.1163/15700704-12341358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700704-12341358","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In the liminal spaces between concretized biblical law and a world in which “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6), the Rabbinic tradition developed enactments toward the pursuit of harmony and to minimize conflict. This paper delves into the role of one such mechanism, found throughout the primary sources, in an area of irrigation policy. The article seeks to understand the topic’s contours in the arena of rhetoric vs. reality. I argue that, contrary to initial appearances, the enactment of peace under discussion has every indication of being rooted in its social, legal and natural milieus.","PeriodicalId":40689,"journal":{"name":"Review of Rabbinic Judaism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/15700704-12341358","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45547924","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}