Singing in the Vernacular: Response

Abstract

One of the most significant themes shared by the studies in this issue is intertextuality. Several authors conduct systematic analyses of the relationship between Aramaic poems and their biblical antecedents, while one study argues that the repetition of refrains in Jewish Aramaic poetry has much in common with the practice of public acclamation in the Greco-Roman world. Each of these studies also advances the question of the Sitz im Leben of Jewish Aramaic poetry in Palestine in late antiquity, including the context of its performance. The historical context of these poems is reflected in the way the poets addressed the conditions of their times. This response ends by singling out a number of further questions.