Abstract:Questions and question asking play a central role in talmudic dialectic. While some questions seek to determine the practical Halakhah in a given case, others lead to a theoretical discussion of the principles behind the laws. Scholars have noted that these theoretical questions are often introduced by a tannaitic ruling that is then further examined by the subsequent question. This article will explore a unique rhetorical style with which these tannaitic rulings are introduced, whereby an Amora asks a self-evident question whose answer can be found in a tannaitic source, in order to adduce that source for further inquiry. This style can be found in the questions of Rava and Rami bar Ḥama, who were among the third to fourth generations of Babylonian Amoraim. This article will demonstrate how this questioning style reflects developments in the curriculum of the Babylonian academy during this period.
{"title":"Self-Evident Questions and Their Role in Talmudic Dialectic","authors":"Shira Shmidman","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Questions and question asking play a central role in talmudic dialectic. While some questions seek to determine the practical Halakhah in a given case, others lead to a theoretical discussion of the principles behind the laws. Scholars have noted that these theoretical questions are often introduced by a tannaitic ruling that is then further examined by the subsequent question. This article will explore a unique rhetorical style with which these tannaitic rulings are introduced, whereby an Amora asks a self-evident question whose answer can be found in a tannaitic source, in order to adduce that source for further inquiry. This style can be found in the questions of Rava and Rami bar Ḥama, who were among the third to fourth generations of Babylonian Amoraim. This article will demonstrate how this questioning style reflects developments in the curriculum of the Babylonian academy during this period.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"127 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90291597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The rise of the Internet and social media has enabled Jewish teachings to travel far beyond the boundaries of established Jewish communities. New channels for Torah study online have connected rabbis in Israel to non-Jews around the world who are searching for rabbinic mentorship. Tens of thousands of individuals coming from Hebrew Roots Christianity, Seventh-Day Adventism, and Messianic Judaism have converged with Orthodox rabbinic authorities through online platforms, where they negotiate theological questions and their own place within a messianic Zionist vision. In turn, Orthodox rabbis from Israel’s religious right wing are engaging in a new form of Internet proselytizing, offering non-Jews who feel lost in the boundary zone between Christianity and Judaism a concrete solution: they are invited to become Bnei Noah, the Children of Noah, a new Judaic faith and a harbinger of messianic times.
{"title":"“I Call It Rabbi Youtube”: Rabbinic Authority in the Digital Age and The Children of Noah (Bnei Noah) Movement","authors":"Rachel Z. Feldman","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0000","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The rise of the Internet and social media has enabled Jewish teachings to travel far beyond the boundaries of established Jewish communities. New channels for Torah study online have connected rabbis in Israel to non-Jews around the world who are searching for rabbinic mentorship. Tens of thousands of individuals coming from Hebrew Roots Christianity, Seventh-Day Adventism, and Messianic Judaism have converged with Orthodox rabbinic authorities through online platforms, where they negotiate theological questions and their own place within a messianic Zionist vision. In turn, Orthodox rabbis from Israel’s religious right wing are engaging in a new form of Internet proselytizing, offering non-Jews who feel lost in the boundary zone between Christianity and Judaism a concrete solution: they are invited to become Bnei Noah, the Children of Noah, a new Judaic faith and a harbinger of messianic times.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"77 1","pages":"1 - 24"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82840667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:The Boundaries of the Land of Israel is a late thirteenth-century guidebook that describes several itineraries in the Holy Land. Critics have lauded it as the culmination of late medieval Jewish travel literature, and have noted its sophistication in bringing unusual exegetical depths to the descriptions of holy sites. While questions of its exact dating and authorship have long been debated, its intellectual and literary provenance has been largely taken for granted. Mostly, scholars have overlooked the polemical ambition that underlies the way the author chose to expound upon the Holy Land. Drawing on bellicose messianic traditions that originated with the founders of the Jewish community in Frankish Acre, this treatise, I argue, sought to show how the Land itself makes manifest the meaning of Scripture. Consequently, the Land of Israel is seen not only to reject the rule of Muslims and Christians, but also to disprove their respective interpretive traditions.
{"title":"The Boundaries of Israel: Polemical Warfare on Behalf of the Holy Land","authors":"U. Shachar","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The Boundaries of the Land of Israel is a late thirteenth-century guidebook that describes several itineraries in the Holy Land. Critics have lauded it as the culmination of late medieval Jewish travel literature, and have noted its sophistication in bringing unusual exegetical depths to the descriptions of holy sites. While questions of its exact dating and authorship have long been debated, its intellectual and literary provenance has been largely taken for granted. Mostly, scholars have overlooked the polemical ambition that underlies the way the author chose to expound upon the Holy Land. Drawing on bellicose messianic traditions that originated with the founders of the Jewish community in Frankish Acre, this treatise, I argue, sought to show how the Land itself makes manifest the meaning of Scripture. Consequently, the Land of Israel is seen not only to reject the rule of Muslims and Christians, but also to disprove their respective interpretive traditions.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"9 1","pages":"105 - 126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79177393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw: The Afterlife of the Revolt by Avinoam J. Patt (review)","authors":"Marian Ferenc","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"6 1","pages":"207 - 209"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90581237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Jewish Cultural Studies by Simon J. Bronner","authors":"Jacqueline Laznow","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0028","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86318848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
it is conventionally dated and situated in a synagogal rather than a scholastic setting. Atzmon also tackles two questions that have vexed students of Pesikta since its discovery. The first is the name of the work, “Pesikta.” Atzmon contends that this does not mean “verses” but rather “interruptions,” following the Mishnah (M. Megillah 3:4): “They interrupt [the regular reading of the Torah] for everything [םיקִיסִפְמַ לֹכּבַּ]: for the new moon, for Hanukah, for Purim, for fasts, for Ma‘amad [see M. Taanit 4:2] and for the Day of Atonement.” These interruptions (hafsakot) are what gave Pesikta its name: it is the midrash for the interruptions in the regular order of readings. The second question regards the order of the pesikata. Following this same mishnah—and a comparison to the parallel Pesikta Rabbati, which has a similar structure—Atzmon explains that the first pesikta is the one for Hanukah, which appears on pp. 1–15 of ed. Mandelbaum. “My Children, Read This Passage Every Year” is an important resetting of the stage, but it is far from a comprehensive study of PdRK. Some significant areas awaiting renewed study based on Atzmon’s theories are: (1) the relationship between PdRK and synagogue poetry; (2) the Roman context of PdRK, especially based on the numerous Greek loanwords in this midrash but also on descriptions of real life; (3) the relationship between sources in PdRK and their parallels in the Babylonian Talmud. Atzmon’s insistence on the agency of a “redactor” (ךרוע) in assembling homilies from existing materials should be tested in other rabbinic works. This hypothesis could also be examined in comparison to contemporary Christian homilies attributed to single authors. All this is to say that Atzmon’s careful work and bold claims have charted out a path for any future engagement with Pesikta. “My Children, Read This Passage Every Year” is thus a groundbreaking study of PdRK, which shakes up previous scholarship. It will doubtless engender significant debate in the field and should be consulted by anyone attempting to engage with this work.
{"title":"Sepphoris: A Mosaic of Cultures by Zeev Weiss (review)","authors":"Yitz Landes","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0010","url":null,"abstract":"it is conventionally dated and situated in a synagogal rather than a scholastic setting. Atzmon also tackles two questions that have vexed students of Pesikta since its discovery. The first is the name of the work, “Pesikta.” Atzmon contends that this does not mean “verses” but rather “interruptions,” following the Mishnah (M. Megillah 3:4): “They interrupt [the regular reading of the Torah] for everything [םיקִיסִפְמַ לֹכּבַּ]: for the new moon, for Hanukah, for Purim, for fasts, for Ma‘amad [see M. Taanit 4:2] and for the Day of Atonement.” These interruptions (hafsakot) are what gave Pesikta its name: it is the midrash for the interruptions in the regular order of readings. The second question regards the order of the pesikata. Following this same mishnah—and a comparison to the parallel Pesikta Rabbati, which has a similar structure—Atzmon explains that the first pesikta is the one for Hanukah, which appears on pp. 1–15 of ed. Mandelbaum. “My Children, Read This Passage Every Year” is an important resetting of the stage, but it is far from a comprehensive study of PdRK. Some significant areas awaiting renewed study based on Atzmon’s theories are: (1) the relationship between PdRK and synagogue poetry; (2) the Roman context of PdRK, especially based on the numerous Greek loanwords in this midrash but also on descriptions of real life; (3) the relationship between sources in PdRK and their parallels in the Babylonian Talmud. Atzmon’s insistence on the agency of a “redactor” (ךרוע) in assembling homilies from existing materials should be tested in other rabbinic works. This hypothesis could also be examined in comparison to contemporary Christian homilies attributed to single authors. All this is to say that Atzmon’s careful work and bold claims have charted out a path for any future engagement with Pesikta. “My Children, Read This Passage Every Year” is thus a groundbreaking study of PdRK, which shakes up previous scholarship. It will doubtless engender significant debate in the field and should be consulted by anyone attempting to engage with this work.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"15 1","pages":"182 - 184"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88983301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christian prison chaplains, whom I studied in The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the Lives of Nazi Perpetrators, who were incapable of maintaining sufficient ideological and personal distance. Similarly, the Canadian Pentecostal minister William Hull, who ministered to Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and whose memoir Struggle for a Soul is examined in McGlothlin’s first chapter, failed spectacularly to “mindread” Eichmann in any meaningful way. Hull inscribed his own desire for a conversion narrative that would prove the truth of the Christian story of redemption. But Adolf Eichmann refused to show contrition, to confess any wrongdoing, or to be saved by faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Confession narratives, McGlothlin shows, are one of two powerful plot lines that dominate perpetrator literature. The other one is the detective story. While the confession story follows a narrative arc from sin/crime to redemption/reconciliation, the detective plot begins in mystery and ends in the cathartic revelation of the truth. Both story lines suggest closure, which is not appropriate in the context of the Holocaust: neither epistemological closure nor moral closure do justice to victims or perpetrators of the Holocaust. McGlothlin correctly criticizes Gita Sereny for seeking “epistemological and ethical closure” in following these plot lines that show a Franz Stangl who comes to know the truth (detective story) and to disavow the wrongdoing (confession story) during his time as commander of Treblinka—just before he dies in prison. If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is, writes McGlothlin, because it does not capture “Stangl’s truth but rather her own desire for it” (174). Another famous confession narrative, which is not included in the book, provides a different ending. Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower (1968), which could have been included in either part of the book as nonfictional “mindreading” autobiography, or as a fictional “imagination” account of a dying SSman who confesses his guilt, consciously denies the reader the pleasure of closure and ends with an open question. McGlothlin has written an important book for this transitional moment. From now on, all explorations of the mind of the Holocaust perpetrator will be fictional, as the last survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators die. Future authors will benefit from her incisive ethical analysis and literary expertise.
我在《该隐的印记:纳粹罪犯生活中的内疚和否认》一书中研究过的基督教监狱牧师，他们无法保持足够的意识形态和个人距离。同样，曾在耶路撒冷服侍阿道夫·艾希曼的加拿大五旬节派牧师威廉·赫尔(William Hull)，他的回忆录《为灵魂而奋斗》(Struggle for a Soul)也在麦格洛特林的第一章中进行了考察，但令人惊讶的是，他没有以任何有意义的方式“想起”艾希曼。赫尔写下了他自己的愿望，希望通过一种转变的叙事来证明基督教救赎故事的真实性。但阿道夫·艾希曼拒绝表示悔悟，拒绝承认任何过错，也不愿因信仰基督的赎罪祭而得救。麦克格洛斯林认为，忏悔叙事是主导犯罪者文学的两条强有力的情节线之一。另一本是侦探小说。忏悔故事遵循着从罪恶/犯罪到救赎/和解的叙事弧线，而侦探情节则以神秘开始，以真相的宣泄结束。这两条故事线都暗示结束，这在大屠杀的背景下是不合适的:无论是认识论上的结束还是道德上的结束都不能公正地对待大屠杀的受害者或肇事者。McGlothlin正确地批评了Gita Sereny寻求“认识论和伦理上的终结”，在这些情节中，弗兰兹·斯坦格尔在担任特雷布林卡指挥官期间(就在他死于监狱之前)了解了真相(侦探故事)，并否认了错误(忏悔故事)。如果这听起来好得令人难以置信，那么它很可能是真实的，McGlothlin写道，因为它没有捕捉到“斯坦格尔的真相，而是她自己对真相的渴望”(174)。书中没有收录的另一个著名的忏悔叙述提供了一个不同的结局。西蒙·维森塔尔(Simon Wiesenthal)的《向日葵》(The Sunflower, 1968)既可以作为非虚构的“读心术”自传，也可以作为一个虚构的“想象”叙述，讲述一个垂死的SSman承认自己的罪行，但它有意识地拒绝让读者享受结束的乐趣，并以一个开放性的问题结尾。McGlothlin为这一过渡时期写了一本重要的书。从现在起，随着最后的幸存者、目击者和肇事者死亡，所有对大屠杀肇事者思想的探索都将是虚构的。未来的作者将受益于她敏锐的伦理分析和文学专长。
{"title":"In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918–1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust by Jeffrey Veidlinger (review)","authors":"J. Kopstein","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0026","url":null,"abstract":"Christian prison chaplains, whom I studied in The Mark of Cain: Guilt and Denial in the Lives of Nazi Perpetrators, who were incapable of maintaining sufficient ideological and personal distance. Similarly, the Canadian Pentecostal minister William Hull, who ministered to Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and whose memoir Struggle for a Soul is examined in McGlothlin’s first chapter, failed spectacularly to “mindread” Eichmann in any meaningful way. Hull inscribed his own desire for a conversion narrative that would prove the truth of the Christian story of redemption. But Adolf Eichmann refused to show contrition, to confess any wrongdoing, or to be saved by faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Confession narratives, McGlothlin shows, are one of two powerful plot lines that dominate perpetrator literature. The other one is the detective story. While the confession story follows a narrative arc from sin/crime to redemption/reconciliation, the detective plot begins in mystery and ends in the cathartic revelation of the truth. Both story lines suggest closure, which is not appropriate in the context of the Holocaust: neither epistemological closure nor moral closure do justice to victims or perpetrators of the Holocaust. McGlothlin correctly criticizes Gita Sereny for seeking “epistemological and ethical closure” in following these plot lines that show a Franz Stangl who comes to know the truth (detective story) and to disavow the wrongdoing (confession story) during his time as commander of Treblinka—just before he dies in prison. If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is, writes McGlothlin, because it does not capture “Stangl’s truth but rather her own desire for it” (174). Another famous confession narrative, which is not included in the book, provides a different ending. Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower (1968), which could have been included in either part of the book as nonfictional “mindreading” autobiography, or as a fictional “imagination” account of a dying SSman who confesses his guilt, consciously denies the reader the pleasure of closure and ends with an open question. McGlothlin has written an important book for this transitional moment. From now on, all explorations of the mind of the Holocaust perpetrator will be fictional, as the last survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators die. Future authors will benefit from her incisive ethical analysis and literary expertise.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"118 1","pages":"219 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89820791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seekers of the Face: Secrets of the Idra Rabba (the Great Assembly) of the Zohar by Melila Hellner-Eshed","authors":"Nathaniel Berman","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77333158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
robust cultural contextualization of hospitality within the Christian, Roman, or Sasanian worlds. To be sure, Kiperwasser introduces these other cultural contexts in a number of instances (such as bathhouse etiquette [68–69], perceptions of dancing [87], and parallels to Greek tales [159]); but, given the importance of assumptions surrounding the roles of host and guest for the book’s analysis as a whole, treatment of other ancient attitudes toward hospitality would have made the author’s reading of the rabbinic examples more compelling. The second underdeveloped dimension is that, at times, Kiperwasser does not connect the dots between the quoted passages and the author’s interpretation. For example, although the work engages with theories of humor (e.g., 40–42 and 75–77), episodes assumed to be humorous are not always demonstrated to be so (e.g., 164–65). Likewise, at times Kiperwasser moves swiftly from an elucidating summary of a narrative to its theoretical implications without fully linking the concrete episode and the abstract conclusions. These gaps leave some analyses open to ambiguity and debate. Going West presents us with the first systematic study of intrarabbinic hospitality narratives. Weaving together narratological, theoretical, and cultural lenses, Kiperwasser provides the reader with helpful insights into the relationship between rabbis of these different geographic centers and, more importantly, with a nuanced conception of the role of internal Others for defining the rabbinic self. This work is a welcome contribution to the study of interactions between the two main talmudic centers of rabbinic activity and the nature of identity construction of religious elites in antiquity.
{"title":"“My Children, Read This Passage Every Year”: Composition and Meaning in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana by Arnon Atzmon (review)","authors":"Amit Gvaryahu","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2023.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2023.0009","url":null,"abstract":"robust cultural contextualization of hospitality within the Christian, Roman, or Sasanian worlds. To be sure, Kiperwasser introduces these other cultural contexts in a number of instances (such as bathhouse etiquette [68–69], perceptions of dancing [87], and parallels to Greek tales [159]); but, given the importance of assumptions surrounding the roles of host and guest for the book’s analysis as a whole, treatment of other ancient attitudes toward hospitality would have made the author’s reading of the rabbinic examples more compelling. The second underdeveloped dimension is that, at times, Kiperwasser does not connect the dots between the quoted passages and the author’s interpretation. For example, although the work engages with theories of humor (e.g., 40–42 and 75–77), episodes assumed to be humorous are not always demonstrated to be so (e.g., 164–65). Likewise, at times Kiperwasser moves swiftly from an elucidating summary of a narrative to its theoretical implications without fully linking the concrete episode and the abstract conclusions. These gaps leave some analyses open to ambiguity and debate. Going West presents us with the first systematic study of intrarabbinic hospitality narratives. Weaving together narratological, theoretical, and cultural lenses, Kiperwasser provides the reader with helpful insights into the relationship between rabbis of these different geographic centers and, more importantly, with a nuanced conception of the role of internal Others for defining the rabbinic self. This work is a welcome contribution to the study of interactions between the two main talmudic centers of rabbinic activity and the nature of identity construction of religious elites in antiquity.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"68 1","pages":"180 - 182"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83188152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
unbinding of oaths, and the mitigation of divine wrath. As in the previous chapters, Ahuvia pays attention to how the genre shaped the depiction and conceptualization of angels, and uses angels as a lens through which to observe interactions and conversations among different registers of late antique Jewish society. She extends this approach in her conclusion to other (emergent) religions of late antiquity and situates her study of angels in Judaism within the wider world of Hellenic, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, and Islamic traditions. Overall, Ahuvia’s book provides a valuable survey of angels in late antique Judaism that demonstrates their centrality to Jewish life and thought in this formative period. The broad scope of the book does mean that occasional gaps appear in Ahuvia’s coverage, particularly in the chapter on the magic bowls, but this observation is hardly a criticism. A comprehensive survey of angels in our surviving Jewish sources would require a multivolume effort, and Ahuvia should be lauded for the diversity of textual products and cultural contexts that she brings to light in her study. To paraphrase Emily Dickinson, Ahuvia’s inclusion of magical texts in her book—alongside liturgical and mystical sources—proves “more numerous of windows” and “superior for doors.” Though the central narrative traced by her book revolves around the rabbis, her study offers a more representative view of late antique Jewish society than earlier studies that focused primarily on rabbinic sources; it also emphasizes how the rabbinization of Jewish society required accommodation to and appropriation of popular belief in angels. It is an important contribution to the broader study of how human cultures experience the world as filled and animated by different classes of beings.
{"title":"Jews and Crime in Medieval Europe by Ephraim Shoham-Steiner (review)","authors":"Debra Kaplan","doi":"10.1353/ajs.2022.0055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/ajs.2022.0055","url":null,"abstract":"unbinding of oaths, and the mitigation of divine wrath. As in the previous chapters, Ahuvia pays attention to how the genre shaped the depiction and conceptualization of angels, and uses angels as a lens through which to observe interactions and conversations among different registers of late antique Jewish society. She extends this approach in her conclusion to other (emergent) religions of late antiquity and situates her study of angels in Judaism within the wider world of Hellenic, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, and Islamic traditions. Overall, Ahuvia’s book provides a valuable survey of angels in late antique Judaism that demonstrates their centrality to Jewish life and thought in this formative period. The broad scope of the book does mean that occasional gaps appear in Ahuvia’s coverage, particularly in the chapter on the magic bowls, but this observation is hardly a criticism. A comprehensive survey of angels in our surviving Jewish sources would require a multivolume effort, and Ahuvia should be lauded for the diversity of textual products and cultural contexts that she brings to light in her study. To paraphrase Emily Dickinson, Ahuvia’s inclusion of magical texts in her book—alongside liturgical and mystical sources—proves “more numerous of windows” and “superior for doors.” Though the central narrative traced by her book revolves around the rabbis, her study offers a more representative view of late antique Jewish society than earlier studies that focused primarily on rabbinic sources; it also emphasizes how the rabbinization of Jewish society required accommodation to and appropriation of popular belief in angels. It is an important contribution to the broader study of how human cultures experience the world as filled and animated by different classes of beings.","PeriodicalId":54106,"journal":{"name":"AJS Review-The Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies","volume":"25 1","pages":"412 - 415"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91027610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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