Rabbinic Literature

Over the past fifty years, archaeological excavations in Israel have unearthed about half a dozen ancient synagogues that were in use at different points in time between the first century BCE through the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba rebellion early in the second century of the Common Era.  In close proximity to each of these synagogues, a mikveh (ritual bath) has been discovered.  In contrast, no mikvaot have been discovered adjacent to any of the dozens of later synagogues that have been excavated and studied, with only one or two possible exceptions. 
At this point it is impossible to determine exactly when mikvaot ceased to be built in connection with synagogues, as the archaeological record reports very little about synagogues of the late second - early third century CE.  From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that at least from the second half of the third century, synagogues began to be built without regard for proximity to mikvaot.
Talmudic sources make no mention of a requirement to build mikvaot adjacent to synagogues. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the evident connection between the synagogue and the mikveh in the early period, and the disappearance of such a connection in later periods of synagogue history. The objective of this paper is to present and explore a possible interpretation of this puzzling phenomenon.
  During the Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, a rabbinical enactment was in effect requiring mikveh ablutions prior to engagement in Torah study and prayer for individuals who had experienced seminal emission. Careful study of the Talmudic sources reveals that this enactment was nullified early in the Amoraic Period, sometime during the second quarter of the third century CE.
It would appear that the mikvaot built adjacent to the earlier synagogues were intended for this precise function, serving visitors to the synagogue who required ritual ablutions prior to Torah study and prayer.  Once the rabbinical enactment regarding these ablutions was nullified, there was no longer need for such mikvaot, and hence the absence of mikvaot in proximity to the later synagogues.

In Matt 9:10-13, the disciples of Jesus are asked why their master eats with tax-collectors and sinners. Both the question and the threefold answer are analysed in this study. Wisdom traditions prescribe Torah teachers not to engage with blatant sinners. This approach becomes contested in the first century C.E., as is clear from Pharisaic disputes on sinners and tax-collectors. In his answer, Jesus characterises himself as the divine doctor, who stirs the capacity to repentance by his sheer presence. The quote of Hosea functions as a legal justification of this strategy. Hos 6:6 points to the concept of good works, benevolent actions that save even blatant sinners.

The following paper explores the formulation of universal commandments for non-Jews within the book of Jubilees and compares it with rabbinic traditions that also deal with Gentiles and law observance. The discussion concerning commandments incumbent upon all of humanity in Jubilees betrays a remarkable preoccupation in promoting the observance of particular laws (e.g., Sabbath and circumcision) for Jews alone—universal law becomes a means for highlighting Israel’s special covenantal status. The bitter opposition expressed in Jubilees against Gentiles is best understood as a polemical response to events redefining Jewish-Gentile relations during the second century BCE.

I trace the religious significance of rain in Tractate Taanit, a 6th century volume of the Babylonian Talmud that addresses fasts in response to drought among rabbinic Jewish communities in late antiquity.  Tractate Taanit incorporates rain symbolism into key rabbinic conceptions of Torah, revelation, and divine compassion.  As the tractate crafts rain into a symbol that expresses God’s presence and relationship with Israel, it also articulates drought as the essential expression of divine absence.  Within the tractate, fasting serves as the quintessential collective response to the physical and spiritual crisis of drought.  Fasting practice in Tractate Taʿanit fashions the vulnerable collective body into an instrument particularly suited to cry out for divine answer.  By invoking and intensifying the experience of suffering caused by drought, the community uses its communal body to align itself with both a suffering God and a suffering earth, each of which yearn for reconciliation.

השאיפה לטהרה עמדה במוקד התרבות הדתית של יהודי העת העתיקה ועיצבה את תמונת עולמם, אורחות חייהם ויחסיהם החברתיים. קבוצות שונות הציעו דרכים למימוש חיי טהרה וכרכו בה גאולה עצמית ותיקון קוסמי.


הספר טהרה וקהילה בעת העתיקה: מסורות ההלכה בין יהדות בית שני למשנה מציע תיאור מקיף של תחום הטהרה, אופייה ותכליתה בעולמם של יהודי בית שני בכלל, ובפרט בתורתם של הפרושים. על רקע תפיסות מתחרות, המופיעות בספרות קומראן ובברית החדשה, הציעו הפרושים חלופה משלהם לחיי טהרה שבה נכרכו מסורת בדלנית ואידאולוגיה חברתית. מקורות התקופה משרטטים אורח חיים מעורר מחלוקת הממוקד בהגנה על הגוף במקום על הקודש, ובשליטה על הטומאה במקום שעבוד לעוצמתה הקוסמית. מדיניות הפרושים הוסיפה ועיצבה את דמותן של ההלכה והקהילה גם לאחר החורבן, ותורתם הניחה את היסודות לפעילותם של התנאים בתוך הקשרים חברתיים משתנים. ניתוח ביקורתי של תולדות מסורות ההלכה בתחום הטהרה במשנה ובתוספתא חושף את תהליכי התפרקותה של התרבות הדתית הקדומה והתגבשותה של תורת החכמים.

The concern for purity shaped Second Temple Judaism, and its significance expanded far beyond the limited realm of the Temple. The fear of impurity shaped daily conduct, stood at the heart of ideological disputes and formed the contours of Jewish society. The question how to ensure ritual and moral purity was of cosmic dimensions, and therefore determined the dividing lines between the main parties of Jewish society in Palestine. The Qumran sect developed the notion of the defiling sin, and Jesus was viewed by his followers as the ultimate purifier. Against these alternatives, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the purity policy in the teachings of the dominant Pharisees. Early rabbinic traditions alongside anti-pharisaic sources uncover a controversial policy focused on the body and not on the purity of the Temple. They provided purification to wider social circles, while preserving its role in maintaining their own status. The book further demonstrates the fundamental change of religious life and social practices from the Second Temple period through the rise of the rabbinic movement, which offered a new version of ritual purity and community. A close analysis of the halakhic traditions in rabbinic literature reveals the gradual disintegration of the ancient religious culture and the emergence of the rabbinic culture within new social contexts.

Summary The article offers a new reading of two Jesus related narratives from the Babylonian Talmud. The first relates the encounter between Rabbi Eliezer and one of Jesus' disciples, Jacob, while the second deals with the flight to Alexandria of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya and his disciple, Jesus. Instead of reading these stories as reflecting an already established dichotomy between Judaism and Christianity, I propose to read them as a reflection on the origin of this dichotomy. I suppose that at least some Babylonian rabbis read or heard about the Gospels and saw that their main hero was a proto-rabbinic figure. Since the dichotomy between the two textual corpora was not conceptually fixed, those rabbis could ask themselves : why do our sources never quote and almost never men- tion this particular rabbi? The Jesus stories analyzed here would be an attempt to discuss the question.

The rabbinic halakhic system, with its many facets and the literary works that comprise it, reflects a new Jewish culture, almost completely distinct in its halakhic content and scope from the biblical and postbiblical culture that preceded it. The paper reviews the implications of Qumranic legislation, as a way station between the Bible and the Mishnah, for understanding how the "rabbinic revolution” was charted, its methods set up, and its principles established.

This article will examine Rabenu Yaacov ben Meir's, better known as Rabenu Tam, grandson of  Rashi (France 1100 – 1171 of the Tosafists) use of the Yerushalmi Talmud.
The Yerushalmi Talmud was not in extensive use in the middle ages. This article will first describe the use of the Yeushalmi by the European sages and then will try to depict Rabenu Tam's knowledge of Yerushalmi and the purposes for which he quotes this Talmud.
Although Rabenu Tam had at least some of the Yerushalmi tractates in his library, his main allusion the Yerushalmi is from secondary sources such as Rabenu Hananel, Rav Nissim Gaon and others.
This article will claim that Rabenu Tam'ss interest in the Yerushalmi was not methodical and encompassing. He did not treat the Yerushalmi as an authoritative Halakhic source.

The several sectarian texts from among the DSS that contain references to גרים pose significant problems for the historian. How should we translate the term-"permanent resident alien," as in Scripture, or "Gentile proselyte," as in rabbinic literature? Why do some texts, such as the Damascus Rule and 4QLots, treat the גר positively, while others, such as 4QFlorilegium, are entirely hostile? In view of the sect's general rejection of outsiders, especially Gentiles, in texts such as the War Rule and 4QMMT, how can the positive references to גרים be explained? Widely varying solutions have been proposed, all of which assume that the term designates a real social group within the sect. This essay tentatively proposes an alternative thesis: while גר seems to designate Gentile converts in sectarian texts, the category is a legal fiction created on the basis of Scripture-it seems highly unlikely that Gentiles ever joined the sect. Positive portraits of גרים in sectarian texts come from interest in crafting halakah for the pre-eschatological age that reflects scriptural law as faithfully as possible. Since throughout Scripture the גר is portrayed as participating in Israelite assemblies, cultic worship, and juridical
activity, and since numerous laws protect them from abuse and guarantee their access to material support when in need, the laws of D and other texts provide for similar inclusion. The Covenanters also thought of the גר's inclusion as temporary: eschatologically oriented texts show anticipation that the land, people, and cult of Israel would be purged entirely of Gentiles, including "good" גרים. This purge of Gentiles would at last fulfill God's command to Moses, to rid the land of idolatrous peoples. My proposal describes a consistent, if complex, attitude toward גרים in all sectarian texts that treat them. It also highlights the complexity of the Covenanters' halakah: some laws were intended to be followed in the present but not in restored Israel; others could not be followed at all in the present but would be at the restoration; still others could be followed partially now, but only fully with restoration. A few laws could neither be followed in the present nor in restored Israel, but had to be included in sectarian halakah due to the recurrence of their themes throughout Scripture. In this last category are laws that treat גרים.

This article attempts to advance a number of claims concerning the Zohar’s exegetical presentation of the biblical story of the blasphemer (Lev. 24: 10-23). The major thesis of the article is that the Zoharic interpretation contains a hidden anti-Christian polemic—one aimed directly at the figures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. To prove this, the article shows that the Zohar’s language concerning the blasphemer recalls tropes and structures from the popular medieval polemical work, Toledot Yeshu.
The article provides a significant understanding of the ambivalent Zoharic attitude towards Jesus as the Son of God – and of the Virgin Mary as linked to the Shekhinah.

This article was previously published in my Ph.D. dissertation in 2012 (Hebrew).

Rabbi Yitshak Hutner (1906-1980) was a remarkable scholar, an enigmatic religious intellectual and a charismatic teacher. Drawing upon his public discourses and his written letters, I argue that Hutner's vocabulary-which remained rooted almost entirely in the vocabulary of traditional Talmudism-afforded him a ready garment in which to clothe a syncretic educational theory, which combines Hasidic approaches to spiritual instruction and remakes the traditions of Lithuanian piety and study for his new American audience. The present study interrogates a series of key themes that appear in Hutner's teachings, all of which pertain to issues of pedagogy and the construction of religious education. The essay advances a historical argument by examining the works of an important and influential modern Jewish thinker, but it is also driven by a constructive question: What does Hutner's vision of Jewish religious teaching and learning have to contribute to today's Jewish education, and to the broader world of higher education in North America in particular?