A Mirror of Rabbinic Hermeneutics
Description
Rabbinic hermeneutics in ancient Judaism reflects this multifaceted world of the text and of reality, seen as a world of reference worth commentary. As a mirror, it includes this world but perhaps also falsifies reality, adapting it to one's own aims and necessities. It consists of four parts:
Part I, considered as introduction, is the description of the "Rabbinic Workshop" (
Officina Rabbinica),
the rabbinic world where the student plays a role and a reformation of a reformation always takes place, the world where the mirror was created and manufactured.
Part II deals with the historical environment, the world of reference of rabbinic Judaism in Palestine and in the Hellenistic Diaspora (
Reflecting Roman Religion
);
Part III focuses on magic and the sciences, as ancient (political and empirical) activities of influence in the double meaning of receiving and adopting something and of attempt to produce an effect on persons and objects (
Performing the Craft of Sciences and Magic
).
Part IV addresses the rabbinic concern with texts (
Reflecting on Languages and Texts
) as the main area of "influence" of the rabbinic academy in a space between the texts of the past and the real world of the present.
Reviews / Votes
"Der überaus lesenswerte Sammelband enthält gründliche Analysen und mass-gebliche Interpretationen zu wichtigen Aspekten der Religion und Literatur des antiken und mittelalterlichen Judentums und unterstreicht insbesondere die Not-wendigkeit einer umfassenden wissenschaftlichen Beschäftigung mit Phänomenen und Gegenständen des jüdischen Alltagslebens."
Michael Tilly in: Judaica 4/2015
"Der klare und engagierte Stil V[eltris], die zahlreichen Verweise auf jüdisches und nichtjüdisches Quellenmaterial, die Gegenwartsbezüge und die Reflexionen zum Forschungsgegenstand der Judaistik laden zur Lektüre des Sammelbandes ein. Die überaus lesenswerten Studien überzeugen durch stringente Argumentation, den beständigen Blick auf mögliche Interdependenzen mit den Umweltkulturen des Judentums sowie durch ihre reflektierten Detailuntersuchungen religionswissenschaftlicher Phänomene."
Alexander Dubrau in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 143.7/8 (2018), 739-740
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Introduction
- Documentation style, transliteration and references
- Part I: Officina rabbinica
- 1 Impertinent Students vs. Sagacious Rabbis: The Art of Learning
- 1.1 The Student
- 1.2 He Who Always Asks
- 1.3 Impertinence is the Beginning of Wisdom
- 2 Ezra as "Reformer" in Classical Jewish Literature
- 2.1 The Reformation in the 16th century
- 2.2 Ezra the Reformer
- 2.3 Conclusion
- Part II: Reflecting Roman Religion
- 3 Roman Religion at the Periphery of the Empire
- 3.1 Religious Customs: The Rhetoric of Ethics
- 3.1.1 "Roman" Sources for the "Rabbinic" Romans
- 3.1.2 Political and Popular "Religiosity" or Culture: Theatre and the Circenses
- 3.1.3 The Rhetoric of Ethics
- 3.2 Holidays: Religion, Politics, and Social Life
- 3.2.1 On the History of Research
- 3.2.2 The Calendar
- 3.2.3 The Typology of the Festivals
- 3.2.4 Day of Rest, pollutio, and Permissions of Commerce
- 3.2.5 The Day of Rain: A Judeo-Roman Festival?
- 3.2.6 Kalendae
- 3.2.7 Elements: Wishes and Presents
- 3.2.8 The Rabbinic Explanations of the Origin of the Kalendae
- 3.2.8.1 Topos 1: Yanubris and the Calendar
- 3.2.8.2 Topos 2: A Black Day
- 3.2.8.3 Topos 3: The Voluntary Death of a King
- 3.2.8.4 The Kalendae: A Detail?
- 3.2.9 Saturnalia and Sigillaria
- 3.2.10 ???t?s??
- 3.2.11 Feriae Imperatoris
- 3.2.12 Birthday and Day of Death
- 3.2.13 Apotheosis
- 3.3 Conclusion
- Part III: Performing the Craft of Science & Magic
- 4 The Science(s) and "Greek Wisdom"
- 4.1 Greek Wisdom and Everyday Sciences
- 4.2 Empirical Science: Medicine
- 4.3 Theoretical Science: Astrology
- 4.4 Conclusion
- 5 On Magic: Past and Present Research
- 5.1 Magic in Past and Present Scholarship
- 5.1.1 The Polemic-Apologetic Approach
- 5.1.2 Archaeological and Philological Research
- 5.1.3 Folklore and Folk Life Studies
- 5.1.4 Mysticism, Kabbalah, and Jewish Magic
- 5.1.5 The Halakhic-Theological Approach
- 5.2 Magic and Methods in Studying Magic
- 6 "Ways of the Amorite" and Hellenism in Jewish Palestine
- 6.1 The darkhe ha-emori
- 6.2 Halakhic Attitudes to Magic and Science
- 6.2.1 Good Manners
- 6.2.2 Common Sense
- 6.2.3 Established and Deep-Rooted Convictions
- 6.2.4 Empirical Observation
- 6.3 Pliny and the "Foreign" Customs of the Magi
- Appendix: A Comparison between Pliny and Tosefta Shabbat
- 7 The Magician/Magush in Rabbinic Judaism
- 7.1 Magus & Physician
- 7.2 Magician and Illusionist
- 7.3 Medieval Developments
- 8 "Watermarks" in the MS Munich, Hebr. 95
- 8.1 Notes on the Manuscript
- 8.2 A Page, or Fragments of a Handbook?
- 8.3 Water, Waters, Creation, and other Mirabilia
- 8.4 A Veritable "Watermark"
- 9 The Meal of the Spirits, the Three Parcae and Lilith
- 9.1 A Decree by Burkhard, Bishop of Worms: The Table Set for the Three Parcae
- 9.2 The Prepared Table
- 9.3 Sideros (Iron), Lilith, and the Name of God
- 9.4 Concluding Thoughts
- 10 Evidence and Plausibility: on Magic and Ariel Toaff's Pasque di Sangue
- 10.1 Ariel Toaff's Pasque di Sangue
- 10.2 The Geographic Limits of the Phenomenon "Magic"
- 10.3 The Use of "Blood" - The Word and the Code
- 10.4 Defining "Magic"
- 10.5 Conclusion
- Part IV: Reflecting on Languages and Texts
- 11 Reflecting on Languages and Texts
- 11.1 Holy, Rabbinic and Common language
- 11.1.1 Leshon ha-qodesh
- 11.1.2 Leshon ?akhamim
- 11.1.3 Common language
- 11.2 Dialect or different pronunciation?
- 11.3 Language, text transmission and exegesis
- 11.4 Conclusion
- 12 On Editing Rabbinic Texts
- 12.1 The Quest for the Ur-Text
- 12.2 Editions are a Product of Time and Authority
- 12.3 Editions as Interpretations of Texts
- 12.4 The Pragmatic Edition: Midrash Tehillim
- 12.5 Conclusion
- 13 On Some Greek Loanwords in Aquila's Translation of the Bible
- 13.1 Leviticus 23:24 and the Feast of Tabernacles
- 13.2 Ezekiel 16:10 on Dressing
- 13.3 Ezekiel 23:43 on Prostitution
- 13.4 Psalm 48 (47):15 and the Eternal World
- 13.5 Proverbs 18:21 and Rhetorical Figures
- 13.6 Proverbs 25:11 on Rhetoric
- 13.7 Esther 1:6 on Colours
- 14 The Septuagint in Disgrace
- 14.1 Talmudic Stories and Post-Talmudic Developments
- 14.2 Medieval reception and the Megillat Ta'anit Batra
- 15 In Lieu of a Conclusion: Pleasure and Desire of Learning
- 15.1 The Song of Songs in Discussions
- 15.2 The Pleasure of Sin
- Selected Bibliography
- Index of Primary Sources
