Plato in Rabbi Shimeon bar Yohai's Cave (B. Shabbat 33b–34a): The Talmudic Inversion of Plato's Politics of Philosophy

AJS Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert
Keyword(s):  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Collective Imagination

Thus we are told in one of the most famous narratives in talmudic literature, in its most elaborate and complex version in the Babylonian Talmud. The late ancient and early medieval rabbinic popularity of Rabbi Shimeon bar Yohai's (henceforth Rashbi) sojourn in the cave is demonstrated by the wide distribution of the motif in various rabbinic texts. It later gained additional prominence in the Jewish collective imagination to such a degree that no less than the composition of the Zohar was attributed to Rashbi; indeed, the text was considered a product of his sojourn in the cave. As is the case with other extensive narratives in the Babylonian Talmud about early rabbinic sages from the days of the Mishnah, different and most likely earlier versions of the whole or parts of this story can be found elsewhere in rabbinic literature. Others have gone about the task of carefully assembling and comparing the versions of the story, and various interpretations of it have been offered. Surely, any additional attempt at making sense of the story and decoding what the rabbinic narrators in the Babylonian Talmud sought to convey with its inclusion in the larger corpus needs to take this work into account.

A Classical Ethical Problem in Ancient Philosophy and Rabbinic Thought: The Case of the Shipwrecked

2013 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katell Berthelot
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Ethical Problem ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Jewish Ethics ◽  
Philosophical Texts

The story found in Sifra Behar 5.3 and in the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Meṣi'a 62a, about two persons traveling in a desert and having a quantity of water that allows only one of them to reach civilization and survive, is well known and frequently referred to in books and articles dealing with Jewish ethics. The rabbinic texts raise the question: Should the travelers share the water and die together, or should the person who owns the water drink it in order to survive? This story reminds one of the case of the two shipwrecked men who grasp a plank that can bear the weight of only one person and therefore enables only one of them to reach the coast, a case referred to in philosophical texts from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The similarities between the issues dealt with in the rabbinic texts and the Greco-Roman ones have indeed been noticed by several scholars working on rabbinic literature (whereas specialists of ancient philosophy generally ignore them). However, a systematic comparative analysis of the rabbinic tradition and the philosophical texts has not been undertaken so far, nor have previous studies paid much attention to the issues at stake within the Greco-Roman texts themselves, to their inner logic and relationships with one another.

The Sacrifice of the Souls of the Righteous upon the Heavenly Altar: Transformations of Apocalyptic Traditions in Medieval Ashkenaz

2018 ◽  
pp. 49-72
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Era ◽  
The Sacrifice

This chapter describes the surprising motif found in early medieval rabbinic traditions that appears in some manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud and concerns the sacrifice of 'the souls of the righteous' upon the heavenly altar. It compares the motif, background, and transmission of medieval rabbinic traditions with other traditions concerning the 'souls of the righteous' in rabbinic literature and with precedents in texts of the Second Temple period. The chapter outlines early Enochic traditions, apocalyptic texts of the Second Temple period, and early Christian cultural traditions and beliefs. It indicates the nexus between Christian and Byzantine Jewish traditions, which became manifest in the development of motifs and textual sources during the first centuries of the Common Era and later expressed in medieval Ashkenazi texts. It also provides evidence on cultural transmission between Byzantine works, traditions of the East, and the cultural milieu of medieval Ashkenaz.

Divine Concessions in theTanhumaMidrashim

2015 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dov Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Social Values ◽  
World View ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
General Sense ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Textual History ◽  
Critical Issues

Ever since Leopold Zunz inaugurated the critical study of rabbinic literature in 1818, scholars of the school of midrash known asTanhuma-Yelammedenu(TY) have given priority to analyzing questions of textual history, dating, aesthetics, form-critical issues, and the literary qualities of these texts. This scholarship has focused on questions of form rather than content; for the most part, the distinctive ideas of these texts, their values and theologies, have yet to be explored. In an article devoted to form-literary issues in aggadah, Yonah Fraenkel argues that “indeed there were also changes in the [Tanhuma's] ideas, like their ethical and social values and their overall world view . . . these types of issues need further research.” Unfortunately, very few scholars have responded to Fraenkel's call. In fact, two excellent scholarly works on rabbinic thought have ignored the content of theTYaltogether: neither David Kraemer'sResponses to Suffering in Classical Rabbinic Literaturenor Ishay Rosen-Zvi's recent work,Demonic Desires, engageTYtexts. While Kraemer and Rosen-Zvi extensively discuss sixth- and seventh-century Babylonian texts, such as the Babylonian Talmud, they do not do the same with sixth- and seventh-century Palestinian texts, such as manyTYtexts. These two important studies exemplify how, in a more general sense, late Palestinian midrashim have been conspicuously neglected by scholars of rabbinic literature working on content-based projects.

External Appearance versus Internal Truth: The Aggadah of Herod in Bavli Bava Batra

AJS Review ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Yonatan Feintuch
Keyword(s):  
Significant Source ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
External Appearance

King Herod ruled Judea from 37 to 4 bce. His life and achievements are described in detail in the writings of Flavius Josephus and have been explored in numerous historical studies. In rabbinic literature, however, mention of Herod's image and achievements is scarce. The few sources that do exist are very brief, with the exception of one significant source in the Babylonian Talmud (henceforth: BT), which will be discussed in this article.

Depictions of Childbirth in Rabbinic Literature: The Innovation of a Genizah Midrashic Text

2017 ◽  
pp. 285-306
Author(s):  
Shana Strauch Schick
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Birth Experience ◽  
Physical Pain ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Pregnancy And Childbirth ◽  
Women's Experience ◽  
Extraordinary Experiences ◽  
Birth Story

This chapter analyses an early medieval midrashic text, Midrash had shenati, which is unique in its depiction of childbirth. It looks at rabbinic texts that marginalize women's experience of childbirth in which midrash grants subjectivity to the physical experience of the labouring mother through its depiction of Rebekah's birthing of Jacob and Esau. It also reframes Rebekah's birth story and transforms it from its common cultural signification of the nation of Israel and its eternal struggle with the Other. The chapter demonstrates a mothers' physical pain during labour and childbirth, making the birth experience itself culturally visible. It talks about pregnancy and childbirth that rank among the most extraordinary experiences of their lives.

Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leib Moscovitz
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Source Of Information

The Palestinian Talmud (“Talmud Yerushalmi” in Hebrew; henceforth PT), is a rabbinic compendium of Palestinian provenance from Late Antiquity on the Mishnah. PT is far more than a commentary since it contains independent discussions of Jewish law and thought, stories about rabbis and other types of narrative, and biblical exegesis of various sorts. PT serves as an important tool for scholarly analysis of the more familiar and widely studied Babylonian Talmud (BT); the traditions preserved in PT are often less subject to various types of editorial reworking than their BT counterparts and, as such, can be very helpful for studying the development of their BT parallels. Likewise, PT serves as an important source of information about the Palestinian rabbinic world in Late Antiquity. In traditional settings, PT played a certain role in the interpretation of BT and in the development of Jewish law during the medieval period, in addition to serving as an object of study in its own right, although its study was largely neglected due to textual and interpretative difficulties, which problematized its study both for academic scholars and traditional students. This article accordingly begins by surveying the principal tools for the study of PT and continues with a survey of text-critical and exegetical issues, followed by a survey of various redactional aspects of PT. (Most of this material is in Hebrew, and much of it is highly technical, so it may prove unsuitable for beginners.) The focus here is of course on PT per se, although responsible scholarship on PT necessitates analysis of the work in a number of broader contexts, such as the study of Jewish history in Late Antiquity and rabbinic literature in general; hence, the student of PT is advised to consult surveys of these topics as well.

The Fable of "the Middle-Aged Man with Two Wives": From the Aesopian Motif to the Babylonian Talmud Version in b. B. Qam. 60b

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Miralles Maciá
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Diodorus Siculus

AbstractSome motifs of the Aesopian tradition were adapted by rabbinic literature. One of them was the case of a man who had two wives, one young and the other old, who plucked out his grey and black hairs respectively, until he became bald. The current tale had several versions until the rabbis included it with the mashal form in a passage of the Tractate Baba Qamma of the Babylonian Talmud. In this article I collect the passages where it appears prior to the Talmudic text (the Augustana recension of the Aesopian fables and the works of Diodorus Siculus, Babrius, and Phaedrus), in order to determine, as far as possible, to which version of the tale the rabbinic tradition could have access.

From Dungeon to Haven: Competing Theories of Gestation in Leviticus Rabbah and the Babylonian Talmud

AJS Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (01) ◽  
pp. 143-168
Author(s):  
Shana Strauch Schick
Keyword(s):  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Leviticus Rabbah ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Representations Of Women ◽  
Roman Palestine

Rabbinic literature offers competing images of embryology and the relationship between mother and fetus. The Palestinian midrashic collection Leviticus Rabbah 14 marginalizes the active role of the mother and depicts the process of gestation as a dangerous time for the fetus. God is in charge of the care and birth of the child, and the father is the lone source of physical material. Passages in the third chapter of Bavli tractate Niddah, in contrast, reference the biological contributions of the mother and portray an idyllic image of the womb. This study explores how cultural differences, variances in representations of women, and sources of authoritative medical knowledge in Sasanian Persia and Roman Palestine contributed to the formation of these texts with markedly different understandings of the relationship between mother and fetus. I will argue that the study of the Sasanian Persian context is key to understanding the Bavli motifs, but that the Palestinian sources can best be understood with references not only to contemporaneous Greco-Roman sources, but also to ancient Iranian and Mesopotamian works, which have been generally overlooked by scholars.

Reconsidering the Book and the Sword: A Rhetoric of Passivity in Rabbinic Hermeneutics

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 147-176
Author(s):  
Beth Berkowitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Explicit Expression ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Judicial Authority ◽  
Legal Contexts

AbstractThe motif of the "book and the sword" as it appears in a Babylonian Talmud martyrdom narrative suggests that Torah and violence are mutually exclusive. This essay will explore in what ways the book and the sword have a more complicated relationship within the Babylonian Talmud and its sources than this narrative suggests. The essay will focus attention on a posture of interpretive passivity that rabbinic legislators adopt in a variety of legal contexts in which their audience's physical and social welfare is at stake, including criminal execution and women's claims upon their husbands. The essay will contrast the representation of the rabbi who laments, "What can I do? For behold the Torah said …" to the creative hermeneutics he in fact exercises. The essay will argue that this idiom, as it appears in several tannaitic texts and then is expanded in Babylonian talmudic texts, is unusual within Antiquity in giving explicit expression to embarrassment about scriptural canon. The essay proposes that the stereotyping of early rabbis as hermeneutically passive by Babylonian talmudic editors allows them to highlight their own exegetical and judicial activism as they transform inherited sources. The essay considers what the representation of hermeneutically passive rabbinic judges can reveal about the complex relationship between legal exegesis, judicial authority, and violence within rabbinic literature, from early to late, from Palestine to Babylonia.

Like a Hedge of Lilies

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Shai Secunda
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rabbinic Literature ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
The One

This chapter considers some of the challenges of studying late antique Jewish women and their practices through a text composed and transmitted in male-dominated contexts. It describes how menstruation made meaning through difference and differentiation in the Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and rabbinic Literature. The chapter reviews new approaches to understanding the Babylonian Talmud as situated between classical (Palestinian) rabbinic literature, on the one hand, and its Sasanian context, on the other. It then closely analyzes a story about a rabbi and a heretic recorded at b. Sanhedrin 37a to illustrate the book’s main hermeneutical assumptions and potentialities.

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