Brothers Estranged

On its Way

Adiel Schremer's new book, Brothers Estranged Heresy, Christianity and Jewish Identity in Late Antiguity is set to be published by Oxford in the coming weeks.

Morgenstern on the Mandaeans

For Jerusalemites

December 1, 2009

Jonas C. Greenfield Scholars’ Seminar
12:15–14:00. Dr. Moshe Morgenstern, Department of Hebrew Language, University of Haifa: “Jewish Literature and Mandaic Literature” (in Hebrew).

New JQR and more

A new issue of JQR has just been published. Highlights include Oded Irshai, "The Christian Appropriation of Jerusalem in the Fourth Century: The Case of the Bordeaux Pilgrim." Irshai presented a version of this paper in 2008 at the year end conference at Penn's Center for Advanced Studies. Elliott Horowitz continues work on travelogues (the theme of this issue of JQR is travel) in “Remarkable Rather for Its Eloquence than Its Truth”: Modern Travelers Encounter the Holy Land—and Each Other’s Accounts Thereof". v As always, the piece is rather entertaining. Two new translations of 3 Maccabbees are reviewed by Uriel Rappaport, as is Shaya Cohen's Why are Jewish Women not Circumcised.

In other news, rumor has it that at a recent conference held at Princeton, Michael Sokoloff declared the geniza fragments of Toledot Yeshu to preserve good Babylonian Jewish Aramaic. At SBL I spoke briefly about the expanding corpus of pre-Islamic Babylonian Jewish texts. No longer just Bavli, but also, perhaps, the compilation of Masekhet Kallah, and now... some Toledot Yeshu traditions?

What is Talmud?

Dept. of Old Questions

I don't know, Sergey, what is Talmud? As an aside, it is interesting that it is Fordham UP which is publishing Dolgopolski 's research on matters that must be of particular interest for Jesuits.

Oppenheimer Conference

The A. Oppenheimer conference, set for December 28-29th at Tel Aviv University:


Monday, 28 December, 2009
09:45-10:00 Greetings
Benjamin Isaac
Shlomo Biderman, Dean, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty
of Humanities
10:00-11:30 Session I
Chair: Benjamin Isaac
Albert Baumgarten (Bar-Ilan University)
Joshua Schwartz (Bar-Ilan University)
12:00-13:30 Session II
Chair: Aryeh Kasher
Yoram Tsafrir (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Tessa Rajak (University of Reading)
15:00-16:30 Session III
Chair: Moshe David Herr
Günter Stemberger (University of Vienna)
Shaye Cohen (Harvard University)
16:45-18:15 Session IV
Chair: Daniel R. Schwartz
Peter Schäfer (Princeton University)
David Weiss-Halivni
Tuesday, 29 December, 2009
09:15-10:45 Session V
Chair: Susan Weingarten
Richard Kalmin (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Vered Noam (Tel Aviv University)
11:15-12:45 Session VI
Chair: Moshe Fischer
Jonathan Price (Tel Aviv University)
Yuval Shahar (Tel Aviv University)
14:15-15:45 Session VII
Chair: Mordechai Akiva Friedman
David Goodblatt (UC San Diego)
Isaiah Gafni (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
16:00-17:30 Session VIII
Chair: Gideon Bohak
Youval Rotman (Tel Aviv University)
Werner Eck (University of Köln)

Moussaieff on Moussaieff

The Colorful

This has been making its way around the net. It is needless to say, priceless. Here's a toxically ironic vignette: - the Looting Brits seizing an artifact from Moussaeiff which they claimed was "theirs":

"There was a seven-year lawsuit, the Republic of Iraq vs Shlomo Moussaieff.
In the war in Iraq, everything was looted. Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, also sold
things and those things that were biblical. I personally bought through a dealer
in Switzerland. I brought the things back to England, I paid duty [and applied
for an export license] and was to send them with El Al to Israel. But before
departure, the English antiquities authority stopped me and said, "These are
ours; we dug these objects up in 1820." [The site at Nineveh was later
photographed, which is how the authorities could recognize objects that were
taken out.]
I could have won this case. I bought everything legitimately. I
had receipts. I paid the customs tax. But my wife decided that she didn't want
more publicity, so I eventually gave it all back to Iraq. I declared the round
trip shipping costs, for which I was reimbursed by Iraq, but I lost a lot of
money.

Upcoming

In the non-news department, Prooftexts has just issued their latest issue. And there is little of direct interest for Talmudists, Midrashists and their kin. Which makes one wonder, what happened to the glory days of Prooftexts Midrashic beginnings.

In the travel department, I hope to report from the SBL conference in New Orleans next week - computer permitting. Below are some sessions of interest:

History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism11/22/20094:00 PM to 6:30 PMRoom: Rhythms Ballroom 1 - SH
Theme: Rabbinic Literature in Context
Yaron Z. Eliav, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, PresidingSteven D. Fraade, Yale UniversityLocal Jewish Leadership in Roman Palestine: The Case of the Parnas in Early Rabbinic Sources in Light of Extra-Rabbinic Evidence (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Justin Winger, University of Michigan-Ann ArborThe Second Century CE Synagogue: Texts and Culture (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Shaye J. D. Cohen, Harvard UniversityMishnah Shabbat in Origen De Principiis (20 min)Discussion (10 min)David Brodsky, Reconstructionist Rabbinical CollegeJesus, Mary, and Akiva ben Joseph: A Fourth Century Jewish/Christian Polemic in Massekhet Kallah (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Yale UniversityRepentance in Monastic Sources and the Babylonian Talmud: the Story of Elazar B. Dordya (20 min)Discussion (10 min)

Religious World of Late AntiquityJoint Session With: Religious World of Late Antiquity, Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism, History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism11/22/20094:00 PM to 6:30 PMRoom: Studio 10 - MR
Theme: Beyond the Borders: Jews, Christians, and Others in Sassanian West Asia
Jason BeDuhn, Northern Arizona University, PresidingJorunn J. Buckley, Bowdoin CollegeMandaean-Sethian Baptism Connections (25 min)Jennifer Hart, Whitman CollegeOne Woman, Four Traditions: The Convergence of Mandaeism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity in the Character of Miriai (25 min)Edwin K. Broadhead, Berea CollegeIs There a Demarcation of Jewish Christians in Third Century Persia? (25 min)Discussion (35 min)Business Meeting (15 min)

History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism11/23/20099:00 AM to 11:30 AMRoom: Grand Ballroom B - SH
Carol Bakhos, University of California-Los Angeles, PresidingKimberly Stratton, Carleton UniversityExodus and Identity in Rabbinic Exegesis (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Alyssa M. Gray, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of ReligionRedemptive Almsgiving and the Rabbis of Late Antiquity (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Ari Finkelstein, Harvard UniversityPriestly Tithing and the Practice of Sacrifice among Jews according to Julian (20 min)Moulie Vidas, Princeton UniversityLiterary Creativity in the Talmuds and the History of the Stam (20 min)Discussion (10 min)Business Meeting (25 min)

History and Literature of Early Rabbinic JudaismJoint Session With: History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism, Religious World of Late Antiquity, Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism11/23/20091:00 PM to 3:30 PMRoom: Studio 7 - MR
Theme: Jews and Christians in the Sasanian Empire
Part of a three session theme: "Beyond the Borders: Jews, Christians, and Others in Sasanian West Asia."Richard Kalmin, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, PresidingNaomi Koltun-Fromm, Haverford CollegeState of the Dis-Union: Jewish-Christian Relations in Late Ancient Syro-Mesopotamia (20 min)Scott McDonough, William Paterson University'The Prince of the Believers': On the Social Origins of Christian Clergy in Late Sasanian Iran (20 min)Geoffrey Herman, University of GenevaPeacemaker, Persecutor, Sinner, and Son-in-Law: Unraveling the Enigma of Yazdgird I (20 min)Adam H. Becker, New York UniversityPolitical Theological and Religious Diversity in the Sasanian Empire (20 min)Samuel Secunda, Yale University, Respondent (20 min)Discussion (40 min)

Religious World of Late Antiquity11/23/20091:00 PM to 3:30 PMRoom: Napoleon A2 - SH
Theme: The Materiality of the Holy and of Authority in Late Antiquity
Lynn LiDonnici, Vassar College, PresidingAlison Poe, Independent Art HistorianChrist as Light for the Dead in the Tomb of the Julii, Rome (25 min)Sarah L. Schwarz, Colorado CollegeAmulet as Apocryphon: Image and Authority in Late Antique Materia Magica (25 min)Zsuzsanna Gulacsi, Northern Arizona UniversityImage and Authority: Mani's Picture(-Book) in 3rd century Mesopotamia (25 min)Todd Krulak, University of PennsylvaniaInvisible Things on Visible Forms: The Role of the Peri agalmaton in Porphyry’s Pedagogy (25 min)Rachel Neis, University of Michigan-Ann ArborSeeing Through Idols: Some Rabbinic Modes of Viewing (25 min)Discussion (25 min)

Qumran11/23/20094:00 PM to 6:30 PMRoom: Napoleon A3 - SH
Theme: Qumran Ideology and History
Maxine L. Grossman, University of Maryland, PresidingMichael J. Lesley, University of Maryland, College Park/HarvardWhen Wisdom is not Enough (30 min)Hannah K. Harrington, Patten UniversityReshaping Biblical Purity Terminology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (30 min)Elitzur Avraham Bar-Asher, Harvard UniversityWho separated from whom and why? A closer look at MMT (30 min)Charlotte Hempel, University of Birmingham, UKThe Teaching on the Two Spirits and the Literary History of the Community Rule (30 min)Joan E. Taylor, Waikato University, New Zealand/UCL, LondonBuried Manuscripts and Empty Tombs: The Genizah Hypothesis Revisited (30 min)

24-124
Social History of Formative Christianity and JudaismJoint Session With: Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism, Religious World of Late Antiquity, History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism11/24/20099:00 AM to 11:30 AMRoom: St. Charles Suite - MR
Theme: Beyond the Borders: Jews, Christians, and Others in Sassanian West Asia
Maxine L. Grossman, University of Maryland College Park, PresidingBrandon Bruning, University of Notre DameThe Haggadah of Ephrem of Nisibis? The Literary and Social Contexts of Exodus Turgomo 12.3 (25 min)Ellen Muehlberger, University of Michigan-Ann ArborFaces of Death: Death as a Character in Late Ancient West Asian Literature (25 min)Jason BeDuhn, Northern Arizona UniversityApostle and Buddha: Mapping Mani's Authority in the Sassanid Realm (25 min)Moulie Vidas, Princeton UniversityThe Magus, The Tanna and the Saint: Ritual and Identity in Late Ancient Mesopotamia (25 min)Discussion (35 min)Business Meeting (15 min)

Layers, Layers

Revadim editions of Arvei Pesahim , and Hamafkid recently catalogued at JNUL. The Hayman revolution continues.

New JSQ

More on the famous rabbinic "canonization" sugya at Bava Bathra 15a:


Eran Viezel, writes about Divrei Hayamim in the latest Jewish Studies Quarterly, with an unfortunately unwieldly title: "Ezra katav sifro veyahas shel divrey ha-yamim askeh? Nehemiah ben-Hakalya: On the Author of Chronicles in Bava Batra 15a."

The Seafaring Rabbi

Tall Tales

The Rabbah b. Hanna tales at the beginning of the fifth chapter of Bava Bathra have always enjoyed wide fascination. Now we have a collection of traditional commentary on the tales. ‫ אגדתא דבי רב (Ashdod, 5770), put out by a cerain Makhon Limud Aggada. For a cultural and folkloristic perspective, see Reuven Kiperwasser, ‫ in Sifrut u-Mered (5768 מסעות של רבה בר בר חנה

Concepts of "Religion" in Late Antiquity

The modern concept of "religion" as applied to ancient and medieval times has been deconstructed, debated, and (for some) discarded. Much of the research has focused on the use of "religion" since the Enlightenment and particularly in more recent anthropological studies. One thinks of JZ Smith's Religion, religions, religious and Talal Assad's Genealogies of Religion. Much less has been done with evolving notions of religion in late antiquity, and still less outside of the Roman Empire. This is a question dear to Daniel Boyarin's research, but one which I submit will be reconsidered, and challenged from a different angle at an upcoming SBL session.* In class a week and a half ago, we examined the development of the Iranian term daēnā /dēn in Avestan and Middle Persian texts, with an eye towards the evolution of a notion of religion. In this line, Adam Becker's fresh article in Late Antiquity 2.2 (2009) has much to add to the uses of religion, or more accurately "fear" in the late antique Christian East. He of course touches on Jews and Zoroastrians as well.

* History and Literature of Early Rabbinic JudaismJoint Session With: History and Literature of Early Rabbinic Judaism, Religious World of Late Antiquity, Social History of Formative Christianity and Judaism
11/23/20091:00 PM to 3:30 PMRoom: Studio 7 - MR
Theme: Jews and Christians in the Sasanian Empire

Tosefta Kefshuta

Hebrewbooks.org just published their latest list, which includes an edition of Midrash Aseret Hadibrot and further volumes of Lieberman's Tosefta Kefshuta.

The Talmud and its World

Department of Self Promotion

The ubiquitous Menachem Butler has put together a series of live on-line lectures for Torah in Motion which begin November 9th, 2009. Topics include Bible, Medieval Jewish philosophy, modern rabbinic history, and rabbinic bibliography. Dan Rabinowitz will deliver a series on the always popular topic of rabbinic forgeries and censorship. This blogger will be speaking on Sundays on "The Talmud and its World."

Talmudica Journalica

More Rabbinic than JSIJ...Discuss

Shamma Friedman announces a new online journal for Talmud and rabbinic literature, called Oqimta.
(Hat tip: Paleojudaica)

New Journal of Jewish Studies

Goodman writes on "Religious Variety and the Temple in the Late Second Temple Period and its Aftermath"
Joan Taylor writes on Essenes, Qumran and Dead Sea Pharmacology
Naftalo Cohn on representing the past and present legal institutions in the Mishna, and Yishai Rosen Zvi comes close to a summation of his work on the rabbinic yetzer with an eye to modern scholarship as well

The Practice of Everyday

[Rewritten] Conversations

About a week ago, as the Jerusalem skies finally began to gray, Galit Hasan-Rokem sat in my office. Freshly brewed espresso, on the table, along with Michel de Certeau’s “The Practice of Everyday Life.

“What do you mean by rabbinic literature functioning as a kind of ethnography [in Tales from the Neighborhood]?”

“I mean the interest of rabbinic literature in preserving aspects of the everyday life of people. An Arabic loanword inserted here, a quaint agricultural facet there."

..."Foucalt has more or less been inducted as an honorary Talmudist. But his interest was only in the structures of power and their devices. What of its resistences, strategies and tactics. de Certeau's looks for the uses of the common man? Has his time come?"

"It very well may be. That sort of ethnography of rabbinic literature has yet to be written."

And then. "do you know that in this land, everyone right now is waiting for drops of rain. Jew, Palestinian. The olives on the two olive trees in my yard are almost black with ruin. Yet we are all waiting for the rain to come down."

The past few days in Jerusalem have seen the "Rider of clouds" make His way through the sky. Blessed blessed rain.

Satan in the Talmud

For Bostonians

Elie Wiesel to continue his annual three part series at Boston University. Tonight: In the Talmud and Other Sources: Satan in Ancient Memories

The Talmud in its Iranian Context

Soon, Soon

Carol Bakhos and Rahim Shayegan, The Talmud in Its Iranian Context (Tuebingen, 2009), perhaps the first Talmudo-Iranica volume, set to be released December 2009. The articles are based on a 2007 UCLA conference with the same title.