Jewish Texts Research Articles

Reading God’s Will? Function and Status of Oracle Interpreters in Ancient Jewish and Greek Texts

Abstract There is a rising scholarly consensus that consulting the divine will did not altogether cease in the Second Temple period. Rather, it took different forms, and one was consulting the divine will via existing texts. Meanwhile, the identity of such interpreters remains unclear. This paper explores the possible identities of interpreters by comparing the figures that interpret Jewish oracles with the chresmologoi that appear in ancient Greek compositions. Such a comparison provides new insights into the divinatory use of written oracles. The interpreters of the Jewish and Greek texts operated at least partly in similar ways. While their methods of interrogating the oracles are somewhat alike, Jewish interpreters enjoyed a status similar to that of prophetic figures, whereas Greek interpreters operated more independently and without a similarly evident divine mandate.

“Were the Jews of Qumran Hellenistic Jews?”

Abstract The people who produced and used the scrolls offer us a particularly fascinating example of the extent to which we might call the people/communities of the scrolls “Hellenistic Jews.” The default concept of antiquity that scholars use, the way the term “sectarian” gets employed, and the geography of the Hellenistic world all separate the yaḥad from the larger Hellenistic world. Yet, the scrolls compare well with Hellenistic discourses and practices of collection, textual scholarship, and scientific knowledge. Moreover, if we read the scrolls alongside of other Jewish texts usually considered Hellenistic, we see similar patterns of thought and common interests. In this sense, then, the yaḥad and the scrolls fit well into their Hellenistic environment.

On the Compositional Models for Ezekiel 38-39: A Response to William Tooman’s Gog of Magog

Abstract William Tooman’s monograph Gog of Magog: Reuse of Scripture and Compositional Technique in Ezekiel 38-39 has quickly become a seminal study of Ezek 38-39. This article examines and critiques Tooman’s influential position that Ezek 38-39 were composed by a method called thematic pastiche, which only emerged in second temple Jewish texts. By showing inconsistencies in the limits of what constitutes thematic pastiche and by re-examining the evidence that Ezek 38-39 depends upon Joel 1:6; 2:27; 3:1-2; Isa 62:2; 66:18-19, this article demonstrates that Joel 3:1-2 and Isa 66:18-19 may even reuse Ezek 39:21, 29 as source texts, thus re-opening the search for which texts provide the compositional model for the Gog oracles. As a logical consequence of that finding, this article highlights problems with Tooman’s widely adopted proposal, albeit provisional, that Ezek 38-39 dates from the 4th to 2nd century bce.

Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European PerspectiveNathanEmmanuelTopolskiAnya Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European Perspective Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts 4Walter de GruyterBerlin and Boston MA, 2016, viii, 287, €99.95ISBN 978-3-110-41647-3

Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European PerspectiveNathanEmmanuelTopolskiAnya <i>Is there a Judeo-Christian Tradition? A European Perspective</i> Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts 4Walter de GruyterBerlin and Boston MA, 2016, viii, 287, €99.95ISBN 978-3-110-41647-3

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources—2016

Annual Bibliography of Philip Roth Criticism and Resources — 2020 Brittany Hirth (bio) The following is a bibliography of Philip Roth-related texts published during 2020 including books, book chapters, and journal and magazine articles. Individual essays included in books not solely centered on Roth are grouped in “Book Chapters” and are cross-listed according to MLA style. The final section lists a few notable essays. Digital book editions, such as those designed for Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook readers, are not included in this listing, but they can be easily accessed online. Brittany Hirth Brittany Hirth is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Arts and Letters at Dickinson State University, where she teaches twentieth century and contemporary American literature. She has published articles on Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Anthony Swofford. BOOKS O’Brien, Dan. Fine Meshwork: Philip Roth, Edna O’Brien, and Jewish-Irish Literature. Syracuse UP, 2020. Google Scholar Taylor, Benjamin. My Friendship with Philip Roth. Penguin, 2020. Google Scholar BOOK CHAPTERS Baumgarten, Murray. “Philip Roth, Jewish Identity, and the Satire of Modern Success.” History and Literature: New Readings of Jewish Texts in Honor of Arnold J. Band, edited by William Cutter and David C. Jacobson, Brown Judaic Studies, 2020, pp. 289–300. Google Scholar Brauner, David. “‘Being Jewish’: Philip Roth, Antisemitism and the Holocaust.” Howard Jacobson, Manchester UP, 2020, pp. 141–97. Google Scholar Coste, Jacques-Henri. “Revisiting Business History through Capitalist Fiction: The Glove-Making Industry in Philip Roth’s American Pastoral.” The Fictions of American Capitalism: Working Fictions and the Economic Novel, edited by Jacques-Henri Coste and Vincent Dussol, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 297–317. Google Scholar D’Alfonso, Francesca. “Philip Roth e la fenomenologia della paura: per una lettura del romanzo Nemesis.” Oltre la pandemia: Società, salute, economia e regole nell’era post Covid-19, vol. 1, edited by Gianmaria Palmieri, Editoriale Scientifica, 2020, pp. 781–91. Google Scholar Eaton, Mark. “Secular Theodicy: Saul Bellow, E.L. Doctorow, and Philip Roth.” Religion and American Literature since 1950, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 161–99. Google Scholar Hadar, David. “Negotiating Continuity: Writing about Philip Roth in Israel.” Affiliated Identities in Jewish American Literature, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 127–41. Google Scholar Kellman, Steven G. “Four Score and Philip Roth.” Rambling Prose: Essays, Trinity UP, 2020, pp. 126–33. Google Scholar Kirsh, Adam. “Goodbye, Columbus and Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth.” The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century, Norton, 2020, pp. 112–22. Google Scholar Lambert, Josh, Rachel Gordan, Benjamin Schreier, Bettina Hoffman, and Julian Levinson. “Four Approaches to Teaching Goodbye, Columbus.” Teaching Jewish American Literature, edited by Roberta Rosenberg and Rachel Rubinstein, MLA, 2020, pp. 317–27. Google Scholar Maxey, Ruth. “Creating a Usable Past: Writing the Korean War in Contemporary American Fiction.” 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past, edited by Ruth Maxey, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 149–69. Google Scholar Mitchell, Kaye. “The Shame of Being a Man: Humiliation and/as Heroism.” Writing Shame: Gender, Contemporary Literature and Negative Affect, edited by Kaye Mitchell, Edinburgh UP, 2020, pp. 199–244. Google Scholar Nell, Werner. “Überschaubare Nachbarschaft? Religion, Macht und Sexualität in der Kleinstadt: Eine Adoleszenz-Erzählung von Heinrich Böll mit einem Blick auf Philip Roth.” Kleinstadtliteratur: Erkundungen eines Imaginationsraums ungleichzeitiger Moderne, edited by Werner Nell and Marc Weiland, transcript, 2020, pp. 347–72. Google Scholar Peleg, Yaron. “Writing New Kinds of Jews: A Course in Literary Genetics and Masculinity.” Teaching Jewish American Literature, edited by Roberta Rosenberg and Rachel Rubinstein, MLA, 2020, pp. 183–89. Google Scholar Schreier, Benjamin. “Introduction: What’s the ‘History’ in ‘Jewish American Literary History’ the History Of?” The Rise and Fall of Jewish American Literature: Ethnic Studies and the Challenge of Identity, U of Pennsylvania P, 2020, pp. 1–36. Google Scholar Shostak, Debra. “The Father in the Apocalyptic Imagination — Part Two: Politics and 9/11.” Fictive Fathers in the Contemporary American Novel, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 171–96. Google Scholar ———. “Middle-Class America at Mid-Century.” Fictive Fathers in the Contemporary American Novel, Bloomsbury, 2020, pp. 51–92. Google Scholar Wasserman, Sarah. “Counterhistory, Counterfact, Counterobject: Philip K...

Into the World of the New Testament: Greco-Roman and Jewish Texts and Contexts. By Daniel Lynwood Smith

Into the World of the New Testament: Greco-Roman and Jewish Texts and Contexts. By Daniel Lynwood Smith

Luther against the Jews

Luther against the Jews

Luke–Acts and Jewish Historiography: A Study on the Theology, Literature, and Ideology of Luke–Acts. By Samson Uytanlet

Samson Uytanlet begins this detailed analysis of Luke–Acts (a revision of his doctoral thesis, submitted to the London School of Theology and supervised by Joel B. Green) with the astute recognition of an unhelpful methodological division within Lukan studies. While many recent studies consider Luke–Acts in relation to either non-Jewish Greco-Roman texts (when discussing literary features) or Jewish texts alone (when addressing theological questions), Uytanlet rightly seeks to bring together a broader representation of Luke’s literary context. He examines both Jewish and non-Jewish Greco-Roman texts (predominantly, but not exclusively historiographies), to illuminate his investigation of the theology, literary style, and ideology of Luke–Acts. He goes on to assert that, despite various similarities, Luke’s strongest affinities lie with Jewish texts in each of these areas. The study is comprised of five parts. Part I (introduction) recounts the history of Lukan interpretation through the lens of what Uytanlet dubs ‘The “Great Divide”’ of history and theology (p. 4). Here he traces the dual focus on history and theology in twentieth-century Lukan scholarship first through studies that consider Luke as a Jewish theologian and then Luke as a Hellenistic writer, before turning briefly to those that Uytanlet suggests address Luke as ‘Hellenistic-Jewish Ideologist’, such as Sterling’s account of apologetic historiography. For Uytanlet, assessing the theological, literary, and ideological features of Luke–Acts all require a knowledge of both Greco-Roman and Jewish textual traditions, but ‘the Jewish writings, particularly Israel’s Scriptures, have the dominant influence on Luke’s work in these three areas’ (p. 22). This is the thesis he seeks to support in Parts II–IV, with a short conclusion in Part V.

Into the World of the New Testament: Greco‐Roman and Jewish Texts and Contexts. By Daniel LynwoodSmith. London: Bloomsbury T&amp;T Clark, 2015. Pp. xxii + 233; illustrations, maps. Cloth, $82.00; paper, $24.95.

Into the World of the New Testament: Greco‐Roman and Jewish Texts and Contexts. By Daniel LynwoodSmith. London: Bloomsbury T&amp;T Clark, 2015. Pp. xxii + 233; illustrations, maps. Cloth, $82.00; paper, $24.95.

Why My Jewishness Compels Me to Stand for Justice in Palestine

Why My Jewishness Compels Me to Stand for Justice in Palestine

Lament in Jewish Thought: Philosophical, Theological, and Literary Perspectives Edited by IlitFerber and PaulaSchwebel. Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts, 2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014. Pp. xvii + 353. Cloth, $140.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 43, Issue 1 p. 65-65 Short Reviews on Recent Publications: Jewish Thoughts Lament in Jewish Thought: Philosophical, Theological, and Literary Perspectives Edited by Ilit Ferber and Paula Schwebel. Perspectives on Jewish Texts and Contexts, 2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014. Pp. xvii + 353. Cloth, $140.00. Martin Kavka, Martin Kavka Florida State UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Martin Kavka, Martin Kavka Florida State UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 March 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.12846Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume43, Issue1Special Issue: The Norton Anthology of World ReligionsMarch 2017Pages 65-65 RelatedInformation

Barclay’s Gift

John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift features a powerful and illuminating comparison and contrast between Paul’s theology of grace and theologies of gift and reward in other Second Temple Jewish texts. Barclay is right to critique E.P. Sanders’s conflation of the priority of grace with other perfections of the gift concept, but his own assertion that Paul, like the author of 4 Ezra, regards the divine gift as necessarily circular is questionable. Both Paul and the author of 4 Ezra, rather, seem to leave open the possibility that God may freely bestow his grace on the unworthy, not only in this world, but also in the next.

The role of the star in Ephesians 18–20: Ignatius of Antioch, polymorphic Christology, and Second Temple stars

ABSTRACTThis article considers the function of the star in chapter 19 of Ignatius’s To the Ephesians and proposes that, although the star is often understood as a sign of Jesus’s incarnation, Ignatius identifies Jesus as the star by employing polymorphic Christology to depict Jesus as both a human and a star in Ign. Eph. 18–20. After outlining the extent to which the star is interpreted as a sign of the incarnation and illustrating the use of polymorphic Christology in second-century texts, I offer a reading of Ign. Eph. 18–20 in which Ignatius portrays Jesus as a man and a star whose appearance freshly initiates the implementation of God’s economy. His polymorphic presentation of Jesus enables him to demonstrate Jesus’s significance in the economy from different perspectives. Further, the study suggests that Ignatius’s imagery is comparable to the use of the star as a messianic symbol in certain Second Temple Jewish texts. This reading has the benefit of integrating with Ignatius’s other statements in the letter and it raises further questions related to the study of polymorphic Christology.

The Lexicon of Targum Song of Songs and Aramaic Dialectology

Targum Song of Songs contains words from several Aramaic dialects which seemingly should not coexist. This paper is an analysis of the Targum’s lexicon with particular attention given to the dialectal status of each word, and by extension the text as a whole. It is argued that the targumist primarily draws upon words from Targums Onqelos and Jonathan. A second layer of influence includes words from targumic Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and while words from the Babylonian Talmud and Biblical Aramaic are attested, they are not as influential on the overall lexicon. Finally, given the Targum’s dependence on literary texts that happen to be written in different dialects, it is argued that some terms only attested in Targum Song of Songs and other Late Jewish Literary Aramaic texts may give evidence to literary texts or traditions that have not survived.

Jewish Souls, Bureaucratic Minds: Jewish Bureaucracy and Policymaking in Late Imperial Russia, 1850–1917 by Vassili Schedrin

Reviewed by: Jewish Souls, Bureaucratic Minds: Jewish Bureaucracy and Policymaking in Late Imperial Russia, 1850–1917 by Vassili Schedrin Victoria Khiterer Jewish Souls, Bureaucratic Minds: Jewish Bureaucracy and Policymaking in Late Imperial Russia, 1850–1917 By Vassili Schedrin. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2016. xii + 292 pp. After the fall of communism and the opening of the Russian archives, many books and articles devoted to the Jews of imperial Russia were published. However, the book of Vassili Schedrin brings to light the semiforgotten and little researched topic of the work of the Russian Jewish bureaucrats "known as uchenye evrei (learned Jews or expert Jews)." The monograph is based on rich documentary materials from the Russian archives and incorporates all available scholarship and memoirs. Schedrin shows that the attitude toward expert Jews in traditional Jewish society was quite negative, because they were perceived as the agents of the government. But, according to the author, expert Jews were motivated by the [End Page 142] ideals of Jewish Enlightenment and, like the Russian authorities, believed in the necessity of the modernization of traditional Jewish life. Schedrin writes that the imperial Russian policy toward Jews was "motivated by raison d'état rather than by the personal Judeophobia of the tsar and the bureaucracy." The Russian government was motivated by raison d'état (with some exceptions) at the time of the Great Reforms in Russia (the 1860s–1881). But with assassination of Tsar Alexander II and the establishment of state anti-Semitism under Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II, the policy toward Jews drastically changed from rapprochement of Jews with the gentile population to their isolation and intensified discrimination. The position of expert Jew was established in 1850 and functioned until the February 1917 Revolution. Each governor-general was supposed to appoint two or three expert Jews. Expert Jews were appointed to the seventeen Russian provinces of the Pale of Jewish Settlement, the two city administrations of Odessa and Nikolaev, and to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. "Within seven decades, a total forty-eight expert Jews were appointed to these twenty bureaucratic offices." The expert Jews had "a broad social mission of cultivating loyalty among the Jews and eradicating Jewish fanaticism by applying their moral influence." The Russian authorities considered that the majority of Russian Jewry—Orthodox Jews were religious fanatics and believed that their way of life should be modernized through military service and education. The major function of expert Jews was implementation of the government policy on Jewish questions. They advised the governors-general on religious affairs and translated Jewish texts, documents, and correspondence from Hebrew and Yiddish to Russian. Expert Jews often were used "to perform a variety of police functions aimed at the prevention of subversive political activity." They worked as translators for interrogation and courts. Sometimes, expert Jews worked also as censors of Jewish books and press. By the order of the Russian authorities, expert Jews also traveled on inspection tours of the various cities and towns of the Pale of Jewish Settlement, and reported about Jewish economic, social, and religious life. To efficiently perform all these varied functions, Jewish bureaucrats needed special preparation and education. The first generation of Jewish bureaucrats had a traditional Jewish education. But later, expert Jews typically got their education either at the Vilna or Zhitomir rabbinical seminaries or at Russian or foreign universities. The work of Jewish bureaucrats was very well [End Page 143] paid. Schedrin writes that "the compensation of expert Jews became comparable to salaries of Russian bureaucrats in the rank of the IX class." They were also often awarded medals, orders, and other signs of honor. Many expert Jews worked at their positions for 20–30 years. They believed that they "toiled both for the sake of the government and for the sake of the Jews." However, while implementing the policy of the Russian government, expert Jews often undermined and harmed traditional Orthodox Jewish society. For example, when the expert Jew German Barats traveled to the southwestern region of Russia (Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia provinces) to popularize "the enrollment of Jewish children into government-sponsored Jewish schools" the Hasidic Jews of Kamenets-Podol'sk threw stones at him. The purpose of...

Citybook Services, Ltd

One of Israel's most important assets was its relatively highly educated population, which included many native English speakers. The founders of CityBook Services, Ltd., determined that one of the greatest untapped sources of potential workers was the female population of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, most of whom did not hold jobs outside the home. By structuring a work environment that met this labor market's unique needs and providing extensive training specific to each task and client, CityBook cultivated the work force necessary to grow rapidly, while retaining those employees. Its main challenge was balancing the needs of its workers and those of its existing and potential clients: Could CityBook continue to expand and still maintain its reputation as a singular employer of Haredim? Excerpt UVA-om-1508 Rev. Mar. 24, 2014 CITYBOOK SERVICES, LTD. CityBook Services, Ltd. (CityBook), was founded in Israel in 2003 by three real estate professionals who owned a title agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founders Joseph I. Rosenbaum, Abish Brodt, and Elliot S. Zaks were looking to outsource title searches and other paralegal work from their agency, and they knew that these specialized tasks necessitated a work force that was highly educated and had a strong facility with the English language. For these and other reasons, they determined that Israel, which had a large population of professionally educated U.S. expatriates and other native English speakers, would be a perfect location for their new venture. The time zone difference between the United States and Israel was also beneficial: attorneys and other clients could place orders during the U.S. workday or evening, Israeli workers could complete the requests while the clients slept, and the finished work could be virtually placed on clients' desks by morning. Founders Rosenbaum, Brodt, and Zaks determined that one of the greatest untapped sources of these educated, English-speaking workers in Israel was the female population of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Haredi community (plural Haredim). All three founders were themselves Haredi. Male members of the Haredi community were, according to religious custom, charged with intense, daily religious study of Jewish texts. Haredi women typically took care of the household and children and also earned the family income, meaning they had to successfully balance their job hours with significant primary parenting and household-management responsibilities, on top of adhering to other important religious lifestyle customs. By structuring a work environment in accordance with this labor market's unique needs and providing extensive training specific to each task and client, CityBook cultivated the work force necessary to grow rapidly from its initial 8 employees to more than 350 workers in 2013. An astronomical 95% employee retention rate meant that CityBook's significant investment in training and customized client solutions did not walk out the door along with an employee who was moving on, but rather stayed with the company as it grew. Israel and the Haredi Population . . .

Conflict, Encounter, and the Materiality of the Text: Christian and Jewish Sacred Texts in Europe and North America, c. 1250–1700

Conflict, Encounter, and the Materiality of the Text: Christian and Jewish Sacred Texts in Europe and North America, c. 1250–1700

2 Baruch and the Syriac Codex Ambrosianus (7a1): Studying Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in Their Manuscript Context

This article presents three hypotheses that may shed light on the place of 2 Baruch in the Syriac Codex Ambrosianus, the sixth-/seventh-century Old Testament codex that contains the only known complete copy of 2 Baruch. Whereas scholars of 2 Baruch have generally treated this copy in isolation from the rest of the manuscript, using it primarily as a witness to the (hypothetical) early Jewish text, this essay approaches 2 Baruch as an integral part of the codex, exploring codicological elements, the order and organization of books, as well as paratextual features. Inspired by the perspective of New Philology, this article contributes to the ongoing discussions about the origins, transmission and transformation of the so-called Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, claiming the importance of studying them in the manuscript contexts in which they are copied. The article will also be a contribution to the further study of the Codex Ambrosianus and the engagement with 2 Baruch among Syriac Christians.

Torah Praxis after 70 CE. Reading Matthew and Luke-Acts as Jewish Texts, written by Isaac W. Oliver, 2013

Torah Praxis after 70 CE. Reading Matthew and Luke-Acts as Jewish Texts, written by Isaac W. Oliver, 2013

The Use of the Dead Sea Scrolls for Interpreting Jesus’s Action in the Temple

In order to understand Jesus’s violent outburst in the temple, scholars frequently turn to Jewish texts from the late Second Temple Period, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. The same texts are used to support contrasting explanations of the event. This paper evaluates these interpretations and offers an analysis of the key texts on the Jerusalem temple in the Scrolls. It concludes that the negative attitudes towards the temple that are reflected in Jesus’s action and some of the sectarian writings from Qumran share an expectation that the temple would become defiled in the end time. From such an apocalyptic perspective, it did not matter how the temple priests actually ran their business, since they were bound to be criticized by those Jews, such as Jesus and the Qumran sectarians, for whom the final age had arrived.