Department of Jewish History and Thought

Moshe Lavee (University of Haifa), "The Samaritan may be included - Another look at the Samaritans in Talmudic Literature", offers an innovative approach towards the Samaritans in rabbinic literature. he shows the crucial role of the Babylonina Talmud in the shift towards their definition as "absolute gentiles". Using rhetorical devices, reworking rephrasing and rearranging earlier texts, the Talmud provides a binary conceptual framework in whihc there is no place for liminal groups in between Jews and gentiles. This new framework served as a means for identity demarcation, replacing former inclusive perceptions of the Samaritans and became dominant in post-Talmudic era.

Rav Yosef Rosh Ha-Seder (died ~1211) left us many lists of books he was occupied with - both real volumes of books as well as his own writing fantasies. His lists are a faithful mirror of the literary trends of his time. In this article I show how they reflect the marginality of Haggadic Midrash within the rabbinic corpus, as well as the early beginnings of its improving status. I apply contemporary theories concerning process of canonization, portraying Rav Yosef as a canon agent.
Beyond books, texts and endless lists, the paper also try to present the touching personality of Rav Yosef.

The article analyzes a unique version of the midrashic list of the verses describing the descent of the Shekhinah. This unique list is documented in an unnoticed Genizah fragment of a Siddure. A model for analyzing lists of verses is suggested, based on the tension between the narrative and the lexicographic functions of the list. On the basis of this model it is suggested that the unique Genizah version is tend towards the development of new narrative, hinting at the mover towards the concept of Sephirot. A survey of parallels of the list in rabbinic literature, Yalkutim, Piyyut demonstrates this development, pointing to clear allusions to Sefer Yezirah.

The article describe the Francois at Nicola Grandchamp Fondation Project for the study of Reception of Haggaic Midrash in the Genizah. The variety of relevant sources are classified and identified, and two examples of lists of verses that reflects unknown midrahic materials are presented in detail.

The article follows the variation of the exegetical narrative concerning the birth of Isaac, in the context of the perception of non-Jews. It claims for a significant difference between the early presentation in early rabbinic sources from the land of Israel and the later picture in the Babylonian Talmud. In the first the suckling of Isaac symbolizes missionary tendencies, and the wish to bring the gentiles near; In the second a sense of polemics and debated is felt, and the event is only aimed at showing the mistake of non-Jews. Later Midrashic sources demonstrates a combination of both trends. The case is seen as an example for the departure from missionary trends that are common in Palestine and missing in Babylonia.

Moshe Lavee (Haifa) compares the traditions from the two divergent rabbinic milieus of Late Antiquity—Babylon and the land of Israel (Palestine), and by uncovering the work of late redactors and transmitters, he is able to portray the important shift in the image of Abrahamas a proselytizer that occurred as rabbinic traditions migrated from the land of Israel to Babylon
during the first half of the first millennium.The image of braham’s
mission to the nations was very popular in traditions preserved in classical rabbinic literature. Abraham is portrayed as proclaiming the name of God in public; leading people to recognize the monotheistic belief; practicing common missionary acts; serving food and taking care of people’s
needs in order to, or in a manner that, brought them near either to the faith, to God, or to the Jewish people.The Babylonian Talmud shows a coherent and consistent tendency to depart from these earlier Jewish Palestinian traditions encouraging missionary activity.The tendency was accomplished using the literary strategies of (1) internalizing the mission, (2) a shift from preaching to polemics, and (3) silencing the missionary
traditions. The Palestinian traditions lost their missionary flavor and were converted in Babylonian circles to deal with the intra-Jewish rabbinic mission for rabbinic dominance among the Jews themselves.

Tractate Yebamoth of the Babylonian Talmud contains a long unit devoted to the procedure of conversion (Yeb 46a–48b). Form analysis of the unit reveals its design as a ‘tractate within a tractate.’ The unit is a collection of discussions on baraitas. It follows various literary conventions, such as placing a full description of the procedure towards the end and concluding with haggadic material and a verse of comfort. A variety of methods are applied in order to identify the unique Babylonian tendencies documented in this unit. Synoptic comparison to tannaitic parallels demonstrates the growing stringency and institutionalization of the rabbinic conversion procedure. A common structural feature of each discussion is the ending with an amoraic statement that reassure the halakhic validation of the
stringent views. Stammaitic comments and the overall literary structure of the unit also seem to confirm this tendency.
This unit demonstrates Babylonian efforts to further reinforce the boundaries of Jewish identity. The traditions as preserved in this unit show that Babylonian proclivities were gradually attributed to earlier Palestinian authorities. The most prominent
example is the institution of the court for conversion. This is a Babylonian construct, systematically presented in places where it is missing in Palestinian rabbinic sources. In our unit it is also attributed to early Palestinain amora’im, and even to a tanna. Not only did the Babylonian sages change the model of conversion from witnessed circumcision (and later immersion) to court controlled procedure, they also projected their innovations onto earlier generations.

The article present four comparative studies of rabbinic narratives that refer to the 'other': woman, gentiles, slaves, etc:
(1) The Stories of Dama Ben netinah in the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds.
(2) The stories of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Eliezer and their slaves.
(3) The stories of Beruriah and Rabbi Meir.
(4) The story of the daughter of Rabbi Akiva.
The earlier versions of the stories tend to demonstrate a relatively positive attitude towards the other. The later version subvert this attitude, by suggesting minor but significant changes in the setting of the earlier version, or by presenting a mirroring story, that suggest a sturcutral opposition and inversion of the earlier story.

This article proposes a reconstruction of the Babylonian perspective on the relations of R. Hiyya and Rabbi. We argues that shared motifs, structures and expressions justify reading a group of scattered traditions and stories as if they belong to a single cluster, which may be read coherently. A comparison to parallel traditions in rabbinic compilations from the land of Israel shows the Babylonian character of this reconstructed story. Thus, this story should not be read as reflecting the actual history of the Tannaim, but rather as expressing contrasting values and impressions that were later associated with the figures of Rabbi and Rabbi Hiyya. Rabbi represents tough political leadership, which is expressed, among other things, by restricting the spread of Torah  study and by Messianic aspirations. Rabbi Hiyya symbolizes opposition to Rabbi, emphasizing Torah education for the masses, social concern, and investment in the immediate future – the next generation. The reading strategy suggested in this paper seeks to integrate two different approaches to the study of rabbinic literature: the literary approach to reading rabbinic stories, and the study of the contribution of late redactors, transmitters and editors to the formation of the Babylonian Talmud.

he rabbinic statement ‘Proselytes are as hard to Israel as a scab’ played a significant role in a developed negative approach towards converts documented in the Babylonian Talmud. The lecturing voice of the Talmud systematically used the phrase to
support negative legislation and statements extending its scope from genealogical contexts and discouragement of marriage with converts to prohibition of their acceptance. Although it is attributed to a Palestinian Amora, a series of comparative analysis reveals the functions of the phrase as part of a  Babylonian conceptual fabric. Late contributors to the prolonged
processes of formation of the Talmud brought their perspectives to the front by implanting the phrase in new literary contexts and constructs. This evolution of thoughts and ideas reflects growing concern in the demarcation of the boundaries of Jewish identity, probably inspired by the Sassanid cultural environment, by genealogical anxieties, and by a tendency towards social immobility.

Tractate Bekhorot discusses the laws of sanctification of the firstborn. As such it is a fascinating site for gender-oriented readings of rabbinic literature. One of the goals of a feminist commentary to Tractate Bekhorot is to reveal the role of the laws of the firstborn in establishing cultural constructs and power relations. In this paper I wish to establish the foundations of such a reading against the argument for gender neutrality of the halakhic language.
Various laws concerning birth, seminal emission and conversion are examined against related aggadic sources. The paper points out at essential similarity between the models of power relationships that underline these halakhic and aggadic texts in the Bavli. The halakhic sources demonstrate an invasion of the Babylonian rabbinic mind into the body of the ‘other,’ either the non-Jew or the woman. The invaded body is presented as lacking control over physical materials that burst out of it. A reversal of this structure of power relations is seen in haggadic materials, such as the exegetical narratives about Joseph and the Moabite women. Here non-Jewish women take control over Jewish men. In the halakhic materials the rabbis held (imagined) control over the ‘other,’ their inverted haggadic depictions point out an anxiety or fear from the opposite model of control.

A pre-academic article of mine, suggesting a reading of acollection of narratives about euphemisms in Bavli Pesahim. My reading points out the function of language and other means of expressions, such as non verbal communication in uncovering hidden intentions and identities.

מאמר מוקדם שלי, בו אני מנתח את קובץ סיפורי הלשון הנקיה מבבלי פסחים ג ב - ד א ורואה בו עיסוק מהותי בשאלת טיבה של השפה ואמצעי הבאה אחרים לא מילוליים לחשיפת כוונותיו, מגמותו וזהותו של האדם.

8:30 Gathering
9:00 – 10:45 Opening session
Chair: Prof. Shulamit Valler
Greetings: Dr. Zohar Segev, Head of the Department of
Jewish History
Prof. Stefen Reif - Keynote Lecture: The Cairo Genizah and
the Study of Midrash
Dr. Moshe Lavee - The Reception of Haggadic Midrash:
Review of the Project and Selected Examples
11:00 – 12:30 The Genizah and Midrshic texts
Chair: Prof. Avraham Melamed
Dr. Gila Vachman - On Ruth and Naomi: Another Pearl
from the Survey of the Firkovitch Collection
Mr. Yoni Wermsser - Linguistic aspects of Tanhuma-
Yelamdenu according to the Genizah
Dr. Yachin Epstein - He who has no wife... - the variations
of a Midrash in the Genizah
Lunch Break
13:45-15:15 Life beyond the texts
Chair: Prof. Menahem Kellner
Dr. Avri Bar Levav - Book Lists as Source for Intellectual History
Dr. Oded Rosenblum - The World of a Homilist in the
Genizah: an Analysis of a List of Verses
Moshe Gan-Zvi - Who was Elijah? Debates in a Synagogue
and the Authority of Midrash vs. Piyyut
15:30-17:00 Cross-disciplinarian aspects:
Different fields, Similar Approaches
Chair: Dr. Hillel Newman
Mrs. Vered Raziel-Krechmer - The Mapping of the World
of Genizah Prayer
Prof. Efraim Lev - Medical Texts from Books to Daily Life
Mr. Dan Grinberg - Saadia Gaon and Midrash for the Amidah Prayer

The lecture was given in the context of inter-religious dialogue. Therefore, the beginning and the end are devoted to expressions of my personal views and ethics. The core of the scholarly argument in the lecture is as such. The rabbinic Pethirah is a common model for interpreting the Psalms. The Pethira interpret abstract notions and concepts from biblical poetry as referring to concrete events and figures in Biblical Prose. As such it deviates from a common mode of interpretation in Second Temple Judaism in which such abstract notions were also actualized. They were interpreted as referring to contemporary figures and events. I suggest that the Psalms 73-89 supply an archetype for the model of the Pethira. First, I argue that the liturgical occurrence holds hermeneutical values, providing examples of the functions of quotations from Psalms in Jewish liturgy of Late Antiquity. The use of our psalms in the genres of petitions (Selihot) and lamentations (Kinot) provide a merger of the individual and more abstract stand before god in the Days of Awe and the historical and political experience of the destruction of the Temple. Just as this citations implies a certain interpretations of the quoted or alluded Psalms, so can the Psalms be read as acts of interpretations. In various aspects in psalms 73-89 we see the move from the abstract to the concrete: in references to to Biblical events and figure, in the redaction of the whole unit that places one next to another psalms of abstract and concrete nature, and finally in the conversion of portrayals of ancient near eastern myth into allusions to biblical events (Gods' war on the Sea and the Exodus). It is in these three features that I find the third book of Psalms as a source of inspiration for the rabbinic Pethira.

Dieser Vortrag wurde im Rahmen eines interreligiösen Dialogs gehalten. Am Anfang und am Ende finden sich daher einige persönliche Bemerkungen über meine Sichtweise und Ethik. Die wissenschaftliche Argumentation des Vortrages ist die folgende: Die rabbinische Petira ist ein übliches Modell zur Interpretation von Psalmen. Die Petira interpretiert abstrakte Ideen und Vorstellungen der biblischen Poesie, indem sie sie auf konkrete Ereignisse und Personen der biblischen Prosa bezieht. Als solche leitet sie sich von einer allgemeinen Art jüdischer Interpretation aus der Zeit des 2. Tempels her, in der derartige abstrakte Ideen ebenfalls aktualisiert wurden, indem sie auf zeitgenössische Personen und Ereignisse bezogen wurden („Pecsher“).
Ich stelle hier die These auf, dass die Psalmen 73-89 als Archetypos für das Model der Petira fungierten, denn zum einen ist ihre liturgische Rezeption von hermeneutischem Wert, indem sie Beispiele für die Funktion von Psalmzitaten in der jüdischen Liturgie der Spätantike bietet. Der Gebrauch unserer Psalmen in den Genres der Bitte (Selichot) und Klage (Kinot) zeigt eine Verschmelzung des Individuums und dem eher abstrakten Stehen vor Gott an den Hohen Feiertagen mit der historischen und politischen Erfahrung der Zerstörung des Tempels. So wie diese Zitate eine gewisse Interpretation der Psalmen, die zitiert oder auf die angespielt wird, implizieren, so können auch die Psalmen selbst als Interpretationsakte gelesen werden. In verschiedenen Aspekten in Psalm 73-89 sehen wir die Bewegung vom Abstrakten zum Konkreten: In Bezügen auf biblische Ereigsnisse und Personen, in der Redaktion der gesamten Einheit, die einen abstrakten Psalm neben einen anderen konkreten stellt, und schließlich in der Verwandlung antiker altorientalischer Mythen in Anspielungen auf biblische Ereignisse (Gottes Kampf mit dem Meer und Exodus). Es ist aufgrund dieser drei Merkmale, dass ich das dritte Buch der Psalmen als Inspirationsquelle für die rabbinische Petira ansehen möchte.

Cette conférence portera sur les documents découverts
dans la Genizah du Caire et en montrera l’extrême
richesse. Elle proposera d’abord un aperçu historique de
la recherche. En suite, l'état des échanges entre
chrétiens, musulmans et juifs dont témoignent ces
documents sera présenté. De plus, quelques documents
médicaux de Maimonide et de ses contemporains,
témoignant de la médecine dans les sociétés médiévales,
seront discutés par les conférenciers. Finalement, les
intervenants montreront que certains documents
midrashiques de la Genizah peuvent être compris comme
le chaînon manquant entre la littérature rabbinique et la Kabbale.