Books by Yakir Paz
Mohr Siebeck, 2022
This book argues that ancient Homeric scholarship had a major impact on the formation of rabbinic... more This book argues that ancient Homeric scholarship had a major impact on the formation of rabbinic biblical commentaries and their modes of exegesis. This impact is discernible not only in the terminology and hermeneutical techniques used by the rabbis, but also in their perception of the Bible as a literary product, their didactic methods, editorial principles and aesthetic sensitivities. In fact, it is the influence of Homeric scholarship which can best explain the drastic differences between earlier biblical commentaries from Palestine, such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the scholastic Halakhic Midrashim (second to third century CE). The results of the author’s study call for a re-examination of many assumptions regarding the emergence of Midrash, as well as a broader appreciation of the impact of Homeric scholarship on biblical exegesis in Antiquity.
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Papers by Yakir Paz
The question of the influence of Roman law on tannaitic legal literature, composed in Roman Pales... more The question of the influence of Roman law on tannaitic legal literature, composed in Roman Palestine from the first to the third centuries CE, is currently the focus of an intense scholarly debate. While some argue for a deep link between rabbinic and Roman legal discourse, others regard the impact of Roman law on the rabbis as merely superficial. The current article aims to contribute to this debate by presenting a case study that demonstrates a high level of engagement, by some rabbis, with Roman legal discourse, one that goes well beyond superficial borrowing. In this case study, a rabbinic ruling regarding the inheritance of captives is shown to depend heavily on Roman juristic discourse over the ramifications of the Lex Cornelia de captivis. In a sophisticated process of reworking, the rabbis adapt Roman legal materials and principles into a rabbinic framework. Most importantly, we show that this reworking includes the reappropriation of a native tannaitic term ('in the medina') in order to translate a Roman technical legal term (in civitate), infusing the Hebrew term with new legal meanings. The details of this case study reveal what is normally concealed: the self-awareness of the rabbis who handle a Roman legal literary source, most probably derived from a concrete juristic discourse, deliberately reworking it to accord with rabbinic terminology, style, and form. This was probably not a one-time process, and it could well have been standard practice among some of the rabbis. Thus, this case study suggests that the evidence for a dramatic impact of Roman legal discourse on tannaitic halakha might be hiding in plain sight.
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in: N. Ilan (ed.), Leqet Orot, Jerusalem, pp. 321-356, 2024
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The commonly held scholarly opinion is that according to tannaitic law, captivity does not impact... more The commonly held scholarly opinion is that according to tannaitic law, captivity does not impact the legal bonds of the captive, and thus does not void a captive’s property rights. In this paper, based on the exposition of conflicting strata in t. Ketubbot 3:8, we uncover a view that captives’ property rights are undermined upon capture and the captives regain their previous rights only when they physically return. This is similar to Roman law, where a captured person ceases to be a citizen, and as a result, all his or her legal bonds – among them property rights – are undermined. However, if the captive returns, his or her civil status is resurrected and rights reinstated through the institution of postliminium. We thus argue that the Tosefta displays a deep internalization of Roman concepts regarding the legal consequences of captivity and formulates a rabbinic version of postliminium.
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Aramaic Studies, 2021
The verb √šmt and noun šamata, attested in the dialects of Eastern Aramaic in the Sasanian period... more The verb √šmt and noun šamata, attested in the dialects of Eastern Aramaic in the Sasanian period, would seem at first to be synonymous with the Palestinian term nidui, 'excommunication'. However, a closer examination reveals that šamata has a different semantic value. It is not simply conceived as a social sanction of excommunication but is understood as a curse involving divine violence; is closely associated with binding; and is often perceived as the property of powerful agents. In this article I argue that √šmt is derived from the Akkadian šamātu, 'to mark' , 'to brand' , especially in its more restricted sense 'to brand temple slaves' and 'to dedicate a person to a deity'. Understanding the Mesopotamian roots of šamata might help us better explain its unique regional features, shared by the Aramaic speaking groups in the Sasanian Empire.
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In a famous story in b. Šabb. 116a–b, Imma Shalom and her brother, Rabban Gamaliel, present to a ... more In a famous story in b. Šabb. 116a–b, Imma Shalom and her brother, Rabban Gamaliel, present to a philosopher a dispute concerning the inheritance of the daughter. The judge, having being bribed by Imma Shalom, rules in her favor, against the ruling of the Torah of Moses, arguing that the latter has been abrogated and replaced by the “Torah of the Gospel,” which states that “the son and the daughter inherit equally.” After being bribed by Rabban Gamaliel, the philosopher recants, citing Matt 5:17, where Jesus reaffirms the validity of the Mosaic Law.
This article argues that the “Torah of the Gospel” actually refers to The SyroRoman Lawbook, and that the story is constructed as a response to a radical and new legal supersessionist argument brought forth in this book which is directly linked to the Roman law of equal inheritance. This is the first clear evidence we have that, alongside the New Testament, the Babylonian rabbis also read and engaged directly with Christian books of their time written in Syriac. This has major ramifications on the way we perceive the textual culture of the Babylonian rabbis and their intellectual interactions with East Syrians.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0017816019000269
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Tarbiz, 2019
In the famous story in b. Men. 29b, when Moses ascends to heaven he sees God binding crowns to th... more In the famous story in b. Men. 29b, when Moses ascends to heaven he sees God binding crowns to the letters of the Torah. To Moses’ question ʻwho holds your hand?ʼ God replies that in the future there will be a man named R. Akiva ʻwho will expound on every qots, mountains of halakhot’. Most scholars assume that the crowns and the qotsim are ornaments added to the letters, similar to those found in today’s Torah scrolls. According to such a reading, the narrator credits R. Akiva with midrashic virtuosity that included derashot on the minutest paratextual elements. Yet in the entire rabbinic literature we do not find even one halakha that was expounded from a qots or a crown of a letter, either by R. Akiva or by any other sage. In light of this, Shlomo Naeh has convincingly suggested that one should understand qots as qutsa – a small textual unit. Such an understanding, however, disconnected the qotsim from the crowns, which continued to be interpreted as ornaments. In this paper, I argue that God’s scribal actions should be viewed in light of contemporaneous scribal practices. Therefore, the crown should most likely be identified with the coronis, a scholarly scribal sign which designated the end of books and textual units, and whose name and form recall a crown. This identification also helps to understand the connection between the qotsim, which R. Akiva would expound, and the crowns, which God binds.
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In tosefta Ketubot 4:5 a rare distinction between captives is introduced, bearing dramatic conseq... more In tosefta Ketubot 4:5 a rare distinction between captives is introduced, bearing dramatic consequences: a husband must ransom his wife if she is a “captive of banditry” but not if she is a “captive of a kingdom”. In addition, the Tosefta rules that if divorced, the ransomed wife is entitled only to a ketubah of 100 dinars, and not of 200 dinars as expected by the standard halakha. Despite previous scholarly efforts, the rationale for the distinction and its unique legal implications remains unclear.
In this paper, we offer a solution based on the Roman law of captivity. We argue that this distinction is adopted from the Roman law, which distinguishes between captors based on the degree of their political legitimization. Furthermore, the reduced monetary obligations of the husband in the Tosefta should be understood in light of the legal consequences of captivity on a citizen which, according to Roman law, entail suspension or dissolution of all the citizen’s legal bonds, including marriage.
Beyond solving local problems the paper points to a profound impact of the Roman model of citizenship on tannaitic halakha. According to the common opinion, external circumstances cannot impact the status of a Jew vis-à-vis the halakha. In contradistinction, the Tosefta follows the roman model which views the applicability of the law as a matter of citizenship, which may be lost.
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This article traces the evolution of the archangel Metatron from his inception to his identificat... more This article traces the evolution of the archangel Metatron from his inception to his identification with Enoch. It argues that the name Metatron was derived from the term metator, which was used in Palestine to describe the role of the angel of the Lord in Exod 23:20-21. It was only in Babylonia that Metatron became a name of a specific angel, where, however, he was never identified with Enoch. The first attestations of Metatron in Palestinian sources are only from the beginning of the seventh century CE, and they know nothing of Enoch. The earliest evidence for Enoch-Metatron is only found in Palestinian sources from the eighth century. Enoch-Metatron is therefore neither an ancient esoteric Palestinian tradition nor a Babylonian creation, but rather
a late Palestinian innovative synthesis of Babylonian Metatron and Byzantine Enoch trajectories, which resulted in a new hybrid figure
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In the Song of Moses, the verses of Deut. 32:8-9 point to an ancient division among the nations, ... more In the Song of Moses, the verses of Deut. 32:8-9 point to an ancient division among the nations, that created a unique bond between God and Israel. In this article we wish to trace an early understanding of these verses in Second Temple and Rabbinic literature as intended to
establish Israel’s right to the Land of Israel, even though the Land of Israel is not mentioned in the song. On the basis of sources from the Ancient Near East and Greek literature it is possible to infer that the Song of Moses included a territorial aspect from the beginning.
However, this aspect became more central and concrete after the Babylonian Exile, and especially once the version ‘the sons of Israel’ was introduced to replace ‘the sons of God’.
One can discern two main exegetical trajectories that identified the event in these verses as the inheritance of the Land of Israel. According to the first, these verses allude to the myth of the division of the world by Noah among his three sons, which was inspired by an earlier myth of the tripartite division of the cosmos among the gods. Noah’s division allotted the Land of Israel to Israel even before their existence as a nation. According to the second trajectory, which seems to be based on the identification of ‘the sons of Israel’ with ‘the sons of God’, the verses describe the inheritance of the Land of God by the sons of God. That
is, the conquering of the land by Israel and the expulsion of the sinful nations living there.
The exegetical efforts to anchor in these verses foundational myths concerning the inheritance of the Land of Israel highlight the central position these verses held in the eyes of various writers in antiquity.
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“Aleinu le-Shabeach” is one of the most ancient and well-known prayers in the prayer book. The fi... more “Aleinu le-Shabeach” is one of the most ancient and well-known prayers in the prayer book. The first part of this prayer, which focuses on the unity of God, is founded on two of the most polemical chapters in the Bible—Isaiah 45 and Jeremiah 10. Surprisingly, this explicit polemical strain has received little attention from scholars. In this article we argue that this prayer is fundamentally anti-binitarian. That is, it polemicizes against different groups in late antiquity who distinguished between “The Lord of All (Adon ha-Kol)” and “The Creator of the World (Yotzer Bereshit).” These two relatively rare divine titles are juxtaposed only in this prayer in order to create what we call a “polemical parallelism.” We believe this suggestion points to the second–third century CE as the most probable date for the prayer’s composition and better explains its embedment in the Malkhuyot prayer of Rosh Hashanah and in the Hekhhalot literature.
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In a few late Midrashim the election of Israel is described as a result of casting lots between ... more In a few late Midrashim the election of Israel is described as a result of casting lots between God and his angels. How did such a radical concept of arbitrary election arise, counter to the more common model of election by merit?
Through a close analysis of Deut. 32: 8-9 one may discern that the myth of election by divine lot is an ancient one alluded to in the early versions of these verses but already obscured in the inner biblical commentary and all but ignored by the early Jewish and Christian commentators. Yet Gnostic writers use this myth in order to undermine both Israel and its god. Later, Pagan polemicists such as Celsus and Julian reintroduced this myth by fusing the Platonic myth of primordial division with the verses from the Song of Moses as part of their attack on the Christian new concept of election which undermined the ancient world order.
The embracement of this developed myth by the later Midrashim may be understood, so this article argues, on the backdrop of the Pagan-Christian-Gnostic debate: as an attempt to secure the claim that the connection between God and Israel is decisive and cannot be revoked - precisely because of its randomness.
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PhD Dissertation and MA Thesis by Yakir Paz
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Books by Yakir Paz
Papers by Yakir Paz
This article argues that the “Torah of the Gospel” actually refers to The SyroRoman Lawbook, and that the story is constructed as a response to a radical and new legal supersessionist argument brought forth in this book which is directly linked to the Roman law of equal inheritance. This is the first clear evidence we have that, alongside the New Testament, the Babylonian rabbis also read and engaged directly with Christian books of their time written in Syriac. This has major ramifications on the way we perceive the textual culture of the Babylonian rabbis and their intellectual interactions with East Syrians.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0017816019000269
In this paper, we offer a solution based on the Roman law of captivity. We argue that this distinction is adopted from the Roman law, which distinguishes between captors based on the degree of their political legitimization. Furthermore, the reduced monetary obligations of the husband in the Tosefta should be understood in light of the legal consequences of captivity on a citizen which, according to Roman law, entail suspension or dissolution of all the citizen’s legal bonds, including marriage.
Beyond solving local problems the paper points to a profound impact of the Roman model of citizenship on tannaitic halakha. According to the common opinion, external circumstances cannot impact the status of a Jew vis-à-vis the halakha. In contradistinction, the Tosefta follows the roman model which views the applicability of the law as a matter of citizenship, which may be lost.
a late Palestinian innovative synthesis of Babylonian Metatron and Byzantine Enoch trajectories, which resulted in a new hybrid figure
establish Israel’s right to the Land of Israel, even though the Land of Israel is not mentioned in the song. On the basis of sources from the Ancient Near East and Greek literature it is possible to infer that the Song of Moses included a territorial aspect from the beginning.
However, this aspect became more central and concrete after the Babylonian Exile, and especially once the version ‘the sons of Israel’ was introduced to replace ‘the sons of God’.
One can discern two main exegetical trajectories that identified the event in these verses as the inheritance of the Land of Israel. According to the first, these verses allude to the myth of the division of the world by Noah among his three sons, which was inspired by an earlier myth of the tripartite division of the cosmos among the gods. Noah’s division allotted the Land of Israel to Israel even before their existence as a nation. According to the second trajectory, which seems to be based on the identification of ‘the sons of Israel’ with ‘the sons of God’, the verses describe the inheritance of the Land of God by the sons of God. That
is, the conquering of the land by Israel and the expulsion of the sinful nations living there.
The exegetical efforts to anchor in these verses foundational myths concerning the inheritance of the Land of Israel highlight the central position these verses held in the eyes of various writers in antiquity.
Through a close analysis of Deut. 32: 8-9 one may discern that the myth of election by divine lot is an ancient one alluded to in the early versions of these verses but already obscured in the inner biblical commentary and all but ignored by the early Jewish and Christian commentators. Yet Gnostic writers use this myth in order to undermine both Israel and its god. Later, Pagan polemicists such as Celsus and Julian reintroduced this myth by fusing the Platonic myth of primordial division with the verses from the Song of Moses as part of their attack on the Christian new concept of election which undermined the ancient world order.
The embracement of this developed myth by the later Midrashim may be understood, so this article argues, on the backdrop of the Pagan-Christian-Gnostic debate: as an attempt to secure the claim that the connection between God and Israel is decisive and cannot be revoked - precisely because of its randomness.
PhD Dissertation and MA Thesis by Yakir Paz
This article argues that the “Torah of the Gospel” actually refers to The SyroRoman Lawbook, and that the story is constructed as a response to a radical and new legal supersessionist argument brought forth in this book which is directly linked to the Roman law of equal inheritance. This is the first clear evidence we have that, alongside the New Testament, the Babylonian rabbis also read and engaged directly with Christian books of their time written in Syriac. This has major ramifications on the way we perceive the textual culture of the Babylonian rabbis and their intellectual interactions with East Syrians.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0017816019000269
In this paper, we offer a solution based on the Roman law of captivity. We argue that this distinction is adopted from the Roman law, which distinguishes between captors based on the degree of their political legitimization. Furthermore, the reduced monetary obligations of the husband in the Tosefta should be understood in light of the legal consequences of captivity on a citizen which, according to Roman law, entail suspension or dissolution of all the citizen’s legal bonds, including marriage.
Beyond solving local problems the paper points to a profound impact of the Roman model of citizenship on tannaitic halakha. According to the common opinion, external circumstances cannot impact the status of a Jew vis-à-vis the halakha. In contradistinction, the Tosefta follows the roman model which views the applicability of the law as a matter of citizenship, which may be lost.
a late Palestinian innovative synthesis of Babylonian Metatron and Byzantine Enoch trajectories, which resulted in a new hybrid figure
establish Israel’s right to the Land of Israel, even though the Land of Israel is not mentioned in the song. On the basis of sources from the Ancient Near East and Greek literature it is possible to infer that the Song of Moses included a territorial aspect from the beginning.
However, this aspect became more central and concrete after the Babylonian Exile, and especially once the version ‘the sons of Israel’ was introduced to replace ‘the sons of God’.
One can discern two main exegetical trajectories that identified the event in these verses as the inheritance of the Land of Israel. According to the first, these verses allude to the myth of the division of the world by Noah among his three sons, which was inspired by an earlier myth of the tripartite division of the cosmos among the gods. Noah’s division allotted the Land of Israel to Israel even before their existence as a nation. According to the second trajectory, which seems to be based on the identification of ‘the sons of Israel’ with ‘the sons of God’, the verses describe the inheritance of the Land of God by the sons of God. That
is, the conquering of the land by Israel and the expulsion of the sinful nations living there.
The exegetical efforts to anchor in these verses foundational myths concerning the inheritance of the Land of Israel highlight the central position these verses held in the eyes of various writers in antiquity.
Through a close analysis of Deut. 32: 8-9 one may discern that the myth of election by divine lot is an ancient one alluded to in the early versions of these verses but already obscured in the inner biblical commentary and all but ignored by the early Jewish and Christian commentators. Yet Gnostic writers use this myth in order to undermine both Israel and its god. Later, Pagan polemicists such as Celsus and Julian reintroduced this myth by fusing the Platonic myth of primordial division with the verses from the Song of Moses as part of their attack on the Christian new concept of election which undermined the ancient world order.
The embracement of this developed myth by the later Midrashim may be understood, so this article argues, on the backdrop of the Pagan-Christian-Gnostic debate: as an attempt to secure the claim that the connection between God and Israel is decisive and cannot be revoked - precisely because of its randomness.