Eli Yassif
Tel Aviv University, Hebrew Culture Studies, Faculty Member
- Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Jewish Studies, Jewish History, Medieval Europe, Rabbinics, and 17 moreMedieval Jewish History, Judaism, Hebrew, Cairo Genizah, Solomon Schechter, History, Anthropology, Literature, Cultural Studies, Culture, Mythology And Folklore, Folklore (Literature), Folk legends, Modern Jewish Thought, Gershom Scholem, Intertextuality, and New Testament Textual Criticismedit
- Jewish Studies. Jewish Folklore. The Study of Folklore. Jewish Culture of the Middle Ages. Medieval History and Culture. Cairo Geniza. Cultural Studies.edit
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<p>This chapter describes the phenomenon of storytelling as midrashic discourse in the Middle Ages. It connects Midrash to biblical exegesis, expositions of verses, and public study that are well known and accepted in one version or... more
<p>This chapter describes the phenomenon of storytelling as midrashic discourse in the Middle Ages. It connects Midrash to biblical exegesis, expositions of verses, and public study that are well known and accepted in one version or other since the beginning of the scholarly study of Midrash. Midrash is virtually unique in Jewish culture for its unbroken continuity from antiquity to the Middle Ages. In the Midrash's transition from the rabbinic period to later times, the genre was reinvigorated and developed in new and fascinating directions. The chapter also highlights Isaac Heinemann's book, 'Darkhei ha'agadah'. In his book, Heinemann borrows the anthropological model of 'organic thinking', which in his view characterizes rabbinic interpretative mentality.</p>
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<p>This chapter describes the phenomenon of storytelling as midrashic discourse in the Middle Ages. It connects Midrash to biblical exegesis, expositions of verses, and public study that are well known and accepted in one version or... more
<p>This chapter describes the phenomenon of storytelling as midrashic discourse in the Middle Ages. It connects Midrash to biblical exegesis, expositions of verses, and public study that are well known and accepted in one version or other since the beginning of the scholarly study of Midrash. Midrash is virtually unique in Jewish culture for its unbroken continuity from antiquity to the Middle Ages. In the Midrash's transition from the rabbinic period to later times, the genre was reinvigorated and developed in new and fascinating directions. The chapter also highlights Isaac Heinemann's book, 'Darkhei ha'agadah'. In his book, Heinemann borrows the anthropological model of 'organic thinking', which in his view characterizes rabbinic interpretative mentality.</p>
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Hebrew narratives of the Middle Ages covers a period of about a thousand years, starting approximately from the Moslem invasions in the mid-7th century to mid-17th century. It also covers a great variety of cultural spaces, from Palestine... more
Hebrew narratives of the Middle Ages covers a period of about a thousand years, starting approximately from the Moslem invasions in the mid-7th century to mid-17th century. It also covers a great variety of cultural spaces, from Palestine to Babylon (Iraq), Europe, North Africa, and parts of the New World. It should be emphasized that Hebrew was not the only language in which narratives were created and disseminated in Jewish culture of the time; Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Judeo-Spanish were among the Jewish dialects in which narratives were created. However, the following article will deal with Hebrew narratives only, which, like medieval Latin narrative, was the all-inclusive Jewish language that could establish communication between the various communities and cultural spaces. Hebrew narrative of the period is characterized by a great diversity. This is seen from the sources in which these narratives were included: collections of tales, historical chronicles, biblical an...
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This chapter emphasizes the continuity of central ideas over many centuries. Despite tremendous innovation and change within the literature, it persuasively connects folkloric motifs from a medieval Hebrew folktale with classical images... more
This chapter emphasizes the continuity of central ideas over many centuries. Despite tremendous innovation and change within the literature, it persuasively connects folkloric motifs from a medieval Hebrew folktale with classical images from Jewish tradition. It addresses the question of the authority of narrative texts as historical documents as well as the question of narrative hermeneutics — in all its force and seriousness.
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This article aims at a critical examination of modern research on medieval Hebrew literature. Here, the definition of ‘medieval Hebrew literature’ excludes writing in Jewish languages other than Hebrew, and singles out literature from... more
This article aims at a critical examination of modern research on medieval Hebrew literature. Here, the definition of ‘medieval Hebrew literature’ excludes writing in Jewish languages other than Hebrew, and singles out literature from other types of non-literary Hebrew writing. The variety of literary types included in this survey ranges from liturgical and secular poetry to artistic storytelling and folk literature. Both early liturgical poetry (piyyut) and the medieval Hebrew story are rooted in the soil of the Talmudic period. The beginnings of medieval Hebrew storytelling were even more deeply connected to the narrative traditions of the Talmud. However, the constitutive moment of the birth of piyyut and narrative as distinct medieval genres had to do with their separation from the encyclopedic, all-embracing nature of the Talmud.
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Research Interests: Hebrew and Middle Ages
This article deals with the concept of intertextuality in folk narrative—a theme that has been dealt with only rarely. By analyzing the Hasidic, nineteenth-century folktale of The Sacrificers of Children, we attempt to demonstrate the... more
This article deals with the concept of intertextuality in folk narrative—a theme that has been dealt with only rarely. By analyzing the Hasidic, nineteenth-century folktale of The Sacrificers of Children, we attempt to demonstrate the importance of this theme for folkloristic scholarship and its centrality in the interpretation of folktales.The true importance of intertextuality lies in its contribution to the complexity of the text. The presence of secondary textual elements that are incorporated into the primary text but do not interfere with its ideological and aesthetic independence creates the powerful effect of multiple layers and meanings.We have here a story whose intent and purpose are distinctly and unquestionably didactic and conservative. The storyteller uses the earlier sources—biblical, midrashic, travel literature, medieval exempla—not only as narrative materials, but as references which can bring religious meaning and authority to his text. And yet it can also be rea...
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... Heda iason, &amp;amp;amp;quot;The Story of David and Goliath: A Folk Epic?&amp;amp;amp;quot; Biblica 60 (1979): 23-41; and see Pamela J. Milne, Vladimir Propp ... William M. Brinner, Yale Judaica Series voL 20 (New Haven: Yale... more
... Heda iason, &amp;amp;amp;quot;The Story of David and Goliath: A Folk Epic?&amp;amp;amp;quot; Biblica 60 (1979): 23-41; and see Pamela J. Milne, Vladimir Propp ... William M. Brinner, Yale Judaica Series voL 20 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977); Julian Oberman, ed., The Arabic Original of Ibn Shah1n&amp;amp;amp;#x27;s ...
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Research Interests: History, Folklore, Literature, Narrative, Judaism, and 3 moreFable, Legend, and Cambridge University
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From 'Legends of the Bible' to 'Folktales of the Jews': Towards a History of Jewish Folkloristics
Introductory note Our survey aims at a critical examination of modern research on medieval Hebrew literature. However, for the sake of the non-specialist, we would like to offer here a most general outline of medieval Hebrew literature... more
Introductory note Our survey aims at a critical examination of modern research on medieval Hebrew literature. However, for the sake of the non-specialist, we would like to offer here a most general outline of medieval Hebrew literature itself. Our definition of "medieval Hebrew literature" excludes writing in Jewish languages other than Hebrew, and singles out "literature" from other types of non-literary Hebrew writing. The variety of literary types included in our survey ranges from liturgical and secular poetry to artistic story-telling and folk literature.
The contribution of Joseph Dan to the study of Jewish hagiography, and in particular to the study R. Judah he-Hasid legends is seminal. The following observations should be considered as footnotes to his contribution to this field. R.... more
The contribution of Joseph Dan to the study of Jewish hagiography, and in particular to the study R. Judah he-Hasid legends is seminal. The following observations should be considered as footnotes to his contribution to this field. R. Judah the Pious was a remarkable individual, and his creative energy comprised many areas of the spiritual life of the Middle Ages. However, from the perspective of the student of literature and folklore, R. Judah was unique. It is well known that the dichotomy of high culture vs. popular culture cuts across the narrative dimension: Jewish scholars, philosophers, and mystics alike considered storytelling a waste of time. The use of narrative is how the unlearned and rustic could be recognized. 1 Apart from a very few religious writers such as R. Nissim of Kairuan, who composed in the 11th century the collection of tales known as An Elegant Composition Concerning Relief after Adversity, and Rashi, who included tales in his commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish scholars of the Middle-Ages had little interest in stories. 2 This scholarly-elitist attitude can be typified by a statement of R. Eleazar ben Asher ha-Levi, author of Sefer ha-Zikhronot (The Book of Memories), from the beginning of the 14th century. R. Eleazar collected in his book narrative compo-1 Studies of this question in the Christian culture are: Manfred Günter Scholz, Hören und Lesen: Studien zur primären Rezeption der Literatur im 12. und 13.