Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part1 Ancient Jewish History -- 1 The Conversion of the Royal House of Adiabene in Josephus and Rabbinic Sources -- 2 Politics and Religion: Do They Mix? The Patriarch and His Court in Roman Palestine -- 3 Historical Perspectives on Dissent and Disobedience: Jews against Jews in Late Antiquity -- 4 Models of Community in the Ancient Jewish World -- Part2 The Bible in Jewish Tradition -- 5 What Is a Jewish Biblical Text? -- 6 The Term and Concept of Torah -- 7 The Rabbinic View of Prophecy and Prophets -- 8 “A Fence around the Torah”: Rabbinic Strategies for Policing the Canon -- 9 Translation as Commentary: Targum, Midrash, and Talmud -- 10 The Reception of the Bible in Ancient Judaism -- Part3 Jewish Thought -- 11 The Rabbinic Understanding of Covenant -- 12 Second Temple Period Rationales for the Torah’s Commandments -- 13 Commandment or Emotion? Love of God, Family, and Humanity in Classical Judaism -- 14 War in Jewish Apocalyptic Thought -- 15 Messianism and Apocalypticism in Rabbinic Texts -- 16 Exegesis and Polemic: Rabbinic Responses to Antisemitism -- 17 Monarchy and Polity: Systems of Government in Jewish Tradition -- Part4 Jewish Law -- 18 Was There a Galilean Halakhah? -- 19 The Samaritans in Tannaitic Halakhah -- 20 The Samaritans in Amoraic Halakhah -- 21 Conversion to Judaism in Tannaitic Halakhah -- 22 Talmudic Monetary Theory: Currency in Rabbinic Halakhah -- Part5 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah -- 23 Jewish Law in the Hasmonean Period -- 24 The Temple Scroll and the Systems of Jewish Law of the Second Temple Period -- 25 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah -- 26 Disputes in Tannaitic Literature in Light of the Judean Desert Scrolls -- 27 “Of the Making of Books”: Rabbinic Scribal Arts in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls -- Part6 Judean Desert Texts -- 28 On the Edge of the Diaspora: Jews in the Dead Sea Region in the First Two Centuries CE -- 29 Witnesses and Signatures in the Hebrew and Aramaic Documents from the Bar Kokhba Caves -- 30 Reflections on the Deeds of Sale from the Judean Desert in Light of Rabbinic Literature -- Part7 Judaism and Early Christianity -- 31 Biblical Exegesis in the Passion Narratives and the Dead Sea Scrolls -- 32 Jewish Law in the Gospels in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls -- 33 The New Testament as a Source for the History of Jewish Law -- 34 The Bleeding Woman in Mark, Matthew, and Luke: Perspectives from Qumran and Rabbinic Literature -- 35 The Halakhic Response of the Rabbis to the Rise of Christianity -- Part8 Faith, Worship, and Liturgy -- 36 Jewish Spirituality in the Bible and Second Temple Literature -- 37 The Importance of the Temple for Ancient Jews -- 38 The Early History of Public Torah Reading -- 39 The Hafṭarah : A Historical Introduction -- 40 Additions to Birkat Yoṣer for Sabbath -- 41 Minḥah: A Halakhic and Historical Analysis -- 42 From Observation to Calculation: The Development of the Rabbinic Lunar Calendar -- 43 History and Liturgy: The Evolution of Multiple Prayer Rites -- Part9 Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism -- 44 2 Enoch and Halakhah -- 45 3 Enoch and the Enoch Tradition -- 46 A Forty-two-letter Divine Name in the Aramaic Magic Bowls -- 47 The Recall of Rabbi Neḥuniah ben Ha-Qanah from Ecstasy in the Hekhalot Rabbati -- Part10 Rabbis and Scholars -- 48 The Vilna Gaon’s Methods for the Textual Criticism of Rabbinic Literature -- 49 The Rebbe as a Torah Scholar: Synthesis and Unity -- 50 Viktor Aptowitzer: Tradition, Haskalah, and Wissenschaft -- 51 The Pharisees Revisited: Louis Finkelstein on the Second Temple Period -- Bibliography -- Index.

This volume brings together over forty of Schiffman’s Studies on Ancient Judaism that have helped to shape this emerging field. Throughout, these studies display a wide-ranging perspective, bringing together all kinds of sources, written or archaeological, to illuminate ancient Judaism and its complex history. Topics explored include the history of the Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity, the Bible in Jewish tradition, ancient Jewish thought, law, and liturgy, magic and mysticism, relation of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Rabbinic Literature, Judean Desert texts, and Judaism and Christianity. The volume concludes with studies of the work of several modern rabbis and academic scholars.

English

Description based on print version record.