The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha


Book Description

Building on the success of the Jewish Annotated New Testament (JANT) and the Jewish Study Bible (JSB), Oxford University Press now proceeds to complete the trilogy with the Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (JAA). The books of the Apocrypha were virtually all composed by Jewish writers in the Second Temple period. Excluded from the Hebrew Bible, these works were preserved by Christians. Yet no complete, standalone edition of these works has been produced in English with an emphasis on Jewish tradition or with an educated Jewish audience in mind. The JAA meets this need. The JAA differs from prior editions of the Apocrypha in a number of ways. First, as befits a Jewish Annotated Apocrypha, the volume excludes certain texts that are widely agreed to be of Christian origin. Second, it expands the scope of the volume to include Jubilees, an essential text for understanding ancient Judaism, and a book that merits inclusion in the volume by virtue of the fact that it was long considered part of the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (the text is also revered by Ethiopian Jews). Third, it has restructured the order of the books so that the sequencing follows the logic that governs the order of the books in the Jewish canon (Law, History, Prophecy, Wisdom and Poetry). Using the NRSV translation (plus Jubilees), each book of the Apocrypha is annotated by a recognized expert in the study of ancient Judaism. An Introduction by the editors guides readers though the making of the volume and its contents. Thematic essays by an impressive array of scholars provide helpful contexts, backgrounds and elaborations on key themes.




The Beginnings of Jewishness


Book Description

This book describes and explains the fluidity of the definition of Jewishness from c. 200 BCE to c. 200 CE.




The Commentary of Abraham Ibn Ezra on the Pentateuch: Leviticus


Book Description

Poet, Biblical commentator, grammarian, astronomer, mathematician--Abraham ibn Ezra was one of the most remarkable men of his time and one of the relatively few whose works have become the heritage of all those who wish to understand the Hebrew Bible properly. Ibn Ezra combined a passion for the plain sense of the verse with a reverence for the Rabbis as transmitters of reliable tradition. His most widely used works are his commentaries on the Torah, which are admired for their depth and penetration into the mysteries of the Hebrew language, the text of the Torah and the meaning of the mitzvot. Because of their many-faceted character and elusive language, his commentaries are often difficult to understand in their original Hebrew, and have thus inspired many super-commentaries. Here for the first time is an English translation of ibn Ezra's commentary on the Book of Leviticus, and the Book of Deuteronomy based on those super-commentaries, in a style which is both faithful to the original and yet enables those who wish to fathom his meaning to do so. An English rendering of Leviticus and Deuteronomy appears at the top of each page; the bottom of each page contains the translation of ibn Ezra's commentary. This volume includes and Appendix of astronomical units, and indices of Biblical and Talmudic references.




The Rabbinic Conversion of Judaism


Book Description

In this volume, Moshe Lavee offers an account of crucial internal developments in the rabbinic corpus, and shows how the Babylonian Talmud dramatically challenged and extended the rabbinic model of conversion to Judaism. The history of conversion to Judaism has long fascinated Jews along a broad ideological continuum. This book demonstrates the rabbis in Babylonia further reworked former traditions about conversion in ever more stringent direction, shifting the focus of identity demarcation towards genealogy and bodily perspectives. By applying a reading-strategy that emphasizes late Babylonian literary developments, Lavee sheds critical light on a broader discourse regarding the nature and boundaries of Jewish identity.




The Jewish Family


Book Description

Traditional Jewish family law has persevered for hundreds of years and rules covering marriage, the raising of children, and divorce are well established; yet pressures from modern society are causing long held views to be re-examined. The Jewish Family: Between Family Law and Contract Law examines the tenets of Jewish family law in the light of new attitudes concerning the role of women, assisted reproduction technologies, and prenuptial agreements. Through interdisciplinary research combining the legal aspects of family law and contract law, it explores how the Jewish family can cope with both old and modern obstacles and challenges. Focusing on the nexus of Jewish family law and contract law to propose how 'freedom of contract' can be part of how family law can be interpreted, The Jewish Family will appeal to practitioners, activists, academic researchers, and laymen readers who are interested in the fields of law, theology, and social science.




The Oxford Handbook of Religious Perspectives on Reproductive Ethics


Book Description

"As I write this introduction, the third season of the Israeli series, Schtisel, has arrived on Netflix, eagerly awaited by viewers around the world who would never have imagined how caught up they would get by this family drama of four generations of ultra-Orthodox Jews living in Jerusalem. One episode focuses on Ruchami and Hanina, a young couple who have been married for five years, but without children. It turns out that pregnancy and childbirth would threaten Ruchami's life. She is using an IUD, but she keeps threatening to have it removed, risking her life to become a mother. Finally, with great reluctance, Hanina visits the rebbe, the spiritual authority in their community, to discuss the possibility of using a surrogate. They are, says the rebbe, caught between two "non-ideal" situations: surrogacy, normally forbidden, is non-ideal, but so is Ruchami's unhappiness and the possibility that she might go ahead and take the risk, which is also forbidden"--




God, Justice, and Society


Book Description

What is the real meaning of 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'? Where did the idea for the 'Jubilee 2000' and 'Drop the Debt' campaigns come from? Here, Burnside looks at aspects of law and legality in the Bible, from the patriarchal narratives in the Hebrew Bible through to the trials of Jesus in the New Testament.




The Talmud


Book Description

The Talmud is one of the most significant religious texts in the world, second only to the Bible in its importance to Judaism. As the Bible is the word of God, The Talmud applies that word to the lives of its followers. In a range of styles including commentary, parables, proverbs and anecdotes, it provides guidance on all aspects of everyday life from ownership to commerce to relationships. This selection of its most illuminating passages makes accessible the centuries of Jewish thought within The Talmud. Norman Solomon's clear translation from the Bavli (Babylonian) Talmud is accompanied by an introduction on its arrangement, social and historical background, reception and authors. This edition also includes appendixes of background information, a glossary, time line, maps and indexes.




Exploring Mishnah's World(s)


Book Description

This book provides a new conceptual and methodological framework the social scientific study of Mishnah, as well as a series of case studies that apply social science perspectives to the analysis of Mishnah's evidence. The framework is one that takes full account of the historical and literary-historical issues that impinge upon the use of Mishnah for any scholarly purposes beyond philological study, including social scientific approaches to the materials. Based on the framework, each chapter undertakes, with appropriate methodological caveats, an avenue of inquiry open to the social scientist that brings to bear social scientific questions and modes of inquiry to Mishnaic evidence.