bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi and their Role in the Composition of Chronicles: The Origin of an Exegetical Tradition
Authors: Viezel Eran
Published: April 2016

Various medieval commentaries refer to the Prophets Haggai Zechariah and Malachi as somewhat contributors to the composition of the book of Chronicles. However, researchers have failed to acknowledge this tradition. The paper aims to reveal the principles of this tradition, the polemical motivations that brought it about, its origins, the manner in which it was passed from one commentator to the next and its place in the commentaries where it is mentioned. The tradition first appears in the commentary to Chronicles attributed to a student of R. Sa‘adiah Gaon, who deals with the position according to which Ezra was not the author of the genealogy of Zerubabel (1 Chr. 3:19-24). His suggestion, that the Prophets passed genealogic materials to Ezra, solves the anachronism problem created by the list of Zerubabel’s descendants. From the commentary attributed to a student of Sa‘adiah Gaon the tradition passed to the commentary to Chronicles attributed to Rashi, and then to a number of additional other commentaries. These commentators were not aware of the polemical motivations that brought it about, and they saw it as historical fact.
‘Pure Thought’ in R. Abraham bar Hiyya and Early Kabbalah
Authors: Dauber Jonathan V.
Published: April 2016

This study suggests that there is a degree of truth to the first Kabbalists’ view that the philosophy of R. Abraham bar Hiyya resonates with their own theosophical speculations. My analysis focuses on the significance of the term ‘pure thought’, which these Kabbalists borrowed from bar Hiyya. According to them, it refers to the first or second of the sefirot, which function as intra-divine intellectual faculties. While bar Hiyya did not adhere to a notion of sefirot, I suggest that he did conceive of three intra-divine intellectual faculties, one of which is ‘pure thought’. Thus, the Kabbalists emerge as largely accurate in their interpretation of the term. This analysis points to a certain similarity between bar Hiyya’s conception of divine unity and that of some of the first Kabbalists. Each rejects the philosophical account of divine unity as simplicity and allows for multiple aspects to inhere in God.
The Relationship between the Torah Commentaries Composed by R. Abraham Ibn Ezra in France and the Significance of this Relationship for the Biographical Chronology of the Commentator
Authors: Kislev Itamar
Published: April 2016

R. Abraham Ibn Ezra composed in France his ‘second recension’ (תרחא הטיש) to Genesis and his ‘long commentary’ to Exodus, and most scholars believe that these are parts of a single recension. This belief caused a contradiction among details of Ibn Ezra’s biography and led to the accepted solution that Ibn Ezra was born in 4849 AM (1089 CE) and died in 4924 AM (1164 CE). The clarification of the distinctive character and structure of the second recension to Genesis and the long commentary to Exodus has demonstrated that they cannot be considered parts of a single commentary. This enables us to reconstruct chronological / biographical details about Ibn Ezra and to conclude that there is no reason to reject the manuscripts’ evidence that Ibn Ezra died in 4927 AM (1167 CE) when he was 75. Therefore, we can determine the lifespan of Ibn Ezra as 4852–4927 AM (1091/2–1167 CE).
Allegory and Ambiguity: Jewish Identity in Philo’s ‘De Congressu’
Authors: Berkowitz Beth A.
Published: April 2016

Philo’s construction of collective identities—Jewish, Egyptian, Greek, Roman—has garnered interest recently among scholars, giving him a place in contemporary conversations about Jewish minority identity within the Roman Empire. Some scholars point to an obstacle to such study of Philo, however, and that is the exegetical framework of much of Philo’s work. While some scholars have emphasised Philo’s exegetical orientation, much work remains to be done regarding what Philo’s exegesis can actually help tell us about his ideologies of identity. This study considers Philo’s exegetical practice as a critical means by which he crafts Jewish identity, looking at Philo’s exegesis of a biblical passage, Lev. 18:1–5, which dictates a strong separatism for the people Israel. Situating that exegesis within the volatile politics of first-century Alexandria, the study proposes that Philo’s allegorical reading of Leviticus in his essay
De Congressu
makes possible a strategic ambiguity regarding Jewish exclusivism.
When Did Adam Wear the Garments of Light?
Authors: Toepel Alexander
Published: April 2016

Jewish and Christian authors in Late Antiquity share a common tradition in regard of Adam being vested in ‘garments of light/glory/honour’. While according to Christian texts Adam wears this vestment
before
the fall, Jewish writers have him receive it
after
the fall, the
kothnoth ̔or
of Gen. 3:21 being interpreted in midrash
Genesis Rabbah
as
kothnoth ̓or
, ‘garments of light’. Since garments of light in early Jewish literature are mostly known from eschatological contexts, there seems to be a discrepancy between the motif’s use by midrash and pre-rabbinic literature. An explanation for this can be found if one supposes a polemic in the midrash to Christian baptismal practice, which focuses upon the loss and regain of Adam’s primordial clothing. The midrash subverts this altogether by stating that Adam received his eschatological garment long before and thus there is no need for another.
The Son of Man Debate Revisited (1960-2010)
Authors: Vermes Geza
Published: April 2016

In a lecture delivered in 1965 and published in 1967, I argued that the Greek expression ‘son of man’ in the Gospels represented an Aramaic phrase which in the context of a monologue or dialogue stood as an exclusive but veiled reference to the speaker. The published paper, based on examples collected mostly from Galilean rabbinic Aramaic texts, was followed by a substantial debate in which Maurice Casey and Barnabas Lindars introduced the idea of a generic expression also
including
the speaker. J. A. Fitzmyer objected to the use of late rabbinic literature and championed biblical and Qumran Middle Aramaic as the only valid comparative material. Finally, Paul Owen and David Shepherd concluded their survey of the Aramaic evidence by asserting that the examples supplied by me did not provide solid linguistic ground for my thesis. This article, re-examining 50 years of debate, sets out to refute the objections and reformulate the self-reference theory.
Hellenistic Judaism on the Perfection of the Human Body
Authors: Kovelman Arkady
Published: April 2016

The article addresses the relevance of the carnality/spirituality discourse in Rabbinic studies started by Daniel Boyarin. The author suggests that Hellenistic Jews were not deprived of an intimate regard of their bodily existence. To a certain extent that perception was rooted not only in the Psalms but in Greek philosophy (mainly stoicism). Hellenic appreciation of human self-esteem was transformed into the ‘radical amazement’ of the Rabbis. Rabbinic Judaism is widely acknowledged for its ‘radical amazement’ (in the words of Abraham Heschel) and the celebration of daily life as a miracle. Indeed, we can speak of continuity between Hellenistic amazement at God's marvellous deeds and Rabbinic ‘radical amazement’. If so, the carnality of Rabbinic Jews was born not out of Jewish humiliation in the age of the Roman Empire but rather out of Hellenistic Jewish dignity and philosophical knowledge of Alexandria.
The Founding of the City of Julias by the Tetrarch Philip in 30 CE
Authors: Strickert Fred
Published: April 2016

Philip, like his brother Antipas, was a city builder—a characteristic highlighted by Josephus in multiple, yet not totally parallel accounts. The purpose of this article is to show that the question of Philip’s founding of Julias from a village named Bethsaida involves numerous factors, including the general pattern of founding cities during this period, the economic and political concerns of the founders themselves, the pattern of citation of city names in first-century literary sources, the relation of the naming of this city and the character of the honoree, the contradictory reports by Josephus, and finally coin evidence. In the end, it will be apparent that Julias was founded near the end of Philip’s reign in 30 CE. Coin minting patterns show something of a competition between the two brothers late in their rule. Earlier, each had followed the wise practice of establishing new capitals at Sepphoris (8 CE) and Caesarea Philippi (1 CE). However, when Antipas founded a second city Tiberias in 20 CE, the balance was disrupted with Antipas controlling the lake economy even to the extent of encroaching upon Philip’s southern territory. Philip’s choice of a second city at Bethsaida on the northern shore of the lake was thus a natural response based on political and economic concerns. Philip’s coinage in 30 CE following the death of Julia/Livia in 29 CE establishes an exact date for Philip’s new city, consistent with Josephus’ report in
Jewish War
.
The Title ‘Rabbi’ in Third- to Seventh-Century Inscriptions in Palestine: Revisited
Authors: Rosenfeld Ben Zion
Published: April 2016

The title
Rabbi
is found on gravestone inscriptions and dedicatory inscriptions dating from the third to seventh centuries in Palestine. The title also appears in the rabbinic literature of the same period. A variety of proofs indicate that the title
Rabbi
in both is identical: it is a professional title, denoting the social status of the rabbinic group. Elucidating the meaning of this title can contribute to an understanding of this group’s perception of itself as well as the way it was perceived by Jewish society at that time.
Psalm 104:19, Ben-Sirah and the history of calendars in ancient Israel
Authors: Ben-Dov Jonathan
Published: April 2016

Although Ps. 104:19 is often interpreted as taking sides in a calendrical conflict by supporting the exclusivity of the lunar calendar with regard to fixing the religious festivals, it is proved here that this is not the case. In the present article an interpretation of this verse is carried out with recourse to new studies on biblical parallelism, taking in account the evidence from the Amarna hymn to the Sun as well as the Jewish Medieval exegesis, notably Ibn-Ezra. The term
mo̔ed
is understood here as meaning ‘distinct phase’ rather than ‘festival’. Thus Ps. 104:19 refers to the lunar phases as a feature of the natural world without endorsing a specific calendrical statement. Ben-Sirah used Ps. 104:19 as a point of departure for further reflection, invoking the term
mo̔ed
when referring to the moon. While Sir. 50:6 retains the older biblical meaning of
mo̔ed
, in 43:7 the author uses this term in the sense of ‘festival’ and by this states his opinion that the moon is the exclusive marker of the cultic calendar. While calendar conflict (solar vs. lunar) was not in action in biblical religion, it became a debated issue in the second century BCE, with Ben-Sirah constituting a primary example.
A catalogue of the medical and para-medical manuscripts in the Mosseri Genizah collection
Authors: Lev Efraim
Published: April 2016

The Mosseri collection was assembled by Jacques Mosseri (1884–1934), a leading member of the Jewish community of Cairo, between 1909 and 1911. Its more than 7000 fragments include materials from both the classical Genizah period and the modern period of Egyptian Jewry. Recently, the Mosseri collection was loaned by the Mosseri family to Cambridge University Library for conservation, digitising, cataloguing and study. This article is part of that effort. Here, new information about medical documents from the Cairo Genizah is made available to scholars especially interested in research on the history of medieval Arab society in general and Jewish medicine and pharmacology in particular. The sixty-nine items from the Mosseri collection here described will be useful for those already working in the field. Descriptions, without any analyses, of these fragments will later be included in a forthcoming catalogue of all medical and para-medical fragments in the Cambridge Genizah collections.
Text-preserving observations in the midrash
Ruth Rabbah
Authors: Martín-Contreras Elvira
Published: April 2016

This article presents a study of the eighteen identified cases in the midrash
Ruth Rabbah
in which a textual detail is commented in the language of the Masorah. The identified cases deal with diverse textual features. The treatment given to these textual features in the midrash and the structure of the cases is very homogeneous. Apart from one case, all the textual information recorded in them is endorsed by the Masora. These results stress the value of the literary production of the rabbis in the reconstruction of the history of the biblical text.
Divorce on demand: the history, dogmatics, and hermeneutics of the wife’s right to divorce in Jewish law
Authors: Westreich Avishalom
Published: April 2016

This paper has two aims: historical and dogmatic. Historical, by studying two actual halakhic traditions in which divorce was issued at the wife’s demand, with an analysis of the interaction between them: the Palestinian divorce clause, according to Cairo Genizah
ketubbot
(marriage documents), and the Geonic compulsion of a
get
(a writ of divorce) in the case of the rebellious wife (
moredet
). Dogmatic, by examining the status of three halakhic concepts of the unilateral termination of marriage derived from the above traditions: coercion of a
get
, terminative condition and annulment of marriage. Historically, the paper rejects some suggested links between these traditions. Nevertheless, a fascinating interaction between them is revealed at a different level. Later in time some halakhic writers connected the two traditions. This link, although historically doubtful, strengthens the dogmatic weight of these traditions and reflects the nature of the halakhah as an interpretive legal system.
Leviticus 1 and 6: from contextual to extra-textual exegesis
Authors: Sagiv Yonatan
Published: April 2016

The relationship between exegesis in the Second Temple Period and that by early rabbsc exegesis of the Hebrew Bible perplexes scholars, leading some to focus on continuity while others emphasize innovation. In this paper I argue that the rabbinic sources contain both: that the continuity lies in the interpretative assumptions, while the innovation is a result of different interpretative motivations. A test case for this argument is the interpretation of Leviticus 1:7. In the first part of the paper I argue that despite differences in content, a genuine continuity exists in the implicit hermeneutical assumptions between the Sages’ interpretation and those of earlier sources. In the second part, I explore how the interpretative motive of the Sages shaped a different final interpretation of the biblical verse in spite of this shared hermeneutical assumption. Such a stance leads to viewing interpretative motive as one key to gaining a more nuanced understanding of continuity and innovation in early Jewish interpretations of the Hebrew Bible.
The variants of 4Q (Reworked) Pentateuch: a comprehensive list of the textual variants in 4Q158, 4Q364-7 in biblical sequence
Authors: Perrin Andrew B.
Published: April 2016

This article presents all of the semantic, lexical, and grammatical textual variants contained in the group of scrolls known as 4Q Reworked Pentateuch (4Q158, 4Q364-7) according to the traditional verse order of the Masoretic Text. The variants for 4Q158 are based on a fresh treatment of the text from DJD V, while readings for 4Q364-7 are drawn from DJD XIII and are updated where necessary. Introducing the list of variants is a brief case study on the methods of low-level scribal intervention operating in 4Q365. In this way, the article presents the most up-to-date information on variant readings in 4QRP as well as offers a primer on the types of interpretive interchanges evident in a cross-section of smaller variant readings. For the first time this self-contained resource unifies all of the data for the 4QRP manuscripts in one place and will serve as a tool for text-critical and exegetical studies.
Compulsive libationers: non-Jews and wine in early rabbinic sources
Authors: Stern Sacha
Published: April 2016

The rabbinic prohibition on non-Jewish wine is grounded on the assumption that non-Jews were compulsive wine libationers, who offered wine libations at any time and in any place, unpredictably, compulsively, and almost completely undetected; and that the mere contact with wine was sufficient for libations to pagan divinities to be performed. These assumptions, however, do not reflect the pagan practice of wine libation as known from Greek and Roman sources. This paper discusses whether the rabbinic view of non-Jewish libation was purely imagined, compares it with early Christian views, and suggests various interpretations of the myth of compulsive wine libation.
Pesiqta Rabbati
: a text-linguistic and form-analytical analysis of the rabbinic homily
Authors: Ulmer Rivka B. Kern
Published: April 2016

Pesiqta Rabbati
is a unique homiletic midrash that follows the liturgical calendar in its presentation of homilies for festivals and special Sabbaths. This article attempts to utilize
Pesiqta Rabbati
in order to present a global theory of the literary production of rabbinic/homiletic literature. In respect to
Pesiqta Rabbati
it explores such areas as dating, textual witnesses, integrative apocalyptic meta-narrative, describing and mapping the structure of the text, internal and external constraints that impacted upon the text, text linguistic analysis, form-analysis: problems in the texts and linguistic gap-filling, transmission of text, strict formalization of a homiletic unit, deconstructing and reconstructing homiletic midrashim based upon form-analytic units of the homily, Neusner’s documentary hypothesis, surface structures of the homiletic unit, and textual variants. The suggested methodology may assist scholars in their production of editions of midrashic works by eliminating superfluous material and in their decoding and defining of ancient texts.
A Karaite tool-kit for teaching Hebrew grammar
Authors: Vidro Nadia
Published: April 2016

Medieval Karaites advocated independent interpretation of the Scripture and considered grammatical knowledge indispensable for understanding the true meaning of the Bible. A distinctive stage in the development of the Karaite grammatical tradition is constituted by pedagogical grammars of Biblical Hebrew intended for beginning students. These grammars concentrate on verbal morphology and employ numerous didactic strategies designed to facilitate learning and equip students with tools for the independent investigation of the biblical text. The present article describes the Karaite framework of presenting the verbal morphology of Biblical Hebrew and studies didactic tools developed in Karaite pedagogical grammars, including lucid sample paradigms, the gradual character of presentation, rules of derivational relations, systems of mnemonics, algorithms of parsing verbal forms, and model analyses of biblical passages.
In between cultures: an anonymous commentary on the book of Proverbs from thirteenth-century Iberia
Authors: Alfonso Esperanza
Published: April 2016

This paper focuses on a fragmentary commentary on Proverbs that was included within a thirteenth-century anonymous codex produced in the Iberian Peninsula. My study brings under close scrutiny the author’s exegetical strategies, the sources he drew from, and the impact the commentary had on subsequent generations of exegetes. The commentary’s profuse recourse to Romance glosses (
leʿazim
) sheds light on the use of Romance in the learning and teaching of the Hebrew Bible in the thirteenth century, as well as on the history of translations of the Hebrew Bible into Romance. The author’s frequent appeals to Rashi, as well as to various Provençal and Sephardic Jewish exegetes, yield new insights into our knowledge of Rashi’s reception in the Peninsula and account for the encounter of these two exegetical traditions in medieval Iberia. Evidence of the codex’s circulation and diffusion can be seen in some passages drawn directly from it (or from a common source) that were quoted verbatim by Ibn Naḥmias in the fourteenth century. This text further clarifies apparent inconsistencies and unexplained repetitions in the latter’s commentary on Proverbs.
‘The language that follows speech will not be the same as the one that preceded it’: spoken Hebrew in the pre-state period
Authors: Reshef Yael
Published: April 2016

The transformation of Hebrew from a liturgical and literary language into a modern national language has aroused great interest among scholars, yet the nature of spoken Hebrew among its first generations of speakers has not yet been explored. The article presents a linguistic analysis of spoken Hebrew in pre-state Palestine. Following a methodological discussion of the available source materials and their possible contribution to the reconstruction of Hebrew speech during this formative phase, structural features of the period’s spoken language are analysed in the various linguistic domains (phonology, morphology and syntax). Focusing on features extant in contemporary spoken usage, the analysis highlights the extent of continuity in the development of spoken Hebrew and traces the roots of many contemporary phenomena in pre-state Hebrew speech.
Samuel Krauss and the early study of the physical world of the rabbis in Roman Palestine
Authors: Eliav Yaron Z.
Published: April 2016

Samuel Krauss and his early-twentieth-century work
Talmudische Archäologie
gradually became the cornerstone of any research into the relationship between rabbinic texts and archaeology. Today, many consider him the founding father of the new field known as the Material Culture of Ancient Judaism. The current study investigates the development of Krauss’s scholarly life, clarifying the various factors that prompted his interest in bringing rabbinic texts into conversation with physical remains, as well as reconstructing the intellectual milieu that shaped his research and methodology. In the process it also aims to dispel some of the inaccuracies that have become associated with Krauss over the years.
Yosef bar El‘asa Artaka
and the elusive Jewish Diaspora of pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia
Authors: Shenkar Michael
Published: April 2016

The article discusses an inscription on an ossuary that probably once contained the bones of a woman brought from abroad for burial in Jerusalem by her son, nicknamed ‘Artaka’. Based on his name, it is suggested that he came to Jerusalem from Parthiena or Bactria – at that time provinces of the Parthian Empire. If so, this inscription provides unique archaeological evidence connected with the Parthian Diaspora and its pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Moreover, this could be the earliest attestation of the later custom of reinterment in the Land of Israel. The only solid find connected with the presence of Jewish communities in the pre-Islamic Iranian world are the ossuaries inscribed with Jewish names that were excavated in the necropolis of Bayram Ali (7th–8th centuries CE). It is noteworthy that the custom of secondary burial in ossuaries, which existed in Jerusalem in the first century BCE–first century CE, was also widespread in Central Asia, although the two are probably unrelated.
A tool for many purposes: Hermann Zoest and the medieval Christian appropriation of the Jewish calendar
Authors: Nothaft C. Philipp E.
Published: April 2016

During the later Middle Ages, a surprising number of Latin Christian scholars wrote texts dealing with or specifically dedicated to the Jewish calendar, an interest already exhibited in the pioneering
Computus emendatus
of Reinher of Paderborn (
c.
1171). One late-medieval author influenced by Reinher in this regard was Hermann Zoest (d. 1445), a Cistercian monk from Westphalia who participated in the Council of Basel’s unsuccessful efforts to reform the ecclesiastical calendar. Drawing on unpublished and previously unknown material, this article explores medieval Christian attitudes towards the Jewish calendar by outlining the different ways in which this calendar was appropriated and employed by Hermann Zoest in his writings: as a guide in reforming the ecclesiastical calendar, as an aid for biblical exegesis, and as an instrument to determine the date of Creation.
The myth of the ̓ôṣār in Second Temple-period ritual baths: an anachronistic interpretation of a modern-era innovation
Authors: Adler Yonatan
Published: April 2016

The first installation to be identified as an ancient Jewish ritual bath (
miqweh
) was discovered by Yigael Yadin at Masada in 1964, and consisted of a stepped pool connected to an adjacent pool via a hole in the wall shared by the two installations. Yadin identified one installation as the immersion pool of the
miqweh
, and the second as an
̓ôṣār
(lit. ‘reservoir’), used to ritually purify the water in the immersion pool. Yadin’s explanation regarding the functioning of this double-pool ritual bath has gone unchallenged since it was first suggested half a century ago, and set the stage for future identifications of
̓ôṣār
installations found adjacent to other Second Temple-period ritual baths. This article argues that the
̓ôṣār
is an innovation of the modern period, and that the commonly accepted view that an
̓ôṣār
was employed in ritual baths dating to as early as the Second Temple period is no more than an unqualified anachronism.
Rabbinic sage stories in Midrashic compilations: an intertextual reading of the Usha synod narrative in Song of Songs Rabbah 2:5 and Deuteronomy 27:9
Authors: Kushelevsky Rella
Published: April 2016

The Usha synod narrative in Song of Songs Rabbah (para. 2) is studied in this article both as a carefully composed rabbinic sage story and as a hermeneutical narrative aimed at resolving enigmatic biblical verses through intertextual links between the Song of Songs and the Torah. In line with Boyarin’s analysis of intertextual readings in the Song of Songs Rabbah while focusing on a rabbinic sage story rather than on the
mashal
(analogy), the Usha synod narrative is presented as a mediating text between Deut. 27:9 and Song of Songs 2:5. Moreover, because of the suggestive power of sage stories to construct a fictional ‘world of the sages’, it functions in Song of Songs Rabbah as a means of self-understanding, accomplished and realized through intertextual readings and interpretation. The implications of this study may drive additional research into the twofold function of rabbinic sage stories in Midrashic compilations.
And I shall dwell in their midst: God’s presence in the medieval Ashkenazic synagogue
Authors: Woolf Jeffrey R.
Published: April 2016

This study attempts to retrieve the experiential quality of medieval Ashkenazic God awareness. Based upon an examination of the broad gamut of contemporary religious literature (law and liturgy,
piyyut
and commentary, chronicles and customals) it attempts to demonstrate that this awareness was imminent, intense and palpable. Methodologically, it offers an example of the way in which the tools of the history of representations can be constructively applied to Jewish intellectual history.
Evidence of an early form of the Ashkenazic liturgical rite from the Cairo Genizah
Authors: Rand Michael , Loeffler Binyamin
Published: April 2016

The present article gathers together a number of scattered Genizah fragments that contain
piyyutim
for various festivals and Special Sabbaths and originally belonged to several closely related liturgical booklets. The fragments are analysed with a view to showing that the booklets represent an early form of the Ashkenazic liturgical rite. Some suggestions are then offered for a reconstruction of two related historical processes: the redaction of the corpus of the Byzantine
payyetan
Eleazar be-rabbi Qillir and the transmission of the Classical
piyyut
tradition, in which he occupies a central position, from the east to Europe. These processes have heretofore been shrouded in obscurity for lack of data. The reconstruction of the liturgical booklets offered here is part of an attempt to fill the documentary gap.
The Mishnaic mental revolution: a reassessment
Authors: Rosen-Zvi Ishay
Published: April 2016

In recent years, scholars have re-examined the innovative use the Mishnah makes of mental categories to determine legal outcomes. They suggest that this phenomenon reveals a new kind of subjectivity which is related to the prominence that the inner self receives in Late Antiquity, especially in Stoic philosophy. In this article I claim that the self formed by the Mishna is markedly different from the Hellenic self. The thoughts and deeds of the subject formed by the Mishnah are on the same plane, making for a ‘flat’ subject. There is no inner world which is fundamentally different than the outer one, such as the one we find in contemporary Hellenistic philosophy. This is, furthermore, a phenomenon of rabbinic halakhah, rather than of rabbinic discourse in general. The halakhic practice does not just regulate an inner world formed somewhere else, but takes part in forming a unique legal subject; one that is made to fit its regulatory discourse.
From mystical visions to gender equality aspirations: a hermeneutical journey of two biblical verses
Authors: Schwartzmann Julia
Published: April 2016

Two biblical verses, ‘God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night’ (Gen. 1:16) and ‘The Lord will create a new thing on earth – a woman will surround a man’ (Jer. 31:22), have generated a long exegetical tradition. For most of their exegetical history, these two verses were interpreted by almost all exegetes either as an allegorical description of the eschatological future or as a theosophical mystery. Neither of the two was understood as dealing with social reality in general, or with woman’s condition in particular. In recent years one can point to a shift of the traditional exegesis towards a gendered interpretation of both verses. The article deals with this transition as a sign of a growing sensitivity of Orthodox society towards women’s status in Judaism.
‘In Days to Come’: the nature of the Jewish state and society in the thought of Ze̓ev Ya̓avetz
Authors: Yedidya Assaf
Published: April 2016

The Orthodox historian Ze̓ev Ya̓avetz (1847–1924) strove to harmonize Orthodoxy with life as it was developing in the Land of Israel, in part by blending it together with nascent Jewish nationalism. Theodor Herzl’s utopian novel
Altneuland
(1902) urged him to deal intensely with the portraying of the anticipated Jewish entity which was forming in the Land of Israel. At 1904 he published an article in the journal
Ha-Mizrach
, of which he was the editor, entitled ‘In Days to Come’. In the article, he clarified his theory on the relationship between religion and sovereignty, science and aesthetics. His main motive was to prove that there is not any contradiction between these factors. Ya̓avetz’s article, in which he set out his concept of ‘government in the spirit of the Talmud’, was a pioneering attempt to place these issues on the agenda of the religious Zionist camp.
Koddaroi
and
Xurēsitauroi
in the letters of Apollonius of Tyana: new evidence for tension between Jews and Gentiles in Sardis during the Flavian period?
Authors: Penella Robert J.
Published: April 2016

Among the letters of the sage Apollonius of Tyana, of the first century CE, are eight that berate the Sardians for their civil strife. Two of the letters refer to two Sardian groups that are at odds with one another, the
Koddaroi
and the
Xurēsitauroi
. At the core of this article is an etymological argument that
Koddaroi
means ‘the foreskinned’, and that
Xurēsitauroi
, from two Greek words meaning ‘shaving’ and ‘genitals’, refers not to depilation but to the shaved look of the glans penis resulting from circumcision. If my hypothesis is correct, we have a new piece of evidence for Jewish–Gentile tensions in the first-century Diaspora in Asia Minor. I also show that my hypothesis fits well with Apollonius’s remarks in letters 39 and 40. And if my interpretation of letter 41 is correct, there is a reference there to Sardian Jews owning some Jewish slaves – which again would be a new testimony, this time on the issue of slavery among the ancient Jews.
Attentive ears and forward-looking eyes: disciplining the senses and forming the self in the Book of Proverbs
Authors: Goering Greg Schmidt
Published: April 2016

Ancient Israelite sages recognized a dilemma regarding sensory perception: the senses are vehicles for acquiring wisdom, yet they are also channels of temptation. The sages responded to this dilemma by devising strategies for disciplining vision and audition. These strategies – which may be understood as Foucauldian technologies of the self – were designed to train sensory attention. Through these techniques of the self, the sages aimed to develop in students what Bourdieu terms
practical mastery
over eyes and ears, inscribing the wisdom tradition’s values in the bodies of students and preparing them to navigate the broader social world. My study thus suggests that one goal of Jewish wisdom literature was to cultivate a regime of perception that facilitated the construction of the human self. Recovering this specifically Jewish self in antiquity augments and complicates traditional modern Western histories of the self.
‘Save the museum’: Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and the question of the Chief Rabbinate in the Ottoman Empire
Authors: Harel Yaron
Published: April 2016

This article discusses the motives behind the involvement of Rabbi Chaim from Brisk, Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Cohen of Radun (‘The Chofetz Chaim’), Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevy, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, the Sochatchover Rebbe, and the Admor of Gur, as well as other Ashkenazi rabbis from Eastern and Western Europe, concerning the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem and in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The article offers a study of the connections between modern Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, and of the growing network as well as facilitated travel and communication that brought Ashkenazim and Sephardim together in the period. The article contributes to our knowledge about the rise of modern Orthodox politics, and weaves together two different revolutions – the 1905 revolution in Russia and the Young Turk revolution in 1908 – that mobilized Ashkenazim across Europe to intervene in the question of the appointment of an Ottoman Chief Rabbi after 1908.
‘Children knocking at our gates’: the activities of the German Jewish Children’s Aid, 1933–39
Authors: Ostrovsky Michal
Published: April 2016

Among those who suffered most upon Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 were the children of the German-Jewish community. Perceived by the Nazis as the hope and future of German Jewry, they became a target themselves, and were socially and academically ostracized. The American-Jewish community, witnessing the plight of these children, was called upon to help. It established a special organization, the German Jewish Children’s Aid, which became the first Jewish organization in the United States dedicated to transferring Jewish children, who travelled unaccompanied from Germany to the United States, and caring for all their needs upon their arrival. This study examines the circumstances of the establishment of the GJCA, its methods of operation, and the measure of its success in reaching the difficult target it had set for itself. This against the backdrop of limitations, social, legal and logistical, that accompanied the rescue attempts of American Jewry.
Immunogenicity of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells during ex vivo expansion
Authors: Ji Mingli , Guan LiPing
Published: April 2016

The aim of this study was to investigate the immunogenicity of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) cultured in vitro by detecting changes in major histocompatibility complex expression. Major histocompatibility complex expression was detected by RT–PCR and flow cytometry. Morphologically, hUCMSCs exhibited no visible changes before the 5 st passage of the in vitro culture. In addition, At the molecular level, the cells continued expressing the specific positive surface markers, CD105, CD73 and CD90, and did not express the negative surface markers, CD14, CD34 or CD45, during culture ex vivo. Furthermore, the hUCMSCs exhibited low immunogenicity, which was maintained when cultured for five passages. Taken as a whole, these results suggested that hUCMSCs cultured in vitro may be safely for transplanted because of low immunogenicity before the fifth passage.
Association between microsatellite regions and reproduction related traits in indigenous chicken ecotypes
Authors: Rudresh* B.H. , Murthy H.N.N. , Kotresh A.M. , Shettar V.B.
Published: April 2016

The present study was carried out in six indigenous ecotypes of two divisions of Karnataka to assess association of twenty microsatellite regions of thirteen chicken autosomes with age, body weight and egg weight at sexual maturity and Forty week egg production. The general molecular technique protocols were adopted wherever required in PCR, electrophoresis, gel staining and reading. The analysis revealed significant difference (p less than 0.05) among genotypes combined across ecotypes for nineteen microsatellite loci for body weight at sexual maturity. The analysis revealed significant difference (P less than 0.05) among genotypes combined across ecotypes for eighteen microsatellite loci for EWSM. The posthoc dunnet’s test conducted in one of the microsatellite region ADL0020 genotypes after excluding genotypes with only one bird at 0.05 level of significance revealed that a particular genotype A was significantly different from two of the genotypes C and D, indicating the important role of the corresponding alleles of these genotypes in influencing the Body weight at sexual maturity. The validity of using thus identified markers or alleles need further authentication by research in other populations and further proof by expression studies.
Yield attributes, yield and uptake of nutrients as influenced by basal and foliar application of nutrients on rice fallow blackgram
Authors: P* Geetha , Velayutham1 A.
Published: April 2016

An investigation was carried out to fine tune nutrient management techniques for improving the yield of rice fallow blackgram at the Wetlands of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore in a split plot design. Three fertilizer application practices viz. recommended dose of fertilizer to preceding rice crop, recommended dose of fertilizer (last split through DAP based on N equivalent) to the preceding rice crop and basal application of fertilizer to blackgram of N and P2O5 @ 12.5:25 kg ha-1 (10 days prior to harvest of rice crop) formed the main plot treatments and foliar sprays viz., control, 1% urea, 2% DAP, 1% KCl and 2% DAP + 1% KCl twice at flowering and pod filling stages of crop growth constituted the subplot treatments. The treatments were replicated thrice. The results revealed that basal application of N and P2O5 fertilizers @ 12.5:25 kg ha-1 (10 days prior to harvest of rice crop) to blackgram favoured the nutrient uptake. Similarly the NPK uptake at harvest (64.64, 6.75 and 46.51 kg ha-1) and yield (1037 kg ha-1) were significantly influenced when foliar spray of 2% DAP + 1% KCl was given at flowering and pod filling stages of crop growth. Interaction between basal application of fertilizer N and P2O5 @ 12.5:25 kg ha-1 just before the harvesting of preceding rice crop along with foliar spray of 2% DAP + 1% KCl twice at flowering and pod filling stages was significant for NPK uptake, yield attributes and yield.
Protective role of gamma amminobutyric acid on Cassia italica Mill under salt stress
Authors: Alqarawi Abdulaziz Abdullah , Hashem Abeer , Abd_Allah Elsayed Fathi , Al-Huqail Asma A. , Alshahrani Thobayet Safr , Alshalawi Sa'ad Rukban , Egamberdieva Dilfuza
Published: April 2016

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of salinity stress on growth of Cassia italica and role of gamma amminobutyric acid (GABA) in mitigating the salt stress induced damaging effects. Antioxidant activity, level of endogenous growth hormones and other biochemical parameters were evaluated. Salt stress enhanced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in the enhanced lipid peroxidation which was however reduced by application of GABA. Increased lipid peroxidation in salt stressed plants caused an obvious reduction in the total lipid content as compared to GABA treated plants. The antioxidant enzymes were higher in GABA treated plants which indicated a reduction of oxidative damage. The concentrations of growth hormones like indole acetic acid (IAA), indole butyric acid (IBA), gibberellic acid-1 (GA1), and gibberellic acid-4 (GA4) were reduced by salt stress, while enhanced by GABA treatment. In addition GABA treated plants maintained lower levels of sodium and chloride ions as compared to salt stressed plants. It could be concluded that toxic effects of salt stress on growth, antioxidant system, hormones and mineral nutrients in Cassia italica could be alleviated by exogenous application of GABA.
Transacciones visuales y reinscripciones de la identidad en Nadín Ospina y Calimocho Styles
Authors: Lucero María Elena
Published: April 2016

Reflexionar sobre las identidades en América Latina en el espacio de las artes visuales conlleva a una revisión analítica no sólo acerca de las alternancias con el pasado cultural, sino también del modo en que la transnacionalidad afectó las prácticas contemporáneas, especialmente a través de prolongadas etapas de exilios, diásporas, migraciones y desplazamientos. Un posible ejercicio conceptual se orientaría hacia la ironía o la parodia. En este aspecto, el artista colombiano Nadín Ospina sintetiza posibles permutas entre las producciones simbólicas de la etapa prehispánica, las actuales mercancías fetichizadas y ciertos imaginarios ligados a la esfera mediática. Proyectados desde el sarcasmo, Ospina materializa estos objetos-fetiche que aluden al mote exótico otorgado por Europa a la visualidad americana y ajusta la diferencia cultural al extremo de tornarla potencial y fluctuante. Por otro lado, Calimocho Styles -el dúo conformado por los mexicanos Rubén Ortiz Torres y Eduardo Abaroa- examina el tópico de las identidades inestables y cambiantes que proceden del tránsito fronterizo continuo entre Estados Unidos y México, indagando en las estrategias ambivalentes de generar productos culturales y proponiendo ficciones contemporáneas a partir de referentes icónicos de consumo masivo. En ambos casos se generan resoluciones visuales híbridas que emplazan numerosos interrogantes y discusiones sobre la interculturalidad y su incidencia en Latinoamérica.
La memoria cultural en Warburg y las limitaciones de la construcción de la memoria nacional en Colombia: el regeneracionismo y el pasado precolombino
Authors: Vilaltella Javier
Published: April 2016

Los temas relacionados con la memoria y la historia ocupan un espacio creciente en las teorías culturales. En este trabajo se explora con carácter prospectivo el potencial de las ideas de Aby Warburg para resituar algunos aspectos del pasado precolombino en lo que respecta a sus imágenes. Warburg ofrece un análisis basado en consideraciones antropológicas y no estilísticas, al mismo tiempo vincula imagen y memoria, sobre todo con su concepto de “pervivencia”. Se muestran las limitaciones del discurso histórico colombiano creado por la Regeneración, el análisis se centra en la imagen de cabecera del Papel Periódico Ilustrado, una imagen muy elaborada y que resume su pensamiento histórico en el cual no hay cabida para el pasado anterior a la llegada de  los españoles. Se muestran  algunos modelos de “pervivencia” de las imágenes de ese pasado y se plantea de una manera general la cuestión de la liberación de su potencial, más allá de su presencia museística, las tensiones entre archivo  y memoria, y la necesidad de rescatar “los restos” y “fragmentos” como formas de “pervivencia”.
Realization Patterns of Request Strategies in Sudanese Arabic and English
Authors: Tag Eldin Khalid Abdel Gadir
Published: April 2016

This study tried to identify the Sudanese university students’ preferences of request strategies. It explored the claim of the universality of the speech act’s three levels of directness i.e. direct, conventionally indirect, and non-conventionally indirect. It contrasted and compared the subjects’ choice of strategies in Arabic and English languages. It also investigated the impact of some social factors on the subjects’ strategy choice. The data collected from the subjects showed that they used direct, conventionally indirect, and non-conventionally indirect requests when they responded to English and Arabic Discourse Completion Tests. This finding consolidated the universality claim of the three levels of directness. The data also showed that the subjects preferred to use direct requests more than the conventionally indirect ones and hints. The collectivist culture of the students’ society influenced their choice of direct strategies as it is based on solidarity, intimacy, etc. The results also showed that the different social variables i.e. the social distance between the interactants, the power one interlocutor has over the other, and the degree of request imposition had impact on the subjects’ choice of strategies. 

Keywords: Pragmatics, Request Strategies, Speech acts, Sudanese university students, Sudanese Colloquial Arabic.
إصلاح التعليم: عملية ضرورية لبناء مجتمع أفضل
Authors: Farah Muhammad Said
Published: April 2016

تسعى هذه الدراسة تحو تقديم تقويم نقدي لوضع التعليم في العالم العربي بعامة، والمجتمع المصري بخاصة وذلك ضمن سياق التغيرات والتحولات المتلاحقة الناجمة عن العوامل المحلية والإقليمية والعالمية. إذ أن قضية إصلاح التعيم  قضية أمن مجتمع، وتهدف الى بناء مجتمع أفضل. استنادا الى مراجعة الأدبيات والمؤشرات الإحصائية تختبر هذه الدراسة الجوانب الإيجابية والسلبية من العملية التعليمية في مصر. كما أن هذا البحث يناقش حركة إصلاح التعليم في مصر في القرنين العشرين والحادي والعشرين. وتكشف الدراسة عن الخصائص العامة والمشتركة لقضية إصلاح التعيم  في مصر والعالم العربي وذلك بالتركيز ليس فقط على التحديات المعرقلة لتقدم التعليم، بل أيصا على الطرق والأساليب أو الآليات المقترحة لتعزيز نوعبة وكفاءة النظم التعليمية. إن المرتكز الأساس لهذه الدراسة هو أن الإصلاح الاجتماعي والسياسي والاقتصادي لا يمكن أن يتحقق بدون إصلاح التعليم.  فاصلاح التعليم ينجم عنه مردود إيجابي للمجتمع.

كلمات محورية: التعليم، إصلاح التعليم، علم اجتماع التعليم، مصر، العالم العربي

Education Reform: A Necessary Process for Building a Better Society

This paper seeks to provide a critical assessment of the status of education in the Arab world, in general, and Egypt, in particular, within the context of a rapidly changing and transitional period triggered by local, regional and global factors. Education reform is a matter of national security and aims to build a better society. Based on literature reviews and statistical indicators this research examines the positive and negative aspects of education in Egypt. Further, the study discusses education reform movements in Egypt during the twenty- and twenty-first centuries. This paper tackles the main characteristics of education reform in Egypt and the Arab world focusing not  only on the challenges hindering the progress of education but also on the ways or mechanisms recommended to improve the quality and effectiveness of educational  systems. The thrust of this inquiry is that social, political and economic reform of societies cannot be achieved without education reform. The investment in education provides future positive returns to the society.

Keywords: education, education reform, sociology of education, Egypt, Arab World