Books by Naftali Cohn
When the rabbis composed the Mishnah in the late second or early third century C.E., the Jerusale... more When the rabbis composed the Mishnah in the late second or early third century C.E., the Jerusalem Temple had been destroyed for more then a century. Why, then, do the Temple and its ritual feature so prominently in the Mishnah? Against the view that the rabbis were reacting directly to the destruction and asserting that nothing had changed, Naftali S. Cohn argues that the memory of the Temple served a political function for the rabbis in their own time. They described the Temple and its ritual in a unique way that helped to establish their authority within the context of Roman dominance.
At the time the Mishnah was created, the rabbis were not the only ones talking extensively about the Temple: other Judaeans (including followers of Jesus), Christians, and even Roman emperors produced texts and other cultural artifacts centered on the Jerusalem Temple. Looking back at the procedures of Temple ritual, the rabbis created in the Mishnah a past and a Temple in their own image, which lent legitimacy to their claim to be the only authentic purveyors of Jewish tradition and the traditional Jewish way of life. Seizing on the Temple, they sought to establish and consolidate their own position of importance within the complex social and religious landscape of Jewish society in Roman Palestine.
Papers by Naftali Cohn
In Beloved David--Advisor, Man of Understanding and Writer: Festscrhift in Honour of David Stern, edited by Naftali S. Cohn and Katrin Kogman-Appel. Providence: Brown University Press, 2024
LA QUESTION DE LA « SACERDOTALISATION» DANS LE JUDAISME SYNAGOGAL, LE CHRISTIANISME ET LE RABBINISME. Edited by Simon C. Mimouni and Louis Panchaud , 2018
During the reigns of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE) and Caracalla (211-217 CE), the city of Sepphori... more During the reigns of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE) and Caracalla (211-217 CE), the city of Sepphoris minted coins labeling itself with the old title of "hieras," holy. At roughly the same time, the rabbinic Mishnah put forth the idea that the cities of the land of Israel and their central squares were holy places. This article investigates what made cities sacred in the early rabbinic understanding, and what it meant for them to be sacred. Drawing on the more explicit paradigms of the Temple and the Synagogue, the author argues that the spaces of cities were made sacred in multiple ways by human activity-by ritual activity, the construction of boundaries and spatial interiority, the parallel relationship established to the Temple, the presence of Torah scrolls, and by the presence of a large crowd of the people of Israel. For the rabbis, this was necessarily a rabbinic type of sacredness of space, affirming a rabbinic idea of ethnic "Israeliteness," while at the same time affording the powerful experience of the sacred, with the attendant effects of creating feelings of social connectedness, of purpose, and of safety and security.
Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity, edited by Kristi Upson-Saia, Carly Daniel-Hughes and Alicia J. Batten, 2014
etext.lib.virginia.edu
Roman Palestine in the time of the rabbis was neither a feminist utopia nor a patriarchal dystopi... more Roman Palestine in the time of the rabbis was neither a feminist utopia nor a patriarchal dystopia. Though society was indeed patriarchal, feminist interpreters have shown that there was nuance to the ways in which men established and maintained their dominance. Women, moreover, had opportunities to assert themselves and to negotiate a culture dominated by men. One practice that reflects such an opportunity is that of women consulting a rabbi for a legal ruling. In the Mishnah, there are four narratives that describe this type of encounter. In Mishnah Yadaim 3:1 a woman comes to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel about the purity of her hands; in M. Nedarim 9:5 (an example attested only in the manuscripts) a woman comes to Rabbi Akiva after her husband vows not to derive benefit from her (that is, benefit from her labor or property or engage in sexual relations); in M. Niddah 8:3 a woman comes to Rabbi Akiva about menstrual impurity; and in M. Bava Kamma 8:6 a woman comes to Rabbi Akiva to collect damages owed by a man who uncovered her head in public.
From Antiquity to The Postmodern World: Jewish Studies in Canada, 38-61
Journal of Jewish studies, Oct 1, 2009
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Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Jan 1, 2008
Conference Presentations by Naftali Cohn
MS Kaufmann, from Accordance-with NSC emendation acc. to the MS; Translations © Naftali S. Cohn--... more MS Kaufmann, from Accordance-with NSC emendation acc. to the MS; Translations © Naftali S. Cohn--drafts
MS Kaufmann, from Accordance-with NSC emendation acc. to the MS; Translations © Naftali S. Cohn--... more MS Kaufmann, from Accordance-with NSC emendation acc. to the MS; Translations © Naftali S. Cohn--drafts
This is the Sourcesheet for my presentation in the Theory and Rabbinic Literature Panel, Sunday N... more This is the Sourcesheet for my presentation in the Theory and Rabbinic Literature Panel, Sunday Nov. 23, 2014. 4:00–6:30 p.m.
Convention Center, upper level, 29-D
1:5) If the woman insists [in the local court], "I am 'pure' [i.e. I have not slept with another ... more 1:5) If the woman insists [in the local court], "I am 'pure' [i.e. I have not slept with another man]," they bring her up to the eastern gate of the Temple, to the Gate of Nicanor, for there they give drink to accused adulteresses [sotot] …. And the priest grasps her garments, and if they ripped, they ripped; if they tore apart, they tore apart. [He rips] until he reveals her "heart." And he unbinds her hair. Rabbi Judah says: If her "heart" was beautiful, he would not reveal it, and if her hair was beautiful, he would not unbind it.
Dissertation by Naftali Cohn
This dissertation is the first thorough study of the narratives in the Mishnah that describe how ... more This dissertation is the first thorough study of the narratives in the Mishnah that describe how rituals were performed in the past when the Temple still stood. Combining methods drawn from the scholarly study of the Mishnah, of narrative, and of ritual, this dissertation examines the characteristic ways in which the rabbis of the Mishnah represent past ritual. The dynamics of narrative and the rabbinic innovations in the telling of past ritual described here shed light on rabbinic assumptions about ritual, on the workings of rabbinic collective memory, and on rabbinic claims for authority in post-temple times.
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Books by Naftali Cohn
At the time the Mishnah was created, the rabbis were not the only ones talking extensively about the Temple: other Judaeans (including followers of Jesus), Christians, and even Roman emperors produced texts and other cultural artifacts centered on the Jerusalem Temple. Looking back at the procedures of Temple ritual, the rabbis created in the Mishnah a past and a Temple in their own image, which lent legitimacy to their claim to be the only authentic purveyors of Jewish tradition and the traditional Jewish way of life. Seizing on the Temple, they sought to establish and consolidate their own position of importance within the complex social and religious landscape of Jewish society in Roman Palestine.
Papers by Naftali Cohn
Conference Presentations by Naftali Cohn
Convention Center, upper level, 29-D
Dissertation by Naftali Cohn
At the time the Mishnah was created, the rabbis were not the only ones talking extensively about the Temple: other Judaeans (including followers of Jesus), Christians, and even Roman emperors produced texts and other cultural artifacts centered on the Jerusalem Temple. Looking back at the procedures of Temple ritual, the rabbis created in the Mishnah a past and a Temple in their own image, which lent legitimacy to their claim to be the only authentic purveyors of Jewish tradition and the traditional Jewish way of life. Seizing on the Temple, they sought to establish and consolidate their own position of importance within the complex social and religious landscape of Jewish society in Roman Palestine.
Convention Center, upper level, 29-D