A vision of the Days, Studies in Early Jewish History and Historiography in Honor of Daniel R. Schwartz, 2024
Noah Hacham proposes applying to the generation of Yavneh the dichotomy between religion and stat... more Noah Hacham proposes applying to the generation of Yavneh the dichotomy between religion and state which Daniel Schwartz developed with regard to the Second Temple period. In his opinion, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabban Gamliel attempted to construct an independent halachic world without a temple because of their concern that the Temple was perceived as a national-political center and stressing its centrality could lead to catastrophe as the result of another unsuccessful revolt against Rome.
This chapter discusses the manifestations of sanctity in the Second and Third Books of Maccabees ... more This chapter discusses the manifestations of sanctity in the Second and Third Books of Maccabees and the attitudes towards the Temple that emerge from these two books. It demonstrates that though both books were largely or completely authored in the Diaspora, a significant difference between them is apparent in their respective treatments of the concept of sanctity and their attitudes to the Temple. The chapter shows that 3 Maccabees presents, in this context, an emphatically critical diasporan position regarding the Jerusalem Temple while 2 Maccabees presents a substantially more moderate position. It is therefore divided into two sections: the first section examines the occurrence of the concepts of sanctity in the two books, and the second section examines 3 Maccabees' viewpoints concerning the Temple and compares them with those of 2 Maccabees. The Hellenistic Jewish Diaspora's conceptions of sanctity are diverse, particularly with regard to the Temple and sacred places. Keywords:2 Maccabees; 3 Maccabees; Hellenistic Jewish Diaspora; Jerusalem Temple; sanctity
The text of 3 Maccabees chapter 2 relates that after returning to Egypt from Jerusalem, where the... more The text of 3 Maccabees chapter 2 relates that after returning to Egypt from Jerusalem, where the Jews did not permit him to enter and desecrate the Temple, the victorious Ptolemy IV Philopator ordered that all Jews be reduced to menial status, and that they be registered and branded with the ivyleaf emblem of Dionysus. He added, however, that anyone who preferred to join the mystery cult would enjoy equal civic rights with the Alexandrians (3 Macc. 2:28–30). Most of the Jews, according to 3 Maccabees (2:32–33), did not obey the king’s order. Regarding the small minority, the author elaborates as follows (3 Macc. 2:31):
The numerous ostraca uncovered in Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna) that document the life of Jews in th... more The numerous ostraca uncovered in Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna) that document the life of Jews in this location led Victor Tcherikover and other scholars to conclude that the Delta Quarter, the fourth quarter of Edfu, was exclusively Jewish, a voluntary ‘ghettoʼ that existed from the mid-first century CE until its eradication in the Diaspora revolt in 117 CE. The publication of several demotic ostraca from Edfu, however, suggests that this historical hypothesis should be rethought. Two new considerations – chronological and demographic – undermine Tcherikover’s view. Chronologically speaking, the new evidence demonstrates that Jews apparently lived in the Delta Quarter from at least the early Roman period and not only from the mid-first century CE onward. The demographic consideration is manifested in the finding that not only Jews lived there and that the percentage of Jews in this quarter did not differ from that in other places of Jewish residence. Therefore, the fourth quarter of Edfu was neither a Jewish ghetto nor an exclusively Jewish neighborhood. Although many Jews lived there and are presumed to have been organized as a community with its own institutions, this was a common phenomenon of Jewish life in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, meaning that the community in the Delta Quarter was not special, let alone unique. The ‘ghettoʼ hypothesis is a projection of Medieval and modern reality onto antiquity.
According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translatio... more According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, the high priest Eleazar chose seventy-two elders and dispatched them to Egypt where they translated the Torah into Greek. Scholars discerned the meaning of this number, indicating the affinity to the seventy elders who joined Moses and Aaron in the Sinai covenant (Exod. 24) and the fact that this number represents all the tribes of Israel equally, thus sanctifying the Greek translation in a similar way to the Torah. Particular attention was paid to Epiphanius, the fourth century church father, who explicitly states that the seventy-two elders provide equal representation to all the constituent tribes of Israel. Rabbinic literature, however, has been entirely absent from this discourse. In this article I point to Sifre on Numbers, a second century midrash, that notes that seventy-two elders experienced the Divine revelation (Numbers 11): seventy in the Tabernacle and ...
The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory, and declar... more The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory, and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work emphatically embraces devotion to the Jewish religion alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas, and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars, and continues to do so, in their attempts to qualify the essential identity that the author of the Letter of Aristeas sought to promote and transmit. The fundamental issue of the Letter of Aristeas therefore concerns social identity. Social psychology models of social identity typically focus on the individual and aim to understand the complex and dynamic ways in which individuals compose their social identity and manage their multiple identities. In this article, we seek to explore, using the tools of social psychology, the nature of the affinity between the Jewish and Hellenistic components in the doctrine advocated by the author of the Letter of Aristeas. The meaning and the message of the Letter of Aristeas are oblique and elusive. The work consists of a central narrative frame and digressions in which Jews, and especially Judaism, form a thread that runs throughout the entire book. The book opens with the liberation of the Jewish slaves (12-27), before going on to recount the king's gifts to the Jerusalem Temple (51-82); to depict the city, the Temple, the priests, and the High Priest (83-120); to outline an apology for the commandments (128-71); and to describe the symposia in which the Jewish sages respond to all of the king's questions (187-300). The book's Jewish dimension is particularly notable in its central narrative frame, which is also its concluding topic: the translation of the Torah and its acceptance by the Jews and the king alike. There is, therefore, no doubt that Jews and Judaism are at the heart of the composition. At the same time, Hellenism's imprint on the book is profound. This fact is well known; it is manifested, inter alia, in the book's genre,1 the depiction of the symposium and its content,2 the allegorical elucidation of the commandments,
Selected Studies on Deuterocanonical Prayers (CBET 103), 2021
The verse "I did not despise them" (Lev 26:44) embodies God's promise not to reject His people, b... more The verse "I did not despise them" (Lev 26:44) embodies God's promise not to reject His people, but rather to accompany them even outside their land and divested of political independence. According to 3 Maccabees (6:15), at the last moment before the Jews' annihilation, Eleazar the priest who prays in the Hippodrome, concludes his supplication by asking God to fulfill this promise. The verse appears also in Mordechai's prayer according to Midrash Esther Rabbah and in numerous rabbinic homilies concerning various Diasporas. 1 Mordechai's prayer in Greek Esther also possibly alludes to this verse. 2 This, apparently, is the natural and standard use of the verse that bespeaks God's promise to protect Israel. Moreover, Eleazar's prayer (3 Macc 6:2-15) initially appears genericrecalling many prayers of the Second Temple period. Like these prayers, it relies on Scripture, incorporates biblical precedents, and conveys a specific request. Nevertheless, the citing of the "I did not despise them" verse here is not standard and formulaic: rather it is deliberate and uniquely suited to this prayer. In fact, the entire prayer deviates from the mold: it faithfully mirrors the plot line of 3 Maccabees and, at the same time, articulates the unique views of the book's author. This paper is devoted to analyzing the various aspects of Eleazar's prayer. Structure Eleazar's prayer encompasses fourteen verses. As with Simon's prayer in chapter 2 (2-20), it contains an introduction and two main sections. Verses 2-3 introduce the prayer; they address God with a variety of epithets illustrating his power (2) and beseech God to look upon his nation who is in distress (3). Verses 4-8 contain a list of historical
The Bible is silent regarding the death of Esau, Jacob’s brother, but Second Temple and rabbinic ... more The Bible is silent regarding the death of Esau, Jacob’s brother, but Second Temple and rabbinic literature filled the lacuna. Although similar in their basic narrative, these versions differ in significant details, most notably the circumstances of and the person responsible for Esau’s death. This paper examines the extent to which these accounts not only present different views of the fraternal relationship but also reflect divergent attitudes towards Jewish relations with the non-Jewish world that are dictated by the time and place of their authorship. Reflecting its diasporan setting, the version in the Babylonian Talmud, it is shown, employs a particularly complex tactic of message encryption.
The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declara... more The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work embraces emphatically Jewish content alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars and it continues to do so as they attempt to qualify the essential identity that the author of the Letter of Aristeas seeks to promote and to transmit. The question of identity is two-faceted: First, it explores the nature of the affinity between the Jewish and Hellenistic components in the doctrine advocated by the Letter of Aristeas. Second, it strives to identify the threat and the danger that the author confronts and deplores. In our discussion we aim to provide answers to these questions. Furthermore, we introduce a new conceptualization of the way the Letter of Aristeas combines and “manages” the various identities and their constituent details. For that aim, we draw on models from the realm of social psychology, which we have found to be eminently useful in understanding the complex and dynamic nature of the identities of Antique Jewry. We reason that considering models of social identity could provide us with a fresh perspective of the text, which allows for a new understanding of the complex and dynamic nature of the identities as they appear in the Letter of Aristeas.
Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 2000
... In cooperation with Cross, Frank Moore / Davies, Graham / Emerton, JA / Heintz, Jean-Georges ... more ... In cooperation with Cross, Frank Moore / Davies, Graham / Emerton, JA / Heintz, Jean-Georges / Jeremias, Jörg / Kaiser, Otto / Köckert, Matthias / Perlitt, Lothar / Pury, Albert / Römer, Thomas / Säbö, Magne / Schmidt am Busch, Hans-Christoph / Schwienhorst ... Noah Hacham 1. ...
,Sources and Interpretation in Ancient Judaism: Studies for Tal Ilan at Sixty (AJEC 104); Meron M. Piotrkowski, Geoffrey Herman and Saskia Dönitz (eds.), pp. 130-142, 2018
, A. Lange, E. Tov, M. Weigold (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages, and Cultures, vol. 1, (SVT 140/1), 2011
A vision of the Days, Studies in Early Jewish History and Historiography in Honor of Daniel R. Schwartz, 2024
Noah Hacham proposes applying to the generation of Yavneh the dichotomy between religion and stat... more Noah Hacham proposes applying to the generation of Yavneh the dichotomy between religion and state which Daniel Schwartz developed with regard to the Second Temple period. In his opinion, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and Rabban Gamliel attempted to construct an independent halachic world without a temple because of their concern that the Temple was perceived as a national-political center and stressing its centrality could lead to catastrophe as the result of another unsuccessful revolt against Rome.
This chapter discusses the manifestations of sanctity in the Second and Third Books of Maccabees ... more This chapter discusses the manifestations of sanctity in the Second and Third Books of Maccabees and the attitudes towards the Temple that emerge from these two books. It demonstrates that though both books were largely or completely authored in the Diaspora, a significant difference between them is apparent in their respective treatments of the concept of sanctity and their attitudes to the Temple. The chapter shows that 3 Maccabees presents, in this context, an emphatically critical diasporan position regarding the Jerusalem Temple while 2 Maccabees presents a substantially more moderate position. It is therefore divided into two sections: the first section examines the occurrence of the concepts of sanctity in the two books, and the second section examines 3 Maccabees' viewpoints concerning the Temple and compares them with those of 2 Maccabees. The Hellenistic Jewish Diaspora's conceptions of sanctity are diverse, particularly with regard to the Temple and sacred places. Keywords:2 Maccabees; 3 Maccabees; Hellenistic Jewish Diaspora; Jerusalem Temple; sanctity
The text of 3 Maccabees chapter 2 relates that after returning to Egypt from Jerusalem, where the... more The text of 3 Maccabees chapter 2 relates that after returning to Egypt from Jerusalem, where the Jews did not permit him to enter and desecrate the Temple, the victorious Ptolemy IV Philopator ordered that all Jews be reduced to menial status, and that they be registered and branded with the ivyleaf emblem of Dionysus. He added, however, that anyone who preferred to join the mystery cult would enjoy equal civic rights with the Alexandrians (3 Macc. 2:28–30). Most of the Jews, according to 3 Maccabees (2:32–33), did not obey the king’s order. Regarding the small minority, the author elaborates as follows (3 Macc. 2:31):
The numerous ostraca uncovered in Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna) that document the life of Jews in th... more The numerous ostraca uncovered in Edfu (Apollinopolis Magna) that document the life of Jews in this location led Victor Tcherikover and other scholars to conclude that the Delta Quarter, the fourth quarter of Edfu, was exclusively Jewish, a voluntary ‘ghettoʼ that existed from the mid-first century CE until its eradication in the Diaspora revolt in 117 CE. The publication of several demotic ostraca from Edfu, however, suggests that this historical hypothesis should be rethought. Two new considerations – chronological and demographic – undermine Tcherikover’s view. Chronologically speaking, the new evidence demonstrates that Jews apparently lived in the Delta Quarter from at least the early Roman period and not only from the mid-first century CE onward. The demographic consideration is manifested in the finding that not only Jews lived there and that the percentage of Jews in this quarter did not differ from that in other places of Jewish residence. Therefore, the fourth quarter of Edfu was neither a Jewish ghetto nor an exclusively Jewish neighborhood. Although many Jews lived there and are presumed to have been organized as a community with its own institutions, this was a common phenomenon of Jewish life in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, meaning that the community in the Delta Quarter was not special, let alone unique. The ‘ghettoʼ hypothesis is a projection of Medieval and modern reality onto antiquity.
According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translatio... more According to the Letter of Aristeas, the ancient treatise on the creation of the Greek translation of the Pentateuch, the high priest Eleazar chose seventy-two elders and dispatched them to Egypt where they translated the Torah into Greek. Scholars discerned the meaning of this number, indicating the affinity to the seventy elders who joined Moses and Aaron in the Sinai covenant (Exod. 24) and the fact that this number represents all the tribes of Israel equally, thus sanctifying the Greek translation in a similar way to the Torah. Particular attention was paid to Epiphanius, the fourth century church father, who explicitly states that the seventy-two elders provide equal representation to all the constituent tribes of Israel. Rabbinic literature, however, has been entirely absent from this discourse. In this article I point to Sifre on Numbers, a second century midrash, that notes that seventy-two elders experienced the Divine revelation (Numbers 11): seventy in the Tabernacle and ...
The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory, and declar... more The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory, and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work emphatically embraces devotion to the Jewish religion alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas, and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars, and continues to do so, in their attempts to qualify the essential identity that the author of the Letter of Aristeas sought to promote and transmit. The fundamental issue of the Letter of Aristeas therefore concerns social identity. Social psychology models of social identity typically focus on the individual and aim to understand the complex and dynamic ways in which individuals compose their social identity and manage their multiple identities. In this article, we seek to explore, using the tools of social psychology, the nature of the affinity between the Jewish and Hellenistic components in the doctrine advocated by the author of the Letter of Aristeas. The meaning and the message of the Letter of Aristeas are oblique and elusive. The work consists of a central narrative frame and digressions in which Jews, and especially Judaism, form a thread that runs throughout the entire book. The book opens with the liberation of the Jewish slaves (12-27), before going on to recount the king's gifts to the Jerusalem Temple (51-82); to depict the city, the Temple, the priests, and the High Priest (83-120); to outline an apology for the commandments (128-71); and to describe the symposia in which the Jewish sages respond to all of the king's questions (187-300). The book's Jewish dimension is particularly notable in its central narrative frame, which is also its concluding topic: the translation of the Torah and its acceptance by the Jews and the king alike. There is, therefore, no doubt that Jews and Judaism are at the heart of the composition. At the same time, Hellenism's imprint on the book is profound. This fact is well known; it is manifested, inter alia, in the book's genre,1 the depiction of the symposium and its content,2 the allegorical elucidation of the commandments,
Selected Studies on Deuterocanonical Prayers (CBET 103), 2021
The verse "I did not despise them" (Lev 26:44) embodies God's promise not to reject His people, b... more The verse "I did not despise them" (Lev 26:44) embodies God's promise not to reject His people, but rather to accompany them even outside their land and divested of political independence. According to 3 Maccabees (6:15), at the last moment before the Jews' annihilation, Eleazar the priest who prays in the Hippodrome, concludes his supplication by asking God to fulfill this promise. The verse appears also in Mordechai's prayer according to Midrash Esther Rabbah and in numerous rabbinic homilies concerning various Diasporas. 1 Mordechai's prayer in Greek Esther also possibly alludes to this verse. 2 This, apparently, is the natural and standard use of the verse that bespeaks God's promise to protect Israel. Moreover, Eleazar's prayer (3 Macc 6:2-15) initially appears genericrecalling many prayers of the Second Temple period. Like these prayers, it relies on Scripture, incorporates biblical precedents, and conveys a specific request. Nevertheless, the citing of the "I did not despise them" verse here is not standard and formulaic: rather it is deliberate and uniquely suited to this prayer. In fact, the entire prayer deviates from the mold: it faithfully mirrors the plot line of 3 Maccabees and, at the same time, articulates the unique views of the book's author. This paper is devoted to analyzing the various aspects of Eleazar's prayer. Structure Eleazar's prayer encompasses fourteen verses. As with Simon's prayer in chapter 2 (2-20), it contains an introduction and two main sections. Verses 2-3 introduce the prayer; they address God with a variety of epithets illustrating his power (2) and beseech God to look upon his nation who is in distress (3). Verses 4-8 contain a list of historical
The Bible is silent regarding the death of Esau, Jacob’s brother, but Second Temple and rabbinic ... more The Bible is silent regarding the death of Esau, Jacob’s brother, but Second Temple and rabbinic literature filled the lacuna. Although similar in their basic narrative, these versions differ in significant details, most notably the circumstances of and the person responsible for Esau’s death. This paper examines the extent to which these accounts not only present different views of the fraternal relationship but also reflect divergent attitudes towards Jewish relations with the non-Jewish world that are dictated by the time and place of their authorship. Reflecting its diasporan setting, the version in the Babylonian Talmud, it is shown, employs a particularly complex tactic of message encryption.
The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declara... more The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work embraces emphatically Jewish content alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars and it continues to do so as they attempt to qualify the essential identity that the author of the Letter of Aristeas seeks to promote and to transmit. The question of identity is two-faceted: First, it explores the nature of the affinity between the Jewish and Hellenistic components in the doctrine advocated by the Letter of Aristeas. Second, it strives to identify the threat and the danger that the author confronts and deplores. In our discussion we aim to provide answers to these questions. Furthermore, we introduce a new conceptualization of the way the Letter of Aristeas combines and “manages” the various identities and their constituent details. For that aim, we draw on models from the realm of social psychology, which we have found to be eminently useful in understanding the complex and dynamic nature of the identities of Antique Jewry. We reason that considering models of social identity could provide us with a fresh perspective of the text, which allows for a new understanding of the complex and dynamic nature of the identities as they appear in the Letter of Aristeas.
Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 2000
... In cooperation with Cross, Frank Moore / Davies, Graham / Emerton, JA / Heintz, Jean-Georges ... more ... In cooperation with Cross, Frank Moore / Davies, Graham / Emerton, JA / Heintz, Jean-Georges / Jeremias, Jörg / Kaiser, Otto / Köckert, Matthias / Perlitt, Lothar / Pury, Albert / Römer, Thomas / Säbö, Magne / Schmidt am Busch, Hans-Christoph / Schwienhorst ... Noah Hacham 1. ...
,Sources and Interpretation in Ancient Judaism: Studies for Tal Ilan at Sixty (AJEC 104); Meron M. Piotrkowski, Geoffrey Herman and Saskia Dönitz (eds.), pp. 130-142, 2018
, A. Lange, E. Tov, M. Weigold (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages, and Cultures, vol. 1, (SVT 140/1), 2011
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this historical hypothesis should be rethought. Two new considerations – chronological and demographic – undermine Tcherikover’s view. Chronologically speaking, the new evidence demonstrates that Jews apparently lived in the Delta Quarter from at least the early Roman period and not only from the mid-first century CE onward. The demographic consideration is manifested in the finding that not only Jews lived there
and that the percentage of Jews in this quarter did not differ from that in other places of Jewish residence. Therefore, the fourth quarter of Edfu was neither a Jewish ghetto nor an exclusively Jewish neighborhood. Although many Jews lived there and are presumed to have been organized as a community with its own institutions, this was a common phenomenon of Jewish life in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, meaning that the community in the Delta Quarter was not special, let alone unique. The ‘ghettoʼ hypothesis is a projection of Medieval and modern reality onto antiquity.
this historical hypothesis should be rethought. Two new considerations – chronological and demographic – undermine Tcherikover’s view. Chronologically speaking, the new evidence demonstrates that Jews apparently lived in the Delta Quarter from at least the early Roman period and not only from the mid-first century CE onward. The demographic consideration is manifested in the finding that not only Jews lived there
and that the percentage of Jews in this quarter did not differ from that in other places of Jewish residence. Therefore, the fourth quarter of Edfu was neither a Jewish ghetto nor an exclusively Jewish neighborhood. Although many Jews lived there and are presumed to have been organized as a community with its own institutions, this was a common phenomenon of Jewish life in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, meaning that the community in the Delta Quarter was not special, let alone unique. The ‘ghettoʼ hypothesis is a projection of Medieval and modern reality onto antiquity.