Books by Benjamin Williams
Commentary on Midrash Rabba in the Sixteenth Century: The Or ha-Sekhel of Abraham ben Asher, 2016
Papers by Benjamin Williams
Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2022
According to the mashal (parable) attributed to Shimʿon ben Yoḥai in Genesis Rabba 22:9, the murd... more According to the mashal (parable) attributed to Shimʿon ben Yoḥai in Genesis Rabba 22:9, the murder of Abel (Genesis 4:8–10) may be likened to a gladiator’s death in the arena. This article argues that the parable assumes the audience’s familiarity with gladiatorial shows, which came to an end in the early fifth century CE. Tracing the transmission of the mashal in Tanḥuma ha-Nidpas (Bereshit 9) and the earliest commentaries on Genesis Rabba, it further argues that the gladiatorial allusion was not understood after the demise of the games, and that the Tanḥuma’s version is a later reformulation. The preservation of the imagery in the earliest extant manuscripts of Genesis Rabba, despite the fact that it was not well-understood when they were produced, demonstrates the conservation of a reference to a late antique public institution in medieval copies and thus contributes to the knowledge of Genesis Rabba’s textual history.
Journal of Jewish Studies, 2022
The first systematic analyses of Hebrew grammar were composed by Rabbanite and Karaite scholars o... more The first systematic analyses of Hebrew grammar were composed by Rabbanite and Karaite scholars of the tenth and eleventh centuries, partly by drawing on the conventions of Arabic linguistics. However, certain technical grammatical terms, including the expressions leshon zakhar (‘masculine’) and leshon neqevah (‘feminine’), can be found in Midrashic and Talmudic texts. This article considers the grammatical knowledge underlying the rabbinic expositions. Points of comparison are sought in late-antique grammatical treatises and non-rabbinic interpretive works, including Philo’s commentaries and scholia on the Iliad and Aeneid, with particular attention to perceived relationships between grammatical gender and cultural gender norms. By differentiating this understanding of linguistic gender from those articulated in the commentaries and grammars of medieval Jewish scholars of the Muslim world, the article argues that the rabbinic expositions were shaped by grammatical concepts that are well attested in late-ancient Graeco-Roman textual scholarship.
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Christian Hebraism in Sixteenth-Century England: Robert and Thomas Wakefield, 2023
Drawing attention to the rendering of Psalm 77:6, "In the night I commune with mine own heart, an... more Drawing attention to the rendering of Psalm 77:6, "In the night I commune with mine own heart, and search out my spirits," he noted that, while the Prayer Book uses the first person throughout, the Hebrew ends with a third-person verb ("my spirit made diligent search" in the King James Version). Defending the Prayer Book by appealing to the Hebrew bible of Thomas Wakefield, who had added the first person form in Hebrew as an interlinear annotation, Johnson wrote, Here there is an Enallage of Person conceal'd; and so Tho. Wakefield, one of the first Masters of Hebrew in England, understood these words; for in a Bible, 1. On the establishment of this praelectorship, see Francis D. Logan, "The Origins of the So-Called Regius Professorships: An Aspect of the Renaissance in Oxford and Cambridge," in Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History, ed. Derek Baker (Oxford, 1977), 271-8. Note that Thomas referred to himself on the flyleaves of his manuscript Book of Hours (on which see Carley, "Robert and Thomas Wakefield: A Biographical Sketch" in this volume; also note 8 below) as "publicus Lector Regiae Lectionis hebraicae apud cantabrigiam" and also, before the names of his children, as ".. . Regii professoris hebraicae linguae in alma Achademia Cantabrigia." 2.
Studies in the Masoretic Tradition of the Hebrew Bible, 2022
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2017
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Bulletin of the John Rylands Library , 2016
Daniel Bomberg's 1525 edition of the Rabbinic Bible is a typographical masterpiece. It combines t... more Daniel Bomberg's 1525 edition of the Rabbinic Bible is a typographical masterpiece. It combines the text of the Hebrew Bible with Aramaic Targumim, medieval Jewish commentaries and the Masoretic textual apparatus. As testified by the numerous copies in the libraries of Jewish and Christian readers, this was a popular edition that remained in demand long after its publication. This article examines why and how readers studied the 1525 Rabbinic Bible by analysing the annotated copy now in the John Rylands Library (shelfmark: R16222). This particular copy furnishes detailed information about the reading habits of past owners, including early-modern Ashkenazi Jews and nineteenth-century English Hebraists. Studying how it has been used sheds light on why readers selected this edition and how they studied the apparatus and exegetical resources that Daniel Bomberg placed alongside the biblical text.
European Judaism, 2015
Midrashim were first published as printed texts in the sixteenth century, initially in Sephardi c... more Midrashim were first published as printed texts in the sixteenth century, initially in Sephardi communities of the Ottoman Empire and later at the famous Hebrew presses of Venice. Vital evidence about the study of these new books is furnished by a heavily annotated copy of Midrash Rabba (Venice, 1545) in the Bodleian Library. Handwritten marginal and interlinear notes show that it was studied by Jewish scholars of the Ottoman Empire and later by the celebrated orientalist and Church of England clergyman Edward Pococke. These glosses provide unique evidence of the interaction of a Christian scholar with the notes of an earlier Jewish reader in deciphering linguistic obscurities in the midrash and resolving textual errors. They therefore shed new light on how early printed books of midrash were read in the decades following their publication and on the study of rabbinic Bible interpretation in the early modern period.
Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries, 2020
Pococke's reproduction of Maimonides' diagram in his Commentary on Joel (Oxford: Printed at the T... more Pococke's reproduction of Maimonides' diagram in his Commentary on Joel (Oxford: Printed at the Theatre, 1691). Oxford, Bodleian Library, Printed book Locke 15.11a, unpaginated opening following the preface showing (verso) diagram of the temple and (recto) key to the diagram.
The Mishnaic Moment: Jewish Law among Jews and Christians in Early Modern Europe, 2022
Among the books owned by Edward Pococke (1604–91), Oxford’s Regius Professor of Hebrew and Laudia... more Among the books owned by Edward Pococke (1604–91), Oxford’s Regius Professor of Hebrew and Laudian Professor of Arabic, were numerous copies of the Mishnah with Maimonides’ Commentary, including a manuscript now known to have been annotated by Maimonides himself (Bodleian Library, MS Poc. 295). This chapter considers how Pococke studied these texts and whether he realised that he owned part of Maimonides’ working copy. An analysis of Pococke’s annotated books and published works shows that he acquired texts from Aleppo, studied the Mishnah under Rabbi Jacob Roman of Constantinople, used his copies of Maimonides’ Commentary to edit excerpts for publication (Porta Mosis, 1655), and deposited manuscripts at the press to serve as printers’ copy. Pococke’s incomplete knowledge of the transmission of Maimonides’ works and the caution with which he treated the autograph emendations in MS Poc. 295 suggest that the provenance of this manuscript was unknown.
Jewish Texts and their Readers in Early Modern Europe , 2016
Midrash Unbound: Transformations and Innovations , 2013
A Moment of Creativity and Innovation b enj amin w illiams W hen Midrash Rabbah was first printed... more A Moment of Creativity and Innovation b enj amin w illiams W hen Midrash Rabbah was first printed in the sixteenth century, ten midrashim of diverse chronological and geographical provenance were gathered together for the first time. Although these midrashim had circulated individually and in various combinations long before, there are no extant manuscripts of 'Midrash Rabbah' as a tenfold 'anthology of midrashim' 1 on the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot. Rather, this composite volume was the product of two intense waves of publication of books of Midrash and aggadah that took place in the sixteenth century. These found focus first in Constantinople and then in Venice. The midrashim of Midrash Rabbah were published in both these cities, and were later reprinted in Kraków and Salonica.
Melilah, 2015
Abraham ben Asher's Or ha-Sekhel, an exposition of Genesis Rabba, was published in Venice in 1567... more Abraham ben Asher's Or ha-Sekhel, an exposition of Genesis Rabba, was published in Venice in 1567. The author frequently interprets midrashim by listing and then harmonising series of "doubts" or "questions" (sefekot or she' 'elol) that: arise in the text. The present study analyses this mode of exegesis by examining Abraham ben Asher's interpret at ion of t he exposition of the Call of Abraham at Genesis Rabba 39:1. The midrash likens the biblical account (Genesis 12:1) to a wayfarer who, on seeing a burning building, asked whether anyone was in charge and was subsequently confronted by the owner. Thus Abraham asked whether anyone was in charge of the world and then received his divine mandate. Abraham ben Asher begins his interpretation with a startling observation: the midrash seems to imply that Abraham questioned the existence of God. In the harmonising interpretation that, follows, Abraham ben Asher reassures the reader that, the patriarch considered the nature of divine providence rather than God's existence. Nevertheless, as this paper argues, he deliberately led his audience to entertain the notion that Abraham once lacked a proper understanding of monotheism. This serves a rhetorical purpose, capturing the reader's interest in how the expositor will solve the problem he raised. By assailing readers with questions and then providing solutions, Abraham ben Asher also creates the impression that any uncertainties that may arise in the study of midrash will inevitably have satisfactory resolutions because t he sages' words can always be expounded so as to reveal harmonious and coherent interpretations.
Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society , 2015
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, 2024
Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, 2021
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Books by Benjamin Williams
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