Medieval Stories, Medieval People: Jewish Narratives in Context

2012

חיבור זה עוסק ביחסי הגומלין שבין היהדות, ובאופן קונקרטי – ההלכה, לבין שיח זכויות האדם. למושג זכויות האדם כמה משמעויות. הספר מבקש לאמץ כאן דרך ביניים המכירה בכך שזכויות האדם הן גורם מתווך בין ערכים לבין חובות, או, מנקודת מבט תרבותית, דרך ביטוי פרטיקולרית למערכת ערכים העומדת בבסיס זכויות אלו. ליהדות פנים רבות. החיבור מתמקד בהופעתה הנורמטיבית – בהלכה. טענתי היא שהשיח ההלכתי מתאפיין במערכת ערכים המשפיעה על ההכרעות הניתנות במסגרתו, כמו גם על אופיו ועיצובו. השפעה זו מתבטאת לעתים בגלוי, אך לרוב באופן סמוי, כגורם בעל השפעה בתהליך הפרשני. ברובד הסמוי, העקיף לעתים, יש מכנה משותף רחב מאוד בין היהדות לבין זכויות האדם, והוא מתבטא בשורשים המניעים את המערכות הללו, כל אחת בדרכה. הפרק המצורף לדוגמא - המפגש הסמוי: שיקולים מוסריים כשיקולים פרשניים מנחים.

יוסף טובי נגינה וכלי נגינה בשירת החול העברית בספרד: שיר השבח של יוסף אבן צדיק לכבוד יצחק אבן ברון, דפים למחקר בספרות 16-17 (תשסט) 101-137

Medieval Arabic sources attest that Arabic poetry, especially the muwaššaḥāt, were performed in the courts of the kings with music, usually by the qaynah (pl. qiyān), the captive female slave, specifically educated and raised to be a singer, music player and dancer at the courtly banquets. No wonder, then, that this character of the qaynah frequently appears in medieval Arabic poetry, in particular that of Andalusia. The regular musical instrument used at these banquets was the lute (Ar. al-'ūd; Heb. kinnor or nevel). This object was highly esteemed in Arabic literature and was considered the foremost musical instrument. From the mid-tenth century Hebrew secular verse in Andalusia adopted the theme of music, and in fact reflected all its details as they appear in Arabic poetry. The present paper surveys in detail the occurrences of music in all its aspects in Andalusian Hebrew poetry, from Dunaš ben Labrạt at the court of Ḥisday ben Šaprūt in Cordova in the third quarter of the ...

talk given at the World Congress of Jewish Stuies, 2013

Cooking and the male gaze: Tamar as viewed by Lucius (II Samuel 13 and Apuleus' Golden Ass 2:7). A comparison of two texts from the Ancient World that refer to a similar cooking activity by a woman in the context of male erotic reaction to it. The texts are not related to each other as a literary tradition; however, the similarities in the everyday activity portrayed in both allow them to illuminate each other to the modern reader.

Preface "Faith, liberty, friendship, chief blessings of the human mind" (Tacitus) "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me." (Emo Philips) "He who believes does not know he believes. He who knows he believes does not believe" (Joshua Sobol) Oren Hasson opens his discussion of the "Evolution of God" with a quote from Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking Glass, according to which: …the Queen tells Alice that she is "'just one hundred and one, five months and a day.' 'I can't believe that!' said Alice. 'Can't you?' the Queen said in a pitying tone. 'Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.' Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.'" In Centro IV x* Alice was wrong, of course. We believe in many highly improbable things. Sometimes it even seems to us, especially when we contemplate the beliefs of others, that the more impossible things are, the more easily we are persuaded to believe in them. Pay attention what people believe or believed: according to the Papago native American tribe, living in Arizona, out of the primordial chaos was born a child named 'First Born'. He created the earth with the help of song-a motif of sacred importance among the native Americans. 'First Born' only created the sun after the explicit request of humans, who wanted to see one another and live in peace with one another. The Greeks believed that the Titans created the world, that Prometheus created humans and became their patron, and they also believed that the first woman, Pandora, was created by Hades, god of the volcano and the underworld. The statement about the social role of man and woman in our world is deeply embedded and emphasized in this creation narrative. The god Ngāi, who resides atop Mount Kenya, promised the promised land, namely, the highlands of Kenya, with its fertile lands, to the chosen people, the Kikuyu tribe. Most believers in a singular God believe that his son, Jesus, born of a virgin, is the Messiah who brought redemption to the world and that there is none beside him. Hundreds of millions of others believe that God changed his covenant with the descendants of Abraham for the sake of his covenant with the prophet Muhammad. A negligible minority of monotheistic believers are more optimistic, still hoping that the Messiah has not yet come and that there is still room to expect a better world. An even smaller minority within this minority was more precise in its expectations and believed that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah, and behold, the end of days is upon us. Many of these believers continued to believe this even when the rabbi was on his deathbed, and many of them still believe

Hebrew; Ph. D. diss., The Hebrew University of …, 2002

The Third Book of Maccabees is not considered to have great historical or literary value and, therefore, has not frequently been discussed in the literature. Moreover, even despite the growing academic preoccupation with Jewish Hellenistic literature, this book has remained marginal. The purpose of this study is to examine the historical significance of III Maccabees, that is to determine its place from the point of view of the Weltanschauungen prevalent in Hellenistic Jewry and the historical context in which it was composed. The basic assumption of the study is that the preliminary stage in a historical discussion of any written source, be it historiographic or fictional, is the examination of its nature and its goals. Hence, literary analysis of III Maccabees must proceed before any historical conclusions may be reached.

In the Highland's Depth, 2022

SSRN Electronic Journal

New studies in the archaeology of Jerusalem and its region , 2022

Summary of the excavations work done in the IAA Jerusalem District during 2022.

From the Margins to the Fore? Religious Zionism and Israeli Society, edited by Yair Sheleg, 2018