Jewish Communities In Asia Minor

The book provides an invaluable and coherent description of the life of Jewish communities in Asia Minor.

The book is depicting the Jewish Diaspora in the Roman Imperial period

What was life like for Jews settled throughout the Mediterranean world of Classical antiquity--and what place did Jewish communities have in the diverse civilization dominated by Greeks and Romans? In a probing account of the Jewish diaspora in the four centuries from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Near East to the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 C.E., Erich Gruen reaches often surprising conclusions. By the first century of our era, Jews living abroad far outnumbered those living in Palestine and had done so for generations. Substantial Jewish communities were found throughout the Greek mainland and Aegean islands, Asia Minor, the Tigris-Euphrates valley, Egypt, and Italy. Focusing especially on Alexandria, Greek cities in Asia Minor, and Rome, Gruen explores the lives of these Jews: the obstacles they encountered, the institutions they established, and their strategies for adjustment. He also delves into Jewish writing in this period, teasing out how Jews in the diaspora saw themselves. There emerges a picture of a Jewish minority that was at home in Greco-Roman cities: subject to only sporadic harassment; its intellectuals immersed in Greco-Roman culture while refashioning it for their own purposes; exhibiting little sign of insecurity in an alien society; and demonstrating both a respect for the Holy Land and a commitment to the local community and Gentile government. Gruen's innovative analysis of the historical and literary record alters our understanding of the way this vibrant minority culture engaged with the dominant Classical civilization.

In 'Private Associations and Jewish Communities in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities', Benedikt Eckhardt brings together a group of experts to investigate a problem of historical categorization. Traditionally, scholars have either presupposed that Jewish groups were "Greco-Roman Associations" like others or have treated them in isolation from other groups. Attempts to begin a cross-disciplinary dialogue about the presuppositions and ultimate aims of the respective approaches have shown that much preliminary work on categories is necessary. This book explores the methodological dividing lines, based on the common-sense assumption that different questions require different solutions. Re-introducing historical differentiation into a field that has been dominated by abstractions, it provides the debate with a new foundation. Case studies highlight the problems and advantages of different approaches.

The studies in this volume examine the unique communal patterns among Jews and Christians within Roman civic culture and their diverse responses to shared challenges under Imperial rule.

"Ntroduction Steven J. Katz; 1. Social, political and economic life in the land of Israel, 70-c.235 Seth Schwartz; 2. The Diaspora from 66-c.235: (a) The Jews in Egypt and Cyrenaica, 66-c.235 Allen Kerkeslager; (b) Jews in Carthage and western north Africa, 70-c.235 Claudia Setzer; (c) The Jews in Asia Minor, 70-c.235 Paul Trebilco; (d) The Jews in Babylonia, 70-c.235 David Goldblatt; 3. The uprising in the Jewish Diaspora, 115-117 Miriam Pucci Ben Zeev; 4. The Bar Kochba Revolt, 132-135 Hanan Eshel; 5. The legal status of Jews in the Roman empire Amnon Linder; 6. Jewish art and architecture in the land of Israel, 70-c.235 Eric M. Meyers; 7. The destruction of the Jerusalem temple: its meaning and its consequences Robert Goldenberg; 8. The origins and development of the rabbinic movement in the land of Israel Hayim Lapin; 9. The canonical process James A. Sanders; 10. The beginnings of Christian anti-Judaism, 70-c.235 Peter Richardson; 11. The rabbinic response to Christianity Steven T. Katz; 12. The Mishnah David Kraemer; 13. The Tosefta Paul Mandel; 14. Midrash Halachah Jay M. Harris; 15. Mishnaic Hebrew Moshe Bar-Asher; 16. The political and social history of the Jewish community in the land of Israel, c.235-638 David Goldblatt; 17. The material realities of Jewish life in the land of Israel, 235-c.638 Joshua J. Schwartz; 18. Aramaic in late antiquity Yochanan Breuer; 19. The Diaspora c.235-638: (a) The Jews of Italy, c.235-638 Leonard Victor Rutgers; (b) The Jews of Spain, c.235-638 Scott Bradbury; 20. Jewish archaeology in late antiquity: art, architecture and inscriptions Lee Levine; 21. Jewish festivals in late antiquity Joseph Tabory; 22. Rabbinic prayer in late antiquity Reuven Kimelman; 23. Rabbinic views on marriage, sexuality and the family Michael L. Satlow; 24. Women in Jewish life and law Tal Ilan; 25. Gentiles in rabbinic thought David Novak; 26. The formation and character of the Jerusalem Talmud Leib Moscovitz; 27. Late Midrashic Paytanic and Targumic literature Avigdor Shinan; 28. Jewish magic in late antiquity Michael D. Swartz; 29. Jewish folk literature in late antiquity Eli Yassif; 30. Early forms of Jewish mysticism Rachel Elior; 31. The political, social and economic history of Babylonian Jewry, c.235-638 Isaiah M. Gafni; 32. The history of Babylonian academics David Goldblatt; 33. The formation and character of the Babylonian Talmud Richard Kalmin; 34. Talmudic law: a jurisprudential perspective Hanina Ben Menahem; 35. Torah in rabbinic thought: the theology of learning Marc Hirshman; 36. Man, sin and redemption in rabbinic thought Steven T. Katz; 37. The rabbinic theology of the physical: blessings, body and soul, resurrection, covenant and election Reuven Kimelman; 38. Christian anti-Judaism: polemics and politics Paula Fredriksen and Oded Irshai; 39. Jews in Byzantium Steven Bowman; Appendix A: Justinian and the revision of Jewish legal status Alfredo Mordechai Rabello; 40. Messianism and apocalypticism in rabbinic texts Lawrence H. Schiffma.

Explores the growth of Christianity in inland Roman Asia, as cities and rural communities moved away from polytheistic Greco-Roman religion.

The Jewish communities of East and Southeast Asia display an impressive diversity. Jonathan Goldstein focuses on transnational Jewish identity in seven of this area’s largest cities: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and Surabaya. He emphasizes five factors which influenced the formation of Jewish transnational identity in these places: memory, colonialism, regional nationalism, socialism, and Zionism.