On The Boundaries Of Talmudic Prayer

The English term "prayer" is usually understood as communication with God or the gods. Scholars of Jewish ritual until now have accepted this characterization and applied it to Jewish tefillah. Does rabbinic prayer indeed necessarily entail second-person address to God, as many scholars of rabbinic prayer to this point have presumed? In this work, Yehuda Septimus investigates a boundary phenomenon of talmudic prayer - ritual speech with addressees other than God. The book represents a fresh look at the possible range of performances undertaken by talmudic ritual prayer. Moreover, it places that range of performances into the historical context of the rapid emergence of prayer as the centerpiece of Jewish worship in the first half of the first millennium CE.

The contributors and editors dedicate this volume of research to Professor Stefan C. Reif on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Together these twenty papers reflect our appreciation for his exemplary scholarship and lifelong commitment to acquaint our world with the theological and cultural riches of Jewish Studies. This collection reflects the breadth of Prof. Reif’s interests insofar as it is a combination of Second Temple studies and Jewish studies on the roots of Jewish prayer and liturgy which is his main field of expertise. Contributions on biblical and second temple studies cover Amos, Ben Sira, Esther, 2 Maccabees, Judith, Wisdom, Qumran Psalms, and James. Contributions on Jewish studies cover nuptial and benedictions after meals, Adon Olam, Passover Seder, Amidah, the Medieval Palestinian Tefillat ha-Shir, and other aspects of rabbinic liturgy. Moreover, the regional diversity of scholars from Israel, continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland and North America mirrors Stefan’s travels as a lecturer and the reach of his publications. The volume includes a foreword of appreciation and a bibliographic list of Professor Reif's works.

Time in the Babylonian Talmud explores how rabbinic jurists' language, reasoning, and storytelling reveal their assumptions about what we call time.

This book offers new perspectives on animals and animality from the vantage point of the rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud.

"This book investigates the history of a popular genre of Sanskrit devotional poetry in Kashmir: the stotra, or hymn of praise. Focusing on literary hymns from the eighth century to the twentieth, it studies the close link between literary and religious expression in South Asia--the relationship between poetry and prayer"--

In this collection of essays, Professor Zahavy explores the origins and early history of prayer in Judaism. He examines the growth of rabbanic liturgy from immediately after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE until the close of the Talmud of the Land of Israel. Zahavy shows how rabbanic rules for prayer reflect the historical circumstances of the Jews in late antique Israel. He argues, based on close textual analysis, that rabbis had little influence over the governance of synagogues in the first and second centuries.

An introduction to the Talmud describes such topics as its contents, the relationship between science and medicine and Talmudic philosophy, the Talmudic lifestyle, and blessings found in the Talmud

The Bible shaped nearly every aspect of Jewish life in the ancient world, from activities as obvious as attending synagogue to those which have lost their scriptural resonance in modernity, such as drinking water and uttering one's last words. And within a scriptural universe, no work exerted more force than the Psalter, the most cherished text among all the books of the Hebrew Bible. A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity clarifies the world of late ancient Judaism through the versatile and powerful lens of the Psalter. It asks a simple set of questions: Where did late ancient Jews encounter the Psalms? How did they engage with the work? And what meanings did they produce? A. J. Berkovitz answers these queries by reconstructing and contextualizing a diverse set of religious practices performed with and on the Psalter, such as handling a physical copy, reading from it, interpreting it exegetically, singing it as liturgy, invoking it as magic and reciting it as an act of piety. His book draws from and contributes to the fields of ancient Judaism, biblical reception, book history and the history of reading.