Sages And Commoners In Late Antique Erez Israel

Stuart S. Miller addresses a number of issues in the history of talmudic Palestine that are at the center of contemporary scholarly debate about the role rabbis played in society. In sharp contrast to recent claims that the rabbis were a relatively small and insular group with little influence, this book demonstrates that their movement was both more expansive and diffuse than a mere counting of named rabbis suggests. It also underscores some of the dynamics that allowed rabbinic circles to spread their teachings and to ultimately consolidate into an effective and productive movement.Many overlooked terms and passages in which rabbis and the members of their circles appear in the Talmud Yerushalmi are investigated, and special attention is given to the identity of persons who are collectively referred to after their places of residence (Tiberians, Sepphoreans, Southerners, etc.) While the results confirm the insular nature of the interests of the rabbis, they also point to the definition and coherence that this insularity provided their movement. Therein lies the secret of the success of rabbinic Judaism, which never depended upon sheer numbers but rather on the internal strength and sense of purpose of rabbinic circles. Subjects that are considered include: rabbinic households, the identity of the 'ammei ha-'arez and their relationship to the rabbis, village sages and their connection to urban rabbis, and the venue of rabbinic teachings, instructions, expositions, pronouncements, and stories.

Stuart S. Miller addresses a number of issues in the history of talmudic Palestine that are at the center of contemporary scholarly debate about the role rabbis played in society. In sharp contrast to recent claims that the rabbis were a relatively small and insular group with little influence, this book demonstrates that their movement was both more expansive and diffuse than a mere counting of named rabbis suggests. It also underscores some of the dynamics that allowed rabbinic circles to spread their teachings and to ultimately consolidate into an effective and productive movement.Many overlooked terms and passages in which rabbis and the members of their circles appear in the Talmud Yerushalmi are investigated, and special attention is given to the identity of persons who are collectively referred to after their places of residence (»Tiberians,« »Sepphoreans,« »Southerners,« etc.) While the results confirm the insular nature of the interests of the rabbis, they also point to the definition and coherence that this insularity provided their movement. Therein lies the secret of the »success« of rabbinic Judaism, which never depended upon sheer numbers but rather on the internal strength and sense of purpose of rabbinic circles. Subjects that are considered include: rabbinic »households,« the identity of the 'ammei ha-'arez and their relationship to the rabbis, village sages and their connection to urban rabbis, and the venue of rabbinic »teachings,« »instructions,« »expositions,« »pronouncements,« and stories.

Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine brings together an international community of historians, literature scholars and archaeologists to explorehow the integrated study of rabbinic texts and archaeology increases our understanding of both types of evidence, and of the complex culture which they together reflect. This volume reflects a growing consensus that rabbinic culture was an “embodied” culture, presenting a series of case studies that demonstrate the value of archaeology for the contextualization of rabbinic literature. It steers away from later twentieth-century trends, particularly in North America, that stressed disjunction between archaeology and rabbinic literature, and seeks a more holistic approach.

The Sage in Jewish Society of Late Antiquity explores the social position of rabbis in Palestinian (Roman) and Babylonian (Persian) society from the period of the fall of the Temple to late antiquity. The author argues that ancient rabbinic sources depict comparable differences between Palestinian and Babylonian rabbinic relationships with non-Rabbis.

Stuart Miller examines the hermeneutical challenges posed by the material and literary evidence pertaining to ritual purity practices in Graeco-Roman Palestine and, especially, the Galilee. He contends that "stepped pools," which we now know were in use well beyond the Destruction of the Temple, and, as indicated by the large collection on the western acropolis of Sepphoris and elsewhere, into the Middle and Late Roman/Byzantine eras,must be understood in light of biblical and popular perspectives on ritual purity. The interpretation of the finds is too frequently forced to conform to rabbinic prescriptions, which oftentimes were the result of the sages' unique and creative, nominalist approach to ritual purity. Special attention is given to the role ritual purity continued to play in the lives of ordinary Jews despite (or because of) the loss of the Temple. Miller argues against the prevailing tendency to type material finds—and Jewish society––according to known groups (pre-70 C.E.: Pharisaic, Sadducaic, Essenic; post 70 C.E.: rabbinic, priestly, etc.). He further counters the perception that ritual purity practices were largely the interest of priests and argues against the recent suggestion that the kohanim resurfaced as an influential group in Late Antiquity. Building upon his earlier work on "sages and commoners," Miller claims that the rabbis emerged out of a context in which a biblically derived "complex common Judaism" thrived. Stepped pools, stone vessels, and other material finds are realia belonging to this "complex common Judaism." A careful reading of the rabbis indicates that they were acutely aware of the extent to which ritual purity rites pertaining to home and family life had "spread," which undoubtedly contributed to their intense interest in regulating them.

Papers from a conference held 2007, Princeton University.

"The papers collected in this volume shift the focus away from "heretics" and "heresy" to heresiological discourse, by contextualizing the late antique Jewish and Christian groups that produced our extant literature. The contributors to the volume draw from multiple literary corpora and genres, bringing a variety of late antique perspective to explore the discursive construction of the Other. They unravel ethnic identities, and re-create the multiple voices textured in the dialogue between the "orthodox" and "heretical" writers."--BOOK JACKET.

In this lexicon, Tal Ilan collects all the information on names of Jews in lands west of Palestine, in which Greek and Latin was spoken, and on the people who bore them between 330 BCE, a date which marks the Hellenistic conquest of East, and 650 CE, approximately the date when the Muslim conquest of East and the southern Mediterranean basin was completed. The corpus includes names from literary sources, but those mentioned in epigraphic and papyrological documents form the vast majority of the database. This lexicon is an onomasticon in as far as it is a collection of all the recorded names used by the Jews of the western Diaspora in the above-mentioned period. Tal Ilan discusses the provenance of the names and explains them etymologically, given the many possible sources of influence for the names at that time. In addition she shows the division between the use of biblical names and the use of Greek, Latin and other foreign names, and points out the most popular names. This book is also a prosopography since Ilan analyzes the identity of the persons mentioned therein. The lexicon is accompanied by a lengthy and comprehensive introduction that scrutinizes the main trends in name giving current at the time. A large part of it is devoted to the question of how one can identify a Jew in a mostly non-Jewish society.