Jewish religion, Greek philosophy and Islamic thought mold the philosophy and theology of Maimonides and characterize his work as an excellent example of the fruitful transfer of culture in the Middle Ages. The authors show various aspects of this cultural cross-fertilization, despite religious and ethnic differences. The studies promptthoughts on a question which is important for the present and the future: How may the different religions, cultures and concepts of knowledge continue to be conveyed in synthesis?

The volume publishes the lectures given at the July 2004 international...

Das Leben und Werk des Frankfurter Philosophen und christlichen Kabbalisten F. J. Molitor (1779-1860) wird vor dem Hintergrund seiner Auseinandersetzung mit dem Judentum hier zum ersten Mal systematisch entfaltet.

Molitor vertrat die Utopie der christlichen Kabbala, die in der judischen Esoterik die altesten Zeugnisse der gottlichen Offenbarung sucht. Seine mehr als 40 Jahre wahrende Auseinandersetzung mit der judischen Literatur brachte ihm gleichermaen die Bewunderung der intellektuellen Groen seiner Zeit wie Armut und soziale Isolation. Die Arbeit ordnet den bisher weitgehend...

Der Traktat Ketubot ("Ehevertrage") bespricht u.a. die schon bei Eheschlieung fur den Fall der Scheidung oder des Todes des Mannes ausgesetzte Summe, dazu allgemein die Pflichten des Manns und der Frau gegeneinander, den Besitz der Frau, das Erbrecht nach der Frau und die Rechte der Witwe. Der Traktat Nidda ("Unreinheit der Frau") regelt das Verhalten wahrend der Menstruation (vgl. Lev 15,19ff) und nach einer Geburt (Lev 12); weitere Themen sind die Lebensalter der Frau, Pubertat und verschiedene medizinische Fragen.

Der Text ist vokalisiert zur besseren Verstandlichkeit und um dem...

This book brings together historians, literature scholars, and archaeologists to explore how the integrated study of rabbinic texts and material culture increases our understanding of the complex nature of rabbinic culture. Steering away from 20th-century trends stressing disjunction between archaeology and rabbinic literature, this book seeks a more holistic approach, demonstrating the value of archaeology in contextualizing these texts.

Rabbinic midrash included Egyptian religious concepts. These textual images are compared to Egyptian culture. Midrash is analyzed from a cross-cultural perspective utilizing insights from the discipline of Egyptology. Egyptian textual icons in rabbinic texts are analyzed in their Egyptian context.
Rabbinic knowledge concerning Egypt included: Alexandrian teachers are mentioned in rabbinic texts; Rabbis traveled to Alexandria; Alexandrian Jews traveled to Israel; trade relations existed; Egyptian, as well as Roman and Byzantine, artifacts relating to Egypt.
Egyptian elements in the...

Volume 12 in the edition of the complete Jerusalem Talmud. Tractates Sanhedrin and Makkot belong together as one tractate, covering procedural law for panels of arbitration, communal rabbinic courts (in bare outline) and an elaborate construction of hypothetical criminal courts supposedly independent of the king's administration. Tractate Horaiot, an elaboration of Lev. 4:1-26, defines the roles of High Priest, rabbinate, and prince in a Commonwealth strictly following biblical rules.

The present volume is the eleventh in the series of the Jerusalem Talmud, the first in a three volume edition, translation, and commentary of the Fourth Order Neziqin.
The thirty chapters of Neziqin that deal with most aspects of Civil Law are usually divided into three parts, or gates, known as the First Gate, Bava qamma, the Middle Gate, Bava mesi a, and the Last Gate, Bava batra.

In contrast to the Babylonian Talmud, the treatment in the Jerusalem Talmud is fragmentary. The reason for this is a matter of controversy,...

The 19th century saw the rise of Biblical Criticism in German universities, culminating in Wellhausen's radical revision of the history of biblical times and religion. For German-Jewish intellectuals, the academic discipline promised emancipation from traditional Christian readings of Scripture - but at the same time suffered from what was perceived as anti-Jewish bias, this time in scholarly robes. "Reclaiming the Hebrew Bible" describes the German-Jewish strategies to cope with Biblical Criticism - varying from an enthusiastic welcome in the early decades, through modified adoption in...

In this volume of collected papers, acknowledged authorities in Jewish Studies mark the milestones in the development of the Jewish religion from ancient times up to the present. They also take full account of the interactions between Judaism and its ancient and Christian environment.

The renowned Viennese scholar Gunter Stemberger is honoured with this festschrift on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

Der geburtige Berliner Gershom Scholem (1897 - 1982), der 1923 nach Jerusalem emigrierte, wurde einer breiteren Offentlichkeit zunachst hauptsachlich als der Freund und Nachlaverwalter Walter Benjamins, als Schuler, Verehrer und Antipode Martin Bubers und als Kritiker Franz Rosenzweigs bekannt. Erst in den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde die ungewohnliche Breite und Tiefe seines Denkens zunehmend als herausragender Beitrag zur europaischen Geistesgeschichte erkannt. Heute gilt Scholem als einer der fuhrenden Intellektuellen Westeuropas und Amerikas und einer der wichtigsten Juden des 20....