ANNOUNCEMENT OF A RABBINICS CONFERENCE:

Beit Morasha of Jerusalem - Robert M. Beren College
The Institute for the Study of Rabbinic Thought
Invites the public to attend its Sixth Annual Conference:

How Formative are Polemics to
Rabbinic Thought?

Sunday-Wednesday, December 21-24, 2003
Beit Morasha of Jerusalem, Kiryat Moriah Campus
Talpiot, Jerusalem
For further details please contact: hazal@bmj.org.il

Sunday, December 21
9:30-11:30 Joshua Schwartz (Bar-Ilan University), Chair
Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Beit Morasha), Polemicomania - Methodological Reflections on the Place of Christian-Jewish Polemic in Rabbinic Thought
Reuven Kimelman (Brandeis University), When Are Things Polemical and When Are They Self-Affirmation?

12:00-14:00 Jonah Fraenkel (Hebrew University), Chair
Yaakov Elboim (Hebrew University), Polemics, Disputes and Constant Truths In Urbach's The Sages
Vered Noam (Tel-Aviv University), The Excommunication of R. Eliezer - Between Dispute and Polemics
Yehuda Brandes (Beit Morasha), Fictive Polemics as Representation of Others' Halakhic Opinions

Monday, December 22
9:30-11:30 Daniel Schwartz (Hebrew University), Chair
Ruth Clemens (Orion Center), Lifting Moses' Elbows; or, How Do You Know a Counter-Interpretation When You See One?"
Ron Reissberg (University of Judaism), A Tale of Two Cities: From Caesarea to Nisibis, The Christian Impact on Rabbinic Theology
Ido Hevroni (Bar-Ilan University), Tempting Satan: Multi-Layered Polemic in a Talmudic Story

12:00-14:00 Galit Hasan-Rokem, (Hebrew University), Chair
Israel J. Yuval (Hebrew University), 'All Israel Have a Share in the World to Come' - The Limits of Polemical Interpretation
Gavriel Barzilei (Bar-Ilan University), Anti-Samaritan Polemic in the Early Exegesis of Genesis
Amram Tropper (Hebrew University), Polemic Readings of Tractate Avot: Methodological Considerations

Tuesday, December 23
9:30-11:30 Daniel Sperber (Beit Morasha & Bar-Ilan University), Chair
Avraham Wallfish (Herzog College), Explicit and Implicit Polemics in the Mishna and their Philosophical Implications
Harry Fox (University of Toronto), Explicit and Implicit Polemics in the Amida: A Reconsideration
Avigdor Shinan (Hebrew University), Internal or External Polemics? The Prophet Jonah in the House of R. Yohanan

12:00-14:00 Chana Safrai (Hebrew University), Chair
Tal Ilan (Freie Universit�t, Berlin), Jesus and Joshua b. Perahia: A Jewish- Christian Dialogue on Magic
Eyal Regev (Bar-Ilan University), Anti-Sadducee Polemics as a Shaping Factor in Rabbinic Halakhic Thought
Meir Bar-Ilan (Bar-Ilan University), Polemics between Priests and Sages in the First Century C.E.

Wednesday, December 24
9:30-11:30 Joshua Levinson (Hebrew University), Chair
Chaim Milikowksy (Bar-Ilan University), Concealed Polemics in Seder Olam
Rina Lapidus (Bar-Ilan University), Parallel and Allegory in Rabbinic Polemics
Tamar Meir (Bar-Ilan University), The Live Dog and Dead Lion: An Inter-Cultural Confrontation Concerning the Concept of Leadership

12:00-14:00 Shlomo Naeh (Hebrew University), Chair
Menahem Kister (Hebrew University), A Polemic on the Conquest of Canaan
Gilad Sasson (Bar-Ilan University), Rabbinic Criticism of the Patriarchs in Light of the Jewish-Christian Polemic
Isaiah Gafni (Hebrew University), Rabbinic Representations of the Past - a Counter-Reaction?