Trotter, The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora: Jewish Practice and Thought during the Second Temple Period

Series:
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 192

Author: Jonathan Trotter

In The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora, Jonathan Trotter shows how different diaspora Jews’ perspectives on the distant city of Jerusalem and the temple took shape while living in the diaspora, an experience which often is characterized by complicated senses of alienation from and belonging to an ancestral homeland and one’s current home. This book investigates not only the perspectives of the individual diaspora Jews whose writings mention the Jerusalem temple (Letter of Aristeas, Philo of Alexandria, 2 Maccabees, and 3 Maccabees) but also the customs of diaspora Jewish communities linking them to the temple, such as their financial contributions and pilgrimages there.

Publication Date: 24 June 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-40985-9

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Postdocs for LXX project

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI: 2–3 POSTDOC­TORAL RE­SEARCH­ERS IN THE PRO­JECT THE SEP­TUAGINT AND ITS AN­CIENT VER­SIONS.

HT William Ross, who also gives some interesting background on the texts that the project is studying.

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Septuagint Song of Songs in French

WILLIAM ROSS: NEW VOLUME IN LA BIBLE D’ALEXANDRIE: SONG OF SONGS. It's good to have another volume in this series out.

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Jason’s Tomb

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: Jason’s Tomb (2nd Temple Period) (Carl Rasmussen).

Jason’s tomb is a beautiful funeral monument from the late Hellenistic – early Roman period. It was the tomb of a high priestly family that was forced out of Jerusalem in 172 B.C. (2 Maccabees 5:5-10) by their rival, Menelaus....

It is in West Jerusalem. Follow the link for photos.

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On digressions in the Talmud

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: Neither Less Than X nor More Than Y. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ minima and maxima decorate the memory palaces Talmudic rabbis built to sustain the oral tradition of Babylonian learning.

The reason why digressions are so common in the Talmud is that it began as an oral tradition, not a written text—a vast memorized accumulation of the debates held in the Babylonian academies. What look like digressions on the page usually served some mnemonic purpose. The appearance of a certain sage’s name, for instance, might trigger the recollection of his opinions on different subjects. Often, the common principle is grammatical: When a teaching that takes a certain verbal form arises in the Gemara, the sages will recount other, unrelated laws that happen to follow the same pattern.

This is a deployment of the catchword principle, which was also a major feature of ancient Jewish exegesis of scripture. It is also used often in the New Testament.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Larry Hurtado

LARRY HURTADO: Health Issues and Blogging. Larry shares sad news. The leukemia for which he was treated last year has returned. There is little that can be done in the way of treatment. He has signed off indefinitely from further blogging.

We wish Larry and his family all the best. They will be in our thoughts and prayers.

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Ezekiel's Merkavah anniversary 2019

TODAY IS THE 5TH OF TAMUZ: This Day in History – 5 Tamuz/July 8 (Harmodia).

In 3333, Yechezkel Hanavi received a nevuah at the river of Chebar about Maaseh Merkavah. That perek is read as the haftarah on Shavuos.

To unpack that, this is the anniversary of the prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel concerning Maaseh Merkavah, "the working of the chariot." This was a vision of the heavenly realm, some of its frightening denizens, and the throne of God and its occupant. It took place by the river Chebar in Babylonia in 593 BCE. The relevant biblical passage, Ezekiel chapter 1, is the prophetic synagogue reading on Shavuot. There are further details in the links below.

Past posts on this anniversary and on Ezekiel 1 and its mystical and cultural afterlife, are here and here. And this year's post from Shavuot is also relevant.

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Biblical Studies Carnival 161

ZWINGLIUS REDIVIVUS: The Incredibly Hot June Biblical Studies Carnival, Including Lots of Scandal Because of an Unprovenanced Manuscript…

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Babylon named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

HISTORICAL LANDMARK: Iraq celebrates naming Babylon a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was from the 4,300-year-old city that Nebuchadnezzar sent his vast army to Jerusalem to put down an uprising and bring the Jews back as slaves. (QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Times of Israel). This is a good development. I am sometimes hard on UNESCO, but they got this one right.

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Belated happy Cyril and Methodius Day 2019!

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: CZECHS MARK LEGACY OF GREEK MISSIONARIES CYRIL AND METHODIUS (Daniela Lazarová, Czech Radio). The work of Saints Cyril and Methodius, whose invention of the first Slavonic alphabet led to the preservation of much ancient literature that would otherwise have been lost, is celebrated by various traditions on 14 February, 24 May, and 5 July. Details here. Some of that ancient literature includes important Old Testament Pseudepgrapha. Details here and links.

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