When visiting the 4th-6th century synagogue at Chorazin, typically the question is asked “where is the synagogue that Jesus preached in?” Up until two years ago, the answer was, “we don’t know.”Carl also has an update post here with additional photos.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Korazim, the site of the ancient city of Chorazin, which is mentioned in the New Testament Gospels, see here and here.
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After destroying Jerusalem and taking the king captive, Nebuchadnezzar appoints Gedaliah, a former royal steward, as the governor of Judah. But Ishmael, a scion of the royal family, conspires with Baalis, king of Ammon, assassinates Gedaliah, and kills the Babylonian soldiers stationed in Judah. How did Nebuchadnezzar respond?As alway, I would advise robust skepticism concerning unprovenanced bullae.
The discovery of another stele of Pharaoh Apries (Hophra) was announced in 2021. I haven't heard any more about its decipherment.
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These really are tiny fragments, just a few centimetres! What is their significance?The tiny Geniza fragments in question appear to be from the lost Avodah Zarah tractate of the Yerushalmi.The Jerusalem Talmud wasn’t transmitted well, and there’s only one surviving complete copy of it – written in Italy at the end of the 13th century. It’s not a very good manuscript. The Genizah fragments are therefore very important for the textual history of the Yerushalmi. A couple of years ago, Yaacov Sussmann’s Ginze Yerushalmi was published, which brings together all the Genizah fragments of the Jerusalem Talmud. It’s an incredibly useful publication.
Cross-file under Jerusalem Talmud and Palestinian Talmud. For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Yerushalmi, start here and follow the links. And for many posts on Lost Books, start here and follow the links.
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The speakers are set, but most of the topics remain TBA. The sessions will take place on Zoom. Follow the link for details.
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MANISA, Turkey — A museum in western Turkey will soon exhibit artifacts from the largest known synagogue of the ancient world, uncovered fully after six decades of American-led excavations at what was once the seat of power of the fabulously rich King Croesus. ...For more on the Sardis synagogue, its current restoration, and the ancient Jewish community in Sardis, start here and follow the linksThe synagogue, 120 meters long and 18 meters wide, was the center of Jewish religious life at Sardis during the late Roman period. Nearby Jewish cemeteries of more recent ages are the testament of a long Jewish presence in the region. About 50,000 Jews lived in Ottoman western Anatolia in the mid-19th century, including 2,000 in and around Manisa. No Jewish population remains today after migration during the First and Second World Wars and after the creation of Israel.
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As regular readers are aware, the Ben Ezra Synagogue contains the Cairo Geniza, a major source of medieval Middle Eastern Jewish manuscripts.
To be clear — and the article isn't — the Geniza no longer contains those manuscripts. It was emptied in the late nineteenth century and the manuscripts were moved elsewhere, especially, but not exclusively, to Cambridge and New York.
For background on the Ben Ezra Synagogue and its restoration, see here and links.
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Leviticus 16 describes how the scapegoat ritual on Yom Kippur attains atonement for all of Israel’s sins, even acts of rebellion. Numbers 15, however, states that a person who sins unintentionally can bring an offering and be forgiven, but the person who sins intentionally is cut off from the people.
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Last year's post on Yom Kippur is here, with links to previous posts and one subsequent one. Biblical etc. background is here and links. For a recent post on the Akitu Festival, to which some have drawn parallels with Yom Kippur, see here.
UPDATE (5 October): More here.
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Published in English.
The Encyclopedia of Material Culture in the Biblical World (EBW) builds on the German »Standardwerk« Biblisches Reallexikon (BRL), edited by Kurt Galling 1937, second edition 1977 (2BRL). It is a reference book for biblical scholars, historians, and archaeologists. The EBW focusses on the material culture from the Neolithic Age to the Hellenistic period, giving attention to the material from the Bronze and Iron Ages, including the Persian period. The geographic regions covered by the entries include primarily the records of Palestine (= the Southern Levant) limited by (excl.) the southern fringe of Lebanon and Hermon (North), the Wadi al-Ariš, the Sinai peninsula and North-Arabia (South), the Mediterranean Sea (West) and the Transjordanian desert (East). If appropriate to the entry, the neighboring evidence from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Mesopotamia is included. The Encyclopedia presents and documents the material culture based on the archaeological, epigraphical, and iconographical data in historical order and documents the state of current research. The entries do not only list or mention the most important material data, but try to synthesize and interpret it within the horizon of a history of Southern Levantine culture, economy, technical development, art, and religion.
The EBW consists of around 120 articles and an introductory part pertaining to the chronology of the EBW, archaeology and cultural History, epigraphy, and iconography, written by specialists from 15 different countries.
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Routledge Handbook of Jewish Ritual and PracticeEdited By Oliver Leaman
Copyright Year 2022
Hardback
£190.00eBook
£35.99ISBN 9780367470128
Published July 8, 2022 by Routledge
618 Pages 42 B/W IllustrationsBook Description
Ritual and practice are some of the most defining features of religion, linked with its central beliefs. Discussing the wide range of Jewish ritual and practice, this volume provides a contemporary guide to this significant aspect of religious life and experience.
Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, this volume describes not only what takes place, but the reasons behind this and the implications both the theory and practice have for our understanding of Judaism. Organized in terms of texts, periods, practices, languages and relationships with the other, the book includes accounts of prayer, food, history, synagogues and the various legal and ideological debates that exist within Judaism with the focus on how they influence practice. Coming at a time of renewed interest in the role of the body in religion, this book aims to bring the theoretical and scriptural issues which arise in this area of Jewish life and culture up to date.
This volume is aimed at students and researchers working in Jewish studies specifically, and religious studies in general. Designed to be helpful to those on courses in relevant areas, especially in the United States, this book includes substantial bibliographical material.
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James Carleton Paget, Simon Gathercole, Celsus in his world: philosophy, polemic, and religion in the second century. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 350. ISBN 9781108832441 $99.00.Review by
Juraj Franek, Masaryk University. j.franek@mail.muni.czOn the face of it, the reviewed work is yet another collection of essays (and responses) derived from the papers presented by their respective authors at the 2018 conference Celsus in his World, organized by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge. Upon closer inspection, however, the volume successfully avoids the usual pitfalls of such undertakings and its individual contributors together with the editors, James Carleton Paget and Simon Gathercole, are to be congratulated for producing one of the best comprehensive volumes on Celsus in recent memory. ...
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