The Image Of Bar Kokhba In Traditional Jewish Literature

Author : Richard G. Marks
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271041447
Total Pages : 245 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature written by Richard G. Marks and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2004-05-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marks' painstaking investigation into the figure of Bar Kokhba in traditional Jewish literature has indeed provided a corrective to those on both sides of the Zionist political spectrum and in doing so he has once again shown that historical investigations are often quite useful in elucidating and clarifying various modern debates.-Jewish Political Studies Review"This is a very significant contribution to both Jewish literature and history. The materials which Marks works through are well-known, but at many points he offers original interpretations. He provides a comprehensive synthesis of all the historical interpretations of Bar Kokhba."-Richard D. Hecht, University of California, Santa BarbaraBar Kokhba led the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 132-135 A.D., which resulted in massive destruction and dislocation of the Jewish populace of Judea. In early rabbinic literature, Bar Kokhba was remembered in two ways: as an imposter claiming to be the Messiah and as a glorious military leader whose successes led Rabbi Akiva, one of the great rabbinic authorities of Jewish tradition, to acclaim him the Messiah. These two earliest images formed the core of most later perceptions of Bar Kokhba, so that he became the prototypical false messiah and the paradigmatic rebel of Jewish history.The Image of Bar Kokhba in Traditional Jewish Literature is a history of the perceptions that later Jewish writers living in the fourth through seventeenth centuries formed of this legendary hero-villain whose actions, in their eyes, had caused enormous suffering and disappointed messianic hopes. Richard Marks examines each writer's account individually and in the context of its period, exploring particularly political and religious implications. He builds a history of images and looks at larger patterns, such as the desacralizing of traditional imagery. His findings raise timely political questions about Bar Kokhba's image among Jews today.

Author : Yaacob Dweck
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691189943
Total Pages : 498 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dissident Rabbi written by Yaacob Dweck and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revelatory account of a spiritual leader who dared to assert the value of rabbinic doubt in the face of messianic certainty In 1665, Sabbetai Zevi, a self-proclaimed Messiah with a mass following throughout the Ottoman Empire and Europe, announced that the redemption of the world was at hand. As Jews everywhere rejected the traditional laws of Judaism in favor of new norms established by Sabbetai Zevi, and abandoned reason for the ecstasy of messianic enthusiasm, one man watched in horror. Dissident Rabbi tells the story of Jacob Sasportas, the Sephardic rabbi who alone challenged Sabbetai Zevi's improbable claims and warned his fellow Jews that their Messiah was not the answer to their prayers. Yaacob Dweck's absorbing and richly detailed biography brings to life the tumultuous century in which Sasportas lived, an age torn apart by war, migration, and famine. He describes the messianic frenzy that gripped the Jewish Diaspora, and Sasportas's attempts to make sense of a world that Sabbetai Zevi claimed was ending. As Jews danced in the streets, Sasportas compiled The Fading Flower of the Zevi, a meticulous and eloquent record of Sabbatianism as it happened. In 1666, barely a year after Sabbetai Zevi heralded the redemption, the Messiah converted to Islam at the behest of the Ottoman sultan, and Sasportas's book slipped into obscurity. Dissident Rabbi is the revelatory account of a spiritual leader who dared to articulate the value of rabbinic doubt in the face of messianic certainty, and a revealing examination of how his life and legacy were rediscovered and appropriated by later generations of Jewish thinkers.

Author : Reuven Firestone
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199860319
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Holy War in Judaism written by Reuven Firestone and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Holy war, sanctioned or even commanded by God, is a common and recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible. Rabbinic Judaism, however, largely avoided discussion of holy war in the Talmud and related literatures for the simple reason that it became dangerous and self-destructive. Reuven Firestone's Holy War in Judaism is the first book to consider how the concept of ''holy war'' disappeared from Jewish thought for almost 2000 years, only to reemerge with renewed vigor in modern times. The revival of the holy war idea occurred with the rise of Zionism. As the necessity of organized Jewish engagement in military actions developed, Orthodox Jews faced a dilemma. There was great need for all to engage in combat for the survival of the infant state of Israel, but the Talmudic rabbis had virtually eliminated divine authorization for Jews to fight in Jewish armies. Once the notion of divinely sanctioned warring was revived, it became available to Jews who considered that the historical context justified more aggressive forms of warring. Among some Jews, divinely authorized war became associated not only with defense but also with a renewed kibbush or conquest, a term that became central to the discourse regarding war and peace and the lands conquered by the state of Israel in 1967. By the early 1980's, the rhetoric of holy war had entered the general political discourse of modern Israel. In Holy War in Judaism, Firestone identifies, analyzes, and explains the historical, conceptual, and intellectual processes that revived holy war ideas in modern Judaism.

Author : John Renard
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520258312
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fighting Words written by John Renard and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the critical issues in interreligious relations today is the connection, both actual and perceived, between sacred sources and the justification of violent acts as divinely mandated. Fighting Words makes solid text-based scholarship accessible to the general public, beginning with the premise that a balanced approach to religious pluralism in our world must build on a measured, well-informed response to the increasingly publicized and sensationalized association of terrorism and large-scale violence with religion. In his introduction, Renard provides background on the major scriptures of seven religious traditionsÑJewish, Christian (including both the Old and New Testaments), Islamic, BahaÕi, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Sikh. Eight chapters then explore the interpretation of select facets of these scriptures, focusing on those texts so often claimed, both historically and more recently, as inspiration and justification for every kind of violence, from individual assassination to mass murder. With its nuanced consideration of a complex topic, this book is not merely about the religious sanctioning of violence but also about diverse ways of reading sacred textual sources.

Author : Raphael Patai
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317471709
Total Pages : 1641 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions written by Raphael Patai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 1641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This multicultural reference work on Jewish folklore, legends, customs, and other elements of folklife is the first of its kind.

Author : James J. Bloom
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786460202
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Jewish Revolts Against Rome, A.D. 66-135 written by James J. Bloom and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first and second centuries A.D., the supremacy of the Roman Empire was aggressively challenged by three Jewish rebellions. The facts surrounding the initial uprising of A.D. 66-74 have been filtered through the biased accounts of Judeao Roman historian Flavius Josephus. Primary information regarding the subsequent Diaspora Revolt (A.D. 115-117) and the Bar Kochba Rebellion (A.D. 132-135) is limited to fragmentary anecdotes emphasizing the religious implications of the two insurrections. In contrast, this analytical history focuses objectively on the military aspects of all three Judean uprisings. The events leading up to each rebellion are detailed, while the nine appendices cover such topics as the nature and number of the Jewish rebels and the factual reliability of the controversial Josephus. One appendix hypothesizes an alternative history of the war between Jerusalem and Rome.

Author : Michael Terry
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135941572
Total Pages : 1768 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Reader's Guide to Judaism written by Michael Terry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-02 with total page 1768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reader's Guide to Judaism is a survey of English-language translations of the most important primary texts in the Jewish tradition. The field is assessed in some 470 essays discussing individuals (Martin Buber, Gluckel of Hameln), literature (Genesis, Ladino Literature), thought and beliefs (Holiness, Bioethics), practice (Dietary Laws, Passover), history (Venice, Baghdadi Jews of India), and arts and material culture (Synagogue Architecture, Costume). The emphasis is on Judaism, rather than on Jewish studies more broadly.

Author : William Horbury
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139991515
Total Pages : 652 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Jewish War under Trajan and Hadrian written by William Horbury and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-18 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two major Jewish risings against Rome took place in the years following the destruction of Jerusalem - the first during Trajan's Parthian war, and the second, led by Bar Kokhba, under Hadrian's principate. The impact of these risings not only on Judaea, but also on Cyrene, Egypt, Cyprus and Mesopotamia, is shown by accounts in both ancient Jewish and non-Jewish literature. More recently discovered sources include letters and documents from fighters and refugees, and inscriptions attesting war and restoration. Historical evaluation has veered between regret for a pointless bloodbath and admiration for sustained resistance. William Horbury offers a new history of these risings, presenting a fresh review of sources and interpretations. He explores the period of Jewish war under Trajan and Hadrian not just as the end of an era, but also as a time of continuity in Jewish life and development in Jewish and Christian origins.

Author : Eran Almagor
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004347720
Total Pages : 438 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Reception of Ancient Virtues and Vices in Modern Popular Culture written by Eran Almagor and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Ancient Virtues and Vices in Modern Popular Culture, Eran Almagor and Lisa Maurice offer a collection of chapters dealing with the reception of antiquity in modern popular media, and focusing on a comparison between ancient and modern sets of values.

Author : Cohen
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134400217
Total Pages : 178 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scroll Or the Sword ? written by Cohen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-02 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1997. The title of this book is derived from an ancient Jewish teaching, attributed to a certain Rabbi Eleazar of Modi'in, who lived in the land of Israel during the third century of the common era. As far as we know, Rabbi Eleazar was the first sage to take homiletic advantage of the alliteration of safra and saifa, Aramaic terms which literally translate (respectively) as 'a scroll' and 'a sword'. A plain reading of this text leaves no doubt that its author intended to project a figurative contrast between two distinct spheres of human endeavour.