A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 1: Zebahim: Translation and Explanation

Jacob Neusner

Wipf and Stock Publishers, Apr 1, 2007 - Religion - 282 pages

The history of Jews from the period of the Second Temple to the rise of Islam.
From 'A History of the Mishnaic Law of Appointed Times, Part 1'
This volume introduces the sources of Judaism in late antiquity to scholars in adjacent fields, such as the study of the Old and New Testaments, Ancient History, the ancient Near East, and the history of religion. In two volumes, leading American, Israeli, and European specialists in the history, literature, theology, and archaeology of Judaism offer factual answers to the two questions that the study of any religion in ancient times must raise. The first is, what are the sources -- written and in material culture -- that inform us about that religion? The second is, how have we to understand those sources in reconstructing the history of various Judaic systems in antiquity. The chapters set forth in simple statements, intelligible to non-specialists, the facts which the sources provide. Because of the nature of the subject and acute interest in it, the specialists also raise some questions particular to the study of Judaism, dealing with its historical relationship with nascent Christianity in New Testament times. The work forms the starting point for the study of all the principal questions concerning Judaism in late antiquity and sets forth the most current, critical results of scholarship.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Zebahim Chapter One: 12
• Zebahim Chapter Two: 23
• Zebahim Chapter Three: 47
• Zebahim Chapter Four: 64
• Zebahim Chapter Five: 91
• Zebahim Chapter Six: 104
• Zebahim Chapter Seven: 119
• Zebahim Chapter Eight: 137
• Zebahim Chapter Nine: 169
• Zebahim Chapter Ten: 181
• Zebahim Chapter Eleven: 191
• Zebahim Chapter Twelve: 201
• Zebahim Chapter Thirteen: 216
• Zebahim Chapter Fourteen: 234
• Index: 254

About the author

Jacob Neusner was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 28, 1932. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard University in 1953. He studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he was ordained a Conservative rabbi and received a master's degree in Hebrew letters in 1960. He also received a doctorate in religion from Columbia University. He taught at Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the University of South Florida before joining the religion department at Bard College in 1994. He retired from there in 2014. He was a religious historian and one of the world's foremost scholars of Jewish rabbinical texts. He published more than 900 books during his lifetime including A Life of Yohanan ben Zakkai; The Way of Torah: An Introduction to Judaism; Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah; Strangers at Home: The 'Holocaust,' Zionism, and American Judaism; Translating the Classics of Judaism: In Theory and in Practice; Why There Never Was a 'Talmud of Caesarea': Saul Lieberman's Mistakes; and Judaism: An Introduction. He wrote The Bible and Us: A Priest and a Rabbi Read Scripture Together with Andrew M. Greeley and A Rabbi Talks with Jesus with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI. He also edited and translated, with others, nearly the entirety of the Jewish rabbinical texts. He died on October 8, 2016 at the age of 84.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A History of the Mishnaic Law of Holy Things, Part 1: Zebahim: Translation and Explanation; Volume 23 of Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
• Editor: Jacob Neusner
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007
• ISBN: 1556353499, 9781556353499
• Length: 282 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Judaism / General; Religion / Judaism / Rituals & Practice; Religion / Judaism / Theology