- Early Christianity, Jewish - Christian Relations, Talmud, Rabbinics, Midrashic Literature, Late Antiquity, and 9 moreDesert Fathers, Midrash, History of Judaism In Antiquity, Rabbinic Literature, Babylonian talmud, Mishnah, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), Talmud and Rabbinics, and Rabbinic Judaismedit
- Michal Bar-Asher Siegal is a scholar of rabbinic Judaism. Her work focuses on aspects of Jewish-Christian interaction... moreMichal Bar-Asher Siegal is a scholar of rabbinic Judaism. Her work focuses on aspects of Jewish-Christian interactions in the ancient world, and compares between Early Christian and rabbinic sources. She is a faculty member at The Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and was an elected member of the Israel Young Academy of Sciences. Her first book is Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 2013, winner of the 2014 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award). Her second book is Jewish – Christian Dialogues on Scripture in Late Antiquity: Heretic Narratives of the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 2019, a finalist, National Jewish Book Award (2019).)edit
Stories portraying heretics (’minim’) in rabbinic literature are a central site of rabbinic engagement with the ‘other’. These stories typically involve a conflict over the interpretation of a biblical verse in which the rabbinic figure... more
Stories portraying heretics (’minim’) in rabbinic literature are a central site of rabbinic engagement with the ‘other’. These stories typically involve a conflict over the interpretation of a biblical verse in which the rabbinic figure emerges victorious in the face of a challenge presented by the heretic. In this book, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal focuses on heretic narratives of the Babylonian Talmud that share a common literary structure, strong polemical language and the formula, ‘Fool, look to the end of the verse’. She marshals previously untapped Christian materials to arrive at new interpretations of familiar texts and illuminate the complex relationship between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity. Bar-Asher Siegal argues that these Talmudic literary creations must be seen as part of a boundary-creating discourse that clearly distinguishes the rabbinic position from that of contemporaneous Christians and adds to a growing understanding of the rabbinic authors' familiarity with Christian traditions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Talmud, Early Christianity, Monastic Studies, Eastern Christianity, History of Religions, and 18 moreJewish - Christian Relations, Rabbinics, Syriac Studies, Rabbinic Literature, Monasticism, Bible, History of Monasticism, Sassanian Persia, Qumran, Rabbinic Literature, Syriac Patristic, Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, Desert Fathers, Greco-Roman World, Babylonian talmud, Apophthegmata Patrum, Comperative Religion, Sayings of the desert fathers, and History of Judaism In Antiquity
This volume is a festschrift in honor of Steven Fraade, the Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism at Yale University. The contributions to the volume, written by colleagues and former students of Professor Fraade, reflect many of... more
This volume is a festschrift in honor of Steven Fraade, the Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism at Yale University. The contributions to the volume, written by colleagues and former students of Professor Fraade, reflect many of his scholarly interests. The scholarly credentials of the contributors are exceedingly high. The volume is divided into three sections, one on Second Temple literature and its afterlife, a second on rabbinic literature and rabbinic history, and a third on prayer and the ancient synagogue.Contributors are Alan Applebaum, Joshua Burns , Elizabeth Shanks Alexander , Chaya Halberstam , John J. Collins, Marc Bregman, Aharon Shemesh, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Vered Noam, Robert Brody, Albert Baumgarten, Marc Hirshman, Moshe Bar-Asher, Aaron Amit, Yose Yahalom, Lee Levine, Jan Joosten, Daniel Boyarin, Charlotte Hempel, David Stern, Beth Berkowitz, Azzan Yadin, Joshua Levinson, Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal, Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Tzvi Novick, Devora Diamant, Richard Kalmin, Carol Bakhos, Judith Hauptman, Jeff Rubenstein, Martha Himmelfarb, Stuart Miller, Esther Chazon, James Kugel, Chaim Milikowsky, Maren Niehoff, Peter Schaefer, and Adiel Schremer.
Research Interests: Hebrew Language, Talmud, Prayer, Second Temple Judaism, Rabbinics, and 9 moreRabbinic Literature, Mishnaic Hebrew, Mishnah, Second Temple Period, Talmud Midrash Genizah Judaism Rabbinic-Literature Conversion Gender Haggadah, Cairo Genizah, Rabbinic Judaism, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), and Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity
Research Interests:
The development of the two religions: Christianity and Judaism, is a topic of much debate. Whereas Judaism and Christianity are known as separate religions, in fact, these two religions developed side by side. While earlier researchers... more
The development of the two religions: Christianity and Judaism, is a topic of much debate. Whereas Judaism and Christianity are known as separate religions, in fact, these two religions developed side by side. While earlier researchers conceptualized a "parting-of-the-ways," after which the two religions evolved independently, new studies reveal a multi-layered set of interactions throughout the first several centuries CE. Until recently, this question was explored with the limited source material and limited tools to analyze it. While working on a limited set of data, from a specific corpus, this project offers a new set of methodological tools, borrowed from computer sciences, that could ultimately serve for understanding the connections between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. We generated models of interreligious Christian-Jewish networks that demonstrate the scope, nature, and advantages of network analysis for revealing the complex intertwined evolution of the two religions. The Jewish corpora chosen for this research are rabbinic writings from late antique Babylonia and Palestine. Christian texts range from the first through sixth centuries CE. Instead of representing interactions between people or places, as is typically done with social networks, we model literary interactions that, in our view, indicate historical connections between religious communities. This novel approach allows us to visually represent sets of temporal-spatial-contextual relationships, which evolved over hundreds of years, in single snapshots. It also reveals new insights about the relationships between the two communities. For example, we find that rabbinic sources exhibit a largely polemical approach towards earlier Christian traditions but a non-polemical attitude towards later ones. Moreover, network analysis suggests a temporal-spatial familiarity correlation. Namely, Jewish sources are familiar with early, eastern Christian sources and with both Eastern and Western Christian sources in later periods. The application of network analysis makes it possible to identify the most influential texts-that is, the key "nodes"-testifying to the importance of certain traditions for both religious communities. Finally, the network approach is a tool for pointing scholarly research in new directions, which only reveals itself as a result of this type of mapping. In other words, the network not only describes the known data, but it is itself a way to enlarge the network and lead us down new and exciting paths that are currently unknown.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter explores connections between late antique Christian traditions
and rabbinic literature, with special emphasis on the Babylonian Talmud
and rabbinic literature, with special emphasis on the Babylonian Talmud
Research Interests:
The Rabbinic corpus is notoriously lacking in reflexive descriptions of the rabbinic period and its literary products. The rabbinic sources rarely explain what the rabbis were trying to do, and why; what the rabbinic corpora was meant to... more
The Rabbinic corpus is notoriously lacking in reflexive descriptions of the rabbinic period and its literary products. The rabbinic sources rarely explain what the rabbis were trying to do, and why; what the rabbinic corpora was meant to present. But a few sources do give us a glimpse into several reflexive depictions of the rabbinic project. One of the most well-known of these is the first tosefta in tractate Eduyot. The text is set, unusually, in a time and place: “when the rabbis entered Yavne,” and it contains three parts: a problem, biblical textual proof for the problem, and a solution enacted by the rabbis at Yavne. In other words, the text is explicitly set as describing a conscious change, a moment in time in which the rabbis had to deal with a problem, and decided to start some kind of a process. This was thus rightly seen as a uniquely self-reflexive text, describing the beginning of the rabbinic project itself. I offer a philological examination of the two versions of the tosefta, and identifying their respective difficulties, alongside a higher criticism approach to the content of the different parts of the tosefta, might contribute to more nuanced understanding of this rabbinic source. According to my reconstruction, the tosefta is using two different tannaitic sources to discuss the fear of future loss of the Torah, due to both blending of all teaching without markers of their origin, and due to lack of organizing and grouping of similar things in a way that facilitate their use.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
How we should translate the term min(im) in the Babylonian Talmud? The current scholarly trend is to avoid translating it altogether, using the transliteration instead. This article demonstrate that this practice hinders our ability to... more
How we should translate the term min(im) in the Babylonian Talmud? The current scholarly trend is to avoid translating it altogether, using the transliteration instead. This article demonstrate that this practice hinders our ability to understand the stories’ intended uses within Late Antique heresy-making discourses. The article surveys the scholarly debate concerning the correct way to understand stories involving minim in rabbinic literature; and it claims, that at least with regard to several of the minim stories in the Babylonian Talmud, it is necessary to translate the Hebrew term into English as “heretics.”
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Two sets of biblical verses deal with the Hebrew slave’s refusal to be set free at the end of his servitude (Exodus 21:5–6; Deuteronomy 15:16–17). I examine a series of derashot from Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael dealing with these two... more
Two sets of biblical verses deal with the Hebrew slave’s refusal to be set free at the end of his servitude (Exodus 21:5–6; Deuteronomy 15:16–17). I examine a series of derashot from Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael dealing with these two passages. I will claim that difficulties evident in this section stem from its derivative nature, and I will support this claim by showing that this passage is in fact using material from an earlier non-extant midrash on the parallel verses in Deuteronomy. The midrash in the Mekhilta adapts the earlier material in order to conform to the verses in Exodus, and demonstrates a Halakhic viewpoint that is in conflict with the midrash on Deuteronomy. The study has ramifications for wider scholarly issues, including the possibility of reconstructing lost midrashic material from later, reworked texts using careful philological examination and the findings of recent studies in the field of legal midrash.
Research Interests:
The use of sources outside the New Testament, from the writings of Qumran to those of the rabbis, can help clarify the semantic and theological field in which Matthew 5:22 should be understood. This article claims that the correct... more
The use of sources outside the New Testament, from the writings of Qumran to those of the rabbis, can help clarify the semantic and theological field in which Matthew 5:22 should be understood. This article claims that the correct interpretation of the Law stood at the center of arguments between different groups in the late Second Temple period and later; that the insults raka " empty " and mōre " fool " are connected to this polemical environment; and that it is within this setting that the Sermon on the Mount should be understood.
Matthieu 5 : 22 : L'insulte « insensé » et l'interprétation de la Loi dans les sources chrétiennes et rabbiniques Le recours à des sources extérieures au Nouveau Testament, depuis les manuscrits de Qumrân jusqu'à la littérature rabbinique, peut permettre de clarifier la nature du champ sémantique et théologique au sein duquel le verset 5 : 22 de l'Évangile selon Matthieu doit être compris. Cet article affirme que l'interprétation correcte de la Loi (mosaïque) figurait au coeur de disputes entre différents groupes juifs de la fin de la période du Second Temple et au-delà ; que les insultes raka (« vide ») et mōre (« insensé ») sont liées à ces polémiques ; et que c'est dans ce contexte que le Sermon sur la Montagne doit être replacé.
Matthieu 5 : 22 : L'insulte « insensé » et l'interprétation de la Loi dans les sources chrétiennes et rabbiniques Le recours à des sources extérieures au Nouveau Testament, depuis les manuscrits de Qumrân jusqu'à la littérature rabbinique, peut permettre de clarifier la nature du champ sémantique et théologique au sein duquel le verset 5 : 22 de l'Évangile selon Matthieu doit être compris. Cet article affirme que l'interprétation correcte de la Loi (mosaïque) figurait au coeur de disputes entre différents groupes juifs de la fin de la période du Second Temple et au-delà ; que les insultes raka (« vide ») et mōre (« insensé ») sont liées à ces polémiques ; et que c'est dans ce contexte que le Sermon sur la Montagne doit être replacé.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this article I wish to present a textual comparison between paragraphs in the rabbinic Avot deRabbi Natan and in the Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. I will argue that these passages in the two anthologies ,... more
In this article I wish to present a textual comparison between paragraphs in the rabbinic Avot deRabbi Natan and in the Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. I will argue that these passages in the two anthologies , rabbinic and Christian-monastic, share interesting features which will repay careful literary analysis. In this specific case, the comparison to the Christian-monastic text helps underline the textual process that shaped the two versions of the rabbinic text, a process that without this comparison would be difficult to reconstruct.1 In this article I wish to present a textual comparison between paragraphs in the rabbinic Avot deRabbi Natan and in the Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. I will argue that these passages in the two anthologies, rabbinic and Christian-monastic, share interesting features which will repay careful literary analysis. The analogies between these texts have the power to aid in our understanding of the two texts themselves through the process of " stereoscopic reading, " a term coined by Johan C. Thom for a method of reading that affords 1 This article picks up on a few sources already mentioned very briefly in my book (Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013]) and elaborates extensively on them. Rabbinic sources are quoted according to the manuscript version as found in Ma'agarim: The Historical Dictionary Project of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, online: http://maagarim.hebrew-academy.org.il/ Pages/PMain.aspx. The Apophthegmata Patrum is quoted in Greek based on the edition of Jacques P. Migne (PG 65:71–440) based on MS Paris Gr. 1599, and translated according to Ben-edicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection (Rev. ed.; Cistercian Studies Series 59; London: Mowbrays, 1981).
Research Interests: Talmud, Monastic Studies, Rabbinics, Rabbinic Literature, Byzantine monasticism, and 9 moreMonasticism, Desert Fathers, Rabbinic Judaism, Babylonian talmud, Apophthegmata Patrum, Sayings of the desert fathers, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), Talmud and Rabbinics, and Avot de-Rabbi Nathan
In Aramaic, the word עברא means ‘lock’ or ‘bolt’. We find the Hebrew use of this root in verbal form in one biblical verse, 1 Kings 6:21, where it means ‘to bolt’ or ‘to block’. This article suggests the identification of this rarer use... more
In Aramaic, the word עברא means ‘lock’ or ‘bolt’. We find the Hebrew use of this root in verbal form in one biblical verse, 1 Kings 6:21, where it means ‘to bolt’ or ‘to block’. This article suggests the identification of this rarer use of the verb עבר in three expressions in the rabbinic corpora. Understanding the verb עיבר in the D-stem, as well as the two expressions עיבור הדין and פרשת העיבור as tokens of this meaning of the verbal form, sheds light on their thus far difficult uses in the rabbinic context.
Research Interests:
In this paper I lay the following: I accept and build on the findings of 'lived religion' researchers concerning the polysemous and multi-vocal nature of modern-day religions. Following their conclusion, I assume a similar nature of... more
In this paper I lay the following: I accept and build on the findings of 'lived religion' researchers concerning the polysemous and multi-vocal nature of modern-day religions. Following their conclusion, I assume a similar nature of ancient religions, and offer a possible viewpoint on the cultural bricolage of late antique Jewish and Christian texts. While the project to salvage a thick description of 'lived religion' has some obvious and serious methodological difficulties, a consideration of the genre of literature examined might have ramifications on the question at hand. I suggest that when a religious tradition is transmitted in anthologies, as opposed to edited (or) single writer texts, it might better represent its multi-vocality. The use of anthologies, redacted over time, can offer better glimpses into the multi-vocality of late antique religious societies, if not in practice, but rather in views and beliefs.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Talmud, Jewish - Christian Relations, Rabbinics, Rabbinic Literature, Monasticism, and 6 moreRabbinic Literature, Syriac Patristic, Babylonian talmud, Midrash, Talmud, Comparative study of Rabbinic Literature, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), Talmud and Rabbinics, and Resh Lakish
Research Interests:
Mishnah Ḥagigah 1:8 provides three categories for conceptualizing the relationship between various rabbinic laws and Scripture: (1) laws flying in the air with nothing to lean on; (2) laws akin to “mountains hanging by a strand, since... more
Mishnah Ḥagigah 1:8 provides three categories for conceptualizing the relationship between various rabbinic laws and Scripture: (1) laws flying in the air with nothing to lean on; (2) laws akin to “mountains hanging by a strand, since they are little Scripture and many laws,” and (3) laws having “upon what to lean, and it is they that are the bodies of the Torah.” This article examines this self-reflection as to the nature of the rabbinic halakhic system and offers a new understanding of its content, focusing mostly on a philological examination of the enigmatic
metaphor of “mountains hanging by a strand.”
metaphor of “mountains hanging by a strand.”