Yitzhaq Feder
Biographic Data
| ID | 1422178 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Yitzhaq Feder |
| GIVEN NAMES | Yitzhaq |
| FAMILY NAME | Feder |
| SIGNATURE | FEDER Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Haifa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0164-8493 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Using AI to identify moral categories in ancient taboo lists
The past two decades have seen an emergence of sophisticated theories for understanding the multiplicity of concerns that characterize human morality. While these frameworks aspire to identify universal moral foundations, it is questionable whether they are adequately representing the full range of moral concerns present in non-Western societies. The present research sought to evaluate the potential of a bottom-up (data-driven) methodology for id…
The Transgression List in Šurpu Tablet IV and Its Sordid Moral Implications
Modern scholarship has become more attentive to the interrelation between performative and scholastic factors in the production of ancient Near Eastern ritual texts. This article aims to shed light on the compositional processes responsible for the integration of a list of transgressions into Šurpu Tablet 4. This analysis is facilitated by the identification of a close parallel from the Namerimburruda tradition. The comparison of these texts illu…
Approaching and Avoiding the Dead in Iron Age Israel: A Reexamination of the Textual and Archaeological Evidence
This article addresses the tension between approaching and avoiding the dead in ancient Israel, found both in the archaeological and biblical evidence. Its point of departure is a possible relationship between the prevalent tendency in the Iron Age southern Levant towards extramural burial (interment outside settlement boundaries) and attitudes regarding death in the Hebrew Bible, especially the concept of death pollution. By pursuing a reexamina…
Defilement, Disgust, and Disease: The Experiential Basis of Hittite and Akkadian Terms for Impurity
This article challenges the common tendency in modern research to treat impurity as a religious phenomenon divorced from mundane concerns. Employing the cross-cultural psychological notion of "contagion," this investigation examines the usage of terms for pollution and purity in Hittite and Akkadian as they relate to distinct domains of human experience, specifically uncleanness, infection, and transgression. Special attention is given to the use…
Moral Norm Formation and Transformation in Ancient Israel
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East: Lexical Meaning as a Projection of Embodied Experience
This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-world bodily experience. An examination of purity terms reveals that all of them can be related to a concrete sense pertaining to radiance (brilliance, br…
Contagion and Cognition: Bodily Experience and the Conceptualization of Pollution ( ṭumʾah ) in the Hebrew Bible
The mechanics of retribution in Hittite, Mesopotamian and Ancient Israelite sources
This paper reevaluates the anthropological theory, still common in Near Eastern studies, that the belief in gods represents a later evolutionary stage which emerged from the more primitive notion of impersonal forces and taboos. Against this conventional view, an analysis of scribal and literary conventions used in Mesopotamian, Hittite and Israelite texts to describe oath-curses and bloodguilt reveals a growing tendency to depict divine retribut…
Contagion and Cognition: Bodily Experience and the Conceptualization of Pollution ( ṭumʾah ) in the Hebrew Bible
The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East: Lexical Meaning as a Projection of Embodied Experience
This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-world bodily experience. An examination of purity terms reveals that all of them can be related to a concrete sense pertaining to radiance (brilliance, br…
The mechanics of retribution in Hittite, Mesopotamian and Ancient Israelite sources
This paper reevaluates the anthropological theory, still common in Near Eastern studies, that the belief in gods represents a later evolutionary stage which emerged from the more primitive notion of impersonal forces and taboos. Against this conventional view, an analysis of scribal and literary conventions used in Mesopotamian, Hittite and Israelite texts to describe oath-curses and bloodguilt reveals a growing tendency to depict divine retribut…
Contagion and Cognition: Bodily Experience and the Conceptualization of Pollution ( ṭumʾah ) in the Hebrew Bible
The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East: Lexical Meaning as a Projection of Embodied Experience
This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-world bodily experience. An examination of purity terms reveals that all of them can be related to a concrete sense pertaining to radiance (brilliance, br…
Moral Norm Formation and Transformation in Ancient Israel
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Defilement, Disgust, and Disease: The Experiential Basis of Hittite and Akkadian Terms for Impurity
This article challenges the common tendency in modern research to treat impurity as a religious phenomenon divorced from mundane concerns. Employing the cross-cultural psychological notion of "contagion," this investigation examines the usage of terms for pollution and purity in Hittite and Akkadian as they relate to distinct domains of human experience, specifically uncleanness, infection, and transgression. Special attention is given to the use…
Approaching and Avoiding the Dead in Iron Age Israel: A Reexamination of the Textual and Archaeological Evidence
This article addresses the tension between approaching and avoiding the dead in ancient Israel, found both in the archaeological and biblical evidence. Its point of departure is a possible relationship between the prevalent tendency in the Iron Age southern Levant towards extramural burial (interment outside settlement boundaries) and attitudes regarding death in the Hebrew Bible, especially the concept of death pollution. By pursuing a reexamina…
The Transgression List in Šurpu Tablet IV and Its Sordid Moral Implications
Modern scholarship has become more attentive to the interrelation between performative and scholastic factors in the production of ancient Near Eastern ritual texts. This article aims to shed light on the compositional processes responsible for the integration of a list of transgressions into Šurpu Tablet 4. This analysis is facilitated by the identification of a close parallel from the Namerimburruda tradition. The comparison of these texts illu…
Using AI to identify moral categories in ancient taboo lists
The past two decades have seen an emergence of sophisticated theories for understanding the multiplicity of concerns that characterize human morality. While these frameworks aspire to identify universal moral foundations, it is questionable whether they are adequately representing the full range of moral concerns present in non-Western societies. The present research sought to evaluate the potential of a bottom-up (data-driven) methodology for id…
History (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Biblical studies (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Ancient Near East History (4 works) · Hebrew Bible (4 works) · Ancient history (3 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (3 works)