Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Biographic Data
| ID | 1441647 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ishay Rosen-Zvi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ishay |
| FAMILY NAME | Rosen-Zvi |
| SIGNATURE | ROSEN-ZVI I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tel Aviv University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0921-6679 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Rabbis as Nomikoi? Questioning a New Paradigm
In recent years, a new generation of Talmud scholars rediscovered Roman law as a valuable comparative tool. In addition to localized comparisons, several broad syntheses have been offered by scholars regarding Roman law and rabbinic halakhic thinking. In his article in this issue, “The Rabbinic Movement from Pharisees to Provincial Jurists” (doi: 10.1163/15700631-bja10070), Yair Furstenberg offers to explain the rise of the field of civil law in …
Between Wisdom and Apocalypse
Chapters 10–15 in Tosefta Soṭah contain the longest, most elaborated aggadic unit in the Tosefta. It comprises various units that seem to be connected only loosely: the biblical righteous figures who brought abundance to the world (chs. 10–12); various revelations and appearances of the holy spirit and divine echo (ch. 13); and the effects of the destruction and the calamities of the present (chs. 14–15). In this article I argue that it forms in …
The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
One of the central concepts in rabbinic Judaism is the notion of the Evil Inclination, which appears to be related to similar concepts in ancient Christianity and the wider late antique world. The precise origins and understanding of the idea, however, are unknown. This volume traces the development of this concept historically in Judaism and assesses its impact on emerging Christian thought concerning the origins of sin. The chapters, which cove…
Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
The Rhetorical Self in Tannaitic Halakha
The halakhic practice does more than regulating the inner world; it takes part in forming it, generating a unique legal subject. But is there a unique halakhic Self? This article examines this question in the context of Tannaitic halakha, both Mishnaic and Midrashic. More specifically I ask whether one can speak of subjectivity in Tannaitic halakha. I study the relationship between anonymous halakhic rulings and specific positions presented in th…
Heresy, Forgery, Novelty
Goy
The distinction between Jew and his other, the gentile, has been so central to Jewish history that the vast scholarship dedicated to Jewish-gentile relations has treated the category of the gentile as self-evident and has never questioned its history. This book shows that this category was in fact born at a particular moment, that it replaced older categories of otherness, and that it was both informed by and embedded in new modes of separation o…
One Goy, Multiple Language Games
This chapter analyzes the characteristic features of the goy as a specific type of other, in both its legal (halakhic) and homiletical (aggadic) manifestations, as well as the division of labor between these two genres of the rabbinic corpus. It reconstructs the goy as a figure and a discursive position, and examines the technology of separation associated with it in both legal (laws of idolatry; purity; pedigree; murder, theft, recovering lost i…
Pauline Traditions and the Rabbis
The comparative study of Paul and the rabbis, an interest of students of the New Testament ever since Christian Hebraism, radically changed in the second half of the twentieth century. If “the study of relations between Judaism and early Christianity, perhaps more than any other area of modern scholarship, has felt the impact of World War II and its aftermath,” then, within this, Pauline scholarship has felt this impact the most. Various post-Hol…
What if We Got Rid of the Goy? Rereading Ancient Jewish Distinctions
The goy has been present in Jewish discourses since antiquity. Despite this, its birth and history have received almost no scholarly attention. In this paper we shift the focus from the various historical attitudes towards the goy, to the very constitution of the concept and the dichotomy it constructs. We claim that scholars have been anachronistically reading Jewish (or Judaean) texts from the centuries before the common era as if they containe…
Paul and the Invention of the Gentiles
This paper studies the birth of the concept of the gentile (goy). We begin by presenting an outline of a genealogy of "goy," as a word and a concept, from the Bible to rabbinic literature, and then focus on one chapter in this genealogy: the meaning and use of ethnê in Paul's epistles. We claim that Paul takes a crucial part in the emergence of the goy in its new, non-ethnic, privatized and generalized sense. In contrast to the scholarly consensu…
The Mishnaic mental revolution
In recent years, scholars have re-examined the innovative use the Mishnah makes of mental categories to determine legal outcomes. They suggest that this phenomenon reveals a new kind of subjectivity which is related to the prominence that the inner self receives in Late Antiquity, especially in Stoic philosophy. In this article I claim that the self formed by the Mishna is markedly different from the Hellenic self. The thoughts and deeds of the s…
The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality
Refuting the Yetzer
Rabbinic literature contains several examples of a manner of silencing impious arguments that is usually identified only with later forms of piety, namely, ascribing the arguments to the evil inclination (yetzerhara). Arguments attributed to the yetzer represent serious discursive threats against rabbinic doctrine, marking fundamental problems in both its legal and nonlegal (aggadic) parts. Identifying a question or refutation as belonging to the…
Sexualising the Evil Inclination
The increasing interest in Jewish carnality and sexuality in recent years has influenced many areas of research, one of which is the rabbinic 'evil yetzer ' (inclination). More and more studies discuss the rabbinic yetzer in sexual terms, and yetzer has become almost synonymous with 'sexuality'. In this paper I wish to show that this perception lacks textual justification. Most rabbinic sources present the yetzer as the enemy of men, constantly d…
Orality, Narrative, Rhetoric
The appearance in recent years of an impressive series of books, articles, and mainly dissertations on various aspects of the Mishnah collectively signifies something greater than the sum of its parts. These works herald the emergence of a new wave of Mishnah research. While differing significantly in their themes and methods, all the works discussed here share some basic methodological assumptions that are not shared by more “traditional” studie…
Two Rabbinic Inclinations? Rethinking a Scholarly Dogma
The scholarly consensus on the Rabbinic concept of the yetzer (inclination) takes for granted the existence of two yetzarim, good and evil, in every person. Some have noticed the marginality of the good yetzer in rabbinic discourse, as well as the fact that most sources discuss only one yetzer, but ascribed it to the inherent imbalance of power between the two yetzarim. In this paper I wish to rethink this scholarly consensus, while taking the si…
Ancient Fiction
Review of Books / Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007) 342-449 351 Ancient Fiction: Th e Matrix of Early Christian and Jewish Narrative. Edited by Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea. (Symposium Series 32). Leiden and Boston, Brill 2005. Pp. xvii, 372. Cloth. €119.00 / $170.00. ISBN 90-04-13768-8; Atlanta, SBL 2005. Pp. 392. Paperback. $ 39.95. ISBN 1-58983-166-7. “Ancient Fiction,” published by the “Ancient Fiction and Earl…
Bilhah the Temptress
This paper explores the way several biblical stories of sexual misconduct are retold in The Testament of Reuben, and other, related, compositions. Through a close reading of these narratives we shows how, in contrast to the biblical narrative, the Testaments tends to expand the female characters' responsibility for causing the forbidden acts. This trend is further revealed as but part of a much broader transformation in which internal thoughts an…
Measure for Measure as a Hermeneutical Tool in Early Rabbinic Literature
The Mishnaic mental revolution
In recent years, scholars have re-examined the innovative use the Mishnah makes of mental categories to determine legal outcomes. They suggest that this phenomenon reveals a new kind of subjectivity which is related to the prominence that the inner self receives in Late Antiquity, especially in Stoic philosophy. In this article I claim that the self formed by the Mishna is markedly different from the Hellenic self. The thoughts and deeds of the s…
What if We Got Rid of the Goy? Rereading Ancient Jewish Distinctions
The goy has been present in Jewish discourses since antiquity. Despite this, its birth and history have received almost no scholarly attention. In this paper we shift the focus from the various historical attitudes towards the goy, to the very constitution of the concept and the dichotomy it constructs. We claim that scholars have been anachronistically reading Jewish (or Judaean) texts from the centuries before the common era as if they containe…
Sexualising the Evil Inclination
The increasing interest in Jewish carnality and sexuality in recent years has influenced many areas of research, one of which is the rabbinic 'evil yetzer ' (inclination). More and more studies discuss the rabbinic yetzer in sexual terms, and yetzer has become almost synonymous with 'sexuality'. In this paper I wish to show that this perception lacks textual justification. Most rabbinic sources present the yetzer as the enemy of men, constantly d…
Bilhah the Temptress
This paper explores the way several biblical stories of sexual misconduct are retold in The Testament of Reuben, and other, related, compositions. Through a close reading of these narratives we shows how, in contrast to the biblical narrative, the Testaments tends to expand the female characters' responsibility for causing the forbidden acts. This trend is further revealed as but part of a much broader transformation in which internal thoughts an…
Measure for Measure as a Hermeneutical Tool in Early Rabbinic Literature
Bilhah the Temptress
This paper explores the way several biblical stories of sexual misconduct are retold in The Testament of Reuben, and other, related, compositions. Through a close reading of these narratives we shows how, in contrast to the biblical narrative, the Testaments tends to expand the female characters' responsibility for causing the forbidden acts. This trend is further revealed as but part of a much broader transformation in which internal thoughts an…
Measure for Measure as a Hermeneutical Tool in Early Rabbinic Literature
Ancient Fiction
Review of Books / Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007) 342-449 351 Ancient Fiction: Th e Matrix of Early Christian and Jewish Narrative. Edited by Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea. (Symposium Series 32). Leiden and Boston, Brill 2005. Pp. xvii, 372. Cloth. €119.00 / $170.00. ISBN 90-04-13768-8; Atlanta, SBL 2005. Pp. 392. Paperback. $ 39.95. ISBN 1-58983-166-7. “Ancient Fiction,” published by the “Ancient Fiction and Earl…
Orality, Narrative, Rhetoric
The appearance in recent years of an impressive series of books, articles, and mainly dissertations on various aspects of the Mishnah collectively signifies something greater than the sum of its parts. These works herald the emergence of a new wave of Mishnah research. While differing significantly in their themes and methods, all the works discussed here share some basic methodological assumptions that are not shared by more “traditional” studie…
Two Rabbinic Inclinations? Rethinking a Scholarly Dogma
The scholarly consensus on the Rabbinic concept of the yetzer (inclination) takes for granted the existence of two yetzarim, good and evil, in every person. Some have noticed the marginality of the good yetzer in rabbinic discourse, as well as the fact that most sources discuss only one yetzer, but ascribed it to the inherent imbalance of power between the two yetzarim. In this paper I wish to rethink this scholarly consensus, while taking the si…
Refuting the Yetzer
Rabbinic literature contains several examples of a manner of silencing impious arguments that is usually identified only with later forms of piety, namely, ascribing the arguments to the evil inclination (yetzerhara). Arguments attributed to the yetzer represent serious discursive threats against rabbinic doctrine, marking fundamental problems in both its legal and nonlegal (aggadic) parts. Identifying a question or refutation as belonging to the…
Sexualising the Evil Inclination
The increasing interest in Jewish carnality and sexuality in recent years has influenced many areas of research, one of which is the rabbinic 'evil yetzer ' (inclination). More and more studies discuss the rabbinic yetzer in sexual terms, and yetzer has become almost synonymous with 'sexuality'. In this paper I wish to show that this perception lacks textual justification. Most rabbinic sources present the yetzer as the enemy of men, constantly d…
The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality
Paul and the Invention of the Gentiles
This paper studies the birth of the concept of the gentile (goy). We begin by presenting an outline of a genealogy of "goy," as a word and a concept, from the Bible to rabbinic literature, and then focus on one chapter in this genealogy: the meaning and use of ethnê in Paul's epistles. We claim that Paul takes a crucial part in the emergence of the goy in its new, non-ethnic, privatized and generalized sense. In contrast to the scholarly consensu…
The Mishnaic mental revolution
In recent years, scholars have re-examined the innovative use the Mishnah makes of mental categories to determine legal outcomes. They suggest that this phenomenon reveals a new kind of subjectivity which is related to the prominence that the inner self receives in Late Antiquity, especially in Stoic philosophy. In this article I claim that the self formed by the Mishna is markedly different from the Hellenic self. The thoughts and deeds of the s…
What if We Got Rid of the Goy? Rereading Ancient Jewish Distinctions
The goy has been present in Jewish discourses since antiquity. Despite this, its birth and history have received almost no scholarly attention. In this paper we shift the focus from the various historical attitudes towards the goy, to the very constitution of the concept and the dichotomy it constructs. We claim that scholars have been anachronistically reading Jewish (or Judaean) texts from the centuries before the common era as if they containe…
Pauline Traditions and the Rabbis
The comparative study of Paul and the rabbis, an interest of students of the New Testament ever since Christian Hebraism, radically changed in the second half of the twentieth century. If “the study of relations between Judaism and early Christianity, perhaps more than any other area of modern scholarship, has felt the impact of World War II and its aftermath,” then, within this, Pauline scholarship has felt this impact the most. Various post-Hol…
Goy
The distinction between Jew and his other, the gentile, has been so central to Jewish history that the vast scholarship dedicated to Jewish-gentile relations has treated the category of the gentile as self-evident and has never questioned its history. This book shows that this category was in fact born at a particular moment, that it replaced older categories of otherness, and that it was both informed by and embedded in new modes of separation o…
One Goy, Multiple Language Games
This chapter analyzes the characteristic features of the goy as a specific type of other, in both its legal (halakhic) and homiletical (aggadic) manifestations, as well as the division of labor between these two genres of the rabbinic corpus. It reconstructs the goy as a figure and a discursive position, and examines the technology of separation associated with it in both legal (laws of idolatry; purity; pedigree; murder, theft, recovering lost i…
The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
One of the central concepts in rabbinic Judaism is the notion of the Evil Inclination, which appears to be related to similar concepts in ancient Christianity and the wider late antique world. The precise origins and understanding of the idea, however, are unknown. This volume traces the development of this concept historically in Judaism and assesses its impact on emerging Christian thought concerning the origins of sin. The chapters, which cove…
Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
The Rhetorical Self in Tannaitic Halakha
The halakhic practice does more than regulating the inner world; it takes part in forming it, generating a unique legal subject. But is there a unique halakhic Self? This article examines this question in the context of Tannaitic halakha, both Mishnaic and Midrashic. More specifically I ask whether one can speak of subjectivity in Tannaitic halakha. I study the relationship between anonymous halakhic rulings and specific positions presented in th…
Heresy, Forgery, Novelty
Between Wisdom and Apocalypse
Chapters 10–15 in Tosefta Soṭah contain the longest, most elaborated aggadic unit in the Tosefta. It comprises various units that seem to be connected only loosely: the biblical righteous figures who brought abundance to the world (chs. 10–12); various revelations and appearances of the holy spirit and divine echo (ch. 13); and the effects of the destruction and the calamities of the present (chs. 14–15). In this article I argue that it forms in …
Rabbis as Nomikoi? Questioning a New Paradigm
In recent years, a new generation of Talmud scholars rediscovered Roman law as a valuable comparative tool. In addition to localized comparisons, several broad syntheses have been offered by scholars regarding Roman law and rabbinic halakhic thinking. In his article in this issue, “The Rabbinic Movement from Pharisees to Provincial Jurists” (doi: 10.1163/15700631-bja10070), Yair Furstenberg offers to explain the rise of the field of civil law in …
Biblical Studies and Interpretation (16 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (14 works) · Art (13 works) · History (13 works) · Literature (12 works) · Judaism (10 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (7 works) · History (7 works) · Jewish studies (7 works)