Amit Gvaryahu
Biographic Data
| ID | 714276 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Amit Gvaryahu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Amit |
| FAMILY NAME | Gvaryahu |
| SIGNATURE | GVARYAHU A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9406-873X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Sardîstôn
Sardismos is the name, in several Latin works of literary criticism, for a combination of more than one language or dialect in a sentence. Quintilian (first century c.e. ) uses the term disparagingly; the Christian author Cassiodorus (sixth century c.e. ) uses it positively. A similar term, sardîstôn , is found in the rabbinic work Exodus Rabbah 2, created in the sixth-century Byzantine empire. This article is a short study of this term, the hist…
Loanwords in the Fiery Furnace
This article is a discussion of two Greek loanwords found in the Rabbinic text Song of Songs Rabbah . It shows that these words are best identified and explained through a comparison with a Stoic theory of fire, described and refuted by Philo of Alexandria. That these words, both hapax legomena in Rabbinic literature, are used in the Midrash show that at least some rabbis were conversant in Greek scientific terminology—and perhaps specifically wi…
“The Way It Is in the Church”
For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was “one-hundredth”: 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of “one-hundredth” into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this …
Asking for Trouble
The Biblical Hebrew word פללים is rare and cryptic. Various readings have been offered for it in its long reception history. Ancient readers of Scripture read פללים in Exod 21:22 in two distinct ways. Some read it as “judges,” whereas others associated פללים with requests, pleas, petitions, and prayers. This latter understanding of the word is found at Qumran, in the Samaritan Targum, and in several late-ancient translations of the Greek Bible. I…
Social Stratification of the Jewish Population of Roman Palestine in the Period of the Mishnah, 70–250 CE, written by Ben Zion Rosenfeld and Haim Perlmutter
A review of Social Stratification of the Jewish Population of Roman Palestine in the Period of the Mishnah, 70–250 CE, written by Ben Zion Rosenfeld and Haim Perlmutter
A Hebrew Letter on Papyrus and Its Contexts
This article is a new reading of a Hebrew letter, Oxford MS Heb.d.69(P), written on papyrus and dated tentatively by scholars to the 6th century. The article begins with a new edition of the letter, first published in 1903, its first translation into English, a discussion of its language and epistolary conventions, including layout, script, and formulary. In the letter, written by the scribe Isi, the lender Lazar describes to Jacob the borrower t…
Usury and Poverty
The Hebrew Bible prohibits lending at interest. This is usually linked to care for the poor. A similar connection is found in post-biblical literature as well. In Deut 23:20–21, however, usury is disconnected from the poverty laws. Classical rabbinic literature (second to sixth centuries) follows Deuteronomy in sharply de-coupling usury from poverty: the usury prohibition in that corpus regulates commerce and property, and is not intended to bene…
Roman Coinage and Its Early Rabbinic Users
Tannaitic literature, the earliest stratum of rabbinic literature, offers a detailed account of a complex and multivalent relationship between a small group of provincial subjects of the Roman Empire and their coins, couched in legal terms. In this article, I discuss tannaitic prescriptions for use and abuse of coins against the backdrop of other nonrabbinic Jewish approaches to Roman coinage, and in the context of the political meaning of coin u…
Bene Pareza
The Persian lexemepahrēz-,pahrēxtan(inf.), "to avoid, to abstain" and also "to care, to protect", is found in Jewish, Christian, and Mandaic magical literature. It is also current in Mandaic works, and is found in some Geonic works in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It has not yet been found in the Babylonian Talmud itself. In this article I discuss a recently discovered occurrence of this word in a reconstructed codex of chapters of Babylonian Talmud…
Twisting words
A foundational text in the study of Tannaitic Midrash and Halakhah, Sifre Deuteronomy 122 is a list of places where Halakhah ̔qpt scripture. This word, ̔qpt , has long been understood to mean 'circumvent', 'bypass' or 'belie', and the pericope has been read as a list of places where 'Halakhah circumvents scripture', and thus a testament to the power of the accepted tradition to override the words of the Torah. Based on documentary and linguistic …
A New Reading of the Three Dialogues in Mishnah Avodah Zarah
»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
Bene Pareza
The Persian lexemepahrēz-,pahrēxtan(inf.), "to avoid, to abstain" and also "to care, to protect", is found in Jewish, Christian, and Mandaic magical literature. It is also current in Mandaic works, and is found in some Geonic works in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It has not yet been found in the Babylonian Talmud itself. In this article I discuss a recently discovered occurrence of this word in a reconstructed codex of chapters of Babylonian Talmud…
A New Reading of the Three Dialogues in Mishnah Avodah Zarah
»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
Twisting words
A foundational text in the study of Tannaitic Midrash and Halakhah, Sifre Deuteronomy 122 is a list of places where Halakhah ̔qpt scripture. This word, ̔qpt , has long been understood to mean 'circumvent', 'bypass' or 'belie', and the pericope has been read as a list of places where 'Halakhah circumvents scripture', and thus a testament to the power of the accepted tradition to override the words of the Torah. Based on documentary and linguistic …
Usury and Poverty
The Hebrew Bible prohibits lending at interest. This is usually linked to care for the poor. A similar connection is found in post-biblical literature as well. In Deut 23:20–21, however, usury is disconnected from the poverty laws. Classical rabbinic literature (second to sixth centuries) follows Deuteronomy in sharply de-coupling usury from poverty: the usury prohibition in that corpus regulates commerce and property, and is not intended to bene…
Roman Coinage and Its Early Rabbinic Users
Tannaitic literature, the earliest stratum of rabbinic literature, offers a detailed account of a complex and multivalent relationship between a small group of provincial subjects of the Roman Empire and their coins, couched in legal terms. In this article, I discuss tannaitic prescriptions for use and abuse of coins against the backdrop of other nonrabbinic Jewish approaches to Roman coinage, and in the context of the political meaning of coin u…
Bene Pareza
The Persian lexemepahrēz-,pahrēxtan(inf.), "to avoid, to abstain" and also "to care, to protect", is found in Jewish, Christian, and Mandaic magical literature. It is also current in Mandaic works, and is found in some Geonic works in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It has not yet been found in the Babylonian Talmud itself. In this article I discuss a recently discovered occurrence of this word in a reconstructed codex of chapters of Babylonian Talmud…
“The Way It Is in the Church”
For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was “one-hundredth”: 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of “one-hundredth” into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this …
Asking for Trouble
The Biblical Hebrew word פללים is rare and cryptic. Various readings have been offered for it in its long reception history. Ancient readers of Scripture read פללים in Exod 21:22 in two distinct ways. Some read it as “judges,” whereas others associated פללים with requests, pleas, petitions, and prayers. This latter understanding of the word is found at Qumran, in the Samaritan Targum, and in several late-ancient translations of the Greek Bible. I…
Social Stratification of the Jewish Population of Roman Palestine in the Period of the Mishnah, 70–250 CE, written by Ben Zion Rosenfeld and Haim Perlmutter
A review of Social Stratification of the Jewish Population of Roman Palestine in the Period of the Mishnah, 70–250 CE, written by Ben Zion Rosenfeld and Haim Perlmutter
A Hebrew Letter on Papyrus and Its Contexts
This article is a new reading of a Hebrew letter, Oxford MS Heb.d.69(P), written on papyrus and dated tentatively by scholars to the 6th century. The article begins with a new edition of the letter, first published in 1903, its first translation into English, a discussion of its language and epistolary conventions, including layout, script, and formulary. In the letter, written by the scribe Isi, the lender Lazar describes to Jacob the borrower t…
Loanwords in the Fiery Furnace
This article is a discussion of two Greek loanwords found in the Rabbinic text Song of Songs Rabbah . It shows that these words are best identified and explained through a comparison with a Stoic theory of fire, described and refuted by Philo of Alexandria. That these words, both hapax legomena in Rabbinic literature, are used in the Midrash show that at least some rabbis were conversant in Greek scientific terminology—and perhaps specifically wi…
Sardîstôn
Sardismos is the name, in several Latin works of literary criticism, for a combination of more than one language or dialect in a sentence. Quintilian (first century c.e. ) uses the term disparagingly; the Christian author Cassiodorus (sixth century c.e. ) uses it positively. A similar term, sardîstôn , is found in the rabbinic work Exodus Rabbah 2, created in the sixth-century Byzantine empire. This article is a short study of this term, the hist…
Philosophy (11 works) · History (10 works) · Art (7 works) · Literature (7 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (6 works) · Judaism (6 works) · Linguistics (6 works) · Ancient history (5 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (5 works) · Classics (5 works)