Material Disruptions in the Rabbinic Landscape

Bibliographic Data

ID4317740
AuthorsJohn Mandsager (University of South Carolina, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume20
Issue1
Pages28-50
Publication date2024-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMaterial Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1743-2200 • E-ISSN: 1751-8342
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17432200.2024.2303901
OpenAlexW4392451955
LanguageEN
References cited35

This essay uses New Materialist approaches to religious practice to demonstrate that early rabbinic (c. second–third centuries CE) Jewish prescriptions for Jewish farmers are part of assemblages of human and material forces. The Jewish farmer must show that his fields, gardens, and vineyards do not contain prohibited “mixed-kinds” (Deuteronomy 22:9–11), but the ways in which early rabbinic literature demands adherence to the commandment take into account forces beyond the human, such as wind, rain, and the unpredictable growth of the crops. These assemblages show the limits of human intention and action, as the Jewish farmer must react to the material world. Moreover, the analyses in this essay show how a New Materialist approach deepens our understanding of the entangled world of Jewish life and practice in Late Antiquity, as well as uncovers a non-anthropocentric view of the human in a material world within the Mishnah itself

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Geography · Visual arts · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · History

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