Material Culture, Experimentation, and Household Lighting in Early Rabbinic Judaism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4840595 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G E Gardner (0000-0003-2063-9795, University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 176-196 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Material Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1743-2200 • E-ISSN: 1751-8342 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17432200.2024.2308433 |
| OpenAlex | W4392356383 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
This paper examines how the materiality of lighting influenced the development of ancient rabbinic teachings that would later become the foundations of Jewish law. Drawing on ideas and frameworks from scholarship on material religion, I bring together archaeological finds, experimental archaeology, and references to objects in classical rabbinic literature to argue that the ways that lighting was used provided the earliest rabbis with tools and fodder for developing new expressions of piety that could be performed in one’s household. How lamps, oils, and wicks were used in Roman-era Palestine (second-third century CE) played an influential role in the development of rabbinic Judaism. I show this through rabbinic prescriptions on lighting lamps on Friday evening to mark the onset of the Sabbath, as the different wicks and oils created opportunities for one to choose to perform the custom in rabbinically-prescribed ways. I next demonstrate how the rabbis drew on common lighting practices to reinterpret biblical laws on the now-destroyed Jerusalem Temple cult into expressions of piety that can be performed in households throughout Roman Palestine. In this way, the materiality of light contributed towards the ancient rabbis’ role in transforming Judaism in the post-Temple age
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Cult · Judaism · Palestine · Piety · Scholarship · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash
The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine
The Origins of Organized Charity in Rabbinic Judaism
Reconstructing Artificial Light in Ancient Greece
The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology
Bringing Down the Temple House
Giving
Charity and Reciprocity
Writing on the Wall
The Menorah
Materiality and the Study of Religion
The Social and Economic Complexity of Ancient Jerusalem as Seen Through Choices in Lighting Oils
Light, Lamps, and Material Religion in Early Rabbinic Judaism
Torah in Triclinia
Light Mediations
A "Talmudic" House at Qasrin
Illuminating the Past
City of Lights
Transilluminations
The light of the Prophet Muhammad
History and Technology of Olive Oil in the Holy Land
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |