Yeshiva College: Faculty Publications

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12202/41

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Open Access
Bibliography of works pertaining to the study of Targum.
(https://www.scribd.com/document/218594955/Bib-Bibliography-of-Works-Pertaining-to-the-Study-of-Targumliography-of-Works-Pertaining-to-the-Study-of-Targum, 2001) Jassen, Alex; Angel, Joseph
Open Access
Review of Collins, Matthew A. 'The Use of Sobriquets in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls.'
(H-Net, 2009) Angel, Joseph
Open Access
Sex or power? The crime of the single girl in Deuteronomy 22.
(Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010) Koller, Aaron
(From Conclusions): In sum, this study has argued that the law of the slandered bride is not primarily about sex. It is a law about power, in particular the power of the parents over their daughter’s sexuality, and is therefore closely parallel to the law of the ‘incorrigible son’, which is about the power of the parents over their son’s behavior. By charging that his bride was not a virgin, the groom accused the parents of not having control over their daughter, and thereby severely shamed the family. The parents had two options open to them to restore their family’s honor. They could fail to produce any evidence to counter the groom’s claim, and thereby ensure their daughter’s death; this would result in what would essentially be an institutionalized and court-endorsed honor killing on the part of the community. Alternatively, they could produce evidence, however dubious its value, of their daughter’s virginity at marriage, and thereby rebut the accusations and restore their honor. If the latter route was pursued, the groom then needed to be punished. His tri-fold punishment addresses the three realms which his own accusations had threatened in his bride’s family. The fine imposed responded to the financial implications of his accusations; his loss of the right to divorce retaliated for his attempt to dissolve his own marriage on fraudulent grounds. Finally, the flogging shamed him in return for the shame he attempted to bring on the bride’s family
Open Access
The traditional roots of priestly messianism at Qumran.
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2010) Angel, Joseph L.
Open Access
Praying as a plaintiff.
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2011) Holtz, Shalom E; 0000-0003-1515-4216
Several biblical prayers include the speaker's demand for judgment from God. Akkadian prayers contain similar language. Examination of plaintiffs' statements in Neo-Babylonian lawsuit records substantiates the interpretation of these demands in prayers as a courtroom form of speech.
Open Access
Review of Stone, Michael E. Ancient Judaism: New Visions and Views. Eerdmans, 2011
(The Society of Biblical Literature, 2012) Angel, Joseph
Open Access
Diachronic change and synchronic readings: Midrashim on stative verbs and participles.
(Oxford University Press, 2012-10) Koller, Aaron
Because of the different verbal systems in the Hebrew of the Bible and the Hebrew of the Mishnah, reading the Bible as if written in Mishnaic Hebrew can produce interesting results. This paper analyses rabbinic comments on stative verbs and participles. The uses of both differ significantly in the Mishnah from the uses in the Bible. In the Mishnah, but not in the Bible, the participle participates in a full-blown tense system. Numerous midrashim rely on reading biblical participles as they would have been used in later Hebrew, as a present or future tense verb. Many verbs which were morphologically and syntactically stative in Biblical Hebrew have been ‘normalized’ by Mishnaic Hebrew, and this, too, created opportunities for midrash. In conclusion, the paper offers some thoughts on the rabbinic conceptions of language that allowed for such midrashim, suggesting that although the Rabbis were aware of diachronic linguistic change, they believed that multiple readings were simultaneously possible for the biblical text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Open Access
לבוא ולהיכנס : Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of the Semantics of ‘Coming’ and ‘Going’ in Ancient Hebrew,
(Academy of the Hebrew Language, 2013) Koller, Aaron
This paper investigates the semantics of the verb בוא in ancient Hebrew. After reviewing some of the scholarship on the semantics of English 'to come', it shows that in many respects biblical בוא differs from 'to come'. Instead, the Hebrew verb means 'motion towards, or into, a defined location'. Moving to a diachronic mode, the paper demonstrates that the fixed distinction in Aramaic between 'to arrive at' (אתי) and 'to enter' (עלל) was introduced into ancient Hebrew as well, under the influence of Aramaic. This process was linked to the introduction of an important new word, נכנס, whose history (internal and external to Hebrew) is traced. Finally, the semantic situation in mishnaic Hebrew is described, once נכנס usurped much of the semantic territory that had belonged to biblical בוא.
Open Access
Review of Fraade, Steven D. Legal Fictions: Studies of Law and Narrative in the Discursive Worlds of Ancient Jewish Sectarians and Sages. Brill, 2011.
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2013) Angel, Joseph
Open Access
Love and Hate at Qumran: The Social Construction of Sectarian Emotion.
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2013) Mermelstein, Ari; ; 0000-0002-3572-9518
Employing a "social constructionist" approach, according to which emotions are culturally conditioned expressions of values, this study considers how the sect behind 1QS used the emotions of love and hate to teach its members the proper ways of evaluating the world. Sectarian love and hate were vehicles through which the sect communicated core beliefs about election and revelation. Because his entrance into the sect was made possible by divine love, the initiate was expected to recognize his utter dependence on the divine will by loving those whom God loves and hating those whom he hates, thereby affirming his place in the covenantal community. Since divine love and hate manifested itself in the selective revelation of knowledge, sectarian love and hate required the unselfish disclosure of knowledge to other group members and the concealment of the same knowledge from outsiders. This link between the emotions of love and hate and an ethic of disclosure and concealment left its mark on routine sectarian conduct in the practice of reproof. Reproof of insiders and the conscious withholding of reproof from outsiders was a "socially dictated performance" of either love or hate that demonstrated the sectarian's commitment to communal beliefs about covenant, knowledge, divine will, and relations with outsiders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Open Access
Ancient Hebrew מעצד and עצד in the Gezer Calendar.
(The University of Chicago, 2013) Koller, Aaron
(From conclusion): To summarize, therefore, it has been seen that the Hebrew noun מעצד refers to the “adze” throughout the history of ancient Hebrew: it is found twice in the Hebrew Bible, in relatively unrevealing contexts, and often in rabbinic literature, in contexts that make the identification clear. Hebrew is unique among the Semitic languages in having a noun from the root עצד which refers to a carpentry tool; in other languages, cognates refer to agricultural tools and other cutting tools, but not to the tools of the carpenter. Although the literary corpus of Hebrew (Biblical through Mishnaic) does not contain any attestations of the verbal root עצד , this root is attested in the Gezer calendar. Since flax ( פשת ) is “uprooted” rather than “cut,” however, the use of עצד in the Gezer calendar does not match the data regarding the semantics of the root within Hebrew. Instead, I have suggested the connection of Gezer’s עצד with Aramaic חצד , and posit that in the dialect of the scribe, the ע and the ח were indistinguishable, at least in some contexts.
Open Access
Review of Dimant, Devorah, ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls in Scholarly Perspective: A History of Research. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 99. Leiden. Brill, 2012.
(University of Chicago Press, 2013-12) Angel, Joseph
Open Access
The Divine Courtroom Scenes of Daniel 7 and the Qumran Book of Giants: A Textual and Contextual Comparison.
(Koninklijke Grill NV, 2014) Angel, Joseph L.
Contributors to 'The divine courtroom in comparative perspective' treat one of the most pervasive religious metaphors, that of the divine courtroom, in both its historical and thematic senses. In order to shed light on the various manifestations of the divine courtroom, this volume consists of essays by scholars of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, Talmud, Islam, medieval Judaism, and classical Greek literature. Contributions to the volume primarily center upon three related facets of the divine courtroom: the role of the divine courtroom in the earthly legal system; the divine courtroom as the site of historical justice; and the divine courtroom as the venue in which God is called to answer for his own unjust acts.
Open Access
Hydrogen Production Catalyzed by Bidirectional, Biomimetic Models of the [FeFe]-Hydrogenase Active Site.
(American Chemical Society, 2014) Lansing, James C.; Camara, James M.; Gray, Danielle E.; Rauchfuss, Thomas B.
Active site mimics of [FeFe]-hydrogenase are shown to be bidirectional catalysts, producing H2 upon treatment with protons and reducing equivalents. This reactivity complements the previously reported oxidation of H2 by these same catalysts in the presence of oxidants. The complex Fe2(adtBn)(CO)3(dppv)(PFc*Et2) ([1]0; adtBn = (SCH2)2NBn, dppv = cis-1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethylene, PFc*Et2 = Et2PCH2C5Me4FeCp*) reacts with excess [H(OEt2)2]BArF4 (BArF4– = B(C6H3-3,5-(CF3)2)4–) to give ∼0.5 equiv of H2 and [Fe2(adtBnH)(CO)3(dppv)(PFc*Et2)]2+ ([1H]2+). The species [1H]2+ consists of a ferrocenium ligand, an N-protonated amine, and an FeIFeI core. In the presence of additional reducing equivalents in the form of decamethylferrocene (Fc*), hydrogen evolution is catalytic, albeit slow. The related catalyst Fe2(adtBn)(CO)3(dppv)(PMe3) (3) behaves similarly in the presence of Fc*, except that in the absence of excess reducing agent it converts to the catalytically inactive μ-hydride derivative [μ-H3]+. Replacement of the adt in [1]0 with propanedithiolate (pdt) results in a catalytically inactive complex. In the course of synthesizing [FeFe]-hydrogenase mimics, new routes to ferrocenylphosphine ligands and nonamethylferrocene were developed.
Open Access
Angels.
(Oxford University Press, 2014-08) Angel, Joseph; Walsh, Matthew
Angels are supernatural beings who serve a variety of functions in biblical literature. The term most often used to denote angels in the Hebrew Bible, mal’ak, means “messenger.” The Septuagint frequently translates mal’ak with the Greek angelos, from which the English word “angel” derives. While angels are mentioned several times in the earlier writings of the Hebrew Bible, in the literature of the Second Temple period a veritable explosion of interest in them is found. Jewish writings of this era exhibit a sustained interest in identifying the various ranks and orders of the angels as well as in naming individual angels and delineating their specific functions. The extensive angelological speculation of this period deeply influenced later forms of Judaism and as well as constituting an important element of the Jewish heritage of early Christianity.
Open Access
Gratitude and Ingratitude. Judaism.
(De Gruyter, 2015) Mermelstein, Ari; 0000-0002-3572-9518
Open Access
Jacob, Prayer of.
(De Gruyter, 2015) Mermelstein, Ari; 0000-0002-3572-9518
Open Access
On Texts, Contexts, and Countertexts: Review of Jacob L. Wright, David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory.
(Indiana University Press, 2015) Koller, Aaron
Open Access
Constructing Fear and Pride in the Book of Daniel: The Profile of a Second Temple Emotional Community
(Brill Academic Publishers, 2015) Mermelstein, Ari; 0000-0002-3572-9518
This paper examines the seminal role that emotions, particularly fear and pride, play in the book of Daniel. Drawing upon the idea of "emotional communities," I view the book's final redactor as engaged with the views of one such community during the period of the Antiochan persecutions. The redactor's emotional community responded to the persecutions with fear, an emotion that he simultaneously validated and challenged. The emotions of pride and fear both reflect beliefs about one's power relative to others. The prideful kings portrayed in the book and the redactor's fearful emotional community shared what the redactor claimed were unwarranted beliefs about the relative power of each group. In order to jettison the fear of his community, the redactor first had to address the beliefs that supported that emotion. The book constitutes a sustained effort to construct an alternative emotional norm for members of the redactor's community by providing them with a new way of evaluating their situation: even if redemption has been delayed, faithful Jews who resist Antiochus to the point of martyrdom are in fact the powerful ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Open Access
Happiness. Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism.
(De Gruyter, 2015) Mermelstein, Ari; 0000-0002-3572-9518