The Two Mekhiltot on the Jethro Portion (Exodus 18) is, in a sense, a complement to Menahem Kahana's previous book, The Two Mekhiltot on the Amalek Portion . The book is based on new text editions of Mekhilta d'Rabbi Ishmael and Mekhilta d'Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai on the Jethro portion. It includes a systematic and detailed commentary on the exegeses of the Mekhiltot, shedding new light on many exegeses – their literal meaning, their real and historical context, and the worldviews reflected in them. The book reviews the previous editions of The Two Mekhiltot on the Jethro Portion and presents the important contribution of fragments from the Cairo Geniza that were discovered after the previous editions were published. It compares the traditions of the two Mekhiltot in their language, style, and content, and establishes the insight that in the Jethro portion, as in the Amalek portion, the tradition of Mekhilta d'Rabbi Ishmael generally takes precedence.

Kobez Al Yad , an annual of the Mekize Nirdamim Society, is a forum for the publication from manuscript sources of ancient texts in Jewish studies that are shorter than book-length. The articles in this issue: Shulamit Elizur | Rahitim and Siluk for Yom Kippur about the revelation of God to Elijah at Horeb Dan Greenberger and Y. Zvi Stampfer | ' On the Obligation of Prayer ' by Rav Saadia Gaon Eli Gurfinkel | The Reason for the Shew-Bread Table and the Candelbara ( Menora ) from Rabbi Samuel Ibn Tibon Yossef Elizur | Rabbi Joseph Hayyun's Commentary on the Book of Zephania Yohanan Kapah | Rabbi Joseph Hayyun's Commentary on the Book of Haggai Yaron Nisenholz | The Proclamations of the Great Rabbinical Court of Prague in the 18 th Century

The layers of biblical stories are rich and not as simple or innocent as they may appear. Effort and knowledge are required to grasp the many messages the biblical authors sought to convey. Biblical scholarship focuses on uncovering the literary devices and techniques used by the writers of biblical narratives to communicate messages to readers without stating them explicitly. This book collects and presents these devices and techniques.

This is a groundbreaking book in the field of inner biblical allusion. Using methodologies from the field of literary studies the book examines the Song Ha'azinu (Deut 32) and the Book of Isaiah and uncovers the fascinating connections between the two. The recognition of this relationship sheds new light on the subject of inner biblical allusion, the Song Ha'azinu and the Book of Isaiah.

Chronicles is a historiographical work narrating the history of Israel. The first part focuses on the period until the end of King David's reign. The anonymous author, presumably one of the Jerusalem Kohanim of the Second Temple period, who wrote the work during the late Persian period or early Hellenistic period. He structured his book by employing the earlier Bible books and re-writing them, in addition to materials that preceded him, and others he conceived; all according to his theological perspective.

Chronicles is a historiographical work narrating the history of Israel. The second part continues with Solomon through the Edict of Cyrus. The anonymous author, presumably one of the Jerusalem Kohanim of the Second Temple period, who wrote the work during the late Persian period or early Hellenistic period. He structured his book by employing the earlier Bible books and re-writing them, in addition to materials that preceded him, and others he conceived; all according to his theological perspective.

This book investigates Ezekiel's restoration program and the way he describes Israel's future restoration. In addition to new readings of the prophecies and an evaluation of the influence of biblical and Mesopotamian literature on the prophet's message, the book deals with the exiles' daily life, their ideologies, and the way they perceived the exile and its theological role in the history of the People of Israel.

The Twelve Prophets volume of the the Hebrew University Bible Project presents a diplomatic editio maior of the text of the Hebrew Bible, based upon the Aleppo Codex, with variants from other textual testaments recorded in a system of apparatuses. The readings collated in the edition are culled from a broad variety of sources, including the ancient translations (Greek Septuagint and revisions, Latin Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum Jonathan), Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical quotations in rabbinic literature, Genizah fragments, a broad array of medieval Hebrew manuscripts representing the Masoretic text, up to Jacob Ben-Hayyim’s Second Biblia Rabbinica of 1524-25. This extensive documentation reflects the attested transmission history of the biblical text, covering a period of almost two millennia.

This volume presents a selection of excepts (in the original Arabic and with a Hebrew translation) from the Eretz-Israeli Sefer Horayat Haqore , written by the prominent Karaite scholar Abū al-Faraj Hārūn ibn al-Faraj (also known as Aaron of Jerusalem), in the first half of the 11th century. The selected excerpts represent issues often discussed in the biblical orthoepy discipline, which has two components: grammatical theory and cantillation theory.

Kobez Al Yad , an annual of the Mekize Nirdamim Society, is a forum for the publication from manuscript sources of ancient texts in Jewish studies that are shorter than book-length. The articles in this issue: Omri Livnat | From Masorah to Poetry, from Poetry to Masorah: on Saadia Gaon’s ‘Ohel Mekhon Binyanay’ Simcha Emanuel | A Collection of Laws from the German ' Genizah' Amir Boas | Kodesh Kodashim – An Annotated Critical Edition with an Introduction Noam Lev-El | ’Questions to the Sages of the Land of Israel’: Kabbalistic Responsa from the Mid-Sixteenth Century—Introduction and Edition

Although rabbinic compilations were composed hundreds of years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and despite differences in language, genre, and cultural setting, Dynamics of Midrashic Traditions seeks to demonstrate that both corpora preserve a common heritage, albeit replete with conflicting traditions and polemics. The integrative study carried out in this book sheds light on both corpora, paying special attention to the dynamics that shape and reshape the midrashic traditions throughout their transmission. The book deals with exegetical aspects incorporated in textual variants of the Bible, in Second Temple Literature (especially the "rewritten Bible", Sirach, Book of Jubilees, the Dead Sea scrolls, Hellenistic Jewish works, Philo of Alexandria), as well as passages of Paul and early Christian writers, scrutinizing them in tandem with parallels from rabbinic literature, Targum and ancient piyyutim . Among the themes discussed are the following: the knowledge of good and evil given to Adam; Abraham the monotheist; Moses’s death; Pesher and allegoristic interpretation; and halakhic issues in rabbinic literature and the Dead Sea scrolls. Table of Contents in English

The Book of Daniel is one of the later books of the Bible, and perhaps the latest of them. Its composition reaches up to Antiochus IV Epiphanes' persecution of the Jews and ends even before the liberation of Jerusalem and the purification of the Temple. The book is bilingual, written in Aramaic and Hebrew, and was written in the Hellenistic period in two different places: Babylon and the Land of Israel. Chapter 1, written in Hebrew, serves as an introduction to chapters 2-6, which are in Aramaic. The stories in these chapters are about Jewish courtiers in Babylon who manage to maintain their faith and the customs of the ancestors, even when their lives are threatened. They are then saved from the hands of their persecutors, and even rise to greatness in the courts of foreign kings. These chapters are intended to encourage Jews in the Diaspora to maintain their faith. Chapters 7-12 have a completely different tone. Chapter 7 is written in Aramaic and links the two parts of the book. Chapters 8-12 are in Hebrew. These chapters are visions that Daniel had, but required an angel in order to interpret and understand them. These visions are an interpretation of global and local historical events and their vicissitudes, which both occurred during the author's lifetime and are yet to occur in his future. The chapters written in Aramaic are translated into Hebrew, and appear facing the Aramaic text. This is the only book in the Bible that touches upon the resurrection of the dead, among other things. A special appendix is added, which surveys the development of the idea of the remaining soul and the resurrection of the dead.