This volume publishes for the first time an untitled anti-Hasidic manuscript, which the editors have called Reshit Hokhmah (The Origin/Beginning of Wisdom), from the Joseph Perl Archive in Tarnopol. The manuscript was copied in 1819, the year that Perl’s Megale Temirin was published. It is housed today in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The identity of the author is unknown, but he probably came from Galicia and was associated with Mitnagdim and Maskilim. The book expresses harsh and detailed criticism of the hagiographic work, Shivhei ha -Besht (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov, Kapost 1815), which is the first extensive engagement with this book. Moreover, the work is erudite and anticipates the views of Isaac Baer Levinson in his work Te‘udah be-Yisrael (A Warning to Israel, Vilna and Grodno 1828). The manuscript was read by many Maskilim in Galicia and it seems to have influenced both Joseph Perl and Isaac Baer Levinson. This work is therefore of great importance as an example of anti-Hasidic literature, which influenced nineteenth-century Haskalah literature. A transcription of the manuscript is presented in this volume, accompanied by explanatory notes, references to literature that influenced the author, references to anti-Hasidic literature, and an introduction that describes the character of the work and its reception.

In the book Revelation and Rectification , private aspects of Rabbi Nachman's personal spiritual world, previously unknown and never before discussed, are revealed. The first section of the book explores the spiritual revelations experienced by Rabbi Nachman of Bretslav as well as the spiritual experiments he conducted . Among the topics discussed is the powerful story of spiritual revelation entitled "The Story of the Bread" wherein Rabbi Nachman newly receives the Torah, as did Moses on Mount Sinai. This story was kept secret for two hundred years because of Rabbi Nachman's warning against showing it to any stranger. The second section of the book is dedicated to the rectifications - tikunim - which Rabbi Nachman established. The content and the process of the formulation of the tikun klali (general rectification) are discussed, as are the tikun following nocturnal emission and the tikun to be performed during the pilgrimage to his grave. In this context, the secret story "The Story of the Armor," which deals with the unique quality of the tikun established by Rabbi Nachman is included . In the book, the connection between the personal trials that Rabbi Nachman weathered successfully and the tikunim he established becomes clear. The secret Breslav traditions which tell of the temptations with which Rabbi Nachman struggled while still a young bridegroom comparing him to the Biblical Joseph are discussed.. Also addressed in the book are the motives behind Rabbi Nachman's choice of the city of Uman as his final resting place and the place where the tikun of pilgrimage to his grave was to be performed. The book's final chapter jumps 200 years forward and discusses the developments which took place following the death of Rabbi Nachman, focusing in particular of those developments which have taken place during the past decade (2000-2010 ), among them, new rituals surrounding the pilgrimage to Rabbi Nachman's grave such as the "universal general tikun" and the tossing away of piercing jewelry while reciting the traditional tashlich prayer. The book explores the novel context given by today's Breslav Hasidim to the phenomenon of the pilgrimage to Rabbi Nachman's grave in Uman on the Rosh Hashana holiday, in an era when Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav has become a contemporary Israeli cultural hero who plays an important role in the worlds of varied populations who are not traditionally Breslav Hasidim.

Table of Contents Vered NoamIs - It true that ‘A corpse does not defile’? On Ritual Contamination in Tannaitic Literature Uri Ehrlich - Maʿaseh Bereshit and Shir Shel Yom in the Early Siddur: New Finds from the Cairo Geniza Yair Lorberbaum - ‘Incline thy ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart unto my knowledge’: Criticism of Aggadah in The Guide of the Perplexed Zvi Mark - The Mystical Fellowship: On the Visions of R. Shmuel Isaac of Doshiv and R. Yitshaq Isaac of Tirovitz (Two of R. Nahman of Braslav’s First Disciples) Book Review Jonatan Meir - Scholem’s ‘Archives’

Table of Contents: Alexander Rofé - Text-Criticism within the Philological-Historical Discipline: The Problem of the Double Text of Jeremiah Jonathan Ben-Dov - Hebrew and Aramaic Writing in the Pseudepigrapha and the Qumran Scrolls: The Ancient Near Eastern Background and the Quest for a Written Authority Itamar Kislev - The Commentaries of Ibn Ezra and Rashbam and the Dispute over the Ingredients of the Altar Incense Yair Lorberbaum - Changes in Maimonides’ Approach to Aggadah Rami Reiner - ‘A Tombstone Inscribed’: Titles Used to Describe the Deceased in Tombstones from Würzburg between 1147–1148 and 1346

Tarbiz is the only Hebrew academic journal that is devoted to the entire range of Jewish studies. Appearing quarterly, this journal is the principal forum for the expression of the most important developments in Jewish studies in our generation, and its contributors include the leading scholars in the various fields of Jewish studies in Israel and the world, as well as young scholars who are beginning to make their mark. Tarbiz was first published in 1930 at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the editorial pen of Prof. Jacob Nachum Epstein z"l.

Subordinated King (Melekh Evyon, ) studies the conception of kingship, and its status, powers and authority in Talmudic literature. The book deals with the conception of Kingship against the background of the different approaches to kingship both in Biblical literature and in the political views prevalent in the Roman Empire. In the bible one finds three (exclusive) approaches to kingship: rejection of the king as a legitimate political institution - since God is the (political) king; a version of royal theology according to which the king is divine (or sacral); and a view that God is not a political king yet the king has no divine or sacral dimension. The king is flesh and blood; hence his authority and power are limited. He is a Subordinated King. While the first conception in its day to day realization is close to anarchy, according to the second conception the king holds all the powers – in foreign and domestic affairs, in the law, economy, administration, army, and especially in the religious and the ceremonial realms. In contrast, the third conception subscribes to the principle of separation of powers: between the King, and the high court (Sanhedrin, bet ha-din ha-gadol), the priests and the prophets. The sages of the Mishnah and Talmud were well aware of these three conceptions. In the legal-halakhic parts of the Talmudic literature (Mishnah, Tosefta, parts of the halakhic midrash, and the halakhic discussions in the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds) the Sages followed the third conception of kingship, restructuring it according to their theological and socio-political views. When compared to the theological-political views common in the ancient near east and in late antiquity the political model designed by the Talmudic sages is a genuine innovation. Nonetheless, there are in the aggadic (non-halakhic) parts of the Talmudic literature echoes of the other two biblical conceptions of kingship, which undermine the conception that constitutes the halakhic sources.

Prayer has been a component of humanity since time immemorial. This revolutionary study explores Jewish prayer; not its textual layer but rather its non-verbal expressions – physical gestures, dress, and voice. These elements create a rich, intricate language, which is the focal point of this vivid scholarly discussion.