Sefer Eshkol Ha-Kofer ("The Book of the Cluster of Henna Blossoms"), written by the Karaite Sage Judah ben Elia Hadassi the Mourner in Constantinople in the mid-twelfth century, is unique in the annals of Hebrew literature, in terms of both content and style. The book is a monumental composition which includes more than 350,000 words, consisting of approximately 400 rhymed acrostics. Eshkol H a-Kofer is devoted principally to legal discussions, organized according to the order of the Ten Commandments, and it analyzes all facets of Karaite religious life, usually presenting strict interpretations of the law. Included as well are numerous arguments against Rabbinic Judaism, theological, scientific and grammatical discussions, biblical exegesis, and much more. The book is a veritable treasure trove whose contents have been investigated by scholars of both Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism for much valuable information. It is a major source of knowledge of Karaism, but its importance for Rabbinic literature is also considerable. The only previous edition, completed 190 years ago, was quite deficient, censoring many passages and omitting almost all the Judaeo-Greek words and phrases that Hadassi used. A new edition, based on the best manuscripts, has long been a scholarly desideratum, and the present edition is intended to fill that need.

De Nobilitate et Praecellentia Foeminei Sexus is a revolutionary proto-feminist treatise written by Cornelius Agrippa in 1509. The book boldly argues that women are morally, spiritually, and physically superior to men. Reinterpreting biblical stories, Agrippa notes that Eve was created in Paradise from refined substance, unlike Adam who was made from crude dust. He systematically attacks historical misogyny rooted in Roman law and theology, blaming women's subjection on patriarchal tyranny and restricted education. By emphasizing that God granted both sexes identical souls, this radical Renaissance declamation delivered a profound critique of male authority and gender inequality.

These volumes contain most of Prof. Yaakov Zussman's essays. The essays include complex and extensive discussions in all areas of Talmudic literature from its beginnings to its scholars in recent centuries. Their collection in one book, accompanied by detailed indexes, presents to the reader the entirety of Prof. Zussman's research work, and at the same time makes it possible to locate and include discussions in distant places that were previously hidden from view.

Purchase of the subscription online includes domestic shipping to a pickup location. Other delivery options are available in the online form . International subscriptions are shipped via Fedex. The current subscription includes a double volume (77-78). Iyyun was established in 1945 as a Hebrew philosophical periodical by Martin Buber, S. H. Bergman and Julius Guttmann and is published by the S. H. Bergman Center for Philosophical Studies of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Iyyun has been rebranded, and as part of this renewal a number of thematic issues are published, aiming to advance contemporary philosophical discourse, primarily in Hebrew, to indicate new paths of thought and lines of original research, and to build bridges between academia and the broader public.‍ Iyyun seeks to give expression to a wide spectrum of writers, and is committed to cultural and ideological pluralism, scholarly excellence, high quality writing, and vitality of thought. This in the belief that philosophical thought has a formative role in local culture, and could be influential in shaping the sociopolitical sphere.

The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote the treatise on anger for his brother Novatus, who was not a philosopher but a statesman. The brother, governor of the province of Asia during the time of Emperor Nero, asked his philosopher brother to help him with practical advice on how to govern better and improve his relationship with his subjects, and in particular how to moderate and restrain anger, a disturbing emotion and sometimes even frightening in its outbursts. Seneca, as is evident from the treatise he wrote, thought that the best way was to prevent the outbreak of anger and the impulse that always accompanies it – to take revenge. The work sheds new light on the universal human emotion that dominates people of all times and generations, describes anger and its consequences, offers suggestions for controlling this harmful emotion with reason, and gives advice for preventing circumstances that may arouse anger and the urge for revenge that stems from it. To illustrate his points, Seneca brings a selection of historical events about the behavior of rulers who can take revenge on their subjects as they please, and about the subjects' methods of survival.

In this volume: Eshbal Ratzon | The Qumran Calendar: a Historical Reconstruction Emmanuel Mastey | The Terms קלקלה ‘qlqlh’ and קלון ‘qlwn’ and the Meaning of Mishnah Horayot 3:7 Menahem Kahana z”l | The Status of Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva in Their Schools Yonatan Sagiv z”l | Revisiting Midrash and Halakha in the Sifra Elnatan Chen | R. Jonah Ibn Janāḥ as Philologist and Text-Critic Moshe Idel | Gleaning from the Field of Kabbalah in Tarbiz Edward Fram | Groundwater Mikves: An Example of the Influence of Legal Ideas from the Sephardic World on Polish Rabbinic Culture at the End of the Sixteenth Century Tom Parnass | ‘The Soulless Body of the Torah’: The Sabbatean Quest for the ‘True Religion’ in the Eighteenth Century in Context

In this issue we sought to give expression to the historical dimensions of the philosophical debate on the concept of "identity" as well as to discuss philosophical questions about identity related to this time: What is the place of "selfhood" in an era of rapid change? What is the relationship between personal identity and the consciousness of identity? What is the relationship between psychoanalytic conceptions of identity and the decomposition of the concept of identity in postmodern thought? What role should personal, national, and religious identity play in a multicultural and global world? How should the place of individuation processes – private, social, technological, and environmental – in the establishment of identity be understood? And can philosophical identities be characterized in the struggle for peace, justice, and human rights?

The Politics is a foundational work of Greek philosophy and a cornerstone of Western political thought. It is an investigation into the nature of the polis (the city-state), which Aristotle defines as a partnership of a certain kind among similar people for the sake of the best attainable life. In this inquiry, Aristotle seeks to determine how a virtuous and flourishing city is constructed and sustained. In Books VII–VIII - presented here for the first time in Hebrew - Aristotle depicts a vivid portrait of the ideal Greek city, and formulates a guide for the establishment of a flourishing city.

Within the Babylonian Talmud are dozens of stories depicting sharp confrontations between the Amoraim, the Talmudic sages. These narratives portray the charged relationships among the sages, the emergence of conflict, and the profound emotional harm that results from it. Why do conflicts among the creators of Talmudic literature occupy such a central literary place? This book examines these stories as a distinct literary corpus. The analysis shows that the conflicts consistently center on one domain: injury to personal honor. They are also marked by a characteristic plot structure, in which conflict develops unintentionally and escalates uncontrollably, leading to a rupture between the characters. Using tools from narrative theory and comparative poetics, the book explores how these stories operate. They draw the reader into a web of misunderstandings and communicative failures, making simple moral judgment difficult. Instead, they direct attention to the inner and interpersonal worlds of the characters, and to the literary construction of the Talmudic study house as a space of mutual dependence and identity formation.

The Jewish communities of Speyer, Mainz, and Worms (known collectively as ShUM), the ancient center of Torah scholarship in Ashkenaz, produced many generations of scholars who wrote glorious chapters in the history of Jewish culture. Particularly prominent was the distinguished circle of sages active there at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, including Rabbi Yehudah ben Kalonymos of Speyer, Rabbi Yehudah ben Kalonymos of Mainz, Rabbi Shmuel the Pious and his son Rabbi Yehudah the Pious, Rabbi Simcha of Speyers and Rabbi Eleazar of Worms. Even though the names of the sages of ShUM appear countless times throughout rabbinic literature, only a very small portion of their work in the fields of Talmud and halakhah has come down to us. For centuries, the only works available in print were Sefer ha-Rokeach by R. Eleazar of Worms and Sefer Raban. Even the great surge in the critical publication of texts from the nineteenth century onwards has only slightly increased that number. The present volume seeks to fill this gap to some extent. It presents the full text of Rabbi Eleazar of Worms’s Sermon for Passover , and the introduction describes two additional halakhic works by him that have been discovered in manuscript. The Sermon provides the earliest evidence for several well-known Ashkenazic customs—among them the dripping of sixteen drops of wine during the Passover Seder, the prohibition of eating legumes (kitniyot) on Passover, and the eating of dairy foods on Shavuot. A first edition of the Sermon was published twenty years ago; it is now republished with additions and corrections.

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: Menahem Eisenberg | Qerovot for the 17th of Tammuz Attributed to Rabbi El’azar berabbi Qillir Sarah Cohen | Tokhehah poems according to the model of ‘Shikḥi yegonekh’ by Shelomo ibn Gabirol Simcha Emanuel | Additional Glosses of Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (Rashbam) to Alfasi Chen Maaravi and Adam Afterman | A Unique Version of the Kabbalistic Collections Ascribed to the Unpublished Fourth Part of ‘Sha‘arei Kedushah’

This commentary lay hidden for centuries in a single manuscript that eventually made its way to the British Library in London. This edition consists of three parts: 1. A lengthy introduction , which, in addition to bibliographic and historiographic details about the author of the commentary and an account of the manuscript’s journey to the library where it is now housed, also contains a detailed analysis of his exegetical method and a discussion of his sources. 2. The body of the commentary by Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel, which includes an exegetical translation of the verses of II Samuel and their interpretation, both in Judeo-Arabic. Alongside these appear the Hebrew translation of the verses and their commentary, prepared by the editor. The layer of annotations , comprising notes that address the explanation of the commentary, its textual variants (including those found in a partial manuscript preserved in the St. Petersburg Library), its language, the sources on which it draws, and the scholarship related to it.