Every work on Jewish thought and law since the twelfth century bears the imprint of Maimonides. A. N. Whitehead’s famous dictum that the entire European philosophical tradition ‘consists of a series of footnotes to Plato’ could equally characterize Maimonides’ place in the Jewish tradition. The critical studies in this volume explore how Orthodox rabbis of different orientations—Shlomo Aviner, Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin (Netziv), Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Joseph Kafih, Abraham Isaac Kook, Aaron Kotler, Joseph Soloveitchik, and Elhanan Wasserman—have read and provided footnotes to Maimonides in the long twentieth century. How well did they really understand Maimonides? And where do their arguments fit in the mainstream debates about him and his works? Each of the seven core chapters examines a particular approach. Some rabbis have tried to liberate themselves from the influence of his ideas. Others have sought to build on those ideas or expand them in ways which Maimonides himself did not pursue, and which he may well not have agreed with. Still others advance patently non-Maimonidean positions, while attributing them to none other than Maimonides. Above all, the essays published here demonstrate that his legacy remains vibrantly alive today.

This study is the first monograph on the meanings given to the divine name YHWH in the Jewish tradition. It seeks to trace the interplay between the motivation to speak about God and the wish to speak to Him through the meanings given to the name YHWH, in three central stages of Jewish thought: the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and medieval philosophy and mysticism. From a textual perspective, the current study offers a close reading in a variety of Jewish texts and genres, including the Old Testament, Mishna, Midrash, Philo’s writings, Jewish medieval philosophy, biblical exegesis and various mystical texts . There is hardly an exegetical or contemplative Jewish text that does not in some way deal with the name YHWH. Accordingly, almost every scholarly field related to Judaism discusses it in some capacity. However, despite the immensity of the literature, YHWH and its status as a proper name have not been the focus of a comprehensive scholarly work. None have yet attempted to paint a picture of YHWH’s meaning over a spectrum of periods and genres, while offering conceptual and textual discussion. This study seeks to fill that gap.

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. Contents Avishai Bar Asher Isaac b. Shelomo Ibn Sahula Commentary on Psalms Leore Sachs-Shmueli The Beginning of Sefer Toldot Adam by Joseph of Hamadhan Eric Lawee and Doron Forte The Book of Strictures on Rashi's Torah Commentary Ascribed to Rabad Ofer Elior R.Shalom 'Anabi's Commentary on the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah Yohanan Kapah R. Joseph Hayyun's Commentary on Amos

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche of Lights) is justly included in the Hall of Fame of world mysticism as an immortal masterpiece for generations to come. Its subject matter is an arcane mystical interpretation of the Light Verse, sura An-Nur (Qur’an, verse 35), whose text has become a central symbol for the mainstream of Sufi mysticism. The book centres on the light and the mystery of light within a Sufi’s world. Its central importance caused The Niche of Lights to be translated to Hebrew twice in the Middle Ages, and for many generations it provided a source of inspiration in the realm of Judaism for philosophers and Kabbalists alike. This essay has now been re-translated to contemporary Hebrew. This classic inspirational text, a guide for the perplexed of the internal journey to the mystery of Divine Light, is an important, central chapter in the history of human spirituality; and occupies centre stage in the endeavour to establish prophesy, divine inspiration and a new Israeli spirituality.

Ta’am HaTe’amim is a messianic treatise in the Hebrew language composed by the Catholic French orientalist and mystic Guillaume Postel (1510-1581). Ta’am HaTe’amim is a relatively unknown Renaissance document, which sheds light on unique intellectual and political stands prevalent among sixteenth-century Catholic reformators . Throughout the treatise, Postel refers to several famous historical issues, depicting them through his own particular perspective, which was based upon a blend of Joachite millenarism, French patriotism and Jewish Kabbalah. In addition, Ta’am HaTe’amim is a rare example of Hebrew writing by an Early Modern Christian Scholar, and it is characterized by remarkable linguistic traits expressing Postel’s theological concepts regarding languages in general and Hebrew in particular.

The struggle between philosophy and theology in the middle ages has been a central topic for historians of ideas. The Clash of Paradigms claims that this struggle can be fully explained by scientific paradigms. Aristotelian and Neoplatonic paradigms in the Jewish world confronted the kalam paradigm at their early stage, and magic and experimental science in the following stage.

Contents Tsippi Kauffman and Itamar Brenner | Narrative and Normative Discourse in the Sugiyot of Procreation Yair Lorberboim | On the Rejection of Reasons in Halakhic Discourse: The Debate on the Reason for the Prohibitions on Marring the Corners of the Head and the Beard Esti Eisenmann | God's Attributes according to Rambi and Crescas Raphael Shuchat | The Place of Manuscripts in Research of the Vilna Gaon’s Writings Ora Wiskind-Elper | Rebbe Yehoshua Heschel Rabinovitz of Monastyrishche: Contemplations of a Hasidic Leader on Judaism in Troubled Times Yaron Naim | Rabbi Kalphon Moshe Hacohen’s Struggle with the Issue of Women’s Status David M. Feuchtwanger | On Theology, Politics and Disobedience in Agnon’s Shlom Olamim Ronit Irshai | The Return of Aqedah Theology: The Relationships between Religion, Gender and Ethics

Ever since its emergence in the thirteenth-century , Jewish Kabbalah, and most prominently – the Book of Zohar, has captured the hearts of Jewish as well as non-Jewish readers. Significant interest in Kabbalah is evident in the Renaissance, when various Christian Scholars accepted the traditional Jewish narrative, according to which the corpus of medieval Jewish Kabbalah is the Oral Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The sixteenth century is rightfully considered the golden age of this kind of Christian interest in Jewish Kabbalah. During this period a group of scholars, high-rank priests, and secular rulers were familiar with Kabbalistic notions, some of these Christians read the Kabbalistic treatises, whether in their original versions or in translation, some even composed commentaries or translated them into Latin, and most important - they incorporated Kabbalistic notions into their own theological and messianic conceptions. Among Kabbalistic writings, most of these thinkers' attention was drawn to the Zohar, and some of them attempted to translate parts of it into Latin. The first comprehensive, though not complete Latin translation of the Zohar was composed by the French orientalist and mystic Guillaume Postel in the middle of the 16th century. Postel was a prolific and original thinker, who developed an elaborate messianic theological schema, which he based upon Kabbalistic notions. Convinced, as he was, that the Zohar is the perfect and ultimate expression of his own messianic concepts, he embarked on his life project – producing a Latin translation and commentary on the Zohar. This fascinating commentary on the Zohar never appeared in print nor was it ever translated into any language. In Judith Weiss's On the Conciliation of Nature and Grace substantial parts of Postel's Commentaries on the Zohar are presented in the original Latin vis a vis her Hebrew translation, accompanied by introductions and notes, elucidating Postel's unique perception of the Zohar and the Kabbalah.

The commentaries of Midrash Chachamim were written by an anonymous Italian author in the early sixteenth century as part of an extensive commentary to the weekly portions of the Torah reading. Throughout the work, the author copied the early complete midrashim such as Genesis Rabba and the halakhic midrashim almost verbatim. His autonomous creation is contained mostly in the commentaries to those portions that are missing in the halakhic midrash, and as such they are contained in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (though not for all portions of these books). The author tried to explain the verses according to their plain meaning, although he often incorporated in-depth discussions as well as interpretive and pedagogic excursus. In this edition, for the first time, the commentaries of Midrash Chachamim were collated from manuscript for the 27 weekly portions for which they were written, and brought together in order to present the author’s hermeneutical approach. The edition is complemented with an introduction that shows the background for writing these commentaries and discusses the style and interpretive techniques employed by the author.

The Babylonian Talmud is the fundamental work of the Oral Law, both by virtue of the widespread and intensive study of it, and by virtue of reliance on it in halakhic writings, for over a thousand years. The Talmud gained much of its importance during the Geonic period. Throughout this time its transmission shifted from oral recitation to written copies, its text became standardized, and it was sent out from the Babylonian academies across the Jewish diaspora. Its intensive study and complex system of transmission both orally and in writing resulted in many variant readings between extant copies. This book deals with questions concerning the ways in which the Babylonian Talmud became such as seminal work, and especially the Geonate’s treatment of the its textual tradition: the ways in which the Geonim related to the variant readings, how they chose between them, and according to what criteria; to what extent were its early readings preserved and to what extent was its text altered. In the second half of the book the entire corpus in which the Geonim deal with Talmudic variants is presented and discussed.

Israeli Religious Zionism underwent dramatic changes following the Six-Day War. The authors of this title argue that the war generated a trend of maturity that destabilized the fundamental ethe and myths of the traditional Religious Zionism ideas.