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This book analyzes the influence that Aristotelian logic had on the understanding of methods of halakhic inference. “Methods of halakhic inference” refer to methods of Talmudic inference and argumentation, mainly the thirteen exegetical principles of the Torah, enumerated at the beginning of the Sifra. The thirteen exegetical principles are the most famous methods of halakhic inference. They are considered basic and fundamental rules by which the oral halakhic tradition is related to the Scriptures. No wonder, therefore, that there are dozens of commentaries to this set of rules. The study presented in this book focuses on the logical trend of commentaries on the Thirteen Principles. In these commentaries Aristotelian logic was applied, in a variety of ways. This special way of combining philosophy and halakha has significance not only for the history of the development of Talmudic methodology, but also for the understanding of the ongoing interaction between particular Jewish ideas and tradition on the one hand, and the external “universal” culture and literature on the other. Analysis of the logical commentaries on the Thirteen Principles can demonstrate how the original Greek doctrines were transmitted, mainly through Arabic philosophy, but sometimes also through Christian-scholastic philosophy, to the medieval Jewish sages, and how these Jewish sages applied those doctrines to develop a more sophisticated Talmudic methodology.

The publication of Korot 2007–2008 has to our regret been seriously delayed. There has, however, already been considerable interest toward the next issues, and thus we trust that Volume 20 will appear within the annual timetable. The main part of this issue of Korot consists of research reports from a workshop on the subject “History as Argument in Biomedicine: Representations of National Socialist ‘Euthanasia’ Between Politics and Historiography, ca. 1945–2000.” This workshop was part of a research project in the context of the Coordinated Research Program “Cultures of Memory” (Sonderforschungsbereich “Erinnerungskulturen”) located at the University of Giessen, Germany. The meeting took place in Beit Hagath in Ein Karem, Jerusalem, on January 29th, 2007. Other themes presented in this volume include questions on the experimental method and on reproductive choices as seen in Talmudic literature, on medieval Jewish physicians in the Arabic cultural area, on Karaite physicians, and on the relationship between modern medicine and the Kabbala, ending with the early stages of the medical profession in Eretz Israel. They thus cover nearly 2,000 years of Jewish medical history. The volume is, as usual, bilingual (English and Hebrew), with contributions from Germany, France and Finland, in addition to Israel. Korot is unique as the only journal devoted to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science. To quote Prof. Leibowitz (z”l), one of the first initiators of Korot, the purpose of the publication is: ...preference for topics based on sources not readily accessible to our colleagues abroad in their researches. Avoiding, as far as possible, a narrow parochial approach, we hope to enlarge the knowledge of medical historical facts and concepts in a field often regarded as somewhat esoteric.1 It is our hope that the present volume of Korot has succeeded in this endeavor. Our special thanks are due to Dr. Kenneth Collins for his kind assistance in the proofreading stage. Our next issue will emphasize the subject of Jews and medicine in the Renaissance period, e.g., Tuviah Cohen and Yosef Shlomo Delmedigo. Our readers are warmly invited to submit articles connected with these subjects, but also any other historical essays related to Jewish aspects of the history of medicine and science, for publication. Letters to the editor and brief historical notes are also welcome. Helena Paavilainen Guest editor

Order In the Bible: The Arrangement of the Torah in Rabbinic and Medieval Jewish Commentary examines ideas about biblical order in the commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Nahmanides against the background of the Midrashic tradition. On the face of it, the arrangement of portions in the Torah is chronological, but close examination reveals more than a few discrepancies. The Midrash sometimes responded by saying that "There is no ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ in the Torah" (en muqdam ume'uhar ba-Torah)-- the order of the Torah is not always chronological. This response left the reader facing unexplained juxtapositions of chapters and verses. In some of the cases, the sages asked, lama nismekha, “Why were these two portions juxtaposed?” Usually, they sought to connect the unconnected stories and verses in the midrashic fashion, by adding to the events of the stories or by taking the second unit as the outcome of the first and deriving therefrom some moral teaching. Occasionally though, we find an attempt to answer the question of juxtaposition in terms that might be considered closer to the peshat method of explication. Moving in the direction of the peshat, medieval Jewish exegetes tried to explain biblical arrangement of both narratives and law based on thematic, associative, or literary links. Their attempts resulted in new ideas about the ordering of the Torah. This book contains hundreds of references to juxtaposition and non-chronological arrangements cited in the writings of the above commentators. These examples are put into the framework of each commentator's general approach to interpretation and his particular sense of biblical order. Dr. Isaac Gottlieb is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University and a member of its Institute for Jewish Bible Interpretation.

The Jewish Cultural Studies series offers a contemporary view of Jewish culture around the globe. Multidisciplinary, multi-focused, and eclectic, it covers the cultural practices of secular Jews as well as of religious Jews of all persuasions, and from historical as well as contemporary perspectives. It also considers the range of institutions that represent and respond to Jewishness, including museums, the media, synagogues, and schools. More than a series on Jewish ideas, it uncovers ideas of being Jewish. This volume proposes that the idea of 'Jewish', or what people think of as 'Jewishness', is revealed in expressions of culture and applied in constructions of identity and representation. In Part I, 'Expression', Elly Teman considers how the kabbalistic red string found at sites throughout Israel conveys a political and psychological response to terrorism. Sergey Kravtsov examines Jewish and non-Jewish narratives concerning a synagogue in eastern Europe. Miriam Isaacs looks at expressions of cultural continuity in DP camps in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and Jascha Nemtsov discusses how Jewish folk music was presented as high art in early twentieth-century Germany. In Part II, 'Identity', Joachim Schlör enquires how the objects taken by emigrants leaving Germany for Palestine after Hitler¹s rise to power represented their identities. Hanna Kliger, Bea Hollander-Goldfein, and Emilie Passow examine how survivors' narratives become integrated into family identities. Olga Gershenson offers close readings of how the identities of Jews as enacted in post-perestroika films highlight conflicting Russian attitudes towards Jews. Ted Merwin considers commercial establishments as 'sacred spaces' for Jewish secular identities. Part III, 'Representation', opens with stories collected in Israel by Ilana Rosen from Jews who lived in Carpatho-Russia, while Judith Lewin considers the characterization of the Jewish woman in French literature. Holly Pearse and Mikel Koven, respectively, decode the Jewishness of modern radio comedy and Hollywood film. The idea of Jewishness is applied in the volume with provocative interpretations of Jewish experience, and fresh approaches to the understanding of Jewish cultural expressions. Contributors: Simon J. Bronner, Olga Gershenson, Bea Hollander-Goldfein, Miriam Isaacs, Hannah Kliger, Mikel J. Koven, Sergey R. Kravtsov, Judith Lewin, Ted Merwin, Jascha Nemtsov, Emilie S. Passow, Holly A. Pearse, Ilana Rosen, Joachim Schlör, Elly Teman

What is fair? How do rights join hands with generosity? How can punishment be justified? Is there recompense for human suffering? What sense can we make of immortality, or of the idea of a messianic age? In On Justice , Lenn Goodman offers the first general theory of justice for more than a century to tap the riches of the Jewish tradition-biblical, rabbinic, and philosophical-and bring its texts into dialogue with the classic works of Western ethics and political philosophy. Against the backdrop of a conversation, he opens up with Saadiah, Halevi, Maimonides, and Spinoza, with Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Rawls-Goodman, developing a fresh, ontological approach to the core issues of ethics, politics, and the human condition. The original ideas of On Justice will engage both Jewish and non-Jewish philosophers and students of society and ethics.

"Criticism of Modern Secular Culture" discusses the ethical, social, national-political humanistic and religious foundations of modern and post-modern secular culture, especially amongst the Jewish People and in the State of Israel. The topics discussed are from a philosophical-historical perspective that relates directly to the present. The book defines the basic values of Western Humanism from a Jewish point of view, and analyses the problems of their implementation. It evaluates the achievements and the tragic failures of secular modernism which became factually anti-humanistic.

This book offers an account of a key event in Jewish intellectual history that is also an important chapter in the history of Western philosophy: the dissemination of Maimonides’ chief philosophical work, the Guide of the Perplexed, through Samuel ibn Tibbon at the beginning of the 13th century in Southern France. Whereas Maimonides interpreted Judaism as a philosophical religion, Ibn Tibbon turned this interpretation into the foundation of Jewish philosophy up to Spinoza, making it into a systematic justification for studying Greco-Arabic philosophy and science in a religious setting. If Maimonides’ work was the gate through which philosophy became an important component of Jewish culture, Ibn Tibbon built the hinge without which this gate would have remained shut. The book examines Ibn Tibbon’s relationship to Maimonides in all its facets: how he translated Maimonides’ work from Arabic into Hebrew, explained its technical terminology, and interpreted and taught its doctrines. Due attention is also paid to Ibn Tibbon’s comprehensive criticism of Maimonides. The book includes the edition of what may be called the first commentary on the Guide: about 100 glosses attributed to Ibn Tibbon that were discovered through examining 145 manuscripts of Ibn Tibbon’s Hebrew translation. The glosses illustrate the different aspects of Ibn Tibbon’s relationship to Maimonides and the complex transition of Maimonides’ work from one cultural context to another.

Korot is devoted to the study of the philosophical, sociological and ethical aspects of the history of medicine and Judaism. The topics covered by the Journal include: medicine in Jewish and Hebrew sources, the history of Jewish physicians, medicine in Palestine and Israel and medicine during the Nazi period. Korot is published annually. Each volume contains mostly English-language articles, together with some Hebrew contributions (abstracted in English). The "Historical Notes" and "Notes and Events" sections cover recent important developments and events in the above mentioned topics around the world. Each issue also includes several reviews of noteworthy books and contributions to the field. Korot is sponsored by The Dr. Manuel & Helen Glazier Memorial Fund of The American Physicians Fellowship for Medicine in Israel, and the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage. Its editorial board comprises scholars from the USA, France, Germany, UK and Israel. Korot is the organ of the Israel Association of the History of Medicine, of the Harry Friedenwald Chair of the History of Medicine and of the M. Glazier Institute of the History of Medicine, Jerusalem. Its past editor was the late Professor Joshua O. Leibowitz and the present editor is Professor Samuel S. Kottek, M.D.

Fifteenth-century Constantinople Jewry witnessed the collapse of Byzantine power and the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, the last flowerings of Jewish Byzantine culture before 1492, the expulsion of the Jews of Spain and their massive immigration in the Ottoman Empire, as well as a turning point in the history of Rabbanite-Karaite relations marked by efforts toward reconciliation. The study of the literary and pedagogical activity of a Jewish Rabbanite scholar like Mordekhai Komtino (1402-1482) is probably the best way to analyze the impact and meaning of such developments. Even though Komtino had no formally defined communal responsibilities, he was an important intellectual leader of his community, and was recognized as such even beyond its boarders. His work, like the work of other medieval Jewish authors, is composed almost entirely of commentaries - whether the commented text was canonical, as with the Pentateuch, or whether it was a "profane" scientific or philosophical text, such as the writings of an Abraham Ibn Ezra or a Moses ben Maimon. As such, his work is primarily a re-writing or a re-elaboration of a pre-existing literary heritage. Komtino's « debts » are many. His texts are filled with citations, borrowings, and allusions, especially in reference to the Sephardi exegetic and philosophical tradition. His writing is nevertheless the product of a particular time and place, it is indebted as much to the history, conflicts, and personal experiences of its author as it is to his « sources ». It is the product of a given situation, written in answer to given questions in the framework of a historically defined set of tensions. After a survey of Komtino's career, a presentation of his writings, and of the historical context of his activity, this book focuses on a methodical analysis of one of his major works: his commentary of the Pentateuch - never printed as most of Komtino's writings, available only in manuscripts (for the most part in the French National Library in Paris). It reveals the two main challenges Komtino had to take up: his confrontation with his Karaite disciples and readers and with the Karaite exegetical tradition on the one hand, and his confrontation, as an "epigone", with a major and dominant figure of the Sephardi exegetical tradition, Abraham Ibn Ezra. But this book is not only a monograph, a case study. It is also a reflection, using the concepts and methods of contemporary literary critic, on what commenting (Torah) means, on writing as rewriting, and on exegesis as a dialogue: with a text, with a context, with illustrious predecessors as well as contemporary public, disciples, colleagues and competitors.

Modern Gnosis and Zionism reveals the compound connection between Life Philosophy (Lebensphilosophie) – a post- Nietzschean common approach that proliferated in the German culture of the turn of the nineteenth century – and Zionist thought. The book closely discusses Life Philosophy, its cultural and philosophical background, yet focuses mainly on Life-Philosophy as a modern version of Gnostic theology. It further demonstrates how Life Philosophy as modern Gnosis provided emerging Zionist thought with the metaphysical basis for the Zionist political argument. Zionist ideology, revealed through the analysis of a wide range of Zionist thinkers from the early twentieth century, is consequently argued to be a political-theological strategy, a type of argumentation in which political concepts are founded in (modern Gnostic) theology. Within this framework Modern Gnosis and Zionism, takes issue with a wide range of topics, such as the history of modernity and secularization, the theory of psychology, modern research on Gnostic theology, concepts of time, aesthetics and gender, as well as Zionist interpretation of history and of Jewish identity, its dialogue with Anti-Semitism and an inner-Zionist messianic impulse. As such this innovative book echoes the new rise of scholarly interest in the relations between politics and theology, the 'secular' and the 'religious

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995), is one of the greatest philosophers of our time. This title, which is a collection of essays written by experts on Levinas both in Israel and abroad, presents the main parts of his work: The philosophical writings, the Jewish writings, the Talmudic readings, present topics, and his controversial stances towards certain modern day streams or ideologies such as psychoanalysis. The articles in this book are based on an international conference which took place at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in May 2002 on the philosophy of Emanuel Levinas.