In his own estimation, Maimonides was neither exclusively a dedicated philosopher nor exclusively a devoted rabbinist: he saw philosophy and the Written and Oral Torahs as a single, harmonious domain, and he believed that this view was similarly fundamental to the lives of the prophets and rabbis of old. In this book, Herbert Davidson examines Maimonides’ efforts to reconstitute this all-embracing, rationalist worldview that he felt had been lost during the millennium-long exile. Maimonides was not the first rabbinic scholar to take an interest in philosophy, but he was unique in being a towering figure in both areas. His law code, the Mishneh torah, stands with Rashi's commentary on the Babylonian Talmud as one of the two most intensely studied rabbinic works coming out of the Middle Ages, while his Guide for the Perplexed is the most influential and widely read Jewish philosophical work ever written. Admirers and critics have arrived at wildly divergent perceptions of the man. We have Maimonides the atheist or agnostic, Maimonides the sceptic, Maimonides the deist, Maimonides the Aristotelian, the Averroist, or proto-Kantian. We have a Maimonides seduced by the blandishments of 'accursed philosophy'; a Maimonides who sowed the seeds that led to Spanish Jews' loss of faith and mass apostasy and who was therefore responsible for the demise of Spanish Jewry; a Maimonides who incorporated philosophical elements into his rabbinic works and wrote the Guide for the Perplexed not to propagate doctrines to which he was personally committed but in order to rescue errant souls seduced by philosophy; a Maimonides who was the defender of the faith and defined the articles of Jewish belief for all time. In his own estimation, Maimonides was neither exclusively a dedicated philosopher nor exclusively a devoted rabbinist: he saw philosophy and the Written and Oral Torahs as a single, harmonious domain, and he believed that this view was similarly fundamental to the lives of the prophets and rabbis of old. In this book, Herbert Davidson examines Maimonides’ efforts to reconstitute this all-embracing, rationalist worldview that he felt had been lost during the millennium-long exile.

The articles in the volume: Yehuda Liebes- Clothed Nudity: The Esoteric Cult of Philo Eran Viezel- Moses’ Role in the Writing of the Torah in Rabbinic Literature and in the Transition to the Middle Ages Dov Schwartz- R. Shem Tov Falaquera’s Method in Abridging R. Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Fons Vitae Eliezer Haddad- ‘You Shall Not Murder’ in the Writings of Maimonides: Ethics vs. Politics Avishai Bar-Asher- Perush shel Meor haQodesh : The Metamorphoses of Zoharic Homilies in R. Moses de León’s Hitherto Unknown Commentary on the Ten Commandments Iris Felix and Ruth Kara-Ivanov Kaniel- ‘Fire Bearing Fire’: An Unknown Zoharic Text and the Beginning of Zoharic Commentary in the Early Fourteenth Century – the Case of R. Menahem Recanati and R. Joseph Angilet Hagai Pely - Halakhah, Pietism, Kabbalah and Revelation in Sixteenth Century Safed: A Study in R. Yosef Karo’s Works Iris Brown ( Hoizman )- Between ‘Rectification of Evil’ and ‘Plain Nonsense’: The Strict Requirement of ‘A Clean Body’ as a Case Study of the Relationship between Hasidism and Halakhah Emmanuel Bloch- Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch and the Doctrine of ‘Torah im Derech Erets ’ in the Eyes of the Hareidim Uriel Barak- Anti-Semitism from a Theological Perspective: A Study in the Thought of Rabbi Avraham Itzhak HaCohen Kook and his Followers Eli Schonfeld- Jewish Philosophy as Existential Hermeneutics: A Revisiting of the Relation between Philosophy and Judaism in Emanuel Levinas List of Contributors English Abstracts

Mishnah and Tosefta Ketubbot: Text, Exegesis and Redaction includes new editions of tractate Ketubbot in the Mishnah and Tosefta and offers a new model for presenting these interdependent texts. After an introduction which deals at length with some central topics in Mishnah and Tosefta research, especially with regard to textual criticism, the two editions are presented in parallel; each edition is accompanied by selected variants and explanatory notes. Please note: The book was typeset so there is a parallel between Mishna and the matching Tosefta. For this reason pages 76, 82, 97, 100, 124, 177, 180, 220, 240, 256, 298, and 300 are blank. These pages were left blank intentionally.

The articles in this volume: Naama Alfasi-Weiss The Biblical Story of the Announcement of Isaac’s Birth : A Structural Analysis Avraham (Rami) Reiner On the Origins of the Expression Amen, amen, amen sel Rella Kushelevsky Between the Heritage of the Middle Ages and the Winds of the Renaissance: The Midrash of the Ten Commandments in the Parma Manuscript 2269 (De Rossi 473) Tal Goitein Elijah’s Cup: An Unknown Fifteenth-Century Depiction of the Custom in the Erna Michael Haggadah Noga Rubin ‘ The Legend of Three and Four’: An Account of Jewish Story-Telling Tradition in Prague of the Seventeenh Century Tsila Zan-Bar Tsur ‘ A woman is like a stew, warm and nourishing’: Kitchen and Femininity in the Folk Culture of Afghan Jews Yael Zilberman ‘ I would have died had God not sent me Elijah the Prophet’: Class, Body, and Sexuality in the Life Stories of Elderly Oriental (Mizrahiot) Women of Beer Sheva Noga Libi Cohen ‘ In the merit of a woman – the miracle happened’: Conformism and Subversion in the Story of Judith as Told by an Ultra-Orthodox Woman Towards a History of Folkloristics Rina Benari Blessing Scrolls and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The Case of the Blessing Scroll from Mława – 1925 Book Reviews Yael Guilat Material-Culture Research in Israel [On: Aviva Muller-Lancet, Garments with a Message: Ethnography of Jewish Wear in Islamic Lands, Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2010, 389 + 67 pp. (in Hebrew)] Haim Weiss Current Aspects of Folklore Research [On: Regina F. Bendix & Galit Hasan-Rokem (eds.), A Companion to Folklore (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, 15), Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 660 pp. (Paper edition, 2014)] Dani Schrire Encyclopedic Knowkege and Jewish Folklore [On: Raphael Patai & Haya Bar-Itzhak (eds.), Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions, Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2013, 2 volumes, 680 pp.] English abstracts at the end of the book.

David Gillis’s highly original study of Maimonides’ Mishneh torah demonstrates that its form reflects a belief that observance of the divine commandments of the Torah brings the individual and society into line with the cosmic order. He shows that the Mishneh torah is intended to be an object of contemplation as well as a prescription for action, with the study of it in itself bringing the reader closer to knowledge of God. In this highly original study, David Gillis demonstrates that the Mishneh torah, Maimonides’ code of Jewish law, has the structure of a microcosm. Through this symbolic form, Maimonides presents the law as designed to perfect the individual and society by shaping them in the image of the divinely created cosmic order. The commandments of the law thereby bring human beings closer to fulfilling their ultimate purpose, knowledge of God. This symbolism turns the Mishneh torah into an object of contemplation that itself communicates such knowledge. In short, it is a work of art. Gillis unpacks the metaphysical and cosmological underpinnings of Maimonides’ scheme of organization with consummate skill, allowing the reader to understand the Mishneh torah’s artistic dimension and to appreciate its power. Moreover, as he makes clear, uncovering this dimension casts new light on one of the great cruxes of Maimonides studies: the relationship of the Mishneh torah to his philosophical treatise The Guide of the Perplexed. A fundamental unity is revealed between Maimonides the codifier and Maimonides the philosopher that has not been fully appreciated hitherto. Maimonides’ artistry in composition is repeatedly shown to serve his aims in persuading us of the coherence and wisdom of the halakhic system. Gillis’s fine exegesis sets in high relief the humane and transcendental purposes and methods of halakhah as Maimonides conceived of it, in an argument that is sure-footed and convincing.

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 volume: Avi Shmidman, The Selihot of R. Joseph Ibn Abitur for the Tenth of Tevet Dan Greenberger, Alfasi's Responses to R. Isaac b. Barukh Ibn al-Baliya's Ccritiques Sarah Cohen, The Selihot of R. Sadoq al-'Amani Na'ama Ben-Shachar, The Baraita of Joseph ben Uzziel Dov Schwartz, Two Wedding Sermons by R. Michael ben Shabtai Balbo

For contents and article abstracts press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo. The articles in this volume: Aharon Shemesh and Moshe Halbertal - The Meʾun (Refusal): The Complex History of Halakhic Anomaly Shulamit Elizur - The Early Scope of Parashat Sheqalim Gideon Bohak - The Hidden Hekhalot: Towards Reconstructing an Unknown Hekhalot Composition from the Cairo Genizah Avraham Grossman - The Impact of Rabbi Samuel of Spain and Reuel of Byzantium on Rashi’s School Idit Einat-Nov - Uncertainty as a Poetic Principle: A Reading of Nəʾum Ašer Ben Yəhudah by Shlomo Ibn Ṣaqbel English and Hebrew Abstracts

This book breaks new ground in several areas of Talmudic philology, especially with regard to the central work of classical rabbinic literature, the Mishnah, and its companion volume the Tosefta. The first section, devoted to the textual criticism of the Mishnah, exposes a number of widespread fallacies with regard to the so-called "Palestinian" and "Babylonian" manuscripts of this work. The second section, the largest and most innovative of the book, seeks to place the textual criticism of the Tosefta on a firm foundation on the basis of a detailed analysis which upends the scholarly consensus in this area. The third section contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the relationship between Mishnah and Tosefta, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of this relationship which varies substantially from one passage to another. Finally, the afterword makes an impassioned plea for editors of classical rabbinic texts to abandon the antiquated notions of legitimate editorial practice which still prevail in the field in favor of approaches which have long been accepted in other disciplines.

For contents and article abstracts press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo. The articles in this volume: Alexander Rofé - Redressing the Calamity in the Transmission of the Bible Yonatan Feintuch - The Textual Development of the Aggadah of Rav Ada b. Abba (b BB 22a) in Light of the Evidence of an Early Genizah Fragment Avi Shmidman - Quina Poems for the 10th of Tevet and the 17th of Tamuz Avraham Fraenkel - Kingdoms and their Harsh Decrees in Medieval Italian Jewish Poetry Tzahi Weiss - ‘Most of the Errant Err in Malkhut’: The Worship of the Shekhinah in Early Kabbalah Tsippi Kauffman - Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Przysucha English and Hebrew Abstracts

For contents and article abstracts press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo. :Participants in this volume Dr. Matti Huss Prof. Uri Ehrlich Dr. Maoz Kahana Prof. Alexander Lubotzky Prof. Yair Lorberboim Prof. Yosef Ofer Prof. Menahem Kister Dr. Avraham (Rami) Reiner Dr. Avi Shmidman

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 The Piyyutim of R. Jeshua ben R. Joseph ha-Kohen ha-Shofet published by Shulamit Elizur and Tova Beeri " Eten Tzedek le-Foali " - A Kerovah on the Amidah for Fast Days by R. Jehiel bar Abraham of Rome published by Avraham Levin and Avraham Fraenkel Fragments of a Commentary to Tractate Sukkah from the Study Hall of Rashi published by Aaron Ahrend A Fragment from the Commentary by R. Eliezer of Worms ( Rokeah ) to Psalms published by Simcha Emanuel A New Commentary from a Manuscript to the Piyyut " Elohei ha-Ruhot le-Khol Basar " by R. Joseph Bonfils (Tov Elem) published by Yoel Binder The Chapters on the Psyche and Prophecy in the Book Sha`ar Shamayim by R. Isaac ben Abraham ibn Latif published by Adiel Zimran A Commentary to the Guide of the Perplexed (1:1-5) attributed to R. David ben Judah Messer Leon published by Eli Gurfinkel

The Mekhilta of R. Shimeon Ben Yohai is a Tannaitic Midrash on Exodus, redacted in the early third century in the spirit of the disciples of R. Akiba. This text was lost over the years, but a significant part of it was reconstructed on the basis of pages from the Cairo Geniza and citations by medieval scholars in an edition by J.N. Epstein and E.Z. Melamed. Heretofore this Mekhilta has not received a comprehensive commentary, and its study has been based only on selected passages. This book presents the first systematic study of the Nezikin portion in the Mekhilta. It is based on a re-examination of the manuscripts, suggesting improved readings and completion of lacunae, a thorough study of the terminology and methodology used in the text, close comparison with parallel passages in the Mekhilta of R. Ishmael and throughout Talmudic literature, and detailed analysis of its redaction. The book contains elucidating innovations regarding the literal meaning of the homilies, the precise understanding of midrashic terminology, the explicit and implicit literary connections between the Mekhilta and the Mishna and Tosefta, and a fascinating quest after its creation and redaction, helping to interpret the multitude of dissonances in content and style that appear in the section on Nezikin (Torts). The insights on substance and in principle to be found in this book constitute a major contribution to the interpretation and study of the Mekhilta of R. Shimeon Ben Yohai in particular, and the method of creation and redaction of Tannaitic Midrashim in general. Students of Torah and anyone interested in Talmudic research will find this book most edifying.