This volume brings together over fifty of Schiffman’s Studies on Ancient Judaism that have helped to shape this emerging field. Throughout, these studies display a wide-ranging perspective, bringing together all kinds of sources, written or archaeological, to illuminate ancient Judaism and its complex history. Topics explored include the history of the Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity, the Bible in Jewish tradition, ancient Jewish thought, law, and liturgy, magic and mysticism, relation of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Rabbinic Literature, Judean Desert texts, and Judaism and Christianity. The volume concludes with studies of the work of several modern rabbis and academic scholars.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Part1 Ancient Jewish History 1 The Conversion of the Royal House of Adiabene in Josephus and Rabbinic Sources 2 Politics and Religion: Do They Mix? The Patriarch and His Court in Roman Palestine 3 Historical Perspectives on Dissent and Disobedience: Jews against Jews in Late Antiquity 4 Models of Community in the Ancient Jewish World Part2 The Bible in Jewish Tradition 5 What Is a Jewish Biblical Text? 6 The Term and Concept of Torah 7 The Rabbinic View of Prophecy and Prophets 8 “A Fence around the Torah”: Rabbinic Strategies for Policing the Canon 9 Translation as Commentary: Targum, Midrash, and Talmud 10 The Reception of the Bible in Ancient Judaism Part3 Jewish Thought 11 The Rabbinic Understanding of Covenant 12 Second Temple Period Rationales for the Torah’s Commandments 13 Commandment or Emotion? Love of God, Family, and Humanity in Classical Judaism 14 War in Jewish Apocalyptic Thought 15 Messianism and Apocalypticism in Rabbinic Texts 16 Exegesis and Polemic: Rabbinic Responses to Antisemitism 17 Monarchy and Polity: Systems of Government in Jewish Tradition Part4 Jewish Law 18 Was There a Galilean Halakhah? 19 The Samaritans in Tannaitic Halakhah 20 The Samaritans in Amoraic Halakhah 21 Conversion to Judaism in Tannaitic Halakhah 22 Talmudic Monetary Theory: Currency in Rabbinic Halakhah Part5 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah 23 Jewish Law in the Hasmonean Period 24 The Temple Scroll and the Systems of Jewish Law of the Second Temple Period 25 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Halakhah 26 Disputes in Tannaitic Literature in Light of the Judean Desert Scrolls 27 “Of the Making of Books”: Rabbinic Scribal Arts in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls Part6 Judean Desert Texts 28 On the Edge of the Diaspora: Jews in the Dead Sea Region in the First Two Centuries CE 29 Witnesses and Signatures in the Hebrew and Aramaic Documents from the Bar Kokhba Caves 30 Reflections on the Deeds of Sale from the Judean Desert in Light of Rabbinic Literature Part7 Judaism and Early Christianity 31 Biblical Exegesis in the Passion Narratives and the Dead Sea Scrolls 32 Jewish Law in the Gospels in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls 33 The New Testament as a Source for the History of Jewish Law 34 The Bleeding Woman in Mark, Matthew, and Luke: Perspectives from Qumran and Rabbinic Literature 35 The Halakhic Response of the Rabbis to the Rise of Christianity Part8 Faith, Worship, and Liturgy 36 Jewish Spirituality in the Bible and Second Temple Literature 37 The Importance of the Temple for Ancient Jews 38 The Early History of Public Torah Reading 39 The Hafṭarah: A Historical Introduction 40 Additions to Birkat Yoṣer for Sabbath 41 Minḥah: A Halakhic and Historical Analysis 42 From Observation to Calculation: The Development of the Rabbinic Lunar Calendar 43 History and Liturgy: The Evolution of Multiple Prayer Rites Part9 Apocalypticism, Magic, and Mysticism 44 2 Enoch and Halakhah 45 3 Enoch and the Enoch Tradition 46 A Forty-two-letter Divine Name in the Aramaic Magic Bowls 47 The Recall of Rabbi Neḥuniah ben Ha-Qanah from Ecstasy in the Hekhalot Rabbati Part10 Rabbis and Scholars 48 The Vilna Gaon’s Methods for the Textual Criticism of Rabbinic Literature 49 The Rebbe as a Torah Scholar: Synthesis and Unity 50 Viktor Aptowitzer: Tradition, Haskalah, and Wissenschaft 51 The Pharisees Revisited: Louis Finkelstein on the Second Temple Period Bibliography Index