Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 18 February 2000. A strategy by which Jewish feminists have sought to refute the allegation that Judaism is a purely masculine religion, in which God is always addressed as “He,” never as “She,” has been to call attention to the Kabbalistic understanding of the Shechinah, according to which one of…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 3 November 1994. Informed sources: ‘Sleaze’ The ongoing national debate on alleged “sleaze” in public life has strong echoes in the classical Jewish sources—which highlight the potential conflict between self-interest and objectivity. The issue is raised in relation to witnesses, judges and communal leaders holding positions of power—the latter having…...

Unpublished article. The passage here examined is Aggadic put displays the characteristic features of Halakhic argumentation. The saying with which the section opens is quoted as part of a list of sayings by the early third century Palestinian Amora, R. Johanan, in the name of the second century Tanna, R. Simeon b. Yohai. The particular…...

Unpublished article. The sugya in Bava Kama 60b-61a consists of two passages in which there is a blend of Halakhic with Aggadic material on the theme of esh, ‘fire’, i.e. a fire kindled in a man’s own field that is allowed to spread through negligence into the field of another there to do damage (Exodus…...

Unpublished article. This passage in Berachot 18a-19a, affords a good example of how Halakhic style argumentation is also employed with regard to Aggadic themes. The Mishnah (Berakhot 3: 1) discusses whether one attending to the dead is obliged to read the Shema and this leads, purely by association, to the consideration (of little practical consequence,…...

Unpublished article. The sugya on whether or not a man is allowed to take the law into his own hands (avid inish dina le-nafshey), Bava Kama 27b- 28a, is a complete unit which easily lends itself to literary analysis. The sugya is appended to the Mishnah (Bava Kama 3: 1) referred to in the course…...

Unpublished article. The sugya examined here is that of Bava Kama 22a-23a in the Babylonian Talmud which deals with the case of ‘fire’ (esh) kindled in a private domain but which, through negligence on the part of the one who kindled it, spreads to cause damage in a neighbouring field (Exodus 22: 5). The parellel…...

Unpublished article. The sugya examines the statement in the Baraita that Moses wrote the portion of Balaam. This accords, states the Talmud, with the opinion of R. Levi b. Lahma who observed that Job lived in the days of Moses. His proof is that of Job it is written: ‘O that my words were now…...

Unpublished article. The lengthy sugya examined here is that of Kiddushin 41a-43b.The main theme of the sugya is the consideration of the Biblical warrant for the legal principle of agency i.e. that an act the laws require to be performed by A is valid when performed by B if A had appointed B to be…...

Unpublished article. The passage in Yevamot 46a-47b is the locus classicus tor the procedures to be adopted when a Gentile is admitted into the Jewish fold as a proselyte. Of the procedures discussed two are debated—circumcision and immersion in the ritual bath, the mikveh. As finally established, a male proselyte is required to be circumcised…...

Unpublished article. The Mishnah (Berakhot 1: 1) states that according to Rabbi Eliezer the evening Shema can only be recited until the end of the first watch, after which time it is too late. Now there are two opinions, to be recorded later in the passage, on whether the night is divided into three watches…...

Unpublished article. The sugya is Bava Kama 13b-14a. According to Rabbinic interpretation of Exodus 21: 35-36 and 22: 4, if damage is done by a goring ox—keren, ‘horn’—the owner has to pay only half the damage and the same law applies to every form of malicious or unusual damage done by any animal e.g. biting,…...

Unpublished article The sugya examined here is that of Eruvin 3a-b. There is no parallel sugya anywhere else in the Talmud yet a close study demonstrates that the treatment is typical of the contrived arrangement of the material by the final editors of the Babylonian Talmud.[1] The rules as stated in the Mishnah (Eruvin 1:…...

Unpublished article. This passage considers the scope of the fifth commandment but other topics are introduced in the course of the discussion. The passage opens with a question put to the fourth century Palestinian Amora, R. Ulla and his reply: ‘They asked R. Ulla: “How far does the duty of honouring parents extend?”. He replied:…...

Unpublished article. The German Talmudist, R. Jair Hayyim Bacharach (1638-1702) published his Responsa collection in Franfurt in 1699. The following is a translation of the major part of Responsum No. 152 in which the author seeks to defend the Talmudic Rabbis against the accusation that they stooped to un-called-for violence and vehemence in their debates…....

Unpublished article. On titles of Jewish books there is an essay by Solomon Schechter (Studies in Judaism, Vol. I, pp. 270-281) and articles in the Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol.XII, pp. 156-159) and Encyclopedia Judaica (Vol. 8, pp. 71-77). But much more can be said on the subject. The following are just a few observations of relevance…...

Unpublished article. Sources: Gittin 77b; Kiddushin 23a-b. The debate in the Kiddushin passage (above) is on whether a bill of manumission (shtar shihrur or get shihrur) of a slave must be given to someone other than the slave in order to acquire it on the slave’s behalf, or whether it can be given to the…...

Unpublished article. The following is the abbreviated version of Luzzatto’s remarkable introduction to Talmudic method as found in the new Jerusalem edition (1976) of Malachi Ha-Kohen’s Yad Malakhi. The treatise itself is somewhat longer (latest edition by J. Weinfeld, Jer., 1976) but this version contains all the main material on the subject. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto…...

Unpublished article. The word Kabbalah (from the root kibbel, meaning ‘to receive) is sometimes used in classical Jewish literature to denote tradition as a whole but more often the term Kabbalah is used for the theosophical system which arose in the Provence and was developed in Spain in the 12th and 13th centuries. The name…...

Unpublished article. The following oft-quoted passage in the Zohar (Zohar III, 152a) describes how the Kabbalists have their own specific understanding of the sacred text of the Torah. ‘Rabbi Simeon said: Woe to the man who says that the Torah merely tells us tales in general and speaks of ordinary matters. If this were so,…...