Judentum und Christentum

1. Judentum und Christentum Judentum: Written Torah, Oral Torah Christentum: Old Testament, New Testament

2. Torah Torah (תורה) = Teaching Torah = Pentateuch, First Five Books of Moses (But “Written Torah” can refer to entire Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, i.e. Tanakh)

3. Tanakh Tanakh (תנ"ך): ת Torah נ Nevi’im (נביאים) Prophets כ Ketuvim (כתובים) Writings

4. What does “Rabbi” mean? Rabbi (רבי) = ursp. mein Lehrer, mein Meister später: Lehrer, Meister

5. Josephus on the “Zealots” “THEY HAVE A PASSION FOR LIBERTY THAT IS ALMOST UNCONQUERABLE, SINCE THEY ARE CONVINCED THAT GOD ALONE IS THEIR LEADER AND MASTER. THEY THINK LITTLE OF SUBMITTING TO DEATH IN UNUSUAL FORMS AND PERMITTING VENGEANCE TO FALL ON KINSMEN AND FRIENDS IF ONLY THEY MAY AVOID CALLING ANY MAN MASTER.” Josephus, Jewish Antiquities

6. Second Temple/Bayit Sheni (בית שני) “Whoever has not seen the Temple of Herod never saw a glorious building all his days.” --Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra

7. Arch of Titus, Rome

8. Western Wall (כותל המערבי)

9. Genesis49,1 and 10 • 1Und Jakob berief seine Söhne und sprach: Versammelt euch, daß ich euch verkündige, was euch begegnen wird in künftigen Zeiten. • 10Es wird das Zepter von Juda nicht entwendet werden noch der Stab des Herrschers von seinen Füßen, bis daß der Held komme; und demselben werden die Völker anhangen.

10. Replacing the Temple 1. Once as Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed after him and beheld the Temple in ruins. 2. “Woe unto us!” Rabbi Joshua cried, “that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for, is laid waste!” 3. “My son,” Rabbi Yohanan said to him, “be not grieved; we have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving-kindness, as it is said, ‘For I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ (Hosea 6:6) Avot de Rabbi Natan (The Fathers According to R. Natan)

11. From Jerusalem to Yavneh: Temple to Torah, Part 1 1. Now, when Vespasian came to destroy Jerusalem he said to them: “Idiots! Why do you want to destroy this city and…burn the temple? What do I want of you except that you send me one bow or one arrow and I will go from you?” They said to him, “Just as we went forth against your two predecessors and killed them, so we will go forth against you and kill you.” 2. When R. Yohanan b. Zakkai heard this he sent for the men of Jerusalem and said to them, “My sons: why are you destroying this city and [why] do you want to burn the temple? What does he ask of you except one bow or one arrow and he will go from you?” They said to him, “Just as we went forth against his two predecessors and killed them, so we will go forth against him and kill him.”

12. From Jerusalem to Yavneh: Temple to Torah, Part 2 3. Vespasian had men positioned within the walls of Jerusalem. They wrote down every single word they heard on arrows and shot them beyond the walls, saying that R. Yohanan b. Zakkai was among the friends of the emperor. 4. When R. Yohanan ben Zakkai had spoken to them one day, then a second and a third, but they did not accept [his words], he sent for his students, for R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua. He said to them, “My sons: arise and take me out of here. Make a coffin for me and I will lie down in it.” R. Eliezer grasped its front and R. Yehoshua grasped its back. At twilight they carried him until they reached the gates of Jerusalem. The gatekeepers said to him, “What is this?” They said to him, “It is a corpse. Do you not know that one does not leave a corpse overnight in Jerusalem?” They said to him, “If it is a corpse, take it out.”

13. From Jerusalem to Yavneh: Temple to Torah, Part 3 5. They took him out and carried him until they reached Vespasian. They opened the coffin and he stood before him. He [Vespasian] said to him, “Are you Yohanan b. Zakkai? Ask, what shall I give you?” He said to him, “I ask nothing of you except that I may go to Yavneh and study with my disciples, and institute prayer there, and perform all the commandments.” He said to him, “Go and do everything that you wish.” He [R. Yohanan b. Zakkai said to him, “Would you like me to tell you something?” He said to him, “Speak.” He said to him, “Behold, you are about to become emperor.” He said to him, “How do you know?” He said to him, “It is out tradition that the temple will not be delivered to the hand of a commoner but to the hand of a king, as it says, ‘The thickets of the forest shall be hacked away with iron, and Lebanon shall fall to the mighty one’ (Isaiah 10:34). 6. It was said: No more than one, two or three days passed before there came to him a messenger from his city that the emperor died and they voted him to be emperor.

14. Yavneh and Jerusalem

15. The End of Prophecy? Urbach, The Sages (pp. 564-583) “When the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin; Urbach, p. 564) “This is Alexander the Macedonian, who reigned twelve years. Till now the prophets prophesied through the medium of the Holy Spirit; from now on incline your ear and hearken to the words of the Sages” (Seder Olam Rabba; Urbach, p. 565)

16. Pirkei Avot, Ch. II “Rabbi (Jehuda der Fürst) sagt: Was ist der richtige Weg, den sich ein Mensch wählen soll? Alles, was dem, der es tut, zur Ehre gereicht und ihm vor den Menschen zur Ehre gereicht.”

17. Hillel and Shammai I Another time a Gentile came before Shammai. He said to him, “I will convert on the condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one leg.” He drove him away with the builder’s cubit that was in his hand. He came before Hillel. He converted him. He said to him, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”

18. Hillel and Shammai II R. Abba said Shmuel said: The House of Hillel and the House of Shammai disputed for three years. These said, “The halakhah is according to us,” and those said, “The halakhah is according to us.” A heavenly voice went out and said, “These and these are the words of the living God. But the halakha follows the House of Hillel.” And since “These and these are the words of the living God,” why did the House of Hillel merit that the halakhah would be in accord with them? Because they were pleasant and modest, and they would teach their words and the words of the House of Shammai. Not only that, but they would mention the words of the House of Shammai before their own words. (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Eruvin 13b)

19. Vorlesung: Einführung in die Jüdische Geschichte und LiteraturWintersemester 2010/11

20. Rabbinic Periodization 1. Tannaim/תנאים (to 200 AD) = Repeaters: The Five “Pairs” Mishna (ca. 200), Tosefta 2. Amoraim/אמוראים (200-600) = Explainers: Talmuds (Babylonian and Jerusalem)