Project description
Unearthing ancient Jewish culture
In the realm of ancient Judaism, there is a debate concerning the role of the rabbinic movement in late antique Jewish society. While an extensive body of rabbinic literature seemingly portrays the rabbis as the dominant social force of the era, there is archaeological evidence suggesting they held less sway. The ERC-funded JLib project aims to reconstruct non-rabbinic texts from the ‘Jewish library’ of late antiquity. Discovered in archaeological excavations and collections of medieval Jewish manuscripts, these texts provide insights into the era’s Jewish society, offering fresh perspectives on the role of rabbinic Judaism. JLib aims to present edited versions of these neglected texts, analyse their connections to non-Jewish works, and reevaluate the intricate place of rabbinic Judaism in late antique Jewish society.
Objective
In the study of ancient Judaism, a debate has been raging over the place of the rabbinic movement in late antique Jewish society. On the one hand, there is the extensive body of rabbinic literature, which has much to say about the rabbis’ own world, and relatively little to say about non-rabbinic Jews, thus creating the impression that the rabbis were the only significant social factor in late antique Jewish society. On the other hand, there is an impressive, and constantly growing, body of archaeological evidence – and especially the synagogues of late antique Palestine and their elaborate mosaics – which seems to imply that the rabbis had relatively little impact on the religious and artistic sensitivities of many Jewish communities. This apparent gap between the literary and the archaeological evidence generated an enormous body of scholarly literature, with some scholars arguing that rabbinic Judaism was normative in late antique Jewish society and other scholars claiming that the rabbis were just a small minority, and that most Jews did not pay much attention to what the rabbis thought or said.
Rather than joining this debate, JLib will offer a different perspective from which to examine ancient Jewish culture, by reconstructing many non-rabbinic texts from the ‘Jewish library’ of late antiquity. Some of these texts were found in archaeological excavations, but most are found in the Cairo Genizah and in other collections of medieval Hebrew manuscripts. Their late antique origins are demonstrated by their use of Aramaic – mostly Jewish Palestinian Aramaic – by their contents, and by external evidence of their use in late antique Jewish society. JLib will offer an edition of these hitherto neglected texts, an analysis of their relations with similar non-Jewish texts and with rabbinic literature, and a re-evaluation of the complex question of the place of rabbinic Judaism in late antique Jewish society.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
69978 Tel Aviv
Israel