Halakhah in the making : the development of Jewish law from Qumran to the rabbis / Aharon Shemesh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shemesh, Aharon.

Series:

Taubman lectures in Jewish studies.

The Taubman lectures in Jewish studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish law--History--To 1500.

Jewish law.

Qumran community.

Rabbinical literature--History and criticism.

Rabbinical literature.

Judaism--History--To 70 A.D.

Judaism.

Dead Sea scrolls.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Halakhah in the Making offers the first comprehensive study of the legal material found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and its significance in the greater history of Jewish religious law (halakhah). Aharon Shemesh's pioneering study revives an issue long dormant in religious scholarship: namely, the relationship between rabbinic law, as written more than one hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and Jewish practice during the Second Temple. The monumental discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran led to the revelation of this missing material and the closing of a two-hundred-year gap in knowledge, allowing work to begin comparing specific laws of the Qumran sect with rabbinic laws. With the publication of scroll 4QMMT-a polemical letter by Dead Sea sectarians concerning points of Jewish law-an effective comparison was finally possible. This is the first book-length treatment of the material to appear since the publication of 4QMMT and the first attempt to apply its discoveries to the work of nineteenth-century scholars. It is also the first work on this important topic written in plain language and accessible to nonspecialists in the history of Jewish law.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Writing Halakhah in Qumran

2. Divine Revelation and Human Exegesis; Or, How to Recognize a False Prophet When You See One

3. Scripture versus Tradition

4. "The Foundation of the Creation" and the "Laws Written on the Heavenly Tablets"

5. Halakhah from Qumran to the Mishnah: Concluding Remarks

Appendix of Hebrew Texts

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Primary Sources

General Index

Notes:

Second series from jacket flap.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612360008

9781282360006

1282360000

9780520945036

0520945034

OCLC:

794663680