ΣΧΟΛΗ. Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition
Eschatology is one of the most important themes of Talmudic literature. With all the variety of e... more Eschatology is one of the most important themes of Talmudic literature. With all the variety of end-time concepts and the abundance of research on the subject, the connection between universal deliverance and language remains overshadowed. This article is analyzing a composition from Debarim Rabba 1:1 that expresses the idea of improvement of the human language as a sign of the future world. What will lead to this improvement? One of the possible answers: translation of the Scripture into Greek. This answer, rather unexpected for the Sages of Talmud, will be analyzed in the context of the history of the attitude towards the Greek language in the Jewish culture of Late Antiquity. An image of a river, flowing out of the Temple from Ezekiel's prophecy (ch. 47), as an improved language of the universe, will be compared with Philo of Alexandria's concept of language.
This article deals with the question of how the Jewish Aristotelians, followers of Maimonides, co... more This article deals with the question of how the Jewish Aristotelians, followers of Maimonides, combined the exclusive status of the Song of Songs with the notion of the falsity of poetry. According to Aristotle’s Arabic commentators, poetics is part of the logical organon. The poetic syllogisms are based on deliberately false premises and rules of inference, and thus poetic discourse is the lowest in the hierarchy of the logical corpus. At the same time, the following Talmudic maxim is known: “If all Scripture is holy, then the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies”. Thus, Jewish theologians, having assimilated the Arab Aristotelian approach to poetics, were faced with a difficult task: how to explain the supreme status of the Song of Songs in the biblical canon if this book is written in the language of lies? In the works of medieval Jewish theologians we do not find a clearly formulated solution to this problem, which may be due to the fact that the Song of Songs was often associ...
Until recent times, the collection of Salomon Maimons early works written in Hebrew, Hesheq Shelo... more Until recent times, the collection of Salomon Maimons early works written in Hebrew, Hesheq Shelomo , was not included into the scientific circulation. An article of professor Gideon Freudenthal on the formation of the young Maimon, filled this lacuna, proving the importance of the analysis of philosophers early works for the comprehension of his literary heritage in general. Freudenthal had studied and published Maimons introduction to Hesheq Shelomo , and then one of the collections treatises, Maаse Livnat ha-Sаppir , consecrated to the ideas and notions of kabbalah (published at the end of 2019). In his analysis Freudenthal had focused on Maimons rational interpretation of kabbalah. The present article represents an attempt to expand Freudenthals research, adding an analysis of another aspect of young Maimons thought. We will try to show that kabbalah, generally understood by early Maimon as ancient Jewish knowledge, had, according to the thinker, to complete philosophy and mitig...
The Maimonidean Controversy at the beginning of the 13th century was one of the most significant ... more The Maimonidean Controversy at the beginning of the 13th century was one of the most significant conflicts in the midst of the Jewish diasporas in the Middle Ages. The conflict followed a vivid discussion on the treatises of Maimonides and the interpretation of Judaism in the light of Aristotelian philosophy. Almost all of major Jewish communities in Europe were drawn in this conflict. Moreover, at some point the conflict expanded outside of the Jewish world, so that some works of Maimonides were burnt by the Christian Inquisition as heretical books. Despite the significance of these events and the trace left in the memory of the Jewish people, there is not much reliable evidence about them. The authors aim to discuss the history of this conflict, focusing on the problematic aspects of the Maimonides’ teaching, and to make a reconstruction of the events occurred, to provide a specification of main characteristics of the conflict interaction (the players, their strategies and prefere...
To solve the aporia of suffering and evil, the framers of Bavli Berakhot as well as Augustine com... more To solve the aporia of suffering and evil, the framers of Bavli Berakhot as well as Augustine combined the idea of love for God with the notion of making the moment linger. According to Augustine, evil prevents man from praising God. Evil derives from perverted human will and poisons a soul. Instead of being distended between the past and the future, a soul should forget the past, concentrate on the present, and extend the present as much as possible. By concentration, the present can be extended to approximate eternity, which is the messianic future. The idea of making a moment linger is salient in Bavli Berkahot as well. The close correlation between redemption and ritual presumes the lingering of time, achieved by prolonging the recitation, concentrating on the text, and merging the blessings. Prolonging halakhic time at any cost hastens the coming of the ultimate meta-historical event. Thus Aqiba’s protracting of the word ehad brings him into a meta-historical context, into the ...
This paper analyzes the metaphoric systems of Hagigah and Moed Qatan. We suggest that the notions... more This paper analyzes the metaphoric systems of Hagigah and Moed Qatan. We suggest that the notions of pleroma and kenosis, generally associated with Christian theology or Gnosticism, are the leitmotiv of Hagigah. God loves the emptiness of Israel. On the other hand, the emptiness prevents Israel from completing the eschatological pilgrimage. This pilgrimage (the Way) is the topic of Moed Qatan as well. The meeting of God and Israel (moed) is understood in two different ways. Either preparing the way for God is most important, or preparing the way for Israel is. While the New Testament favors the first understanding, the Talmud focuses on the second.
This article reads Bavli Ta’anit against the foil of “Plato’s Pharmacy” by Jacques Derrida. This ... more This article reads Bavli Ta’anit against the foil of “Plato’s Pharmacy” by Jacques Derrida. This is not about finding genetic or generic similarities between the dialogues of Plato and the Talmud. Rather it is about following (in Derrida’s way) the chain of metaphoric/metonymic significations and dual oppositions. The tractate is built on dual oppositions between gloom and gladness. In this world, the righteous are destined for the light, while the upright are destined for the gladness. Hence, the former are deprived of the gladness, while the latter have no light. In meta-history, teleology finds its way though the Hegelian sublation of oppositions. Gladness is the telos of the tractate and the telos of meta-history.
Для цитирования: Гершович У. Логика теологического спора в книге Иова: критика интерпретации Майм... more Для цитирования: Гершович У. Логика теологического спора в книге Иова: критика интерпретации Маймонида в еврейской философской экзегезе XIV века // Вопросы теологии. 2020. Т. 2, № 1. С.75-93. http://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2020.105 В статье рассматривается критическое осмысление последователями Май-монида предложенной им интерпретации книги Иова как теологического спора по поводу Божественного провидения. Маймонид приписывает Иову и его друзьям определенные мнения по этому вопросу, связывая их с не-которыми богословскими или философскими школами X-XII вв., сложив-шимися в контексте исламской, арабоязычной культуры. Таким еврейским экзегетам, как Ибн-Каспи и Герсонид, творившим в ином культурном кон-тексте и писавшим на иврите, подобное распределение мнений казалось анахронизмом. Во многом следуя Маймониду, они тем не менее критиковали предложенное им распределение мнений между персонажами книги Иова, причем одним из главных аргументов была логика. В статье обсуждаются истоки подобного подхода и анализируются нюансы предложенных логиче-ских решений путем сопоставления их с экспозицией комплекса проблем, затрагиваемых Маймонидом в «Путеводителе растерянных» в связи с кни-гой Иова. В частности, показано, что интерпретация Герсонида, исходящая из предположения о логической полноте решения вопроса о Божественном провидении в книге Иова, может быть обоснована средствами современной формальной логики.
In his last work, “Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism” Hermann Cohen is not only a ... more In his last work, “Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism” Hermann Cohen is not only a philosopher, but also an interpreter of classical Jewish sources. For Cohen however, the interpretation of classical Jewish sources is a part of his philosophical project. Inevitably, the question arises of the hermeneutics and the exegetical methods of Cohen in relation to biblical and later Hebrew texts. The article provides a critical overview of the Eliezer Schweid’s paper on Cohen’s exegesis. We are distinguishing between program principles, strategy and interpretation tactic, and, based on a number of examples, there are ways of sequential description of various aspects of Cohenэs exegesis.
In this paper we intend to compare a passage from Al-Farabi’s Treatise
on the Perfect State with ... more In this paper we intend to compare a passage from Al-Farabi’s Treatise on the Perfect State with famous words of Maimonides on the reasons of contradictions in his Guide of the Perplexed. This confrontation offers a fresh look on Maimonidean esoteric strategy and allows to get to some conclusions in regard to his perception of the Scripture’s figurative language peculiarity.
В статье предлагается сопоставление Мишны и «Мишне Тора» Маймонида посредством сравнения кластери... more В статье предлагается сопоставление Мишны и «Мишне Тора» Маймонида посредством сравнения кластеризации книг в «Мишне Тора» с разделами Мишны. Подобное сравнение показывает, что макроструктура «Мишне Тора» отличается от структуры Мишны только тематическим порядком, за исключением «Книги знаний», в которой представлены основы еврейского мировоззрения, и «Книги Любви», излагающей законы, относительно основных элементов богослужения. В статье рассматривается возможное объяснение того, почему Рамбам изменил этот порядок. Суть предложенной гипотезы заключается в том, что отмеченные изменения обусловлены переходом с квазионтологической позиции Мишны на пропедевтическую позицию «Мишне Тора». Рамбам рассматривает человека не в качестве элемента мифологической структуры, а как деятельной силы, осуществляющей замысел Бога. Иными словами, Рамбам изменяет понимание закона. На макро-уровне закон представлен как постепенное формирование человека и общества, способных воплотить замысел Бога, а не как универсальная схема.
Hidden and revealed in the Talmud: Essay on non-philosophical thinking at the end of Antiquity. M... more Hidden and revealed in the Talmud: Essay on non-philosophical thinking at the end of Antiquity. Moscow, 2016 (in Russian).
The authors research the world outlook and intellectual nature of the Talmudic Literature, created in the Roman Palestine and Sasanian Iraq in the 2nd – 7th centuries AD. In the opinion of the authors, the Talmudic treatises hide their own ideas, composition and metaphoric system behind a relatively cogent syllogistic construction. The authors look into the Babylonian Talmud against the foil of the New Testament, Greek Philosophy and Patristics.
Книга посвящена мировоззрению и интеллектуальной природе Талмудической литературы, созданной во II – VII вв. в Римской Палестине и Сасанидском Ираке. По мнению авторов, трактаты Талмуда скрывают собственную композицию, идеологию и систему метафор за сравнительно связной силлогистической конструкцией. Авторы исследуют Талмуд на фоне греческой философии, Нового Завета и литературы Отцов Церкви.
ΣΧΟΛΗ. Ancient Philosophy and the Classical Tradition
Eschatology is one of the most important themes of Talmudic literature. With all the variety of e... more Eschatology is one of the most important themes of Talmudic literature. With all the variety of end-time concepts and the abundance of research on the subject, the connection between universal deliverance and language remains overshadowed. This article is analyzing a composition from Debarim Rabba 1:1 that expresses the idea of improvement of the human language as a sign of the future world. What will lead to this improvement? One of the possible answers: translation of the Scripture into Greek. This answer, rather unexpected for the Sages of Talmud, will be analyzed in the context of the history of the attitude towards the Greek language in the Jewish culture of Late Antiquity. An image of a river, flowing out of the Temple from Ezekiel's prophecy (ch. 47), as an improved language of the universe, will be compared with Philo of Alexandria's concept of language.
This article deals with the question of how the Jewish Aristotelians, followers of Maimonides, co... more This article deals with the question of how the Jewish Aristotelians, followers of Maimonides, combined the exclusive status of the Song of Songs with the notion of the falsity of poetry. According to Aristotle’s Arabic commentators, poetics is part of the logical organon. The poetic syllogisms are based on deliberately false premises and rules of inference, and thus poetic discourse is the lowest in the hierarchy of the logical corpus. At the same time, the following Talmudic maxim is known: “If all Scripture is holy, then the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies”. Thus, Jewish theologians, having assimilated the Arab Aristotelian approach to poetics, were faced with a difficult task: how to explain the supreme status of the Song of Songs in the biblical canon if this book is written in the language of lies? In the works of medieval Jewish theologians we do not find a clearly formulated solution to this problem, which may be due to the fact that the Song of Songs was often associ...
Until recent times, the collection of Salomon Maimons early works written in Hebrew, Hesheq Shelo... more Until recent times, the collection of Salomon Maimons early works written in Hebrew, Hesheq Shelomo , was not included into the scientific circulation. An article of professor Gideon Freudenthal on the formation of the young Maimon, filled this lacuna, proving the importance of the analysis of philosophers early works for the comprehension of his literary heritage in general. Freudenthal had studied and published Maimons introduction to Hesheq Shelomo , and then one of the collections treatises, Maаse Livnat ha-Sаppir , consecrated to the ideas and notions of kabbalah (published at the end of 2019). In his analysis Freudenthal had focused on Maimons rational interpretation of kabbalah. The present article represents an attempt to expand Freudenthals research, adding an analysis of another aspect of young Maimons thought. We will try to show that kabbalah, generally understood by early Maimon as ancient Jewish knowledge, had, according to the thinker, to complete philosophy and mitig...
The Maimonidean Controversy at the beginning of the 13th century was one of the most significant ... more The Maimonidean Controversy at the beginning of the 13th century was one of the most significant conflicts in the midst of the Jewish diasporas in the Middle Ages. The conflict followed a vivid discussion on the treatises of Maimonides and the interpretation of Judaism in the light of Aristotelian philosophy. Almost all of major Jewish communities in Europe were drawn in this conflict. Moreover, at some point the conflict expanded outside of the Jewish world, so that some works of Maimonides were burnt by the Christian Inquisition as heretical books. Despite the significance of these events and the trace left in the memory of the Jewish people, there is not much reliable evidence about them. The authors aim to discuss the history of this conflict, focusing on the problematic aspects of the Maimonides’ teaching, and to make a reconstruction of the events occurred, to provide a specification of main characteristics of the conflict interaction (the players, their strategies and prefere...
To solve the aporia of suffering and evil, the framers of Bavli Berakhot as well as Augustine com... more To solve the aporia of suffering and evil, the framers of Bavli Berakhot as well as Augustine combined the idea of love for God with the notion of making the moment linger. According to Augustine, evil prevents man from praising God. Evil derives from perverted human will and poisons a soul. Instead of being distended between the past and the future, a soul should forget the past, concentrate on the present, and extend the present as much as possible. By concentration, the present can be extended to approximate eternity, which is the messianic future. The idea of making a moment linger is salient in Bavli Berkahot as well. The close correlation between redemption and ritual presumes the lingering of time, achieved by prolonging the recitation, concentrating on the text, and merging the blessings. Prolonging halakhic time at any cost hastens the coming of the ultimate meta-historical event. Thus Aqiba’s protracting of the word ehad brings him into a meta-historical context, into the ...
This paper analyzes the metaphoric systems of Hagigah and Moed Qatan. We suggest that the notions... more This paper analyzes the metaphoric systems of Hagigah and Moed Qatan. We suggest that the notions of pleroma and kenosis, generally associated with Christian theology or Gnosticism, are the leitmotiv of Hagigah. God loves the emptiness of Israel. On the other hand, the emptiness prevents Israel from completing the eschatological pilgrimage. This pilgrimage (the Way) is the topic of Moed Qatan as well. The meeting of God and Israel (moed) is understood in two different ways. Either preparing the way for God is most important, or preparing the way for Israel is. While the New Testament favors the first understanding, the Talmud focuses on the second.
This article reads Bavli Ta’anit against the foil of “Plato’s Pharmacy” by Jacques Derrida. This ... more This article reads Bavli Ta’anit against the foil of “Plato’s Pharmacy” by Jacques Derrida. This is not about finding genetic or generic similarities between the dialogues of Plato and the Talmud. Rather it is about following (in Derrida’s way) the chain of metaphoric/metonymic significations and dual oppositions. The tractate is built on dual oppositions between gloom and gladness. In this world, the righteous are destined for the light, while the upright are destined for the gladness. Hence, the former are deprived of the gladness, while the latter have no light. In meta-history, teleology finds its way though the Hegelian sublation of oppositions. Gladness is the telos of the tractate and the telos of meta-history.
Для цитирования: Гершович У. Логика теологического спора в книге Иова: критика интерпретации Майм... more Для цитирования: Гершович У. Логика теологического спора в книге Иова: критика интерпретации Маймонида в еврейской философской экзегезе XIV века // Вопросы теологии. 2020. Т. 2, № 1. С.75-93. http://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2020.105 В статье рассматривается критическое осмысление последователями Май-монида предложенной им интерпретации книги Иова как теологического спора по поводу Божественного провидения. Маймонид приписывает Иову и его друзьям определенные мнения по этому вопросу, связывая их с не-которыми богословскими или философскими школами X-XII вв., сложив-шимися в контексте исламской, арабоязычной культуры. Таким еврейским экзегетам, как Ибн-Каспи и Герсонид, творившим в ином культурном кон-тексте и писавшим на иврите, подобное распределение мнений казалось анахронизмом. Во многом следуя Маймониду, они тем не менее критиковали предложенное им распределение мнений между персонажами книги Иова, причем одним из главных аргументов была логика. В статье обсуждаются истоки подобного подхода и анализируются нюансы предложенных логиче-ских решений путем сопоставления их с экспозицией комплекса проблем, затрагиваемых Маймонидом в «Путеводителе растерянных» в связи с кни-гой Иова. В частности, показано, что интерпретация Герсонида, исходящая из предположения о логической полноте решения вопроса о Божественном провидении в книге Иова, может быть обоснована средствами современной формальной логики.
In his last work, “Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism” Hermann Cohen is not only a ... more In his last work, “Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism” Hermann Cohen is not only a philosopher, but also an interpreter of classical Jewish sources. For Cohen however, the interpretation of classical Jewish sources is a part of his philosophical project. Inevitably, the question arises of the hermeneutics and the exegetical methods of Cohen in relation to biblical and later Hebrew texts. The article provides a critical overview of the Eliezer Schweid’s paper on Cohen’s exegesis. We are distinguishing between program principles, strategy and interpretation tactic, and, based on a number of examples, there are ways of sequential description of various aspects of Cohenэs exegesis.
In this paper we intend to compare a passage from Al-Farabi’s Treatise
on the Perfect State with ... more In this paper we intend to compare a passage from Al-Farabi’s Treatise on the Perfect State with famous words of Maimonides on the reasons of contradictions in his Guide of the Perplexed. This confrontation offers a fresh look on Maimonidean esoteric strategy and allows to get to some conclusions in regard to his perception of the Scripture’s figurative language peculiarity.
В статье предлагается сопоставление Мишны и «Мишне Тора» Маймонида посредством сравнения кластери... more В статье предлагается сопоставление Мишны и «Мишне Тора» Маймонида посредством сравнения кластеризации книг в «Мишне Тора» с разделами Мишны. Подобное сравнение показывает, что макроструктура «Мишне Тора» отличается от структуры Мишны только тематическим порядком, за исключением «Книги знаний», в которой представлены основы еврейского мировоззрения, и «Книги Любви», излагающей законы, относительно основных элементов богослужения. В статье рассматривается возможное объяснение того, почему Рамбам изменил этот порядок. Суть предложенной гипотезы заключается в том, что отмеченные изменения обусловлены переходом с квазионтологической позиции Мишны на пропедевтическую позицию «Мишне Тора». Рамбам рассматривает человека не в качестве элемента мифологической структуры, а как деятельной силы, осуществляющей замысел Бога. Иными словами, Рамбам изменяет понимание закона. На макро-уровне закон представлен как постепенное формирование человека и общества, способных воплотить замысел Бога, а не как универсальная схема.
Hidden and revealed in the Talmud: Essay on non-philosophical thinking at the end of Antiquity. M... more Hidden and revealed in the Talmud: Essay on non-philosophical thinking at the end of Antiquity. Moscow, 2016 (in Russian).
The authors research the world outlook and intellectual nature of the Talmudic Literature, created in the Roman Palestine and Sasanian Iraq in the 2nd – 7th centuries AD. In the opinion of the authors, the Talmudic treatises hide their own ideas, composition and metaphoric system behind a relatively cogent syllogistic construction. The authors look into the Babylonian Talmud against the foil of the New Testament, Greek Philosophy and Patristics.
Книга посвящена мировоззрению и интеллектуальной природе Талмудической литературы, созданной во II – VII вв. в Римской Палестине и Сасанидском Ираке. По мнению авторов, трактаты Талмуда скрывают собственную композицию, идеологию и систему метафор за сравнительно связной силлогистической конструкцией. Авторы исследуют Талмуд на фоне греческой философии, Нового Завета и литературы Отцов Церкви.
Uploads
We are distinguishing between program principles, strategy and interpretation tactic, and, based on a number of examples, there are ways of sequential description of various aspects of Cohenэs exegesis.
on the Perfect State with famous words of Maimonides on the reasons of contradictions
in his Guide of the Perplexed. This confrontation offers a fresh look on Maimonidean
esoteric strategy and allows to get to some conclusions in regard to his
perception of the Scripture’s figurative language peculiarity.
The authors research the world outlook and intellectual nature of the Talmudic Literature, created in the Roman Palestine and Sasanian Iraq in the 2nd – 7th centuries AD. In the opinion of the authors, the Talmudic treatises hide their own ideas, composition and metaphoric system behind a relatively cogent syllogistic construction. The authors look into the Babylonian Talmud against the foil of the New Testament, Greek Philosophy and Patristics.
Книга посвящена мировоззрению и интеллектуальной природе Талмудической литературы, созданной во II – VII вв. в Римской Палестине и Сасанидском Ираке. По мнению авторов, трактаты Талмуда скрывают собственную композицию, идеологию и систему метафор за сравнительно связной силлогистической конструкцией. Авторы исследуют Талмуд на фоне греческой философии, Нового Завета и литературы Отцов Церкви.
We are distinguishing between program principles, strategy and interpretation tactic, and, based on a number of examples, there are ways of sequential description of various aspects of Cohenэs exegesis.
on the Perfect State with famous words of Maimonides on the reasons of contradictions
in his Guide of the Perplexed. This confrontation offers a fresh look on Maimonidean
esoteric strategy and allows to get to some conclusions in regard to his
perception of the Scripture’s figurative language peculiarity.
The authors research the world outlook and intellectual nature of the Talmudic Literature, created in the Roman Palestine and Sasanian Iraq in the 2nd – 7th centuries AD. In the opinion of the authors, the Talmudic treatises hide their own ideas, composition and metaphoric system behind a relatively cogent syllogistic construction. The authors look into the Babylonian Talmud against the foil of the New Testament, Greek Philosophy and Patristics.
Книга посвящена мировоззрению и интеллектуальной природе Талмудической литературы, созданной во II – VII вв. в Римской Палестине и Сасанидском Ираке. По мнению авторов, трактаты Талмуда скрывают собственную композицию, идеологию и систему метафор за сравнительно связной силлогистической конструкцией. Авторы исследуют Талмуд на фоне греческой философии, Нового Завета и литературы Отцов Церкви.