Yael Avrahami
Oranim academic college, Biblical Studies, Department Member
- Prof. Meir Maluledit
An edition of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with a Reader's apparatus covering parsing and contextual vocabulary.
Research Interests:
This book aims to reveal the essence of biblical epistemology, i.e. they ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the... more
This book aims to reveal the essence of biblical epistemology, i.e. they ways in which ancient Israelites thought about and used their sensorium. The theoretical introduction demonstrates that scholars need to liberate themselves from the Western bias that holds a pentasensory paradigm and prioritises the sense of sight. The discussion of the biblical material demonstrates that scholars should follow a similar path.
Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised man’s ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world. Despite the lack of a biblical Hebrew term ‘sense’, it seems that at times the merism sight and hearing serves that matter. Finally, the book discusses the longstanding dispute regarding the primacy of sight vs. hearing in the HB, and claims that although there is no strict sensory hierarchy evident in the text, sight holds a central space in biblical epistemology.
Through examination of associative and contextual patters the author reaches a septasensory model, including sight, hearing, speech, kinaesthesia, touch, taste, and smell. It is further demonstrated that the senses, according to the HB, are a divinely created physical experience, which symbolised man’s ability to act in a sovereign manner in the world. Despite the lack of a biblical Hebrew term ‘sense’, it seems that at times the merism sight and hearing serves that matter. Finally, the book discusses the longstanding dispute regarding the primacy of sight vs. hearing in the HB, and claims that although there is no strict sensory hierarchy evident in the text, sight holds a central space in biblical epistemology.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This book, put together by a team of scholars, will help readers master Biblical Aramaic. It includes various word lists not found in the BHS Reader. The book has three basic parts. The first is the Aramaic portions of the Hebrew... more
This book, put together by a team of scholars, will help readers master Biblical Aramaic. It includes various word lists not found in the BHS Reader. The book has three basic parts. The first is the Aramaic portions of the Hebrew Bible-Gen 31:47; Jer 10:11; Dan 2:4b-7:28; Ezra 4:8-6:8; 7:12-26-as they are presented in the BHS Reader, with a few modifications: (1) the biblical text has been updated to the BHL version, and (2) the grammatical and lexical apparatus includes new material and uses longer, clearer abbreviations. The second (very short) part of the book is a three-page glossary of the words that occur most frequently in Biblical Aramaic. The book's third part comprises about a dozen vocabulary and verb lists (not found in the BHS Reader) that allow readers to review and master Biblical Aramaic vocabulary and grammar.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article demonstrates that a semantic analysis of the word beʾushim deepens and nuances our understanding of the Song of the Vineyard (Isa 5:1-7). The article discusses the literal meaning of the root bʾš, ‘to have a bad smell’, as... more
This article demonstrates that a semantic analysis of the word beʾushim deepens and nuances our understanding of the Song of the Vineyard (Isa 5:1-7). The article discusses the literal meaning of the root bʾš, ‘to have a bad smell’, as well as the its array of derived meanings. Then it applies this network of meanings in an exegesis of the rhetoric and message of the song. Furthermore, this article argues that the attribution of bad smells in prophetic literature is part of a larger scheme of retribution. Bad smells serve as a metaphor for punishment while good smells signify restoration.
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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This article proposes a theoretical and methodological grounding for the study of cultural notions as they are reflected in ancient texts, here applied to the study of the senses in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on principles of cultural... more
This article proposes a theoretical and methodological grounding for the study of cultural notions as they are reflected in ancient texts, here applied to the study of the senses in the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on principles of cultural anthropology, the article calls for sensitivity to cultural differences and a “thick description” of textual phenomena. Using the method of semantic analysis, an offshoot of cognitive linguistics, it is possible to trace the embodied worldview of a given culture by examining the semantic fields and mental frames reflected in its language.
Y. Avrahami R. B. Zahor, “The ‘Big Questions’ and Bible Education” in: Y. Tadmor and A. Freiman (eds.), Education: the ‘Big Questions’, Tel Aviv: Mofet, 2015, 141‑149 [in Hebrew]
Research Interests:
in: A. Demsky (ed.) These Are The Names V, 2010, pp. 15-53.
Research Interests:
Y. Avrahami, “בוש in the Psalms — Shame or Disappointment?”, JSOT 34/3 (2010), pp. 295-313.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This conference will examine the subject of eschatology in Jewish and Christian traditions from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. Issues such as the hope of resurrection, apocalyptic scenarios, and cosmic redemption have... more
This conference will examine the subject of eschatology in Jewish and Christian traditions from an
international and interdisciplinary perspective. Issues such as the hope of resurrection, apocalyptic scenarios,
and cosmic redemption have been a hotbed of religious invention, renewal, and innovation with significant
social consequences.
The questions of eternal life and a revolution of the human condition will not go away. Eschatological beliefs even fund
acts of terror. Their contemporary political significance is immense.
Before asking how to relate constructively to such phenomena, we need to attend to the historical articulation of the eschatological imagination and ask what theology can learn from it. Thus, important junctures in the multifaceted development of eschatological beliefs require careful attention in the diachronic descriptive task. In biblical studies, the roots of beliefs about supernatural afterlife in pre-Christian times have been the subject of heated debate in numerous recent books. What are the historical contexts in which such beliefs have gained new shape?
Contributions in biblical studies probe the fundamental social and political role of eschatological traditions. Such classic texts have given rise to the many different ways in which the eschatological imagination, like a powerful source of energy, erupts or works out in different forms, be it individually,
collectively, in an authoritarian or an emancipatory way. Among the eschatological breeding grounds that draw afresh on ancient traditions, How have eschatological beliefs been translated into social and political practice there?
In other contexts, eschatological traditions have also been abused for acts of terror. This stands in contrast to another function of prominent eschatological traditions, which have funded the quest for justice and care of the weak with fresh inspiration.
To some observers, such phenomena make eschatological beliefs appear simply like unfathomable,
random acts of pious souls immune to critical and constructive interaction. By contrast, there was a flurry of work in eschatology in 20th century protestant academic theology. What shape might the age-old message of eschatological hope take in this context?
This is an important task also in the dialogue between theology and the natural sciences. In particular, the theory of biological evolution has gained dramatically in public attention. It contrasts the typically eschatological imagery of sudden, dramatic change and redemption with slow and incremental processes, often under the pressure of natural selection. But with what justification has tradition singled out humanity,
among all creation, for eschatological redemption? Or does evolutionary biology by itself suggest greater modesty in our hopes for the future?
international and interdisciplinary perspective. Issues such as the hope of resurrection, apocalyptic scenarios,
and cosmic redemption have been a hotbed of religious invention, renewal, and innovation with significant
social consequences.
The questions of eternal life and a revolution of the human condition will not go away. Eschatological beliefs even fund
acts of terror. Their contemporary political significance is immense.
Before asking how to relate constructively to such phenomena, we need to attend to the historical articulation of the eschatological imagination and ask what theology can learn from it. Thus, important junctures in the multifaceted development of eschatological beliefs require careful attention in the diachronic descriptive task. In biblical studies, the roots of beliefs about supernatural afterlife in pre-Christian times have been the subject of heated debate in numerous recent books. What are the historical contexts in which such beliefs have gained new shape?
Contributions in biblical studies probe the fundamental social and political role of eschatological traditions. Such classic texts have given rise to the many different ways in which the eschatological imagination, like a powerful source of energy, erupts or works out in different forms, be it individually,
collectively, in an authoritarian or an emancipatory way. Among the eschatological breeding grounds that draw afresh on ancient traditions, How have eschatological beliefs been translated into social and political practice there?
In other contexts, eschatological traditions have also been abused for acts of terror. This stands in contrast to another function of prominent eschatological traditions, which have funded the quest for justice and care of the weak with fresh inspiration.
To some observers, such phenomena make eschatological beliefs appear simply like unfathomable,
random acts of pious souls immune to critical and constructive interaction. By contrast, there was a flurry of work in eschatology in 20th century protestant academic theology. What shape might the age-old message of eschatological hope take in this context?
This is an important task also in the dialogue between theology and the natural sciences. In particular, the theory of biological evolution has gained dramatically in public attention. It contrasts the typically eschatological imagery of sudden, dramatic change and redemption with slow and incremental processes, often under the pressure of natural selection. But with what justification has tradition singled out humanity,
among all creation, for eschatological redemption? Or does evolutionary biology by itself suggest greater modesty in our hopes for the future?