The Amoraim made use of various techniques to impart the oral Torah to their students. Most prominent was simple repetition. To aid in memorizing, since the oral Torah was transmitted and taught through an oral process, mnemonic devices and other formulations were used. R. Pereda had a pupil whom he taught his lesson four hundred times […]
The various locations of the Sanhedrin are linked with the verse in Genesis which locates the tribe of Zebulun by the seashore. Genesis Rabbah, a midrash on Genesis edited in the fifth century C.E., locates the resting place of the Sanhedrin in Zebulun’s territory in Sepphoris but was also aware that it later moved to […]
The book of Acts pictures Rabban Gamliel I as reacting to the arrest of the Christian apostles. This passage has him reviewing the history of messianic pretenders in the Second Temple period. 33- When they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34- But a Pharisee in the council named Gama’li-el, a […]
Photo courtesy of bibleplaces.com. Sepphoris, Zippori in Hebrew, is located in the center of the Lower Galilee, three miles northwest of Nazareth. Although it was probably founded in First Temple days (eighth or seventh century B.C.E.) it reached its floruit much later. In the Hasmonean period (first century B.C.E.) as well as in the Herodian […]
An example of the intricate carvings in the catacombs of Beth She’arim, this menorah stands on top of the head of a man in a Roman military tunic. Jewish symbols such as the menorah appear side by side with pagan motifs of lions, eagles, bulls’ heads and garlands. A carved shell, another common ornament, decorates […]
C. Th. XV.xii.1- Bloody spectacles are not suitable for civil ease and domestic quiet. Wherefore since we have proscribed gladiators, those who have been accustomed to be sentenced to such work as punishment for their crimes, you should cause to serve in the mines, so that they may be punished without shedding their blood. Constantine […]
This narrative indicates that even Rabbis were in contact with Jewish Christians and that they exchanged interpretations and teachings. It once happened that R. Eliezer was arrested on account of heresy and they brought him up to the bema to be tried. The hegemon asked him: Should an elder like you engage in those things? He […]
The Tosefta presents a list of regulations put together from previously existing statements, reflecting tannaitic steps to distance Jews from the early Christians, who were increasingly regarded as members of a separate religious community. If meat is found in the hand of a non-Jew, it is permitted to derive benefit from it. [If it is […]
Palestinian texts of the Amidah preserve an early form of the Benediction against Heretics which includes both minim, Jewish Christians, and nozerim, Gentile Christians. The Benediction’s recitation was intended to bring about the separation of Christians from the synagogue. Such a procedure is mentioned in the Gospel of John and in the writings of the […]