Midrash Tanhuma Yelammedenu

Tanhuma is one of the jewels of midrash literature. As one of the Yelammedenu midrashim, it is less diffuse than Genesis Rabbah, and its units are shorter than those of the Pesikta. It thus strikes a balance between the jumble of the one and the long sermons of the other. Just over a century ago, Solomon Buber published a new version of the Tanhuma based on an Oxford manuscript which is substantially different from the more common printed versions. It is this version or one very close to it which Rashi had before him and whose interpretations be often commends and recommends. Despite its importance and appeal, no version of Midrash Tanhuma has ever been translated into English. This volume is the first in a series which will bring the riches of the Buber edition to the English reader.

Judaism is often described as a religion that tolerates, even celebrates arguments with God. In Pious Irreverence, Dov Weiss has written the first scholarly study of the premodern roots of this distinctively Jewish theology of protest, examining its origins and development in the rabbinic age (70 CE-800 CE).

This book explores the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature, an important Jewish homiletic genre prevailing in late antiquity and early Byzantine Palestine. Originating in the culture of the study house, and addressing the synagogue audience, this literature allows us to follow the reception of the rabbinic culture in the wider Jewish society.

Tanhuma is one of the jewels of midrash literature. As one of the Yelammedenu midrashim, it is less diffuse than Genesis Rabbah, and its units are shorter than those of the Pesikta. It thus strikes a balance between the jumble of the one and the long sermons of the other. Just over a century ago, Solomon Buber published a new version of the Tanhuma based on an Oxford manuscript which is substantially different from the more common printed versions. It is this version or one very close to it which Rashi had before him and whose interpretations be often commends and recommends. Despite its importance and appeal, no version of Midrash Tanhuma has ever been translated into English. This volume is the first in a series which will bring the riches of the Buber edition to the English reader.

In Sacrifice in Modernity: Community, Ritual, Identity it is demonstrated how sacrificial themes remain an essential element in our post-modern society.

In Parables in Changing Contexts, new venues in the comparative study of parables are addressed by scholars of Judaism, New Testament, Buddhism and Islam. Essays cover parables in the synoptic Gospels, Rabbinic midrash, and parabolic tales and fables in the Babylonian Talmud.

Targum Onkelos (or Unkelus) is the official eastern (Babylonian) targum (Aramaic translation) to the Torah. However, its early origins may have been western, in Israel. Its authorship is attributed to Onkelos, a famous convert to Judaism in Tannaic times (c. 35-120 CE). According to Jewish tradition, the content of Targum Onkelos was originally conveyed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. However, it was later forgotten by the masses, and rerecorded by Onkelos. Some identify this translation as the work of Aquila of Sinope in an Aramaic translation (Zvi Hirsch Chajes), or believe that the name "Onkelos" originally referred to Aquila but was applied in error to the Aramaic instead of the Greek translation. The translator is unique in that he avoids any type of personification. Samuel D. Luzzatto suggests that the translation was originally meant for the "simple people." This view was strongly rebutted by Nathan Marcus Adler in his introduction to Netinah La-Ger. In Talmudic times, and to this day in Yemenite Jewish communities, Targum Onkelos was recited by heart as a verse-by-verse translation alternately with the Hebrew verses of the Torah in the synagogue. The Talmud states that "a person should complete his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once (Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum)." This passage is taken by many to refer to Targum Onkelos.