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Three Introductions to Psalms on Poetry, Translation, and Music by Joel Bril (Berlin 1791). A Bilingual Edition, translated with Commentary and an Introduction
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This annotated bilingual edition presents to readers for the first time a key Hebrew book of Jewish Enlightenment. Printed in Berlin in 1791, Joel Bril’s Hebrew introductions to Psalms constitute the earliest interpretation of Moses Mendelssohn’s language philosophy, translation theory, and aesthetics. In these introductions, Mendelssohn emerges as a critic of Maimonides who located eternal felicity not in union with the Active Intellect but in the aesthetic experience of the divine through sacred poetry. Bril’s theoretical insights, the broad range of his myriad textual sources, and his linguistic innovations make the Book of the Songs of Israel a touchstone of modern Hebrew literary theory and Jewish thought.
Three Introductions to Psalms on Poetry, Translation, and Music by Joel Bril (Berlin 1791). A Bilingual Edition, translated with Commentary and an Introduction
Author:
This annotated bilingual edition presents to readers for the first time a key Hebrew book of Jewish Enlightenment. Printed in Berlin in 1791, Joel Bril’s Hebrew introductions to Psalms constitute the earliest interpretation of Moses Mendelssohn’s language philosophy, translation theory, and aesthetics. In these introductions, Mendelssohn emerges as a critic of Maimonides who located eternal felicity not in union with the Active Intellect but in the aesthetic experience of the divine through sacred poetry. Bril’s theoretical insights, the broad range of his myriad textual sources, and his linguistic innovations make the Book of the Songs of Israel a touchstone of modern Hebrew literary theory and Jewish thought.
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In this essay I suggest that the attitudes to Jewish law and the conflicting interpretations reflected by the early Jesus tradition are best understood within a landscape of change, in which the character of torah as instruction, guidance, and description gradually morphed into a more prescriptive and judicial nomos. Although the tensions described in the sources usually concern Jesus and the Pharisees, a comparison with the legal interpretation in some of the texts from Qumran sheds light on the principled differences between the early Jesus movement’s understanding of the law’s character and function and that of its opponents. It is suggested that Jesus and his early followers saw no conflict between the Torah’s guidance and its pragmatic application, but objected to some interpretations associated with its transformation.
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In contrast to the biblical tradition, the figure of Phineas saw considerable development in Second Temple traditions. Numerous studies have appeared recently, yet the Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, which shows awareness of such traditions and reworks them creatively, has been overlooked by scholars. The present contribution aims to investigate the significant testimony of Pseudo-Philo, who constructs a complex and versatile character in his rewriting of biblical history – one who is responsible for the purity of worship against any idolatrous drift and who is the guardian of the Law and its understanding. Moreover, Phineas occupies a central position in the eschatological scenario, since he will be taken up to heaven like Elijah until his return in the last days, when, after his death, he will participate in the divine judgment.
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The importance and observance of the Sabbath within the Judean exilic communities has often been the subject of debate. Recent studies have argued that the exiles in Elephantine, Egypt, observed the Sabbath but the exilic Judean communities in Babylonia did not. New evidence – in the form of names derived from “Sabbath” among the exiles during the Achaemenid period – seems to reflect a shift in the importance of the Sabbath within Judean identity. In this article we review the occurrences of the name Shabbataya (Šabbatāya) in extrabiblical material and explore possible parallel phenomena in Elephantine and biblical texts, ultimately drawing a picture of an Achaemenid-era evolution in the attribution of significance to the Sabbath. This transformation is evident in Ezra-Nehemiah and corroborated by new evidence; extrabiblical and biblical sources demonstrate that names relating to the Sabbath began to appear at the time.
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This essay explores the rationale behind the different interpretations of the servant of the Lord in Targum Jonathan Isaiah. In order to facilitate understanding of this material, I survey the use of the designation “servant(s) of the Lord” in the Hebrew Bible and then discuss the rationale behind the use of singulars and plurals in the Targum’s translation of Isaiah 40–55. After this, I analyze the relevant passages within the Targum, suggesting that the scribes interpret the figure of the servant to have four different referents: the nation of Israel, the righteous, the prophets, and the messiah. Throughout this analysis, I attend to the features of the text that appear to have influenced the scribes to identify the servant in these ways. I conclude by reviewing the most important factors contributing to these decisions and then highlighting the coherence between my observations and some recent works on the scribes’ hermeneutical orientation.