The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity - Catherine Hezser

The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity - Catherine Hezser

6. Interaction between Rabbis and Non-Rabbinic Jews in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature of Late Antiquity

The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity - Catherine Hezser

Catherine Hezser [+-]
SOAS, University of London
Catherine Hezser is Professor of Jewish Studies at SOAS, University of London. She was Professor II (visiting professor) at the University of Oslo from 2017-20. After holding a senior research fellowship at King’s College, Cambridge (1992-94) she taught at the Free University Berlin, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Trinity College Dublin, where she was Al and Felice Lippert Professor and Director of the Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures (2000-2005). She has published books and articles on the social history and daily life of Jews in Roman and early Byzantine Palestine. Amongst he recent book publication are Rabbinic Body Language: Non-Verbal Communication in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature of Late Antiquity (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2017) and Bild und Kontext: Jüdische und christliche Ikonographie der Spaetantike (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018).

Description

Palestinian rabbinic literature mostly transmits traditions about interactions among rabbis and rabbis and their students. Nevertheless, in some social contexts rabbis are said to have met laypeople: rabbis were invited by wealthy householders; they attended study houses; they gave speeches in study houses and synagogues. This paper examines the private and public contexts in which interaction between rabbinic Torah scholars and other Jews is imagined in Palestinian rabbinic sources of late antiquity. How are relations between rabbis and laypeople depicted in comparison to those amongst rabbinic scholars? Are rabbis and non-rabbinic Jews described as equals or do the texts contain implicit or explicit markers of status differences? Questions about spatial access to rabbis are closely linked to the issue of transfer of knowledge. It is argued that rabbis’ actual behaviour and practice in public spaces may have been more important than verbal instruction. Rabbis could serve as role models for those who observed them. Since Judaism focuses on practice rather than beliefs, rabbis’ conduct in everyday situations would have been the foremost way of disseminating rabbinic knowledge.

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Citation

Hezser, Catherine. 6. Interaction between Rabbis and Non-Rabbinic Jews in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature of Late Antiquity. The Use and Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Antiquity. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 145-165 Aug 2021. ISBN 9781781798768. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=37995. Date accessed: 11 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.37995. Aug 2021

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