The collection features entertaining essays that delve into the Jewish festival calendar, each focusing on a specific sacred occasion. With whimsical titles like "Getting a Handel on Hanukkah," Eliezer Segal infuses humor into the exploration of rituals, symbolism, and historical adaptations of these traditions. The essays reveal how observances have evolved over generations, offering insights into the complexities of Jewish heritage while maintaining a light-hearted tone.
The book, first published in 2009, is part of the Routledge imprint under Taylor & Francis, focusing on a specific academic or professional field. It offers insights and analyses relevant to its subject matter, aiming to contribute to ongoing discussions and research. The content is designed for scholars, practitioners, or students interested in deepening their understanding of the topic at hand.
- Why did the League of Nations and the United Nations propose a calendar that threatened the observance of the Jewish Sabbath?-Why is Israel's Independence Day celebrated as a religious holiday?-How did the plague of frogs help resolve a border dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia?-Why did the biblical judge Deborah convene her court under a palm tree?-What practical lessons can we learn from the behavior of the villain Haman in the book of Esther?These are just a few of the fascinating topics that are discussed in Eliezer Segal's latest collection of essays inspired by the cycles of the Jewish religious calendar. As in his previous volumes the elaborate sequence of holy day serves here as an incisive prism for eliciting exotic facts, ideas and legends that reflect the diversity of the Jewish experience over a vast range of history and geography.
Cows chanting mystical hymns; a talmudic rabbi who is revered as a Christian saint; a learned demon who speedily transmitted rabbinic teachings between distant towns on the sabbath; the laundering of spiritual garments while the righteous slumber; a talmudic proverb that shows up in a Jimmy Cagney film and in the Trump White House-these are but a few of the tantalizing morsels from Jewish tradition that will delight and enlighten the readers of this collection of short essays on Jewish history and religion. Preachers, Teachers and Selected Short Features is the latest offering in Eliezer Segal's series of engaging studies directed at an intellectually curious but non-scholarly readership.
The anthology features a collection of essays that explore Jewish holidays and significant calendar events, offering diverse perspectives and insights. Each piece delves into the cultural, historical, and spiritual significance of these occasions, providing readers with a deeper understanding of Jewish traditions and practices. The essays aim to celebrate the rich tapestry of Jewish life and its observances throughout the year.
Animal Language in Rabbinic and Classical Literatures
Exploring the intriguing theme of talking animals, this study delves into rabbinic texts while situating them within the broader cultural frameworks of Greek and Roman societies. It offers insights into how these narratives reflect and interact with the philosophical and literary traditions of the time, revealing the significance of animal speech in both religious and secular contexts. The analysis highlights the unique perspectives of rabbinic literature and its engagement with classical thought.
"Reading Jewish Religious Texts" offers students an exploration of important post-biblical Jewish writings, providing insights into the rich tradition and diverse perspectives within Jewish literature.
A collection of essays from various topics in Jewish history and traditional religious literature that demonstrates the diverse aspects of Jewish tradition.
Finding a precious object – a gem, a ring or a coin – inside the belly of a fish is a favorite motif in western literatures that can be traced back to the Greek historian Herodotus. In Herodotus’ account of the rise and fall of the tyrant Polycrates of Samos, the hero cast his beloved ring, his «most precious possession», into the sea in order to appease or fend off the gods’ envy of his unstoppable successes, but was ultimately disappointed to discover that same ring inside a serving of fish that was placed before him to eat, thereby signaling the beginning of his tragic downfall. The Most Precious The Ring of Polycrates in Ancient Religious Narratives examines variations on this motif as they appear in ancient religious texts, including the Gospel of Matthew, Jewish Midrash and Talmud, and Augustine’s City of God . It explores how the theme functions in relation to the authors’ respective religious outlooks and literary objectives and what we can learn from these examples about the processes of transmission, interaction and cultural adaptation that occurred among the diverse religious communities of the ancient Mediterranean basin.