front cover of The Economics of the Mishnah
The Economics of the Mishnah
Jacob Neusner
University of Chicago Press, 1990
In this compelling study, Jacob Neusner argues that economics is an active and generative ingredient of the system of the Mishnah. The Mishnah directly addresses such economic concerns as the value of work, agronomics, currency, commerce and the marketplace, and correct management of labor and of the household. In all its breadth, the Mishnah poses the question of the critical place occupied by the economy in society under God's rule.

The Economics of the Mishnah is the first book to examine the place of economic theory generally in the Judaic system of the Mishnah. Jacob Neusner begins by surveying previous work on economics and Judaism, the best known being Werner Sombart's The Jews and Modern Capitalism. The mistaken notion that Jews have had a common economic history has outlived the demise of Sombart's argument, and it is a notion that Neusner overturns before discussing the Mishnaic economics.

Only in Aristotle, Neusner argues, do we find an equal to the Mishnah's accomplishment in engaging economics in the service of a larger systemic statement. Neusner shows that the framers of the Mishnah imagined a distributive economy functioning through the Temple and priesthood, while also legislating for the action of markets. The economics of the Mishnah, then, is to some extent a mixed economy. The dominant, distributive element in this mixed economy, Neusner contends, derives from the belief that the Temple and its designated castes on earth exercise God's claim to the ownership of the holy land. He concludes by considering the implications of the derivation of the Mishnah's economics from the interests of the undercapitalized and overextended farmer.
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Encyclopaedia of Midrash
Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism
Jacob Neusner
SBL Press, 2016

Now in Paperback!

The Encyclopedia of Midrash provides readers with a deep, broad treatment of midrash unavailable in any other single source. Through the writings of top scholars in each of their fields, it sets out the current state of the question for the many topics discussed throughout the two-volume set. The encyclopedia treats interpretations of Scripture that came to closure prior to, or outside of, the framework of rabbinic midrash: Hellenistic Jewish midrash, Josephus, Pseudo-Philo, Jubilees, as well as to the New Testament, Karaite and Samaritan writings, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Features:

  • Paperback format of an essential Brill hardcover reference set
  • A general introduction to rabbinic midrash and its traits
  • Discussion of rabbinic midrashic documents focused on specific books of Scripture, the theology expressed by rabbinic midrashic compilations, and the historical context in which rabbinic Midrash took shape
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Jewish Education
Ari Y Kelman
Rutgers University Press, 2024
Most writing about Jewish education has been preoccupied with two questions: What ought to be taught? And what is the best way to teach it? Ari Y Kelman upends these conventional approaches by asking a different question: How do people learn to engage in Jewish life? This book, by centering learning, provides an innovative way of approaching the questions that are central to Jewish education specifically and to religious education more generally.

At the heart of Jewish Education is an innovative alphabetical primer of Jewish educational values, qualities, frameworks, catalysts, and technologies which explore the historical ways in which Jewish communities have produced and transmitted knowledge. The book examines the tension between Jewish education and Jewish Studies to argue that shifting the locus of inquiry from “what people ought to know” to “how do people learn” can provide an understanding of Jewish education that both draws on historical precedent and points to the future of Jewish knowledge.
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Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine
History, Messiah, Israel, and the Initial Confrontation
Jacob Neusner
University of Chicago Press, 1987
With the conversion of Constantine in 312, Christianity began a period of political and cultural dominance that it would enjoy until the twentieth century. Jacob Neusner contradicts the prevailing view that following Christianity's ascendancy, Judaism continued to evolve in isolation. He argues that because of the political need to defend its claims to religious authenticity, Judaism was forced to review itself in the context of a triumphant Christianity. The definition of issues long discussed in Judaism—the meaning of history, the coming of the Messiah, and the political identity of Israel—became of immediate and urgent concern to both parties. What emerged was a polemical dialogue between Christian and Jewish teachers that was unprecedented.

In a close analysis of texts by the Christian theologians Eusebius, Aphrahat, and Chrysostom on one hand, and of the central Jewish works the Talmud of the Land of Israel, the Genesis Rabbah, and the Leviticus Rabbah on the other, Neusner finds that both religious groups turned to the same corpus of Hebrew scripture to examine the same fundamental issues. Eusebius and Genesis Rabbah both address the issue of history, Chrysostom and the Talmud the issue of the Messiah, and Aphrahat and Leviticus Rabbah the issue of Israel. As Neusner demonstrates, the conclusions drawn shaped the dialogue between the two religions for the rest of their shared history in the West.
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Judaism and Story
The Evidence of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan
Jacob Neusner
University of Chicago Press, 1992
In this close analysis of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, a sixth-century commentary on the Mishnah-tractate The Fathers (Avot), Jacob Neusner considers the way in which the story, as a distinctive type of narrative, entered the canonical writings of Judaism. The final installment in Neusner's cycle of analyses of the major texts of the Judaic canon, Judaism and Story shows that stories about sages exist in far greater proportion in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan than in any of the other principal writings in the canon of Judaism of late antiquity. Neusner's detailed comparison of The Fathers and The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan demonstrates the transmission and elaboration of these stories and shows how these processes incorporated the newer view of the sage as a supernatural figure and of the eschatological character of Judaic teleology. These distinctions, as Neusner describes them, mark a shift in Jewish orientation to world history.

Judaism and Story documents a chapter of rabbinic tradition that explored the possibility of historical orientation by means of stories. As Neusner demonstrates, this experiment with narrative went beyond the borders of rabbinic preoccupation with rhetorical argumentation focused on the explication of the Torah. The sage story moved in the direction of biography, but without allowing biography to emerge. This development, in Neusner's account, parallels the movement from epistle to Gospel in early Christianity and thus has broad implications for the history of religions.
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Judaism's Theological Voice
The Melody of the Talmud
Jacob Neusner
University of Chicago Press, 1995
Distinguished historian of Judaism Jacob Neusner here ventures for the first time into constructive theology. Taking the everyday life of contemporary Judaism as his beginning, Neusner asks when in the life of the living faith of the Torah does Israel, the holy community, meet God? Where does the meeting take place? What is the medium of the encounter?

In his attempt to answer these questions, Neusner sets forth the character and the form of the Torah as sung theology. Israel, the holy community, meets God in the synagogue, while at prayer, and in the yeshiva, when studying the Torah—at the moment in each setting when the Torah is received. In both circumstances people do not read but sing out its words. With the written part of the Torah sung in the synagogue, and the oral part declaimed in centers of sacred learning, music provides the medium for Judaism's theological voice.

Neusner identifies a reciprocal exchange between the holy community Israel and God: Israel sings to God when the Torah is studied, and God sings to Israel when the Torah is declaimed. Through the metaphor of music, Neusner offers an account of how he believes those faithful to the Torah meet God in the Torah, and how they should listen to the melody of God's self-revelation. The result is an original theological reflection that will interest all students of Judaism.
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The Mishnah in Contemporary Perspective, Volume 1
Alan J. Avery-Peck
SBL Press, 2016

Now in Paperback!

In the past thirty years, the Mishnah has taken its place as a principal focus in the academic study of religion and of Judaism. Many university scholars have participated in the contemporary revolution in the description, analysis, and interpretation of the Mishnah. Nearly all the publishing scholars of the academy who are now at work are represented in this project. Both essential volumes present a broad selection of approaches to the study of the Mishnah. What they prove in diverse ways is that the Mishnah defines the critical focus of the study of Judaism. It is a document that rewards study in the academic humanities.

Features:

  • The best of contemporary scholarship on the Mishnah
  • The most representative selection of contemporary Mishnah-study contributions available in any collection in a Western language
  • Paperback format of an essential Brill reference work
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front cover of The Mishnah in Contemporary Perspective, Volume 2
The Mishnah in Contemporary Perspective, Volume 2
Alan J. Avery-Peck
SBL Press, 2016

Now in Paperback!

This second volume of a two-part project on the Mishnah displays a broad selection of approaches to the study of the Mishnah in the contemporary academy. The work derives from Israel, North America, and Europe and shows the intellectual vitality of scholarship in all three centers of learning. What these articles show in diverse ways is that the Mishnah forms a critical focus of the study of Judaism.

Features:

  • The best of contemporary scholarship on the Mishnah
  • The most representative selection of contemporary Mishnah-study contributions available in any collection in a Western language
  • Paperback format of an essential Brill reference work
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Rabbinic Political Theory
Religion and Politics in the Mishnah
Jacob Neusner
University of Chicago Press, 1991
In The Economics of the Mishnah Jacob Neusner showed how economics functioned as an active and generative ingredient in the system of the Mishnah. With this new study, Rabbinic Political Theory, he moves from the economics to the politics of the Mishnah, placing that politics in the broader context of ancient political theory.

Neusner begins his study with a modification of Weber's categories for a theory of politics: myth, institutions, administration, passion, responsibility, and proportion. Detailing the Mishnah's conception of politics, Neusner considers what he calls the stable and static structure and system through comparison with Aristotle. Although Aristotle's Politics and the Mishnah share a common economic theory based on the fundamental unit of the householder, they diverge in their conceptions of political structure and order. Aristotle embeds economics within political economy, while, Neusner argues, the Mishnah presents the anomaly of an economics separated from politics.

Using modern political terms, this study explicates the complicated politics developed by the philosopher-theologians of the Mishnah. It is a first-rate contribution to our understanding of the intersection of politics, political philosophy, and the Mishnaic system.
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Religious Tolerance in World Religions
Jacob Neusner
Templeton Press, 2008

Today, and historically, religions often seem to be intolerant, narrow-minded, and zealous. But the record is not so one-sided. In Religious Tolerance in World Religions, numerous scholars offer perspectives on the "what" and "why" traditions of tolerance in world religions, beginning with the pre-Christian West, Greco-Roman paganism, and ancient Israelite Monotheism and moving into modern religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. By tolerance the authors mean "the capacity to live with religious difference, and by toleration, the theory that permits a majority religion to accommodate the presence of a minority religion."

The volume is introduced with a summary of a recent survey that sought to identify the capacity of religions to tolerate one another in theory and in practice. Eleven religious communities in seven nations were polled on questions that ranged from equality of religious practitioners to consequences of disobedience. The essays frame the provocative analysis of how a religious system in its political statement produces categories of tolerance that can be explained in that system’s logical context. Past and present beliefs, practices, and definitions of social order are examined in terms of how they support tolerance for other religious groups as a matter of public policy.

Religious Tolerance in World Religions focuses attention on the attitude "that the ’infidel’ or non-believer may be accorded an honorable position within the social order defined by Islam or Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism, and so on." It is a timely reference for colleges and universities and for makers of public policy.

 

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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 1
Berakhot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1989
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 10
Orlah and Bikkurim
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 11
Shabbat
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 12
Erubin
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1990
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 13
Yerushalmi Pesahim
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1995
With the publication of Yerushalmi Pesahim the University of Chicago Press completes a landmark edition of the Palestinian Talmud, The Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation. Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."

Yerushalmi Pesahim details the specific requirements regarding the preparation for Passover, the Passover sacrifice, and the Seder. Commenting on the many, often contradictory, prescriptions in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, this tractate is an important part of a long tradition of interpretation regarding Passover.
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 14
Yoma
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 15
Sheqalim
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1990
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 16
Rosh Hashanah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1988
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 17
Sukkah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1988
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 18
Besah and Taanit
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 19
Megillah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 2
Yerushalmi Peah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1990
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 20
Hagigah and Moed Qatan
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1986
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 21
Yebamot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 22
Ketubot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1985
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 23
Nedarim
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1985
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 24
Nazir
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1985
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 25
Gittin
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1985
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 26
Qiddushin
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 27
Sotah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 28
Baba Qamma
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 29
Baba Mesia
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 3
Demai
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1993
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 30
Baba Batra
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 31
Sanhedrin and Makkot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 33
Abodah Zarah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1982
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 34
Horayat and Niddah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1982
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 35
Introduction. Taxonomy
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1984
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
[more]

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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 4
Kilayim
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
[more]

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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 5
Shebiit
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
[more]

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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 6
Terumot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 7
Maaserot
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 8
Maaser Sheni
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1993
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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The Talmud of the Land of Israel, Volume 9
Hallah
Jacob Neusner, General Editor
University of Chicago Press, 1991
Edited by the acclaimed scholar Jacob Neusner, this thirty-five volume English translation of the Talmud Yerushalmi has been hailed by the Jewish Spectator as a "project...of immense benefit to students of rabbinic Judaism."
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