The Authority of the Divine Law

A Study in Tannaitic Midrash

Yosef Bronstein

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Hardback

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English

Academic Studies Press
20 February 2024

Philosophy; History of religion; Judaism: sacred texts; Jewish studies; Systems of law

Many Jewish groups of late antiquity assumed that they were obligated to observe the Divine Law. This book attempts to study the various rationales offered by these groups to explain the authority that the Divine Law had over them. Second Temple groups tended to look towards philosophy or metaphysics to justify the Divine Law's authority. The tannaim, though, formulated legal arguments that obligate Israel to observe the Divine Law. While this turn towards legalism is pan-tannaitic, two distinct legal arguments can be identified in tannaitic literature. These specific arguments about the Divine Law's authority, link to a set of issues regarding the tannaim's conception of Divine Law and of Israel's election.

By: Yosef Bronstein
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 233mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 517g
ISBN: 9798887194127
Pages: 180
Publication Date: 20 February 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Yosef Bronstein received rabbinic ordination and a PhD in Talmudic Studies from Yeshiva University. He is the Rosh Bet Midrash of Machon Zimrat Ha'aretz, a community learning center and rabbinical training program in Efrat, Israel, and also teaches Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva University's Isaac Breuer College. He is the coauthor of Reshimot Shiurim al Masekhet Kiddushin (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Talmud lectures on tractate Kiddushin) and the author of Engaging the Essence: The Philosophy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (forthcoming from Maggid Books).

Reviews for The Authority of the Divine Law: A Study in Tannaitic Midrash

Yosef Bronstein presents us with a masterful analysis of the very foundations of Jewish Law. He mines through the layers of Tannaitic midrash and Talmud to discover distinct narratives that set the stage for Israel’s responsibility to the Torah’s commandments. This study is a model of academic excellence in its methodological care to compare manuscript variants, review a wide swath of Second Temple history as a backdrop to the Rabbis, contextualize each source in time and place , and connect textual details with philosophical assumptions. At the same time, this book remains as relevant as ever for a modern Jew seeking rationales for the Jewish people’s commitment to Halakha and whether their closeness is coerced or voluntary, contingent or essential. The classical rabbinic responses uncovered in this work offer fresh and revealing insight to contemporary Jewish thought.— Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary, Professor of Judaic Studies, Yeshiva University