Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T15:09:48.133Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

22 - Rabbinic prayer in late antiquity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Reuven Kimelman
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University, Boston
Steven T. Katz
Affiliation:
Boston University
Get access

Summary

THE CHARACTER OF RABBINICAL PRAYER

Worship of God in the rabbinic period differs from that of the biblical period in its conceptualization of the synagogue and prayer. Practically, this shift is most noticeable in the role of the synagogue, the content and the modalities of the rabbinic liturgy, the role of the precentor, and that of the priests. Theologically, the shift is most noticeable in its central liturgical affirmation that the God of Israel is the King of the world.

THE SYNAGOGUE AND PRAYER

With the destruction of the Temple in 70 ce the center of Jewish worship shifted to the synagogue. There is disagreement among modern scholars and ancient practitioners on the extent of this shift. Nonetheless, all agree to some extent that from tannaitic (70 ce–220 ce) to amoraic times (220 ce–500 ce) there occurred a “templization of the synagogue” and “a sacrificization of prayer.” Since this tendency grew as time went on, it cannot be explained as a way of making up for the just-destroyed Temple. More significant was the awareness over time that the Temple would not soon be rebuilt. The hope in the imminent rebuilding of the Temple initially staved off the sanctification of alternative space. But as memory of the Temple, or at least the apprehension of creating something like the inimitable Temple outside of Jerusalem, receded, the synagogue assumed increasingly a Temple-like aura. The growing sacralization of the Church in the Byzantine period is a parallel, if not contributing, phenomenon.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bar Isaac, Rabbi Meir (Sheliah. Tsibbur), Tefillah tiqah (The Complete Art Scroll Selichos), ed. Gold, A., Sefarad [Minhag Polin]) (Brooklyn, 1993)
Baron, M. ed., Abudarham, Tehillah Le-David (Jerusalem, 2001), 97 with n. 160.Google Scholar
Ben-Shalom, I., “Torah Study for All or for the Elite Alone?” in Kasher, A., Oppenheimer, A., and Rappaport, U. (eds.), Synagogues in Antiquity (Jerusalem, 1987) (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Charlesworth, J. H., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (New York, 1983).
Cohen, S. J. D., “The Temple and the Synagogue,” in The Cambridge History of Judaism (Cambridge, 1984–) III Google Scholar
Ehrlich, U., The Non-Verbal Language of Jewish Prayer (Jerusalem, 1999) (Hebrew). English translation, The Non-Verbal Language of Jewish Prayer: A New Approach to Jewish Liturgy (Tübingen, 2004).
Ehrlich, U., “The Location of the Shekhina in the Early Versions of the Shemone Esre,” Sidra 13 (1997).Google Scholar
Elbogen, I., Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History, ed. Scheindlin, R. (Philadelphia, 1993), translated from Ha-Tefillah Be-Yisrael Be-Hitpathut Ha-Historit, ed. Heinemann, J. et al. (Tel-Aviv, 1972).
Enelow, H. G. ed., Israel Ibn Al-Nakawa, Menorat Ha-Ma’or, 4 vols. (New York, 1930), II
Falk, D. K., Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Leiden, 1998).
Fine, S., This Holy Place: On the Sanctity of the Synagogue during the Greco-Roman Period (Notre Dame, 1997).
Fine, S. (ed.), Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue in the Ancient World (New York, 1996).
Gartner, Y., “Shalosh Pesi’ot Ve-Netinat Shalom Be-Sof Tefillat Ha-Amidah,” Asufot 14 (2002).Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, E. D., The Passover Haggadah: Its Sources and History (Jerusalem, 1960) (Hebrew).
Gruber, M., Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Rome, 1980).
Haran, M., The Biblical Collection: Its Consolidation to the End of the Second Temple Times and Changes of Form to the End of the Middle Ages (Jerusalem, 1996), 207,(Hebrew).
Hoffman, L., Beyond the Text: A Holistic Approach to Liturgy (Bloomington, 1987).
Kiley, M. (ed.), Prayer from Alexander to Constantine: A Critical Anthology (London, 1997).
Kimelman, R., “Birkat ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity,” in Sanders, E. P. et al. (eds.), Jewish and Christian Self- Definition (Philadelphia, 1981), II.Google Scholar
Kimelman, R., “Blessing Formulae and Divine Sovereignty in Rabbinic Liturgy,” in Langer, R. and Fine, S. (eds.), Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue: Studies in the History of Jewish Prayer (Winona Lake, IN, 2005).Google Scholar
Kimelman, R., “Rabbi Yohanan and Origen on the Song of Songs,” Harvard Theological Review 73 (1980).Google Scholar
Kimelman, R., “The Literary Structure of the Amidah and the Rhetoric of Redemption,” in Dever, W. G. and Wright, E. J. (eds.), Echoes of Many Texts: Essays Honoring Lou H. Silberman on His Eightieth Birthday (Atlanta, 1997).Google Scholar
Kimelman, R., “The Shema’ Liturgy: From Covenant Ceremony to Coronation,” in Tabory, J. (ed.), Kenishta: Studies in Synagogue Life (Ramat-Gan, 2001).Google Scholar
Knohl, I., “Between Voice and Silence: The Relationship Between Prayer and Temple Cult,” Journal of Biblical Literature 115 (1996).Google Scholar
Langer, R., To Worship God Properly: Tensions Between Liturgical Custom and Halakhah in Judaism (Cincinnati, 1998).
Lerner, M.B., “On the Beginnings of Liturgical Poetry: Midrashic and Talmudic Clarifications,” Sidra 9 (1993)Google Scholar
Levine, L. I., The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years (New Haven, 2000).
Lieberman, S., Tosefta Ki-Fshutah, 9 vols. (New York, 19551988).
Lieberman, S., Tosefta (New York, 19551988).
Maher, M., “The Meturgamanim and Prayer,” Journal of Jewish Studies 51 (1990).Google Scholar
Margalioth, M. ed., Sefer Ha-Razim, (Jerusalem, 1966), 98.
Milgrom, J., Studies in Levitical Terminology (Berkeley, 1970), 37.
Musurillo, H., The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, 1972).
Nathan, Abraham b. of Lunel, Sefer Ha-Manhig, ed. Raphael, Y., 2 vols. (Jerusalem, 1978), I
Newman, J. H., Praying by the Book: The Scripturalization of Prayer in Second Temple Judaism (Atlanta, 1999).
Nissim, D. ed., Sefer Ha-Maspik Le’Ovdey Hashem, (Ramat-Gan, 1989).
Nitzan, B., Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry (Leiden, 1994).
Olsson, B., and Zetterholm, M. (eds.), The Ancient Synagogue from Its Origins until 200 CE: Papers Presented at the International Conference at Lund University, Sweden, October 14–17, 2001 (Stockholm, 2004).
Perla, Y., Sefer Ha-Mitzvot Le-Rabbenu Sa’adyah, 3 vols. (Jerusalem, 1973), I.
Petuchowski, J., “Jewish Prayer Texts of the Rabbinic Period,” in Petuchowski, J. and Brocke, M. (eds.), The Lord’s Prayer and Jewish Liturgy (New York, 1978).Google Scholar
Pleket, H. W., “Religious History as the History of Mentality: The ‘Believer’ as Servant of the Deity in the Greek World,” in Versnel, H. S. (ed.), Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World (Leiden, 1981)Google Scholar
Rabinovitz, Z. M. (ed.), The Liturgical Poems of Rabbi Yannai (Jerusalem, 19851987) (Hebrew).
Sarna, N. M., “The Psalm Superscriptions and the Guilds,” in Stein, S. and Loewe, R. (eds.), Studies in Jewish Religious and Intellectual History Presented to Alexander Altmann on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (University of Alabama, 1979).Google Scholar
Schiffman, Lawrence, “The Rabbinic Understanding of Covenant,” Review and Expositor 84 (1987).Google Scholar
Schuller, E., “Worship, Temple, and Prayer in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Avery Peck, A., Neusner, J., and Chilton, B. (eds.), Judaism in Late Antiquity, Part Five: The Judaism of Qumran: A Systemic Reading of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Leiden, 2001), I Google Scholar
Spilsbury, P., “God and Israel in Josephus: A Patron–Client Relationship,” in Mason, S. (ed.), Understanding Josephus: Seven Perspectives (Sheffield, 1998).Google Scholar
Tabory, J. (ed.), From Qumran to Cairo: Studies in the History of Prayer (Jerusalem, 1999).
The Cambridge History of Judaism (Cambridge, 1984–) III.
Twersky, I., “‘And One Should Regard Oneself as if Facing the Lord’: Intention in Prayer according to Maimonides,” in Elizur, S. etal. (eds.), Knesset Ezra: Literature and Life in the Synagogue: Studies Presented to Ezra Fleischer (Jerusalem, 1994) (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Urbach, E., The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs (Jerusalem, 1969) (Hebrew); English translation: The Sages: The World and Wisdom of the Rabbis of the Talmud (Cambridge, MA, 1987).
van der Horst, P.W., “Silent Prayer in Antiquity,” Hellenism–Judaism–Christianity: Essays on Their Interaction (Kampen, 1994).Google Scholar
Woolf, J., “The Synagogue in Medieval France-Germany: Between Perception and Law,” in Tabory, J. (ed.), Kenishta: Studies in the Synagogue World, II (Ramat-Gan, 2003) (Hebrew).Google Scholar
Zevin, S. ed., Talmudic Encyclopedia, 24 vols. (Jerusalem, 1974–2003), IV.
Zucker, M., Rav Saadya Gaon’s Translation of the Torah (New York, 1959) (Hebrew).

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×