(Sacrifices) Left at the Altar

Reading Tractate Zevachim of the Babylonian Talmud

Joshua A. Fogel

Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., Judaism faced a serious crossroads. The rabbis of late antiquity spent the next few centuries in extensive debates in an effort to create an ethical and practical basis for a Torah-based faith. Their extensive discussions constitute the bulk of what we now know as the Talmud. This collection is not only massive; it is forbiddingly difficult and has accumulated numerous commentaries over the centuries since it first appeared. Recent translations have made it somewhat more accessible to English-language readers, but textual difficulties remain. This volume looks at tractate Zevachim (Sacrifices), which is mostly concerned with meat offerings slaughtered and presented at the Temple (when it stood). Joshua A. Fogel approaches the text, page by page, commenting with doses of humor and comparisons in a manner meant to explain and humanize the text for contemporary readers.

Hamilton Books

Pages: 350 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6212-3 • Paperback • November 2013 • $57.99 • (£45.00)

978-0-7618-6213-0 • eBook • November 2013 • $55.00 • (£42.00)

Subjects: Religion / Judaism / Talmud, Religion / Judaism / Sacred Writings, Religion / Judaism / History, Religion / Essays, Religion / Ancient, History / Pre-Modern

(Sacrifices) Left at the Altar

Reading Tractate Zevachim of the Babylonian Talmud

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., Judaism faced a serious crossroads. The rabbis of late antiquity spent the next few centuries in extensive debates in an effort to create an ethical and practical basis for a Torah-based faith. Their extensive discussions constitute the bulk of what we now know as the Talmud. This collection is not only massive; it is forbiddingly difficult and has accumulated numerous commentaries over the centuries since it first appeared. Recent translations have made it somewhat more accessible to English-language readers, but textual difficulties remain. This volume looks at tractate Zevachim (Sacrifices), which is mostly concerned with meat offerings slaughtered and presented at the Temple (when it stood). Joshua A. Fogel approaches the text, page by page, commenting with doses of humor and comparisons in a manner meant to explain and humanize the text for contemporary readers.

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 350 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6212-3 • Paperback • November 2013 • $57.99 • (£45.00)

978-0-7618-6213-0 • eBook • November 2013 • $55.00 • (£42.00)

Subjects: Religion / Judaism / Talmud, Religion / Judaism / Sacred Writings, Religion / Judaism / History, Religion / Essays, Religion / Ancient, History / Pre-Modern

Author

Joshua A. Fogel is Canada Research Chair in the Department of History at York University. His previous work has focused primarily on the cultural interactions between China and Japan over the past two centuries. His most recent writings include: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Reading Tractate Horayot of the Babylonian Talmud (Hamilton Books, 2013); Japanese Historiography and the Gold Seal of 57 C.E.: Relic, Text, Object, Fake (Brill, 2013); Daily Reflections on Idolatry: Reading Tractate Avodah Zarah of the Babylonian Talmud (Hamilton Books, 2012); and Shimada Kenji: Scholar, Thinker, Reader (MerwinAsia, 2014).

Table of Contents

Author’s Introduction
Chapter 1: All Sacrifices
Chapter 2: Any Sacrifice Whose Blood Was Collected
Chapter 3: Any Disqualified People
Chapter 4: Bet Shammai Rule
Chapter 5: What Is the Proper Place?
Chapter 6: Most Holy Offerings
Chapter 7: A Bird Chatat
Chapter 8: All Sacrifices
Chapter 9: The Altar Sacrifices
Chapter 10: That Which Is More Frequent
Chapter 11: Blood of a Chatat
Chapter 12: A Tevul Yom
Chapter 13: One Slaughters and Offers
Chapter 14: A Chatat Cow
Glossary of Selected Terms
Index of Tannaim and Amoraim
Index of Biblical and Rabbinical References

(Sacrifices) Left at the Altar

Reading Tractate Zevachim of the Babylonian Talmud

Joshua A. Fogel

(Sacrifices) Left at the Altar

Reading Tractate Zevachim of the Babylonian Talmud

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