Dr. David Bernat is executive director of the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts and a lecturer in Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Heholds a Ph.D. in biblical interpretation from Brandeis University, is the author of Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Priestly Traditions, and the co–editor of Religion and Violence: The Biblical Heritage.
Last Updated
September 19, 2019
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Second Temple period interpreters understood circumcision as an act of purification, but they debated whether it was physical or spiritual.
Second Temple period interpreters understood circumcision as an act of purification, but they debated whether it was physical or spiritual.
Pinchas is portrayed as a hero in the Torah and Second Temple sources for killing Zimri and his Midianite lover, Cozbi. Rabbinic sources struggle with the absence of any juridical process or deliberative body, which contravenes their own judicial norms, and therefore recast or minimize his act in subtle ways.[1]
Pinchas is portrayed as a hero in the Torah and Second Temple sources for killing Zimri and his Midianite lover, Cozbi. Rabbinic sources struggle with the absence of any juridical process or deliberative body, which contravenes their own judicial norms, and therefore recast or minimize his act in subtle ways.[1]
Prima facie, circumcision maims a body. Genesis Rabbah, however, argues that it actually perfects the body, and the book of Jubilees says it makes Jewish men like angels.
Prima facie, circumcision maims a body. Genesis Rabbah, however, argues that it actually perfects the body, and the book of Jubilees says it makes Jewish men like angels.
