Description: This volume contains articles by Martha Himmelfarb on topics in Second Temple Judaism and the development and reception of Second Temple traditions in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The section on Priests, Temples, and Torah addresses the themes of its title in texts from the Bible to the Mishnah. Purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls contains articles analyzing the intensification of the biblical purity laws, particularly the laws for genital discharge, in the major legal documents from the Scrolls. In Judaism and Hellenism the author explores the relationship between these two ancient cultures by examining the ancient and modern historiography of the Maccabean Revolt and the role of the Torah in ancient Jewish adaptations of Greek culture. The last two sections of the volume follow texts and traditions of the Second Temple period into late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The articles in Heavenly Ascent consider the relationship between the ascent apocalypses of the Second Temple period and later works involving heavenly ascent, particularly the hekhalot texts. In the final section, The Pseudepigrapha and Medieval Jewish Literature, Himmelfarb investigates evidence for knowledge of works of the Second Temple period by medieval Jews with consideration of the channels by which the works might have reached these later readers.
Brief description: Martha Himmelfarb, Born 1952; 1981 PhD; since 2007 William H. Danforth Professor of Religion at Princeton University.
Review Quotes: "As a collection of Martha Himmelfarb's insightful, judicious, and careful scholarship, Between Temple and Torah is a helpful resource for the student and scholar of Second Temple Judaism, made all the more useful by its topical arrangement and inclusion of indices for ancient texts, modern authors, and subjects. [...] Himmelfarb's scholarly work stands as a respected and influential voice in the quest to understand the Second Temple period, and this volume is therefore commended highly to the student of Second Temple Judaism." -- L. Michael Morales, Review of Biblical Literature, 02/2015