Bibliography
| Title: The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods Secondary Title: BJSt 302 Type: Generic Year: 1995 Abstract: "This dissertation studies the history of the festival of Sukkot in the second temple and rabbinic periods. The first half of the dissertation focuses upon Sukkot as celebrated in second temple times. All sources from this period that mention Sukkot are analyzed, including Ezra and Nehemia, Zech 14, Jubilees, Maccabees, Qumran scrolls, Philo, pseudo-Philo, Christian Scriptures, Josephus, Plutarch, as well as numismatic and inconographic evidence. Individual chapters are devoted to thorough historical reconstructions of the temple rituals of the water and wine libations and the simhat beit hashoeva (joy at the place of water-drawing). The second half of the dissertation explores the nature of the festival in rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the temple. While the major temple rituals perforce ceased, the tannaim continued the rituals of the lulav and sukka, and transferred to the liturgy the effort to petition God for favorable rain. The history of tannaitic halakha demonstrates that the tannaim inherited a highly developed body of festival law from temple times, although certain innovations can be traced. The tannaim understood the sukka to symbolize the ""clouds of glory"". The ritual dwelling in the sukka symbolized dwelling under a divine shelter with protection, love and intimacy. Amoraic midrashim and piyyutim show a striking continuity with the festival associations prevalent in the biblical and second temple times. The connection of Sukkot to the temple and temple rituals is preserved in homily and liturgy even as the cultic rituals ceased to be practiced. While some new interpretations developed, and the eschatological dimension of the festival became normative, the dominant amoraic understandings of Sukkot have roots in earlier periods. The loss of the temple, then, did not entail drastic reinterpretations of the meaning of Sukkot. The history of the Sukkot demonstrates the resiliency of a religious festival despite the destruction of its primary context. - Zugl.: New York, Univ. of Columbia, Diss., 1992 (abstract bezieht sich auf die Diss.)" Keywords: Cultural and Religious History of Ancient Judaism |