Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture Editors: Shlomo Berger Universiteit van Amsterdam ,Amsterdam ,The Netherlands Michael Brocke Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut, Gerhard Mercator-Universität, Duisburg, Germany Irene Zwiep Universiteit van Amsterdam ,Amsterdam ,The Netherlands Advisory Board: Gad Freudenthal (CNRS, Paris) Lewis Glinert (Dartmouth College, Hanover NH ) Steven Harvey (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan) Pieter W. van der Horst (Universiteit Utrecht) Yosef Kaplan (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Ada Rapoport-Albert (University College London) Angel Säenz-Badillos (Universidad Complutense, Madrid ) Karel van der Toorn (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Christian Wiese (Universitä t Erfurt) VOLUM E 2 ZUTOT 2 0 02 Edited by Shlomo Berger Universiteit van Amsterdam ,Amsterdam ,The Netherlands Michael Brocke Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut, Gerhard Mercator-Universität, Duisburg, Germany Irene Zwiep Universiteit van Amsterdam ,Amsterdam ,The Netherlands Gues teditors Resianne Fontaine Universiteit van Amsterdam ,Amsterdam ,The Netherlands Reinier Mün k Universiteit Leiden ,Leiden/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ,The Netherlands k 4 SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS, MEDIA, B.V. ZutOt 2 0 02 A CLP. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress This publication has been realized thanks to the financial support of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut für deutsch-jüdische Geschichte in Duisburg. The editors would like to thank the Stichting Vrienden van het Juda Palache Instituut, Erik-Jan Verweij en JAPES. Desk editors Lies Meiboom Paul Schrijver ISBN 978-94-010-3980-2 ISBN 978-94-010-0199-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-010-0199-1 Printed on acid-free paper All rights Reserved ©2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2.003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2.003 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the cpyright owner. THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED TO ALBERT VAN DER HEIDE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH STUDIES ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 60TH BIRTHDAY AMSTERDAM, 7TH EAJS CONGRESS, 22 JULY 2002 ZUTOT 2002: CONTENTS ANTIQUITY 10 Price,].]., OnJewish Metronymics in the Graeco-Roman Period 18 Horst, P.W. van der, 'His Days Shall Be One Hundred and Twenty Years': Genesis 6:3 in EarlyJudaism and Ancient Christianity POETRY AND PIYYUT 26 Bekkum, W.-]. van, Qumran Poetry and Piyyut: Some Observations on Hebrew Poetic Traditions in Biblicaland Post-Biblical Times 34 Beeri, T., A New Rahat bySaadia Gaon 4 Yahalom,]., Lyricand Liturgy in the Gabirolian Tradition I 56 Schippers, A., A Muwashshah from the Genizah 65 Hollender, E. ,Flora and Fauna in Medieval Piyyut-Commentary MIDDLE AGES 72 Zwiep, I.E., Why Medieval Hebrew Studies? Some Thoughts on Stefan C. Reif's Inaugural Lecture (1999) 77 Fenton, P.B., A Letter of Greetings to R. Hayyim ben Hanan'el ha-Dayyfm from the Genizah 85 Saenz-Badillos,A. ,Abrahamibn Ezra: BetweenTradition andPhilo logy 95 Trautner-Kromann, H., From 'Jacob or Esau?' to 'Has the Messiah Come?' Controversies Between Jews and Christians as H..eflected in Bible Exegesis MAIMONlDES 104 Cohen, M.Z., Logic to Interpretation: Maimonides' Use of al-Fiirfibi's Model ofMeta!Jhor I 14 Freudenthal, G., Four Im!Jlicit Quotations ofPhilosophical Sources in Maimonides' Guide ofthe Perplexed [26 Seroussi, E., More on Maimonides on Music 7 BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS 138 Lange, N. de, The Greek Glosses ofthe fitzwilliam Museum Bible 148 Olszowy-Schlanger, ]., An Early Hebrew Manuscript from Byzan tium 156 Fontaine, R., Abraham ibn Daud and the Midrash ha-Hokhmah: a Mini-Discovery 164 Offenberg, A.K., A Hidden Treasure in the Athias Cabinet, or Quid Novum in Armariolo Athii 170 Schrijvcr, E.G.L., An Unknown Passover Haggadah by Joseph ben DavidofLeipnik in the Library ofBlickling Hall MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY 182 Goodman, M., The Problems ofJewish Studies 189 Laenen,].H., The Twilight between Scholarship andMysticism 200 Jacobs, N.C., Soiree bei Kohn: Jewish Elements in the Repertoire of Hermann Leopoldi 209 Baanders, B., The Writer Who Wrote More than He Meant to Write: On ArthurMiller's Broken Glass. CORRIGENDA 218 Gruschka, R. and M. Aptroot 219 Offenberg, A.K. 8 ANTIQUITY ONJEWISII METRONYMICS IN THE GRAECO-RoMAN PERIOD This brief note anses from my work on the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, the multi-lingual epigraphicalcorpuswhich is now being prepared in Israel and Germany; theworkwillcontain neworfirst editions of all inscriptions found in modern-day Israel and dating from thefourth centuryBeEtoca.theseventhcenturyCEo Inthecourseofour search for unpublished material Ihavefound at leastthree texts, soonto beformally published,containinga highly unusual feature, the namesof persons identified solely by their mothers' names - metronymics. One text is from Beth She'arim and reads: <I>tMcrtpatoc; 'louA-lac; Philostratos son ofJulia. The other two are ossuaries from a private collection and bear remark ably similarnames: I lJJtll'?~lJ ~Dlil'lJ pnlil'Johanan son ofJoseph son ofElisheva2 11':'m?tl!lJ~D'il'lJpmil'JohanansonofJosephsonofShlamzion How to interpret this phenomenon? The purpose ofthis note is to offer some basic methodological guidelines. Thereisnoinformationabouttheprovenanceofthesetwoossuaries,orevenwhether I theywerefound together;buttheidenticalhandoftheinscriptions,aswellastheidentical form andmaterialoftbeossuariesandthefactthattheycameOil themarketandweresold together, indicatethat infacttheyarc indeed related. 2 Is Elisheva a man's name? For J)1tl1'71" from the Judaean Desert (4Q:142), see A. Yardeni, Textbook ofAramaic, HebrewandNabataean Docul11('11taryTexts from the ]udaemlDesertandRelatedMaterialI(.Jerusalem2000) IR4.Thepossibilitythatthesetwo inscriptionsareforgerieswill he dealtwith in thefinal puhlication. S.lkrga. M.Hr()(:keandJ.Zwic!J(eds), Zulo/2()()2., !O-/7 ©zool KluwefA(:adernicl'uhlis!Jer5.. TO ON JEWISH METRONYMICS IN TliE GRAECO-RoMAN PERIOD Principle I: One must assume that there is some stJecial reason for a persontobeidentifiedsolelybyhis/hermother'sname,evenifthatreason cannotalways be found.3 Herodotus (1.173) discovered the practiceonlyamongthe Lyciansof hisday, and concludedwrongly4thatitwas uniquewith them. Although metronymics appear in literary and documentary sources through the end of the Roman empire, the practice never became a widespread cultural norm, especially not in Judaism,s and special reasons for the exceptions can often be found. The phenomenon holds obvious interest for Christian historians becauseofthetroublesomeappellation'JesussonofMary'inMark6:13. The apparent insinuation ofillegitimacywas accepted atface value by a few commentators butexplainedaway bymostas a manuscripterror,as aneutralexpressionarisingfromJoseph'sdeathlongbeforethepointitis used, as an appellation used ofan only son ofa widow, or as an indica tion ofthe virgin birth. Yetitwas not until Harvey McArthur'sarticle in 1973 that a systematic study of metronymics in Jewish sources was attempted, in an effort to put the troublesome passage in context.6 Collecting literary examples from the Bible through rabbinic literature, McArthur classed the reasons for metronymics as follows: 'secondary identification' (the mother's name is needed to clarify genealogy); matri archalfamilies (allexamplesbiblical);themotherisJewishbutthefather J Idonotincludehere:mothersnamedafterthcirchildrcn(c.g.,atIkthShe'arim,seeM. Schwabeand B. Lifshitz, Beth Shearim II: The Greek Tnscriptions (.Jerusalem 1974),nos. 22,27,48,66,125, 156,182,18);forotherexamples,Ilan(n.8below),41-42;metronyms appearingtogetherwithpatronyms(thisoccursoftcninJcwishinscriptions,andisaspecial mark ofEtruscan inscriptions); 'secondary identification' (McArthur's phrase, sec below n. 6). Ialsoexcludemen'snamesbasedonwomen'snames,cf. F.Timm, Matnmymikaim aschkenasichen Kulturbereich: ein Beitrag zur Mentalitdts- und Sozialgeschichte der europdischenfuden(Tiibingen 1999).Ontheexclusionofmagicaltexts,secbelow.hnally, Ihave notdistinguished here between malesand females identified by theirmetronymics, although thatdistinction might he meaningful,seetextsfrom Rome, helow. 1 SeeSEGXXVI 10\0,a Cretan pithosca. 700HeE;ef. Hom. II. 6.196-206. \ Cf. hIm. 109h:thefather's family,notthemother's, is regarded asone'sownfamily; also hYeh. 54h,hKidd. 69a,etc. f, [-I.K. McArthur, 'Son of Mary', Not'. Test. 15 (197.0) .,8-58; and see this article for hibliographyofpreviousinterpretations. I I