Priests in Exile: The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community in the Hellenistic Period

544 Pages·2019·3.498 MB·English

by  Meron M. Piotrkowski

Meron M. Piotrkowski
Priests in Exile
Studia Judaica

Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums
Begründet von Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich
Herausgegeben von
Günter Stemberger, Charlotte Fonrobert,
Elisabeth Hollender, Alexander Samely
und Irene Zwiep
Band 106
Rethinking Diaspora
Edited by
Stefan C. Reif, Simha Goldin, Nahem Ilan
and Andreas Lehnardt
Volume 4
Meron M. Piotrkowski
Priests in Exile
The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community
in the Hellenistic Period
The subseries Rethinking Diaspora is published on behalf of
the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University.
ISBN 978-3-11-059107-1
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-059335-8
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-059112-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933093
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The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliografic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
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www.degruyter.com
Für meine Eltern Meir und Doris Piotrkowski
in Liebe

Preface and Acknowledgements
IfindmyselftrulyprivilegedtobeabletodowhatIamdoing.Beingabletopur-
sueone’sresearchandtowriteaboutitis,inmyview,atrueblessing.Thisbook
isaslightlyrevisedversionofmy2015HebrewUniversityofJerusalemdisserta-
tion that was awarded the 2016 Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in
theHumanisticDisciplines.WhatinspiredmetopickupthissubjectwasGideon
Bohak’swonderfulbook,JosephandAsenethandtheJewishTempleinHeliopolis,
whichIwasgiventoreadaspartofaclassassignmentbyProf.RahelEliorfora
courseonHekhalotliteratureduringmyM.A.studiesattheHebrewUniversity.I
am much obliged to Prof. Elior for having introduced me to the subject of the
TempleofOniasand,ofcourse,toProf.Bohakforhavingwrittenhisbook.Isin-
cerely hope that this study does him and his book justice. In fact, Prof. Bohak
was also a member of my doctoral advisory committee and I thank him for my
conversationswithhimabouttheTempleofOniasanditslocationandforshar-
ing with me the materials he had collected on that subject.
This study seeks to provide a cohesive history of the Oniad Temple in the
Hellenisticperiod.TheTempleofOniasisalessknownbutfascinatingphenom-
enonofancientDiasporaJudaismthatfunctionedforovertwocenturiesinpar-
allelwiththeSecondTempleofJerusalemandevenoutlastedit.Theexistenceof
atemple,andtheadherencetoareligionbasedonsacrifices,aholyplace,and
the importance of priestly pedigree (as was usual in Jerusalem) distinguished
OniasandhiscommunityfromotherJewishcommunitiesinEgyptandtheHel-
lenistic/RomanDiaspora,onthewhole.ThatisbecauseDiasporaJudaismisusu-
allycharacterizedbytheabsenceofaholyplaceandofacultbasedonsacrifices
and administered by priests; rather, prayers are substituted for sacrifices, and
there is no need, or room, for a temple or for priests.Thus, the singularity of
the Oniad community, and its implications for such a form of priestly/cultic re-
ligion in the Diaspora context, and its nebulous history merits study.
Abooksuchasthis,andthedissertationonwhichitisbased,althoughwrit-
tenbyonlyonepersonisinfactdependentuponanumberofotherpeople,ben-
efactors and institutions without whose help, support, encouragement and in-
spiration, this study would certainly not have come into being. It is these
people and institutions whom I wish to acknowledge.
ThefirstandmostimportantpersontothankismyDoktorvaterProf.Daniel
R.Schwartz.IbecamehisstudentduringmyMastersstudiesattheHebrewUni-
versityin2004andconsidermyselfluckytohavecomeunderhiswingalreadyat
that early stage. He is an exceptional scholar,who inspires me and challenges
me to look at things in different ways. He is also a true role model, not only
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110593358-001
VIII PrefaceandAcknowledgements
forwhatitmeanstobeanimpeccablescholar,butalso–andmoreimportantly
so–whatitmeanstobeatrueMensch.Itrulythankhimforthemanytimeshe
went out of his way to help me and for his wisdom, encouragement, kindness,
humor,andguidanceintheprocessofwritingmythesis.Ifinditextremelydif-
ficulttoexpressinwordshowmuchIamindebtedtohimforallthat.Itcertainly
is a great honor for me to be counted among his students.
If Danny Schwartz was my Doktorvater,then I surelyconsider Prof.Tal Ilan
myDoktormutter.IcametoknowTalinherfirstdaysattheFreieUniversitätBer-
lin,whenIwasherstudentbeforeIbeganmyMastersstudiesattheHebrewUni-
versity.Althoughshewasnotofficiallyinvolvedinmythesis,sheconstantlyand
consistently listened to,commented upon, read parts of it and helped me with
myproblemsandquestions.Sheisahugeinspirationtome,anamazingscholar
and a true לייח תשא.
Manyotherscholarshavehelpedmetoimprovemyarguments,readpartsof
this study, and contributed to it in various other ways. Special thanks are due,
firstandforemost,tothemembersofmydoctoraladvisorycommitteeProf.Han-
nah M.Cotton, Prof.Gideon Bohak, and Dr. Noah Hacham.Their input was in-
valuableandhelpedtoshapethisstudy,whilealsoforcingmetorethinkseveral
aspects of it. I consider myself lucky to have been guided by this forum of out-
standing scholars. They were always available to me with any questions and
problems I had. I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Hannah M. Cotton,
who greatly improved my knowledge about Jews in the Roman period and
who taught a fabulous and truly memorable course on the Bar-Kokhbah revolt.
I am much obliged to Dr. Hacham for so generously sharing his excellent work
with me and for the many discussions we had (and still have), not only on the
subject of the Temple of Onias, but also on many other aspects of the Egyp-
tian-Jewish Diaspora and ancient Jewish history, such as the Jewish papyri
fromEgyptweareworkingontogetherwithintheframeworkofthenewCorpus
Papyrorum Judaicarum IV. Dr. Hacham also read and commented on Chapter 9.
He is a meticulous scholar and I much appreciate his comments which helped
me to sharpen and improve my arguments.
I express mygratitude to Prof. Steve Mason, for many inspiring and stimu-
latingconversationsaboutJosephus,history,andvariousothertopics–anything
from belles-lettres to modern-day Israeli history and politics. Prof. Mason read
parts of and commented on Chapter 1.
Manythanks areduetomyfriendProf.JohannesNiehoff-Panagiotidis,who
has supported me ever since we met many years ago. Likewise, I would like to
thank Prof.Joseph Patrich fromwhom I learned much about the Temple of Jer-
usalemandothersanctuaries.Ialsohadthepleasureandprivilegeofabriefac-
quaintancewith thelateProf.Ehud Netzer,prior to hisuntimelydeath inOcto-
PrefaceandAcknowledgements IX
ber 2010, with whom I discussed what it took to build a temple, not only for
HerodtheGreat,butalsoforOnias.Iamthankfultohimforsharinghisknowl-
edge with me.
SpecialthanksareduetoProf.GoheiHatawithwhomIhadthepleasureof
corresponding occasionally about the problem of the Temple of Onias and ar-
chaeology, and who generously agreed to share his research with me and to
send me a draft of his then unpublished article on the location of the temple.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Peter Schäfer, my
very first teacher of Judaism. It was he who introduced me to the marvelous
world of ancient Jewish history and has kindled my passion for that subject.
Without him, Iwould certainly not be doing what I am doing.
IamhappytothankJuliaBrauch,SophieWagenhofer,KatrinMittmannand
especiallyAliceMeroz,atthestaffatWalterdeGruyter,foracceptingthisvolume
for publication and for all their help throughout the publication process. My
thankstothepublishersPeterLangandMohrSiebeckfortheirkindpermission
to reproduce slightly altered versions of this book’s Chapter 9 and a section of
Chapter 1.¹
Theresearchforthisstudywouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthegener-
ous financial aid I received fromvarious institutions over the years. From 2008
until 2010, I benefitted from a generous scholarship from the Minerva Founda-
tion.In2011–2012IwassupportedbyaresearchgrantfromtheMandelInstitute
ofJewishStudiesattheHebrewUniversity.Between2012and2013,Iwasaward-
edascholarshipfromNewYork’sJewishMemorialFoundationandinthesame
period,IwasfortunatetoreceivetheMoritzandCharlotteWarburgPrizeinJew-
ish Studies – a doctoral scholarship from the Hebrew University’s Institute of
JewishStudies.Iamtrulygratefultoallthoseinstitutionsforallowingmetocon-
ductmyresearchunencumbered.Isincerelyhopethattheirfaithinmeandtheir
financial assistance were worthwhile.
Very special thanks are due to my father-in-law, Prof. Marshall Devor,who
sacrificed many hours of his precious time to proofread this study, correct my
English, and make several invaluable suggestions and comments. His input
has greatly contributed to the quality of this work. A final proofreading and
 Chapter1.9(“JosephusonOniasandtheOniadTemple,or:APriestfromJerusalemandRome
on Priests and their Temple in the Diaspora”) was published as “Josephus on Onias and the
Oniad Temple,” JSQ 25 (2018):1–16 (DOI:10.1628/094457018X15154209777563) and Chapter 9
(“Re-evaluating3Maccabees–AnOniadComposition?”)appearedas“Re-evaluating3Macca-
bees: An Oniad Composition?” in Jüdisch-hellenistische Literatur in ihrem interkulturellen Kon-
text,ed.byM.Hirschberger(FrankfurtamMain:PeterLang,2012)117–142(DOI:10.3726/978-
3-653-02042-7).
X PrefaceandAcknowledgements
lastcorrectionsweredonebyStevenBen-Yishai,mymuchesteemedfellow-PhD-
studentandfriend.Iamverygratefulforhisefforts.Anotherpersontobemen-
tioned, and without whom this work would not have taken shape, is Hartmut
Naeder, who tirelessly and very patiently helped me with the technological
side of putting together the manuscript of this book.
Last but not least I want to thank my family,the most important people in
mylife.Iwanttothankmyparentsandmybrother,Meir,Doris,andMatanPiotr-
kowski,fortheirunconditionalloveandsupportinandwitheveryaspectoflife.
I owe them so much more than plain gratitude. By the same token, I want to
thankmywifeNoaforherlove,warm-heartednessandpatience,andforhaving
my back in all of life’s ups and downs. In the course of writing this study, our
trulywonderfulchildrenMiaandYotamwerebornandIamverymuchgrateful
to them for makingour everyday just awhole lot sweeter and brighter.
Tel Aviv,
Erev Hanukkah 5779 / December, 2018