This third volume, which offers further insights into the most important source of late antique Judaism, the Talmud Yerushalmi, in relation to its cultural context, marks another step in a research project on the Talmud Yerushalmi initiated by the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Free University (Berlin) in 1994 and concluded by a conference held at Princeton University in November 2001. This volume focuses on a wide range of topics such as gender studies, aspects of everyday life, Roman festivals, magic etc., hereby reflecting on the methodological problems inherent in intercultural studies. Thus, this collection of articles could also serve as a model for similar enterprises in other studies of Judaism in various cultural contexts. From reviews of the previous volumes: »This collection reflects the state of contemporary scholarship and its struggle to understand and thoughtfully reconstruct Jewish culture in late antique Palestine. It belongs in all specialized Judaica libraries and in research libraries that collect deeply in classical civilization.«Steven Fine in Religious Studies Review 3 (1999) vol. 25, p. 331f.Survey of contentsPreface - Hans-Jürgen Becker: The Magic of the Name and Palestinian Rabbinic Literature - Gideon Bohak: The Hellenization of Biblical History in Rabbinic Literature - Daniel Boyarin: Shattering the Logos; or, the Talmuds and the Genealogy of Indeterminacy - Yaron Z. Eliav: Viewing the Sculptural Environment; Shaping the Second Commandment - Steven Fraade: Priests, Kings, and Patriarchs: Yerushalmi Sanhedrin in its Exegetical and Cultural Settings - Shamma Friedman: The Further Adventures of Rav Kahana: Between Babylonia and Palestine - Fritz Graf: Roman Festivals in Syria Palestina - Christine Hayes: Genealogy, Illegitimacy, and Personal Status: The Yerushalmi in Comparative Perspective - Catherine Hezser: The Social Status of Slaves in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in Graeco-Roman Society - Martha Himmelfarb: The Mother of the Messiah in the Talmud Yerushalmi and Sefer Zerubbabel - Tal Ilan: »Stolen Water is Sweet«: Women and their Stories between Bavli and Yerushalmi - Richard Kalmin: Jewish Sources of the Second Temple Period in Rabbinic Compilations of Late Antiquity - David Kraemer: Concerning the Theological Assumptions of the Yerushalmi - Hayim Lapin: Institutionalization, Amoraim, and Yerushalmi Sebi'it - Andreas Lehnardt: The Samaritans (Kutim) in the Talmud Yerushalmi: Constructs of »Rabbinic Mind« or Reflections of Social Reality? - Jeffrey L. Rubenstein: Some Structural Patterns of Yerushalmi Sugyot - Michael L. Satlow: Fictional Woman: A Study in Stereotypes - Peter Schäfer: Jews and Gentiles in Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah - Seth Schwartz: Rabbinization in the Sixth Century.

This volume continues the studies on the most important source of late antique Judaism, the Talmud Yerushalmi, in relation to its cultural context. The text of the Talmud is juxtaposed to archaeological findings, Roman law, and contemporary classical authors. The attitude of the Rabbis towards main aspects of urban society in the Mediterranean region of late antiquity is discussed. Hereby Rabbinic Judaism is seen as integrated in the cultural currents prevalent in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. From reviews of the first volume: The essays in this volume do not seek to establish a global approach to the task, or any general methodological principles. Caution is everywhere apparent. ... This is an excellent beginning, and more is promised. It would be good if this initiative prompted more Talmudic scholars to take the Greek background of Palestinian rabbinism seriously, and finally put paid to the tendency to consider it as in some way separated from or in conflict with late antique Hellenism.N.R.M. De Lange in Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek Studies Winter 1998/99, no. 23, p. 24

This volume continues the studies on the most important source of late antique Judaism, the Talmud Yerushalmi, in relation to its cultural context. The text of the Talmud is juxtaposed to archaeological findings, Roman law, and contemporary classical authors. The attitude of the Rabbis towards main aspects of urban society in the Mediterranean region of late antiquity is discussed. Hereby Rabbinic Judaism is seen as integrated in the cultural currents prevalent in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. From reviews of the first volume: »The essays in this volume do not seek to establish a global approach to the task, or any general methodological principles. Caution is everywhere apparent. ... This is an excellent beginning, and more is promised. It would be good if this initiative prompted more Talmudic scholars to take the Greek background of Palestinian rabbinism seriously, and finally put paid to the tendency to consider it as in some way separated from or in conflict with late antique Hellenism.«N.R.M. De Lange in Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek Studies Winter 1998/99, no. 23, p. 24Survey of contentsPreface - Martin Goodman: Palestinian Rabbis and the Conversion of Constantine to Christianity - Catherine Hezser: The (In)Significance of Jerusalem in the Talmud Yerushalmi - Hayim Lapin: Rabbis and Cities. Some Aspects of the Rabbinic Movement in its Graeco-Roman Environment - Giuseppe Veltri: Römische Religion an der Peripherie des Reiches. Ein Kapitel rabbinischer Rhetorik - Martin Jacobs: Pagane Tempel in Palästina; rabbinische Aussagen im Vergleich mit archäologischen Funden - Catherine Hezser: Interfaces Between Rabbinic Literature and Graeco-Roman Philosophy - Catherine Hezser: Rabbis and Other Friends. Friendship in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in Graeco-Roman Literature - Aharon Oppenheimer: The Attempt Of Hananiah, Son of Rabbi Joshua's Brother, to Intercalate the Year in Babylonia. A Comparison of the Traditions in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds.

This volume focuses on a wide range of topics such as gender studies, aspects of everyday life, Roman festivals, magic, etc., hereby reflecting on the methodological problems inherent in intercultural studies.

This volume revisits issues of empire from the perspective of Jews, Christians, and other Romans in the third to sixth centuries. Through case studies, the contributors bring Jewish perspectives to bear on longstanding debates concerning Romanization, Christianization, and late antiquity.

Peter Schäfer who celebrated his 60th birthday on 29 June 2003 has left a decidedly firm imprint on the young discipline "Jewish Studies" in Germany, which could only be set up at a German university after the Shoah. For someone directing a “small” academic institution he has managed during his academic career to guide and influence a strikingly large number of students in their scholarly pursuits in the field. The collected essays of this volume encompass quite a variety of topics, whereby the focal points in Peter Schäfer’s own research are not difficult to recognize in the themes chosen by his former students: mysticism and magic are most conspicuous, followed by Rabbinic Judaism and the studies on the Middle Ages and the Early Modern and Modern Periods. Of note is also the fact that the methodological approaches of these contributions are no less manifold than their themes. Part of the contributions of this book were submitted in English, and all the German-language texts have an English summary or abstract.