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Rabbinic Geography: Between the Imaginary and Real

  • Catherine Hezser
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Abstract

This article discusses rabbinic perceptions of space and geography, showing how geographical information in rabbinic writings reflects the “local color” of these writings or rabbinic perceptions of the Land of Israel or other regions. This leads to the conclusion that geographical references and descriptions in rabbinic literature should be considered a mixture of daily life experiences, biblical reminiscences, hearsay and wishful thinking.

Abstract

This article discusses rabbinic perceptions of space and geography, showing how geographical information in rabbinic writings reflects the “local color” of these writings or rabbinic perceptions of the Land of Israel or other regions. This leads to the conclusion that geographical references and descriptions in rabbinic literature should be considered a mixture of daily life experiences, biblical reminiscences, hearsay and wishful thinking.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Contributors VII
  4. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Travel Experiences 1
  5. “And as They Travelled Eastward” (Gen 11:2): Travel in the Book of Genesis and the Anonymous Travelers in the Tower of Babel Account 11
  6. The Consolations of Travel: Reading Seneca’s Ad Marciam vis-à-vis Paul of Tarsus 33
  7. The (Missing) Motif of “Returning Home” from an Otherworldly Journey in Menippean Literature and the New Testament 55
  8. The Educational Aspect of the Lukan Travel Narrative: Jesus as a Πεπαιδευμένος 73
  9. Acts of the Apostles—A Celebration of Uncertainty? Constructing a Dialogical Self for the Early Jesus Movement 97
  10. “Today or Tomorrow We Will Go to Such and Such a City” (Jas 4:13): The Experience of Interconnectivity and the Mobility of Norms in the Ancient Globalized World 113
  11. Heavenly Journey and Divine Epistemology in the Fourth Gospel 145
  12. Following Vespasian in His Footsteps: Movement and (E)motion Management in Josephus’ Judean War 161
  13. Religion on the Road—Nehalennia Revisited: Voyagers Addressing a North Sea Deity in the Second Century CE 181
  14. Mapping Cosmological Space in the Apocalypse of Paul and the Visio Pauli: The Actualization of Virtual Spatiality in Two Pauline Apocalyptical Journeys based on 2 Cor 12:2–4 189
  15. The Travels of Barnabas: From the Acts of the Apostles to Late Antique Hagiographic Literature 229
  16. Rabbinic Geography: Between the Imaginary and Real 251
  17. The Journey of Zayd Ibn ʿAmr: In Search of True Worship 269
  18. Nautical Fiction of Late Antiquity: Jews and Christians Traveling by Sea 295
  19. Monasteries as Travel Loci for Muslims and Christians (500–1000 CE) 313
  20. Sachregister 337
  21. Stellenregister 341
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