Chapter 22. La ordalía en el judaísmo y Derecho rabínico
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Cayetana H. Johnson
Abstract
The power or right to decide the Law in Israel was in the hands of the priests and rabbis, who had the ability, even in doubtful cases, to interpret, modify or expand it, and occasionally, to repeal it.
In Biblical times, the Law was primarily in charge of Priests and Levites and they were the serving judges of the High Court in Jerusalem, the highest institution to decide serious and difficult cases. In the last two pre-Christian centuries and throughout the times of the Talmud, the scribes (“Soferim”), also called “The Wise Men” (“Hachamim”), were the qualified and authorized persons for having received the true interpretation of the Law. according to the tradition of the Elders or the Fathers coming from Moses, the Prophets and the men of the Great Synagogue.
In the first century, there is a great evolution in the legal interpretation of the Law and a greater demand is sought in the rigor and judicial expertise. Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakai is one of the great representatives of this trend, especially around the application of the ordeal of Numbers 5, from Mosaic times, on adultery. The practical abolition of this penalty is a great advance in the search for justice and, at the same time, an advance in the solution of family conflicts, which, in the words of Zakai “does not come to declare clean or unclean and to separate or bring closer together”, at a time when Levitical laws of purity and family matters ruled all Jewish life.
Abstract
The power or right to decide the Law in Israel was in the hands of the priests and rabbis, who had the ability, even in doubtful cases, to interpret, modify or expand it, and occasionally, to repeal it.
In Biblical times, the Law was primarily in charge of Priests and Levites and they were the serving judges of the High Court in Jerusalem, the highest institution to decide serious and difficult cases. In the last two pre-Christian centuries and throughout the times of the Talmud, the scribes (“Soferim”), also called “The Wise Men” (“Hachamim”), were the qualified and authorized persons for having received the true interpretation of the Law. according to the tradition of the Elders or the Fathers coming from Moses, the Prophets and the men of the Great Synagogue.
In the first century, there is a great evolution in the legal interpretation of the Law and a greater demand is sought in the rigor and judicial expertise. Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakai is one of the great representatives of this trend, especially around the application of the ordeal of Numbers 5, from Mosaic times, on adultery. The practical abolition of this penalty is a great advance in the search for justice and, at the same time, an advance in the solution of family conflicts, which, in the words of Zakai “does not come to declare clean or unclean and to separate or bring closer together”, at a time when Levitical laws of purity and family matters ruled all Jewish life.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Chapter 1. Frauen in Wirtschaft und Politik der griechisch-römischen Antike 1
- Chapter 2. Lo status giuridico della donna nel diritto romano della tarda Repubblica e del Principato (II secolo a.C. – inizi del III secolo d.C.) 16
- Chapter 3. Curare le donne nell’Egitto greco-romano 42
- Chapter 4. Realidad de la institución matrimonial en la ficción de las novelas grecolatinas 54
- Chapter 5. La expositio en Dafnis y Cloe 84
- Chapter 6. Consent in Greek and Roman marriage 99
- Chapter 7. Legal reality or storytelling? 107
- Chapter 8. Warrior women 127
- Chapter 9. Egyptian feminine anthroponyms in ancient Greek novels? 149
- Chapter 10. Narrative aspects of Callirhoe’s tomb 159
- Chapter 11. The home life of a heroine 173
- Chapter 12. Chloe as learning subject in Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe 181
- Chapter 13. Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe as a puella docta 197
- Chapter 14. Le collane di Charicleia 206
- Chapter 15. The reality of women in ancient popular literature 230
- Chapter 16. Kidnapping in the ancient novels 244
- Chapter 17. Tarsia nel lupanare 260
- Chapter 18. Plotting Plotina? The reception of an empress in Roman provincial prose (fiction) 277
- Chapter 19. Algunos aspectos de la mujer en la hagiografía bizantina 297
- Chapter 20. De opere illicito 329
- Chapter 21. Notes on women and the law in the novel Los amores de Clareo y Florisea by Alonso Núñez de Reinoso 343
- Chapter 22. La ordalía en el judaísmo y Derecho rabínico 359
- Chapter 23. Semejanzas y diferencias entre las heroínas de la novela griega antigua y en la tradición sánscrita del Ramayana 374
- Chapter 24. Queens, heroines and slaves 382
- Chapter 25. “Parthian” women in Vīs and Rāmīn 396
- Chapter 26. Configuración neurocognitiva del ideal amoroso y castidad en las protagonistas de la novela griega 407
- Index locorum 416
- Abbreviations 447
- Contributors 448
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Chapter 1. Frauen in Wirtschaft und Politik der griechisch-römischen Antike 1
- Chapter 2. Lo status giuridico della donna nel diritto romano della tarda Repubblica e del Principato (II secolo a.C. – inizi del III secolo d.C.) 16
- Chapter 3. Curare le donne nell’Egitto greco-romano 42
- Chapter 4. Realidad de la institución matrimonial en la ficción de las novelas grecolatinas 54
- Chapter 5. La expositio en Dafnis y Cloe 84
- Chapter 6. Consent in Greek and Roman marriage 99
- Chapter 7. Legal reality or storytelling? 107
- Chapter 8. Warrior women 127
- Chapter 9. Egyptian feminine anthroponyms in ancient Greek novels? 149
- Chapter 10. Narrative aspects of Callirhoe’s tomb 159
- Chapter 11. The home life of a heroine 173
- Chapter 12. Chloe as learning subject in Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe 181
- Chapter 13. Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe as a puella docta 197
- Chapter 14. Le collane di Charicleia 206
- Chapter 15. The reality of women in ancient popular literature 230
- Chapter 16. Kidnapping in the ancient novels 244
- Chapter 17. Tarsia nel lupanare 260
- Chapter 18. Plotting Plotina? The reception of an empress in Roman provincial prose (fiction) 277
- Chapter 19. Algunos aspectos de la mujer en la hagiografía bizantina 297
- Chapter 20. De opere illicito 329
- Chapter 21. Notes on women and the law in the novel Los amores de Clareo y Florisea by Alonso Núñez de Reinoso 343
- Chapter 22. La ordalía en el judaísmo y Derecho rabínico 359
- Chapter 23. Semejanzas y diferencias entre las heroínas de la novela griega antigua y en la tradición sánscrita del Ramayana 374
- Chapter 24. Queens, heroines and slaves 382
- Chapter 25. “Parthian” women in Vīs and Rāmīn 396
- Chapter 26. Configuración neurocognitiva del ideal amoroso y castidad en las protagonistas de la novela griega 407
- Index locorum 416
- Abbreviations 447
- Contributors 448