Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Preface vii
3. Acknowledgements viii
4. Contents ix
5. Hebrew Transliteration Table xiv
6. Abbreviations xiv
7. Prologue xv
8. Volume I
9. Section I. THE GOD OF ISRAEL
10. Introductory Remarks 3
11. 1. The Book of Creation 8
12. 2. Monolingualism and the Analphabetic Mind 13
13. 3. God as a Writer 20
14. 4. Of Scribes and Analphabetic Poets 28
15. Concluding Reflections 37
16. Section II. THE BOOKS OF ISRAEL
17. Introductory Remarks 45
18. 5. The Berit (‘Covenant’) Sinai-Moab 48
19. 6. Scripture and the Mental Law of Israel 54
20. 7. The Publication of Scripture 59
21. 8. Epistles and Memoranda 66
22. 9. Interpreting the Books of Israel 69
23. 10. Law and the Judiciary 72
24. 11. The Boundaries of Derasha 78
25. Concluding Reflections 83
26. Section III. THE GOVERNANCE OF ISRAEL
27. Introductory Remarks 89
28. 12. Of Ḥerut 96
29. 13. Hierarchic Humanity 100
30. 14. Horizontal Man 106
31. 15. The Household of Israel 109
32. 16. Humanity before Statehood 115
33. 17. God’s Territory 119
34. 18. The Three Crowns of Israel 123
35. 19. Hebrew Theocracy: Sovereignty under the Law 128
36. 20. The Crown of a Good Name 135
37. 21. Galut: Right without Might 138
38. 22. Jewish Dominion over the Land of Israel 143
39. 23. Pagan Political Thought 146
40. 24. A Perfect Tora 151
41. 25. The Five Doctrines Taught by Patriarch Abraham 155
42. 26. The Two-Realm Governance 159
43. 27. Silencing Scripture 166
44. 28. The Road to Serfdom: Freedom without Law 171
45. 29. Paul’s Theo-politics 175
46. 30. Escape from Guilt 182
47. 31. Imperial Religion 188
48. 32. The Political Dimension of Anti-Semitism 190
49. 33. Two Concepts of Human Rights 194
50. 34. Pax Romana and Pax Hebraica 198
51. 35. The Sabbath is the Lord’s 202
52. 36. Separating Church from State 204
53. Concluding Reflections 212
54. Section IV. THE MEMORY OF ISRAEL
55. Introductory Remarks 215
56. 37. National Memory 223
57. 38. The Matrix of Jewish Memory 230
58. 39. Walking Under the Fox’s Shadow 238
59. 40. The Emergence of the Sword/Cross Axis 245
60. 41. A Crisis of Memory 249
61. 42. Unmasking Spurious Verus Israel 254
62. 43. The Publication of the Mishna 259
63. 44. Minting Tradition into Oral Law 264
64. 45. National and Vernacular Memory 272
65. 46. Meliṣa and the Realm of the Verisimilar 279
66. 47. Expanding National Memory 287
67. 48. Kalla and the Formation of the Babylonian Talmud 292
68. Concluding Reflections 299
69. Section V. THE FOLLY OF ISRAEL
70. Introductory Remarks 303
71. 49. Qabbala and the Conveyence of Talmudic Tradition 308
72. 50. “Little Foxes” — Rabbis without Qabbala 314
73. 51. The Day of the Willow 324
74. 52. The Genesis of Jewish Heroic Virtue 333
75. 53. Heroic Knowledge 341
76. 54. Payback Time — the Case of the Catalonian Rabbis 346
77. 55. “Our Lords, the Rabbis of France” 349
78. 56. Fighting Assimilation? 353
79. 57. Kabbalah vs. Qabbala 362
80. 58. Cult of the Occult 373
81. 59. The anti-Scientific Obstinacy of the Maimonideans 378
82. 60. The Five Pillars of Anti-Maimonidean Kabbalah 385
83. 61. The Problem with ‘Philosophy’ … 393
84. 62. A Reflective Response to R. Hayye Gaon’s Call 400
85. 63. The Mishne Tora 406
86. 64. Hierarchic Truth 415
87. 65. The Inerrant Saint 419
88. 66. Israel’s Fourth Miracle 427
89. Concluding Reflections 431
90. Epilogue 434
91. Front Matter 2 437
92. APPENDICES
93. 1. Vocalization of the Scroll of the Tora 439
94. 2. Hebrew ‘Writing’ and ‘Reading’ 441
95. 3. Alphabetization and Masora 444
96. 4. Precept, Monolatry, and Sanctity 444
97. 5. Defilement of the Hands 450
98. 6. ‘Depositing a Text’ for Publication 453
99. 7. An Academy to Police the Hebrew Language 454
100. 8. Reciting a Text for Publication 456
101. 9. Wearing Phylacteries 456
102. 10. The Autonomy of the Law 462
103. 11. Alien Cult 468
104. 12. Morasha 470
105. 13. Becoming a Single Body 473
106. 14. Gideon and Washington 473
107. 15. The Concept of Galut 474
108. 16. By Virtue of Conquest 475
109. 17. Private Property 478
110. 18. Equality before the Law 479
111. 19. Ṭ'M 481
112. 20. Malicious Erudition 481
113. 21. Why we should all strive to be Illiterate 484
114. 22. Purloining an Ass for Christ: Freedom without Law 485
115. 23. Ingesting Jesus 487
116. 24. Extreme Dichotomy 488
117. 25. Erasing the Memory of ‘Amaleq 489
118. 26. ‘Prophets/Scribes’ and the National Archives of Israel 491
119. 27. Yeshiba 492
120. 28. Perush, Be’ur, and Peshaṭ 493
121. 29. Pappus b. Judah 495
122. 30. Verus Israel? 495
123. 31. Remez 497
124. 32. Qabbala and Halakha 500
125. 33. Halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai 504
126. 34. Derekh Qeṣara 506
127. 35. God’s Mystery 507
128. 36. Seder 508
129. 37. The Four Levels of Instruction 509
130. 38. Teaching Tora in Public 510
131. 39. Shone: Rehearsing and Conveying Halakha 511
132. 40. Megillat Setarim 511
133. 41. The Publication of Oral Texts 512
134. 42. TQN 515
135. 43. The Introduction of the Monetary System in Rabbinic Tradition 516
136. 44. Oral Law 517
137. 45. Writing the Oral Law 518
138. 46. Was there a ‘Dispensation’ to write the Oral Law? 530
139. 47. Hebrew ḥibber and Arabic tadwin 533
140. 48. Gemara and Talmud 534
141. 49. Emora 545
142. 50. National Publication for Use in Constitutional Interpretation: the Jewish and the US Systems 548
143. 51. Tanya Kevatteh 549
144. 52. Leaning Towards the Majority 550
145. 53. Mahdora 553
146. 54. “Little Foxes” 554
147. 55. Minim and Minut 555
148. 56. Tukku 558
149. 57. About “Strict Talmudists” 559
150. 58. Semantic Assimilation 563
151. 59. Heroes and Heroism 568
152. 60. Ḥasid and Ḥasidut 571
153. 61. The Targum 581
154. 62. Writing a Sefer Tora 586
155. 63. The Sorrowful Scholarship of Professor Baer 587
156. 64. Medieval Jewish Prophets 589
157. 65. The Science of Necromancy 589
158. 66. The Mandate of the Jewish Court According to Ramban 592
159. 67. The Ministry of Luminous Rabbis: Unerring and Inerrable 592
160. 68. Settled Law 598
161. 69. Relying on Legal Sources and Authorities 599
162. 70. The Library of Lucena 603
163. Bibliography 604
164. INDICES
165. Index of References 635
166. Index of Subjects 648
167. Index of Names 663
168. Index of Terms 667