Books by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0d3gyWzgO4
Edited Journal Volumes by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
Papers by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
The Talmudic sugya concerning the juxtaposition between the value of human dignity and the obliga... more The Talmudic sugya concerning the juxtaposition between the value of human dignity and the obligation to strictly adhere to divine commands (b.Berakhot 19b-20a) has garnered considerable scholarly attention. This article provides a fresh examination of the sugya, specifically delving into the interplay between legal precepts and narrative elements. In contrast to previous analyses, I argue that the concluding narrative of the sugya stands in profound tension with the legal framework established earlier. The legal discussion develops around the principle that “wherever there is profanation of God’s name, no respect is accorded the master,” which in turn is based on the verse “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord” (Proverbs 21:30). The combination of the verse and the dictum emphasize the supremacy of religious edicts over considerations of human dignity and intuitive ethical behavior. The legal discussion grapples with this perspective, yet it is conclusively subverted by the satirical story at the conclusion of the discussion. Demonstrating various connections between the legal discourse and the narrative, I propose a comprehensive interpretation of the entire passage as a Menippean satire offering a provocative critique of foundational religious principles.
ציון, 2023
For a copy of the full paper please email me at ayeletlibson@gmail.com
In this article, we add... more For a copy of the full paper please email me at ayeletlibson@gmail.com
In this article, we address the significance of the term ḥavurah in Tannaitic literature in the context of Greco-Roman parallels. Previous scholarship has focused on the meaning of the term as an exclusive organization, such as an association or guild. While this sense of the term exists in the Tannaitic corpus, it does not fit the majority of occurrences, which appear in a halakhic context and apply broadly to all the people of Israel. Such references are found either in the context of the Passover sacrifice, which must be brought by each individual as a member of a ḥavurah, or in the context of laws pertaining to other meals, including such rulings as set standards for reciting the zimmun (Mishnah Berakhot 7:5). A new typology of the appearances of the term in Tannaitic literature is proposed in the article. demonstrating that its most common connotation is not connected to exclusive associations but rather is inextricably linked to public meals, particularly two types of meals known from the Greco-Roman context: the syssitia, the joint public meal partaken by citizens of certain poleis, and the symposion, the general form of festive meal in the Greco-Roman period. We argue that the Passover ḥavurah is modeled after the syssitia, while other ḥavurah meals are constructed in the image of the symposion. We conclude by maintaining that the rabbinic term ḥavurah also carries a normative meaning, reflecting a Tannaitic variation of the Greco-Roman notion of the koinonia around the table—an ideal of connection and communion among diners. This ideal explains the halakhic significance that several Tannaitic rulings attribute to maintaining eye contact among diners or to their reclining together, thus amounting to what may be named dinei ḥavurah—laws of the ḥavurah.
Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies, 2022
As an undergraduate at Princeton, John Rawls was certain that he was on the path to become an Epi... more As an undergraduate at Princeton, John Rawls was certain that he was on the path to become an Episcopal minister. And although the atrocities he witnessed during World War II devastated that dream, Rawls did ultimately become a minister-not a religious minister, but a minister of justice to his readers and disciples. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in Middle English a minister is "a person acting under the authority of another," taken from the Latin noun "minister," or servant. While Rawls of post-World War II no longer acted "under the authority" of God; he did act under the authority of Justice. Rawls placed the concept of justice at the center of his political philosophy and established a systematic liberal theory of justice unprecedented in its scope. Eric Nelson's The Theology of Liberalism explores Rawls's journey from point A to point B-how he transitioned from the theological questions that occupied him in his youth to the centrality of justice in his mature philosophy. 1 Nelson focuses on Rawls's senior thesis, written at Princeton in 1942, which was first identified and discussed by Eric Gregory and later published with an introduction by Joshua Cohen and Thomas Nagel. 2 These commentators had already noted the ways in which Rawls's philosophical writings manifested "the deeply religious temperament that informed his life and writings," 3 and indeed observed the surprising parallels between Rawls's thesis and his later work in political theory. Cohen and Nagel list five patterns that link Rawls's earlier theological thesis with his mature political theory: His notions of sin, faith, and community are simultaneously moral and theological, and despite fundamental differences they prefigure the moral outlook found in A Theory of Justice. The main points of contact are these: (1) endorsement of a morality defined by interpersonal relations rather than by pursuit of the highest good; (2) insistence on the importance of the separateness of persons, so that the moral community or community
This paper examines the role of law and liturgy in constructing the political borders of the earl... more This paper examines the role of law and liturgy in constructing the political borders of the early rabbinic community, focusing on the treatment of the blessings over commandments (birkat ha-mitsvot) in chapter 6 of tBerakhot. The conclusion of both Mishnah and Tosefta Berakhot addresses several liturgical formulas that are invoked when encountering an assortment of unique natural phenomena. As such, these texts center on the most religious of spheres, pertaining to issues such as prayer, ritual, miracles, and theology.
One anomalous subject addressed in the last chapter of tBerakhot is the blessings over the commandments. This essay argues that the novel institution of the blessings over the commandments serves important legal and political functions. By detailing who is obligated to recite which blessings, the Tosefta creates a stratified conception of legal obligation, with some members of the community obligated by more duties than others. Moreover, the language of the blessings, the laws pertaining to blessings, and the examples of blessings given by the Tosefta frame the concept of obligation (mitsvah) as a duty that ties the individual to the broader community through the performance of the law. The Tosefta thus presents a novel vision whereby carrying out legal obligations accompanied by blessings simultaneously denotes legal personhood and delineates the political borders of the community.
Torah in a Time of Plague: Historical and Contemporary Jewish Responses , edited by Erin Leib Smokler, 2021
AJS Review , 2020
This article revisits rabbinic laws of menstrual impurity by comparing them to the parallel laws ... more This article revisits rabbinic laws of menstrual impurity by comparing them to the parallel laws of male impurity. The prevailing scholarly paradigm has examined menstrual purity laws through the lens of cultural criticism and gender analysis, demonstrating that the sages molded the legal discourse of this field to construct their own authority vis-à-vis the women they describe. By contrast, this article argues that a comparison of menstrual impurity laws with the laws of male impurities discloses substantial parallels that have not been sufficiently explored. This comparison demonstrates that the rabbis developed similar legal categories for both men and women, revealing more about their systematic legal thinking than about their gender economy. Tracing the development of both male and female impurities through rabbinic sources thus has the potential to uncover not only the gendered constructions engaged by the rabbis, but also fundamental rabbinic ideas about the body, legal knowledge, and rabbinic expertise.
The no-fault divorce revolution has been accompanied by a reluctance on the part of family courts... more The no-fault divorce revolution has been accompanied by a reluctance on the part of family courts to engage in moral evaluation of marital misconduct. As a result, moral evaluation has to a large extent migrated from divorce law to torts. This Article critiques this development and argues that moral evaluation can and should be reincorporated into family law. The goals of this Paper are twofold. First, it describes the problems with relegating marital misconduct to tort law. Second, it develops a justification for incorporating evaluation of marital misconduct into divorce proceedings, based on those family values that are recognized by modern liberal society. I argue that it is possible to identify modern family values and, on their basis, to consider the creation of a liberal moral discourse in family law.
American Journal of Legal History 56: 3 (2016),
One of the central problems of modern bioethics concerns the relative merits of medical expertise... more One of the central problems of modern bioethics concerns the relative merits of medical expertise, legal authority and patient autonomy. This article examines the premodern conflict between these principles, revealing how the early tradition of Jewish law sustained different models of expertise, authority and personal autonomy. Rabbinic sources preserve opposed and contradictory voices regarding who is authorized to define a patient's needs as dire enough to supersede important legal prohibitions. Early rabbinic law enshrined the authority of experts, while later rabbis emphasized that life is the preserve of the individual and maintained that only the patient can make critical decisions about prolonging life, based on his or her physical and psychological needs and desires.
Cover, "Violence and the Word, " Yale Law Journal 95 (1986): 1601-1629, 1601 1 שלי]. [התרגום ... more Cover, "Violence and the Word, " Yale Law Journal 95 (1986): 1601-1629, 1601 1 שלי]. [התרגום ] 17 [
Contemporary family law scholars and practitioners continue to debate the role of morals and valu... more Contemporary family law scholars and practitioners continue to debate the role of morals and values within divorce law. This article turns to early Jewish law to examine three systems of divorce law and the correspondence between grounds for divorce and the family values espoused by these systems. While an ancient, highly gendered system of law may seem an unlikely place to look for inspiration for a modern, liberal society, examining the way the rabbis of the Talmud responded to and improved upon earlier law reveals a strong awareness of the ways in which grounds for divorce reflect the underlying values of the conception of the family. Thus, this study suggests that this ancient system can afford a unique comparative lens for considering and questioning contemporary legal assumptions about the values reflected in modern divorce law.
Conferences/ Panels Organised by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
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Books by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
Edited Journal Volumes by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
Papers by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
In this article, we address the significance of the term ḥavurah in Tannaitic literature in the context of Greco-Roman parallels. Previous scholarship has focused on the meaning of the term as an exclusive organization, such as an association or guild. While this sense of the term exists in the Tannaitic corpus, it does not fit the majority of occurrences, which appear in a halakhic context and apply broadly to all the people of Israel. Such references are found either in the context of the Passover sacrifice, which must be brought by each individual as a member of a ḥavurah, or in the context of laws pertaining to other meals, including such rulings as set standards for reciting the zimmun (Mishnah Berakhot 7:5). A new typology of the appearances of the term in Tannaitic literature is proposed in the article. demonstrating that its most common connotation is not connected to exclusive associations but rather is inextricably linked to public meals, particularly two types of meals known from the Greco-Roman context: the syssitia, the joint public meal partaken by citizens of certain poleis, and the symposion, the general form of festive meal in the Greco-Roman period. We argue that the Passover ḥavurah is modeled after the syssitia, while other ḥavurah meals are constructed in the image of the symposion. We conclude by maintaining that the rabbinic term ḥavurah also carries a normative meaning, reflecting a Tannaitic variation of the Greco-Roman notion of the koinonia around the table—an ideal of connection and communion among diners. This ideal explains the halakhic significance that several Tannaitic rulings attribute to maintaining eye contact among diners or to their reclining together, thus amounting to what may be named dinei ḥavurah—laws of the ḥavurah.
One anomalous subject addressed in the last chapter of tBerakhot is the blessings over the commandments. This essay argues that the novel institution of the blessings over the commandments serves important legal and political functions. By detailing who is obligated to recite which blessings, the Tosefta creates a stratified conception of legal obligation, with some members of the community obligated by more duties than others. Moreover, the language of the blessings, the laws pertaining to blessings, and the examples of blessings given by the Tosefta frame the concept of obligation (mitsvah) as a duty that ties the individual to the broader community through the performance of the law. The Tosefta thus presents a novel vision whereby carrying out legal obligations accompanied by blessings simultaneously denotes legal personhood and delineates the political borders of the community.
Conferences/ Panels Organised by Ayelet Hoffmann Libson
In this article, we address the significance of the term ḥavurah in Tannaitic literature in the context of Greco-Roman parallels. Previous scholarship has focused on the meaning of the term as an exclusive organization, such as an association or guild. While this sense of the term exists in the Tannaitic corpus, it does not fit the majority of occurrences, which appear in a halakhic context and apply broadly to all the people of Israel. Such references are found either in the context of the Passover sacrifice, which must be brought by each individual as a member of a ḥavurah, or in the context of laws pertaining to other meals, including such rulings as set standards for reciting the zimmun (Mishnah Berakhot 7:5). A new typology of the appearances of the term in Tannaitic literature is proposed in the article. demonstrating that its most common connotation is not connected to exclusive associations but rather is inextricably linked to public meals, particularly two types of meals known from the Greco-Roman context: the syssitia, the joint public meal partaken by citizens of certain poleis, and the symposion, the general form of festive meal in the Greco-Roman period. We argue that the Passover ḥavurah is modeled after the syssitia, while other ḥavurah meals are constructed in the image of the symposion. We conclude by maintaining that the rabbinic term ḥavurah also carries a normative meaning, reflecting a Tannaitic variation of the Greco-Roman notion of the koinonia around the table—an ideal of connection and communion among diners. This ideal explains the halakhic significance that several Tannaitic rulings attribute to maintaining eye contact among diners or to their reclining together, thus amounting to what may be named dinei ḥavurah—laws of the ḥavurah.
One anomalous subject addressed in the last chapter of tBerakhot is the blessings over the commandments. This essay argues that the novel institution of the blessings over the commandments serves important legal and political functions. By detailing who is obligated to recite which blessings, the Tosefta creates a stratified conception of legal obligation, with some members of the community obligated by more duties than others. Moreover, the language of the blessings, the laws pertaining to blessings, and the examples of blessings given by the Tosefta frame the concept of obligation (mitsvah) as a duty that ties the individual to the broader community through the performance of the law. The Tosefta thus presents a novel vision whereby carrying out legal obligations accompanied by blessings simultaneously denotes legal personhood and delineates the political borders of the community.
Earlier studies typically assumed the idealized Graeco-Roman scientific thinking as the foil against which one retrieves parallels and influences, without paying attention to the plurality of cultural transfers and endemic developments in Late Antiquity. This seminar on rabbinic knowledge culture(s) from a comparative perspective engages a broader approach, asking how manifestations of different forms of ancient knowing impacted on the period under discussion, and in turn were shaped by larger socio-historical, cultural and religious formations. The contributions will inquire into different but interrelated fields of knowledge about nature and creatures (Watts Belser; Neis; Hayes), the body and medicine (Fonrobert, Lehmhaus), law, truth and philosophy (Hidary; Hayes), the senses and spatiality (Mandsager; Novick; Kalmin), and ethnography (Redfield). Special attention will be paid (e.g., by Kalmin; Hayes; Neis; Watts Belser; Fonrobert, Hoffmann Libson) to modes, practices, and concepts of knowing and reasoning (e.g., embodied knowledge; empiricism and theory; exegetical approaches) as well as to their epistemic dimensions (e.g., conceptualization of 'scientific' knowledge in ancient cultures and its embeddeness within other knowledge complexes; the "Jewishness" of knowledge in rabbinic texts). Papers will address rabbinic conceptions of knowledge transfer, acquisition or displacement with a focus on strategies of framing or representing expertise and experts in certain genres and discursive contexts (e.g., lists, de-/prescriptive narratives, Halakhic debates, compilational, encyclopaedic or epitomizing discourses).
The papers and discussions within this seminar shall help to increase the awareness for the topic within Jewish studies and beyond. Furthermore, the seminar will start a dialogue about methodological and theoretical issues at stake in such inquiries and it aims at fostering collaboration among the involved scholars and forging links between interested colleagues for future research on the topics at hand.