Judaica

Links updated October 2007

•  LOCAL  Jewish Interpretation of the Bible. By Michael Marlowe. A short introduction with examples and bibliography.
•  LOCAL  Article about Rashi, the famous 11th-century Jewish commentator, by Israel Abrahams (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911).
• Mechon Mamre. This site--maintained by a group of ultra-observant Jewish Torah scholars in Israel--has the full text of the Hebrew Bible online in four editions in Hebrew (including one with cantillation marks), one in Aramaic (Targum Onqelos), one in English (the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917), and one in parallel Hebrew and English (voweled Hebrew and JPS English). It also provides several ancient compilations of the Oral Law (Mishneh Torah, Mishnah, Tosefta, Yerushalmi and Bavli), and an encyclopedia of Torah basics (in English). The site requires Hebrew text support from your browser, but if you lack this and are using Microsoft Internet Explorer with "install on demand" activated, go ahead and download the Hebrew support when prompted. It only takes about 5 minutes.
• A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature. By Marcus Jastrow (1903). A standard lexicon of Hebrew and Aramaic as used in the rabbinic literature, with definitions in English. Volume 2 is online here. A recent reprint of this lexicon can be bought here.
• An English translation of Rashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch (Chumash) has been put online by Michael Pincus in Ohio. After selecting a chapter, click on the "Rashi Commentary" link at the top left of the page. Unfortunately the e-text is lacking the Hebrew words, which are indicated only by the annotation "{Hebrew Ref}."
• The Legends of the Jews. By Louis Ginzberg. This is a complete book online, in which Ginzberg presents English translations of much of the ancient Jewish lore called midrash, stories which expand upon biblical narratives and seek to interpret them by providing imaginary contexts. Very interesting reading. Also here.
• Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica. By John Lightfoot. Notices many parallels in early Jewish writings that help to explain the New Testament.
• Sketches of Jewish Social Life. By Alfred Edersheim (1876).
• How the Bible Has Been Interpreted in Jewish Tradition. By Michael A. Signer. An article from the New Interpreter's Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1994). Also here. Get the notes here.
• Internet Resources for the Study of Judaism and Christianity. By Jay C. Treat, at the University of Pennsylvania.
• The Birth of a Bible. By Leonard J. Greenspoon, in Norii magazine. A long and interesting discussion of the history of Jewish versions. Also here.
• The Jewish Encyclopedia. The complete contents of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia, originally published between 1901-1906.
• Judaism and Jewish Resources. By Andrew Tannenbaum.
• The Ioudaios-L Discussion List. Scholarly discussion of Judaism in the Greco-Roman world.
• The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston. Also here.
• The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible. A book-length document developed by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, published in May 2002. The document discusses at length the nature of ancient Judaism and it relationship to the Church.
• The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. By Alfred Edersheim. Really a commentary on the Gospels, with much reference to contemporary Jewish literature and customs.
• Talmudic tractate Berakhot. Full text of an English translation of the first tractate of the Babylonian Talmud, in a huge ASCII file (1 mb). Hard to describe. Like reading the minutes of an ancient theological debating club.
• The abridged English edition of the Babylonian Talmud prepared by Michael L. Rodkinson a century ago presents some of the most interesting and appealing material from the Talmud. But even the material which has been included here is heavily edited and reworked. I wonder if it is even right to call this an edition of the Talmud.
• Portions of the Soncino translation of the Babylonian Talmud. About half of the unabridged Talmud in the English version published by Soncino Press in 1952, with notes, provided online by Carol A. Valentine.
• Johannes Buxtorf's Synagoga Judaica. Newly Translated and Annotated by Alan D. Corré, at the University of Wisconsin.
• Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism. A web page maintained by James Miller and Andrei Orlov as part of an ongoing seminar at the department of theology of Marquette University (Milwaukee). Consists mostly of links to resources on intertestamental Jewish literature, and its use among both Christians and Jews in ancient times.
• The Works of Philo Judaeus. Translated and edited by Charles Duke Yonge (London, H. G. Bohn, 1854-1890).
• Philo of Alexandria. By Marian Hillar. A good survey of his life and teachings, in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library Exhibits, from the University of Pennsylvania Library. Some very interesting and informative exhibits here. Rare books from the University of Pennsylvania Library are used as a springboard for discussions of the history of the Hebrew text and its interpetation. I note especially Jewish Biblical Interpretation in a Comparative Context by Seth Jerchower, Hebraica Veritas? (Christian Hebraism between 1450 and 1750) by Stephen Burnett and Seth Jerchower, and From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition by Rebecca Kobrin and Adam Shear.
• Ancient Jewish Accounts of Jesus. Prepared by Alan Humm at the University of Pennsylvania. Gives extracts about Jesus from the Talmud and other early Jewish sources.
• A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity. By Daniel Boyarin (University of California Press, 1994). Liberal scholarship at its worst. A horrible example of politically-correct revisionism.
• First-century Judaism. By Jona Lendering of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Short essays on people, texts, and historical events, with many extracts from primary texts.
• Early Jewish Writings. By Peter Kirby. A large collection of Jewish documents from antiquity with translations, introductions, and links.
• Jewish Customs and Practices: Their origins, dates and the reasons for them. By Rabbi Lawrence Rigal in England. A helpful introduction with illustrations.
• The Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament: Second Commonwealth Judaism in Recent Study. By James Julius Scott, Jr., at Wheaton College Graduate School. Published in Archaeology in the Biblical World 1/2 (Fall 1991), pp. 40-49.
• Crisis and Reaction: Roots of Diversity in Intertestamental Judaism. By James Julius Scott, Jr., at Wheaton College Graduate School. Published in Evangelical Quarterly 64/3 (1992), pp. 197-212.
• An Introduction to Hebrew Manuscripts. By Joseph Gutmann, Evelyn Cohen, Menahem Schmelzer, Malachi Beit-Arié. Adapted from The New York Public Library's publication A Sign and a Witness: 2,000 Years of Hebrew Books and Illuminated Manuscripts. Four experts introduce the physical and cultural characteristics of the Hebrew manuscript books of the Middle Ages and reflect on the kind of information that they reveal.
• Chapters on Jewish Literature. By Israel Abrahams (1899). Essays on various ancient and medieval Jewish writings, published on the web by the Gutenberg Project.
• Schürer’s History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ — A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ: Being a Second and Revised Edition of a Manual of the History of New Testament times, by Emil Schürer; translated by Rev. John Macpherson, Sophia Taylor, Peter Christie. 5 vols. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1885-90). First Division, Political History of Palestine, from B.C. 175 to A.D. 135, vol. 1 (also here and here); vol. 2 (not available); Second Division, The Internal Condition of Palestine, and of the Jewish People, in the Time of Jesus Christ; vol. 1 (also here and here); vol. 2 (also here and here); vol. 3 (also here).