The Book of Samuel: chapter 18

Welcome to part 3 of our history of halacha in Bayit Sheni series entitled Away Apart, the Parting of the Ways Between Judaism and Christianity. So far we have set the background by outlining the various groups that were around in the first few centuries of the common era and what their beliefs were. We explained what sources we had for our knowledge at the time and then honed in on Jesus’s teaching, his perhaps revolutionary attitude towards Rome, as well as Paul and the spread of Christianity after Jesus’s death All of this drove us towards our fundamental question when and why did a Jewish sect of Nazarenes, meaning people who followed Jesus of Nazareth, when amd how did those people, who were all Jews stop being Jewish. To put it better, how halachically could a Jewish group at that time become a goy for the purposes of things like minyan or yayin nesech amd and the like. What we found was the basic answer to our question is you can't. There doesn't seem to be a historical halachic precedent for a Jewish group doing something that transformed them into a non-jewish group. To the extent that even the Samaritans who were not really a Jewish group to begin with were considered for some halachic purposes as if they were jews. Yiddishkeit is like hotel California, you can check out any time you like but you can't ever leave Which takes us to this week. Now we start to explore various historical events which individually could not be seen as creating that schism between Jews and Christians, but adding them all up cam perhaps collectively point us in the right direction. We touch on things like the various wars between the Jews amd Rome, the malediction of the heretics, the Jewish tax, the Christians changing their calendar to move sabbath to Sunday and much more. Some of these events had a more direct impact on whether the average stam Jew in the first few decades of the 2nd century viewed a Jewish Christian as Jewish or Christian. Thank you for listening and I  hope you enjoy --- Link to Birkat HaMinim in Cairo Geniza Select Bibliography Ophir, Adir and Rosen-Zvi, Ishay: Goy, Israel’s multiple Others and the Birth of the Gentile (Oxford, 2018) Cohen, Shaye J. D.: From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Westminster John Knox Press, Third Edition, 2014) ⸺ The Beginning of Jewishness Schiffman, Lawrence H.: Who was a Jew? (Ktav, 2019) ⸺ Texts and traditions : a source reader for the study of Second Temple and rabbinic Judaism Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm has a series of classes on this topic Faur, José: The Gospel According to the Jews (Moreshet Sepharad Publishing, 2012) Part 1 Adele Reinhartz, Especially Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAOizrgSIc0&ab_channel=JewishStudies-Fordham   - h/t Malka Simkovich Toleration within Judaism and the Parting of the Ways between Judaism and  Several works by E.P. Sanders Ruth Langer cursing the christians Basser, Herbert W. Studies in Exegesis (Brill, 2002) Neusner, Jacob First Century Judaism in Crisis Reuven Kimelman, “Birkat Ha-Minim and the Lack of Evidence for an Anti-Christian Jewish Prayer in Late Antiquity Brandon, S. G. F. (Samuel George Frederick), Jesus and the Zealots; a study of the political factor in primitive Christianity Solomon Zeitlin's Studies in the early history of Judaism Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, Herford, R. Travers Aharon Shemesh, “King Manasseh and the Halakhah of the Sadducees,” Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 52, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 27-39 GOODMAN, MARTIN, et al. “TOLERATION WITHIN JUDAISM FROM THE SECOND TEMPLE TO THE PRESENT.” Liverpool University Press, 2013 The Temple in Early Christianity: Experiencing the Sacred, Eyal Regev, The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library, 2019 ⸺ Did Early Christians Mourn the Destruction of the Temple?, TheTorah.com  Instone-Brewer, David , THE EIGHTEEN BENEDICTIONS AND THE MINIM BEFORE 70 CE. The Journal of Theological Studies Published By: Oxford University Press, Vol. 54, No. 1 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Welcome to part 2 of our series on the history of halacha entitled away, Apart, the Parting of the Ways Between Judaism and Christianity. This week we look at a few interesting statements from Chazal regarding Christianity including the only time that the Christian testament is quoted verbatim in the gemarah, by a Taanah no less! Then we explore whether or not a person or sects beliefs at at the end of Bayit Sheni could have put them beyond the pale. What we find is a Judaism which, while not being very easy to join, was nearly impossible to be cast out of. This to me is utterly remarkable. Pre-Rambam Pharasaic or Rabbinic Judaism was extremely tolerant of a wide range of beliefs, or put another way, once you're in, you're in. That being the case we will spend next time looking into historical, rather than halachic factors that pushed Christianity out of Judaism --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

An exploration of the lesson of Tu b'Av as seen through 3 Hosheas --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Away, Apart: The parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism - Episode 1 As a preface to this series I highly recommend watching Monty Python's The Life of Brian or this clip (warning: potty language!) In this mini-series we will seek to answer 1 question which drives our whole discussion; since Christianity sprouted from Judaism, how exactly did that work from a halachic perspective? To put it in extreme terms, was Sruly a good halachic Jew one day and then after he decides to believe in Christianity is he suddenly a goy the next day? If not, what happened and when? This week we explore a bunch of background information before we can even attempt to answer that question. Things like who are the stakeholders during this time period? Can we halachically mention the name of the person around whom Christianity revolves? We talk about the texts that will be our sources for information from that time, like the Roman historian Tacitus, the Jewish historian Yosef ben Matisyahu - better known as Flavius Josephus and much more. Lastly, a word of caution - my goal here is to explore the history of halacha and how it intersects with Christianity. I am 100% in no way advocating for any adoption of Christianity by Jews. In fact just the opposite, I want to state unequivocally that Christianity is not for Jews in any way, shape, or form. If there are any Christians listening to this podcasts I encourage you to support Jews and Jewish causes whenever possible, and to adhere to the 7 Noahide laws. Thanks for listening and I hope you will share this recording with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

The Book of Samuel: chapter 31 + Siyum Whither Malchut Welcome to our thirtieth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy. Episode 30: Death of a Hero This chapter concludes the tragic and heroic life of king Shaul. We touch on some of the halachic concepts around suicide, euthanasia, and notice how many elements in this chapter are reflective of earlier events in this book. We conclude with several excursions, including on the parallels between stories in Shmuel and those in Shoftim, a look at how elements of Shmuel Aleph lay the groundwork for the events in Megillat Ether and finally, we attempt to explain how Shaul’s end can be seen more as a triumphant act of heroism, rather than a sad coda to his life. All this and more. Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

The Book of Samuel: chapter 28 Whither Malchut Welcome to our twenty-nineth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy. Episode 29: Witch Way Did He Go Shaul encounters the witch of En-Dor. We discuss whether this whole incident really happened as written and compare our chapter to the life of Chana and the events of chapter 25. All this and more. Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Away Apart: The Parting of the Ways Between Judaism and Christianity Preview of coming attractions In lieu of a new class this week I'd like to give you a sneak peek of what's in store. We will, iy"h, be completing Shmuel part Aleph shortly and my goal before we go on break and before we start part Bet is to take a brief detour to a very different, but to my mind fascinating topic, known to historians as the Parting of the Ways. This mini-series will look at a critical period in Jewish history, the era in which Christianity is founded and splits from Judaism. This topic has been explored by historians thoroughly, but to my knowledge rarely through the lens of halacha. We will try to engage the question of when, according to Jewish law, where Christians seen as no longer Jewish. Looking forward to learning with you --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

The Book of Samuel: chapter 25 part 2 Whither Malchut Welcome to our twenty-eighth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy. Episode 28: Avigail, Changes the course of Jewish History After a brief recap we continue our exploration of chapter 25 by peeling away the layers to arrive at the heart of the story. We explain the rationale for Naval, David and Avigail as well as pointing out the embedded references in the text to other stories from Tanach including Esav’s meeting with Yaakov and Ruth’s encounter with Boaz. Finally, we discuss the concept of David’s heart as being the reason for his chosenness (and the root of why God chooses anyone starting with Avraham) and we notice how with the encounter with Naval David’s heart is on the precipice of being corrupt, only by Avigail’s restoration of God consciousness is David saved, and by extension the entirety of Jewish kingship is set aright. All this and more. Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Whither Malchut Welcome to our twenty-seventh in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy. Episode 27: Avigail, Kingmaker Chapter 25 is pivotal in the course of the life of David. We try to read past the surface and detect both a Naval whose actions appear justified and a David who seems to be on the verge of turning into Shaul. Avigail's message to David is nuanced and layered, she delicately points out the error in David's ways by, for example, alluding to David's victory with a slingshot, as a reminder that it was David who rejected the need for a sword in the first place. All this and more. Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Whither Malchut Welcome to our twenty-sixth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy. Episode 26: The Tables have Turned This is the first of 3 chapters where David’s enemies fall into his hands and he refrains from killing them. Chapter 24 finds David conflicted on how to deal with Shaul, whom he finds in a precarious position. David must both act in accordance with what he believes is the will of God, but also in a way that will spare him and his men continued suffering. We discuss whether or not David has a halachic obligation to kill Shaul and the poignancy of Shaul’s temporary reprieve from his divine madness is powerfully felt. All this and more. Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support