Jewish Studies

What, how, and with whom we eat has been meaningful since antiquity. This volume offers interdisciplinary insights into ancient meal rituals, fasting, and dietary laws, and their influence today. It focuses on ethical, religious, and cultural interpretations in the context of food ethics and identity.

The volume is a German translation of the Mishnah tractate »Ḥallah«, together with its Amoraic commentary (Gemara) of the Jerusalem Talmud. The tractate deals with the commandment of separating and offering the first produce from the »Bread of the Land« (Israel), defined by the rabbis as each bread-dough made of specific grain and prepared by an Israelite in the Land of Israel.

The Hebrew text of Jeremiah utilizes infelicitous or symmetric elements to produce puns demonstrating a contextual theme. While previous studies have largely ignored this type of pun in the Hebrew Bible, Josiah D. Peeler illustrates that it was a common device in ancient Near Eastern textual production.

Ancient and New Testament concepts of the human body, procreation, gender, and marriage differed fundamentally from contemporary understandings. Drawing on social history and intersectional analysis, this volume explores these differences within their original cultural contexts, revealing the diversity and otherness of New Testament texts rather than imposing modern categories upon them.