Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (Los Angeles): Reclaiming Heritage. Biblical Negotiations in the cultural matrix of the Persian Period (6th-4th Centuries BCE)

Zum Vortrag
When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BCE, killing or deporting its elite and much of the population of Judah, this was expected to mark the end of a kingdom that had existed for centuries. Like other ancient cities, Jerusalem could have remained a ruin, and its people forgotten. Instead, one discerns within a century the flowering of literature that wrestles with the meaning of that catastrophe, and that explores new strategies for a people’s survival as a minority. Questions about identity, continuity, and communal boundaries came to the fore, and the Hebrew Bible emerged as a response. 

This presentation looks at the revival of communal life in Judah under Persian Imperial rule, after the Babylonian destruction. The lecture focuses on how a minority renegotiates its identity and possible redefinitions of community in a multi-cultural setting, creating forms that enable it not only to survive the crisis but also to thrive. Specifically, we will look at letters and marriage documents from a Jewish community in Egypt in the 5^th century BCE as cultural backdrop to biblical books that emerge in Judah, and examine the dialogues and disputations embedded in the Bible as restorative responses to crises. 

Moderation: Martin Treml (ZfL)

Zur Person
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi ist Professorin am Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, wo sie als erste Frau einen Lehrstuhl innehatte. Zu ihren Forschungsschwerpunkten zählen Bibelstudien, Literatur und Geschichte der Persischen Periode sowie Women’s Studies. Ihr Buch The JPS Commentary: Ruth (mit Tikva Frymer-Kensky) gewann 2012 den National Jewish Book Award in Women Studies. Im Jahr 2013 wurde sie zur Rabbinerin ordiniert. 

Publikationen (Auswahl)
The JPS Commentary: Ruth (Mithg., Philadelphia 2012); The Torah: A Women's Commentary (Mithg., New York 2008); Levinas and Biblical Studies (Mithg., Atlanta 2003).