Dr. Hillel Mali is a Senior Lecturer in the Bible Department of Bar Ilan University where he did his Ph.D. on Descriptions of the Temple in the Mishnah: History, Redaction and Meaning (2018). His work analyzes the basic categories of worship in the Bible and their development in post-Biblical literature. Previously a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, Mali is a member of the joint Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Heidelberg University research group “Thinking Rite: Towards Talmudo Mīmāṃsā,” the founder and director of the Omek Hashetach Project for pre-military leadership academies; the founding editor of Beit Hayotzer, a periodical for Jerusalem tour guides; and the founder and director of a Jerusalem ethnic-music ensemble “Nigun Yerushalmi,” for which he is the lead flutist.
Last Updated
April 8, 2025
Books by the Author
Articles by the Author
Exodus instructs each family in Egypt to slaughter a paschal lamb and eat it at home, while Deuteronomy commands a community ritual, to take place at the central worship location, i.e., the Jerusalem Temple. These two conceptions cross-pollinate, first in the Torah and then in its early reception: Jubilees requires everyone to eat in the Temple as their home; the Mishnah requires everyone to slaughter together in three cohorts; most surprisingly, R. Eliezer claims that, in theory, all of Israel can share one paschal animal.
Exodus instructs each family in Egypt to slaughter a paschal lamb and eat it at home, while Deuteronomy commands a community ritual, to take place at the central worship location, i.e., the Jerusalem Temple. These two conceptions cross-pollinate, first in the Torah and then in its early reception: Jubilees requires everyone to eat in the Temple as their home; the Mishnah requires everyone to slaughter together in three cohorts; most surprisingly, R. Eliezer claims that, in theory, all of Israel can share one paschal animal.
