When ambassadors from Judah went to the Assyrian capital to present their yearly tribute, they encountered large stone reliefs of winged genii holding citrons, a fruit long treasured for its fragrance and medicinal properties.
Dr.
Norma Franklin
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Both namburbi anti-omen rituals (1st millennium B.C.E.) and priestly Torah rituals were preserved in collections in multiple versions that show evidence of intertextuality and innovation. Were these rituals meant to be performed?
Prof.
William Morrow
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In Priestly law, impurity is stripped of its mythic origins in the demonic realm but still retains its dangerous, physical presence, and must be mitigated by specific acts of ritual cleansing and banishing, depending on the type of impurity. Purification from the skin disease tzaraʿat (Leviticus 13–14) offers the starkest example of such a ritual.
David Bar-Cohn
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During the Second Temple period, the scapegoat was tied with a crimson thread. While the Torah requires a crimson thread as part of the purification ritual for tzaraʿat (skin disease), it does not mention it by the scapegoat. Nevertheless, parallel practices found in 2nd millennium B.C.E. Hittite texts of Luwian origin imply that the use of a crimson thread is not a late innovation but an ancient part of the rite.
Dr.
Noga Ayali-Darshan
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Ancient Near Eastern cultic rituals located the presence of gods and divine messages in nature.
Dr.
Uri Gabbay
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Understanding the practice of dream interpretation in the Joseph story by using the ANE interpretive traditions as background.
Prof.
Jack M. Sasson
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Before circumcision was a mitzvah, it was a cultural marker: Thus Joshua introduces circumcision to Israel at Gilgal (Joshua 5:2-9), Jacob’s sons insist that the Shechemites circumcise before Shechem marries their sister (Genesis 34), and the Israelites scorn the Philistines for being uncircumcised (Judges 14:3).
Prof. Rabbi
David Frankel
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Who were these women and what were these mirrors used for? Reconstructing the narrative: the historical-critical method vs. midrash.
Prof. Rabbi
Rachel Adelman
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Channah and Elkanah’s yearly feast resembles a Mesopotamian fertility ritual; when year after year God doesn’t respond, Channah turns to God directly and enters the Tabernacle.
Dr.
Kristine Henriksen Garroway
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If a corpse is found in a field, and the killer is unknown, the enders of the closest city to break a heifer’s neck by a stream and declare that they did not spill “this blood” (Deuteronomy 21). How does this ritual of eglah arufah, “broken-necked heifer,” atone for Israel’s bloodguilt?
Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
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Following the purification period after birth, a mother must bring a חטאת –“sin offering,” despite her having committed no obvious sin. This offers us a unique glimpse into the prehistory of the Israelite cult, when apotropaic rituals (used to protect against dangerous forces) like those in other ANE cultures, were the norm.
Dr.
Yitzhaq Feder
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In the Prophets, Israelite leaders such as Joshua, Saul, David, and Ahab use divination to help them make decisions, just as their ancient Near Eastern counterparts did. The Torah sidesteps the divinatory character of these objects and practices, and instead, emphasizes their ritual and religious character.
Dr.
Jonathan Stökl
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Moses’ use of rhetoric to convince YHWH to undo his decree against Israel recasts a namburbu-like ritual intercession in a prophetic hue.
Dr.
Marian Broida
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