Hard to believe but true:- The Passover Seder is a Greco-Roman symposium banquet- The Talmud rabbis presented themselves as Stoic philosophers- Synagogue buildings were Roman basilicas- Hellenistic rhetoric professors educated sons of well-to-do Jews- Zeus-Helios is depicted in synagogue mosaics across ancient Israel- The Jewish courts were named after the Roman political institution; the Sanhedrin- In Israel there were synagogues where the prayers were recited in Greek.Historians have long debated the (re)birth of Judaism in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple cult by the Romans in 70 CE. What replaced that sacrificial cult was at once something newndash;indebted to the very culture of the Roman overlordsndash;even as it also sought to preserve what little it could of the old Israelite religion. The Greco-Roman culture in which rabbinic Judaism grew in the first five centuries of the Common Era nurtured the development of Judaism as we still know and celebrate it today. Arguing that its transformation from a Jerusalem-centered cult to a world religion was made possible by the Roman Empire; Rabbi Burton Visotzky presents Judaism as a distinctly Roman religion. Full of fascinating detail from the daily life and culture of Jewish communities across the Hellenistic world; Aphrodite and the Rabbis will appeal to anyone interested in the development of Judaism; religion; history; art and architecture.
2016-02-19 2016-02-19File Name: B01BYMGU3S
Review
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Not what I thought...By The SargeWhile Matt Forbecks knowledge of ST and SW is formidible; I just couldnt wrap myself around this book. The "Whod Win?" scenarios got real repetitive after the fourth or fifth one that started with "Captain so-and-so beams down to some cantina on some world... Gets into a fight with...." or Grand Moff Tarkin takes a transport to another bar... gets into a fight with..." or "Worf beams into another bar and greedo challenges him....." Okay; we get it. Unfortunately there is too much of "it.." and not enough other information to settle this so-called argument. If I could return it; I would.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. It was goodBy RikaMy Cousin and I were going against each other on this! Only one problem. Spock would never remove a Alien off of his home planet. That one I have to disagree as a Trekkie/Trekkie. Spock would never go against the Prime Directive like James T. Kirk and take poor Yoda off of his home world when he knows how to survive on it.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. DisappointingBy favorite fanThis book was very disappointing. The whod win Star Wars or Star Trek character got old very fast. It was all fiction.
