Zutot 2004 [electronic resource] / edited by Shlomo Berger, Michael Brocke, Irene Zwiep.

Motifs in Literature -- Judas the Maccabee’s Dream (2 MACC. 15:11-16) and the Egyptian King’s Sickle sword -- I Enoch 56.7 -- How Plutarch Gained his Place in the Tosefta -- A Hebrew Hymn of Praise for a High-priestly Rabbinic Martyr: A Note on the Relationship between the Synagogue Liturgy and Rabbinic Literary Culture -- The Rechabites in Ma‘aseh Alexandros and in the Medieval Ben Sira -- History and Demography -- Once Again on Yael and the Aphrodisias Inscription -- The Jews of Ancient Sicily -- Cosmas of Prague and the Western Migration of Jews to Poland -- Medieval and Renaissance Thought -- Maimonides’ Disagreement with ‘The Torah’ in His Interpretation of Job -- From Digression to Compilation: Samuel ibn Tibbon and Immanuel of Rome on Genesis 1:11, 1:14, and 1:20 -- An Unexpected Source of Meir Aldabi’s Shevile Emunah -- The Image of the Black in Yohanan Alemanno’s Hai ha-‘Olamim: Additional Evidence -- Neutral or Natural Relater? Some Remarks on Rabbi Leone da Modena’s Historia de Riti Hebraici -- Haskalah -- What’s in a Name? Conceptions of Hebrew as Reflected by the Titles of Hebrew Grammars -- ‘Biqqure ha-‘Ittim Are the First Fruits …Which Include Some Nice Things and Matters of Knowledge and Benefit’: The Hebrew Periodical of the Haskalah in Galicia -- Within Orthodoxy -- The Magic of Halakhah.A Study in the Ritual of Washing Hands in the Morning after Rising as Described in the Shulhan ‘Arukh (OH 4) -- From Frankfurt to Jerusalem: Horev School. A Special Approach in the Israeli Religious School System.

Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture aims to fill a gap that has become more and more conspicuous among the wealth of scholarly periodicals in the field of Jewish Studies. Whereas existing journals provide space to medium - and large sized articles, they neglect the small but poignant contributions, which may be as important as the extended, detailed study. The yearbook Zutot serves as a platform for small but incisive contributions, and provides them with a distinct context. The substance of these contributions is derived from larger perspectives and, though not always presented in an exhaustive way, will have an impact on contemporary discussions. Zutot covers Jewish Culture in its broadest sense, i.e. encompassing various academic disciplines - literature, languages and linguistics, philosophy, art, sociology, politics and history - and reflects binary oppositions such as religious and secular, high and low, written and oral, male and female culture.