عنوان

Why Does R. Akiba Acclaim Bar Kokhba as Messiah?

Number

LA118564

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Why Does R. Akiba Acclaim Bar Kokhba as Messiah?

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Matthew Novenson

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

Peter Schäfer has argued that the name of R. Akiba is secondary to y. Ta'an. 4:8/27, in which R. Akiba is said to have acclaimed Bar Kokhba as messiah. Some interpreters have countered, however, that rabbinic haggadah would not attribute such an embarrassing position to R. Akiba if he had not held it. In response to both these arguments, I propose that the R. Akiba-Bar Kokhba tradition fits a pattern of talmudic stories about the Second Revolt in which the rabbis are anachronistically cast in a position of influence. This tradition is an example of a late antique literary topos attested in Jewish, Christian, and pagan sources in which a founder of a minority movement is remembered as having conversed with a contemporary world leader. In short, both Schäfer and his critics are right: R. Akiba was not originally part of the tradition preserved in y. Ta'an. 4:8/27, but there is a compelling tradition-historical rationale for inserting him there.

Date of Publication

2009

Physical description

551-572

Title

Journal for the Study of Judaism

Volume Number

40/4-5

International Standard Serial Number

1570-0631

Subject Term

BAR KOKHBA

Subject Term

General

Subject Term

Jewish Studies

Subject Term

LATE ANTIQUITY

Subject Term

LITERARY TOPOS

Subject Term

MESSIAH

Subject Term

R. AKIBA

Subject Term

RABBIS

Matthew Novenson

Call Number

10.1163/004722109X12499530635251

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y