Ezra in Egypt?: The Significance of Hananyah’s Mission

The history of the Jewish community at Elephantine plays a crucial role in the reconstruction of the early history of Judaism. One document in particular sheds a light on the emerging Jewish identity in the diaspora. It is Hananyah’s so-called Passover Letter. This contribution investigates the sign...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vetus Testamentum
Main Author: Toorn, Karel van der 1956- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2017
In: Vetus Testamentum
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Elephantine-Urkunden / Elephantine / Jews / Passover
RelBib Classification:HD Early Judaism
KBL Near East and North Africa
TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East
Further subjects:B Judaism Elephantine diaspora (word) Passover Aramaic papyri Torah
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:The history of the Jewish community at Elephantine plays a crucial role in the reconstruction of the early history of Judaism. One document in particular sheds a light on the emerging Jewish identity in the diaspora. It is Hananyah’s so-called Passover Letter. This contribution investigates the significance of Hananyah’s mission in Egypt, and more particularly its relationship with the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah. The investigation permits three conclusions. One, the Persians did not distinguish between ethnicity and religion; two, the codification of Jewish ritual preceded the codification of the Torah; and three, Jewish identity in the late 5th century allowed significant latitude in matters of doctrine and lifestyle.
ISSN:1568-5330
Contains:In: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12341292