Study versus sustenance: a rabbinic dilemma in its zoroastrian and manichaean context

Ascetic systems commonly exhibit some sort of conflict between spiritual pursuits and mundane needs. This article contextualizes the particular rabbinic dilemma of study versus sustenance within the broader context of the Zoroastrian tradition and its critique of the Manichaean Elect. The rabbis sha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AJS review
Subtitles:Research Article
Main Author: Kiel, Yishai 1982- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Pennsylvania Press [2014]
In: AJS review
Year: 2014, Volume: 38, Issue: 2, Pages: 275-302
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Lebensunterhalt / Research / Spirituality / Everyday life / Dilemma / Rabbinic literature / Talmûd bavlî
B Zoroastrianism / Agriculture / Rabbi / Manichaeism
RelBib Classification:BH Judaism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Ascetic systems commonly exhibit some sort of conflict between spiritual pursuits and mundane needs. This article contextualizes the particular rabbinic dilemma of study versus sustenance within the broader context of the Zoroastrian tradition and its critique of the Manichaean Elect. The rabbis shared with their Zoroastrian contemporaries not only the perception of a religious tension between agriculture and the pursuit of religious studies, but also a multifaceted array of possible solutions that attempt to harmonize, mitigate, or otherwise resolve this theological and practical tension. While the basic conflict between study and sustenance is already formulated in tannaitic works, it is argued that the unique perspective offered by the Babylonian Talmud engages, and perhaps reacts to, the Iranian tradition.
ISSN:1475-4541
Contains:Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0364009414000269